Lia's Student of the Quarter Award

After two school years of recognizing zero students, Lia's junior high school brought back the "Student of the Quarter" program.  Fortunately, Lia's history teacher chose her as his one 9th grader to be recognized for her performance the first quarter of the school year.  As a result, we were invited to attend an early morning ceremony in her library today at 7:30 a.m.  Since everyone was already up and at it, I dragged the three younger kids with Lia and me into the dark and cold morning.  We found an empty table in the back corner of the library and happily watched Lia and several other students be called up one at a time by their teacher.  Lia's teacher read out loud the kind words that he wrote about her and that were printed on the front of her certificate as she walked up to get it.  I am so proud of how hard Lia worked this fall juggling school with seminary, cross country, and her play while managing to maintain straight As the entire time.  Way to go, Lia!  You are such a superstar in my eyes!

Lia holding up her award after the ceremony was over.

 A close-up of Lia's award.

Trimming the Tree!

After picking out our Christmas tree in the rain yesterday, we gave it a good day to dry out in the house before gathering around it tonight to decorate.  The kids and I had a good time going through out large batch of ornaments and decorating both the children's tree in the foyer and our family tree in the living room while listening to Christmas music.  I love this tradition as it always helps to feel like we are officially kicking off our Christmas season.  I am so grateful for a husband and four children to share this special time of year with.  Here are some photos of our festive fun tonight.

Ella decorating the children's tree with the help of her AGD, Corinne.

Emmett sans shirt hanging up one of his ornaments.

The kids and I gathered around the family tree.

The kids decorating away.

Logan showing me his pearly whites while hanging up another ornament.

Lia hanging up a star way up high.  It pays to be tall from time to time.

Lia's Descendants Production

Lia wrapped up the craziest and busiest 2.5 months of her life yesterday by participating in two performances of Disney's Descendants at a beautiful high school theater in Auburn.  While juggling seminary, school, XC, and homework, Lia managed to find the energy and the time to attend her play practices three to four times a week and to learn all of her lines, songs, choreography, and blocking.  As though this wasn't enough of a challenge, Lia woke up yesterday morning with a sore throat that I am sure she got from Emmett who came down with a cold five days earlier.  We both tried not to panic and quickly decided that she would refrain from using her voice all morning long and would sip on hot, lemon water all day long.  We also said a prayer before she left and asked Heavenly Father to help her voice be able to last through two performances that day.

Luckily, prayers were answered as Lia was able to get through the first performance totally fine and only started to get hoarse at the end of the second performance.  Luckily, only Lia was able to notice this as she sounded totally normal to the rest of us while she was on stage.  It wasn't until she came out into the lobby afterwards that we were able to hear that she was starting to lose her voice a little bit.  Ron and I and my parents went to the first performance along with several friends and their families.  I brought Logan and Ella and three other friends in my car to the second performance and met Chris, Natalee, Riley, and Trenton at the theater.  In addition, several others friends and family members came to the evening performance.  Overall, Lia did a smashing job in both productions.  She knew all of her lines, songs, and choreography and definitely had the strongest and clearest voice out of all of the leads.  I was so so amazed at both of her performances and was just so proud of her.  The play was so fun and entertaining to watch and I really enjoyed watching it just as much the second time as I did the first.  I am so grateful that Lia had this wonderful opportunity to be in this musical production and for the opportunity that it gave her to continue to develop her confidence singing and acting on stage.  I know that I have said it before, but I will say it again.  I can't wait to watch Lia do her thing on stage in many plays and musical productions in the years to come!

***And as a side note, I just have to include the last part of this story.  Lia woke up today (the next morning) as sick as a dog with a fever of 102.3.  She has been so sick that she has spent the entire day in bed and barely ate anything.  She was so weak this morning that she even struggled to sit up in bed when I brought in medicine for her to drink.  I have prayed every day for the past 2.5 months that her body and mind would be able to handle the demands that she was putting on it.  I know that Heavenly Father heard and answered these prayers and kept her body strong until the very last hour of the last day of these 2.5 months so that she could give these performances her all...and then she crashed.  This truly was a tender mercy and a wonderful testimony-building experience for Lia.

Lia all dressed up as Evie and ready to go before her first show.

Lia posing with her friend, Olivia, who played Mal.

"The Evils."

Also known as the descendants of the four Disney villains:

Carlos, Mal, Evie, and Jay.

The cast taking a selfie before the show with their wonderful music director, Nick.

One of the parents is a professional photographer and she agreed to come in before the show and take some pictures of the kids on the stage.  Here is Lia with the other "Evils" trying to steal Fairy Godmother's wand from the Museum of Cultural History.

The awesome signed and framed poster of the entire cast that was part of a silent auction in the lobby.

One of my favorite pictures I managed to get of Lia and Olivia during the "Rotten to the Core" scene.

