4th grade performance

Each fourth grade class was in charge of putting on a little 5 minute performance about something from the Civil War period which they were studying in Social Studies. Out of all the four grade classes, Payton's class was in my opinion the most boring. They got a pretty boring topic. There was really nothing to do with there topic but just stand there and say their parts. No pretend wars going on nothing. They had speaking parts for about 10 kids which Payton was relieved because she is like her momma very shy so she just stood in the back looking cute. They had to dress up in that time period. She wore Brenton's suit coat and some moms put together the fancy wigs.

Service Disney style

This year Disney World and Disney Land theme is on Service. They are giving anyone who live in the US a chance to get a free Disney theme park ticket for doing service in their area. I first heard about this watching the Disney Christmas Day parade. So a few weeks later I went on the Disney website to really check it out. And sure enough all people ages 6 and up can get a free Disney ticket for doing a service project that is approved by Disney. It is really easy to do. All I did was type in my zip code and pages after pages of service project opportunities popped up. There were about 7 pages filled with service project opportunities just in my area. A lot of them were already filled up or you had to be over a certain age and the others you had to send an email and they would respond back. There were only a few that took kids as young a 6 and since I have a 6 year old only looked at ones that were for ages 6 and up. The first one that caught my eye that I thought all of us would enjoy was Meals on Wheels. This one you had to fill out the form and it would be forwarded to them and if you didn't hear anything back in a week contact them directly. I let it go for just over a week and then emailed the lady directly and she contacted me right away and they had a couple openings for the next 2 Saturdays which I quickly snatch. We had to do 2 days of service with the Meals on Wheels since it didn't take very long and Disney wanted the service to be at least 4 hours. The first Saturday we had an hours worth of training and filling out paper work and then it was on to the delivery. The kids took turns going to the door and knocking on it a yelling out Meals on Wheels. Then we handed them the box and we were on to the next. Since they had had such a big response they shortened the routes so that more people could have a chance at this service project. The following Saturday we got to go straight to the kitchen pick up our food. We asked for the same route as last time and we were off. One person ended up not being at home and they didn't have a cooler out front to stick the meal in so we had to go back to the kitchen and drop that off. The kids had a great time and Hayden 3 weeks later still talks about it in his prayers. I contacted the director and told her to shoot us over an email when the whole Disney service madness ends and we would love to do it on a regular basis. This director has been swamped with over 300 emails for the Disney give a day. I just hope all these people once they do their service and get their free ticket end up looking for more opportunities to serve in their community. I was amazed at how many service opportunities there are just in a small area, pages after pages and that was just the ones registered with Disney I'm sure there are lots more out there.

Two weeks after our service our free tickets were ready to print out. It is funny how things work out because a week later we got an email from a person who sent out a batch of emails to people who had inquired of their Florida vacation houses before. They have 2 houses and the price was right and the times they still had available fit perfectly into our schedule. So we booked one of the houses for 13 days in June. Yeah, I know it is going to be hot. That's why we pack lots of cold water and go first thing in the am and take the afternoon off and swim and head back in the evening some of the nights. We are getting a 10 day pass so so we will be doing all the parks 2 days and 2 parks 3 days. We have been their so many times before that we have things down to a Science. It is going to be exciting to be able to ride more rides that have height restrictions all together since Hayden is now 4 and a lot taller than a year and a half (by the time we go) older since we last went.

I heard they only have a million free tickets to give away and they have been getting amazing responce (At least in our area maybe because we are a short 7 hour drive away. A great long weekend for free.) so if you are in the least interested act today. There are only a few black out days that you can't use your tickets on.

Happy Birthday Brenteen

Wow! I can't believe my oldest child is now a teenager. Where did those last thirteen year go. On January 21, Brenton turned 13. After all the kids were home from school, we let him open his presents. I've noticed that as they get older they get fewer and fewer presents because what they want is pricey.

For the past few months Brenton has been asking for my camera to take pictures with because it has an awesome zoom for such a small camera (10 X zoom). He has had his camera for about 3-4 years now and the zoom is only 3 times zoom so once he started using mine he was hooked. The only problem was that the camera I have (of course an updated version since mine is 2 years old and that updated one is a 12 times zoom)was an awesome price at Sam's Club but still way too much for what we spend on presents. We looked at Target and then Sam's and just couldn't find a cheap camera with an awesome zoom too. So Jon and I decided to buy me the new version of my camera from Sam's club and give him my old one which I love and works awesome. I was a little worried about giving my son a hand me down camera for a present. When he opened it, I told him the whole situation basically this awesome used camera which you love using or a new cheaper less zoom one. He was totally cool with it and loves it.

Brenton picked Peachtree Diner to go to for his birthday dinner. The kids have never been and they all loved it. I loved the fact that the kids meals were adult size portions at a way cheaper price. The kids burgers were huge. Leftovers for meeeee!! And what are diners famous for but their desserts. And boy do they have a selections of cakes, pies, cheesecake and others. I love their chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. The cake is more dense like a fudgey brownie and less cake like. It is the best.

