Good Grades = Melting Pot

This semester's classes were especially challenging for Trey and Allie so we thought we'd help motivate them by telling them if they got straight A's we'd take them to The Melting Pot. Trey ended up with 98 averages in both his AP English and AP Biology classes! Wow. Is it possible for someone to get their smart genes from their uncles? Allie is still waiting on the Honors english and Honors Algebra standardized state-wide tests to be graded to find out her final averages but she assures us they are A's! UPDATE: Allie finally got her final grades and she did indeed pull out straight A's!!! Yeah for Allie!

Anyway, we had such a FUN time with our wonderful teenagers. It was their first time going to this fondue restaurant. Allie said she could just go for dessert next time and be happy. We got the cookies and cream this time...YUM. Trey ate all his dinner and most of hers (b/c she doesn't really eat meat).

I still can't believe that I have a 17 and 14 year old. I'm so happy to see them making good choices and enjoying life so much. We are truly blessed.

A perfect afternoon

Trey was working at the Empty Stocking Fund this morning downtown so we decided to pick him up and take the kids ice skating in Market Square. I wasn't sure who would like this activity when it actually came time to hitting the ice. Happily, everyone loved it! David was the only one who had no interest in skating. So he took pictures instead. The kids liked it so much they asked if it could be a family tradition. I love a happy family day!:) (The best part was there was no fighting the whole day.)

parties and celebrating

Last year when Trey turned 16 I told him that after 13 birthday parties, this was going to be the last real party. It was fine to have a couple of friends spend the night but no more "parties". Anyway this year Allie and a friend Lizzy gave Trey a surprise party! It was Taylor Swift themed, b/c Trey loves her. Allie and her friend Hannah even performed "Thug story" by Taylor Swift and T-Pain. He was genuinely surprised and was so happy to hang out with the church kids all night.

On his real birthday we let Trey choose where we would go out to eat and he chose Lakeside Tavern. It was so fun and festive this time of year. We then had a family celebration at home with cake and presents. He was thrilled and surprised to get the new Droid phone.

Random arm wrestling

Last night we celebrated Trey's and Afton's birthdays- cousin style. So many cousins, so much love. What a fun night!

Warning: A cousin may have been hurt during this dog pile.

SNOW

You really can't have a snowfall in Knoxville and not blog about it, even if you are the last to do so. So here are the kids having fun in the snow. After they played in our backyard David took them over to see Koa and they played in the snow some more before we rushed off the piano recitals, basketball games, and church meetings.

Tree decorating

Sydney asked me to take a picture of her holding her favorite ornament.

Can you see something around Connor's waist? Usually that would be some kind of belt to hold his light saber, but on this day it was a home made safety patrol badge --something he desperately wants to be next year.

Next Christmas our tree will have to find a new room to shine in as we are finally after 19 years of marriage going to get dining room furniture. In both the houses we've lived in our tree has always been in our empty dining room, or shall I say "christmas tree room", with plenty of space to pile up all the presents.

I'm glad we have a big tree for all the hundreds of ornaments we have to hang. And yet they still seem to get bunched up in a few areas.

The future

Trey turned 17 this morning. As he was walking out the door to seminary he turned to me and said "mom look at the time, 6:51". His time of birth. Why is it that I've had such a hard time with him getting older lately? I know why. I don't want him to leave us. Everytime I hear the word college or mission I have a pang of sadness. I never knew it would be this hard. But he's helping me see that he'll be just fine as he moves on to his new phases of life. Like when he was loading the dishwasher and I asked him to go ahead and start it and he remembered to run the disposal first. :) Like when he bore his testimony on Sunday and shared what he knew to be true. Hearing my child proclaim his knowledge and belief in the gospel is one of the best gifts I could receive. I wonder if they realize that? As I listened to him I couldn't help thinking he sounded like a missionary. I'm not ready yet, but I see him preparing himself.

Here's to the next 18 months!

