December Piano Recital

Crossword Clues

Welcome friends & family! Here are a few promised tips to help you complete our crossword puzzel:

Across

4. In the middle of her middle school years

6. Think "method" rather than subject or major

8. It has a leaning tower

12. He takes after his dad

13. Think scary and wonderful at the same time!

15. Black, Brown, Polar...

16. Finally double digit

17. His age divided in half, minus 1

18. Dresden

19. Assembly, board, body, committee...

20. Center of government, education and culture in the Colony of Virginia

Down

1. Small parrot

2. Rhymes with "mist"

3. No hint needed here

4. Cleric

5. Plant the seed

7. Megan's school

9. Think creative

10. Recitals

11. Chocolate

14. Very presidential

20. Begins with a W

Thanksgiving Bird

Halloween!

The Greek Goddess and the Gladiator

Art Award

Our family had a wonderful time in Annapolis on Thursday, October 21st, where M. accepted a 3rd place award for her Conflict Resolution Day Bookmark artwork. This contest included schools from all over Maryland, so it was quite an honor to be chosen. The award ceremony was held at the Court of Appeal Building and awards were presented by the Chief Judge.

10th Birthday Bash!

Look who turned his first double-digit today!!

Meet Kiwi

The newest member of our family is an almost 7 month old green-cheeked conure parrot. Kiwi is full of personality and loves to play, cuddle and explore. We're learning that it's a little bit like having a toddler in the house again; it's been a sweet opportunity for all of us to care for Kiwi and enjoy the company of a pet in the house. Conures have a 20-30 year lifespan, so we expect Kiwi to be a rather permanent member of the family.

New School Year

Yes, a new school year is upon us! I began my new job at the middle school on August 17th and the kids returned to school on the 23rd. It's been a busy few weeks, but we are all adjusting well and having good experiences. In fact, I absolutely love my new school, and it works out perfectly for J. since he comes to school with his sister and me and then catches a shuttle to his elementary school, returning to the middle school in the afternoon on another shuttle just in time to ride home with us.

One of our most exciting events of the first two weeks of school was M.'s being chosen to participate in Jazz Band!! She was one of several pianists to audition, and we were very proud of her for trying out. We were all absolutely elated when she made the final cut, and, of course, we know that the band teacher chose the right person for the job. She is such a talented and delightful young lady and the Jazz Band is blessed to have her :)

In other family news, I just finished up an online class I was taking through BYU-I. It was a pretty intense few weeks juggling work and school, but it went amazingly well and I survived it with an A! My next class starts in January, so I have some interim time to enjoy the holidays, our family birthday season, and the adventure of setting up a closed-circuit TV broadcasting station at work.

Summer Summary

I cannot believe that August is here already! Summer has flown by, as always, and in just a few weeks (or less) the kids and I will head back to school. We've enjoyed lots of wonderful family time and have had several good adventures. In creating the video below, I realized just how many pictures I didn't take! Missing are pictures for Cub Scout Day Camp, the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Lab, most of our numerous trips to the pool and the fun times spent with friends. But, it still makes my heart swell with the love that I have for my family when I watch this. Enjoy!

Hershey Park!

Okay, Hershey Park is just one of our Summer adventures. They'll be more pictures coming, but I couldn't wait to post this one. The expressions are priceless! Can you tell who's truly enjoying the ride, and who might be a bit apprehensive? :)

Summer Is Here!

We all had a fabulous school year and now officially have a 4th grader and 7th grader in the family! The end of the year included an academic awards ceremony and a garden planting, pictured below. Dad worked many hard hours building a garden, which the kids are now maintaining beautifully as their Summer project.

Piano Recital

Rain Garden

Saturday's excitement....

(Click on the collage to enlarge it.)

Pinewood Derby 2010

The annual Cub Scout Pinewood Derby took place on February 26th. Our boy's car was the 3rd fastest car in his Bear Den!!

The Blizzard of 2010

The storm began on February 5th, with a second round of snow on the 9th. Nearly 4 ft. of snow fell on us in a one week period, and we were officially buried! In fact, it's still white out there and our schools remain closed. The kids have enjoyed sledding and building forts, and we've all had plenty of opportunity to shovel and shovel some more....

Wax Museum

Guess who's third grade class did a "wax museum" project? They researched an influential person, wrote a speech, assembled costumes and props (with family help) and then performed their wax museum. Visitors to the museum pressed a star-shaped button on the wax figure, and the figure came to life and shared their biography. It was a learning experience not only for the students who participated as wax figures, but also their families and other visitors.

The White House

The highlight of our January was a trip to D.C. that the kids and I made to tour The White House with some dear friends who were kind and generous enough to include us in their adventure! As an added blessing, our good friend Kim joined us and helped us navigate the big city. We were able to park right on Constitution Ave. instead of taking the Metro.

Security was tight. We were required to submit our names, birth dates and social security numbers in advance, and there were two checkpoints where we presented our photo I.D. while they checked our names off of their list. A third checkpoint was similar to what they have in airports. We weren't allowed to bring anything but our cell phones and car keys. Though I managed to take some pictures with my phone while outside The White House, all phones had to be turned completely off before entering and there was no photography at all allowed inside.

This tour was of the East side of The White House, and we only saw eight rooms, many of which were roped off so that we could only peek in. It was fascinating, though, and we are now anxious to further our studies of American History.

The Best Christmas Gift!

The weekend before Christmas brought us a snowstorm, complete with 2 feet of the white fluffy stuff! The sledding hill in our backyard got lots of use, but the best gift that resulted from the storm was three days off of school. We were able to spend the entire week of Christmas together, playing in the snow, baking, listening to music, playing games, and simply spending time with family and friends!!