7th Grade

Savanah started 7th grade this year in a brand new middle school. She did great finding all her classes and didn't have any problems with her new locker. She loved the fact that her new principal directed traffic and walked around the lunchroom with a light saber. She is sad she will only be in the new school for a few months. 

Sick Day

Savanah stayed home from school today. She woke up with a slight fever and a headache. Poor thing. I wouldn't say I was happy she stayed home sick from school, but I will say that I did enjoy sitting on the couch with her while we caught up on American Idol episodes we haven't had time to watch.

It was such a nice day! Except for the slight fever and headache of course.

Beginning Orchestra Concert

Two weeks before school started Savanah decided she wanted to play the cello instead of the trombone. Ethan was already stressing at the thought of her practicing the trombone while he was home. Savanah decided there was more of a future in cello than the trombone. For instance, a cello can be played in church, a trombone cannot. I called the school and had her switched from band to orchestra.

Orchestra has been the one reason why she wanted to go back to school. She was so excited to play the cello. Her excitement for orchestra has helped off set the anxiety of entering middle school where she has to change classrooms and figure out how to open a locker.

Two and a half weeks after school started she had her first concert. Of course, the concert fell on the same night as one of AJ's football games. I was disappointed to miss his game but that is part of life in a big family.

I will say that it was quite nice that I had a front row seat and was in air conditioning. It was fun to see her in action as she played the few notes that she had learned so far.

At the end of the concert they had a parent go up on stage and each student "taught" them all about their instrument. I have never played a cello so it was kinda fun.

As you can see, I was still in my football gear. Yes, I missed AJ's game but this turned out to be a great chance to spend the evening with Savanah as she develops a new talent.

Ponder

At the end of the "Christmas Story" in the Bible we read:

 Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

I remember several Christmas' ago when I was pregnant with Savanah at this time of year. I pondered a lot that year with a new understanding of what Mary went through. I know there is no way I can understand what it was really like for her to bring forth the Son of God but, in a small, simple way I used my imagination. I knew what it was like to be uncomfortable. I knew that at the end of a pregnancy it is difficult to sit, stand, eat, sleep, and even breathe. I can't imagine riding a donkey 80 miles in that condition. I can't imagine leaving the comforts of home to travel to the land of my ancestors to pay taxes to a government forced on my people. While I gave birth in a sterile hospital with doctors, nurses, and all the comforts of modern medicine. Mary gave birth in a stable.

That year as I pondered Christmas, I knew the miracle of birth. I held my own new born babe. I pondered the birth of Christ. It will always be one of my favorite Christmas'

The tiny baby I held that year has grown into a beautiful young woman.  She just turned 11 years old. I thank God every day that she came to me. I love seeing her discoever her talents and abilities. I love her deeply.

Fast forward to this year. It has been another year of pondering. You see, this is my last Christmas with my family all living under one roof. This is it. I keep telling myself that life will go on. There will be more Christmas' to come and they will only get better with eventual daughter-in-laws and grandchildren but for now, this is the last year that I will draw all of my children close and see them and hug them.  It is the last childhood Christmas for Esteban. 

Este leaves on a mission for our church sometime this summer after he graduates from high school. We don't know where he will be going. We do not get to choose. For the next two years the only contact we will have with him will be a weekly email, a phone call on Mother's Day, and a phone call on Christmas. Ethan will leave on his mission the next summer. AJ will leave in two summers after that.  It will be almost six years before we are together again for Christmas. The thought of it breaks my heart. 

Yet, I know how important this opportunity will be for my sons to leave on their missions. They will leave as boys. They will come back as men. They will have two years of their life to devote to God. They will leave the things of the world behind and study, serve, and learn of the things that matter most. They will find themselves in service to God and learn to love him as well as to love others as themselves. I can't wait to hear about the experiences they will have.

And so I want this to be the "perfect" Christmas. We have had offers to go to parties on Christmas Eve. We have numerous friends and neighbors that we could invite over to celebrate with but, this year it will just be us. Just Aaron and I and our five children. 

In my mind, I picture us all sitting around the table in our Sunday best, using perfect manners, eating a gourmet fest, and talking of profound gospel truths. I am bracing myself for the reality: we will be wearing sweats, dinner will be late, and we will be talking football. They all better still use perfect manners!

No matter what this Christmas turns out to be, it will be one that I will always remember. I have pondered so much this Christmas not only on birth of Christ but, the life of Christ. He showed us how to manage the road. He is the way, the truth, and the life . He taught us by His example and His teachings the path to return to Him someday. He suffered for our sins. He suffered for my sins. I get busy and distracted. I fall short in so many ways. I make wrong decisions. I sometimes follow my head more than my heart. I need His grace every single day. I want to be more like my Savior. I have a long way to go but, He is ever patient and  loving. I am grateful for the intimate relationship that I have with my Redeemer. There are times when I get busy in my daily life. I sometimes forget Him more that I should yet, Jesus Christ is always there. Waiting. Loving. I commit once again to do better.

