Sheridan joins The Power Team

After every Upward Season is over, there is an Awards Night & a time for the players, cheerleaders & coaches to have some fun. The Power Team came this year to Awards Night, and Sheridan got to join them...well, she joined them at least for this one night's performance! She's my performer, so I know it was a treat for her to be on stage!

Always the cheerleader!

Is this real? (warning...parts are shaky because I was laughing so hard!)

So, seriously, how many kids would know if it's real or not?!?!

Time to fly, Sheridan! Don't let go!

She was ecstatic about her "performance" & insisted on getting Nitro's autograph afterwards. It really was an exciting & fun show!

Go, Go, G-O, Go Sheridan Go

Sheridan just wrapped up her latest season of Upward Cheerleading where she cheered for basketball. She had a great time, learned a lot of cheers, & even a dance too! She is even turning her basketball cheers into cheers for Colin's upcoming baseball team.

I was the assistant coach this year for her squad, and her head coach taught her squad & another squad a dance. Here it is:

At the end of every game, each cheerleader is given a star to put on their megaphone, Best Effort, Best Cheers, Best Spirit, Best Leadership, and Most Christ-likeness. Sheridan said the prayer at the beginning of the game for both basketball teams & the cheerleaders, so she earned a Christ-likeness star!

This was Sheridan's 3rd season to cheer, so we now have 3 cheerleader uniforms, 3 sets of pom poms, & 3 megaphones! However, next season, Sheridan says she wants to try basketball...we'll see!

Our Olympians

I love the Olympics and am quite a t.v. junky when it comes time for them to come around, summer & winter! Our DVR is FULL of Olympic t.v. coverage that I still need to watch! And no, I probably won't delete them until I've watched it...even though the Olympics will be over after tonight!

As it turns out, we have 2 in our home that have a different kind of interest in the Olympics. Just thought that you'd like to see who our Olympians are & how they will participate in the Olympics in multiple, unrelated events! NBC is showing Olympic highlights...so here's the Kemper Network's Olympic highlights!

Our Ski Jumper

Our Figure Skaters

Anyone want to play hockey?!?!

The Next Apollo Anton Ohno???

I thought I lived in Texas!!!

Or at least that's a phrase I've heard a lot in the last 6 months! In October, we had what seemed like non-stop rain & gloomy days.  Many people thought we suddenly lived in Seattle!

Now, we have had 5 snowfalls so far this winter, which is unheard of in Texas.  The most recent snowfall was on Tuesday, although that one was very minimal & more like a dusting!  Also, Dallas had it's first "White Christmas" in over 80 years. Unfortunately, we missed that one because we were in Houston...bummer!

Just a couple weeks ago, we had the biggest, longest snowfall in one day that I can remember.  I think the snow started falling about 2 a.m. on February 11th, didn't stop until well after midnight on February 12th, & the "official" recorded amount was 12.5 inches. I think I heard that it was a new record for the DFW area too! The kids were out of school for President's Day on the 15th, so the snow days now gave us a 5 day weekend! The only down part was that their Jesus Loves Me parties had to be postponed, but it was worth it to them so that they could play in the snow!

Our American Girl Basketball Player

Back in June, Sheridan went to an Upward basketball camp, and we let her "practice" her dribbling in the foyer of our house. At the same time, she was reading the American Girl "Julie" series, and Julie plays basketball in the books. Well, Sheridan decided to pretend to be Julie, the basketball player. So, here are some fun photos of our American Girl.

Speaking of basketball camp, Sheridan decided that she wanted to give basketball a try. So, we decided that a 1 week camp would be a better environment to try out this sport versus a 3 month season.

She seemed to really enjoy it, but not enough that she actually wants to play it this season. Sheridan is very passive in nature, so she doesn't go after the ball and will wait for someone to give it to her (not exactly a great way to play the sport). She also seemed to take on more of a supportive role & go back to her cheer instincts!

I'm just glad that she enjoyed it & maybe will one day make this former basketball player very PROUD!!!

All about You, Jesus...and all about getting DIZZY!!!

