Cheer Competition

On Friday I woke up thinking about my friend Shannon. She is someone that I knew from growing up in California. We did not go to the same schools but were in the same stake, saw each at girls camp and eventually were in the same ward for a couple of months before we both left for college. She lives in Nampa and when they first moved out here her and I and our kids got together for a day of fun. We always mean to get together again but life keeps both of us busy and let's face it, if you are not in the same ward you really don't see much of each other. She just had some major surgery and I thought that I would go and knock on her door and make a surprise visit. I had some grated zucchini left over from last season and it was just enough to make two loaves of chocolate zucchini bread. With a fresh from the oven loaf in my arms I headed off to Nampa to see Shannon. She was super surprised when she opened the door and saw me standing there. It was fun to visit with her and to catch up on life, as an added bonus I got to see her Mom who was in town helping out  Shannon. I am glad I acted on my impulse and I know it meant a lot to Shannon as well as me for us to get together for a visit. She took a picture of us before I left and I was touched with what she wrote about the visit on instagram.

Saturday was Kenedy's first cheer competition of the Season. It was at Nampa High School and they were competing in the Pom and Sideline categories. Rylee had a basketball game that morning and Kefford and Ryker stayed at home to take her to her game. Avynlea decided she wanted to come with me and we had a lot of fun watching the competition together. 

We were not sure how long we were going to be at the competition and so Avynlea and I packed some food to take. I had a loaf of french bread that I brought with me and Avy and I both thought it was pretty funny that I had a loaf of bread in my bag. It sure tasted delicious and Kenedy and Avy both helped finish it off. 

First up was the Sideline category and I thought they did great. They ended up placing 3rd overall for that one.

They then competed with their Pom and in the Pom routine they have to implement a pom pass off with each other. Our girls did theirs with their legs and I thought it was so cute and so unique. They placed 2nd overall for Pom. 

The competition ended up being over a little after 12 which was awesome. It is fun to watch but it does get tiresome sitting on the bleachers all day long. 

End of January

On Thursday the 19th the kids had another snow day, bringing the total up to 6. Ridiculous! I really needed to get the kids out of the house and after dance class I took the girls to get ice-cream cones from Arctic Circle. They came with me to dance and Ryker and Kenedy did not want to come with us. We met our friends the Hurst's their and enjoyed our yummy treats. Ice-cream on a snow day seems like the perfect idea.

After our treats the girls went home with the Hurst's to play with their friends for a couple of hours. They had a great time playing dress up and Lindsey sent me a picture of Avynlea dressed up as an Indian. After she washed her face she still had a bit of a yellow tint on her nose and cheeks which I thought was pretty funny. She is one cute little Indian!

I also got a picture of the fab four..

Avynlea: Indian Princess, Logan: Mad Scientist, Jules: Zombie Nerd and Rylee: Zombie Bride

Kefford and I went to one of Meridian High's Boys Basketball games for a date night on Friday the 20th and Saturday, the 21st. Friday night was pink out for breast cancer and I thought Kenedy was especially pretty in pink.

Rylee started Y-ball again this year and is loving it. I love watching her and seeing a little bit more confidence in her playing abilities. Before their first game on Saturday the 21st she spent a little time in the hall practicing with Kefford. 

After the game Kefford asked if I wanted to go with him to Hobby Lobby. Rylee mentioned the day before that she wanted to get started on her box for Valentine's Day and after looking at Pinterest we found the perfect idea for a Valentine Card holder. So when Kefford asked about Hobby Lobby both Rylee and I decided that was a great plan and we went with him and Ryker to go get supplies for her box. When we got home we started working on it and it went quicker and easier then I thought it would be. We made the cutest "Monster book of Monsters" to hold her Valentine Cards.

For Christmas Heather sent me a pair of Mermaid socks and when I finally put them on I fell in love with them. They are so cute and so fun to wear!

Wednesday night, the 25th, was New Beginnings and since Avynlea is turning 12 this year she was invited to go to learn all about Young Women's. They had the three class president's speak about YW's and the Beehive class president talked about how one of the girls was getting bullied at school. The other girls in Beehives were not OK with this happening and decided to stick together and make it stop. They had t-shirts made that said "You mess with one Bee, you get the whole Beehive". I thought it was the cutest story and it made Avynlea so excited to become a Beehive. They highlighted each incoming girl and Kenedy was supposed to do Avynlea's but she had to cheer at a game and so Makayla did it.

