Taylor Loves Hockey!

Taylor has really enjoyed her first year playing hockey! Her team has won every game! The first few were total blowouts! So they shuffled the teams up a little so now she has a blue jersey instead of white. Now the games are a little more even. This time they played some out of town teams from Gilbert, AZ. They played really well and won 1-0.





Taylor has really improved on her skating! She is doing great! She even wants to continue next season! Dad is really proud of her! :)

Mom and Daughter(s) Book Club

This month's mom and daughter book club was at our house! We chose 'Everything on a Waffle' by Polly Horvath. The kids seemed to love it! The librarian at the city library recommended it for the age of girls in our group.

It was a fun night of questions and discussions. We printed out 'waffles' on paper and put the questions on the back and set them all on a plate. Too cute!!

Then for the dessert we served--what else--Waffles! We also had strawberries and whipped cream to put on top!! Yum!! They all had seconds!! :)

Emerie Gets a Character Award for Responsibility!

Emerie was chosen as one of two kids in her class to receive this award! We were so excited for her! They have a Character Counts assembly and the kids receiving the award (2 from each class) get called up to get their certificate! Kerby and I were both invited to attend the assembly. Emerie said: "I am so proud of myself!" It was so cute and so 'unexpected' of our 3rd born! ;)

Emerie with her cute friend Taylor Rhoton (the one she calls 'not my sister, Taylor, the other one!)



Love that Emerie! Congrats Emmie!!

Kerby and I took her out for Cold Stone that evening as a special treat! :)

More and more SNOW!

**Update 2/11/09: I just found out that the total of snow we received Sunday, Monday and the morning of Tuesday was 29 inches!!!

Well we are on snow day number two for this storm! School was canceled yesterday and today due to 'hazardous road conditions'!

I think we have gotten close to 18 inches in the last 24 hours! It is so crazy! It was 50 degrees just last week and sunny for about the last 2 weeks!

The kids LOVE it!! They went sledding yesterday and again today! It is a little windy and really cold today so they didn't last as long.

Our roof was finally clear of snow because it had all melted off. Now it is loaded up again!

There is no more room to shovel the snow! The piles are now too high for me to throw snow on!

Here is our BBQ in the backyard! I think it has about 18 inches piled up on it!

He's Just NOT That Into You!

It's always fun to go to the 'Chick Flick' movies with your girlfriends!! This was a great movie and a good time! After the movie we all went to Village Inn for hot chocolate and pie! These are a fun group of women I have met in the short 5 months we have been in Flagstaff!

Laura, Jamie, Kari, Wendy

Elisa, Me, Gabi, Laura

Home Depot Craft Day

This was such a fun craft for the girls! It was a trinket box! It had 'velvet' inside where you would put the jewelry and they can paint it after it dries! I will have to add an 'after' picture when they finish painting their cute boxes!! :)

(**Maddie was not in these pictures because she was in Tucson for the weekend with her friend. I saved her craft for her to finish after she got back.)

Tumbling for Emerie

Emerie has been begging to take a class of some sort! Maddie is in piano and dance and Taylor is in piano and hockey. Emerie wasn't in anything! And by darn she reminded me all the time so we had to find something that would fit into our schedule and be fun for her! We found this tumbling class on Saturday mornings and she said she wanted to try it! She loved it!

Emerie trying to do a handstand.

Emerie doing the 'Crab Walk'.

Emerie jumping around.

Payton Sleeps in 'Big Girl' Bed!

We have debated about when to take our little 'caboose' out of her crib! Since she is the last one there is no hurry but we thought we would try out the bigger bed and see how she did. She did GREAT! She was so excited! She got right in and asked to have the light turned off!! WOW!! Then I heard a few peeps last night but she never got out of her bed till 7am this morning!! This might be easier than I thought!! We will have to see how she does over the next few nights and also how her naps go but I think we are off to a good start!! Yeah Payton!! :)

She still uses the binkie so that will be our next challenge!! ;)

Bittersweet News!!

Well, here in Flagstaff charter schools are really popular! In fact, in our neighborhood, we are the only ones to go to public school!! And that is because when we moved here all the charter schools, and all the other better public schools, were already full and not accepting any new students!!

For Middle Schoool there is a GREAT charter school called NPA (Northland Prepatory Academy). Well, it is very popular and therefore there are many people who try to get in each year. This year is the biggest year so far with 159 applications for 7th grade with only 70 spots available! And 34 of those 70 spots went to siblings! (Siblings of current students get preference.) That left 36 spots and 125 applicants!

Well, Maddie and her friends all turned in their applications about 3 weeks ago and they had the lottery last week! Madison got in!! But...her two friends did not! So when Maddie found out she was ecstatic!! Then her happiness turned to tears when she found out neither Sarah or Emily got in!! So we have a big decision to make! Have Madison keep her spot (which then guarantees that Taylor, Emerie and Payton will get to go there) or give it up and have her go to FMS--Flagstaff Middle School--with her two friends!?

Madison is sad because currently she doesn't go to school with her friends. They both go to a charter school. She is nervous about starting over at another new school! It is hard because NPA is rated in the top 100 High Schools in the nation (by US News and World Report)! We'll keep you posted...

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Emerie and Taylor 'making cards' with Grandma!

**I know this is a little belated but:

10 Things I love about my mom:

1) She has always been an optimist!
2) She loves my kids and loves to spend time with them!
3) She will help anyone in need!
4) She is always up for anything! Go here, go there, come see this, come help with that...
5) She is a WONDERFUL cook!! She can cook anything! I wish my kids ate as well as I did as a kid!
6) She is the best organizer! You need something organized--she's the gal!! She should start her own business!!
7) She is very giving! (Of her time as well!)
8) She can make anyone feel special!!
9) She is the best mom ever!!
10) She loves me and my family very much!! :)

Taylor made this card for Grandma: