Emma's Color Guard

The band has a beautiful
Paris themed show.

It has been a good experience for Emma
and has challenged her
in a lot of ways.

Quinn & his Dad

He's a sweet boy

and he loves to be with his dad.

New Home

Spring Break was spent looking for a new house.

Emma & Quinn were troopers while we had long

hours and looked at dozens of houses.

They gave us great input and had lots of good opinions.

Here our a few pictures of the house we decided to buy.

Our Home

We have been talking through the idea of moving for several months. Because of the economy and the dismal housing market we knew it would be tough to sell our home. We spent a lot of time on the pictures for the listing using our Nikon SLR with a wide angle lens. We are very happy with the results.

To our surprise the home sold before it was listed. So, we didn't even use the pictures. I'm posting them here so that we can feel like they are being used in some way. We will miss this home. It is a home we have really loved.

Emma's Accident

On March 9, 2011 (three days before my 14 birthday) I was in gym. When the teacher told us to get dressed my friend and I raced away. As we were rounding the corner, she ran in front of me and I stepped on the back of her shoe. I fell headlong into the corner of the wall. Next, I woke up in the nurses office and couldn't remember what had happened during that day. The Nurse was nervous and called the EMT's to come in an ambulance and take me to the ER. I spent four hours there, and after they gave me a CAT scan determined I had a minor concussion. It was kind of scary and it took me several days to feel better. It was sure an eventful day but I got out of gym class for two weeks!

-Emma

Massive Snow

It began on February 1st with some snow and high winds. It included

lightning flashes and huge gusts of wind. By the morning of

February 2nd we had about 18" of new snow and massive snowdrifts.

After shoveling we had great mounds of snow:

But this is what greeted us when we opened the garage doors:

All About Quinn

Quinn's teacher made this great poster all about Quinn.

My favorites are that he likes asparagus & grapefruit,

and that his favorite TV show is "This Old House".

He is the only kid in his 2nd grade that hasn't lost any teeth.

Christmas is coming...

The first weeks of December always mean

nativity performances and choir concerts.

Emma's children singing group performed some beautiful numbers

this year. I especially enjoyed "When I Close my eyes" and

"And the Angels Sang". The later was performed with an up

and coming opera singer and accompanied by harp & cello.

It was so beautiful I had tears in my eyes.

They also had an additional concert where they sang back up for

David Benoit in "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

I can hardly believe the amazing experience my daughter had to sing

on stage with such professional musicians.

She is getting some great musical training.

Quinn and friend Nate were shepherds in the live nativity this year

and this was their first time without a parent.

They are growing up!

Quiet Time

I love this picture of my sweet boy

enjoying some quiet reading time.

Funny Photo

We recently stayed in a hotel during a weekend trip.

Anyone care for a swim?