1st Quarter Awards

On October 17, 2008, both Bridget and Rachel were given awards for their accomplishments for the 1st quarter of the 2008-2009 school year.

Rachel received awards for being a Super Attender, and a PAWS award for "Positive Words and Actions." Each quarter each teacher picks a student out of their class that exemplifies an attribute outlined in the PAWS statement. "P" stands for Positive Words and Actions, "A" stands for Academic Excellence, "W" stands for Winning Attitude, and "S" stands for Selfless Service. Way to go Rachel!!

Here is a picture of Rachel with one of her teachers Ms. Baker.

Bridget received awards for being a Super Attender, First Honor Roll and a PAWS award for Selfless Service. I am sure proud of my little Bridget. Way to go Bridget!

Here is a picture of Bridget with her afternoon teacher Mrs. Vaughan.

Here is a picture of Bridget with her morning teacher, Mrs. Fisher.

We are sure proud of our daughters and their accomplishments. Keep up the good work!!

The Museum with our Cousins

On Friday, October 10, 2008 we invited our cousins, The Smith's, to go with us to the Natural History Museum in Mesa. My daughters call the museum, The Dinosaur Museum. We had lots of fun as we wandered around the museum checking out all of the fun exhibits. We also purchased a membership for the next year so that we can go back and enjoy the museum any time and as many times as we want.

Here is a picture of all of the cousins in "jail."

Here is a picture of the cousins showing off their "gold."

Here is a picture of my little "angels" standing in front of the stage coach.

Thanks, Smith Family, for coming with us to the museum. We really love having so much family so close to do things with often.

Giving Thanks

The time of year for giving thanks is here once again.

Thanks for all the little things that we all hold so dear.

The smile from a child, a simple kiss good night,“I love you mom”

as they leave for school and quickly run out of sight.

A goodbye kiss, from the one that we hold most dear.

The phone call from them later to see how our day has

been and if we are all right.

Or their warm embracing hug when they return

home to us at night.

A quick note from a friend or mother can change an entire day.

Or better still the hour chat that could go on for

another hour or two still.

When asked “What did you talk about?”

That is the easiest of replies.

We talked about the little things that we love about our lives!

The things that drive us crazy!

The things that make us cry!

The things that we worry about!

All the little things that add up in our lives!

And what would our day truly be without those simple things.

The phone calls, kisses, hugs, and such that we all hold so dear.

The things that keep us sane!

So even on the days when you think

“I’m going to lose your mind!”

Just remember all the little things

that make it all worth your time.

We don’t remember our blessings as often as

we should and in the time of year

when we are reminded to give thanks

for all the things we have.

These should be the first and not the last

we thank the Lord for in our prayers.

One more thought before I go……….

shouldn’t we give thanks all year for these

“little” things and life that we have?

The things and the life we are so blessed to have?

Why do we wait till we are reminded to “Give Thanks”?

We should remember them all year, every day, every hour!

I borrowed this from a friend's blog. This poem was written by my friend, Rana Mortensen. I thought that you would all enjoy!! I am going to try to be more grateful for all the blessings in my life.

Just Call me Betty Crocker or Susie Homemaker

I am turning into a regular homemaker. During the week of "Fall Break" (October 6-10) I made homemade strawberry freezer jam.

Here is a picture of my second (2nd) batch of strawberry jam for this year. Pretty impressive, isn't it? I think so. I made 12 pints of jam and 12 half-pints of jam to give away with a loaf of bread at Christmas time.

Three days later, on October 11th, my sister, April, and I got together to can pears. What an adventure that was, with eight kids (her 5 and my 3) running around my little house. Can you imagine the fun? Luckily, April has kids the same age as my girls and they play well together.

About one-third of the way through the canning process, I heard Bridget start crying while the kids had been playing out in the backyard. Evidentally, the kids had been sliding down the "waterslide" that Reed had built for the girls this summer. The only problem is that they were doing it without water and Katelyn had pushed Bridget down the slide. Well on her way down the slide, she cut open her left knee. She started walking toward the back door screaming and blood dripping down her leg. It looked to me like there was a big gash of skin missing from her knee. It wasn't really missing skin, but the knee had been split open. I called Sister Jensen from down the street (she is a school nurse and Allison Jensen's mother-in-law) to come down and look at it and tell me if she thought that it needed stitches. She said that she definitely thought that it needed stitches especially because of where the laceration was. I left April with all of the kids (minus Bridget of course), with the pears only 1/3 of the way canned and took Bridget to urgent care where she received 5 stitches. She is my only child who has ever had stitches and she has had them TWICE now. Is this kid accident prone or what?

After our two hour adventure at urgent care, I came home to help April finish canning the pears. She had done a good job keeping track of the kids and still getting some more of the canning done. We were able to finish up the rest of the pears and get them all sealed. We ended up with 31 quarts, which we split between the two families (luckily we were able to keep the extra quart since you can't split them in half).

