Stations of the Cross

Our two oldest were in the youth presentation of Live Stations at our church.  Below are some pictures from the program, but I've also uploaded a 4 min video to YouTube if you have time with this link:  http://youtu.be/U-SxL8Xi6fk

Our oldest was a "Woman of Jerusalem" and our son played Jesus.

The whole program took an hour to go through all 14 stations, and with each scene, the youth stood still for 3-4 minutes.

They did such a great job!

Prom Invite

It's a big deal now in not just going to the prom, but in how you're ASKED to go to the prom.  Some invites are so elaborate that they could compete with marriage proposals.  Last year, this same friend found out how much our daughter loved pumpkin, whether it's pumpkin bread, pumpkin pie, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin chips, really anything to do with pumpkin (afterall, it is a melon!).  So, last year he bought her a pumpkin muffin from a bakery and had them write "Prom?" with icing on the top.  She loved he did that, so she agreed to be his prom date.

This year, the same sweet guy wanted to ask her again.  But the question was how?  To take you back several weeks ago, there was a soccer game in which our sweet, intelligent, and considerate daughter played a bit too aggressively on the soccer field.  She had received a yellow card earlier this season (which is a warning from the referee), but was given a red card on this particular game becuase the aggressive behavior occurred within the goal box.  Since this was the first red card given to any athlete in the history of the school, our daughter got the nickname "red".

So, her date decided to purchase an official referee shirt and an official red card and wrote the word "Prom?" on the card.  Our daughter accepted with a smile at the elaborate length he went to ask.  She told him it would have been cheaper to just purchase a watermelon.

Field Trip

 One of the things I love about having a little one is that you're still "cool" on field trips.  Our youngest asked if I could chaperone a school trip to a play, and I couldn't resist the sweetness in this request.


Here, our little girl is next to one of her BFF's, and they posed so cute on the bus.  It was also "sunglasses" day, and a sunny, but cold, day to wear them.

Once seated, it seemed like an eternity to keep the girls quiet until the show began.  They weren't too interested in my phone since it's a basic phone, and I didn't have an ipod with games on it to keep them busy.  But, they did their best to stay as calm as possible in the 30 min. spare time we had from arriving early.

Our performance was  based on the book "The Hungry Catepillar" by Eric Carle.  It was a great performance that was geared perfectly for this age group.  The kids loved it!

After the show, one of the students in the first group dismissed decided to pull the fire alarm (not from our school).  So, in the bitter, but sunny day, we all had a mass exit and enjoyed the 40 degree temps while waiting for an hour on each school's bus to pull in.  With all the gorgeous fountains in downtown, you can imagine the difficulty in keeping their little hands out of the water.

Overall, it was a cute outing that got extended past our expected arrival time.  But, the precious moments of still being "cool" was priceless.  I loved all the hugs from the kids!

French 1 Project

Our son was assigned a project in his French class to video tape a restaurant scene.  Dubbing music, dressing up, and serving real French cusine would add to the atmosphere for extra points, but wasn't required.



Since he's the charming child in the family who knows how to make an A when it will really count, he partnered with the only student who is fluent in French (and happens to be one of his best friends), served real wine, and looked up on the internet the easiest authentic French dish to make.

Enjoy the video!  http://youtu.be/rx-sB-RQdYU

Energy Efficient

This is our energy bill graph over the past 13 months.  The blue line is an average home's energy bill in our area with similar square footage.  The green line is an efficient home in our area with similar square footage, and the yellow line is our home.

Eric has been busy insulating our attic, insulating all doors & windows, and replacing our light bulbs with the new LED ones, among many other things.  It's really paying off, too.  Our bill in January was only $80 for a 2,400 sq foot home.

Record Snowfall

Our wintery week began early Tuesday morning with a few inches of snowfall and cancellation of school.  By 10am, all the kids were outside in their snow gear playing.

They made several snowmen (or snow families), and used the sleds to haul the big round balls of snow.

The homes with steep slopes were the most popular, and with the roads iced over, there was no threat of traffic coming by.  The kids sled from one house to another, then made the trek back up a dozen times.

By day 2, the routine was the same, only more snow.  The pile of snow gear would come & go, and it was obvious where the kids were.  No pile, the kids were outside or at someone else's house.  If we had the pile, they are either upstairs playing or warming by the fire.

We also went through a lot of hot cocoa and mini marshmellows.

By the afternoon of day 2, there was so much snow we decided to build an igloo.  It took a few hours, but was so much fun!  This one held all 3 of us, as the little one is in the back.

Here's an inside picture of our igloo so you could see how deep it went.  It really kept us warm inside when the wind was blowing.

On day 3, the last day of our winter storm, we woke up again to fresh snow.  This last layer added another 3-4 inches, but quickly began melting around noon when the temps rose to 45 degrees.  It would still be another 24 hrs before the roads were safe to travel.

After the 3 straight days of snow, I realized a few things:  2 jugs of milk are not enough to have on hand, popcorn & movies will bring in an entire neighborhood of kids, and amaretto snow cones made with fresh snow are amazing!

Pageant Competition

Our oldest was in a pageant competition last weekend called Distinguished Young Women (formally Junior Miss).  It's based on scholastic ability, talent, interview, poise, and fitness.

This was her interview outfit.  She said it went well for the most part.  But seconds after as she was asked about her passion for health & wellness in our youth, another judge cut her off for one last question. She was disappointed she didn't get to fully answer it. Not a huge deal, though, as she rocked all the other questions.

Her talent was very unique.  She wanted to showcase her culinary skills by carving the pageant logo into a watermelon.  An awesome job, and completed within the 90 second time limit!

I didn't take any pictures during her fitness routine, unfortunately, but she was amazing.  Here is the final dance with their dresses on.  For someone who rarely wears heals, let alone dance in them, she did great.

Overall, our daughter won the scholastic competition and was awarded a $250 scholarship.  We were really proud of her performance and attitude throughout the whole 6 weeks of preparation.  It was a lot of hard work and made her get out of her comfort zone!  Way to Go!