YMCA Winter Swim Champs

For a kid who was kicked off the first swim team he ever tried to join, Samuel has made quite a name for himself as a young swimmer in our area! He is competing at the AAAA level (which is the most competetive level of swimming) and continues to do well at his meets. Champs was no exception..... In spite of coming down with a cold the night before and waking up all night long to blow his nose, then forgetting his swim cap and asthma inhaler, Samuel was still able to place in every event! He started off the day with a 6th place ribbon for his team's medley relay, then got a siver medal in 100 IM, barely missing the gold by a second. He redeemed himself on the backstroke when he beat the kid who beat him on IM and claimed a gold medal for backstroke! He finished off the day with a bronze medal in the butterfly competition.

Joshua has had an incredible swimming year! He has gotten better at every single meet and is gradually pushing his times to new levels. He competes at the C level, but has bumped many of his times up to B level throughout the year. We are so proud of the hard work and dedication he puts in! Joshua was beyond thrilled to receive his first ever gold medals! He took first place in both the 50 yd and 100 yd freestyle events! He got a silver medal with his freestyle relay team and then a bronze medal for his butterfly, along with a 5th place ribbon for the team's medley relay.

Here's Samuel (wearing his borrowed swim cap, thanks to a friend who said he packed an extra just in case Samuel forgot his again.....does he know my child well or what!) preparing to race.

For those who don't swim, there is a lot of time spent W-A-I-T-I-N-G at swim meets! Here's Joshua as he waits to take his place to swim.

Congratulations boys on another great swim season! We can't wait till summer so we can be back at our outdoor pool!

Swim Team Banquet

The boys attended their swim team banquet last night and were thrilled to receive their trophies. Oddly enough, we are not quite done for the season.....we still have champs to look forward to this weekend.

Samuel and Joshua have both really enjoyed being on swim team year round. They have improved on their skills and their times just keep getting better. But....it is time for a break! We will have two months off before we start into summer swim team and that is fine with us! Joshua has already started lacrosse and his practices were overlapping with swim practice. Samuel needs to buckle down and focus on his school work. He tends to be awfully forgetful and leaves papers home that should be at school, so it will be good for him to have a little more time to practice doing things right! As for me, perhaps I will be able to make it to a few of Caleb's tennis matches (first one today!) rather than driving car pool to swim team. No rest for the weary in this house!

Shopping for a Modest Prom Dress

Shelby and I went on a 10 hour road trip yesterday in search of a modest prom dress! After searching the internet and agonizing over buying a dress online without ever being able to try it on, I found this little shop owned by a Christian lady that specializes in carrying only modest formal and wedding dresses. Well worth the drive! Shelby found several that she liked, but here are the ones that didn't make the final cut..... The second place dress. This was the first one she tried on and she loved it!

Another favorite, but not quite the right color.....maybe if it had been burgundy....she thinks she looks bad in red (although I think it was gorgeous on her!)

Nice dress, but she thought the color washed her out.

She loved this one but was afraid it would be WAY too poofy when all the crinolines were steamed out.

I think her dad would have died if I had brought this one home! Very cute, but she was afraid she would chicken out of wearing it! I told her prom is when you want to look elegant.

Anyway, you will have to wait to see her final choice; I am not posting it on here until she gets all dolled up with hair and makeup for the prom in April. We had a fun trip and it was definitely worth the time it took to get there. I love that my daughter knows that it was important enough to us for her to dress modestly that we would devote a whole day to finding a gorgeous dress that fits within our standards.

FIFTEEN and Pinewood Derbys......

Just to prove how complicated my life is, let me do a little catching up and share with you the day of Caleb's fifteenth birthday.......It was a Saturday morning and Chris and I both left by 9:00 am. He took Samuel to the pinewood derby and I took Joshua to his lacrosse practice. Samuel was thrilled to win 2nd place with his awesome car, The Black Widow.

When we all got back home (around 12:30 pm), I quickly loaded up all the kids to go shopping for Caleb's birthday presents. Everyone wanted to buy him fish because he is very hooked on his aquarium right now! We rushed back home by 1:30 pm and did cake, ice cream and presents with him before we had to run out to Joshua and Samuel's swim meet at 2:00 pm. We got home from that just in time for Chris and I to run out to a party for the evening (at 7:30 pm), after which we did a quick trip into Walmart to get milk and arrived home just after midnight! It is craziness around my house, I tell you, CRAZINESS!!!

Why I Volunteer

People volunteer for many reasons. Sometimes it is to be involved in things their children are involved in. At other times, volunteering may happen out of guilt because no one else will do it. There are plenty of people who volunteer for altruistic reasons, because they feel they want to give back to society.

As for me......I volunteer so I can laugh! I spent the day at school yesterday helping with school pictures. I have to admit to initially being lured in by the offer of free pictures of my child for helping for the day, but after spending a day there, I find myself craving the opportunity to go back! I have never laughed so hard in my life! First there was the little girl who was going from photographer to photographer (we had 3 set up to make things go faster) trying to get her picture made THREE times because "it is so much fun and I want to be a model!" Then there was the darling little autistic boy who had to be coaxed into a upright position with his hands not in his mouth or over his face......I personally thought they should have sent the candids home since those were adorable! After twenty minutes of all of us coaxing (including the kids in his class) the photographer finally got a shot she was happy with. But the most hilarious was the 5th grade boy who twisted and twisted the comb into his hair so tightly that it could not be removed! Of course it was right up in the front of his head where his bangs were! I was trying so hard not to laugh while I struggled to get it out! The photographer finally took the picture with the comb pushed back into his black hair and hoped that in group shot it wouldn't be too noticeable!