The Cookie Challenge

Avynlea and Rylee both had friends over today and Avynlea came up with the idea of them all doing the cookie challenge. The cookie challenge has them drawing papers out of a bowl, those papers are 10 good ingredients to add to their dough and 10 bad ingredients to add to their dough. Once they have added the add ins they bake their cookies and then try them. Avynlea and her friend Rose mixed up chocolate chip cookie dough without the chocolate chips. After they were done with that they made a list of 20 ingredients, and then got out the food items to put on the table. 

The potential add ins were:

Good:

Raisins {A}

Oatmeal {A}

Chocolate Sauce {A}

Chocolate Chips {R}

Mini Marshmallows {R}

Candy Cane {A}

Mixed Berries {R}

Peanut Butter {A}

Nutella {A}

Sprinkles {R}

Bad:

Miracle Whip {A}

Sour Cream {R}

Mustard {A}

Lemon Juice {A}

Ranch Dressing {R}

Barbecue Sauce {R}

Cheese {R}

Yogurt {R}

Pepperoni {A}

Relish {R}

I added an R for the ones Rylee had to put in and an A for the ones Avy had to put in.

Rylee and her friend Serena were on one team and Avy and Rose were on the other team. They took turns drawing papers and adding in the extra ingredients. It was funny to watch them do this and see their reactions to different things. Even though Raisins were listed under good Avy does not like them and was not thrilled when they chose that paper. Miracle Whip and Sour Cream were listed under bad but I told the girls lots of cake and cookie recipes could include these ingredients because they make the dish more moist. 

 After they finished with the add ins the girls "scooped" their cookie dough onto the cookie sheet and we put them in the oven. The smell of their dough was pretty bad and the dough looked really unappetizing. Rylee and Serena had the purple colored dough and Avy and Rose had the brown dough. 

After the cookies were baked they lined up and tried eating their creations. Getting them off the pan was a bit difficult and the girls had to eat broken cookies.

 The results are in, Avy gave the cookies a big thumbs down while Rose, Serena and Rylee gave them a thumbs up. 

The girls had a lot of fun doing this activity and it was a lot of fun to watch them. I am grateful I did not have to try the cookies, even though most of them said they liked them they looked and smelled too gross for me. 

Before Kefford and I left for our date to see Dr Strange at the theater we were all gathered in our bedroom hanging out. Ryker was talking about how tough he was and Kefford quickly showed how tough Ryker was not.

Later I found a selfie Kenedy took of herself on my phone. Maybe she was feeling left out of all the pictures. 

Sorry

My Mom sent me a picture of one of the tiles from a monthly tile set I made her many years ago. It said 'Let it Snow" and she said every time she has looked at it the past couple of days it has made her laugh because of our snow situation. I sent her a picture of what I had displayed on my mantel and said I guess it's my own fault. 

 Tuesday I had the kids come down and play a game of Sorry with me. Kenedy was once again left out of the pictures because she thought hanging out with her friends would be more fun then being with us. 

Ryker was being difficult and not letting me take his picture so I got my camera ready and then said "Rylee what is that on your forehead?". Ryker immediately looked up to see and I was able to get the below picture. Sometimes I amaze myself with my clever thinking.

 We have been finding out about these snow days by getting a text at 5:30 in the morning. Wednesday morning I was awake just waiting for my phone to go off and at 5:30 received a text from the district letting us know that school was back in session!! Finally! We were all ready for the endless days of snow days to be over and the kids were ready to get back to school. 

When I was waiting to turn into the parking lot where I pick Avynlea and Ryker up I was equal parts amused and horrified to see Avynlea and her friends trying to walk down the "sidewalk". The sidewalk had not been scraped and the hard crusty snow was making it really difficult for the girls to walk on it, Ryker was at basketball practice,. I really thought someone was going to slip and fall into the traffic. It needs to be taken care of because it looks really dangerous. I did manage to get a couple pictures of Mekenzie, Kaylee and Avynlea as they were walking to their pickup spots. 

