Scott's

This is what we found Saturday morning after Scott's birthday. We have a new family in our ward that we seem to get along with very well. Our girls teepeed their house for their son's birthday in Aug. When they found out it was Scott's birthday, they returned the favor. We've now called a truce and decided to join forces. Watch out!

They also turned Scott's bug into a "ladybug" by sticking Oreos all over it. :)

Scott prefers brownies, not cake. So we put his candle in a brownie and tried to keep the fan from blowing out the flame before he did. :) I still can't believe we got a picture with everyone smiling.

I took Scott out to dinner and a movie, which we almost never get to do because Maricopa doesn't have a movie theater. It's also nice to have built in babysitters. :)

Rylee spent her whole sick day spelling out happy birthday in Swedish made out of Legos. She even figured out an ingenious way to put the two dots over the "o". Lycklig Fodelsedag!

Rylee for president!

Rylee decided she was not going to run for student council this year because the teachers don't listen to the students' ideas anyway. What better way to get your voice heard than by being on student council? So she changed her mind, as girls often do, and ran for president. :) They were allowed one poster to advertise their campaign. Since she wanted her poster to be catchy and rhyme, we decided Dr Suess was a good character to put on her poster...


...and an even better character to make her speech! :)

"Oh the things we could do, if only we try. If we try, student council could make the year fly! With carnivals and popcorn, fundraisers and more, Legacy Lions will never be bored. But we need a good leader. Now, who could that be? A president of presidents...Say! Why not Rylee? She knows what to do, she's served you before. She's honest, friendly and so much more! She has great ideas and works, works, works, works! She's funny and confident, with just a few quirks. :)If you want this year to be spectacular and smiley, there's only one thing to do: Make your president RYLEE!

Here is Rylee giving her speech to the 4th, 5th and 6th graders. She was nervous because some of the other candidates had been giving out flyers and she didn't think she would get as much name recognition by following the rules.

It turns out she didn't need the name recognition. She won by a landslide off her character and creativity alone. She received twice as many votes as the closest candidate. And I'm so proud of her for doing her best and following the rules.

I'm going to have to go backwards, because it's been a long time!

Kiersten is officially a teenager!!!! She turned 13 on Saturday, Aug 6th. We had a small party with three of her best friends, Makenzie, Kayla and Whitney. The pool was refreshing for the first 5 seconds, then it just felt like bathwater. :(
They played pool games like "Sharks and Minnows", and another game they've made up called "Link".

Everyone loves getting stuff in the mail, and this year, Kiersten got packages from the Birthday Fairy and Gma and Gpa Moore. Fun fun!!

It was a great time and Kiersten loved her little party. We played "Truth or Truth" and "Murder". We even had rootbeer floats to celebrate National Rootbeer Float Day. There was enough giggling, girl talk, fingernail polish and earrings to last a good long time. :)

Foolin' around

We always do "crazy" shots after I get them to sit still for the serious picture. These turned out rather funny. ;)

Pose like an Egyptian. Canon just has to be involved. He jumped into the serious picture at the last minute, so we let him be in the crazy shots as well.

Wow....that"s all I have to say.

End of school awards ceremonies

We love being recognized for our accomplishments!! This year, all the girls received medals for their straight A's. It's fun to go to the assemblies and cheer them on for the good work they've done! :)

Aubree received a certificate for community service and was voted most musically talented by her peers. She was also recognized for her work on the student council as vice president.

Kiersten also received a certificate for community service, was voted most courteous by her peers, was recognized for her work on student council as historian and received the fairness award from her teachers.

Rylee received her medal in the elementary awards assembly. All the teachers come on stage and the students being recognized get to go down the line and give them all a high five. She was also recognized for her work on student council as vice president and the character trait of responsibility.

Raegan received her medal for good grades and the character trait of respect. She really enjoyed being in Ms Wechter's class and has made marked improvement in her math and reading skills.

End of year concerts

Because the orchestra is small, Kiersten and Aubree have developed some really close relationships with the other musicians and their music teachers. And they've had to excel with their instrument, because if you mess up, everyone knows who hasn't been practicing. You can't hide behind the numbers because there aren't very many kids in the class.

They played some beautiful arrangements of some classic music. I was surprised at the volume despite the small group. Even one flute, one clarinet and one trombone make a huge difference. I'm so proud of these girls for their progress and enjoyment of something I love as well!

Kiersten and Aubree were both part of the Jr High Advanced Orchestra. Here they are tuning their violins before the concert began.

Rylee is the only student left in Intermediate Orchestra. All the other members moved, left for sports, or just weren't interested in playing anymore. She played with the Beginning Orchestra for her concert and had fun even though she already knew those songs from last year.

Rylee is sitting in the front row all the way to the left. It's a small music program, but it's better than not having the opportunity to develop your talents at all.

Jimmy Neutron?

Canon came down with a nasty bug that layed him flat for a week and a half! There were many hours sitting on the couch just snuggling because he was so miserable. For a kid that never sits still, this was quite concerning for me. He was also allergic to the antibiotics we started him on and got a full body rash that was really itchy. Poor kid. These pictures were taken after the Benedryl which cleared up the allergic reaction, so he was a little happier. He's needed a hair cut for sometime, but I just couldn't bring myself to torture him when he was already so miserable. I also love those locks and it's hard to cut them off. I'm happy to report that he got a haircut Saturday and looks like a little missionary again instead of Jimmy Neutron. :)