1st Day of School 2011-12

Wake up sleepyheads, Summers over! LOL After a good breakfast, we decided to walk to school this morning. It was a bit chilly but the kids loved walking! They got their stuff in their lockers and off they went to class.

Looks like they had a fantastic 1st day of school! Good Luck this year! Love ya!

[PS Kindergarten doesn't start until Monday]

Best Friend Visit

B.F.F.s are the BEST!!! No matter how far apart you are or how long you are away- with best friends, things stay the same or... at least for these two. Liberty was so happy this weekend because her bestest friend, Savannah came to visit. We did lots of fun things together and the girls meshed just like they'd never been apart! They played together, worked together, climbed trees together, ate together, built things together, watched movies together- just like the old days! So glad she could come! Thanks for making time to be with Liberty! We miss you & your family!

As part of the day, we took the Tuckers (Justice is in desperate need of guy friends! LOL) and went for one more swim @ the Larsens. It was overcast but the kids didn't seem to mind. When they'd got their fill of water, we took them for a McDonald's dinner @ Elmwood Park. We got a bit rained on but can't complain since the rains held out for the evening. What a great day!

P.S. We got lucky enough to have Savannah one more time before she left. Once again, the girls spent a good chunk of their time in the treetops. They are so silly! We also got to meet Brett for lunch at the Olive garden. The girls were so excited to have Zuppa Toscana. It's Liberty's favorite! Favorite food, favorite friend and favorite family! Life doesn't get better than this! ;)

We miss you, Kings!

Liberty's Talent Show

Liberty was bummed last year when she didn't get into the Westside Talent Show. But she is a great persevere-er! She has been taking Piano lessons for a year now and is so good at it. She found a song called "The Dragon Hunt" and practiced it diligently. Because of her hard work, she made it into the Talent Show this year! Our whole family went to support her. They had dancing, Magic shows, Comedy skits, Tae Kwan Do, Hula Hooping (she was amazing!) and several musical talents. I have to say--Liberty was the BEST Piano Player in the show! Awesome job, Sis!

Here's what we recorded. Hope you can hear what a great job she did!

{I'll see if I can cut it a bit so I can load it!}

We are very Proud of You, Liberty!

Bonanzaville Fieldtrip

One disadvantage to volunteering on a regular basis in your kids class is that in a bind- they think they can count on you! You just might find yourself on a fieldtrip or two that you never even signed up for. LOL. Mrs. Spanier had told me (not asked- mind you) that I was coming to the bread-making day. Not a problem- I made it work. I did my duty, right? You'd think I did. But then Liberty came home Friday and informed me that I was a chaperon for the all day fieldtrip to Bonanzaville today. I already was assigned a group and had a packet to study! Lucky me! ;) It worked out fine though. I found a babysitter and had a fabulous time!
We paired up with one of Liberty's best friends and her Mom's group for the tour. My group was a lot of fun. It consisted of 2 good-hearted boys and Liberty's little Ethnic-diversity posse. LOL. Such cute girls! They always flock to Liberty when I am there. Seba's family is from India, Gianella is from the Dominican Rebublic, Aluel is from Africa and Kaitlin is from the US. So fun! I was so glad I got to spend one last day with them before the end of the year. It was chilly and a chance of showers but we walked the mile or so from the school. We tried to not get blown away. Quite appropriate, I thought since we were going to study Pioneers. ;)

This was my 1st time at Bonanzaville. We saw and learned lots of cool things. Some of the kids favorites were the Air Museum, the naked manikins (in the Iron lung and the Barber shop--totally funny), the free candy, ringing the LOUD train bell a million times and running as fast as they could between buildings. What a fun day!

Bread Making

I got to volunteer at the School today for a "Bread in a Bag" Project for the 4th grade. A lady comes and talks about Farming in ND and teaches the kids to make Bread in a Bag. It was fun to spend time with Liberty & her friends one last time before the year ends. 10 more days! Can you believe it?
Liberty's bread turned out amazing! We had it with some of our home-made strawberry jam for dinner! Delicious!

Funny little the Mormon saves the Day story-
I got there early to help set up things. There were 2 ladies in charge telling the parent helpers what to do. The 2nd lady asked the Main lady where she wanted to set up the wheat grinding stuff. [That way the kids get to see first hand how the wheat they were going to talk about gets from the field to their bread- a once in a lifetime experience for some of the kids] The Main lady said she had run out of wheat so they were NOT going to do it this time. Well... "I have wheat," I said. She was a bit surprised but said she hadn't brought the grinder. Well.... "I have a grinder," I said. I actually have a hand grinder and an electric grinder- which one do you prefer? She asked where I live and one of the other moms who knows me said "like one minute away". Well... OK then. So, I quickly ran home to raid my food storage. I grabbed both grinders and one of my 5 gallon buckets of wheat. Back at the school, people were amazed at how much wheat I had. I didn't dare tell them I have like 20 to 30 times that much at home- (Mormon food storage to the rescue). LOL! So by some random turn of events, I got put in charge of showing the Westside 4th graders how to grind wheat. Too funny! Oh the joys of unexpected opportunities to share my food storage with others! I love it!

