Sharing some Holiday Cheer with some of the things said in our house this year.
Holiday "floating trees" on Salem pond.
"Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."
I heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Scott, Jacob, Sperry, Carter, and Marci
For starters, we set a new record: our Christmas photo was completed in under 5 minutes.
It took longer for us to decide how we should set up a cell phone (without a selfie stick),
or try to remember how to work our "old" digital camera with a timer.
Sperry: So close to 12 years old!!
she loves all things volleyball, bright, funny, furry, Fawna (our dog) and rainbows.
-"Mom, where are the wallets I ordered for 30 cents each? When I ordered my pictures on line, I ordered some of the pictures to come as wallets!" I finally figured out that she ordered the "wallet" size of prints, but they are not wallets.
-After she took a babysitting training course complete with CPR training she said: "Mom, I never thought babysitting could get dangerous! You never told me about all the possible emergency situations."
-Here's a sample email from Sperry:
" Hi mom and dad!!! How are you? I am at the library and I thought I should tell you some stuff. Ok, so @9:00, we took the LAST PARCC TEST!!!!! they had a survey thing, just to let us advice them and such :) Anyway, the prompt said," Please write in the space below about what you did and did not like about the test". I had 3 full-on, deitailed paragraphs about whaat i did not like, and 1 sentence about what i did like. but the last sentence wasn't true. he he he...
I miss you guys so much! Hugs
and kisses!
-Mom I need to look up something on Craigslist. How do you spell refrigerator? I wanted to see how much a mini fridge would cost for my room. Then I would never have to leave my room.
-Our choir teacher was telling us about how your singing voice can change during our pre-teen age years. One kid behind me whispered, 'your voice is not the only thing that changes'...
-In PE we were playing a game where you kick the ball and if it hits the back wall, it's a home run. I was up next to kick the ball and our PE teacher said, "come on Sperry, use those size 8, size 10...I don't know the size, shoes you got there!" I kicked it hard and he cheered on my team when it hit the back wall.
-My Spanish teacher keeps saying, "Hola Sargent!" and everyone else he calls by their first name. He keeps asking me questions about mountain biking and what type of bike I have. I tell him, "I don't know!!" I think he misses having Carter in his class.
-It's kind of embarrassing when your math teacher has some of the same outfits that I have. Today she asked me where I got my joggers (like sweat pants) because she has some just like them. A few days ago we almost wore the same sweater.
-A random girl came up to me in the locker room after PE and asked if she could use my deodorant. I looked at her and said, "um, why don't you ask one of your friends?" And then she said, "oh, ok." Because you can't really share your deodorant with a girl you don't even know.
-Carter (3rd year) of Spanish and sometimes will talk with Jacob (2nd year) during dinner in Spanish because they are both learning the language at school. But the only one I can truly understand every word is Sperry (6 weeks of Spanish class) who tries to keep up with, "queso abuela Dora chocolate leche queso burrito precaución, piso mojado".
Carter: 14 years old and loving it.
he loves being an Eagle Scout, all things: music, cool cars, fast mountain bikes, skiing, hanging with friends, church dances, outdoors, and singing with the ward choir.
-Last school year, Carter was giving Jacob some advice, "I am already set on talking to the Ladies cause I play clarinet with 14 girls everyday and I'm the only boy. So, I could help Jacob. I'm the Band Bachelor'.
-Holy cow. Senior Citizens are seriously so spoiled!! They have jetted tubs, heated seats and the Acorn stair lift. We don't get any of those things as a teenager.
-He went to Especially for Youth held at BYU this past summer. "Mom, I got to stay in the dorms and had as much Chocolate Almond Milk as possible. I had it with breakfast, with lunch, and with dinner. They didn't track how many times you had it. And I had a lot of it. Made me want to go there for college.
-Our van is 2007 and still going strong. I tell the boys that when they get their driving license we can all SHARE the van. Carter said, "This van is so old, it doesn't even have a touch screen in it for directions, or a back up camera, and the speakers aren't very loud, it doesn't go very fast, and now you tell us we will be sharing a car with you? It's not the car we need... we need a Tesla!
