Historian

Katie came home a few weeks ago and announced that she was going to run for Historian at her Jr. High. I thought it was a great idea, I would never have dared to do something like that when I was her age, I am so glad she is such a confident person.

The campaigning began. Courtney came up with a perfect slogan for Katie to use -- JUST DO IT.

We made fliers, posters, and even a stamp.





Unfortunately she was up against one of her very good friends - Erin. They have been friends since we moved into this neighboorhood.

The Primary votes were cast, both Katie and Erin made it through.

That meant we had two days to put a video together. The video was due on Monday and would be shown to the 7th and 8th graders during an assembly the following day.

Katie worked hard all weekend. With a lot of help from friends and family, this is what she came up with.



Everyone loved her video, especially the crazy runner at the end.

Katie felt pretty optimistic, but wasn't quite sure if she was going to win. On Thursday, parents were invited to a reception where we found out who the winners were.

Sadly Katie didn't win. I was very impressed with the way she handled it. I could tell she was dissapointed, but there were no tears. Most of the kids that didn't make it opted to go home after the reception, but Katie wanted to stay at school and go to the assembly so she could congratulate Erin.

It was such a great experience for all of us. I am so proud of her!

18

16 was no big deal, 17 I was sorta okay with, but 18. . . . . 18?!? Come on!! I just can't accept that I have a child that old.

Sean and I were married for about a year and a half before Tyler was born. Sean was a little hesitant to have a child before he graduated from college. I, on the other hand, thought it was a great idea. So a little begging and pleading (there may have been some tears in there too), followed by a little batting of the eyes . . . and . . . voila.

My doctor used to tell me that I was "boringly normal". I had no problems with my pregnancy and 9 months later Tyler was born weighing exactly 7lbs. That didn't last long . . .



He was a very chubby baby, but he quickly out-grew it.



Tyler was such a great kid, and boy did he love to talk. When he was little, I was worried that he had a stutter. I soon realized that he always had so much to say and his little brain just couldn't process his thoughts fast enough for the words to come out right.

No worries anymore though, Tyler is incredibly intelligent, you might not be able to tell by his grades at school, or by the stupid teenage trouble he gets into, but his CRT and ACT scores are amazing!

Tyler has really had a big change in his attitude lately. We came home from his game the other night and I asked him if he would help Katie with her algebra. I would have helped her, but polynomials and I just don't get each other. Anyway, he sat right down -- and for the next 45 minutes proceeded to patiently help her. That might not be a big deal at your house, a brother kindly helping his little sister with homework... but at my house it is HUGE!

His 18th birthday was not terribly exciting. He went to school, and then had a soccer game to go to. He didn't even get home until 8pm. He owed us quite a bit of money, so he decided to pay off some of his debt instead of getting gifts.

Luckily Aunt Trish was in town and gave him his favorite treat.



He got a few clothes,



a caligraphy set,



a homemade ice cream cake,



and a great big kiss from his favorite mom!





I sure love my boy!

Courtney's Surprise Party

I always throw my kids a surprise party when the turn 16. I am so proud of myself for actually surprising them. I was so worried with both of them that they would find out, but so far I have been very successful.

Of course it involved making up a reason to ground them from their phones, then writing all their friends numbers down and sending out mass texts to everyone.

Funny story... Courtney tried to be sneaky, she took her sim card out before she gave us her phone, then put it in an extra phone so she could still text. She didn't think she deserved to be grounded (which was probably true, I never have to ground her from her phone, but I was desperate). We never would have found out, but I needed her friends numbers, you can't get numbers off the phone without a sim card. We had a good laugh over it after the party.

It took months to plan. I would ask Courtney what she wanted to do for her birthday and she would tell me who she wanted to invite and what kind of food she wanted, thinking that she would have to plan it all herself.

I called Courtney's best friend Kayla and asked if she would help me out. She was very excited about it and told me that she would take her to a movie.

I was so excited when Friday morning arrived. I spent the whole day cleaning, decorating, cooking, and anxiously waiting for it all to begin.



It worked out perfectly, Courtney's friends all arrived on time and hid behind the door for her to come in. Courtney was totally shocked when she walked through the door. She was very confused and walked around in a daze for about 15 minutes until it hit her that I had thrown her a party.

Here is Courtney still in shock.





She has such great friends.









Here is my favorite decoration. We are all huge fans of "The Office". Courtney has even named her dog after Pam the receptionist. So a few months ago when they aired the episode where Dwight was in charge of making the birthday banner, I decided it would be funny to create a replica. (Only fans of "The Office" will appreciate this.)



Most of the girls from Courtney's soccer team came. Here is a picture of Jessica planning their defense (with tomatoes) for the game they had to play the next morning.