Mr. & Miss Fixits

Remember those bikes I told you that Brett collected from Clean-up week? Well, I must have teased him too much about last year's one still being in the backyard. It must have been a "I'll show you" moment cuz he & the kids fix, scrubbed and cleaned them all up this weekend. They look fabulous! They're gonna sell them on Craigslist to make a little mula. Way to go guys!

10 Years in the Making

Can you even believe that Liberty turned a decade old today? Holy Moly girlfriend- would ya just stop already? LOL! Here's what we did to celebrate our amazing girl:

Liberty's morning started with chocolate chip muffins, scrambled eggs and apple juice. Along with flowers & balloons and opening a present- Harry Potter: Book One. Yeah! She was so excited last night she stayed up really late because she couldn't sleep. Silly girl!

Today also just happened to be the day for Mom to come volunteer in Mrs. Spanier's class. How cool is that? So Mom got to spend the morning with Liberty and even got to eat lunch @ school with her. What perfect timing and a very special day!



The afternoon was full of opening a few of her presents and playing Harry Potter! BEST DAY EVER! She was so excited!
As soon as Dad got home, she opened the rest of her presents and we ate a special requested dinner. Dad grilled chicken on the BarBQ and Mom made her home-made salsa which Liberty LOVES! We also had a few of Liberty's favorite veggies- radishes, carrots, snow peas and lima beans! Yummy for the tummy! We even got to watch her new movie Tangled as a family. Such a cute show.
We ended the night with singing, blowing out candles, eating cake and licking chocolate ice cream cones. What a great night!
We are so lucky to have Liberty in our family. She is an amazingly smart girl. She's so kind and thoughtful and helpful. She is constantly thinking of others and is the BEST missionary ever! She loves to talk on the phone and play with her many friends. She is an incredible reader and loves the Harry Potter series along with Junie B. Jones, the Leven Thumps series and about anything that has words written on it. She is gonna be a fabulous babysitter and helps out so much with her siblings. She loves to snuggle with Mom & Dad and could sleep until noon every day if we let her. She is an amazing artist and so creative. What a beautiful young lady she is. We love you so much, B!!!!!!

Happy Birthday!

Liberty's Nine Favorites

It was really tough but we narrowed down a few of

Liberty's Favorite Things from when she was nine!

What a fantastic NINTH year!

Here's hoping for the tenth is even better!

Luv ya Girly! XOXO

Back in Time

They had a Rock-n-Roll 50's day at the kids' school today. Justice is home sick (again!) but Liberty looked Neat-o! (A real bonafide Sock Hop Beauty!)

Peachy-keen Princess! ;)

Liberty's Christmas Program

 

Winter Holiday Program 2010

Holiday of Music

Holly & the Ivy

On Christmas Day

Feliz Navidad

Deck the Halls

Chime In

Winter Wonderland

Up on the Housetop

Jingle Bell Rock

March of the Kings

Do You Hear?

Reprise: Holiday of Music

Awesome job 4th graders!

Your Christmas Music Program was fantastic!

Thanks to Mrs. Eidenschink and Mrs. Zerface for putting it all together. Liberty- You were amazing on the ribbon stick part and sounded terrific. The whole family was so excited to be able to come. (It turned out that Justice's class got to be there as well) Merry Christmas!

PAWSitive People

This year the kids Elementary School started a new Program called PAWSitive Prints. When Wildcat students are found exhibiting PAWSitive behavior by fellow students or teachers or office staff, their names are placed in envelopes on a bulletin board by the office. At the end of each week, thePrincipal holds a drawing for a PAWSitive Winner from each classroom. They get a prize and a certificate as well as their picture taken. The "Winners picture" is hung in the office for the entire next week.
Well, just turns out that in this 1st month of school so far, BOTH Liberty & Justice have had their names drawn. Way to go you two! We are so proud of you!!!!

Primary Program

The kids participated in the annual Primary Program today. They did an amazing job!!!

This was their parts:

Glory-

Mom went up to hold her and all the Nursery parents sang You are a Child of God. She just smiled at all the kids instead of looking into the audience. She would have loved to be up on the stage with them the whole time! ;)

Victoria-

"I know Jesus loves me because my Dad earns money at work."

(She said she can't think of anything else to add to that. LOL- Also, she is having issues with being away from Mom lately so most of the program consisted of this sweet little girl with tears running down her face. Way to be brave though!)

