Don't Shoot!

Kathleen, Caleb, Megan, and Jonathan

The morning of the campout, after breakfast, was the annual "Turkey Shoot", although it really had nothing to do with turkeys. It was just a chance for all the "big boys" to bring their toys and play for awhile. And boy, did they have fun! Some of the girls even got in on the action.

Kathleen's first time shooting. She was actually a pretty good shot! SCARY!

The boys had a great time. It was fun to see them with their dad like that. We definitely need to do things like that more often.

A Camping We Will Go

We had our Ward Campout the first weekend in November. Samantha's first campout. She did great! We all had a good time. It was nice to be out with our friends. The kids had a ball, hiking and playing football, and playing capture the flag, in the dark. That idea was not without consequences. Luckily, they all made it through relatively unscathed.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!

Well, I'm behind again. I have several things to post but not enough time at one time to do it. So, We're going to be out of order for awhile as I'm just going to post one thing at a time once in a while. First, yesterday was Tony's Birthday! It was a pretty calm day, just the way he likes it. We made cupcakes and went to Church, and I am taking him out for a steak tonight. His favorite meal. He already got his present about a month ago, and he LOVED it.

Here he is with his cupcake and his family. We LOVE you Daddy!

ANOTHER BUSY WEEK

We were running again this past weekend. Kathleen had her last regular cross country meet. It was in Lewisville. They got to run along the lake. It was a beautiful day. She did really well, but hasn't hit her goal of getting under 14 minutes yet. They go to the district meet in Denton on Thursday, the 29th. She spent all afternoon helping out with the All-Region Auditions at the middle school, and then that night was the Stake Dance. Busy day for her!

Makala spent the entire day at her school. They had auditions for the All-Region Choir and her school was hosting. So, not only did she work extremely hard for the past several weeks to audition, she also spent two days helping her director get set up and run it. Her director said she was indispensable. Her director also said, as far as her singing, that she has improved as much in the past month as most girls do in a year. When results came out, Makala had made 2nd Alternate. Quite a feat for a 7th grader, as most of the kids who make it in are usually 8th graders. Now, if two kids in the choir just get sick . . . . .

The boys spent the morning at the Church with our friend Jami. It was Primary's turn to clean the chapel, and then they had practice for the Primary Program, and a Primary Birthday Party. They boys got to help out a lot. Sunday was the Primary Program, and all the kids (and teachers) did a fantastic job.

All in all it was a great weekend, but sometimes I think Tony has it easy by having to work and not be at home for it all! Just kidding, I know he misses being able to be involved. (He did make it to the tennis match.)

Monday afternoon was a tennis match for Makala. She actually played three matches. One mixed doubles, one singles, and one women's doubles. She lost the first two and won the last one, the women's doubles. She played really well and we are very proud of her!

Tuesday night was Cub Scouts for the boys. They had a pre-Halloween party. They bobbed for apples, and ate donuts off of a string, and got their faces painted, and made trick-or-treat bags. They had a great time. Since I'm a Cub Scout leader, I went with them. Tony got to go to Kathleen's first High School Choir Concert. It was also Tuesday night. He said they sounded really good. Kathleen is in the Varsity Choir, which has only 4 freshmen in it. The rest of them are in the Beginner choir. It was based on auditions. Both of our (older) girls have beautiful voices. So far, the littlest one just has some REALLY good lungs!

The rest of the week is just as busy. Kathleen and Makala have Young Women's at the church tonight, then the missionaries are coming for dinner tomorrow night. (What am I going to make?) Then the ward trunk-or-treat is Friday evening. Grandma Sherril and Robin and Laura are coming for the weekend, too. But hopefully, we can just sit around and visit and relax. No big plans for this weekend. THANK GOODNESS!!!

Another CC Meet

Kathleen had a great race today, although she didn't improve her time, she still came in 13th out of 80 or 90 girls. This is Kathleen with her friends from Church who also run, Jonathan, Kathleen, Reagan, and Caleb. They all did a great job. Only one more meet before the District Meet. We are hoping to make it to Regionals!

Report Card Time!

Just a quick note about report cards. We are so lucky to have such smart kids and such hard workers! All four kids got A's and B's, two of them were 3 points or less from having straight A's!! Way to go everyone! GREAT JOB!

More Baby Pix

time to take a snooze

playing with Joseph's stuffed dinosaur

Round Rock

Kathleen earned a spot on the varsity cross country team that went on an overnight trip to Round Rock, TX, (near Austin) for a meet. She had a great time, as you can see. We are very proud of her. She's not sure exactly where she placed, (there were over 400 girls in her race) but she took another 10 seconds off of her previous time.

Tennis Star

Makala had her first tennis match a couple of weeks ago. She played two matches, both doubles. They lost the first one but won the second one. WAY TO GO MAKALA!!!
This is Makala and her friend Heather after her first match.

The Gift of Music

Makala is in Band again this year. They got the opportunity to play at one of the Middle School football games yesterday. They had a lot of fun. Originally, she was playing the french horn, but her director asked her to give the tuba a try, because they needed more of them. She tried it, but decided she wanted to go back to the french horn. But first, her director had to show everyone how much better the tuba section was with her, than without her. He made them play with her, and without her and then with her, and without her again, just to prove how good she was at it. Yeah, she stayed with the tubas. Her director made a point to tell me how impressed she is that Makala made the jump so easily, and how quickly she picked it up. Kathleen and I went to the game. They really did sound awesome. Way to go, Makala!