Pinewood Derby

Jake's car #22

Estee and her friend loved the pinewood derby. :)

Jake's car did really well! His award here was for the "most intimidating" car. Good Job Jake you were a good sport and we had fun watching you race your car.

Catch up

The time has come for an update. It's actually way past due, I feel guilty every time one of my kids does something wonderful, or has a birthday etc. and I don't post something about it. I obviously don't feel that guilty or I would just post more. Anyway, I think the main reason I haven't been posting is because life has just been hard and not really that fun as of late. No one wants to read about that including my posterity someday so I just haven't posted anything and once you get out of practice you wonder how on earth you ever had time to keep up a blog. Maybe I am the only one with such thoughts, probably.

So, Jake turned 9 in November has been on the swim team and swam a mile without stopping, he's also been playing indoor soccer, and just built his first pine-wood derby car. I am telling ya, it looks pretty fast. I will let you know how it goes, the race is tomorrow night, I think he 's got a good chance of taking the whole derby.

Estee is my 3 year old who really thinks she is a princess. Not like oh, you are pretty as a princess, but she actually believes she is a princess. We asked her today what it takes to be a princess and she replied "you have to be pretty, you have to be smart, you have to like to clean (I love this one you better believe I will be using it later to get her to clean her room), you have to be nice, you have to be Abby's sister!" Sorry all of you who thought you had a chance of being a princess (in Estee's eyes at least) Abby only has one sister.

Andy is gone from early morning to late at night most weekdays and I kind of miss him. He is a joyful teenager, most days, and I wouldn't mind having him around more. He has been in early morning seminary all year. He rarely complains, but I have to tell you I cannot wait to move to Utah and this is one of the major reasons! Andy has been in some kind of sport all year at Pioneer, he is currently in Track and has been recruited to the pole vault team, he also runs sprints. He had a personal best at his track meet on Saturday and cleared 8 ft 6 inches. He was the highest jumper for a freshman and 9th overall with seniors and everything. Can you tell I am his mom??

Abby has recently developed an interest in Star Wars movies which has pleased her brothers very much. She said "these are so much better once you get the plot, I just thought they wanted to save the galaxy or something." Family movie time is much easier now, Estee loves Star Wars too. I am raising some kind of nerd girls, I know, I like nerds they get in less trouble. Abby has been swimming this winter, playing volleyball, playing basketball, playing cello at Hill Auditorium (which is the 3rd best auditorium in the USA--according to Abby's teacher, Mr Bailey), and playing lots of piano including competing in the SATD (no idea what that stands for) and being good enough to qualify for the next level. Can you tell I'm her mom??

Dan has been studying for boards. That pretty much sums up his last three months. I guess he's also been working. Same thing to me. He takes Oto boards this week. Hallelujah. I don't even care if he fails, lets just get it done already. Ok, I care if he fails. That means we will have to hear about it more. I sound like the most un-supportive wife in the world. It's all talk, I am really super supportive--just ask me, I will tell you. He has facial plastic boards in June. I have just about had it with all the test taking (16 years later). It's not like he goes to the hospital and an hour later comes home with the test all done. Oh, no we get to pay THOUSANDS of dollars for the privilege of taking the test. Oh, and did I mention it's a four-day three-night trip to another city, in our case Chicago and Washington DC, respectively. And guess who covers all the cost for hotel, flight, meals etc? Did I mention I am super supportive?

To vent my frustrations with Dan's money spending career path, I have taken to mile upon mile of running. I just finished my first half marathon and it felt pretty good to have accomplished that goal. Thanks to my friend Elizabeth for having the goal too, because it got me going along with her. She posted about it if you want more details. http://elderfam.blogspot.com/2010/04/martian-half-marathon.html

Over the long, cold months of winter here in MI I was working hard getting my house ready to sell. Including painting (thanks so much to wonderful friends for helping me), packing up enough of our stuff to fill a storage unit and moving it all to the storage unit, throwing out or donating mounds and mounds of junk we have collected over the last six years, and countless other fix-it projects (thanks to Dan's parents for coming to help with fix-it projects!). Now, it's all done and we sold our house without a realtor! In less than 2 weeks on craigslist!!!! We are so happy to be done with it! Now we are renting it (for less than our mortgage payment!) until Dan is finished with his fellowship and the kids are out of school. We are all ready to enjoy our last couple months in Ann Arbor.

Looking back over the last year I can see that we have been so blessed even though it's been the hardest year. I can see that our Heavenly Father was with us every step of the way helping us get through it. I am so glad to have my four pretty close to perfect kids, my good, hard working husband, and a better perspective on what really matters in life. That was probably what Heavenly Father wanted me to learn from this year. I hope I am all done with that lesson.

The End.

