Girl you're AMAZING!!!

Carlie, Carlie, Carlie....beautiful, talented, amazing girl. December was a big month for her! She won her classroom spelling bee and as the champion she went on to the school spelling bee. She came in second place at the big spelling bee!!! YEA CARLIE!!! The word that she missed was "MALLEABLE." I personally don't even know what that means and I had to look at the list to make sure I spelled it right! The list of words that they needed to know was unbelievable!!! While I would be quizzing her, I'd hold the spelling list in one hand with our laptop close by so that I could look up meanings and pronunciations! Words like: tangential, onus, zigzagadness, vanadium, oligarchy...SERIOUSLY?!?! A 5th grader should know this?!?! Well, the girl who took 1st the school spelling bee was also a 5th grader. So they beat out all the 6th graders in the school! Way to go 5th graders!!!

Carlie's first Band Concert!
Oh, she is soooo much like me it's kinda scary!!! I started teaching Carlie how to play flute this summer. She has done amazingly well. She got to skip beginning band and was in the advanced band this year as the only 5th grader. She had a big flute solo in the concert too! Not bad for 6 months of playing flute:) She was AMAZING. I couldn't be more proud of her! LOVE you tons Carlie Mae!

Piano Recital time!!!

Yes! It was a marathon of piano recitals again for us on Saturday, December 4, 2010. Sooo proud of all my kids--my own and my students!!!

Here's Max in his first piano recital!!! He was sooo excited for this. Anytime Max gets to be the center of attention, he loves it. He practiced hard for this recital--he especially liked the "speech" part:) He forgot to let people clap in between his 2 songs! Such a ham!


Here's Ethan the ol' pro:


Carlie...she was amazing like always but here is our duet for the recital. (She did play her solo--I Saw 3 Ships--just not in this particular recital:)

Where to start?!?!

Okay...so I'm WAY behind to say the least! I thought making soldered charms for a few boutiques would be fun--they were but the Christmas orders have just about killed me!!! My poor fingers are all cut up from playing with glass (and I'm playing piano in church tomorrow:) ALL GOOD! I'm now officially caught up with orders and now it's back to real life! Soo much has happened this month. So here I go!
Family Pics 2010: (Sarah always does a great job:)

Thanksgiving in NM

We spent Thanksgiving in Deming this year. Nothing too flashy or spectacular. Just good times with family and hanging out. As we were playing at our favorite park in Deming, I noticed something that I had never noticed before. The kids had THE BEST time running around in all the fallen leaves. They were making piles, jumping in and covering themselves up in leaves. So I was thinking....hmmm....why don't the kids do this in Chandler? Because we leave in an area of neat-freaks!!! I had to laugh because any time there are leaves on the ground, there's a landscaper close by with his blower! So, it was kinda fun to hang out where leaves are allowed to fall--and stay--on the ground.

Just for a good laugh!

So a friend of mine posted this on her blog a little over a year ago and it just cracks me up!!! I actually had to give a talk in sacrament meeting yesterday about Gratitude and I actually used a portion of this in it! I was a little nervous about quoting something I saw on You Tube, but I think it went over well:)

Max is THE MAN!!!

Our little Maxwell never ceases to amaze us! He is a FANTASTIC student at school and his teacher just adores him. I'm always a little nervous when talking to any teacher of Max because he says some of the darndest things sometimes (what I call Max-isms). For instance, one of the FIRST questions Mrs. Lombardi (his current Kindergarten teacher) asked me at parent-teacher conference was, "What is a 'Dead Bed?'" If you need a reminder of what the "Dead Bed" is then click here:) So yes, I can see how that would sound very odd coming from one of your students. But I'm glad she let me explain.

But anyways, Max just received a HUGE award from school. He was the only one chosen from his entire class to have "Donuts with the Dean." He got to miss class to go an do this too! My other kids have gotten principal awards but this is totally new to us. Max got to have donuts with the head hauncho!!! Way to go Max! (Oh my gosh!!! He actually JUST smiled for this picture:)


He was soo excited for this!!! He kept saying, "This is THE BEST weekend EVER!!! I get to go trick-or-treating on Saturday AND Sunday AND I get to have donuts with the dean on Monday!" We are soo proud of you Maxwell!!! Keep up the great work!

Halloween 2010

Okay...catching up....slowly but surely:) Halloween was pretty darn fun this year! The kids picked out their costumes SEVERAL weeks ago so they were really excited to finally get to wear them!!! So here they are:

Carlie was Cleopatra


Ethan was "The Unknown Phantom"


Max was a "Skeleton Zombie"


And Tatum was a purple fairy (Carlie wore this costume when she was 3 as well--brought back fond memories:) Dang she's CUTE!!!


Here are the beloved Jack-o-laterns that dad carves out every year with his power tools:)




We had our ward "Trunk-or-Treat" night on Saturday, Oct. 30th. We let the kids go around our neighborhood on Sunday but they mostly just handed out candy. We have realized over the years that this is the one night of the year we actually see and socialize with some of our neighbors so we felt it appropriate to sit out on our porch and mingle! We had a GREAT time and as usual got WAY TOO MUCH candy (but that's okay because it goes right into my piano prize box about 2 days later--the kids are too tired of it by then to care:)

Pumpkin Patch 2010

This is my MOST favorite Packer Preschool field trip of every year! I've actually never missed it. So this was my 7th time going because each of my older kids have each gone twice (once with their 3 year old class and then again with their 4 year old class). Mrs. Packer does such a great job pulling this off every year. This year proved to be quite tricky because of all the rain we got in October! The day we were actually scheduled to go was cancelled because of all the damage caused by a hail storm. Soo...we had to postpone about 11 days. But we made it and the kids had a great time!

Here's the girls: Tatum, Chloe Varvel, and Natalie Park


Tatum and Chloe were quite the posers! Every time I said, "Look at me!" Their hands went on their hips! (Who teaches them these things?!) Royce Durling is sure cute in the second picture!



Cutie Patootie on the tractor! (Farm girl at heart)


It was a hard choice but Tatum found her pumpkin:)


The decorating (SOO glad they don't use paint anymore:)


The hayride/petting zoo:


The mama pig had JUST given birth to 11 piglets the night before we got there! SOO STINKIN' CUTE!



Here's the entire Packer Preschool crew! (3 & 4 year olds)

Fall Break 2010

Wow! It's been almost a month since my last blog post! I've definitely got some catching up to do. I thought every thing would slow back down once the kids went back to school--WRONG!!! I have been INSANELY busy to say the least! I've been working on my other blog and soldering charms like a madwoman trying to keep up with orders and trying to get ready for the upcoming "Country Chic Boutique." All of my busyness is completely self-inflicted so no sympathy is warranted! But it's all good! I'm definitely happiest when I'm busy and productive:)

Soo....Fall break. We didn't do anything earth-shattering or exciting but we were productive! Chris was gone to Washington D.C. for a big chunk of the break so it wasn't like I was going to load up the kids and head to Disneyland! The kids all set a goal to be accomplished in the 2 weeks and they followed through with it and I am soo proud of all of them.

Carlie is a phenomenal little musician and is has set out to master the her newest instrument--the flute. I started teaching her this past summer and she is progressing quite nicely. I eventually want her to switch to oboe--similar instrument but not nearly as popular. She's been begging to make the switch but I'm insisting on her finishing out the semester on the flute. So....we set a goal of learning 6 of the 12 major scales this fall break and by golly...she did it! YEA CARLIE!!! But I'm still holding strong to the "No oboe until I hear 12 major scales on the flute" rule:) Sorry girl! Stick it out! (Like it's even hard for her;)

Ethan has been working really hard on his school work performance. His teacher sent him home with a cursive writing homework packet and a suggested reading list. Well, Ethan actually finished the entire writing packet and we finished reading an entire chapter book and started his book report for next quarter. Poor Ethan got really sick during the break! He got some kind of virus--no one else caught anything! He was also getting some molars in which made for some serious headaches!!! Poor guy!!! I actually took him in to see his dentist--Dr. Welch. I even had them x-ray his head!!! I just wanted to check on the hematoma and make sure it hadn't become infected. BTW...little update...Ethan's non-cancerous hematoma is now officially gone!!! YEAH!!! No surgery needed this year! Small little miracle in and of itself! Prayers were definitely answered!

Maxwell was my biggest challenge!!! He has been fighting us on the bike thing for a while now!!! We thought it would be easy to teach him to ride a 2-wheel bike. Well....he needed lots of time (what I lacked) and patience (what Dad lacked). Soo...this was the right time because I had both time and patience over the break (since I took a week off of piano:) Well...WE DID IT!!!! YEA FOR MAX!!! SOO proud of this boy! He LOVES to ride his bike everywhere! He likes to call himself "a professional." (And no...the boy can't JUST smile for the camera:)


Funny side note...we spent a lot of time outdoors this break on bikes. Carlie just got a new bike and helmet for Christmas. Max just inherited Ethan's bike and helmet. Ethan hit a major growth spurt recently and the only bike we have that is his size is Carlie's old princess bike:) And for a helmet...he chose to use his baseball helmet. Poor guy!!! He looks like the step-child of the family!!! But he doesn't even care!!! But WE LOVE YOU ANYWAYS Ethan and I'm thinking Santa may bring you a new bike and helmet:)

Tatum Jane needed a goal too! But she was NOT going to be left out of the bike-riding:) I just love this pics of my little "farm girl" on her John Deere bike and pink cowboy boots. These pics are sure going to make Papa Frank proud!