Sheridan was on the stage at chapel this past week, leading their praise time. This is a cute song, but WOW...makes me dizzy!!

The funny part about this song is that the kids usually LOVE songs that get them moving & dancing. Not sure if you can hear it eventually or not, but I think they too are getting dizzy & tired of going round & round & round!

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Before we get too far away from the fall, I thought that I'd post this year's Pumpkin Patch pictures. Every fall, we visit this GREAT pumpkin patch for some FREE family fun and an opportunity for some great pictures!

I'm going to steal a word from a friend and admit that I am a "Mammarazzi" when it comes to taking pictures at the Pumpkin Patch. I love posing my kids and taking these cute pictures! This year, they weren't so thrilled to have to sit & pose for me...oh well!

Every year, we take a picture of the kids in front of this chart and see how much they've grown. I thought that you'd enjoy seeing how much they've grown & changed over the years!

Back to the Baby Days!

Earlier in the month, I had my monthly Comfort Zone (nursery) duty at our church. This happened to be a day when Greg worked the night before, and therefore, was at home sleeping. So I had the kids at the church by myself.

While I was finishing the clean up, the kids managed to entertain themselves in an interesting manner. It was really cute, and I had to capture it with my phone camera!

As you can see, they enjoyed pretending to be babies again and were even crawling over each other...just as our crawling babies do in the nursery!

Sheridan Leads Bible Pledge at Chapel

This week, Sheridan's "job" in her class was to lead her class everyday in the pledge to the Bible. So, in chapel, her class leads the entire school every week in the pledges to the American flag, the Christian flag, and the Bible. So, I thought that you'd like to see her in action.

Sorry the pictures are so dark. I had to take them from the back of the room!

Here's video of it, probably dark too!

When I go to chapel, Colin goes with me & wanted his picture taken too!

Should Sheridan get a boy hair cut?!?!

We are beginning to toy with the idea of cutting Sheridan's hair SHORT...more boyish style!!!

Why, you ask?!?! Sheridan has beautiful, long, girlish hair!!! Well, Sheridan came home yesterday with a note in her folder stating that someone in her class was found with head lice. So, as a precaution, we decided to do a head check...YUP! She too has it! UGH, GROSS!!!

So, last night, after calling a friend that recently dealt with this, I ran to Target and bought the full household treatment package...shampoo, treatment gel, and spray for non-washable items. Sheridan & I spent 4 hours of our life last night treating her hair...Sheridan's hair is thicker than I originally thought! Poor girl didn't get to bed until after 11pm, and she was complaining of her bottom hurting from sitting in one spot for so long!
So, this morning, we needed to check her hair...found 5 more and counting!!! Those little DEVILS!!! So we are about to spend the next 4 hours of our life treating her hair again!!! URGH!!!

I am now finding out too (for those of you with girls), that lice actually prefer CLEAN hair over "dirty/treated" hair. Glad that I keep Sheridan's hair so clean, but will have to think twice the next time that I think she needs her hair washed!!! Once this is all over & past us, I will be "treating" her hair everyday with hairspray before she steps foot outside our home! Definitely do not want to do this again!!!!
So, Greg would really like to shave her BALD right now!!! Someone stop him from getting his clippers!!!!

Pioneer School and Log Cabin Village

Last Thursday, Sheridan and the entire 2nd grade of LCA went to Log Cabin Village for a field trip. First, we had to find "proper" Pioneer attire for her to wear. Then, we had to pack her an "authentic" pioneer lunch, maybe with some pretending! How'd we do?!?!

There were actually some outfits that looked authentic, but most of the parents of girls went online and ordered costumes for their girls to wear. We decided to go the economical route and put something together. The skirt and shawl came from Sheridan's Mimi. I found the shirt and a pair of black ankle boots at Once Upon a Child (resale shop) for her. The basket is mine, but she had an authentic tin cup that she drank out of. The cup belonged to Mimi's Great-Grandfather, and he used it next to his well!