Thanksgiving Eve

The kids were out of school early this year for Thanksgiving so we got to spend a fun pre-Thanksgiving day together. The weather is beautiful today. I asked the kids if they wanted to rake leaves. Sydney was all over it. She worked with the rake while the boys piled the leaves into the bags. Why is it that raking leaves is never a chore for kids but it is for adults? Meanwhile Allie and I got busy making sides to take to Thanksgiving dinner. We made our traditional Potatoes Divine and cottage cheese jello salad. I'm going to try a new wild rice salad too.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Classes

So I did it. I finished Biology. When I first got the text book all I could do was laugh when I read it because none of it made any sense to me. I did not enjoy a single chapter. It was 2 months of suffering really. I did however get to ask Trey questions a few times, which was fun. He is currently taking AP Biology, which by the way appears to be way harder than BYU's online course. During the first few chapters about cell structure I thought I was going to explode. I just couldn't wrap my brain around much of it. So Trey sat down with me once or twice and was my teacher. He was just as good as any college professor. I found myself saying "oh, ok, now I get it!" After he finished tutoring me one night I thanked him and he said "Sure mom, it's nice that I can finally do something for you for a change." Now that's pretty cool. And, I don't know how in the world this happened but I actually got an A- in the class!!

Now my life is wonderful because I am taking a class called Food Preparation! The text book (Betty Crocker's 10th edition cookbook!) has chapters called "quick breads" and "stews, sauces, and chili" instead of "photosynthesis" and "eurokaryotic cell structure". And I'm actually learning things that I either never knew or have just forgotten. Like what the difference is between baking soda and powder. My big accomplishment so far is that I successfully, for the first time ever, made yeast bread! Seriously, this was my first time. This past year I used yeast for the first time when I made cinnamon rolls with Allie for conference weekend. But I had never made bread. I have always just been intimidated. But now I see that there was no reason to be intimidated at all! It was easy. And my honey-whole wheat bread turned out beautifully delicious. Or at least my family said so. I was like a proud mom showing off my twin loaves when they came out of the oven.

Water: So good and yet so bad

Water, why do you hate us so? About 2 weeks ago I noticed that a piece of our baseboard in the laundry room was starting to pull off the wall. Hmmm...maybe just settling with the weather change. Then about a week ago I happen to be notice the girls' toilet had a little ring of water around the metal thing connecting to the floor. I mentioned both to David and we both got busy and just kind of watched for anything more to happen. THEN, yesterday I noticed the beadboard in the laundry room had a big buckle in it and it clicked......the leaky toilet upstairs is right above spot in laundry room when baseboard and beadboard are reacting!! AHHHHH!!! Thankfully, Scott, our handy friend who did our re-build came right over and removed the affected wood and fixed the leaky toilet. The all familiar hum of a fan is running and things are drying out nicely. It shouldn't be too painful to just replace that one area of wood and be good as new.

Phone calls from school

This post is the first of mine with no picture. It's not a cute story either. I just want to record it so I'll remember to tell my kids about it when they are older.

The kids have been in school about 2 1/2 months. To date here is a pretty accurate list of calls I've gotten during a school day:

1 call from FIS nurse telling me Tanner is in the clinic with a headache
3 calls from FIS nurse telling me Sydney hit her head on the bars at recess
2 calls from FHS nurse telling me Allie is in the clinic injured with ice packs and 1 call from FHS nurse telling me Allie is in clinic complaining about coughing
At least 10 texts from Allie telling me she doesn't feel well in some way

1 call from Tanner saying he forgot his lunch
2 call from Sydney saying she forgot her lunch
4 texts from Allie saying she forgot her lunch
5-6 texts from Allie asking me if would take her out to lunch

1 call from Sydney making sure I knew the time of her fall party
5 texts from Allie telling me she forgot some misc. item, like clothes to change into after gym
There are also many random texts from Allie during the day telling me about something she has to bring to class the next day, asking me if she can go shopping for shoes that weekend, telling me she's cold, asking me what we have going on that night, etc. Oh and of course there was the phone call telling me she made the basketball team!

So pretty much when the phone rings during a school day I expect it to be from one of my kid's schools. Notice that I've not had any calls having to do with Connor or Trey. Trey has texted me before to let me know about a good test score before. Good thing I'm a stay at home mom!

Happy Halloween

No surprise on what the boys wanted to be for Halloween. Sydney however surprised me when she asked if she could be Dorthy. When I remembered that the Cruzes had been the Wizard of Oz last year I quickly told her I thought that it was a great idea! Other than the rain, it was a fun night. Least amount of time and money put into costumes to date!!