That Saturday, Brenton wanted a friends party. I think this is the second time he has had a friends birthday party. He never really cared to have one before. We had it from 5-8:30 pm. He invited a couple school friends and all the deacons in his class. I think their ended up being 6. He wanted a video game party. Which is probably the easiest party to throw. They stayed down in the office playing the computer, Wii, Rock band. We ordered pizza, opened a bag of chips, some cupcakes, some cans of soda and there you go dinner. It was the easiest birthday party. All the boys had a great time. Oh, he scored on the gift. Everyone gave him cash or Target gift cards. Which added up to $95.00 (just from 6 people). He is saving up for a PS3 which I hope he changes his mind on. We have a Wii and he has a PS2 isn't that enough?

Then on Sunday we had the family birthday party after church. We also celebrated my dad's birthday too since his is 3 days after Brentons. We had plenty of cake Cheri made some bowling cupcakes for my dad and my mom made my dad's all time favorite cake, angel food cake with chocolate frosting. He has this every year.

So, I made Brenton an ice cream cake. It is made with ice cream sandwiches, whip cream, chocolate syrup, and caramel syrup. Supper easy and supper yummy.

Then Brenton and my dad opened presents from the family. Morgan, Taylor, Christa, and I went in on a present for my dad and an early birthday present for my mom. It is a helicopter ride over an area in Atlanta and dessert at a fancy place.

Brenton with his presents, 2 abercrombie shirts, sleeping bag (yeah, no more too small kids star wars sleeping bag to take to camp outs), and 2 i Tunes gift cards (you can never go wrong with that).

Snow day

The kids started back on school from winter break the first Tuesday of January. The teachers always have a workday that Monday I guess to get ready for the new semester. They had been back to school just 3 days when we had a snow day. This snow day wasn't very fun. It was way to cold outside. For the past week, it has been way colder than anything we have ever experienced since living here almost 12 years ago. The highs and lows were in the teens with the wind chill in the single digits. Definitely unusual for our area since our normal highs for this time of year are in the low 50s with the lows in the low 30s. We definitely broke some records. The only reason why we had a snow day is because the roads were very icy and would be for sometime because the weather wasn't going to get above freezing for quit some time. By the late afternoon the only icy spots were where the roads were covered with shade. This snow wasn't good snowball snow it was very icy and wouldn't hold not that there was much snow to make a snowball with anyway maybe our whole walkway would make one snowball. So not the best snow day but the kids didn't complain because it was Friday and there was no school!!

Kennedy and Brenton

A SUNBEAM A SUNBEAM

This is the most recent picture of just Hayden

and I already used this on the aquarium post

and he his not in his church clothes but he is still cute!!

It's official my baby, Hayden is now a Sunbeam in church. How and when did this happen. I can't believe it I guess he really is a big boy now. Luckily for me, about 2 Sundays before he was to move up to Sunbeams he said he didn't want to be in Nursery anymore and wanted to be in with Talmage. For the past 1 1/2 months he has done great. He transitioned better than any of my other kids. I think part of it is there were 2 nurseries and half of his preschool buddies were in the other nursery so now he gets to be with all of them plus his cousin who was in the other nursery. They have a pretty big class of I believe 5 boys and 5 girls and 3 teachers. Unfortunately, I only got to see him in the big Primary room the first Sunday (I was a sub) since I am no longer a teacher. Since I have connections (Christa being the President) she will inform me if he gets crazy and so far no reports. I think having them in the front row helps a great deal they aren't distracted from the older kids so they actually sit there and try and sing the songs and do all the hand motions. It is way cute. Last Sunday, was the first time he got to go up on the stand in Sacrament meeting and sing with the other Primary kids. He sang the chorus but was distracted with the little boy next to him who was bumping into him and then bumping into his sister who was on the other side of him. Luckily for me, he still lets me call him my baby boy.

Change

As of January 1 st I am no longer a Primary teacher at church. I loved being a Primary teacher but after 2 1/2 years am ready for a new change. Of course I can say that now knowing what my new calling is. I am an activity day leader and I love it. There are 3 of us leaders with about 15 girls ages 8-12. We meet twice a month during YM/YW and cub scouts. I love the fact that I can be with Primary age kids and still be able to go to Sunday School and Relief Society. I haven't been to Sunday School in yikes almost 6 years because being in the library before being a Primary teacher we were always busy during Sunday school because lets face it a some people skip it. When I was younger, I never thought much of Sunday School. I always thought of it as way boring. Now that I am back I love it and have come to the conclusion that it is the teachers that make all the difference of it being way boring to being and a great learning experience. We have 2 great teacher and I have enjoyed going so far. I can't wait until August then both my girls will be in activity days.

Happy New Years

New Years day we just hung around the house until dinner time. We went over to the Bugee's for dinner and game playing. Since my dad was watching football all day, he wanted hot dogs for dinner. We brought over our Wii so some of the kids could play on it since the big soft play toys are put up. They did have the toys to play with. They were moved to a corner in the basement. This time Morgan and Taylor were around to play games with us.