So, we will see what the next few days bring. We will see what the next few years bring. I am sure they will fall short of being perfect and I am ok with that. This I do know, I will keep these things and ponder them in my heart. 

Girly Girls

I attended Savanah and Vanessa's Activity Days mother-daughter activity earlier this week. We had so much fun! They have me a pre-mother's day manicure. They each did a hand. They did a wonderful job!

We stepped into the "photo booth" and had a picture taken together. I love my little girls so much!

It was very nice spending some girl time together.

Perfect!

My sweet Savanah turned 10 years old recently. I love her so much! The boys like to give her a hard time about being the "perfect" child who has never even been spanked. (We'll save the debate on childhood discipline for another post.) It's true though, she has been almost perfect since the day she was born a decade ago.

I took lunch into her at school on her birthday. At the schools here, the parents have a designated table to sit and eat with their child. I really enjoyed having some one on one time with her. I LOVED having her all to myself for a minute. While we were there eating, a soldier walked in and tapped a girl on the shoulder. It was her older brother surprising her with his return from Iraq. She absolutely leaped into his arms with squeals of delight. It was very touching to witness and of course, made me get a little teary eyed.

After doing some shopping at the mall for her birthday we went to dinner with Aaron on her birthday date. She chose to go to a local restaurant. This is what it looks like from the outside...

(That reminds me of my childhood in so many ways.)

This is what it looks like on the inside.

The menu consists of fried chicken, chicken fried steak, fried chicken tenders, fried catfish, smoked chicken, and pot roast. (Is it just me or does that sound a little bit like the state fair?) Along with your choice of meat, you get all these delicious sides (Mashed potatoes, gravy, creamed corn, green beans, and the best biscuits and green salad EVER!) all served family style. The food was fantastic!! No wonder it was recently ranked for serving the best fried chicken in DFW. I'm not a huge fan of fried food but, if your living in the South, ya gotta love southern food. Needless to say, I'm a convert!

When the waitress asked Savanah's age to see if she qualified for the kid's meal, I let it slip that it was her birthday. Sure enough after dinner our server brought over a rubber chicken hat for Savanah to wear while the staff sang a little Birthday jingle with Savanah flapping her arms chicken-like to the beat. She was such a good sport about it. Have a mentioned how much I LOVE this girl?

When we returned home she opened her presents which consisted of books. Lots and lots of books. She is a voracious reader. It is hard to keep up with her flying through books even with the city library and school library at her fingertips. I love the fact that she is such a great reader.

It was the perfect ending of the perfect day celebrating the life of a nearly perfect girl.

Soccer City

I have heard our new hometown referred to as Soccer City. It is the headquarters to the US Youth Soccer Association and FC Dallas. I have talked to people and when they hear that my kids play soccer and football they reply, "Oh, you'll fit right in here."

Both of my girls wanted to pursue another season of soccer.

They started out by doing a soccer camp at the end of the summer. After settling in and going on our vacation, the only camp left was one at the hottest time of  the year. They held the camp in the evening, which helped, but there were still several nights that week when I dropped them off at 6:00 pm it was still over 100 degrees. They played hard and learned a lot.

We joined the city youth soccer league. There are more competitive leagues in the area but most of them play games on Sunday and that is just something that we are not interested in doing. I view soccer as a way to get exercise, have fun, and learn teamwork. That can be done at any level.

Savanah joined a team that had  been together for several years and had not won a game EVER.
She played hard this season and was tested as the coach played her in several new positions.  They lost or tied every game of the season till they won their very last game and ended the season on a winning streak. She said she wanted to stay on this team because she likes the girls and they are fun to play with. She really doesn't care if they win or not. They played on turf fields in the shadow of FC Dallas' Stadium. Here are a few highlights from her season.

Vanessa's team won most of their games. They are a talented team that challenged her to step up her game and get serious about playing soccer. I have to say that I loved her short hair for soccer. It is so easy when it is windy and the messy look just looked better at the end of the game. Here are some highlights from her season:

The league allows each team to pick their own uniforms and team names. They also allow players to remain with the same coach from year to year. Both the girls were placed on teams that had been together for several years. I was impressed how quickly the other parents learned my girl's name and started cheering for them from the sideline. Both girls had a great season and we all look forward to spring soccer.