For her lunch, we had to pack food items that we would have found in the 1800's, so nothing processed or plastic (for food packaging or drink containers). So we "pretended" that we made our own bread and slaughtered our own turkey for our turkey sandwiches. Didn't you know that we also raise our own chickens so that we can have boiled eggs?!?! We also ate beef jerky and cornbread muffins. By the way, Sheridan's dad has become a great blacksmith and was able to make us mini-muffin tins so that our cornbread muffins wouldn't be too big!!! Finally, we raise our own cows so that we can get fresh milk and make our own cheese too! See...pretending can be fun!!!

The kids spent the morning in a Pioneer schoolhouse and got to experience what school would be like. I think that Sheridan likes her 21st century school much, much better! During school time, the moms met at the nearby vintage Panera Bread Bakery & Cafe for our own "Pioneer" snacks and mom time! We met the kids for our Pioneer lunch and picnicked on the grass. Then, we spent the afternoon taking a tour of the Log Cabin Village to see how Pioneers worked and lived.

It was a fun day, and I hope to take our family together, maybe next Spring or Fall, when Colin's a little older. There's one house that the kids can actually go into and touch the furnishings, etc. They will dress up again and act out a "day in the life of a pioneer child," i.e. churning butter, washing clothes, ironing clothes, pumping water, collecting eggs, etc. However, this house can only handle "small" groups of kids, so they didn't let our big tour experience this part.

This field trip was actually nostalgic for me. I remember going to Log Cabin Village when I was in the 2nd grade too! However, we did get to do more of the hands on things. In one picture, you will see an older woman (the oldest employee in the city of Fort Worth) talking to the kids behind a plexi-glass window. When I went, we didn't have the windows separating us, and we got to touch and experience lots. We even got to try candle dipping! How times have changed!

I think the best part of the day was just spending time with Sheridan and experiencing/learning with her! By the way, she likes our house much better and doesn't want a log cabin...didn't like the idea of sleeping on the wood floor with her 6-7 other siblings in the same room!!!

Halloween 2008

We had a fun halloween night this year. Sheridan dressed up as a cowgirl, and Colin was a race car driver! Both outfits were practically FREE, and the kids were very excited about their costumes. Funny thing about Colin's Race Car Driver costume, everyone kept asking Colin which race car driver was his favorite and who he was rooting for. We have absolutely NO CLUE! Colin just liked the outfit! We didn't even know that there was a big race this weekend at the Texas Motor Speedway!!!

As it turns out, both Sheridan and her best friend, Isabelle, were both dressed as cowgirls! They were so cute together!

We let the kids go trick or treating for about an hour. Colin did so much better than last year. He walked up to the doors with or without Sheridan and would say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you" to each homeowner. Greg & I were able to stand back and watch our son become grown up and independent before our eyes! Last year, we had to walk to the doors with him, and he wouldn't say a word to the homeowners. This year, he would walk up on his own and sometimes insist on "going alone" (as much as we would let him). But, Colin did tire out after about 30 minutes, then wanted to be carried the remainder of the time. Sheridan was having a great time going door to door. So Greg carried Colin on his shoulders the remainder of the time, and Sheridan proceeded to fill her bucket, then fill Colin's too!

We finished the night by coming back to our house, turning our lights on, and passing out candy to more kids! It's a toss up on which the kids liked better, going door to door or passing the candy out!

This is the 2nd year that we've let the kids go trick or treating. Since Sheridan can't eat the candy, we take it to their pediatric dentist who will "buy" the candy from them. She pays them $1 for every pound of candy. So, this year, Sheridan wanted to take the candy to the dentist the very next day, but her offices were closed. The kids waited patiently and sold their candy on Tuesday. Sheridan was paid $4, and Colin was paid $2 (I redistributed some of Colin's candy to Sheridan's bucket since she was the one that did most of the work). Colin did ask why Sheridan got more money and understood my explanation that Sheridan did more trick or treating than he did.

Here are pictures of one of their favorite treats from the night that we let them keep!

