Our crazy December

Shandra's Christmas program. Can you see her?

Shandra on the bars at gymnastics. She loves to do a flip off the bars
Jerrick at his piano recital. He played a duet with Ben
Daesha at her piano recital. She hated the dress I bought her. She said she looked like an old lady. It was hilarious! She wore the dress anyway!
Daesha and Jerrick getting ready for their piano rectial

Wow! I have been so busy with birthdays, Christmas programs, Christmas shopping, gymnastics program, piano recitals, and parties! First, I want to thank everyone for the wonderful birthday wishes and presents and money. I hope I thanked everyone already but sometimes I think that my life is so crazy that I miss a few people. Anyway Thanks to everyone!!! I am attaching pictures of the kids at their various functions. Shandra had a first grade Christmas program, and of course it was the cutest! First graders are so fun to watch because some of them enjoy performing while others you can tell hate it, but they do it anyway. Very Cute! Daesha and Jerrick had their piano recital on Sunday the 14th. I was very proud of them. Daesha played 4 Christmas songs and she really enjoys the piano and I actually was surprised that Jerrick played Jolly old St Nickolas, because he hates performing and having all the attention on him. He did a great job. Shandra had her Christmas performance at gymnastics on Monday and it was cute. At the end of class she was able to show her skills to John. I go to class every week so I already know what she can do. That girl has no fear when it comes to gymnastics and she can barely take a step without adding a cartwheel or round off in between. I think everyone at home gets sick of her constantly doing gymnastics in the front room. Oh well! John and I were able to go to St. George on the 12 and spend the night without the kids it was a good night and we actually got a lot of shopping done for Christmas! The most exciting thing for the kids is that school was cancelled today because of the horrible weather in Las Vegas. It didn't snow here , but we had a lot of rain and mud! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and we will see everone in SLC the day after Christmas!!!

Brag Time!!

Jerrick getting his Citizenship Award

Daesh loves her picture taken! Can you tell?

Shan and all the first graders on the straight A honor roll

Daesha with her reflections award

So I am going to brag about my children! We have had a busy couple of weeks. Last Friday Daesha won 3rd place in music for her piano song for refelections. This was pretty good because she basically finished writing the notes and then I recorded her playing the song. She titled it "Wow, I am so lucky". Then on Monday I went to the school because they were announcing the Honor Roll and Citizenship awards for the first trimester. Daesha and Shandra were on the straight A honor roll and Jerrick made it on the A-B honor roll. Daesha and Jerrick also received citizenship awards for their classes. Yeah! I am proud of them!!!

Life with a 3 year old!

The past week has been a learning experience for pur family! Shandra has learned she has to share and not be the baby and she actually did very well! Yeah Shandra! Her patience is a little shorter than Jerrick and Daesha's but it has been a good week for her! Jerrick has had fun with another boy in the house, but otherwise he is just doing the same as any other day. He doesn't let anything bother him! Daesha wants to hold and cuddle Kaysen but he won't have any of that so she basically does her own thing also! Kaysen has had to learn to share and go to bed and basically survive in our chaotic world but he has done very well, considering we are constantly running here and there. He has had a few play dates with neighbors and has enjoyed himself and wants to play with Bella, Eli , and Joe everyday! I have had to relearn that germs and dirt don't kill anybody and especially not little boys who don't wash their hands and then touch me. I have also learned that crust on bread is a bad thing. Chocolate milk from the bunny(Nestle) isn't as good as chocolate milk from the store, everything that a three year old says has some truth to it but isn't necessarily all true. For example, Uncle John didn't yell at Kaysen and push him down , but told him to lay down and put him on the bed. Anyway we had a very fun couple of weeks and I'm sure everyone will miss Kaysen when he is gone.

Halloween

the kids were very excited for Halloween this year because they were able to celebrate 2 days. On Thurday they had a Halloween parade and party in their classes at school. Jer and Shan both participated ,but poor Daesha was sick and throwing up so she had to miss the class parties. She was able to participate in all the Halloween activities on Friday because it was only a 24 hour bug. The kids all wanted to dress scary and not cutesy so Daesh dressed as a scary pirate, Jerrick was the grim reaper, and Shan was a vampiress. I thought they all looked cute!

more videos of the party

Here are some more videos of the party! The lighting is not great down in the basement, but you can see and hear the girls.

