Where did January go?

So where has January gone? I was hoping this month would go fast, but it's gone faster then I anticipated! A quick run down of our month would be:

From Family pix

* Wrestling every weekend for Joseph-----A different tournament all over Idaho/Utah---He's doing great. Last week he pinned his man in 44 seconds, which I thought was pretty fast! If I could remember to get my camera out quick enough, I might even be able to post a pic! Joseph is also working on the Bruch g minor violin concerto. Since we have heard this nearly every day since last May, his teacher has kindly added in a Bach Partita and Meditation from Thais by Massenet. His teacher is so cute---in an effort to find a better Skype connection she now goes to a small practice room on campus and sits on the floor with her computer in her lap and violin in hand. Gotta love the wonders of technology! Joseph also has a 3.95 GPA from last semester with Chemistry 2, Physics, Calculus, Honors English and Concurrent US History. Wow, I'm impressed---can't believe he's my child, glad he got Jeff's brains!

From Family pix

*Samuel is playing a lot of basketball---everywhere--Malad, Ogden, Preston, Logan. Thankfully, his coach has been in Mexico for a week, so we've had a little break. He and Joseph also play on the church ball team and are 2-1 so far----going for that Stake Championship! Samuel got to have the first 'live' Bass lesson with his teacher, Anthony Willey, who lives in Provo. The first thing we noticed was that Samuel's Bass looked miniscule compared to Anthony's----guess you can only see part of a Bass on Skype. Samuel is learning the wonders of paying attention to details and drilling very small details over and over again----hard lessons for a 7th grader sometimes! But this week he practiced faithfully with the metronome and amazed his teacher---the rosin on his bow could have helped also, since he's been without for a couple of weeks----nevertheless----an accomplishment! Samuel continues to plow through the 7th grade curriculum----7th grade is sooo hard in our school district----at least science and math, but only one more trimester to go---wahoo!

From Family pix

*Benjamin has had a hard time staying well this year! We finally took him to the Nurse Practitioner, since he hadn't been able to talk for 2 weeks to just see what the heck was the matter with this kid! She couldn't find anything wrong either, but agreed that 2 week without a voice and seal barking was not good, so she put him on an inhaler and that seems to have helped a bit. He was quite impressed that he had an inhaler, just like his Grandmother---kinda makes you feel important! Ben added Rec basketball to his busy swimming, dancing, orchestra schedule last week and they won their first game by 1 point! Wahoo! Benjamin also finished the Book of Mormon last week. He set a goal last year to finish it and has faithfully read every night. Now, he's tackling the Old Testament----I told him, good luck! He has some interesting questions for me now, maybe he should be reading the Pearl of Great Price in tandem, and Old Testament scholar, I'm not! Anyway, Benjamin was a little concerned about his grades because of all the school he's missed, but seems to be getting back into the groove.

From Family pix

*David also began Rec Basketball last week and has his first game this week. He was amazed that he wasn't half bad at his first practice---he said: "Wow, Sam, Ben and Joseph keep telling me how bad I am at basketball, and I'm really not!" Gotta love the brotherly humility treatment! David is working his way through the Harry Potter books and doing a great job! He is enjoying orchestra and wants to finish his last piece in his Suzuki Book 1 book so he can give his recital and get his trophy! He, Ben and Jonathan are also doing lessons via Skype with our wonderful Cedar City teacher--Sara Penny. Although Joseph is a great teacher----the 'brotherly' element was getting in the way a bit. We've loved getting back on track with Sara and remembering all those great things she taught Joseph.

From Family pix

*Jonathan is almost finished learning his Twinkles and is learning "Mary had a little lamb"---fiddle style for the String Festival in March. He also got his first 10-day 'perk' (an ice cream sundae!) on his 100 days of practice, and thinks that's a pretty cool deal! Jonathan is loving preschool and can never get enough of it! He enjoys 'Miss Judy's Preschool' and 'Sister Greene's' Preschool. He's a little concerned about his baby brother joining him at the 'big boy' Preschool next week, but I'm sure he'll show Jacob all the ropes of Preschool! Jonathan is getting so tall and his hair is turning dark. We all went to a Jon Schmidt piano recital on Saturday night and Jonathan entertained us today by trying to play the piano upside down with his hands crossed----kinda hard to do, especially if you don't even know much about playing the piano!

