Top Ten Cool Happenings This Week

Top Ten Cool Happenings This Week

10. This is more like an “interesting” detail than a cool happening but one of my students asked me a question this week which I have never been asked. “Would you rather be chewed to death by a crocodile or eaten by a kangaroo?”

9. Marisa got contacts this week! She likes them but is still trying to get used to putting them in.

8. Tyler had 2 basketball games this week AND he made a basket!! Whoo hoo!

7. Kayla made the high school bowling team! Go Kayla! Go Kayla! Practices and meets begin this coming week.

6. Tyler began showchoir this week! He is very excited about it because showchoir is very big here and he is just dramatic enough to be awesome at it!

4. Alayna auditioned for and got two speaking parts in her upcoming musical!!

3. Tyler gets new glasses this week. I will take a picture when they arrive.

2. The girls sang in the youth choir for stake conference today!

1. Tyler got to fly a real plane yesterday!!! His scout group went to the Marion airport to work on their aviation badge. A guy from our ward is a pilot and he took them up in the air. Tyler was in the front seat and he let Tyler steer the plane left, right, up, and down. He thought that was incredibly awesome!

Eggs, Ghostbusters, Eskimos, and angels

A freezing trunk or treat

Ok so it is definitely winter! It has been cold and windy (had wind warnings 2 days this week including the day of the trunk or treat.) So, Bob and I said it was way too cold to go trunk-r-treat in the freezing cold weather, so the kids went without us. Crazy kids! The things they will do for candy…anyway, they said it was fun but freezing! I dropped the ball again (Ive been doing that a lot lately!) on Halloween. Alayna was happy to be an egg again (which was great). Tyler wore his “ghostbusters” shirt as his “costume”. He wanted to sit in the back of the car and hand out the candy. He was in Marisa’s car- I wish I could have gotten a picture. Marisa was still trying to come up with something the last minute- I think she ended up being an Eskimo? Kayla just threw on a pair of wings- when people asked her if she was an angel, she said “sure”. If they asked her if she was a fairy, she said, “Sure!” We got a picture of her “flying” in the windstorm.

(Alaynas gold sparkly “egg” hair)

Jibjab

For those of you who haven’t seen this yet, this is our family living it up for Halloween! I was the, um, director…yeah that’s it…

Harts (JibJab)

Concerts

We had two concerts this week. I didn’t get pics but we did videotape. Marisa had her orchestra concert on Tuesday and it was so awesome. (I have to add that they were way better at the William Tell Overture than the summer BYU group). Anyway, it was a fantastic concert and Marisa looked great!

On Thursday, we went to Kayla’s band concert. They played some very fun numbers and she looked so beautiful up there. She is getting so good on that clarinet. I cant wait for her to be a part of the marching band next year! Speaking of which, the marching band had their extravaganza at Kaylas band concert. It was awesome!! They have over 200 members and they played full strength in the small auditorium-Wow! They were VERY entertaining and I think Kayla will just love it!

Red Ribbon Week

The schools always have fun dress up days for Red Ribbon week. So, I took some pics of Alayna.

(Sports Day)

(Crazy Day)

(Hair 1/2 pink and 1/2 gold glitter!)

Temple trip

Tyler had his 1^st temple trip with the girls today. He said he really enjoyed it.

All-state picture

Here is the picture of all the kids from Linn Mar that made all-state. Marisa is in the middle. Btw- they were FREEZING outside!

How to train a dragon on your birthday when your skin is peeling

Happy Birthday Tyler!

Tyler’s official 12^th birthday is tomorrow, but we had the big party Friday night. He had 6 friends over and they played football, had pizza for dinner, watched How to train a dragon (best kids movie ever!), opened presents, ate ice cream cake, and finished off the night playing kick the can. He gave me huge thumbs up at the end so I assume it was successful. They all seemed to all have a great time.

(I officially suck as a mom- been so busy I completely forgot to put his name and Happy Birthday on the cake.  I ALSO forgot to get candles and matches!  What the heck??)