We also decided that she should learn to write her whole first name. I put Carlie in charge of this. Lots of fighting and tears--from both girls (girls=drama) but goal accomplished! YEA Tatum!!! I'm not sure how the teachers will like the two dots above the "U" in her name (she thinks all "U"s should have two dots above them to make them happy faces) but I'm not correcting that! I like it that way too:)

Rooster Coghorn Ostrich Ranch

So I've seen this place dozens of times on my way to Tucson. This ostrich ranch right smack in the middle between Phoenix and Tucson at the base of Picacho Peak. I absolutely despise fowl of any kind--many traumatic childhood experiences that would require an entire blog post of their own (but would be a good laugh:)--but my kids were always asking to stop there sometime. Well...on Friday, I drove the kids down to Tucson to spend a couple of nights at their Grandma Donna's house. We left a little earlier than normal so that we could stop at the ostrich ranch to see what it was all about. I was most pleasantly surprised. We had a FANTASTIC time there! It was a very inexpensive and well worthwhile excursion. For $5, you get a big cup of feed for the deer, goats, ostrich, and donkeys and a little cup of nectar for the Lorikeets.

First, the kids feed the deer--I've always thought deer to be shy but not these ones!!! They were VERY friendly and loved eating out of the kids' hands.



Next were the goats. It was hilarious watching these goats trying to climb out of these holes that we just not quite big enough for them to fit through.



Next was the main event--the Ostrich!!! I'm STILL creeped out by these things!!! We learned that they are actually living dinosaurs. I knew there was something unnatural and very wrong about them:) The kids definitely kept their distance and just threw the pellets at the birds and I barely took a breath the entire time we were there. (Note the signs above Ethan and Carlie's heads:)




The donkeys were next on the list--and pretty boring compared to the others.


Finally, the Lorikeets. This actually turned out to be the favorite of the day. Well Max chickened out at the last minute and decided that he didn't want to hold his nectar cup so that left me to do it. (FYI, I was very traumatized growing up by my best friend's parrot--Fernando--that only spoke Spanish (the bad words) and was always trying to bite us or sit on our heads.) I most certainly did not want birds all over me but I braved it for my kids:) These birds were HILARIOUS!!! I pretty much held my breath the whole time again because it was all I could do to keep from screaming out loud! As soon as we opened our little cups those birds were all over us!!! And yes...Ethan and I got them on our heads--but amazingly no poop:)





Tatum had similar feelings as myself:) LOVE her face here!!!

So as I said earlier, we had a FANTASTIC time and I would highly recommend it to anyone--even those with severe bird phobias:)

Tatum turns 3!!!

AHHH!!! I'm dying here! There is NO WAY that my baby girl is 3!!! I swear she should be like 18 month at most!!!

Well...now she' the big 3 years of age. She is very much a girly girl. She is soo lovable and definitely the sweetest of all our kids. She is always ready to give hugs and kisses. Dad is not allowed to leave for work without giving her the required "5 Tatum kisses." If he does, HE WILL HEAR about if for days!!! Here's video of how it all goes--1st: kiss 2nd: Nose (bunny kisses) 3rd: Eyes (Butterfly kisses) 4th: Ears (made up by her) 5th: Hair (also made up by her) and then it all ends with a hug. Yes...every day this MUST be done. But it's pretty cute and Dad doesn't mind too much (unless he's running a little late:)

So for her birthday she decided that everything was to be "Garbies!" Which means "Barbies." Yes, she loves those dang dolls!!! So I don't consider myself a cake decorator by any means but I was pretty proud of this cake. It turned out rather well if you ask me!

We had a fun evening on her actual birthday. I asked her where she wanted to eat to which she said, "McDonalds...DUH mom!" (Yeah....she says "DUH" more to me than anyone else--it's giving me a complex!!! Am I really that dense?!) So it was off to McDonalds (DUH) and then we came home and had "Garbie" cake and ice cream. She opened all of her presents and was quite pleased with all her loot. (The crown she is wearing is the "Birthday Crown." It's been in the Knoop family for years!!! We had to wear it at every birthday. My kids love looking at my old birthday pics with me wearing the beloved crown:)



We had such a great time. I am soo grateful to have this little girl in my life. I love her SOO stinkin' much! Happy Birthday Tatum!!!