A Little Catch Up

A very proud moment indeed! After two years of struggling with reading Maggie has finally gotten to the point where she is a pretty good independent reader! She has made amazing progress and was recognized at a school assembly for it. She received a reading award and got to stand in front of the whole school to be acknowledged for her accomplishment.

Way to go Maggie!

Principal Ingalls & Mrs. Masters presented the awards

November 13, 2009

North Evanston Elementary

Mrs. Masters 1st grade class award winners

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Maggie has asked me several times lately if she could have curly hair for school. That would be a big NO! We just don't ever have that kind of time. I decided that I should take the time to get her some curls for church. It took quite a while, but she loves it and she looks so cute. I kept asking Zoe if she wanted curls and she just kept saying "No, I fine!" However, just before time to leave she decided she really did want curls. I only had a few minutes so she only got a couple of curls. She was very proud of them and anxious to show them off to her teachers. I have tried to get pictures of Maggie with all of her primary teachers through the years and this year was the first year I got Zoe's too. I missed Maggie's first teacher of the year, but her new teacher is totally awesome and we all love her. Who wouldn't love a teacher that brings snacks?!Maggie and Sis. Lindsey Bowen
Evanston 5th ward
CTR 7

Zoe with her Nursery Leaders
Sis. Mindy Morrow, Sis. Charlotte Fry, Sis. Sheralyn Holgate, Sis. Annie Lewis
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While we were in Provo for our Thanksgiving break we had the chance to babysit Sadie and Kinley. Maggie took this opportunity to use Kinley as her personal Barbie doll. She had taken some of her dolls and clothes and thought this swim suit would fit Kinley. It was too cute! Kinley liked it too and got a little upset when we tried to get it off of her.

We also had the chance to be a part of Rachel's baby shower. She is due just a couple of weeks before me. It is kind of strange to be having a baby at the same time as my nephew and his wife! We are all anxious and excited to meet Hunter.
November 25, 2009

Mom, a.k.a Grandma, was there

Shelly was there

Mandi was there

Starr and Camille were there

Lindy and Cooper (and Ava) were there

Yummy food

Even yummier cupcakes!
I was there too, but no photographic evidence was taken. DARN!

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Four little monkeys sitting on the couch...

Kinley, Maggie, Zoe & Sadie

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Zoe doesn't really care for her winter attire. She tells me every day that she doesn't need her hat and gloves. As soon as she gets in the car they come off. She was attempting to get all of it off when we got home, but the hat to her coat came unsnapped and got stuck on her head. She looked pretty goofy, but she thought it was way funny!

December 3, 2009

BRRRRR!

The temperature is -2.9 degrees at the moment with a windchill factor of -19 degrees.

Who wants to come visit?

Glenn called me shortly after 8:00 this morning to tell me I should go start the car. It was going to take a while for it to warm up. I just have to say another HUGE thank you to Glenn and Kayle for putting in the time to fix our heater. I do still dread the walk from the apartment to the car, but at least I know once we are in the car we can get somewhat comfortable.

I have been trying to decide if I should start sending Maggie to school on the bus. I don't want to be taking a newborn out in this horrible weather, but at the same time I don't want Maggie to have to stand at the bus stop in this horrible weather. When I take her to school we run to a mildly warm car and I get her there just in time to run inside. If she takes the bus she will have to be outside in the bitter cold waiting for it to arrive and then she will get to school about 20 minutes before the bell and have to be outside in the cold again. I cannot decide which is the lesser of two evils.

I remember walking to the bus stop in the winter and hating every minute of it. Being so cold that the contents of your nose freezes is not pleasant. It can be quite painful!

What to do, what to do?!

Heat Glorious Heat!!

It's fixed!

We have heat in our van thanks to Kayle and Glenn. It took a bit of destruction and reconstruction to get the job done, but it's all back together and I was toasty warm the whole ride home from Provo today.

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday. The girls had tons of fun playing with cousins and being at Grandma's house. I didn't break out the camera much the whole time we were there. Very unlike me, but I was pretty tired and just had a good time enjoying the company of my family.

Thanks Mom (and everyone else who helped!) for all the good food and the great accommodations.

I Totally Lied!

We are so not going to make it through the winter without heat in our car!

This morning was awful!

No AC during the summer was not fun, but no heat in the bitter cold of winter is miserable and pretty much unbearable. Luckily we have some help. My brother has said he will help us take apart the dash and work on whatever the problem is. Hopefully this means we only have one more week of no heat! I'm now looking forward to Thanksgiving break even more than I already was!!

