Kiera Wins the Prize!

At Kiera's school the students get awarded "pride tickets" for various things. 

Generally teachers hand them out randomly for good behavior etc. 

At the end of each term they have a drawing.

Kiera must be pretty lucky because her name was drawn out for one of the grand prizes.

A new Kindle!

I think everyone -including me- is jealous of her good fortune.

Time used wisely

How did I spend the Wednesday before Thanksgiving??  Bottling 25 quarts of applesauce. Apples courtesy of Kris, my sister-in-law. 

Shenna and Kiera cut up all the apples and Samuel and Enoch helped with putting them through the Victorio Strainer ( I love that thing!)

Don't they look wonderful?!!?



The Favorites win the Cup!

Enoch is an avid follower of many soccer leagues, including the one right here at home.  Sunday night, LA Galaxy would take on the Houston Dynamo for the MLS Championship. 

In Layman's terms, this is the superbowl of soccer.  However, it certainly isn't broadcast like a superbowl.  My poor soccer fan was reduced to watching it online.

He was set for the occasion with his Beckham jersey on, the fauxhawk and some popcorn.



I was thrilled when the Galaxy scored a goal in the 72nd minute (thank you Landon Donovan!) and overjoyed when Houston couldn't answer with one of their own. That way the game didn't go into overtime and penalty kicks to determine the winner.

It was nice to have the game over before 9:30 pm 

Enoch, of course, enjoyed every minute of the game, even if his sister made him use headphones!

Yeah for L.A.!!



LA Galaxy - the new MLS Champions 2011.



All That Jazz!

I've been trying for two days to get a video uploaded to the blog, and I have finally given up.

You will just have to see pictures...which aren't half as much fun when you are talking about band.

Ever since sixth grade, Shenna has wanted to be in the high school jazz band. The flute, however, isn't a main jazz band instrument (if they need one, usually a saxophone player will play it).

This past year, Shenna decided to learn to play the saxophone so that she could audition for the jazz band. After practicing countless hours for about four months, she auditioned and made it in to this elite group of musicians. She gets to play the bari sax and she loves it!

She doesn't really like the early morning practices, and I know she isn't fond of wearing a tie, but she truly does love being in the jazz band with all her friends.

She also doesn't like having her picture taken, but she has to put up with that too!

Haunters on Halloween

We had quite a variety of "haunters" at our house this year.

I was able to catch them all in action before the trick-or-treating began.

Shenna transformed into a"hot box dancer" from the play Guys and Dolls.
Kiera designed and painted her costume. She enjoyed running around the neighborhood as a
life-size paperdoll.

As long as face paint and a gun were involved, Samuel really didn't care what he was. He claims to be a Jawa from Star Wars. The tennis shoes kind of give him away though.

I told Enoch that his costume choice just looked like his regular self. Maybe if we had painted on some tattoos, the fact that he is portraying David Beckham would have been more obvious. However, he did show off some impressive juggling skills for the camera.

Even River got in the act. The kids say he was Superman, but personally, I think he is secretly thinking he is "UNDERDOG!"

Summary of the night: AWESOME!

Total haul brought in: Enough to make even the biggest chocoholic in the house a little uncomfortable.

Conclusion: we are kind of glad the night is over. Now we just have to recover.