-This is the 'Summer of panini' with the George Foreman grill. We could have different sandwiches every day. Everything in the grill makes it 40% less fat.
-Before school, I found Carter laying in bed READING!! Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my kids read. But come on, before school? I said, "Carter, reading is the LAST thing you should be doing right now!" He looked up at me and I noticed that he was reading from the Book of Mormon. I instantly had to correct myself, "Carter, so sorry. This is the BEST thing you could be doing right now."
-Carter and friends Jacob and Cameron were hanging out and I couldn't find them. I get this message, "Um mom. Sorry, forgot to let you know that we went to the grocery store for free cookies, then went to Cameron's house, played some minecraft, and after we went to Jacob's house and ate a lot of cereal." He came home with a t-shirt that had become a suit of duct taped armor complete with PVC pipe sword. Instant Halloween costume, very creative!
-Carter's friend Wyatt recently turned 14 and we were telling him about how much fun he will have at the church dances. Carter said, "Yeah, and I can help you with what to say to the ladies. Jacob helped me and now I can help you."
Jacob: 16 and AVAILABLE (to be employed)
he loves: being an Eagle Scout, all things running, getting a drivers license, 60' 70's and 80's music (including disco), dancing and singing with our ward choir.
-After a really cold cross country race, I brought him a coat, hand warmers, gloves etc. When I offered this all to him, he laughed and said he was FINE. A few minutes later I noticed he DID have someone's coat on, it was offered by a girl on the track team.
-Last day of school I got a yearbook that I didn't know who the girl was... so I wrote a page long entry for her.
-His first time driving on the freeway to get experience was going to Wyoming and for 3 hours in bad weather. Jacob did great, I was impressed and asked him what he thought: "I think I did pretty good. I only got flipped off once! That is like a rite of passage."
-In English, one boy had his phone taken away in class by the teacher for taking a selfie. Jacob decided to pretend to take a groupie pict...just because he is a teen and teens do stuff like this. When the teacher took the phone away, she looked at his old slide phone (not an iphone) and said, "Huh, I though you had money!" That teacher instantly became one of my favorites with humor.
-Jacob's friend Christian said, "You probably will wait to go on dates until I turn 16 so I can drive you." Jacob said, "I will probably wait to go on dates until I have some money to spend on dates."
-While looking for jobs, "How do I fill out an online application that asks if for my age, and then asks if I have finished high school yet? It's like they don't want to hire a hard worker still in school!"
- People in English should write me in as a character in their stories. I'm the perfect protagonist: tall, fun, with nice fluffy hair.
-I like my cross country shirt, it shows off my hard earned farmers tan!
Scott and Marci, the age of Parents
So, you know those years that you love to have in the rear view mirror? That year that stretched you beyond what you imagined you were capable of? That year that leaves you overwhelmed with gratitude? That year that your kids take another step into becoming incredible people and achieve goals that they have had for a long time? That year that you grow together and learn how to lean on others? Yep, it was THAT kind of a year for us. It was another year of my trying to get stronger with my health. Scott balancing: kids school-work, house-work, and work-work.
But as hard as it was, I look back and realize that our children have learned much more than we could have taught. And we have witnessed many miracles, true miracles that declare God lives and that we truly have a Savior, Jesus Christ. We are grateful for our family and friends, who have helped us during this year both the happy and the hard. Thank you for loving our family. For giving us examples of service, kindness, and love through friendships. Things are moving forward and we will continue to find peace amidst the chaos of the world, and replace our fears with faith.
But as hard as it was, I look back and realize that our children have learned much more than we could have taught. And we have witnessed many miracles, true miracles that declare God lives and that we truly have a Savior, Jesus Christ. We are grateful for our family and friends, who have helped us during this year both the happy and the hard. Thank you for loving our family. For giving us examples of service, kindness, and love through friendships. Things are moving forward and we will continue to find peace amidst the chaos of the world, and replace our fears with faith.
Merry Christmas, to every one. With love, scott and marci.
