10 Feet of Trouble

The great thing about my kids is they love to pose.  I did our traditional back to school photos where everyone is excited to see their friends and go back to school.......   This year I have 2 junior high kids.  Wow!  When did that happen!?  Savannah & Larry are at the junior high & the other three are at the elementary.  Xander & Larry are in band this year.  Xander plays the French horn & Larry plays the trumpet.  Larry recently made it to the all county band and he was asked to test for the DUKE program for gifted students.  We are very proud of him.  Ethan & Xander are at the top of their grades & Xander is at the top in his school for reading.  I recently spoke to the school librarian who informed me Xander helps her choose which books to order.  He is very proud of this fact.  Savannah & Larry just finished their cross country season.  Savannah somehow finished the meet first for jr high girls and Larry was 3rd for boys.  And Xander & Ruby just fi

  Blog catchup.... As all of you know, Ethan fell off the monkey bars and broke his shoulder last month. The above picture is of him at his first & last soccer game of the season.  Poor little guy was even the star player for his team.  He was also on his school cross country team.  He was really bummed to miss out on all the practices and meets.   Here is Ethan the day after he broke his shoulder.  He had a large bone cyst on his upper humerous where the break occurred.  We learned that it is quite common among children.  And many children are lucky enough to outgrow it without a break.   Aunt Lynette knows her boy!  She surprised him with a couple of Pokemon cards! Ethan has had quite an adventure with this break.  He was admitted to PMC ER but because it was a high break, they advised us to take him to UK.  So Ethan & his dad made the late night trip where they slinged it.  We were quite skeptical of the flimsy sling, but after 6 weeks, he is doing great.   I took him to a s

I know I am a month late.  But here is a picture of my kids Easter afternoon.   You can't tell that Ruby has 102 fever here  and would later be diagnosed with the flu. These two wanted to be models...

During the Christmas holiday, we took Savannah to the salon to get a decent hair cut.  I was thinking about a cute bob, but Mark, her stylist was thinking of a cute pixie. What do you think? This hair cut is stunning on Savannah. Savannah's first temple trip of the year. She & Larry hung out with the Olive Hill crew. It was a wonderful opportunity for Savannah to get familiar with some other YW in our stake. She is the only YW here in Pikeville. Out of order again, but this was Savannah's hair style before the drastic cut. Ruby can't be left out!  She had a whole inch trimmed  from her hair.  This is the after shot. Here is her before shot. Her goal is to have beautiful long hair just like Rapunzel.  Oh boy. Both of my sweet girls, with a style all their own.

A start to the snowy season.  Happy Halloween people. Our first snowfall came October 30. Ruby working hard shoveling the snow. A snow day well spent making a snowman and a snow angel. Our treacherous driveway / street. The kids working hard to scrape it. This is a separate occasion where the kids actually had school. I could not make it down the drive, but the kids had no problems. Our most recent snowfall from this week.   Happy Spring everyone! I hope all of you are staying dry and warm.

So, funny story about the pinewood derby and Ethan. Last year was Ethan's first experience with the pinewood derby. The boys all went to AC Moore and picked out their car kits. Ethan was thrilled to death!  Larry & Xander actually had cars from the previous year so we just focused on Ethan. At the time, Larry Denzil just started working in Pikeville while the kids and I were still living in Black Mountain. I know absolutely nothing about pinewood derby cars. So Larry promised he would help Ethan put it together. On the morning of the derby, they are piecing this car together. And of course Larry has issues trying to get the axle just right... Needless to say, Ethan came in last on all his races. Leaving the race, he sadly told Larry, "this is all your fault dad." Larry Denzil never wanted to hear such painful words again. On to this year.... Larry Denzil ordered two preweighted cars from http://pinewoodpro.com  . He also ordered va