End of Summer

We spent the last few of days of summer at a soccer tournament for AJ and Savanah. I LOVED sitting out in the sunshine knowing it was all going to come to an end soon. I will take the heat and sunshine any day!

AJ's team did well. It was AJ's first tournament and he was new to the team so it took some time to get his feet on the ground. It is hard to start with a new team at his age but he did great and played his heart out.

Savanah also had a new team and at this age they start playing positions. She loves playing goalie. I have no idea why. I feel great stress when she is the goalie and the ball even gets on that side of the field. She doesn't mind the pressure. She has a lot to learn about the position but it was a good start.

She has a fun team and the girls work hard and play hard. The best part is that they have fun together and often laugh and joke out on the field.

Their hard work paid off in the fact that they won first place and received gold medals.

With both AJ and Savanah playing, it was  a great way to end the summer.

Fun Run

When I received my finisher's medal after the half marathon, Savanah said to me, "I want one of those." I told her she could have anything she wanted and was willing to work for. Both her and AJ decided they wanted to do a race with me. We started training shortly after that. We first ran one mile, than two, and slowly added distance. We started out walking a lot and slowly added more time running and less time walking. Vanessa would ride her bike along side of us as we trained.

We woke up early on Labor Day and while the rest of the family slept in we ran in a local 5K. AJ did awesome and finished just behind the main pack of the winners. Savanah found several of her soccer teammates also running the race. The distraction was a blessing and she enjoyed running with her friends. By the last mile she was getting tired. She ended up walking part of the race but when we rounded the last corner, she took off and I couldn't catch her. We all had fun together and look forward to another race in the future.

Duet

Savanah experienced her first piano recital this summer. She had both of her songs memorized to perfection including the song she wrote all by herself. I was very proud of her.

Then it came time for our duet. I needed the book since I did not have my part memorized. We started the piece and I messed up which forced us to start over. She kept looking up at me with a stern look. We made it through with just a few minor "abbreviations" to the music (All of which were on my part.) I enjoyed playing the piano with her but I have the feeling that next time she will ask Aaron to join her on the piano bench instead.

Spring Update

This past spring has been very busy, thus my blog posts have been few and far between.

There were school programs.  Savanah participated in her class poetry program.

 For one of the poems she had to "bandage" a fellow classmate. I was such a proud mamma and nurse.

They also had a 2nd grade program. Savanah is right in the middle.

There were dance recitals. Vanessa danced in all her glory not smiling once. It takes a lot of concentration you know.

April Fool's Day dinner was burgers and fries. They don't even look realistic but the cookies, frosting, green coconut, and caramel fudge "fries" were a big hit.

There were dangly teeth,

that finally fell out. Yeah! (I hater danglers.) Here is a look at the photo Vanessa took with my camera showing off the loot of cash she got from the tooth fairy.

The tooth fairy resorted to putting money under her pillow at any time of day because she kept forgetting to do it at night while Vanessa was asleep.

There was LOTS of spring soccer. Enough to warrant it's own post. Stay tuned......

There was a friend that move in. Random.

There were field trips. I went on the kindergarten field trip with Vanessa. She LOVED the fact that I rode the bus with her.

The kids enjoyed visiting the local zoo.

We celebrated the last day of school. Yeah!

Of course, we didn't miss our annual bon fire burning all the work from the school year.

Something about s'mores cooked over burning kindergarten papers that makes them tast even better.

 AJ joined the all-boys-braces club. You are looking at a nice $12,000 investment right there. (They all better marry cute girls after the money we spent on their smiles.)

Our orthodontist, who drives a Porsche for which we contribute money to on a monthly basis, makes a mold of their teeth. When you look at their teeth outside of their lips,  it is makes them look even worse. Then the orthodontist holds up the mold and with a smile on his face and says, "Only $4000 to fix this." Okay, tha may be a slight exaggeration but you get my point.

There you have it. A season of fun all wrapped up in one post.

Exploration

On the Sunday afternoon of our weekend getaway, we left our hotel room and did some exploring in Snow Canyon State Park. Savanah was on the rebound with antibiotics flowing through her veins and we were all ready to get out. It had rained part of the time we were in St. George and we knew it was still snowy and cold back home so we all really looked forward to being outside.

Can you tell they were ready to explore?

 I finally had them all come back together for a group photo.

 Aaron took the kids up to the top of a hill and they enjoyed being on top of the world. Although not a single kid has a smile on their face.

 Savanah wasn't up for the steep climb so we stayed below and explored the area around us.

Savanah finally summoned the strength to climb to the top of a hill and wanted to show off her strength. Look at the smile on her face!

AJ enjoyed exploring the rock formations

 The rocks and the views were amazing!

 The scenery was gorgeous and we all enjoyed the afternoon outside.