Having an impulsive child myself, I probably would not be the best one to be a substitute teacher at a school. I am afraid I would laugh too much to be effective in disciplining, but I think that sometimes kids just need to be loved and celebrated. (if only I could remember that more at home.....)

I can't wait to go back!

Blue and Gold Banquet

Tonight was the blue and gold banquet and the scout cake auction. I was baking like crazy at my house because we have 3 boys with cakes to make. As we were looking for cakes, I found this great idea where you auction off a cake to be thrown at the scoutmaster and cubmaster. So, I figured what's two more cakes......and before you know it, I was baking 5 cakes! Chris is Scoutmaster and he graciously agreed to be attacked! I think he just wanted to eat cake!
Brother Orton, our cubmaster, was a good sport too and agreed to be plastered with cake after I ran the idea by his wife and she accepted for him! Between the two cakes that were thrown, we made an additional $60 for the boys.
Joshua's bowling alley cake sold for $25

Samuel's Gummy Bear Olympics cake sold to us for $35

And we also bought back Caleb's aquarium cake for his birthday tommorow for $40. The boys had a great time and of course they loved eating the cake most of all! Stay tuned for more scout stuff.....the pinewood derby is tommorow!

So this is what happens when a six year old gets the camera.....

There were about 20 pics of this video that Savannah just checked out from the library and has watched non-stop since she got it!And LOTS of extremely flattering self-portraits!

Happy Valentine's Day

Our day started late with a chance to sleep in till NINE O'CLOCK which is unheard of in this house! Chris had a "computer campout at our house Friday night, so we had 12 boy scouts loudly playing video games in our basement all night and didn't get much sleep. After a drowsy Saturday trying to run kids everywhere they needed to be, we definitely enjoyed the extra rest and have never been so thankful for late church! While we slept, Cupid came and sprinkled our table with hearts, which has become a fun family tradition. Shelby went out on her Valentine's date Saturday night with Chris (yes, she is dating someone with the same name as her father....strange, I KNOW!). I love how the "Return with Honor" quote stands out in the background!

Chris and I went out for Italian food Saturday night and enjoyed a little bit of alone time while Joshua passed off a Faith in God goal by entertaining his little sister for the evening. All in all, it was a very nice Valentine's Day at our home!

But WAIT.....There's MORE!!!!

Yes, MORE SNOW is what we woke up to this morning! Actually it was just lightly snowing when I took the kids to seminary, and although it was sticking to the neighborhood streets, it wasn't a problem on the main roads. I went to workout and then came back to pick up Caleb and bring him home. Shelby got on the bus and headed to school and Caleb and I came home (his school has a later start time, so he gets to come home for an hour and get ready for school). After my shower, this is what it looked like outside! While Chris and I were debating whether or not he should drive Caleb to school, our local school system called a 2 hr. delay for all the elementary and middle schools. Because Caleb goes to a Governor's School, it is not bound by the local school system. There are 13 school districts that feed into his school. We realized that if Chris drove him to school, there may not be a bus to bring him home since our local district would probably turn around on the freeway if road conditions got too bad. So we decided to keep him home. Obviously a good decision because about 20 minutes later our school district abandoned the 2 hr. delay and closed all un-opened schools for the day. A few minutes later, Caleb's school closed too. So I now have four giddy, excited kids home with me for the day and one very disgruntled teenager who feels life is extremely unfair because I will not drive to school and pick her up NOW. Needless to say, school really is the safest place for her to be right now! Being on the roads would be a mess!

In other exciting news, Caleb is now the proud parent of EIGHT baby fish! He used some of his Christmas money to set up an old fish tank and furnish it with a few fish. He can only add two at a time, so on the evening after he added his second set of fish, he noticed babies swimming around. He gathered them into our "nursery tank" and is feeding them crushed fish food. He is proving to be a very good "daddy"!

And The Snow Kept on Fallin'

The kids were actually ready to go back to school on Thursday after missing the first half of the week due to our last snowstorm. (And I have to admit to being ready to see them go, myself!) After a delayed start, they were able to get in 4 hrs. of school that day. I spent the day scouring every store I could think of for snow gear because the weather man was forecasting another major winter storm for the weekend. I was far from successful, but did find a pair of snow boots for Savannah. By the time the kids got home from school Thursday, Chris had called and said that his work was closed on Friday due to the coming storm. We teased the kids that they still had to go to school, but dad's work was cancelled!

Friday morning we woke up to no snow and no school cancellations. I took Shelby and Caleb to seminary and then headed to the YMCA with Joshua to work out. As soon as we stepped on the treadmills, the school cancellation scrolled across the TV screen. So all the poor kids had to go to seminary but not school!

By 10:00 am Friday, the snow was coming down in big heavy flakes. I took Joshua, Samuel, Caleb and Savannah on a 2 mile walk through the snow to McDonald's. I figured if they could walk there, they deserved to eat lunch out! Plus it helped use up some of their wild and crazy energy! One of Caleb's friends met us there and we had a great time! Over night the snow turned to rain which helped keep our accumulations down, but also created a sheet of ice underneath the snow that fell Saturday morning. Still, it is beautiful!

My poor Valentine's Day flag has yet to show itself off without snow freezing it together!

The bushes are collapsing from the weight of ice and snow. We may be re-landscaping whether we want to or not come spring!

Samuel and Savannah turned my snowman into a fox, but I think it looks more like an alien!

And church is cancelled for the second week in a row! Isn't it convenient that these two weeks were the weeks that my family was scheduled to clean the building?!!! No complaints here!