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We just found out today that Gabi was one of 13 winners of an art contest. The art will be used to create a calendar for next year for the community! She's very excited - as are we! There will even be a special awards night for her and the other lucky 12.

Congrats, Gabi! You did a wonderful job!

And The Cat Trumps

When cleaning up the books and magazines in the livingroom a few days back, I picked up one of the Book of Mormons that was given to the kids by their old bishop. Wondering whose was not in the bedroom, I opened it to find that it was Peter's. Since he was working with me, I said to him:

"Peter! Look what I found!"

He eagerly grabbed it and started turning to the pictures (his favorite part) and said very excitedly

"My Book of Norman! You found my Book of Norman!"

At first I wasn't sure I'd heard him right, but then later, when he was suppose to have taken it to his room but didn't, he came out and told me again that he had his Book of Norman. Laughing (because Norman is the cat he plays with at grandma's several times a week), I corrected him. He repeated Mormon, and then proceeded to tell me he was putting away his Book of Norman.

Famous?

Okay, maybe not quite, but Beth made the paper this week! A week ago, on Veteran's Day, the girls were part of a salute to veterans concert. They prepared for weeks, loved all the "America songs" they learned, and I must admit that I loved the concert. Being kids and all, I wasn't sure just how much I'd understand in the back row while I tried to record and take pictures.

It was wonderful, though. The Veterans who came only added to the beauty of the program. When the theme song from their particular branch of the military was sung or played, they would stand in salute. Just amazing. And to hear certain heartfelt songs about our country and about the people who fight for it, well, I must admit I got teary eyed a few times. None more so, though, than when they concluded with "God Bless America".

Anyway, only one picture from their particular school made the paper, and Beth, being right up front wearing a red shirt and her blue with white stars jumper was apparently patriotic enough to land center! The downside - well, it doesn't seem they post pictures on the Newspaper website, so I can't link you there to enjoy it. But Beth is especially excited today!

Update

I'm not doing so well with keeping up with the blog... I have several pictures and events to post about, but it will have to come here and there. It seems we're all pretty busy in our own ways - in our own worlds!

But, some things I don't want to forget:

Last week, after the Bishop had help confirm someone at church, he had walked back up on the stand and Peter got so excited and pointed then said "Look, Mama, that's MY Bishop!"

We're spending more and more time playing games! It's better than TV, better than movies and of course it's better because Bob is around more! Jeremy's favorite game is Checkers - another favorite (which Peter is getting the hang of) is Guess Who!

Wood heat is still wonderful! - Though we have an insert instead of the actual stove, it's still nice.

This morning Peter told me: "I'm Petor! There's a different Petor. It's not like me."

There will be some "school blogs" on our school site too. Again... late, but at least you'll have an idea of what is happening. Due to the particular's of our children and the structure of schooling in their age groups, we're developing a home school plan which is a supplement to the schooling. They really are doing well there, but there really is only so far they can go with certain things under the circumstances (mostly with the kindergarten). I don't mind, and I think it will mostly be on the "vacation" times - which is when they would be wanting to do it anyway!

Soccer

So this is old news.. .but I wanted to share it anyway!

Soccer is done differently out this way... in large part because there are many more people and lots of kids who are interested in playing. So there is an actual league which include levels based on age. Arriving when we did, we nearly didn't end up with any players this year. But since they needed one more coach, they asked Bob if he would do it. So, though the girls would not normally have been on the same team, they allowed Beth to "bump up" so he could coach them both!

It was a fun season for them - started in August and ended around the end of October (maybe a week before). So kind of long for what we're use to as well. They had practices in the first few weeks and then it was just games (which were typically two or three a week). They had a lot of fun and the parents were very impressed with Bob's style (focusing both on "fun" as well as teaching skills).