I must say that I was very proud of my kids for how they handled their candy money. They each divided the money up between their Spend, Save, and Give envelopes. I was going to let them put it all in their Spend envelopes, but they insisted on dividing it up, just like they do with their chore money! They are learning early how to handle their money! Hopefully, they'll remember when their older!

So Easily Entertained!

My kids really make me laugh and bring big smiles to my face!

Yesterday, our family ran some errands together. While Greg was trying on his new suit, Colin and Sheridan managed to entertain themselves! They were so cute that I couldn't resist pulling out my camera phone and taking some pictures to share.

Of course, Sheridan had to pose for us!!

Again, goofing off...they take pictures just fine, no problem! But tell them to stand still, look at the camera & smile...that's another adventure!

Kids & Pictures

Why is it that kids are so hard to photograph?!?!

The kids received a package in the mail today from their Mimi & Papa V. They opened it to find a Pirate t-shirt for Colin and an Aggie Cheerleader outfit for Sheridan. Both wanted to put them on immediately!

So I thought that I'd take a "quick" picture of them to email to Mimi & Papa and to say thank you! Do you know how many pictures I had to take?!?! Too many! And I didn't even get what I think is a good one! I finally gave up and decided to send what I had.

These are what's left after deleting a few!

Sheridan NOT smiling

Still not smiling

Colin looking off!

Seriously...my kids DON'T have bug eyes AND I asked Sheridan to get the hair out of her face!
But she smiles great for this one!

Yes...I would NEVER make it as a professional children's photographer!!!!

The 1st Six Weeks of the 2nd Grade

Sheridan recently finished the 1st six weeks of this school year. Every year after the 1st six weeks, LCA holds parent/teacher conferences to discuss the student's progress and answer questions, etc. We could have a conference with her teacher anytime we wanted, but this is a day dedicated for these conferences and the elementary students don't have school!

We were shown Sheridan's report card and once again, enjoyed hearing that she made the "A" Honor Roll! This, actually, was no surprise to us because ALL of the papers she brings home have A's on them! I did also like seeing on Thursday that every paper she brought home that had a grade on it was a 100!!!

Sheridan is doing EXTREMELY well in her schoolwork. It almost makes me wonder if the work is too easy and if she's bored??? I did ask her teacher, and she says that she does have to challenge Sheridan and a few other students in other ways to make sure that they can apply what they've learned and not just do it on paper....Good to hear!

We are very proud of Sheridan and her accomplishments! She definitely keeps us on our toes!

LCA Chapel

One of the great things about Sheridan's school is their chapel time. Every Wednesday, from 9:00-9:30, the preschoolers through 4th grades gather in the Children's Theater at Sheridan's school for their chapel time. It is usually led by Ms. DeeDee, and the kids say the pledges to the American Flag, Christian Flag and the Bible; sing praise & worship songs; and hear a great lesson.

This week, the 2nd grade at LCA led the chapel time and gave the lesson! There are 3 2nd grade classes, and each child read a line from a script about Moses and how God used him to free the Israelites from Pharaoh (they've been studying about Moses & Joshua so far this year).

This first video is of the kids singing a girls vs. boys song. They usually can get pretty loud! However, Ms. DeeDee changed things up a bit, and I think it confused them. This is the quietest that I've heard the kids with this song. It's kind of dark in the room, so hopefully, you'll be able to see Sheridan!

This next video is part of the Moses "re-enactment" by the 2nd graders. I took Sheridan's picture with the same camera, so I didn't get video of her reading her part :-(

Sheridan was very excited about being on the stage, and very excited that we were going to be at chapel to see her and her grade (I was supposed to be at MOPS and Greg was supposed to be in bed). Sheridan & I really like this school. I love that Sheridan still wants me to be around and involved, and I love that this school encourages and allows parental involvement. I'm not looking forward to the day when Sheridan doesn't want us around, so I'm hanging on to every opportunity we have to be there for Sheridan!

Kids Kamp Chefs

A little catch up time...

