Reflections on the school year...

Kyler:
My teachers this year were Mr. Fahey (Geography), Mr. Jorgensen (Math), Mr. Budds (Science), and Mrs. Picone (Language Arts). We studied North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia in Geography. I did a project on Romania and learned that 20, 815 lei is equal to 1 U.S. dollar. I wrote an I-Search paper about Tiki Barber in Language Arts. I also took German, P.E., DARPA, and Study Hall. I played soccer and ran cross country for my school. My friends this year were Noah, Konnor, Eryck, Dameyne, Audrey, Haley, and Cristy.

Kierstyn:
My teachers this year were Ms. Lail and Ms. Kaminski (for math). My modules were Going West, Going Green, Mythbusters, and National Treasure. For Advanced Studies I had to teach my class a lesson about the Oregon Trail. My friends were Alex, Rian, Meghana, Taylor, Thomas, Mason, Caleb, and Oliver. I did Cross Country and participated in the County-wide track meet. I was the anchor reporter for our 4th grade play ("Going West") and I was in the Spring Musical ("Once on this Island"). I played the flute in band. I got all A's.

Trevin:
My teachers this year were Mrs. Romans and Mrs. Bryant ( for math). I studied Japan, Native Americans, Oceans, and Dinosaurs. Some of my friends were Sam, Gracie, Maxwell, Zander, Will, Darwin, Melina, Melanie, Mrs. Romans, and much, much more! My favorite learning expedition was the Fossil Dig. It was so much fun! I read the entire A to Z Mysteries series and lots and lots of Geronimo Stilton books. I was in the Normal Park Singers this year. My Related Arts were Music, P.E., Spanish, Science, Art, and Library. Science was my favorite.
I LOVE SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pinewood Derby

Yep, it's Pinewood Derby time again. Trevin decided to build a Lego racer this year. It was actually built around the block of wood. Kelly and Trev had a good time working on it together.My newest favorite picture (how cute are they?!) :

The Derby race was last night!Trevin used his Lego car for the "Outlaw Race" but chose to use one of Kyler's old cars (the black one pictured below) for the actual race. Kyler's car placed 2nd.
Fun times!

Vollyball & Soccer

This Spring we spent our Saturdays at the Y. Kierstyn played volleyball and Trevin played soccer. It was the first time either of them had played that sport and they both really enjoyed their seasons.

Kierstyn had a great coach that all the girls loved. She was the smallest on her team (playing with 10-14 year olds) but Kierstyn is a real hustler. Serving the ball over the net proved to be difficult for most of the girls, including Kierstyn, but we think with a little more practice she could be a real super star! She is very aggressive on the court and quick to call for the ball.

Trevin loved soccer! No one could believe that it was his first time playing on a soccer team. He is a natural. (Must have gotten his skills from his mama; well, more likely, from his Uncle Jason.) He is ALL OVER the field. His coach finally gave up trying to teach him to stay on his side of the field and just put him at center midfielder so that he could go wherever/everywhere. He was also awesome at throw-ins.

Once On This Island: Spring Musical

This Spring Musical was a huge part of Kierstyn's life for the past 6 weeks. She was only able to make it to 1 day (out of 3) of tryouts but she still got a part in the chorus. She was disappointed at first that she didn't have a bigger role but it was such a great first theatre experience for her. She learned a lot! She had rehearsals every day after school until 5:30. Some days she really didn't want to go to rehearsal but she developed friendships with many new people. (She especially liked the fact that she got to hang out with 8th graders!) She was the only one who could hit the high note in one of the songs and so she got to hold out this solo note for 4 beats all by herself!
Mama Mary came to the evening performance and brought along a special guest. :)

4th grade County Track Meet

Kierstyn came in 2nd place at the 400m race! (watch her fly by and pass 2 girls at the end)



...and if you're wondering what that thing is between her eyes.....she attempted a back handspring in her room one night and landed on her face--ouch!

15 Years(!) & Mothers Day

15 years
Yes, it's true. I've been married 15 years. Time sure does fly when you're having fun! :) Kierstyn made me the sweetest present with some of our wedding pictures. She worked very hard on it and was SO excited to give it to me the morning of my anniversary.Kelly and I sort of celebrated early with our trip to Hawaii back in February but we did go out for dinner the Saturday after our anniversary (he was out of town on the actual day). Dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant and a quick walk downtown, and then I came home to a clean house and these:

Mothers Day
Mothers Day was lovely too. I was properly pampered even though Kelly wasn't feeling well. Kierstyn put on one of her famous "shows" which was hysterically funny. Trust me. It was a Best Mom Contest and guess who won?! :)

My sweet children also scattered these love notes all over the house for me to find.

Atlanta Temple Cultural Celebration: Southern Lights

Kyler, along with 2000+ youth in the Atlanta Temple district, practiced for 2 months for the Cultural Celebration that was held the night before the Atlanta temple was rededicated. It was called Southern Lights and it was a program of song and dance about the growth of the church in this area along with a general history of the South. The boys in our stake learned a Revolutionary War dance. Kelly went with the boys down to Atlanta for the celebration while Kierstyn, Trevin, and I watched it at home. It was a wonderful experience.

One of the girls in our ward put together this video:

The Day of the Tornadoes

April 27, 2011 is a day that most of us in the South will not soon forget. Over 200 tornadoes were reported in numerous Southern states and over 400 people died as a result of the storms. Here in the Tennessee valley we weathered line after line of tornadoes all throughout the day.

The first storms came through around 8:30 when the kids were at school. Several HUGE trees were uprooted in that area of town (the kids go to school about 6-7 miles from where we live) and the power was out. By about 10:00 word was spreading that we needed to go pick up our kids. The school wasn't able to call out to parents because of power outage/phone lines were down. I picked up the kids and was dumb-founded by the damage I saw. I had a hard time getting to Trevin's school because every street I turned down had a huge tree laying in the middle of it!

Our Lower School (PreK-3rd grade) campus lost an enormous tree on the front lawn and it crushed a beloved metal dinosaur sculpture when it came crashing down. Thankfully though all the kids were safe.

As the day wore on we periodically took cover in the closet but we were never really too scared. By the next morning it was evident that we had been very, very lucky. So many in our area had been hit hard by tornadoes and thousands were without power for a week or more. The kids were out of school for the rest of the week. We feel so blessed that we didn't have any damage and that we were some of the lucky ones that didn't even lose power.

Fossil Dig 3.26.2011

Back in April I went with Trevin's class on a fossil dig. They are studying Dinosaurs this quarter and are learning about that time period in the earth's history. Interestingly enough, the location of the fossil dig was right behind Waffle House. :) You wouldn't believe all the fossils these kids found!

Look at all these crinoids that Trevin dug up:

blog love

Oh my. Please excuse the lack of blog love as of late. I was having computer issues which appear to be (temporarily) solved. Now I'm up to my neck in a huuuuge sewing project. And just yesterday I received a hugely responsible calling at church.

But I need to blog about.....
The tornado outbreak in our area, Atlanta temple cultural celebration, Mother's Day, Spring Musical this Friday, and I can't remember what else.

See you on the other side of this craziness!!!! :)