She Loves Her Sister

Yesterday morning Glenn and Maggie got the chance to help the scouts collect food around the community. Zoe and I have been sick so we stayed home and hung out while they were gone. As soon as Maggie came in the house and Zoe saw her she grabbed her waist, gave a huge hug, wrapped her legs around Maggie's leg and in the sweetest way ever exclaimed,

"I so proud of you Maggie!"

Every now and then we get to see moments of the pure love and adoration they really do have for one another.

Veterens Day 2009

"I pledge allegiance

to the flag of the United States of America

and to the republic for which it stands,

one nation under God,

indivisible,

with liberty and justice for all"

I am so glad that Maggie's school honored our veterans today with a flag ceremony. I don't know if many other schools across the nation did this or any other kind of celebration. It makes me so sad that so many schools are not "allowed" to say the pledge of allegiance or any thing else remotely patriotic.

Seeing all the kids and teachers with their hands on their hearts reciting the pledge of allegiance got me very teary. I love my country! I love the flag! I love what it stands for. I know that I am free because of all those men and women that sacrificed their lives for that freedom. I know that there is no way I could ever adequately express my gratitude to those that serve our country to keep my family safe and free.

Thank you to those that are able, and most importantly, willing to put their lives on the line for us.

HMMMM!?

Could eating meals like this...

be why I look like this...

The baby bump is getting much bumpier! 32 weeks down, 8 to go! Actually 7 to go since I'll be induced a week early! YIPPEE!! The end is near!

Harvest Ball

Last Saturday our ward (and two others that meet in our building) had a harvest ball. There was lots of food, fun and dancing.

Glenn and Zoe had a good time dancing
Our super fun Primary President was out on the floor dancing with a bunch of little kids. They all loved it. She was pretty entertaining!



I couldn't get any pictures of Maggie because she was running around and dancing with her friend from school. Both girls had a great time dancing the night away. All the ward members had a good time watching all of Glenn's moves! He needs to be on Dancing with the Stars!

I'll Have Some Sass Please

As I have said before, I am not a morning person! It's a sad, but true fact. The last couple of days Maggie has been so poky in the mornings. I have gotten her up 15 minutes earlier than usual and I am still pushing her out the door. Well this morning hit an all time low. She had been in her room for quite some time. I decided to go check on her and see if she was dressed. She hadn't even started in that direction. I just had to leave the room. I was about to blow! She could tell I was not at all happy and she very quickly got dressed. She came out of her room wrapped in a blanket and said...

"Guess what my shirt says...without looking at it?!"

My response: "It says 'Mom is going to kick your booty if you don't do what she says'"

Maggie: "NOOOOO! It says 'Girls Rock'. Oh yeah! So don't mess with the Magster!"

Nice way to save your skin Maggie Moo! I had to laugh as she strutted off into the bathroom.

So what do you get when this innocent little face...

And this cute little shirt combine?... A highly explosive mass of sass!

On this same morning after dropping Maggie off at school Zoe and I had the following conversation in the car...

Zoe: It lunch time Mom?

Me: No, It's breakfast time.

Zoe: NO! I need lunch!

Me: It's time for cereal. We have...... which kind would you like?

Zoe: It's not cereal time! It's lunch time!

By this time we had pulled into our complex and were getting out of the car. She got up two stairs and stopped. She kind of rubbed her knee and said "Oh my knee! I need cereal."

I guess a bowl of cereal will cure all that ails you. Good to know! My other ball of sass! She's picking it up quick!

Halloween 2009

Maggie was a bit indecisive as to what she wanted to be and the continual changing of her mind was making me crazy. I finally decided that I would make her a witch costume. I bought the pattern and then waited for a time to be able to get to a fabric store. Those are pretty hard to come by in our podunk town. Then I started to feel really horrible and couldn't get around to doing anything. I never got the costume made! I felt so bad, but just knew there was no way I could get it done. She has pretty much outgrown all of the princess dress-ups we have so I had to think of something else. I didn't think she would be too impressed with what I came up with, but we really didn't have many other options. I told her that they were both going to be ballerinas since we already had everything. She didn't like the idea at first, but soon warmed up to it and we were set.

We had decided that since there are several member families in our area that we would just go to their houses and be done. After the first house we ran into three other families that were walking together and decided to just join them. They went to a few more houses than we planned to, but the girls had a great time. It was a very nice night. The weather was decent. Not freezing cold like I had imagined it was going to be. BUT I was in the truck following everyone so I wasn't actually out in the weather. I kept asking Zoe if she was cold and she said no so they continued on.

After the first street was done Maggie was walking by the truck looking a little down. I asked her what was up and she informed me that one of the other kids called her a silly ballerina and it really hurt her feelings. She got over it pretty quick and got back to the fun.

I handed Glenn the camera and asked him to get some pictures. He only got one...