As this was Beth's first year ever playing on a team, I must admit that I was pretty impressed. In the beginning it was pretty obvious that she didn't have experience. Later on, she'd improved, though being so little and all, it was still obvious that she was not as experienced as the older kids on the team. All in all, though, I am very happy with how she played. How she was so enthusiastic. Her favorite thing to do was to giggle with excitement while she was running after or kicking the ball. Her favorite position ended up being goalie - and though she was little and not as experienced, she could hold her own against several of the other teams. She also had incredible defense to protect her! While in goal, she would often dance around and laugh - occassionally laying down because the ball seemed to be staying at the other end of the field.

For Gabi, she improved a lot. Though she's played before, she'd never played on a league like this and the dynamics are certainly different. She made three goals over the season - for which she was very happy - and was the team enthusiast always cheering for any member of the team when they got the ball, kicked the ball, made a goal, etc. She loved making new friends and playing with them. Sometimes she'd be talking with another player or singing songs with them while she was waiting for a chance at the ball. Though having improved tremendously, going after the ball is still not her strong point. She'd go for it until it looks like someone else (even from the other team) has it. Then often she'll pull back and wait to intercept after it's been kicked. But, considering age, I don't think that's so bad!

Anyway, it was a fun season and the boys and I went to most of the games. It was hard on Jeremy because he really just wanted to play (so warm ups were fun because he could be included). On one of the fields, there was a tree that many children (waiting for a playing sibling) would climb. Around it were lots of rocks that they also thought were fun to throw it the "ditch" where the tree was. Jeremy and Peter took part in this.

Peter was really only interested in the naps or the snacks. He'd often fall asleep on the way to the game and stay that way as I carried him up. So he'd either sleep on me or on a blanket we'd managed to get spread out. Peter would like to play, but it's not the problem it was for Jeremy (at least not yet) and that's good, because he's got at least another year to wait through before his turn comes up!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! We do hope it was fun for everyone! We had a lot of fun - it was a nice mellow day, which seem abnormal for us for Halloween, but it was really nice. The weather was great - 67 degrees when we started out! I must admit I was thankful for that since the girls outfits would have been hard to "bulk up"!

Unlike other years, I didn't make all the costumes! Okay, so that's not entirely a first, but I generally make them all or most of them. This year three were store bought (two this year and one from a couple years ago) and the other, well I used a lot of safety pins. Spanish Princess on a budget! =)

Bob and the kids made jack-o-lanterns right after an early dinner. Then the boys played outside while I got the girls together (mostly Gabi) and then we got them into costume. They were, of course, very excited to go "trick-or-treating" and Gabi insisted it be a family affair... so it was. Peter, being Thomas, said "peep, peep" and "clickity clack" all along the way! It was fun, but everyone was happy to be home!





Thomas The Tank Engine! (yes, his smoke stack is missing, we just couldn't figure out where tha ended up!)



Princess Elizabeth - Or is she the Glenda, the Good Witch?



Jeremy the firefighter! He was so excited!


Spanish Princess - Not bad for a put it together yourself!

It's All About The Apple Cake

I was making dinner tonight and Peter wanted to help. The stockpot was hot and he couldn't see in it even standing on a chair, so I figured it wasn't really safe for him. That's when he told me that when he grew up he'd be a mommy....

I asked him if he was really going to be a mommy or if he was going to be a daddy... he said "Daddy" and then told me all the things that mommies cook and the things that daddies cook... ending with "And mommies make apple cake. I'm going to be a mommy when I get bigger"

Don't worry about gender, it's all about the apple cake!

License

I guess that's that last thing I needed to do before being officially a citizen of this state. My marriage certificate came amazingly fast - I had no idea that mail could go across the country and back in less than one week... I'd say that's a blessing!

Anyway, it arrived a couple days ago, this morning I went in - and blessings once again, I received someone else to deal with - someone who was actually nice. The test was, as tests go, filled with many questions that didn't have enough information to be certain which answer to give. Blessed again, I was some how able to come up with the answers they were seeking. Needless to say, I have officially passed (I feel like high school all over again) and my new ID / License will be in within the next two weeks.

I think that's all for the headaches of moving. I think everything else is just part of life!