Sheridan & Colin spent part of their summer in Kids Kamp, the childcare that was provided for IBC staff kids. They were still in the building with me, but had specially planned activities and were very loved & cared for! Both of them looked forward to their time on Tuesdays & Thursdays of each week!

The summer theme for Kids Kamp was cooking in the kitchen. Throughout the summer, the kids learned how to prepare, make & cook a variety of foods under supervision, of course! During August, their class focused on foods from other nations around the world. It was fun to hear about, then, come home to look on our world map to find where that country is!

The last day of Kids Kamp, our little chefs hosted a Taste the Nations food demonstration for all the parents. They "took" our order from a menu, then brought our food and served us just like a REAL waitstaff would! It actually was REALLY good, and they were sent home with recipe books of the food they made so we can make it together at home!

Greg & I forgot our regular camera at home, but thank goodness, our new phones have cameras on them. So, the pictures are a little grainy and dark, but at least we have them!!

Sheridan Learns to Tie Her Shoes

Sheridan has really small feet for her age (she gets it from her daddy!). So, she is still mostly in "toddler" style shoes that use mostly velcro. Since school has started, most of the shoes that she's wearing actually have laces and need to be tied! I'm pretty sure that most 2nd graders already know how to tie their shoes! So, Sheridan's playing catch up and is finally learning to tie her shoes! She is also learning that this takes patience to learn and master! She's done a pretty good job of not getting too frustrated and did a great job with her shoes this morning!

She's so proud of herself!

Heart "Attack" for Mommy!

I love our daughter, and she is growing so fast...sometimes too fast!

Sheridan announced to me yesterday that she has a BOYFRIEND who is in her class at school! She was so excited and told me his name and that she REALLY, REALLY LIKES him! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This boy was also in her class in Kindergarten, and she told me back then that he was her "boyfriend." I clarified back then that he was a friend that was a boy, and she agreed. This time is different! She has this little sparkle in her eye and a HUGE smile when she talks about him. Could this be her 1st crush?!?! I'm sure the 1st of many! Unfortunately, this is an instance of like mother, like daughter. I had my 1st "boyfriend" in Kindergarten through 1st Grade. We sometimes would see each other at church and sit next to each other. WOW! I feel bad now for my dad!!!

As my stomach is turning into knots and my heart is aching, all I can think is "NOOO!!! NOT YET!!!" Where's my baby?!?! I'm not going to deal with this well when it comes time for "going together" and "first dates," but thankfully that is WWWAAAYYY down the road! At least, it better be!

Back to School!

Sheridan started her first day of 2nd grade today! I can't believe that she's already in the 2nd Grade! I keep thinking, NOOOOO!!!! NOT YET! Where's my baby?!?! She just seems to be growing so fast! I tease her and tell her that I'm going to keep her in 1st grade, and she just laughs and says "NOPE! I'm in 2nd grade now!"

I think that she was a little nervous about her class and teacher. She had trouble falling asleep last night, then woke up early this morning. She also told Greg that she didn't sleep well, and later told me on the way into the school that she was tired! So, when we walked into the school, she was extremely quiet and withdrawn, not her usual talkative, energetic self! I'm hoping that tomorrow will go better and that she'll get a great night's sleep tonight!


The teacher that she has this year, she actually had in Kindergarten for music. Last year, Mrs. Wilder made the move from music and taught a 2nd grade class. So Sheridan gets to have Mrs. Wilder for her 2nd grade teacher. Many of the girls from Sheridan's class last year have either moved on to other schools, moved away, or are in another class. There are 2 girls in her class now that were in her class last year and one that was in her class in Kindergarten. I'm sure she will be fine once she gets comfortable and comes out of her shell!

As you will see in the pictures, Sheridan was very excited to have her own Hannah Montana messenger bag as well as lunch bag. I didn't let her play with or use them until today. She was very excited to get her hands on them....finally!

By the way, I thought that I'd show you how much she's changed since Kindergarten (as you can tell, she picks the same outfit to wear on the 1st day!). The pictures go in order from Kindergarten, 1st Grade & 2nd Grade. You can see her inching her way up in height in front of our fireplace!