Spelling Bee

Leah was in her second grade spelling bee. She and 4 others won her class and went on to the grade bee. She won! She was awarded her trophy today after the school spelling bee. She was glowing. She also got a Kit Kat, which she generously shared with the family.
Anna's bee was this morning. Whew! It's over. Anna did a great job. She and her friend were the representatives from their class. They've been practicing hard all week. Anna didn't even seem nervous up there. She made it to the second round and missed the word "brilliant." It sure reminded me of all of the spelling bees I was in, but I was much more nervous.What great girls!

Playing Trains

Adam and Lance love to play with their train sets. They had an elaborate track set up for several days. They played very nicely with it for hours.

Karate

Anna received a Valentine's Card from school with a special offer for two free lessons. She pressed me to call and schedule them, and it ended up being really fun! I was surprised at how much she learned in such a short amount of time. The best part was seeing her break a board at the end and receive her white belt. She now thinks that she needs to sign up for lessons and work towards getting all the different colored belts. She's also teaching Adam all that she knows, while Leah declines the offer to learn fight moves.

Science Fair

Anna and Leah both participated in the Science Fair at school. They spent a lot of time with Dad over the weekend (and late on Tuesday evening) working on their projects. Leah looked at water samples with different amounts of salt and observed the freezing and thawing of the samples. Anna hung weights from wet wood and dry wood to see which would bend the most. They both had a good time, although Anna wasn't thrilled about having to write a research paper on wood. I have been laid low by a sinus infection so this all happened without my help, and they did a great job! Thanks to amoxicillin, I am now feeling tons better and ready to tackle their Great Brain projects! There are also taxes waiting to be done...

February 2008

I guess last year only ended up with one posting. However, I finally purchased a digital camera this fall. I think I will now be more motivated to post pictures of all of us.
This photo is from Christmas 2007. We had a great time and enjoyed spending the day together. My favorite present was the water toy that I gave to the family. As you can see in the picture, it is a canal system with lochs and boats and paddles--very fun. Unfortunately, we did learn that this is not a toy to be played indoors. We are waiting for spring to get it out again so we won't have to keep mopping up all of the water.
Some things that I will remember from 2007 are the many trips we took. We took a road trip to see family and friends in Colorado and Texas. We bought a DVD player before the trip and loved it! We also went camping and accompanied Spencer on a conference trip to Park City, Utah. In the fall we had a scare with Adam that sent us to our Children's Hospital. He had a lump on his rib that needed to be investigated--but the conclusion is that it is just a bump on his rib. That fall I also had an accident while playing with the kids at the park. I ran into some support wires and knocked out parts of 5 teeth. It was very traumatic, and I've had some long and uncomfortable dentist visits. However, they can do great things in the field of dentistry and my smile still looks normal.