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!!".

Andy in Montreal, Quebec

Andy had a great time in Quebec. I just have to say the teachers who took this big crew of 8th graders are awesome! I really think teaching in general is way undervalued in our society. Shouldn't the people who are teaching the future leaders, workers and parents of America be paid very well for this valuable, important task?? I also think that teaching should be a really hard job to get (not just because of hard economic times) but similar to getting into medical, dental, business, or law school. Only the top, most well rounded person gets to teach our kids. Not to say that the teachers we have now, aren't really good, but I just think they should be more respected by society--and the bad ones should be weeded out :)

Back to Quebec. Here is the whole crew that went with on the trip.




Andy is getting off the bus that took him all over town and kept him out the the frigid -40 weather! BRRRRR!





Aren't they cute? Their eyes, I mean. This is how they looked outside most of the time. Where's Andy?








Um, this was Andy's favorite part. Yes, they slid down that thing. In the summer it's a water park, in the winter it's a sled ride! I think it looks kind of scary and steep! On the right is the tube pull thing that pulls you back up the hill. Well, Andy was sitting on his sled riding up and his friend came and sat on him. Andy's arm started rubbing against the frozen ground and rubbed off a pretty good amount of skin before his friend realized he was hurting him and got off. He came home with a big old wound. He said it didn't really hurt. It looked like it hurt. A lot.



This is Old Quebec. It's a 400 year old city and from the pictures and the teachers description of it I can't wait to take my family there this summer! She said it's the closest thing to Europe without being in Europe. Including the chocolate pastries!
They got to see some really cool stuff including this cathedral with stained glass windows, very beautiful.
This was some sort of maple party (sorry Andy's description). The maple is hot and they pour it into the snow and wrap it around the stick, it cools a little and makes a delicious chewy maple treat. Sounds fun, and good.
I think this one is at Hard Rock Cafe. They reserved the whole place for the kids and had breakfast there.
This sounds really fun, they went dog sledding! Here they are getting their instruction--can you imagine trying to get a large group of 8th graders to do this!! Wow!

Go Andy, go! He said it was so cold that day they only sledded for about 20 minutes. Still it looks like a blast! Go Balto, mush.
This one makes me cold! They walked across the suspended bridge spanning the Montmorency Falls. Montmorency falls are the highest in Quebec, higher than Niagara Falls. I want to take the family here this summer too.

Here is Andy with one of his friends from the trip. Staying warm inside.
The kids also went curling, snowshoeing, visited Ste-Anne shrine, went to a play, a 17th century meal with dancing and taffy pull, went to the top of Mont-Royal to view the city from above, ate at many delicious, french restaurants, and hopefully improved their french a little!
I am so glad Andy got to go on this fun, learning trip. That his teachers were good enough and nice enough to do this with the kids. Taking time out of there life to take the kids on a trip. Thank you for helping Andy buy new boots when he lost one, and easing his mom's mind. For being a good enough teacher to know how important things like this are in an education. I am in awe of good teachers everywhere!

Baby, it's cold outside.

Temperatures in the Ann Arbor area were at minus 10 degrees at 4:30 a.m. today, with a wind chill factor of minus 25 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. So, you know what that means? Besides the obvious question of why would anyone choose to live here? It means that school was canceled for my kiddos. I wasn't aware of this policy, and actually, am a little bit shocked that this is an actual policy where I am living, but if the wind chill is minus 20 or below then school is canceled. Yes, I live here on purpose. Wasn't it just my last post, only a few short days ago that I said I was happy I was staying an extra year here? I take it back. If I could move today I would. OK, maybe I am being a little dramatic. But, come on, this is nasty.

I should stop complaining, it could be a lot worse. The sun is shinning in Ann Arbor today.

We heard from Andy yesterday. He is having a great time. I asked him if he had spoken any French. He said, no not really, when I pressed him on the subject, then he said "I did say bonjour to a couple people". Well, at least the trip wasn't a waste!
Here is a story problem for you. If a 13 year old named Andy, rides a train from Ann Arbor to Montreal and makes no stops. How does that 13 year old lose one boot? I can't seem to figure it out.

A Teenager!!

That's right. I now have a teenager. Another milestone in life, they seem to be coming at me daily. I feel not quite old enough, prepared enough, and just not quite ready! I am lucky to have one of the best 13 year olds alive, so that makes it a lot easier.

Some of the things we love about Andy:

1) He is so agreeable, he will always help out with anything.

2) He is such a good big brother. He reads to Jake every night, thinks everything Estee does is cute, and he tries to be patient with Abby :)

3) He doesn't hold grudges.

4) He has a really great sense of humor.
5) He cares about everybody.
6) He is fun to hang out with.
7) He is funny.
8) He writes in his journal and reads his scriptures every night.
9) He loves football!

Andy enjoying a birthday steak! After recently trying "really good" steak it his new favorite.

Chocolate Mint Ice Cream Cake. I decided to try and make him an ice cream cake after looking at the ones at Baskin Robins and deciding I could make that. It doesn't quite look as good as theirs, but it tastes really good and Andy loved it.

Andy's Track Meet

Andy is on the far right in the yellow shirt.

Andy was in his middle school track meet last week and I got to go and watch him in one of his races (the individual 100 meter). Andy also ran the 400 relay. He did good, and had lots of fun. He told me yesterday he now wants to run long distances, and set up a running practice with some friends in the neighborhood. Although, I'm not sure how much they ran and how much they talked it's still great that he is excited about running and getting better.

Just after he crossed the finish line