THREE Young Women Personal Progress Medallions!

This past year, I have had three daughters working like crazy to finish their Young Women's Personal Progress. http://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,6884-1,00.html About five months ago I challenged them to receive their award by Girl's Camp (July). I finished my second YW Personal Progress Award back in April of this year and I was so excited about getting my award that I really talked it up to all the young women! Well, this made my girls even more excited. When I wore my necklace, they would get excited and just stare at the necklace. They gladly took the challenge to be done by July.

This past week was exciting at our home. Victoria, Caitlin and Courtney had each finished all of the projects except the Virtue project, which is reading the Book of Mormon. Well, the contest was on to see who was going to finish their reading first! I decided to get in on the fun and made the decision that I was going to read the Book of Mormon in one week. So, last week there were many an evening that my girls and I stayed up to the wee hours of the morning trying to read. We were seen reading the book by the pool, while eating, sitting at doctors appointments, making dinner, and even cleaning the house.

Well, Caitlin was the first one to finish the book, it was about 1am on Tuesday. This was no surprise because she began reading it quite a few months ago. On Wednesday morning Victoria was in the book of Alma and Courtney had quite a comfortable lead, she was in the book of Ether. On Friday night Victoria and Courtney decided to stay up late together to read in Tori's room. About 1am Tori told Courtney she was going to bed and she needed to leave her room. Courtney then went to bed, but unknown to her, her sneaky big sister had told a fib and didn't really go to bed. She pulled an all nighter and came RUNNING down to my room at 6:27am (quite excited I might add), scared me half to death, and proclaimed,"I just finished the Book of Mormon!!" Well, needless to say, when Courtney found out she had been tricked...she dived into her book and finished on Saturday morning!

So, how about me you might be wondering? Well, over the past few months I have enjoyed reading Mormon's Book. It's the Book of Mormon in story form. I love it! I have found it to be very easy to follow the story line. So, I decided I needed a challenge, so when I began reading the Book of Mormon last Sunday, I decided to read it in Bible verse form. It was a struggle, but I managed to get through Mosiah by this past Sunday. I have to say, if we didn't have company arrive on Wednesday, I would have finished by Sunday. My new goal is to be done by this Sunday for sure and earn my Young Women's Honor Bee award.

I asked my three girls when they plan on earning their Honor Bee award. They said,"We have already started!" :) I love my girls. You all are so incredible! xoxo

Courtney just finishing her book.

Victoria just finishing the last page.

Caitlin just finishing her last page of the Book of Mormon!

Father's Day

This year Ron got to spend Father's Day with Gary (his step dad) and my Dad. It was fun having the three men together. I love each of them so much! Thanks for all you do for us Ron! We love you.



Gary opening his gifts....

Ron and his girls!

Victoria blocking a photo of my Dad and I. (Twerp!)

My Dad, Carol and Gary being goofy.

Summer Creativity

The girls found this slide in the neighbor's trash pile...yes I did just say that...and they made a slide for the pool. They entertained themselves for hours out there! I'm lovin' it!




Grandma and Grandpa Avery are here visiting! :) Having fun playing Don't Eat Pete!

Brianne looking sweet!

Look how well my flowers are doing this year! I will post more pics later of my gardens.

Last Day of School!

Today was the last day of school! Here are the girls pics as they left for their final day.




Victoria - last day of Junior High...off she goes to the High School! (GASP!)



Caitlin & Courtney - last day of Intermediate school....off they go to the Junior High.

Brianne - last day of 3rd grade.

Courtney & Caitlin 6th Grade Awards

This morning was Courtney and Caitlin's awards assembly for 6th grade (Step-up). We were so proud of them for all they accomplished this year. They both received all A's all year long, and All E's for good behavior, and the Presidential Award for high achievement. Way to go twinnies! We are so proud of you. Below are photos of what they wore to school today for "Step-up". I french braided their hair, so it would look wavy, and the dresses we found at Macy's (my new favorite place for modest dresses.) (I am posting several photos for the Grandparents to download.)

