Ladies & Gentlemen...

We have a WINNER! Jeron is the official Gold Medalist in the Coral Academy of Science Elementary Science Fair for all of the Second Grade.

The reaction...

One excited boy...

The scientist and the presentation board...

The GOLD MEDAL...

I was so happy to receive a phone call from one of our CAS friends on Saturday letting us know that Jeron had won the Science Fair. Jeron didn't find out until we went to the open house that day. He was excited, to say the least! He did a project with his trains...Mom sometimes has really good ideas. Add to that Auntie Heather and Uncle Ron's scientific know-how, and you've got a winner! Jeron tested the effect to the speed of an engine when cargo is added to its cars. His project will now go on to compete at the regional level at UNR. We'll keep you posted on the outcome!

Get Ready...

Get set...
GO!

Busting a big trick...

Catching air...
Speeding down...

Lifting up...

Posing pretty...

Skiing solo...

Launching off...

Finishing strong...

I hiked up the mountain today to take some different shots of the kids skiing. It was so fun to have a different vantage point. I was really able to see the progress they are making as skiiers. I wish I would have had my bigger camera...next time. I am so grateful to be married to a man who loves the outdoors and is willing to do all of the work and preparation to take three squirrelly kids to the mountain and teach them to ski. He is amazing. Days like this make every penny we've spent on gear, gas, pink slips and ski school worth it. Here's to many more ski filled days like today!

Christmas TIME 5

Davis got to open a new Christmas DVD during the week of Christmas. The kids turned out to not be that interested in it (Stalking Santa). Next year, I think I'll wrap "Polar Express" or "The Grinch" because I know those will be hits! Sorry...no pictures of the squirrely kids watching the boring movie!

On Christmas Eve, Grandpa, Patti and Holly came to spend some TIME with us. We had delicious soup in bread bowls on Grandma's Christmas dishes, then the kids got to put on their new jammies..."comfy jammies," as Dylan calls them. Grandpa and Patti brought gifts and wonderful gift certificate booklets for each of the kids. The kids LOVED being able to open something on Christmas Eve and their mother (who is a self-professed savorer) LOVED that they could focus on the gift at hand and really enjoy it. We look forward to redeeming those gift certificates, too!

Patti made Chris Mouses and Grandpa told a cute story about Chris Mouse and his wife, Rhoda Rodent. It was pretty funny and had a great moral...though I can't remember what it was...so, Grandpa, if you're reading this, please fill in the moral in the comments section.

Finally, we called Santa, since we never got a chance to visit him, nor did he get to visit us, as he has in years past. Somehow I missed the picture of Jeron talking to him. Jadee was sure to tell him that Jesus isn't the only one who has a birthday on Christmas...it's her birthday, too, you know!? Everyone asked for a Wii (after much coaching from Mom & Dad), and that's what we got! Yay for us!

Thank you, Grandpa, Patti and Holly for spending TIME with us this Christmas. It's the best gift we could ask for!

Christmas TIME 4

Jeron got to open the gingerbread house present. It only took us a day or two to actually find the TIME to put it together and decorate it. Jadee and Davis started out by smelling the bags of candy...sooooo yuuuummmmy!

Mom learned that gingerbread houses don't have to be symetrically decorated and candies perfectly placed to be beautiful. It is way more fun to see what the kids come up with and how they choose to place the candies on the house. They worked so diligently for such a long time and then even helped clean up the mess!

In the end, Davis just wanted to eat the candies. I think he may have eaten more than he actually put on the house!

Can you believe that I never got a picture of the finished product?! The kids demolished it on Christmas day and that was the end of it. Dad was more than happy to take it out to the trash.

I have to thank Grandma Rita for our Gingerbread House tradition. I have many memories of making and decorating gingerbread houses and men. One of my favorites is the year we searched all of Fallon two days before Christmas for pre-made gingerbread houses because Jeron really wanted to decorate gingerbread. Of course, Grandma would do anything for her grandkids and she was more than willing to make that happen.

Jeron was mostly concerned with the frosting being green. Grandma frosted and Jeron placed. It turned out pretty cute!

Grandma always had TIME for her kids and grandkids...at Christmas and all year long. Thanks, Grandma!

Christmas TIME 3

Jeremiah has been in on the act this week...building snowmen with Jadee and the 2 feet of snow we got last week, shoveling with Davis and making sure Jeron wears a helmet to sled. Today he pulled the kids around the culdesac with the 50. Jeron and Jadee LOVED it. Davis...not so much (that is why there is no picture of him).

This picture was taken before the helmet lecture. Our friends, the Fisks, spent a week in the hospital after brain surgery with their 5 year-old after a sledding accident. Jacob's accident was just a couple of days before this picture, at a time when we weren't sure how extensive the damage was. He and his family experienced a true miracle when he went home just a week after his brain surgery. He has some work to do to recover fully, but he's going to do it. I am all about having fun and taking calculated risks, but I am also about using the advances in protective technology we've been blessed with in this generation. So, put a helmet on your kids!

Christmas TIME 2

Jeremiah took the kids all by himself on Saturday to get a tree at Costco. It's my year to have a full tree (as opposed to the skinny, sparse kind we get in the mountains). He refused to take a camera with him, so I took the first picture of the kids with the tree and their Santa hats.

I bought the kids little snowglobe ornaments last year for $0.99 each at the Macy's after Christmas sale. I wrapped them up and they each got to open a present representing the TIME we would spend together decorating the tree.

I don't know why decorating the tree is never what I imagine it in my head to be. I tell myself it is because my children are so young. It's mostly a free-for-all with ornaments yanked from the box and thrown on the tree quicker than you can say "Merry Christmas". Little or no thought is given to where the ornaments came from or what they mean. I work really hard each year to give the kids ornaments that represent something about them or something they did that year. They don't care. Davis just wants all of the train ornaments that belong to Jeron; Jeron wants to make sure that everyone knows he has the most because he's "been alive the longest"; and Jadee just wants to put the most on. Davis spent the entire decorating time crying, yelling or throwing a fit. It was fun. Maybe in a year or two it will be more like I imagine it. Maybe someday they will care that the ornaments mean something. But for today, I'll try to remember that it's not about me. And that's okay...for now.

Christmas TIME

I've decided that I am going to give my children the gift of time during this Christmas Season. I have come up with some simple gifts that represent or contribute to fun activities that we can do together to help us celebrate the season. They are so excited that they get to open presents...even if it's only one at time every day or two!

Today Jadee got to open a little present full of lots of construction paper and glue sticks...we made count-down chains! Jadee did it like she is a pro...even kept up the AB pattern. It's all in the tongue...

Davis started out strong and then lost interest. He then flew his small chain around the living room and eventually tore every link apart.

Jeron has "done this since Kindergarten" so he is a seasoned chain-maker. He wanted his to be a train for his picture...you can even see his mouth making train noises!

The finished product...

Come back soon for some more Christmas TIME fun!