Andrew Jackson

The 5th grade classes had a "Presidents' Museum" today. They could choose from many things like power point presentations or dioramas or a wax museum. Brad's teacher encouraged him to do the wax museum and dress like his president, Andrew Jackson. He had to tell or read information about President Jackson whenever someone walked by and pushed the bell on his desk. He said he received a few compliments on his hair and some people thought he looked like Joseph Smith again and someone told him he made a great "Edward" (from the Twilight series). It was a fun project for him!

Fondue

We have never done fondue before but it looked so fun on Elena's blog that we decided to try it. The first thing I found out is that I need a new fondue pot. Ours is a little tiny thing that takes a special alcohol to burn underneath. So instead of using the little pot I just warmed up the chocolate in the microwave and had sponge cake, marshmallows, and strawberries to dip. The strawberries were the favorite item and the little kids absolutely loved it!!

Grandparents to the Rescue!

Mom and Dad came to our aid this weekend. I was so sick with the flu that I really could not do much of anything. Ethan and Jake were sick as well. Dennis had it last weekend. Ethan even passed out Friday evening and we took him to the insta-care but they said it was a virus and couldn't be treated with antibiotics. Well, most of the flu symptoms have stopped but now everyone has horrible coughs and Jake and Ethan are still having fevers every once in a while. Anyway, Mom and Dad brought in two meals to us (KFC and chop suey). They were afraid to come inside so they left it on the doorstep but mom called two days later and ironically has the same symptoms!! I sure hope Dad doesn't get it but he probably will. It's been a long time since I've had a flu so painful as this one!

Valentine's Day-2012

Valentine's Day! Such a beautiful celebration of loved ones. I really am not naturally creative so I took Elena's idea of doing fondue with the family but everyone was so full that we postponed that until tonight. We had a special dinner of chicken cordon bleu, loaded mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, and rolls. The kids all got chocolate "XOXO" candy (ava went shopping with me and told me she thought the boys would like these better than heart-shaped chocolates-turns out she was right). Dennis came home with pink roses for me and one for his little princess, chocolates, and chocolate-dipped strawberries and a balloon. Jake and Brad both wanted a pink rose for themselves so they took one from my bouquet. Jake actually put his back in the vase because he wanted it to live as long as possible. Brad, on the other hand, went right upstairs and tied his rose up-side-down so it can dry out. We were going to play games but because everyone has been rather sick lately, we decided to just watch movies instead. It was a wonderful day! Oh, I forgot, I bought Dennis his own box of chocolates and a card along with the special dinner:)

Ethan's Freshman Basketball Season

Ethan made the Freshman basketball team and was so excited and confident that they were going to have a winning year. But, alas, they went 0-17! I must say they sure did fight hard and gave it their all but the other teams were bigger, faster, and dare I say it, better coached. Ethan said the hardest part was facing the school kids the next day after a loss and all the teasing they had to endure. I thought that they were going to fall apart toward the end of the season as some bickering started but they pulled together and I think it was a good experience for all of them (and the parents;)

Ava's bike ride with her Daddy

It was freezing cold but Ava girl wanted to go for a bike ride one Saturday afternoon so of course her dad gave in! They had a great time and weren't gone too long. She had so much fun going with him last summer and I have a feeling they will be enjoying this activity again this year:)