No, this isn't some "creeper" (as the kids call it) behind them. This is their Homeroom Teacher, Mr. Jeggle. This man is a UCLA Math whiz and they adored him! (Their class took 1st place in National Math competitions this year! Yeah!)

Courtney, Caitlin, and friends at Step-up.

Proudly showing off their awards.

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great weekend enjoying friends, family, BBQ and the pool! Thanks for sharing this fun time with us and making great memories!

Where Did the Month of May Go?

All I remember from this past month, is going and going and going. If we weren't at one school, then we were at another school. It seems like there were a lot of end of the school year projects, activities and parties. I am happy to report, so far, we have all survived. Only one more awards assembly, and then that's it for us...we will have successfully made it through another school year. I am really looking forward to having the girls home and just relaxing. I am looking forward to not having to be somewhere at a specific time, with everything plus the kitchen sink loaded into school backpacks.

Below, is a photo of Caitlin, Courtney and Brianne. They had just gotten home from their piano recital. Each did very well. Nice job ladies!



As I have posted before, Caitlin and Courtney took beginner Orchestra at school this year. Wow! I can't believe how much these kids have learned in one year! They are playing the violin so well. I have been quite impressed with the two district orchestra teachers. As the orchestra teachers said,"these kids are no longer beginners!" How exciting to learn a new talent. Nice job Caitlin and Courtney!

Caitlin


Courtney

Where's Waldo with the Lakewood YW

I attended young women's last night to play "Where's Waldo at Walmart". We had such a fun time. I sure miss those girls and I felt honored they invited me back to be a "Waldo".

I didn't tell Victoria, Caitlin or Courtney that I was going to be a Waldo. I wanted to surprise them... I believe I surprised the twins the most. They walked up behind me and said,"Excuse me, mam, are you a Waldo? ...MOM! (scream) what are you doing here?!" We laughed and laughed. I was laughing all evening actually. Sometimes I laughed so hard, I cried.
Thanks ladies, it was fun being with you again!

Here are a few photos of our fun evening in disguise....

A very pregnant lady (waldo). Yes....that is me! (heehee)


The whole group of Waldos and young women.

Mini-Society....GAG!

Alright...I will publicly state...I strongly dislike Mini-society! Some of you may be nodding your heads right now, saying,"AMEN Sister!" and some of you may be saying,"what the heck is that?"

At the end of the school year the teachers begin loading the kids up with lots of projects. I call it the "no teaching - teachers are burned out" time of the year. Last year I made a similar post and showed pictures of items my girls sold at their mini society. I will again post things that Brianne is selling this year. She made about $400 last week in class bucks. (that's pretty good!) It is my hope that this post helps some mother out there who is banging her head against the monitor looking for ideas for her child to sell at class. (That was me a few years ago. I searched all over the Internet and could not find anything.)

Plant people

I found these spirals on sale for $0.16 each at Target. She then cut out magazines, and glued the pics on to make a collage. We then used clear packing tape to laminate the covers.

Vaseline - Kool-aid lip gloss.

Recycled water bottle - lava lamps.

And....Mother's Day Continues!

So, am I lucky or what? I received another Mother's Day surprise! I got it yesterday and was so excited. I am so excited to have a new BBQ. My last BBQ literally rusted to a pile of nothingness in the Houston humidity! YEAH! Thanks honey!

Tiffany Rides Without Training Wheels!

Tiffany asked Ron to take her training wheels off of her bike. He decided that if she asked, we could try it and see how she does. We put her on the bike and Ron took about 5 steps holding the back seat and then... she just took off. We were all amazed! None of our other kids have ever learned to ride a bike that quickly. Watch the video below for her first solo flight....

Getting ready...

High fives! We were so proud of her!

Pure elation! Check out that smile on her face. She was so excited!