Christmas Eve Stockings

Sabrina got games, art supplies, chop sticks, juggling balls, and toys in her stocking.

Alex got Lego minifigs, Nerf darts, games, keychains, chop sticks, and toys in his stocking.

Marie-Anne

Children's Christmas Play

We had our Children's Christmas Play tonight. It went well, but I am glad it is over.

Marie-Anne

Trampoline

Sabrina absolutely loves it when her Papa plays on the trampoline with her.

Marie-Anne

Christmas Party at our Friend's Home

We were invited to a friend's Christmas Party. James and Shelly are such a blessing to us. We are so thankful for their friendship. They had S'mores and other yummy food.

They also had a crazy fun game. While wearing the basket on your head you cannot see where to aim, at all, so the ping-pong balls were flying all over the place.

Marie-Anne

Congressional Award Expedition- St George, Utah

As part of the Congressional Award, Alex has to plan several day trips. We supplied the food, but he chose what to buy. He was given $40 of the Christmas money a relative sent the kids and told that was his budget for our activities. 

We left before the sunrise, which is something most of us have rarely seen.

Our first stop was Snow Canyon State Park. We hiked the Lava Flow White Rocks Trail. It was absolutely gorgeous, but the trail was littered with rocks so we had to watch our step more than the view. On the way hiking was pretty easy because we were mostly going downhill. The hike back was another story. The hike took about an hour. A blister taught Alex the importance of wearing the proper shoes.

Then Alex took us to downtown St George, which is very different from our downtown. The kids posed in front of some art. We stopped in a antique store, where Sabrina bought some foreign coins for her coin collection and I found a Tell-A-Tale book for a relative who collects them. We also visited an art gallery.  

By the time we were done with downtown, the Brigham Young Winter House Museum was open. We took the tour and learned a bit about St George's history and the Mormon's beliefs. The house is very beautiful and so is the furniture. 

Next Alex took us to the Rosenbruch World Wildlife Museum. Alex downloaded the museum's audio tour, which is why he is fooling around with a phone in the picture. There were many many different types of animals there.

Our final stop was the Western Sky Aviation Warbird Museum. As you can tell Alex is a bit (a lot) taller than the pilots were. The docent is a pilot and was very knowledgeable. It is a small museum, but they have plans to expand. 

Alex packed in a full day of experiencing what St George has to offer. Besides visiting a dinosaur museum when Alex was three, we had only driven through St George. Alex stayed within budget; he had a quarter left over. He also did well with planning; he chose things that he knew that all of us would enjoy and he scheduled it well. Alex also loved the fact that he got to ride shotgun all day. 

As we got home the sun set.

Marie-Anne

Congressional Award- Personal Development

These are the last two nonfiction books Alex has read for the Personal Development portion of his Congressional Award. How to Be a High School Superstar has many good tips on time management and doing well in school, and a few I didn't agree with. A friend recommended Hitler since Alex is interested in WWII history. Next, Alex plans to read You Were Made to Make a Difference.

Alex has averaged about one nonfiction book a month. He also makes a vocabulary list and does a book report on each book.

Marie-Anne

Foxridge Park

Today, we went to Foxridge Park to walk the path for Alex's Congressional Award. One of his physical fitness goals is to participate in a 5K in April, so he ran part of the way.

After our walk Sabrina made a leaf pile even bigger and jumped in.  She remade the pile for other kids to enjoy. Before we left a toddler was already enjoying it.

Marie-Anne

English Second Language Class

Alex was Frank's assistant during class, as he acted as the scribe to show correct spelling of vocabulary words and verb conjugation. He also made Snickerdoodles.

Sabrina helped me with the kids.

Marie-Anne

High School- Scholarship and Contests

There are hundreds, maybe thousands of scholarships and contests that your student may qualify for. Ninth grade is a good time to start searching for ones that are a good fit. There are even scholarships and contests geared for high school freshmen and younger, as well as, college students.

I have used several free scholarship search engines like fastweb, unigo, .... Then I made a list by due date and grade level of the ones I thought might be a good fit. Later I did a more through search and weeded out the ones my kids won't qualify for.

So far, Alex has applied for the Prudential Spirit of Community Award and a history essay contest. There are several more community service based ones that we are researching. And our mayor has an award for students, (all grades) which includes their volunteer work. 

If you have high schoolers or soon to be high schoolers I would encourage you to do some research and let them enter a few. Even if they do not win, it is good practice that will benefit them when they are ready for the majority of scholarships that are only available to upperclassmen. And they may win. 

Marie-Anne 

Game NIght

Nacho Loco is a fun card game that I stumbled upon at a dollar store. It is a twist on Triominos.

Sequence States and Capitals gets a lot of play around here.

Apples to Apples Junior is a lot of fun.

Marie-Anne

Putting up the Christmas Tree

We had fun putting up the Christmas Tree. We replaced our tree with a bigger one during the after Christmas sales, so this year we are planning on buying more ornaments.

Marie-Anne

Ugly Sweater Contest

Yippee! Frank won the Ugly Sweater Contest with the ugly sweater I made him. He won a gift card. The kids helped me make it; Sabrina sewed buttons and Alex helped me figure out how to do the front. 

I spent $4.50 on it. I bought the cheapest sweater and tie the thrift store had. Then I got the felt on sale for 50% off. The rest was stuff we already had at home. I left room for "upgrades" in the future.

Marie-Anne

Mother-Daughter Time

Every now and then either Frank or I take just one child out for some special bonding time. Their favorite thing to do is to go somewhere for ice cream.

Marie-Anne

Ronald McDonald House- Caring Cards

Caring Cards are a fun simple way to volunteer. They are index cards with drawings that the staff of the Ronald McDonald House includes with the free lunches they provide. I recently started drawing the characters from the kids' comic books. I am really enjoying it.

Marie-Anne