Florida state champs!

Congrats to Aaron's Odyssey of the Mind team, who won 2nd place in the state of Florida in April, and was one of only two teams in all of Brevard county to go on to OM World competitions in Lansing, Michigan. Whew, whew! Now the fun begins... fundraising like crazy, redoing all the props and upgrading costumes, etc. Honestly, we will be competing with Japan and Germany, so we better be prepared (gulp). This team, with myself and friend and co-coach Martha Wolfe, have been practicing since beginning of October. It has been a long road, but with a great group of kids, and Aaron has had a blast. He's done OM for 4 years now, and never even placed, so we are all super excited and overwhelmed by all the attention. I'm including a link to a news article that is fun to read about, and gives a little background to it all (http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100516/NEWS01/5160335/1006/Indialantic+students+head+for+an+Odyssey). Just copy and past this url into your search and it will take you to the article.

Wish us luck at the end of May! Michigan, here we come!

Night of Recognition

Bethany with one of her favorite teachers, Mrs. Clarke (also happens to be a member of the church in our stake). Wonderful, amazing teacher who reminds us all of Grandma Bonnie, if she ever taught Social Studies!
Bethany (far right in brown) with her good friends from McNair Middle school. Incidentally, they too were all 4.0 gpa students. A good group of girls. She will be leaving all of them to attend Melbourne High School in the fall, because of "boundaries." She is sad to leave them, thus the picture!

I found a note in Bethany's jean's pocket yesterday afternoon, announcing that she would be receiving an award at the ceremony that night! I was so surprised that I called Kevin and we arranged to pick her up from her school, go to dinner, and attend the awards ceremony, much to her chagrin! She really resisted going; even attempted bribery! But Kevin and I stood firm. We went, all her friends were there, and I think she was surprised herself when she received 12 different recognitions!

I can only hypothesize what her proudest moment was, since she claims that she really didn't care for any of these, but I think it was receiving the Best Artist award (actual medal). I was very impressed with her "Outstanding Math Student" ribbon, since this was never attainable for me! And she got another special Outstanding Social Studies student, and the Presidential award for Outstanding Academic Achievement (4.0 GPA for 2 years). Obviously, I'm choosing to use this blog to share her successes, and she would be mortified!

First Rejection

This is Lily's "Friends Preschool" we met with this year. She really loved meeting once a week, and developed some good friendships. She has a special fondness for the little boy (an older man at 4 years old!) on her left in the red shirt, named Jack. Jack is her "best friend." A few weeks ago, she came out of his bedroom after a play session, crying a very sad cry. I could tell she was very upset, so much so that Jack's mother jumped up to go find out what Jack had done. I asked Lily to tell me what was wrong, and she sobbed "Jack doesn't want to marry me! He said he's going to marry his SISTER!" She was so upset that it took a few minutes to calm her down. I had to explain to Jack's mom that Lily's marriage proposal had been rejected, but Jack had done nothing wrong. Give it a few years, Lily. Jack will warm up to the idea soon enough! :) And his sister will "fall from her pedestal" all too soon.

The Birds and the Bees

Since today is national Laughter day, I thought I would share a funny story I was told the other day.

My good friend Jill has a 5th grade daughter who was shown the "Health and Sexual Education" video recently. Her daughter came home with some questions which lead to Jill giving her the details of the Birds and the Bees. Her daughter's jaw dropped and eyes popped and exclaimed "That is disgusting! Why would anyone want to do that?" Jill proceeded to explain that when a man and woman get married, they love each other very much and want to be closer. "Why don't they just kiss then?" her daughter asked innocently. Jill's daughter sat thoughtfully for a minute, while her mother gained composure. Then her daughter said "This makes me see everyone completely different... You mean Grandma and Grandpa did THIS?? AHhh! And Ms. Colleen, who is the MOST polite person I know... you mean SHE'S done it 4 times?? (she did the math on how many children i have) Poor Jill. Poor ME! I can never look at this child again without thinking "am I really that polite?"!!!

More Disney pictures! Florida in March

A Drizzly Disney

We had a fun time showing Disney World/Magic Kingdom to my sister Shannah, who is visiting from CA. We chose a day that the kids didn't have any tests (FCATs), so Friday was supposed to be a great day to go. Well, we woke up to heavy rains, but couldn't change our plans. So... we braved the elements and spent the day in rain ponchos to have a very fun day. The wet weather didn't slow us down, and even helped us discover some small shops and little enclaves we wouldn't have appreciated otherwise. And the lines were amazingly short!! Worth the tromp in the cold and wet. I think Shannah enjoyed herself too. Pictures tell it all.