Allie is amazing

A few months ago Allie was very let down and discouraged when she did not make the high school soccer team. She worked hard all summer but it was not meant to be. We were all worried at how she would handle the disappointment. As a parent you want to take away all of your children's hurt, frustrations, and disappointments. You go through every ounce of pain with them and only pray that you are making a difference in their suffering. You wish you could take it away. But you know that they will grow in times of trial. Allie surprised me with her resilience after not making the soccer team. Her immediate reaction was to get some girls together and form an AYSO soccer team. Which she did. She also pretty quickly announced that she wanted to try out for the FHS basketball team. On the outside I encouraged her and said "that's the spirit, Allie". But on the inside, I didn't want her to tryout for another sport. I didn't want her to go through all the hard work and then not make it...again. I didn't think I could go through it with her again. So she started attending some of the pre-season strength and conditioning a few months ago with the basketball team. Monday and Tuesday night were tryouts. And she found out today that she made it! She made the JV basketball team. Allie is courageous. She was not about to let the fear of failure stand in her way of trying again. While she had our support, this was something she did on her own. She put herself out there again, opening herself up to possible defeat. I am so proud of Allie. I wish I had her courage. She is amazing.

Stylish Sydney

Sydney is a teenager. It's almost official. Between the phone talking and the fashion opinions she's pretty much there. A few weeks ago I was having her try on all of her last year's winter clothes to see what we needed to buy for this year. As she tried on all the clothes she enlightened my on her new style. First and foremost she let me know that she did not like Gymboree anymore. That store is for little kids. As I picked up one shirt after another from that very store trying to talk her into believing that they were not too little-kiddish she says: "mom, you've just got to let me grow up." What?! You are 9! Ok, deep breath... She continues on to tell me that she really wants to go shopping with me and show me the kind of clothes she likes. "you know mom, like the t-shirts with writing on them that Allie wears?" Uh Sydney, I hate to break it to you but American Eagle and Aeropostle don't carry size 8 girls in their stores! Boot cut jeans are not on her "in" list right now, only skinny jeans go on her body. She is very into the whole look: shoes, accessories. It bugs her to no end that you have to wear tennis shoes to school for safety reasons. Oh boy.

Buddy Walk

Trey was invited to read a proclamation from the mayor to announce October to be National Downs Syndrome Awareness Month at the 12th annual Buddy Walk. The Buddy Walk is a fund raiser attended by thousands of people in downtown Knoxville to raise awareness about Downs Syndrome. They invited Trey to read the proclamation and then surprised him on stage with a plaque expressing their appreciation to him for all he has to done to raise awareness. We were very touched and honored by their thoughfulness.

Trey's first date

It's not often you get to document your child's first date I guess...but since Trey's first date was the Homecoming dance I got to take pictures without it embarrassing him too much. He had a great time with a girl named Emily. They ate a Lakeside, were too late to go to the game, but had fun at the dance. Rave theme.

Lucky guy!

It's coupon selling time in Tennessee. Every fall the schools have a fund raiser selling coupon books. It's a hassle when you have a lot of kids. Well, Connor is my only child this year who even asked about selling coupon books. He kept asking me about it daily and I kept putting him off. He explained that if he sold 5 books he would get to spin a wheel and maybe win $1.00. Oh boy! Well, I finally reminded him to sell one to his grandmother and he turned that money in on Monday. THEN, he came home from school on Tuesday and tells me "mom, I've got to sell another book! They are having a drawing for a 50 dollar bill for anyone who brings in money for a sold coupon book, but it's just tomorrow!" "Ok", I think, "I'll indulge him." So I tell him I haven't bought one yet and to call Grammy and see if she wanted one this year. She did, so he brought in money this morning for 2 sold coupon books. Well guess what?! He won the drawing!! His principal called me at the end of the school day and tells me she has good news and wanted to know the safest way for the 50 dollar bill to make it home. You've never seen a more excited young boy than Connor coming in the door with his prize money! What a lucky guy!

Happy 9th Birthday

Tanner, Sydney and Connor enjoyed having their birthday on a Saturday this year. It's just not right to have to go to school on your birthday. I started making them chocolate chip pancakes at about 8:00 in the morning. When it was ready I called them in for their birthday breakfast. Tanner looked a little hesitant and tentively asked, "mom, um, I just had a really big breakfast so I'm really full....but, um, does that make you sad?" Tanner then got to celebrate by going to get a flu shot because he missed getting the flu mist at school.

This year was the 1st ever separate girl and boy parties. Sydney had wanted just a girl party for a few years and I had not gone along with the idea mainly because it just didn't seem right to celebrate their birthdays separately and because it's double the work. I have to say it was so fun to see Sydney in her element at the "groovy pad" with hair, nails and makeup done, dancing with her girlfriends.

The boys were equally as happy with their star wars movie party at home. Success all around!