Lia talking about the atomic weight of silver during class at Auradon Prep Academy.

The kids attempting to steal the wand.

Lia with Doug at the coronation of the new king.

Lia and Olivia singing "Break this Down" during the final scene.

Lia posing in the lobby with my parents, good friend, Kristina, and her two daughters, and Ron and me after the first performance was over.

The "Evils" trying to kill Maleficent in the final scene of the second performance.

Lia walking out to take her bow at the end of her second performance.

The entire cast taking a final bow.  Well done!

Chris and his family, some friends from church, and Logan, Ella, and I posing with Lia after her second show was over.  And that's a wrap!

Logan's and Ella's Last Soccer Games

We just wrapped up Logan's and Ella's soccer seasons today while juggling Lia's two play productions of Disney's Descendants.  Needless to say, this has been the busiest fall of our family's career and Saturdays were often times the busiest day of the week when we had two soccer games, a cross country meet, and a play practice to get kids to and from.  As a result, Ron and I barely had the opportunity to sit together on the sidelines to cheer either Logan or Ella on at one of their games.  Usually, only one of us attended each of their games on Saturdays and a few times, neither one of us could make it.  Luckily, Logan totally understood and never seemed bothered by this.  Ella, on the other hand, was not happy the one time neither one of us could make it to her game and begged for permission to go to Lia's XC meet instead which is what actually ended up happening.  

Overall, this was a good soccer season for both of them.  Both kids were able to play on Coach Ben's team again who is the father of both of their good friends, Elise and Bennett.  In addition, they had one other really good friend (Madelyn and Benton) play on their team which made the entire experience that much more fun.  Logan's team actually finished off their season with nine wins and one tie which made them the champions for their rec league which is something that has never happened before for any of our children.  In addition, his team has played in two championship games, but since both of them were on Sundays, Logan had to skip them.  Luckily, the last game for the actual championship title is on Saturday, December 3rd, so he will be able to play in that one.  Logan had another great season playing both offense and defense, but offense still remains his favorite.  Since the competition is just getting tougher each year, he was only able to make one goal which was super exciting to see!  Sadly, Ron had just left the game less than five minutes earlier to get Lia off to play practice, so he missed seeing it.  Regardless, we are super proud of how hard he tried this fall and how well he played.

Ella continued to be one of the fastest and most aggressive players on her team.  Whenever I watched her play, I wondered if we are doing the right thing by not putting her in year round soccer.  She made a goal in almost every game she played in this season and was even told by Elise's grandpa that she "makes her own wind" every time she runs down the field which just cracked me up.  Sadly, Ella missed the last three games of her season.  The first game was the one that she begged to skip since we were all going to Lia's XC meet instead.  The second game she had to miss while staying at Chris' and Natalee's house for the weekend while Ron and I were in Pasco to watch Lia run at the state championship meet.  Ella was then supposed to go to her last game of the season today and celebrate with snacks and trophies that I provided for the entire team, but came down with some sort of sickness last night with an headache and neckache, a sore throat, and overall fatigue.  After putting her to bed early last night, we decided that it would not be a good idea for her to run around for almost in hour in 30 degree temperatures this morning.  So we kept her home to rest with the hopes that she would feel well enough by the evening to go and watch Lia perform in her play which luckily ended up happening.  So, I am sad that she missed playing in the last few games of her season, but I am grateful for the seven games that she did get to play in and the fun she had participating in her second season of rec soccer.

A picture I snapped of Logan and his good friend, Bennett, standing on the field today waiting for the game to resume.

Logan kicking the ball.

Logan going after the ball.

Chasing down the ball.

Logan trying to steal the ball.

And succeeding!

Logan sending it down field.

Watching where the ball went.

My cute soccer player giving me a thumb's up after his last regular season game was over.

For the second year in a row, we had a pizza party next to the field after the last game was over.  Coach Ben handed out trophies I ordered for the team to the boys one player at a time.  Here is Logan walking away with smile on his face and a new trophy in his hand.

Logan posing with his good friends, Bennett and Benton, after the party was over.

Sadly, since Ella wasn't able to play in her last game, we didn't go and I wasn't able to get any pictures of her finishing off her season.  Elise's mom did send me a picture of Ella's team posing with the trophies after their game was over so that I would at least have a picture to include in this post.

Emmett's First Swim Lesson!

Since I started my three older children in swim lessons when they were approaching their 4th birthday, I realized this fall that it was time to do the same with Emmett.  Since September and October were the busiest two months so far in my mothering career, I just didn't have the time or energy to even think about enrolling Emmett in his first class.  But as we headed into November with Lia finishing up XC and her play, I knew that I would have a little more time to breathe and so I signed him up for the beginner's swim class at the YMCA.  After I told Emmett a few days ago that he would be starting swim lessons, he was so thrilled and kept on asking me when it would start.  Needless to say, he was bursting with excitement this morning, but also got very quiet after we dropped Logan and Ella off at school and drove to the Y.  I could tell his little brain was thinking about his swim class as he started asking me all sorts of questions about the logistics of how it would work.  

