skip to main |
skip to sidebar
On Valentines Day Nathan received a Commendable Cub for the scholarly attribute of ponder. His teacher Miss Tomczik really stresses to the kids about the importance being a scholar so they are always working on acquiring scholarly attributes. Nate loves his teacher and wants to please her so he is becoming quite the scholar this year. Something to be said for the power of a good teacher. Congratulations to our little scholar!
I got an amazing Valentines gift from Derek. A brand new camera. I'm so excited and can't wait to take some photography classes. 
Before Derek left for work today he said he expected to see some photos taken with the new camera up on the blog. Well, here you go Derek - some shots of Megan enjoying a Valentines treat. What do you think?
So, I had an "aha" moment today. The dishes never stay clean. Have you noticed that? You get the dishwasher loaded and started and by the time they come out all sparkling clean there is already another pile of dirty dishes waiting in the sink. It has always irritated me...until today. I hate change, I like routine. I think I have always been that way. I like knowing what I'm supposed to do instead of trying to guess what needs to be done. I like knowing that every day I am going to have to wash dishes numerous times that day - I didn't know I liked it until today. I still don't necessarily love the act of actually washing the dishes but I like that I know that I have to do it. So, now I am off to put another load of dishes in the dishwasher. Thanks to Emily who surprised me by unloading the dishwasher without being asked. Now my job is a little easier.
So today is haircut day and both Nathan and Luke hate that day. I'm not really sure why they hate it. They get to sit in front of the tv on a Saturday afternoon and watch cartoons while Derek cuts their hair - whats so bad about that?
Luke received a Commendable Cub award at school on Friday for Outstanding Citizenship and Effort. Good Job buddy!
So Denise is in planning mode for a Potter Extravaganza. She and Megan have started on plans for a week long celebration starting with the Order of the Phoenix movie and ending a week later with the 7th book. The current plan calls for a kick off party before the movie followed by the midnight show. Movie goodie bags from Honeydukes will be a must. During the week we may have some low key activities for the kids and friends to do since it's summer - no big plans yet. We'll end with a big blow out bash and dinner and then head over to Borders for the traditional wait in line all night for the book party.
So Denise got the crazy idea that she should do the 14 days of Valentines as a gift for Derek this year. We are now on Day 8. Derek is concerned that Denise has set him up for Valentines Day failure by spending 14 days showering him with love. No worries Derek...you're the best Valentines gift ever! How is that for sappy romance?!?!
Megan had last Friday off of school so she and Denise spent the day at Disneyland and California Adventure while everyone else was off to work and school. It was fun for Denise because she could go on the bigger rides for a change since there were no little kids in tow. Although, if the truth be told she is not liking like bigger rides like she used to. Space Mountain...far too fast!Disneyland is celebrating their "Year of a Million Dreams" for 2007. One of their "dreams" is choosing random guests in the park and giving them special fast pass lanyards that are good for that one day only. It includes fast passes for all the major rides at both parks and they are good for anytime during that day. Those of you that are familiar with regular fast passes know that you have to return at a certain time of day to use them - the special dream ones are good no matter when. When Megan and Denise got off of Buzz Lightyear they were greeted by a cast member and given the lanyards - yeah! The crazy thing is that the park was so uncrowded that they never had to use the fast passes - they walked on nearly every ride.Not wanting the fast passes to go to waste, Derek and Denise headed back to the park around 7:30pm for date night and using the passes got on every big ride before 9:30pm. They never waited more then 10 minutes for anything and in some cases got to walk right up through the exit to get on rides.Back to the afternoon though with Megan. The highlight of the day was Mater. Who doesn't love that rusty old tow truck? He is just as adorable in person as he is on he big screen :)
Just a quick note to say that the Baker's are doing well but nothing much more exciting then that to post. Derek is busy with work doing year end stuff and trying to switch over to his new position as domestic controller (he was the international controller) He is excited about learning a new side to the business.
Denise keeps herself occupied with the family, the house, enrichment planning and other pursuits here and there. She has been trying to find time to read and she is currently reading The Infinite Atonement by Tad Callister. Derek is also reading a book by the same author, The Inevitable Apostasy. Both books are good choices if you are looking for something to read.
The kids are doing well in school. The 3 bigger kids are busy with Stake Musical rehearsals, so is Derek. They are enjoying being a part of the production.
Megan has made a recommitment to herself to work harder in piano. The holidays seemed to mess up her practice schedule and it has been hard to get back on track. Emily made the decision to stop taking piano lessons. Derek and Denise had many talks with her and asked her to make it a matter of prayer. We hate the thought of her not continuing on and losing her great teacher but we all feel at peace with her decision. She just felt too over extended with school, activity days, and the stake musical. Perhaps she'll take it back up when she gets a bit older and can work through her stress better.
The boys are as active as ever - do boys ever slow down? Denise can't believe the boy smell that engulfs the car everyday after school when she picks the kids up. Nate and Luke must work up a serious sweat on the playground -stinky! The girls never smelled that bad.
We are hoping to have some major Luke news soon. Give it a few more days and then hopefully we'll have an announcement - we don't want to jump the gun and ruin a good thing. Oh the suspense....
Derek and Denise enjoying the village. Some of our group went skiing and a few of us just hung out. We braved the cold and walked around town enjoying hot chocolate and...
Denise designed a shirt for the concert and found a company www.uberprints.com that did the silk screen. You can't see the shirt very well in this picture but it is a guitar with a tree growing out of the top. Under "rooted in the music" it says mraz/tahoe/1.07. Denise had shirts made for our whole group and they were a hit at the concert. A few people approached us asking where we got the shirts and if they could buy one. 
You have to love that Chris Richardson sang a Jason Mraz song last night and he lists Mraz as one of his favorite singers - Blake Lewis also lists Mraz as a favorite. I really like all 3 of these guys. 
The highlight of the show however was when the training was interrupted by none other then Darth Vader. He brought along a few Storm Troopers as well as Darth Maul. The young Jedi trainees were encouraged to head over to the dark side but they all stood firm in their resolve to fight evil not join it (although if truth be told, Denise thought Nate might join Darth Vader) Each "student" was able to fight Vader or Darth Maul one on one and Nate took on DV without the least amount of fear - yeah Nathan!
We assembled 80 valentines! Denise wishes that all the kids classes were 20 to 1 but no such luck, Em and Luke both have 30 kids in their classes so 80 valentines it is.
Before Derek left for work today he said he expected to see some photos taken with the new camera up on the blog. Well, here you go Derek - some shots of Megan enjoying a Valentines treat. What do you think?
So, I had an "aha" moment today. 
So today is haircut day and both Nathan and Luke hate that day. I'm not really sure why they hate it. They get to sit in front of the tv on a Saturday afternoon and watch cartoons while Derek cuts their hair - whats so bad about that?
So Denise got the crazy idea that she should do the 14 days of Valentines as a gift for Derek this year. We are now on Day 8. Derek is concerned that Denise has set him up for Valentines Day failure by spending 14 days showering him with love. No worries Derek...you're the best Valentines gift ever! How is that for sappy romance?!?!
Megan had last Friday off of school so she and Denise spent the day at Disneyland and California Adventure while everyone else was off to work and school. It was fun for Denise because she could go on the bigger rides for a change since there were no little kids in tow. Although, if the truth be told she is not liking like bigger rides like she used to. Space Mountain...far too fast!
Posts