My good friend Abbi is moving today. :( It makes me sad because part of Ann Arbor is leaving for us. Ryan and Abbi were the first people we knew in AA and went out of their way to make us feel welcome. We are going to miss them tons, but are happy they will be back to visit and we will still get to see them once in a while. I went over to say good-bye and she had these beautiful peonies blooming in her yard. She said I should take them and enjoy them because she wouldn't be here to enjoy them. I was more than happy to oblige! Aren't they amazing--I love peonies.

They make my house so cheery! Thanks Abbi, I am going to miss you tons!

Jake was in the Science Olympiad last Saturday, which is a big competition where many of the schools in the area compete in science events. Jake was lucky enough to be picked as one of the two 2nd graders from his school to compete in the barge building competition. His coach (who was great) told me Jake is so good at loading up the barge, he is so patient, methodical and precise. Here he is with his friend and barge building partner, Zack. This is them right after they competed in the event.

We found out a couple hours later that Jake and Zack had won first place! Jake was so excited and we were so happy for him. He is taking after his big sister, Abby, who won first place two years ago in Mystery Architecture. They had an assembly at school this week to honor the Science Olympiad competitors and made a big deal out of these two. Here is Jake with his gold medal!


Abby was in Alice in Wonderland at her school last week. She was the Cheshire cat, and the knave of hearts. She did a great job and loved it. I forgot my camera, but did make a meat pie honoring her performance. Abby got a picture of it--in case you can't tell it says "Alice in Wonderland".

This picture of Andy makes me laugh. He is always so willing to play with Estee, they were "riding bikes" here and we were laughing at our almost 14 year old, Andy, on the pink and purple princess bike! Andy is such a good sport all the time and I love that about him. Estee does too, whenever he gets home she yells "Andy, I missed you!!".

I love age eight

I found 65 cents in my jacket pocket tonight. I thought "which one of my kids has been nice?" Jake walked by.

Me: Here Jake I have something for you.

I hand him the 65 cents.

Jake: WOW!!! Is this my allowance!!

Mom: Yeah, and it's all the allowance you will get until 6th grade (he is in 2nd grade).

Jake: Wow! Thanks, mom!!

I totally love how easy to please eight year-olds are. It's such a nice calm, non-emotional age.

I also love how Jake in particular is super easy to please. Here he is playing soccer recently with his bright green shirt on. Go Comets!

I loved his Mothers Day cards for me. One of them had questions he answered about me. This is what it said.

MY MOM IS SPECIAL
My mom is special because: She is so nise to me.

I like it when my Mom: read's to me. (This one brought tears to my eyes, because it is such a chore to read to him at night--I just want to relax after I get Estee in bed because--well, she's two. We often are rushing to bed after a night of activities, but we try to find time for reading. These three little words make it worth it!)

My mom can do many things! I think she's best at: Cooking yumey things and doing cool trikks on the trampolen. (What can I say I have some trampoline skills :)

My mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by: Doing somthing nise to her. (he "does something nice to me" everyday! What a great kid)

My mom is as pretty as a: Flower and a prinsess.

My mom is smart! She even knows: what I like the best.

I wish this age lasted longer! It's so much fun, and Jake is so much fun!

New pictures of Jake--8 year old/baptism pictures, and Estee 2 and 1/2 year old/stinker pictures.

It's much, much, much easier to get a picture of an 8 year old, than a two year old.

Thanks to Jess for taking the pictures, she did a great job. I love them!

Thanksgiving, Grandparents visit, Jake's Baptism/Birthday, Abby's broken arm

First things first. Jake's 8th birthday, he had a wonderful day that he graciously shared with two football games--Michigan and Utah games. We did, however, manage to be opening presents and eating cake and ice cream right as the first game started. So, he had lots of fun things to entertain him!

The next day Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit. It was very fun, we had a great time with them and love all the help they give us when they come. We had a great Thanksgiving Day with them, although we didn't get any pictures of G-ma and G-pa (sorry), or the main course of our Thanksgiving dinner. We did manage to get some pictures of the pies :).
We had six different pies. Pecan, pumpkin, lemon meringue, apple, double-chocolate pumpkin cheesecake, and chocolate mousse. I was trying to please everyone. Chocolate mousse for Jake (and me), pecan for Dan, apple for Grandpa, pumpkin for grandma, lemon meringue for me, cheesecake for Andy, Abby, me and Dan. Wait that's way too many for me!

This was my favorite. Wait, maybe just one of my favorites.

Fast forward a week or so and Abby was playing at the ward Christmas party behind a door. The door got pushed on repeatedly by older children and Abby's arm got smooshed and broken.
She tried telling Andy that it looked funny and he said "It looks fine to me, Abby". She then came and showed it to me. I could see a wave in her arm, that did not look right. Dan was working so I found a friend/doctor in our ward. He agreed it didn't look right and we should go the ER.