When we arrived, Emmett bravely walked into the Y with me and followed all of my instructions on going into the locker room, taking off his jacket and shoes, and getting in the shower for a quick rinse.  He then patiently waited with me on the pool deck to meet his teacher.  After finding his class, I ended up walking down to the far end of the pool and watching Emmett's class from just a few feet away instead of walking back to the viewing area at the other end of the pool.  Emmett did such a good job and listened to the teacher every time she taught them something and followed her instructions every time she asked him to do something.  When the class was over, Emmett sadly told me that he didn't want to get out of the pool.  I'd say that was a successful first day of swim class!

***And just for the record, I wanted to record the cutest thing that Emmett said about half way through the class after the teacher had told the students several times not to let go of the edge of the pool, but neglected to tell them the reason why.  After hearing this rule repeated many times, Emmett asked the question, "What happens if I let go of the pool?"  He said it loud enough for every parent to hear and, as a result, he got a few chuckles.  However, I thought that it was a very good question and so I happily said, "You will sink," which was an answer that Emmett was immediately satisfied with.  Such a cute boy.

Emmett waiting on the pool deck to meet his teacher for the first time.

Emmett and the other kids sitting at the edge of the pool at the beginning of class.

Emmett smiling at me while hanging onto the edge of the pool.

Emmett practicing his kicks with the other students.

My cutie flashing me a funny smile!

Lia's State XC Meet

We just returned from a whirlwind trip to Pasco in Eastern Washington to cheer Lia on while she ran in her first XC state championship meet with her high school team.  Although she did not qualify as an individual runner, her team qualified which meant that she was able to go since Lia qualified to run on their girls Varsity team since she is one of the top seven runners.  I decided weeks ago that this quick trip would be easiest if we left the three younger children behind, so I asked Chris and Natalee to watch the kids since I have watched Trenton and Riley several times over the years when Natalee has needed to go out of town in the summer.  So, although Lia left bright and early with her team at 8 a.m. on Friday, Ron and I didn't leave until 5:30 that evening since Ron had to work and I had to make the two hour, round-trip drive to drop the kids off in Port Orchard.  Although Snoqualmie Pass had been closed most of the night due to the first winter storm of the season, it was open by that morning, so we were able to make the 3.5 hour drive to Pasco without any complications.

I had also arranged to stay in the same hotel as Lia's team just so that we could be under the same "roof" as her for this first time staying in a hotel without adult supervision.  It was fun to check in on Lia and her new friend, Hope, who were assigned to share a room after we arrived late Friday night.  After dropping off some items for Lia and saying 'goodnight,' Ron and I crashed in our bed around 11 p.m.  We woke up to a very cold morning, but with beautiful blue skies.  The only problem mother nature provided was crazy winds that were actually blowing the night before.  We learned that these athletes would be required to run in 26 mph winds during all of their races that day which meant that most runners would run 30 to 40 seconds slower than their normal pace.  So Ron and I quickly figured out that Lia would most likely not accomplish her goal of getting a PR and finishing off this season on a high note like we all had hoped.

After eating breakfast in the hotel with Lia, she left to get ready to arrive early at the golf course where the race would be help with the rest of her team.  Ron quickly packed up and left to watch his high school run in the 3A girls race at 11 a.m.  He then dashed pack to the hotel to pick me up with enough time to make it back to watch his high school boys race at 12:30.  We then stayed at the golf course and waited for Lia's race to start at 1:30.  We were able to find Lia at her high school tent to warn her about the wind factor before wishing her well and heading back to the starting line.  Lia's race started right on time and we enjoyed watching her run by us six different times due to how the course was laid out.  Since Lia was running with the top girl runners in the state, she fell to the back of the pack which her coach had warned her would most likely happen.  However, that didn't stop us from cheering her on and from being so proud of her for making this huge accomplishment as a young 9th grader.  Although the strong winds prevented Lia from beating any of her previous 5k times, we were so happy to be there to watch her race in this important meet and to cheer her on from the sidelines!

The huge pack of girls taking off from the starting line after the horn blew.  Lia's head is barely visible behind the pack of girls wearing the light blue jerseys.

The girls running up the first hill just after starting the race.

Lia running past us her first time after the starting the race.

Lia running off in the distance to the right of the tree.

Lia running by us a second time.

Lia running towards the finish line.

Lia finishing off her first state championship meet.  Hopefully, this will not be her last!

Posing with Lia after finding her back at the team tent.

Lia and the rest of her girls XC team.  Although seven girls ran in the race, two alternates were able to travel with the team in addition to some of the JV girls who traveled to Pasco with their families to cheer on their team.