Happy St. Patrick's Day

Leprechaun Trap

It is a 2nd grade tradition at West End for the kids to build Leprechaun Traps.

I'm not sure who had more fun Marcus or Nathan and I.

Valentine's Day

Where Have We Been?!?!

As many people have pointed out it has been almost a year since my last post.  So, here is the story...  Over a year ago my sister Melissa and I decided that we needed to take a much more active role in our children's education, and by more active I mean we decided to open a charter school.  After over a year of WORK (Nathan likes to point out that I was not working full time, I was volunteering full time) by many people Oasis Academy opened last Monday.  And can I just boast a little and say it is awesome.

The school filled to capacity within 3 hours of our open enrollment back in April (people started camping out Tuesday and enrollment didn't take place until Saturday.)  We hired the most AMAZING teachers and limited the class size to 20.  The school is 180 students K-8.  We have the hardest working Board of Directors and the most dedicated parents (who volunteer a ton!).  Because we have so many people willing to volunteer their time we have be able to do some pretty awesome stuff on or limited budget.  Including leasing google chromebooks (one to one for 5-8 grades and two to one for 3&4 grades and several in K-2).

There is a lot of learning happening inside those doors.

 One of our parents is an amazing artist.  He painted this awesome tree right inside the front door.

 Flag up!

 We went with uniforms and I love them!

 The Board hired Melissa as the administrator.  

She is really the one who made this whole thing possible.

She pulled of a miracle with a lot of faith and hard work.

 Mike is on the Board and our go to guy for everything.  He does accounting for his "paying" job which has really benefited the school and saved us a ton of money.  He is also very technically savvy which came in handy the first day when the internet went down! 

 Eager learners and parents!

This has been an amazing adventure and I am confident that Marcus and Maleen will have the best education our community has to offer.  Which makes all the hours worth it. 
Now that school is open I am hoping to have more time to catch everyone up and keep it that way.

Christmas Sunday

I love Chrismtas Sunday.

The music & everyone dressed up in their new Christmas outfits.

This Christmas Sunday didn't go quite according to plan

Things were rolling along smoothly.

The kids had been bathed.

Marcus's hair had been fluffed and oiled/greased.

Maleen's hair was blow dried just waiting for pigtails and curls.

And then I heard Marcus  yell four word that will derail
a Sunday morning...

"No, not the coconut"

To most of you this probably doesn't mean a thing but my stomach instantly dropped.

When I ran back into the bathroom I found that Maleen had indeed smeared gobs and gobs of coconut oil through her hair (picture thick coconut smelling Vaseline).

I threw her back into the tub washed her hair four times and nothing.

I ended up having to pull her hair into two oily buns.

The next day I did some serious research to get it out.

I tried powder, dish soap, Tide, egg white, and finally peanut butter.

Needless to say I am much more careful with the coconut!!!

A Snowman Named "Chuck"

 WATCH OUT

 The perfect snowball maker

 After some snowball throwing we finally got down to the business of making a snowman.

 Maleen loves playing in the snow.

 Hazel was not to sure what the appeal was of being so bundled up the you can't move and then going outside to play.

 He's starting to come together.

 The snow was so wet that the each body piece weighed a ton.

 Meet Chuck

 Maleen really loved him.

We had so much fun making Chuck that we went over to my Grandma's and made Sally!

Rudolph With Your Nose So Bright

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is our advent.

Each day the kids open a little door and find either a surprise 

or an activity.

We did a lot of fun things this year.  Some of the highlights were:

We picked toys for Toys for Tots.

Watched a Christmas Movie & Made S'mores

Went to the Down Town Christmas Tree Lighting

Got Rudolph Noses (these were and still are a big hit)

West End Christmas Program

We had to get to the auditorium 1 hour early in order to get a seat.

All in all Maleen was pretty good.

 The Star Preformers

of the 1st and 2nd grade!

 Raygen and Sutton

These two little girls get hauled to a lot of things to watch their older cousins.

The 2nd Graders sang: 

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree

& Joy to the Wold (which I loved but thought the music teacher took a big risk to do.)

Thanksgiving 2010

 This year I made the girls these adorable skirts!

I love the way they turned.

"Give me hug"

 Nothing beats sister love.

 although cousin love comes close.

 Gamers!

Aunt Rachee is always a trooper for entertaining the boys!

 Maleen had a change of heart about Aunt Jenny because 

"Jenny painted my nails!"

 Pretty! Pretty! Girls!

 Like I said Sister Love

The bird looks delicious!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

It was so nice to be together.

The food was awesome.
Even better then I remembered!

First Snow

The first snow is always very exciting.

Nathan took our kids outside at 6:30 AM so they could enjoy it before it all melted.

Back Up...Back Up

I can't believe I forgot to blog about our trip to Utah in October.  My cousin Brennen came home from his mission to Samoa and we all went in to celebrate!  It was great fun and I don't have one picture to prove it.

I did remember to take my camera to Cornbelley's however.

 For those of you unfamiliar with the abundance of super fun activities in Salt Lake City and Utah Valley you are really missing out.  There is sooo much to do.

One of our favorite fall things is Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point.

Good times are to be had for young and old.

Cornbelley's is one of those places that you wait in a long line to get into (if you go at night on a weekend) and think it isn't going to be fun because of all the people.  And then you get inside and realize that it is so big that it really doesn't seem like that many people.

Due to the scarcity of photos you can see that I was busy having fun not snapping pictures.

I did get some good ones waiting in line.

 The girls couldn't figure out what all the excitement was about.

 The boys knew and couldn't wait.

 Tanii was freezing by the time we left.

 Marcus was so happy that Uncle Steve was there.

Even Grandma and Aunt Rachee got in on the action.

Maleen had a great time on the bouncing pillows.

It is great because they have a separate area for toddlers.

Marcus got rough and tumble with Kinsley.

Marcus has talked about shooting a car with corn since last year.

He is a pretty good shot if I do say so myself.

The biggest wooden rocker I have ever seen.

 Way to cute for the stocks.

Like I said I didn't snap a lot of pictures.

But we all had a great time.

The only low spot was...

When I MADE Marcus go through the Haunted Dragon with me.

He hated it.

He kept his eyes closed the whole time.

He has vowed never to go in it again.

I felt bad for making him.