Here is a picture of my pears, aren't they pretty? I think so. It feels so good to be adding to the food storage for my family.

I have learned so much over the years about food storage. I know that there is a lot more that I would like to learn. My next canning adventure is to learn to can chicken. I use chicken so much for dinners that I would love to have some ready to use. Watch for my next "Susie Homemaker/Betty Crocker" post. LOL

Bridget's 5th Birthday!!

My baby is 5 years old!! Bridget turned 5 on September 22nd. Can you believe it? It makes me so sad to say that. I can hardly believe that it has been 5 years since her birth. I would love to be able to put a picture of Bridget when she was a baby. But when our computer crashed, I'm still not sure how to access the pictures from the old computer. Maybe some day I'll be able to figure that out and post old pictures.

Bridget actually got to have "two" small parties. On her birthday, her Daddy bought her a cake, we sang "Happy Birthday" and we had pizza for dinner. After dinner, I took the girls to "Jungle Jim's/Jeepers" to have fun. All of the girls really enjoy going there. I'm not sure why they think that place is so much fun, but they do.

Here is a picture of Bridget blowing out the candles on her cake that her Daddy bought for her.

Sunday night (September 28th) we had a family birthday party with the Smith family (Auntie April's family) and Grandpa and Grandma Gaddie. We had "Hawaiian Haystacks" for dinner (one of our family favorites and always a good Sunday dinner). The Shope family (Aunt Becky's family) was unable to come because of their church schedule and the need for their kids to get into bed on time. We really missed them and hope to be able to see them soon. After dinner, we had cake and ice cream.

Here is a picture of Bridget's birthday cake made by a friend of mine. Isn't it adorable? My friend, Rana Mortensen, made the cake. She offered to let me borrow her cake pan and "teach" me to decorate the cake myself. I opted just to pay her to make it. Wasn't that a good deal on my part?

Here is a picture of Bridget blowing out the candles on her cake.

After cake and ice cream, Bridget opened her birthday presents. She had previously been given a super "Jasmine" sleeping bag from the Smith family, she got a card in the mail from the Strong family (Aunt Kicky's family), some fun outdoor sidewalk chalk toys, a brown pony in a purse and the new "Barbie Diamond Castle" movie. The Satuday before her birthday, Bridget got to go shopping and out to lunch with Grandma Rudd and Aunt Chelsey. She picked out some really cool new Dora and Barbie toys from Grandpa and Grandma Rudd, the Tisdale family (Aunt Whitney's family), and Aunt Chelsey. She had a real blast. Thanks so much for a really fun time and the great presents.

Here is a picture of Bridget with her birthday presents that she opened on Sunday night. Doesn't she look happy?

Bridget had a really awesome 5th birthday. Thanks to all of those who were able to celebrate it with us.

Would you Please Quit Bugging Me?

My sister, April, has been bugging me lately to update my blog and post pictures. I don't know why she thinks that I have soooo much time on my hands. LOL Well, I am updating tonight but am not posting any pictures. I don't know how to download any pictures from the camera. Ever since our computer "crashed" we haven't downloaded any new pictures so there are no new pictures to post. I'll get to that sooner or later.

I don't have a whole lot to talk about. The kids are doing well in school.

Katelyn is doing well in Miss Jazwin's class. She doesn't enjoy doing her homework with me and always wants to do it with her dad. I'm not sure why that would be? LOL Anyone who knows Reed knows that he is wrapped around his daughters' little fingers. Katelyn really enjoys going to Achievement Days. I started calling it "Activity Days" when she first started going and now when I try to call it "Achievement Days" she always corrects me and tells me that it is "Activity Day." She always remembers which Wednesday they will be having an activity and will warn me in advance. I remember her first activity, they went to the cemetery to "clean up." Every now and then she will tell me that the "cemetery is getting dirty." She showed her group where her brother, Hunter, was buried. She wasn't able to take them to his headstone right away but she knew that he was buried on 5th street. In the area where he is buried, there are lots of babies and little children, a lot of the headstones are the same kind as his. So to her, they all look the same. They wandered around a little before they were able to find his headstone. I was impressed that she was able to direct them that much. I didn't think that she paid that much attention to where he was buried when we've been there before. Boy, was I wrong.

Rachel has changed classes to the "gifted" 2nd/3rd grade class. Her teachers now are Mrs. Baker and Miss Cronk (I'm not sure if I spelled that correctly). She seems to be really enjoying it. A lot of the kids in her class were in her class last year. After we were approached by the principal about changing her to this class, I talked with her that night and she didn't even hesitate to say "yes." She was so excited and told the principal the next day that she wanted to move to Mrs. Baker's class. In this class, they are going to be doing more "out of the box" kind of assignments. I think that she will do well, she really seems to thrive on the "challenge."

