Edge of the Earth

Just in case anyone has been wondering if we fell off the edge of the earth, the answer is no. Not yet anyway. Life is just busy.

Let's see... We have a tradition of watching a series of movies for New Years Eve. We've watched everything from the Back to the Future movies, to Harry Potter movies, to the Toy Story movies, and this year we watched Star Trek movies. It was a total nerd-a-thon, but it was fun. In case anyone cares, we watched the old Star Trek movies, numbers 2-4. Wrath of Khan, Search for Spock, etc. I told you, nerdy. We always let the kids each pick a food item to have for the party so we end up with Costco cream puffs, little smokies, and the like. Big fun. This year we added 'hot cocoa loco' to the mix. We stole the idea from my cousins, Greg and Kim. It went over great with the kids. I forgot to take pictures.

In preparation for our June move we have put the house up for rent, and getting it clean enough for all the photos that are now online was a nightmare. Not that the house is generally terribly dirty or anything, but they didn't want us to have a garbage can or a pile of paper visible anywhere. I took pics of the house because it looked so great, followed by pics of the closets where we shoved everything because it was so funny, but I haven't yet even moved the photos from the camera to the computer.

Annie had a 'Potluck Pajama Picnic' in her Kindergarten class last week. Everyone, including parents, came in their jammies and brought food that starts with the letter P, but I forgot the camera.

Audrey played violin at the District Solo and Ensemble Contest last Saturday. This is a day where you get to go play your musical instrument for someone who is an expert in the field (like maybe a college music professor, or a violinist from the Seattle Symphony, and then they critique your performance and give you a score. Big fun) I didn't forget to take pictures of that so much as Audrey would have killed me. If you think she hates getting her picture taken around the house, you should see trying to video tape a violin solo. She played in two ensembles and did one solo. She did very well. I accompanied her for her solo which I absolutely hate. Every year her music gets harder and I have to practice more and stress out more that I'm going to mess her up. Audrey and I both agree that Solo and Ensemble is our least favorite day of the year.

We had our New Beginnings program in Young Women's and it was a ton of work, but it turned out well. I took pictures of that, but they too are still stuck on my camera.

Tanner has been very busy with his camera and computer, but I haven't yet posted any of his new stuff. It took me months to get those latest short films posted. He made them around Thanksgiving. I think one already has a sequel, so you can be looking forward to me getting around to posting that in 3-4 months!

So things are busy but good. We still spend most of our time driving around to lessons and orthodontist appointments, but are taking some time out for fun this weekend. Valentine's Day is the only Saturday during the entire winter season that Audrey does not have Youth Symphony rehearsals, so we are taking the whole family skiing. The three small ones have never been before, so we've got them scheduled for some lessons. Hopefully it will be big fun for everyone and not big tears. I promise to take my camera this time!

Also, spring soccer is upon us and I'm sure I'll be adding to the existing hundreds of soccer photos I've already taken. Lauren, Ethan, and Annie are playing. Heaven help us.

Love and have missed you all!
Jenn

Don't know when this blog became my diary, but hope you will all forgive me-