School Projects

Hannah's latest school project involved creating a 3D version of an animal cell.  She decided to do it with sugar cookie.  Now that's my idea of a school project!  I thought she was quite clever...

Race Day

Here's some action video for you... Hannah, Paige and Maren on race day.

Hannah

Paige

Maren

Hannah - 1st Place in her age group (Go Hannah!)

Maren - 3rd place in her age group

Paige - Disqualified due to fall, but had the best first run time out of everyone!

Izzy leads everyone on the last run of the day...

Christmas Break - Week 2

On the second week of Christmas Break, my true love gave to me.... Holiday ski camp. 

The girls spent all week getting up at the crack of dawn (actually before dawn) and skiing with coaches.  They worked on tons of skills, did lots of free skiing all over the mountain and spent some time running gates.  I thought they would be wiped out after waking up early and skiing all day, every day but they often wanted to take an extra run or two after class ended. 

It was a great week for them and they really improved their skiing skills.  I love to be able to go anywhere on the mountain with them now.  In fact, they are often taking Kirk and I on runs that we didn't know existed or hadn't been on before. 

What a great week!

Hannah and Ally waiting to run the gates.

Maren still smiling after a long day.

Hannah in the gates.

Paige having fun on the bunny hill.

Bring on the Drums

I think that a 6th grade band concert is something only a parent or grandparent can appreciate.  Here's a look at Hannah's first band concert.  She chose percussion and is loving it.

School Begins

School has begun.  It actually started a few weeks ago and we are getting into the groove although it has been a hard transition from a fun summer.  I just found my camera, so this post is a little delayed. None of the girls were very excited to get their picture taken.  Paige was the least excited, can you tell?

Maren is in 1st grade with Mrs. Vanhorn. Going a full day is tiring and has been a transition for her.  She likes riding the bus home with the big kids.  She reports that 'there is too much math' but likes school otherwise.  I just realized that this is the year when I will need to sit with her EVERYDAY as she sounds out each and every letter in each and every word in each and every book she brings home.  This is tough for me. I am hoping that her learning curve is short and she can be a smooth reader soon.

Paige is in 4th grade with Ms. Litven.  Her group of friends got split up this year.  She is a little sad about this, but I am hoping this will give her an opportunity to expand her pool of friends.  She is in advanced reading and math.  This is the year she gets to go skiing for one of her field trips.  I have already signed up as the parent volunteer for that one.

Hannah is in 6th grade with Mrs. Roget.  Her first pile of math homework (she is in advanced math) was more than she has ever gotten before.  I have a feeling that this is the year when she learns how to balance homework and free time.  No more finishing homework on the bus. This is her last year in grade school.  I am already nervous to send her off to Junior High next year.  Is she that old already?

Beautiful

After Paige had her ears pierced, Hannah decided she was brave enough to get hers done as well.  When we were visiting Utah, we stopped by the mall and now Hannah is an official member of the earring club too. She purchased several cute pair of earrings and can't wait until her ears are healed enough to start wearing a different pair every day.

Horse Camp

Grandma Johnson's neighbor graciously puts on a horse camp for my girls and cousin Natalie every summer.  Mornings are for the horses - including grooming, saddling, riding.  And afternoons are for crafts and swimming.  Isn't that every girls dream for summer vacation?

 Hannah and Natalie in the arena.

 Paige and Rufus are quite well acquainted after three summers together.

On the last day of camp, Maren chose to drive the buggy instead of ride.

And for those of you wondering, NO we are not getting a horse.  One week of horse camp and horses on all sides of our new property is just going to have to be enough.

Happy Pi Day!

Did you know that today, March 14th, is officially Pi day?  Get it... March 14th = 3.14.

In case you don't remember... π is a mathematical constant approximately equal to 3.14159265 (Hannah had to remind me of this bit of math information). 

You learn some really interesting things when you have a 5th grader. 

Skiing & Friends

Presidents Weekend was complete when our good friend, Gabi, came from Spokane to ski with Hannah.  It was a fun girls day on the mountain for Hannah, Gabi, Paige and I.  The weather was chili, but the girls were good sports with the help of an early lunch and a few hot cocoa breaks.

Gabi is now part of the Schweitzer Club - having skied all but two of the lifts.  We even made it over to the t-bar.  Here are the girls on Snow Ghost, making their way to the top.