Our Winter 2009-2010

Wow, it's been just about 6 months since I've written last. It's humorous that my last blog correlates right when school got into full swing! It's been a busy last months, and I apologize especially to my family and long distance friends for staying so out of touch.

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving camping up on the Suwannee river near the Florida/Georgia border. We had my inlaws, Royle and Sue Johnson, for the week, who were quite the troopers driving all over Florida and camping in the cold! We also camped next to our good friends, Mark and Jill Nelsonand children, and their extended family. It was a blast, and a cultural experience too (Lots of golf carts, camoflage, shot guns, country music and RVs!).

Christmas was spent in Florida, away from our CA families. It was sobering to be so far away, but we had a very relaxing and memorable holiday. The highlight was a trip to St. Augustine, where we stayed in the Pirate Haus, in the center of historical district. The pictures tell it all. What a great way to spend New Years and Kevin's 41st birthday!!!

January was Aaron's 11th birthday, with a party of 6 11 year old boys driving bumper cars, playing laser tag, and eating pizza and ice cream. And of course, there was "Marshmellow King's birthday", as Lily called Martin Luther King's birthday.

February was Bethany's 14th birthday! We can't believe our oldest child can go to dances, babysit, cook dinner and is applying for High School! Ahhhh. Not ready for this yet. This month, Kevin and I celebrated Valentine's Day by driving to Tampa to attend the Broadway musical of "Wicked" which is now a family favorite. Our children love the music, and even I am beginning to tire of "Popular!"

March is just beginning, but has begun with a bang!! My sister Shannah is visiting from California, and we are enjoying a family member's presence immensely. Aaron just competed in his 4th year of Odyssey of the Mind, and his team took FIRST PLACE in the Regional competition!!! First time ever that his elementary school has taken First! I was lucky enough to co-coach this team, and now we are off to the State competition in April. Just when I thought we'd get a breather!! Oh, well. It's all very exciting, despite the enormous amount of time and energy spent. At least it all seems like it's worth it with a winning place!

Big 4.0. Party

Can't believe it's been so many years! I am truly blessed to be surrounded by those I love and admire. Kevin was amazing at keeping the party a secret, as was Brooke, Shannah, Michelle and Mom. It was so fun to see Norm and Allyson White, Grant and Susan Boice, Terry and Cindy Knight and Mom and Dad Johnson. Thank you all for making my day so special! I really couldn't have planned a more perfect birthday for myself. And thank you again for the AMAZING European chocolate/fruit cakes. Still craving them...

Royle, Kevin and Norm White... great to see old friends!

The Thompson Girls at my big 40 surprise party! It was so much fun, and I was genuinely surprised, with all my favorite people at a beautiful location on the water and amazing weather. From left to right, Michelle, Mazzy, Grandma Bonnie, Colleen with Lily J., Brooke with Sarah J. in front, Bethany J., and Shannah.

Finally, Camping slide show!

Here are just a sample of our pictures from our super fun camping trip to Yosemite, CA. It was beautiful weather, and the campsite was up out of the valley in the mountains, so it was cool and gorgeous. We all had a memorable time, spending quality time with cousins Ryan, Cameron and Kevin, Aunt Audrey and Uncle KC, and Grandma Suzy and Grandpa Royle. So sorry we missed Darren and Courtney and young cousins by just a few hours! We left covered in CA dirt but with a new love for the land and people!

We love Daddy, he loves me!

Happy Father's day to our Super Dad, Kevin!

Can you believe the amazing personality traits that have been handed down from Dad to our little ones? Poor Lily takes after me, but the others obviously take after their adoring father. Why be normal when it's so much fun to NOT be!

What we like about Dad:
He's funny. Aaron
Daddy is poky. Lily
He takes me on Daddy Daughter dates. Sarah
He lets me... oh, never mind. He's my Dad. Bethany

So you have it: he's a fabulous father, and hopefully he'll stay that way forever. I couldn't ask for a better companion to raise our children. You still make me laugh sweetie, and I love doing it together!