HaPpY BiRtHDaY DaEsHA BoO

SoDaesha is finally into the double digits! I can't believe I have had this wonderful daughter for 10 years! Where did the time go? She had her birthday party on the 10th so that she could have a sleepover with her friends and it was a blast. This years theme was "Movie Night" so when the girls first arrived they went on a video scavenger hunt around the neighborhood and of course Daesh'a team had to win. After dinner the girls were split into 3 groups and they had a topic that they had to make a movei about. One groups topic was rockstar, another was mystery, and the last group had the cheerleader theme. I gave them an hour to practice, but I have to say most of the time was spent putting makeup on and coloring their hair with colored hairspray. After we watched each groups skits they earned a "daesha emmy" for best act, scariest movie, and most spirit ect.. We had a yummy ice cream cake from dairy queen and then opened presents. To end the night we watched movies downstairs with a projector and a big screen against the basement wall. The girls were supposed to sleep downstairs but they scared themselves with all the talk of bloody mary that they ended up sleeping in the living room. I think everyone had a great time and ended the next morning with grandma Brenda cooking sausage, pancakes and eggs for everyone! I think that Daesha had a great time and I am so happy that I am able to have these fun & crazy parties to share with her and her friends.

First Week Of School

waiting at the bus stop
Jerrick is one of Mrs Bowler's Stars

I tried to get them all on the steps, but they wouldn't turn around

The kids made it through their first week of the 08-09 school year without any major problems or stressors! Daesha is in 4th grade and her teacher is Mrs. Newman. Daesh is really excited about this year and she absolutely loves her teacher plus she has a lot of friends in her class which makes it soo much better. She missed Friday to go to a Cardinals game with John and as far as I can tell they are having a good time ! They were supposed to be home Saturday, then they decided Sunday, but the called today and said they are coming home on Monday. Jerrick is happy about his class because he practically knows everyone in there. HIs 2nd grade teacher is Mrs. Bowler and as far as I can tell he likes her. Jerrick is not much of of talker so when I ask how school was he just says okay! I know he has fun playing with Luke and Mason and sometimes chasing Shandra on the play ground. Shandra is in Mrs Tusler's 1st grade class and Mrs Tusler was so cute because she put Shan in the same desk that Daesha had in 1st grade. I was very surprised that she could remember where Daesha sat 3 years ago because I sure didn't. Shandra has loved 1st grade! I thought she would be as tired as Jerrick was but she still has a ton of energy and talks nonstop when she gets home. I never have to wonder about her thought or her day because she tells it all! On the 1st day Shan's class went around the school looking for clues from the gingerbreadman. Mrs Tusler put clues up showing where the office, nurses room, lunch room, ect were. While they were walking around she kept saying " I think I saw the gingerbread man" so all the kids believed her and when they went back to the class there were gingerbread cookies from the gingerbreadman. Shan came home and she kept talking about the gingerbread man and how he was a small fast man and that she was kinda freaked out so she did not eat a cookie. I thought she was being funny but after she kept talking about it I realized she thought the gingerbread man was real and she was afraid of him. I then explained that Mrs Tusler was the gingerbread man and then she was fine with the whole thing! Shandra is continuing her gymnastics and she loves it! Jerrick and Daesha are both signed up for soccer so we will be busy again with practices and games. Jer and Daesha are still in piano and I was going to wait to give Shandra time to adjust to a full day of school before I signed her up for piano, but I'm thinking she might start piano sooner if she is as good as she was last week!

Our camping trip

John and Jerrick
Jerrick holding Daesha's pet fish

Breanna and Shandra in the river

It was so nice to get away for a few days in the nice cool mountains and go camping. My definition of camping is very different from John's because he says we weren't camping because we stayed in a nice home in the mountains with a nice shower and a very soft warm bed to sleep in at night. I figure since we were out in nature we were camping! We went with our neighbors the Hardings and the Olige's and had a great time! As soon as we got there the kids were in the river getting their clothes wet. Shandra went through 2 outfits the first day so it was good that there was a washer and dryer available or she would have been out of clothes! The 2nd day we went on a 4 hour four wheeler trip up the mountains. I drove my own with Shandra on the back and we had a blast although I ate tons of dust and had lots of bugs hit me in the face! That night I dreamt that I opened my eye and there was a fly in it. It was impossible because I had glasses on but the bugs hitting my face obviously freaked me out or I wouldn't have dreamt about them. The next morning everyone went fishing well everyone but me and Shandra. Daesha was the only one who caught 2 fish and she was so cute because she did not understand that they die when you take them out , she asked me if she could keep them as pets and I thought she was kidding, but when John explained that they were dead she had a real breakdown. It tore her up that they were dead, so she did not get a picture with her fish, but Jerrick is holding one of the fish she caught in a picture. We played phase 10 on the last night we were there and John actually won! Surprise Surprise! He never wins! We finished the game really late so it was hard to get up and get packed the next morning! When we traveled home we were so tired but it was a lot of fun and when we got back to Logandale it was so hot! Now we are getting ready for school which starts next Monday. I went up to the school and fed the teachers lunch today and boy is it busy up there! I talked to all my children's teachers and am excited for a great year with them. I had to cook a roast in the crock pot all night for the french dips and John and the kids were so sad because they wanted to eat the food themselves, but I had to take it to the school. John said he dreamt of food because it smelled so good! As you all know I am not a cook so it is very rare that it smells like food in our house.