We loved skiing with your Gabi.  We hope you come again soon!

Inter-House Mail

Several months ago, Hannah came up with a clever mail service for our family.  She assigned everyone their own address, hired mail carriers and set up a delivery schedule.  Quite clever.  The girls have had fun sending notes to each other.  They especially love getting mail from Mom & Dad (mostly Dad). 

Then a month or so before Valentines Day, I found these cute little mail boxes at Target for $1 each.  I couldn't pass them up.  Hannah helped me label each one with each person's address. The Davidson Post mail service has come in particularly handy during the busy Valentine delivery season.  Hearts and notes, cards and drawings have been moving through the mail system each day.  What a clever idea Hannah!  Thank you.

A New Do

Hannah has a 'new do'. Actually, we all have new haircuts thanks to a recent visit to Aunt Verna (who is the best hairdresser ever)! But that is not the point. Hannah's 'new do' is a little more drastic than the rest of ours because she decided to cut 10" off and donate it to Locks of Love - a non-profit organization that provides hair pieces (made from donated hair) for children with long-term medical hair loss.

Hannah loves having long hair and has grown it out for several years. So this was a big deal. She was a little nervous. But there was no turning back after that first cut.

After the 10" was gone, but before the real haircut... a nervous smile. She's not sure she should have done this.

Finished! Thanks Aunt Verna!

There were no regrets after a day of compliments and the sense of self confidence that comes with a new hair cut.

Isn't she cute? They are all pretty cute with new hair cuts.

Summer is OVER

Summer officially ended today! It's turned cold - I don't think it's gotten above 60F today - and rainy. On top of that, today was the first day of school.

Summer is over!!

But we drug out summer as long as possible. We pulled in the driveway late last night from a wonderful rafting trip (I will post on that sometime soon). The girls showered, picked out their first day outfits and went to bed. This morning it was busy, but not to chaotic as we woke early, tried to re-start early morning scripture study, made lunches and drove to school in time to drop of each child to their new classroom with a VERY LARGE bag of school supplies.

I did not have time to take photos before school, but I did manage to get one as everyone arrived home. Just picture the girls with less messy hair and you can imagine what they looked like as the walked out to their new classes.

Maren started Kindergarten today. She was a little nervous and kept telling me she wasn't going to go. But she did fine and even made a new friend. We are sad that our favorite Kindergarten teacher retired, but Maren has a new teacher that is very excited and we hope she has a good year.

Fair Results

The results are in. We went to the fair tonight and came out pretty well with our photo entries. 2 blue ribbons 2 red ribbons Yeah!

The Fair

The Bonner County Fair begins this coming week. We love our local fair. Kirk and I enjoy it mostly because it's small - which means easy parking, small crowds and seeing friends and neighbors. The girls love all of the animals and the horse rides and the face painting.

One of Kirk's more recent hobbies (he has many of them) is photography. This past year he challenged our family to submit a photo at the Fair. We've just had them printed and are submitting them today. Here are the photos we've entered. Hannah

'Sophie in the Morning' - domestic animal photography

Kirk

'Sebastian' - wildlife action photography

Kirk

'Green Monarchs' - landscape photography

Kirk

'Half Moon over Hope' - sunset photography

Kirsten

'Toothy' - child portraiture

Kirsten 'Sisters & Best Friends' - family portraiture

Kirsten 'Miss Photogenic' - black and white photography

As you can tell, I didn't get too creative. Just stuck with the standby photos of my kids. But I was impressed with how Kirk has developed his creative side. Hannah, too, was excited and really started figuring out how to use a camera. I'll update our standings after we visit the fair this week.

Horse Camp

We are so lucky that my parent's neighbor gives the girls a private horse camp every summer. Amy and her daughters spend mornings teaching the girls how to ride. Then Amy does crafts with them in the afternoon. Add a little swimming in the canal and it makes for a fun day. It was Maren's first year at horse camp. She loved to ride Addy. Best of all... she became a real cowgirl with a trophy and everything. Amy awarded it to her for falling off the horse for the first time. Don't worry - she didn't hit the ground and Amy caught her quickly. Cousin Natalie got horse camp started for us... Hannah on her horse, Peppy...

Isabelle even got a chance to ride... Definitely a good week at horse camp! Thanks Amy!