My wonderful friend Michelle, took the other three kids home and Abby and I were off to the ER. I called Dan and he met us there. The ER was packed so I was so happy to have Dan with us to move us right along :).

Abby broke both bones in her right arm just above her wrist. This picture was taken right after they set it and she was still a little loopy from the anesthesia. She looks pretty happy about the whole thing. She was saying things like she was so happy she did this because her life was exciting now, and next would be her leg.

Now that she has had some time to think about it, she doesn't think it is that great. She is bummed she can't play piano (although we are trying with the left hand to keep up her lessons), can't swim, can't play basketball, can't ski. It's also kind of a pain to write, open a locker, get dressed, zip up a zipper, unscrew a lid etc, etc.

After all the excitement of the broken arm, we had Jake's baptism the very next day! It was a very nice baptism. The ward missionaries were there and both talked, Dan talked and I gave a spotlight of Jake. Jake's toe came out the first try, but the second try was successful! Abby was planning on playing a piano piece and still wanted to try. It was a little shaky, but she did fine. Dan gave Jake some nice blessing when he was confirmed and I was glad I got to hear it all, as I was chasing Estee around and trying to shush her. I am so proud of Jake, and his decision to be baptized. He is such a good person and I hope he continues to make good choices and be the great person he is. We had some friends over to the house after the baptism for some food and celebration. We had no family here for the Baptism, so we really felt blessed to have so many friends come and share Jake's special day with us. Thanks everyone!

Fall, football, Suzanne's visit, scouting, food......

I love fall. Fall in Michigan has made this my favorite season. I love watching football especially if one of my kids are playing, or if Michigan, or Utah is playing.

This is Andy playing flag football, he had a really great game. He made three touchdowns, one was after and interception. The picture below is Dan coaching Andy--and leading the team to their victory!

After the game the three of us with Estee in the stroller and Jake on his bike all went for a 3 1/2 mile run. It was the most perfect weather! Look at those beautiful leaves--I love it!

In this picture below we are trying to show off our matching Asics shoes. We could sell these because we all love how comfy they are. Ever since Andy bought his first pair we are all fans of the Asics! We are also trying to see who has the best calf muscle. I also love when there is lots of time for baking! Fall and sugar cookies go hand in hand. Estee loved these "skooky" Halloween cookies. This is Abby's spooky ghost.

I also made this triple berry almond chiffon cake.

While I was cooking one day last week I looked out my kitchen window to see this cute little chipmunk eating this little berry off the bush. You have to admit it's kind of cute, even for a rodent. Then as I was taking his picture he turned and stuck his tongue out (see picture below).

I was just watching him for a minute and thinking how cute he was when along comes a big, ugly squirrel. I am sure it was one of these annoying creatures who ate the wires in my garage, ate all my tulip bulbs, and ate all the padding off the handle bars of Dan's expensive road bike (see old post for more details on my hatred of squirrels). So anyway, he comes bounding up the bush and steals the berry away from the cute chipmunk and eats it! It might be time to get my squirrel trap out again (see old post for more details on the squirrel trap).

UPDATE** Abby is climbing trees again! Apparently the big fall and seven stitches didn't scare her at all.
Estee taking my picture. She is pretending she has a camera too since I kept trying to get her to look at me while I took her picture.
My good friend Suzanne came to visit from Japan!!! I was so excited to see her and catch up. It was fun to spend a couple days with her and for Jake and Brand to get to play again (they are great friends). Max (her other son) and Estee played really good too! It was fun to eat sushi with her and our old favorite--Indian food. Thanks for coming Suzanne--we had a blast!


And, last but certainly not least, Jake had his first scouting pack meeting. He got his bobcat badge. I can't believe it! He is growing up too fast. In this picture he is telling everybody at the meeting about his favorite activity, visiting the rabbit sanctuary. I couldn't be prouder of all my kids and I am so glad I get the chance to be their mom.

Baseball!

Jake is playing on the greatest little team ever--the Aces. They totally rock and Jake is a great little batter here he is up at bat.



Round the bases he goes. I think he is so cute in his little batting helmet and serious look.

Taking it in #2

And now the boredom of the outfield begins. He seriously looks so bored out there. Dan and I keep yelling for him to watch the ball, but really there isn't a whole lot going on, even when he's playing 2nd base.

Still here doing his best to not look bored.

Oh wait, here we have some action, and we didn't even have to remind him to watch the ball--he just did it all by himself. Gosh, a proud moment indeed!

And, we end the night with high fives to the other team.

Well, there you have it, that's the short version of my Friday nights!
Go Aces!!