Bridget has also changed her classes, she now goes to Mrs. Fisher's class in the morning and then goes to Mrs. Vaughan's class after lunch. She seems to be doing well with the change. One day she came home and told me that she didn't go to Mrs. D's class anymore. I was kind of surprised but then I realized that the students that were a little farther ahead went to Mrs. Vaughan's class in the afternoon. I guess we have another little "smarty pants" in our family. I like to say that Bridget is 4 going on 15. I've always said that Rachel was whatever age she was, going on 30. How true that is. One day I asked Bridget's teacher, Mrs. Vaughan how she was doing. She replied, "Awesome, she has a personality and a half." How true that is. Anyone who knows Rachel knows that she is full of personality. Bridget isn't far behind Rachel in the personality department.

Bridget had to get her "kindergarten" shots this last Friday. She didn't like it one bit!! I didn't tell her that she was going to have to get shots until after the doctor left. She started to cry right away. Poor girl. She had to get 4 shots. Three shots in one arm and one in the other. She got the MMR shot in her left arm. A day or so later, her left arm was really red, swollen, hard and was warm to the touch. I was worried and asked a couple of people (one a school nurse and the other a music therapist at Banner Desert) at church what they thought. They both told me to watch it and let the pediatrician's office know about it on Monday. By Monday morning, her arm looked lots better. She never did complain about her arm hurting.

I guess that I had more to talk about than I thought. I am still going to the gym 5 days a week while the girls are in school. In a couple of weeks, I will be starting my "annual" testing that I do every fall with the ELL (English Language Learners) at both Burke Basic School and Happy Valley School. I'm actually going to Happy Valley tomorrow morning. I hope to be finished with the students at Happy Valley tomorrow. They have only given me 6 students to test. Burke on the other hand has around 100 students. Luckily, I have someone to help me with the Burke testing.

I made homemade bread this last Saturday. My friend, Gini, gave me her recipe for whole wheat bread. It was absolutely delicious and so easy. This was the first time that I have ever made bread in the Bosch and then put it into loaves and baked it. This recipe was so easy. If I can do it, anyone can make this bread. I took a loaf over to our neighbors with a jar of strawberry jam (what's homemade bread without strawberry jam?). It was quite a compliment, when our neighbor, Becky, said that it was the best homemade wheat bread that she had every tasted and wanted to know if it was really my first time. What a compliment! I really have to compliment Gini for this recipe. If you would like the recipe, I would be glad to share it.

I made this recipe again last night for fry bread. The dough turned out just as good as the first time. The Smith family has been joining us for dinner on Tuesday nights while Shawn is at school at MCC just up the street from our house. Brynlee and Braeden take piano lessons from our Bishop's wife, Kathrine Terek. After their piano lessons, they come over for dinner and then hang out until Shawn is done with class. Next week, April is in charge of the main dish, I wonder what she'll come up with? We've had spaghetti, lasagna and now fry bread. We're planning on making meals for the freezer next week, so I think she is planning on just making extra of one of the meals so that we can have that for dinner.

Reed has been keeping busy with work. Between the two schools, he stays pretty busy. Work for him usually slows down after summer, but not this year. He has been plagued with A/C unit repair calls and roof leaks from all of the rain that we have been blessed with. At least it keeps him busy and "out of my hair" most of the time. That's a good thing.

Well, I think that's enough for tonight. Hopefully this will appease my sisters who have been pestering me for an update.

Missing in Action for A Few Weeks

Well, where to start. Our computer crashed and died a little over three weeks ago. What did I ever do without a computer? I'm not sure. So much has happened since I posted the last time. All of my babies are in school ALL DAY this year. I can hardly believe that my little Bridget is old enough to go to school. She started kindergarten this year at Burke Basic School. So far I think she is adapting pretty well. I wasn't sure how she was going to do because she is my only child who still likes to nap most days. She has needed a nap almost every afternoon this week. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Vaughan in the morning and then she changes classrooms after lunch and her teacher is Mrs. D.

Rachel is in the second grade and her teacher is Mrs. Dial. So far she seems to be enjoying the class. Hooray for no homework on Fridays. Her teacher last year gave her homework even on Fridays and we are really going to enjoy having no homework on Fridays. Most of her classmates from last year are in her class this year.

Katelyn is in the third grade and her teacher is Miss Jazwin. Miss Jazwin was her teacher last year and she and Katelyn seemed to work well together. Miss Jazwin asked to be moved up to the third grade and are we ever grateful that she did. So far this year is going pretty well (even though it's only been one week.)

As for me, I've really been enjoying myself while the girls have been in school. I've been to the gym every morning, read two books and have had a lot of quiet time. Hooray!! It's been almost 10 years since I had any time like this to myself. Can you tell that I have been enjoying myself? I really thought that I would be so bored and wouldn't know what to do with myself. Boy was I wrong.

I'll post some pictures of our activities the last few weeks soon.