Justice-
"I feel my Savior's love when I say my prayers, choose the right and feel the Spirit."
Liberty-
"I can follow Jesus Christ's example in many ways. Some of these ways are choosing the right, saying my prayers every day, studying the scriptures both personally and with my family, and keeping all of His commandments. Even though I am young I can also follow His example by being a missionary to share His Gospel message to others. I can do this by being a good example, giving my friends Gospel information or inviting them to activities or to Church. I know my Savior lives. I love Him and know that He loves me. I also know that as I follow His example, I will be able to live with Him again. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."

What great testimonies they have!!! Luv ya, cute kids!

Primary Activity

Today the kids had a Primary Program Practice & Quarterly Activity. The Primary Presidency always does a fabulous job! Sister Walen asked me to come take pictures so, yeah for me!- I have pics to blog about.

After their morning practice, they broke up into Junior and Senior Primary groups.

The JUNIOR Primary went to the Primary room with Sister Cudney & Sister Cook for some activities. They had a great time! I wasn't in there but Brooke took pictures so here's some of the fun they had:

The SENIOR Primary went to the gym. Sister Walen broke them into three teams and they had a blast!! They had a relay race with different stations. After each station, the kids got to "decorate" one of the leaders. Sister Ironroad volunteered to have her hair done up with chocolate-dipped clips. And Brother Larsen (the Stand-in for the Bishopric) volunteered [ok his lovely wife answered the phone but "he is such a great man" LOL!] to be made into a Human Pinata. What great sports they both were!

The Teams: (The green Team won. Way to go guys!)

The six different stations and the brave leaders:

After the Activity, they all had sack lunches made by the Primary Presidency. Thanks ladies- the whole day was great! Check out Justice's new glasses. Isn't he look so handsome? (Victoria thinks he looks just like Brother Larsen! ;) All I can say is that Justice is one good-lookin' Buddy Holly! They look awesome on you Buddy!

West Fest Parade

Every year, West Fargo throws a big community Partay that includes a parade. They have businesses and schools and local churches that are in the Parade. The last couple of years, because of Liberty being on Student Council at her school, she has got the chance to participate. And of course, we go to the Parade to support her and perhaps collect a "little" candy in the meantime. ;) McKenzie & the girls joined us for their 1st Parade ever! (at least- according to Maggie's recollection) We got TONS of candy and memoribilia. Everyone had a great time!

Way to go Liberty & Student Council!

Blog-aholic

Quote of the Day:
Liberty said, "Mom, if I didn't know better- I'd say you were a Blog-aholic"
Out of the mouth of babes! LOL!

First Day of School

The kids were so excited for school today! They requested a "real" breakfast (I know- slacker mother, I am) so I actually made french toast and eggs and a home-made smoothie. (Are you so proud of me, Cheri? LOL) They ate really good! I didn't get a picture of it though. Guess there's no evidence that I stepped up my game. Oh well! The kids were pretty comfortable with already knowing the school from last year then, going and getting settled in their classrooms last night so they didn't even have me walk them in. I dropped them off at the far curb of the round driveway and they walked into the school all by themselves! Actually they ran to the door. That's a good sign, right?

After school, we ran into a couple friends and got to play on the playground together and visit for a bit. Everyone seemed to have had a fabulous 1st day of new experiences. We had to practically drag them away from the school. It was like a First Day of School partay!

When we all said our goodbyes, my little fam took Andrew Ray with us and made a stop at Sandy's Donuts for an after-school treat. Once again- no picture! No proof- once again- what a fabulous first-day-of-school-Mom I am! Dang! LOL!

Liberty's 1st Day of the 4th Grade

Justice's 1st Day of the 2nd Grade

Liberty & Justice-I am so glad you had a great first day kiddos!

We're so proud of you!

Ready, Set, Go...

We're all ready for school to start tomorrow. Holy cow! Where did the Summer go?
We did our essential school shopping earlier this month so, we just did a little toy shopping for our last day of Summer...

Did a little Swimming in our home-made hot tub....

Checked out the new teachers and classes at Back to School Night...
Liberty & Mrs. Spainer

Justice & Mrs. Gerri Dyrdahl & their Student teacher, Kate Seaberg

Then, after School Priesthood Blessings by Dad and a fun-filled FHE, the excited kids tried to get to bed early! (We are such night owls- dang!)

Good Luck tomorrow guys!

CTR!

You'll do great!