From Family pix

*Jacob is loving the freedom that learning to walk brings! He especially loves the applause and cheers from his brothers and family. When we gather to say family prayer, he's pretty sure that we're just there to applaud and cheer him on in his walking antics---and of course, we are! He is getting so big and will be 3 this week! I can't believe it, wow, where has the time gone? He's accomplished so much this year and is loving going to 'Sis. Greene's Preschool.' I still believe he's a special love note from Heavenly Father just to me. When things go wrong or there's too much boy energy in our house his sweet little arms give me lots of love and his laughter and cute little personality can pull me out of the darkest of moments! We're so lucky to have him!

From 2011-01 (Jan)

Jacob loves giving his brother a ride!


*Jeff is feeling lucky to still have his job, at the moment, since 5 of his fellow workers have just been laid off. We're crossing our fingers and feeling grateful to still be employed. Hopefully, things will pick up sooner!

*I'm still doing laundry, washing dishes, washing floors and driving endlessly! I have several really talented students this year and have really enjoyed working with them. I've also enjoyed working with the ladies in the Mountain Aire choir. Although our group is getting a little smaller, we have some great music that we're working on---"This is the Christ", "Behold the wounds,", "My Heavenly Father loves me" and a 60's medley---since one of the ladies pointed out that that's our 'old people' music now! Anyway, grateful to have music and family filling up my life! So, so lucky to have what I have and be where I am. Wish I was a little better at getting my projects finished----but that gives me something to look forward to, I guess!

Goodbye, January---Bring it on, February!

Our California Adventure!

We had an amazing Christmas Vacation this year! Although, by the time it came around for us to go, I wasn't sure if I wanted to anymore....right before Christmas! But it turned out to be some of the funnest times we've had together! Be it:
* driving all night to get to Grandmother's,
* finding Redboxes along the way to check out movies,
* quizzing each other on '4th grade facts',
* arriving in California in the middle of the wettest week they've ever had (1 1/2 inches per hour!),
* discovering Crystal Cove and the Pacific Coast Highway's charm---and basically having it to ourselves (who else would have been out in this storm!),
* finding tide pools, newly formed rivers and waterfalls, starfish, mussels, amazingly beautiful beaches,
* warming up in the car after we'd been soaked on the beach,
* finding laundromats to dry our drenched clothes and shoes,
* finding more Redboxes to get more movies,
* wondering if the Marriott we stayed in near Fullerton College housed the entire football team during an intense workout----because it certainly smelled like they'd been there!,
* walking on to all the rides at Disneyland---wondering if there was more water in the log on Splash Mountain then through the entire ride,
* taking Jonathan on Buzz Lightyear----how many times?!?,
* taking Jonathan on all the 'thriller' rides....poor child didn't get to hang out on the little kid rides---when he exclaimed that the 'monster' on the Matterhorn was really pretty scary---we just said---oh, you'll be fine!,
* smelling wet, smelly shoes in the hotel room----ummm, nice combination now----
* finding another laundromat to get those shoes dried and smelling better!,
* LOOSING our tickets to Disneyland in a Dollar store while buying more rain ponchos and flip flops (ditching those stinky shoes!),
* FINDING our tickets---soaked and thrashed under some cars in the parking lot----wow, our own personal miracle--THANK YOU JOSEPH!,
* watching the amazing Disneyland fireworks----and laughing at my kids as they scoffed at the manufactured 'snow'---yeah, not really the same thing!,
* Space Mountain----how many times?---how many different poses?----it's all about the pose!,
* riding the train,
* eating chocolate,
* falling into bed at 2:00 a.m.,
* one perfectly beautiful day at the picturesque Crystal Cove,
* so fun to watch Jonathan and his 'stick',
* David in heaven finding one sea creature after another,
* Ben taking it all in and saying 'this is the most perfect trip ever!',
* Samuel trying to outdo Joseph in the water,
* Joseph trying to make sure Samuel doesn't out do him in the water,
* watching my boys run hand and hand laughing into the ocean---does it get any better then that?!, it was worth every minute for that spellbound moment of brothers hand in hand---silhouetted against the setting sun---one timeless, perfect picture to remember.

Yes, it was a 'perfect' Christmas! Thank you, Santa!