We had a fire going in the backyard,



pool downstairs,



and, of course, a ton of food!





Courtney's favorite foods: Hawaiian Haystacks, Pasta Pepperoni Salad, Costco's Mango Peach Salsa, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake.

I had so much fun planning this, I love to see my kids happy and having fun.



Happy Sweet 16 Courts!

Sweethearts

"What?" You ask. "Another dance so soon?"

"Yup!"

On February 14th, Courtney, James, and a group of their friends went to Sweethearts.

Instead of going out to a restaurant to eat, the girls decided to make dinner themselves and have it at our house. I whole-heartedly agreed, greedily thinking of all the money I would save.

My luck was holding out when James announced that he had two rugby games to play that day. There was nothing left to do but cancel the "day" activity. (Unfortunate for them, very fortunate for my wallet!)

We spent the day curling hair, painting nails,



baking, decorating,



cleaning and cooking.

Luckily Courtney's friend Kristin came to help.



Big brother Tyler even got in on the action. We asked him if he would google a creative way to fold dinner napkins.



This is what he came up with...



Have I mentioned how much I love Google?

When 6pm rolled around, we were exhausted, but ready.





The dinner turned out great, everything was delicious.



After the dance, it was back to our house for cake and ice cream



and a few rounds of Mafia.



Courtney got the dance pictures back today.



Dress $19.99
Shrug $14.99
Pictures $30.00
Dinner and dessert $30.00

Smile on my daughters face...

Priceless!

Scrumptious Swiss Oats

I am usually not one to blog about food, but I have become addicted to Swiss Oatmeal, so I thought I would share.

In my quest to cook and eat healthier food, I came across a television program one morning called Zonya's Health Bites. Zonya was a little over the top personality-wise, but she was cooking something that looked pretty healthy, so I decided to keep watching. We put her on Tivo and, although she is slightly annoying at times, she cooks some great, healthy meals. On one episode she made Swedish Oatmeal.

One Serving:

2/3 C. Old Fashioned Cooking Oats
2/3 C. Skim Milk
15 raisins (I just grab a small handful - Sean has to count out
exactly 15)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. honey

Stir together and refrigerate for up to 2o minutes, or overnight. (Zonya put fresh fruit in hers, I haven't tried that yet, I am a raisin lover!)

I had never eaten oatmeal that was not cooked in some form or another, so I was very skeptical. We made it that night and had it for breakfast the next morning and the rest is history. Katie (my pickiest eater) even likes it. She came home from school the other day and said that she liked it because she was usually starving by
3rd period, and since she has been eating this oatmeal, she hasn't been hungry until lunch time.

I make it so much that I have started keeping the dry ingredients in separate containers in my pantry. At night, I will just add milk and honey, put it in the fridge, and we have breakfast waiting for us in the morning.

If anyone is interested, Zonya's Health Bites is on Saturday mornings at 10am, on Channel 11.

Jr. Prom

Courtney and James went to Jr. Prom a few weeks ago.

Apparently Prom is an all-day event now. In the olden days (1987ish), you would go out to a nice restaurant, then go to the dance and then go home.

That is not the case anymore.

They started off the morning at the bowling alley. I sent my camera with Courtney so she could take some pictures. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with her picture taking skills.





Believe it or not, these were the best ones she took. I made her promise to take some action photos next time.

After bowling they went back to Bryan's house to hang out and play games.

Kristin and Courtney went to get their hair done, and then it was a race to get them back to Bryan's house for a photo shoot before dinner. Bryan's mother is a photographer and took some amazing pictures of them. I am still waiting to get my hands on the CD she promised to make, so I will post the pictures as soon as I get them. Here are the ones that I took:



They make such a cute couple.





They had a very nice dinner at one of Courtney's favorite restaurants, Texas Roadhouse, and then it was off to the dance.

They all had such a great time. I have to thank James' parents for driving them that night. Sean and I had a work party at our house and were not able to help as much as I would have liked.

The Eagle Scout Project

For Tyler's Eagle Scout Project, he decided to make marker holders for Primary Children's Medical Center.

First, Tyler and his dad had to cut the pieces of wood, then he invited some friends over to sand



and drill.



We had a combined activity where the young men and young women painted and decorated them with stickers.



Here is Tyler quickly sending off a text before getting started.





The kids did a great job -- I was really impressed with their creativity.



Here is a finished picture of Tyler's marker holder:



We took them up to Primary Children's Medical Center last week. We ended up with 24 marker holders in all. Marie, the director, was very excited to see that we had so many.



A big thanks to all those who donated their time and money in helping put this project together. Especially our Scout Master, without him, I am not sure we could have accomplished any of this!