Dayton decided he wanted to try out a karate class.

Bonus...the place we found offers a free first class just to see if you like it.

Saturday morning was the day and Dayton was super excited.

Nathan took him and Mackenzie, who wanted to watch.

Dayton came home even more pumped than when he'd left.

To say he liked it would be a massive understatement. He LOVED every minute of it.

He couldn't wait to show me all of the things he had learned.

The end result. Alexa and Mackenzie wanted to try it out too. Now we have 3 of these ultra white outfits and an abundance of excitement on our way to karate. Hi-Yah!

Alexa Milestones

Alexa is having some pretty big milestones and I am feeling really old. She is close to turning 12! Yikes! At the age of 8, girls in our church are introduced to the "Faith in God" program. It is a program that encourages girls and boys between the ages of 8 and 12 to set goals and work towards increasing their faith, developing talents, serving others, and becoming a better person. Alexa has completed the program. She had her interview with the bishop, the ecclesiastical leader of our church, on Sunday to discuss her upcoming graduation from primary and move into the young women program (for girls 12-18). Where does the time go? It honestly seems like just yesterday she was learning how to ride a bike.

Tonight...Alexa was "Beehive attacked." The young women from our ward came to our home and put bees all over our front door and then rang the doorbell surprising Alexa with a welcome to the Beehive class. She was surprised and I think she's ready to move on.

Snowball comes to visit

This weekend we were the proud babysitters of Snowball, one of the two albino rats from Mackenzie's 4th grade classroom. I picked Snowball up from school on Friday morning and brought her home eagerly waiting for Mackenzie to arrive home from school. Snowball's presence motivated our kids to spend quite a bit of time on the Pet Smart website researching the price of rodent like pets and the supplies they would need to care for and own those pets. Then came the list of potential names for said rodents. And finally the request for a rodent of their own that they would take care of and I wouldn't have to worry about at all. We, Nathan and I, agreed that if they could show us that they would take care of the pet they have, Harley, for a whole month without being asked or reminded then we, Nathan and I, might consider owning a rodent. Of course they were all bound and determined to do everything whole hearted. Until Harley puked up some dinner. Please mom...you didn't say we had to take care of "that." It's going to make me sick. These were some of the things I heard. Ok, I'll clean it up but that means you don't get a rodent of your own. Okay, okay. We'll do it. So sporting snow boots, coats, gloves and Dayton's token pair of science lab goggles they were ready to get the dead done. Mission accomplished. I really think I'd much rather babysit a rodent than own one but we'll see how the rest of the month progresses.

Pinewood Derby Prep

At our last pack meeting, the boys were given their pine wood derby cars with an invitation for dads and siblings to participate with their own cars as well. Alexa thought that was the best invitation ever. Nathan couldn't resist the chance to make his own car again. (I think there might be some wanting to prove he could do it better this time than when he was a cub scout to his willingness to participate) Saturday was the day to get started. They put on their coats and headed out to the garage to cut and sand and sand and sand. Dayton was beaming. He is super excited to finally be doing so many cool things.

Math Bowl Practice

Mackenzie has been quite the trooper for the past few months. She's been getting up early, we are calling it practice for next year, two times a week to practice before school for math bowl. The Math bowl coach, Mrs. Strnat, has divided the participants into 5 teams and each team has 6 people. Mackenzie was made a team captain and has all boys on her team. She isn't too excited about that but it definitely cuts back her chatting. Friday they had their practice tournament. Math problems are put up on an overhead screen in the middle of the gym and each team is given between 30-45 seconds to solve the problem. The real tournament will be in a few weeks. But the practice went great!

Persuasive Essay

Alexa has been sitting on the couch attempting, rather unsuccessfully, to write a persuasive essay on why I should get her a cell phone for her 12th birthday. She has asked me for ideas on what she should include and I for the life of me can't seem to come up with anything....other than the occasional, "Alexa, please hurry and finish your homework." She is now trying to bribe me by offering to clean the whole house for an entire year. "Please, won't you get me a cell phone..." Oh, the joys of being a parent. I don't see any reason why my almost 12 year old would need a cell phone of her own other than most of her friends have one. But then again, I'm not one for peer pressure. As a side note...Alexa does have access to a cell phone that she shares with Mackenzie and Dayton.

Family

One of the benefits for us living away from our family is getting to be with families who we love just as much. Valentine's Day was extra sweet for us because we got to spend some time with those families. The Norton's hosted and the Soelbergs trekked up from Bloomington. Kennetts, except Doug, were there too. It was an afternoon full of catching up, laughing, playing games, eating yummy food and frosting sugar cookies. But mostly it was a time for me to realize how truly blessed I am to have amazing people in my life.

Valentines

For the past few years we have done something small but fun for our kids. This year....we got them tickets to see "Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Lightening Thief." The reaction...super excited!

So we went to the movie and afterwards...some disappointment. The movie was quite different from the book so there was some unhappiness because the books were great and my girls loved reading them. But for the most part...it was a great day. I just love spending time with my family. They make me laugh and I love to laugh.

Frosty Fog

Friday morning was really foggy but super cold. I think that is why the trees and bushes looked so beautiful. I don't think these pictures do the view justice. Beautiful!

6th Grade Band Concert

Alexa has been waiting for this day with eager anticipation for quite some time. She brought home reminder letters from school, made sure I had the times written on the calendar, and talked every night about how good the band sounded now that they were all practicing together.

There are 140 particiapants in the 6th grade band and I have to say, they sounded great. Dayton and Mackenzie were completely entertained and wanted to listen to more. The only bad part was the uncomfortable bleacher seats we sat in....my back was a little sore by the end.

Great job, Alexa. We are really proud of you!

Special Delivery

Right after Alexa got home from school the door bell rang. A delivery box. What could it be? Red roses! Beautiful. The card was from Nathan and all three kids. After reading the card, I gave Alexa a hug and said, "Thank you!" She looked a little surprised and asked, "for what?" "For the flowers, of course." She played off the lack of awareness that she was a party to my beautiful flowers quite well.

Sledding

Jane, Sarah, Emily, Brad and Kate Legge
Sam and Sydney Alcorn

Dayton

Alexa

Mackenzie

For some unknown reason, Indiana seems to get a ton of snow during the month of February, when Indiana gets a ton of snow. However, we'll take it. If we are going to get snow and it is going to be cold I would much rather have LOTS of snow to go with it. We got 5 inches on Friday night and made plans to be on the sledding hill by 10am. We had some friends come along and it was such a fun morning. Forest Park has a bunch of different hills which makes the hill seem less crowded. Dayton, Alexa, and Nathan braved the hill with the jump and lived to tell about it. Nathan decided once was enough and felt the after effects for a few days but Lex and Dayton could have kept going and going.

After 2 1/2 hours we headed home for some hot chocolate with marshmallows.