stormed out synchro meet

I had to add this lovely picture of John and Cutie Pie!!

Saturday was the big day for the Moapa Mermaids synchro team! We were supposed to check in at 9:30 for warmups and team practice, but when we got there there was lightning strikes and so the competition did not start for another 2 hours. When it finally started they decided to have the teams go first instead of the soloists in case of more bad weather. Anyway the girls did okay for not being able to warm up or practice together! The mermaids got 3rd place! Daesha was not able to perform her solo and I think I was more bummed than she was. I just couldn't stand that we paraciticed so hard for 2 weeks for no reason, especially since the lightning was not over our area but over the mountains. I think they cut us because there was a swim meet next and they did not want the synchro to go over into the meet! Oh well Daesha will perform her solo at a parent meet on Saturday the 9th of August.

I just wanted to post Jerrick on swim team his swim coach says he is a good little swimmer,but Jerrick still doesn't want to compete in the swim meets. I told him it was okay to just enjoy learning how to swim and not worry about the competition!

Here is Daesha competing at her figure meet. She was awesome! I also have to clarify that I didn't actualy catch on fire on the 4th, Deanna, Daesha and Mom thought my shirt was on fire but it really wasn't. So all is fine with me I am just not allowed near anymore fireworks!!

July Happenings

So we had a great 4th of July! It was fun to have Mom, Dad, Kolton, and Tori down for a bbq and to enjoy the festivities at the fairgrounds! Daesha and Shandra enjoyed following Kolt and Tori around, and I am sure Kolton enjoyed having them hang winth him and his girlfriend! Ha!!! The kids, grandparents, and John started the morning early at the flag raising and breakfast! I went up later to enjoy the fun and games, candy drop and all the hot dog and poe eating contests! Later in the afternoon John and Jerrick went to the movies while Shan, Daesha, Grandma and I weent swimming to practice for the synchro competition the next morning. We had dinner at home and them went back up to the fairgrounds for more games and the fireworks! We came home and had a great firework show in our neighborhood, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for picking out the best fireworks! They were awesome and the kids and neighbors loved them. I started the fireworks at home, but was quickly demoted because I caught myself on fire and we had some scary minutes of chaos, but Grandpa and Mark saved the day all the rest of the fireworks went off without any problems. Needless to say I am not allowed near a lighter or fireworks next year! Saturday morning started bright and early after our late night! We had a synchro figure meet in Las Vegas at 8 am. Shandra was a grump and wouldn't wake up at all so she went in the car in her jammies and of course with all our begging and bribing she would not compete. Maybe next year! Daesha was # 90 in the competition and it was so hot and humid out that I was dying to leave, but Daesha had her turn and performed all her figures great! She won 1st place out of 12 in her division! We were very proud! She is now working on her routine with the group and she will also perform a solo to EVER EVER AFTER From Enchanted on July 26 th in Henderson. We will all be at the pool a lot for the next 2 weeks pracitcing! Fun Fun !

Salt Lake City Trip

We had a great time visiting with all the family in SLC! We were able to do a lot of fun things, actually John and the kids were able to do a lot of fun things while I was laying in bed with the stomach flu. John, Daesha, Jerrick, Shandra, and grandma went to the coppermine( I forget the name) and they brought back some copper souvenirs . They all went to Lagoon on Friday and of course they had a great time. The kids took advantage of the fact that I wasn't there and went on some rides that I wouldn't have let them go on, but John thought they were fine on the rides. I almost had a heart attck when Shan told me some of the rides she went on, but they came home safe and healthy!