Let it Stop!

We are currently on day five of our snow days from school and I think the kids are even getting tired of this weather. I haven't minded the kids being home from school, they have been able to keep themselves occupied and it hasn't been bad at all. The thing that bothers me about the snow days is that they have to be made up somehow and if they have to be in school they should be in school now, when they are supposed to be, so that it doesn't take away from spring break or summer. But, I am resigned to the fact that plans will be interrupted because of these school closures and it will all be ok. On Friday I went outside with the kids who wanted to go out and play in the snow which was everyone but Kenedy. I wanted to get some pictures of the crazy amounts of snow and to get out of the house for a little bit. Being wet and cold is not my idea of fun but the snow sure looked pretty and I like seeing the snowfall safe in the warmth of my home. 

I told Rylee to fall backward in the pile of snow by the driveway thinking it would be funny if she sunk down into it. But it was packed snow shoveled from the driveway and all she did when she fell was lay there on top of it. I got a cool picture of her falling though.

Avynlea walked with me to check the mailbox for mail and while we were there she wanted to go down the slide which was covered in snow. That was pretty thrilling for her.

Ryker has been pretty good about helping stay on top of the shoveling which has been appreciated. While he was walking across the driveway he came upon an icy spot and fell on his bum. He told us it was icy and as I was following him to take a picture I hit upon the spot he fell on and discovered it really was icy. Luckily I managed to not fall down but I did do the icy spot wobble for a couple of seconds. 

I stayed outside to take pictures and do a little bit of snow playing but my lack of winter pants encouraged me to get inside as soon as it was possible to get away. 

Screen shot of the friday closure message. I used to look at the weather app on my phone and get really excited when I saw the snowflake because snow was fun and I loved when it happened. Now I literally look at the weather with dread and horror when I see that snowflake, it just won't quit.

I posted this cute collage of my kids playing in the snow on instagram on friday. Kenedy didn't go out so I could complete the four square with a picture of her and so I added a pretty snowy picture of our backyard tree. Almost immediately I was insta-shamed by Kenedy for leaving her out of the picture and my comments section was soon filled with family and friends laughing about replacing Kenedy with a tree. My comment back was if Kenedy would have ventured out of her bedroom once that day then  her picture could have been included. Teenagers!

I thought the icicles on the house behind us were out of control and still really pretty.

On Saturday before Kenedy left to go hang out with friends I made her go in the backyard so I could get some pictures of her in the snow. I then redeemed myself by putting her on instagram with her own picture. Win!

Sunday

On Saturday we got an email from our Bishop letting us know that the area authorities were canceling church because of winter conditions. I have never had church cancelled and this was a bit unreal to me. Kefford still needed to go in for Bishopric meetings and while he was gone he sent me a text asking if I would have the kids each prepare a three minute talk. I thought that was a good idea for our Sabbath snow in and let the kids know to pick their own topics and write a talk. Avynlea and Rylee both decided to use this opportunity to pass of some goals in their Faith in God books and Ryker did the same in his Duty to God book. 

 After Kefford got home we gathered the kids together for a Sunday Family Home Evening.

After an opening prayer and song Kenedy was up first. She talked to us about using Faith to get through trials. Unlike the other kids she did not use the morning to prepare and ended up just winging it. I was really impressed with her talk because I would never have guessed she was speaking on the fly, it sounded prepared and she did awesome!

 Ryker talked to us about Repentance and how important it is and what a blessing it is to have the ability to repent when we make mistakes.

 Avynlea talked about how taking the Sacrament each week helps us renew the covenants we made when we were baptized.

 Rylee also talked about Faith but she talked about how to grow our Faith.

The kids all did a really great job and I was really impressed with what they were able to come up with in just a couple of hours.

 Avynlea was in charge of directing the music and she had a lot of fun with that. She especially made herself happy when she used her Kindle to play the hymns.

 After lunch Ryker and Rylee put on their snow gear to head out into the backyard. They went out with the intention of having some fun in the snow but barely made it past the icy porch. Rylee had to hold onto the pillar to keep herself upright while Ryker biffed it a couple of times. They were funny to watch and at some point they made it to the snow and tried rolling the snow to make snowmen but quickly grew tired of that game and came inside.