Island Princess Late-over

The kids have been begging to have a late-over for forever! (Our best-that-you-get version of a sleepover) Liberty & Lily finally talked us into having one. We decided to make it Island Princess Partay! Man- can these girls partay!
The kids wanted to start getting ready at like 1:00 this afternoon. Lily & Maggie didn't come over until around 5:30. (SO...YES- it was a long dayat the Seamons house!) I had bought all kinds of fruit and my kids made a magnificent platter of tropical food fit for any Island Princess. ;) When the girls got here, they started out by playing some imaginary game that included Moms and twins and a bus ride and eating ice cream off the floor. We were informed that the Dad died. So sad! BooHoo! (The kids thought it was funny that Brett was pretending to cry) This is them eating their ice cream off the floor. Silly kids!

What girl party is complete without some dressups? They raided my closet and came up with quite the getup! Pink fluffy feet and straw hats. Gotta love Mom's closet. Now, maybe we could teach them to put it all back??? .....Fat chance, right?! LOL!

We ate dinner all together. We had croissant sandwiches, the Amazing Fruit Platter, fishy from the sea (goldfish crackers) and a fancy fruit drink in our Island flower cups. We had quite the dinner conversation about the Larsen parents. TMI! TMI! We laughed so hard we almost cried. LOL! Good thing we luv you guys! Too funny!

After dinner, we made Island Princess flowers for our hair. And took a photo op in the Island Hammock. I luv these kids. Too stinkin' cute!

Meanwhile, the girls acted like crazed fans of whatever Justice was pretending to be. Here they are waiting in line to get his autograph. Gotta love it!:

Then it was Movie Time- Barbie as the Island Princess! Treats included, of course. We had Watermelon cookies, fish, pretzels, peach rings, and Tropical Typhoon candies. They had SO much sugar! They may never sleep again! LOL! (Notice Liberty's sign she made for the door. It says "Feel Welcome to Come IN". I love it! It's decorated with trees and flowers and she made sure she left the door open a bit. She's such a fabulous hostess.)

We planned the late-over the same night as our Painting Partay at the Brotherson's. (anything late at night with food, friends and KBro- is a Partay!! LOL! Luv ya lady!;) So... I went to go paint KBro's kitchen which meant I left Brett to finish up the fun! When I left they had just finished making Island Princess Fans because it IS hot here on the Island, don't ya know?

Leaving all 6 children with Brett meant the real Partay had just began. ;) They did Karaoke to all the Barbie songs at the end of the DVD, ate more candy and then played until MIDNIGHT!!! Seriously???- I guess Brett & Ryan took our LATE-over very literally. Too funny! When McKenzie & I got home from painting they were still going strong. Brett's an amazing Dad but dang Honey! --Now the late-over bar has been raised and any future parties will seem lame in comparison!

Like I've said before- Everyday's a PARTAY
especially at the Seamons' Island!

Hola!

Habit Broken, Reward Awarded

Anyone with an addiction or solidified habit can sympathize. At 6 weeks old, Liberty found her thumb. It's been a permanent fixture in her mouth ever since--- 9 1/2 years!!! We had exhausted our resources for a permanent solution. Thumb, fingernail polish, rings, icky stuff, bandaides, gloves, charts, reminding, begging, threatening, even asked the doctor to cast it (she said no! ;)-- nothing helped for more than a half an hour. Well, at least until 30 days ago....
Liberty has been begging to get her ears pierced FOREVER! After a long, frustrating day of reminding her to keep her thumb away from her face, I finally blurted out- "Keep your thumb out of your mouth for 30 days and we'll get your ears pierced." .....That was it! The magic! ;)
She got a star on the calender for every day she didn't suck her thumb. After 10 days, she stopped wearing a bandaide during the day (her mental reminder to keep it out). Then at day 14, she was done completely even the nights! She still had to wait the whole 30 days but she hasn't given in once. We are SOOO PROUD of her! Habit's are hard things to break. She's amazing!!!
Here's her reward for a job well done!

We just went to Walmart. It only cost us $12.70 and that was with extra large bottle of solution. She was so excited. I think the lady was even more nervous than Liberty- if that was possible. But they both did a great job. Liberty said it stung a little but wasn't what she expected. She did a great job and was very brave. They look awesome!

Way to go, Girlie!

Luv ya!

Bloomin' Seamons: Part Five

Here's a update of what's growing at the Seamons:

There's nothing out-of-control-growing yet but it's still fun to watch things get bigger especially when you look back at other pictures.

Every couple days, you can find Liberty harvesting her radishes. I LOVE it! They are way too spicy for me but she eats them like candy!

The peas are not overwhelming like we would choose them to be but the kids are out there everyday seeing if they can find some. They always make sure they bring me ONE. ;)

We've had a few raspberries, and a couple tomatoes.

Justice's corn is growing the best out of all the corn we planted. He must have a special touch, LOL!

Other than that we are just enjoying the greenery for now. I always think it's gorgeous!

Yeah for the garden!