Chloe's Pyramid and Service Baskets...

Our good friend and neighbor Julie Garrison sells Mary Kay and every year at this time she donates baskets of product to a women's shelter. So Monday night we went to her house and helped her wrap and make baskets. It was a good service opportunity and we got a bit done. Cory didn't want to go but I got a good picture of him trying his hand at making a bow. :)

This time of year at school is also the time the kids do a Egypt section. So Chloe had to make a pyramid. Hers actually was the best of all my kids. She did a tennis theme. Jeff helped her and it turned out really good. Anyway, it was fun...

Cute answer... and a big owie...

Last week Lexie asked a very nice boy (Jon Hooper) to the winter formal. She got a white t-shirt and wrote a bunch of girls names on it in washable marker. Then she wrote her name in sharpie and at the top she had the question Winter Formal? and he had to wash the shirt to see who was asking him. I can't remember how it was worded. Then this week he brought by this mirror with the cute saying. And she had to wash it carefully to see what the answer was. I thought that was so cute that he came up with an anwer that went along with the question. I'm excited for her to go. She hasn't gone to any school dances yet, and after hearing about what goes on there I'm ok with the fact that she hasn't gone. BUT this is her senior year and I want her to have the experience of that whole school dance thing, so I told her she needs to go to both the girl ask guy dances... I don't know what is wrong with all the boys at Red Mt. High. Lexie is such a catch! I'm sure once she hits college it will be another story...

Then down farther, Tanner was brushing his teeth last night and the mirror was open in the bathroom, so at the same time he was jumping up to the sink to spit, I closed the mirror and bam.... a big owie. I felt really bad, and Tanner of all the kids is the one who cries the most... a little tender heart... at least he didn't need a stitch...

Chloe's Poem

I love to find homework my kids are working on... this one brought tears to my eyes. We all miss Jeff's mom so much..

Chloe’s Poem

I was on the
bus that sunny day
I was filled with
Laughter and joy
As we played would you rather.

The bus came to a stop and I got
off the bus
my sister, Kristen, was
waiting for me
Her arms expanded
like a welcoming door
I ran to her
my eyes immediately
swarmed with tears like an angry
beehive
It happened
Grandma was gone.

As I opened
the door to my house, I saw
Lexie and Haley
with tears flowing
down their faces
I felt like everything was lost
In the world

I was thinking
I was going to have to change
My lucky number
16

I miss her like a
baby misses it’s
mother
She was better
than everything
to me

Serenity

I love when Haley leaves her homework up on the PC. Even though this morning she was running really late and we were out of black ink so of course there was some drama going on.... and then she printed 15 copies and left before she could take even one... BUT anyway, here is her poem... she really is talented.

Serenity

What is to compare to a walk through the forest
On a calm mid-spring day?
The smell of pine needles pervades the air
Like the perfume of a close friend, welcoming me
Back home after a long trip.
The birds sing to each other, playful lovers
In a corny, classic musical, singing their feelings to
Each other.

Hear the stream in the near distance, water rushing
Over the stones underneath her.
She runs, head-over-heels, eager to be in a new place,
With new people, new adventures.
Playful, cool, friendly, impatient at times.
She never stops for more than a few moments,
Saying hello, then
Continuing on her way.

The wind caresses my face, asking where I've been,
What I've done,
Who I've met.
It tousles my hair gently, tying it in small knots,
Running it's fingers through my hair.
It beckons me to stay and talk with it
And the plants
And the animals.

As the wind whispers in my ear,
I come to a realization;
What Nature herself is telling me.

We must become acquainted with our fellow
Beings in nature,
must become one with them so that parting from
Them becomes difficult.
In doing this, Nature tells me,
We become better people.

More understanding, more caring.
More kind towards our fellow men,
More gentle with the littler beings around us.
More humane.
Not as cruel, not as harsh.
Not as willing to hurt others.
In doing so, we become more like
Nature herself.