Tyler was sustained today in church, will be ordained tomorrow, and will be able to attend his 1^st ever temple trip on Saturday!

All you really need is skin

There’s a song I remember that says:

You gotta have skin,

All you really need is skin

Skin's the thing that if you've got it outside

It helps keep your insides in

Skin is what you feel at home in

And without it, furthermore

Both your liver and abdomen

Would keep falling on the floor

(And you'd be dressed in your intestine)

(Alan Sherman)

That reminded me a lot of Alayna this week. Her dead skin continued falling off. It was pretty painful for a while as the new tender skin emerged. We had to wrap her hands in ace bandages with heavy duty skin cream each night. One day, she had to wake up Kayla because she couldn’t open the door with her “mitts” to go to the bathroom. It was so sad. She is back up to full strength now with slightly chapped hands, and me….well, I sure am glad for skin!

Football FHE

Our really good friends came up with a fun idea for family home evening. We played football! Well, the husbands and kids played while us moms got to sit back and relax. Then we had fun Halloween sugar cookies. It was such a fun evening- especially watching all 6 kids try to take down Tyler for a tackle!

Mics:

~Yesterday, Marisa auditioned for and MADE ALL STATE ORCHESTRA!!!! Congrats Marisa!

~We girls got haircuts this week. Nothing too drastic, but it was nice to have a girls night out.

Growl Prowl Pics from Yearbook Staff

The Growl Prowl and Going “Gansta”

"In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that." Fred Lebow, New York City Marathon co-founder

Well, we did it!! Our family finished our very 1^st 5K! (Alayna didn’t do it with us since she was still recovering from the scarlet fever.) It was a very cold morning (around 41° when we started), but it felt so great to finally do it! We all reached our main goal, which was to make sure we didn’t come in last (some cut it closer than others). As we reached the stadium, and headed in for the final stretch, they had an announcer who announced our names as we entered and then again when we crossed the finish line. It was invigorating and satisfying to see our success. Now we are contemplating doing the Turkey Trot next month.

(Where I found Marisa after the race)

"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." -John Bingham, running speaker and writer

Artistic Talent Continues to Run in the Family

Kayla finished her art class at school. She had to make a book and create each page to go along with each art lesson. I took some pictures for you. She has a lot of talent. She loves to decorate and design. These pics don’t do it justice.

Alayna drew this elephant. She traced the main outline of the elephant and then drew everything else. I think it is beautiful! Plus, Alayna is my new decorator. She has been DYING to decorate for Halloween so I gave her the huge Halloween bucket and told her to have at it.

Update on Alayna

Alayna was still sick on Sunday but started eating. Her skin continued to chaff and peel off. I called the doctor Monday and they said that is the only medicine besides the one she was allergic to that kills the scarlet fever. So, she has had to suffer through it this week. Her skin is dry and cracked. My wonderful friend gave me some all natural diaper cream and we have been putting it all over her skin and she is doing so much better. She is back to running around and getting her strength back. Thanks to all of you who kept her in your prayers. We truly appreciated it!

Summer is Definitely Gone

Besides the cool, crisp weather, the leaves are turning and falling off the trees. I know people love the beauty of fall, but it just makes me sad because I know ice, freezing temps, and snow that never melts is on the way. But we try to make the best of it, so…

The kids requested pumpkins this year. I haven’t done them the past couple years because they are messy and so much work. They promised they would do it all and they did! They got 3 pumpkins, spent the afternoon carving, cooked the pumpkin seeds, and cleaned the whole thing back up. I’m loving this “kids-are-old-enough-to-do-things-without-me” stage.

(The one Tyler is holding was carved by Kayla, the skeleton was carved by Tyler and Alayna carved the traditional pumpkin face)

The girls had the stake Halloween dance last night. They spent weeks trying to decide what to be and went shopping everywhere with no luck. At the last minute, they decided to go “gansta”. Um, what? Ok…They ended up looking really cute though. I think Kayla has a little “gansta” in her.

Odds and Ends

We have the dogs for another week. The kids have done a great job taking care of them and taking them for walks.