OEHS JV is going to STATE!!!

Wooo-Hoooo! Meg's JV cheer squad is heading to the state competition!!! They were accepted on an at-large bid as their score was only .25 points away from qualification. They are so excited as this is the first Oswego team EVER to make it to the state competition!! She heads down to Springfield on February 9th and competes on the 10th. One of their teammates has already dislocated her shoulder and pulled 2 of her arm muscles trying a back handspring this week. So they're redoing the routine, but at least are going to State!

Here are some videos of her squad, taken a little bit on the sly at their conference competition. Since it wasn't a qualifying competition, they were more lax about the videotaping rules. But you can at least get the idea of what they do. Enjoy!

Will's Pinewood Derby

It may be hard to believe based on the number of posts that we do have more children than Ellen Claire! Here's good proof! Will and Jack headed out to Will's first ever Pinewood Derby last Saturday. After many false starts from the officials, Will's race FINALLY took place...and he placed 3rd! He and Jack were quite proud of themselves. They are already planning how to make the car faster for next year. With his 3rd place, Will was able to advance to the Cross-Town finals, but in a situation that many of us can appreciate, his tires just fell off. :-) No matter, he was so excited and had a great first Derby experience.

Warm Day in January

These pictures were taken on January 7th--just look at the temperature! Since then we've been down to -16 degrees, air temp, not wind chill. We're getting up to 50 today! However that is short-lived as we will start the day out tomorrow at 48 and will "plummet" to 2 degrees by nightfall. Great. Hallalujah that we are heading to Florida soon! Did I mention that it was going to be 2 by Wednesday morning?!?!? And btw, all the 20+ inches of snow we've had so far will be all melted only to have more layers by Thursday. Did I mention that it was going to be 2?!?!?!?

But for these pictures, we at least had one day. Ellen Claire is playing with our best friend from Georgia but who now lives across the street, Victoria. They were SOOOO muddy, but it was worth it!

Ellen Claire as a Stressed Out Mama!

Ellen Claire got a kitchen from Santa this Christmas and how she does love it! For the first week we let her keep it in our family room where she cooked for us constantly. I came home from work this day and found the 4 of them acting out our daily activites. Just to clarify, I did not burn the turkey! But the phone, cooking and constantness is pretty accurate :) In another video that occurs after this one (but I won't put up), Will asks where is his turkey and Ellen Claire tells him he can't have one...he has to have pasta!! HAHAHA! Please pay no attention to the condition of my house. I swear it did get cleaned up once everyone went back to school/work!

Enjoy!

Christmas Fun

So maybe this is a month late, but here are the few highlights from Christmas that we have. I was exhausted/lazy/whatever about taking pictures this year. I worked ALOT the week before and after Christmas at Tiffany & Co. I didn't have to work Christmas Eve, but did go the days after Christmas. And can I tell you that people are not that nice the day after Christmas! We had lines that literally circled and wove through the store---with 95% of them returns, which take so much longer than just purchases! And who gets deliveries of stock on Christmas?!? uhhh--NO ONE!!! So what can an ambassador do but smile and say, "Y'all have a good day!" Of course, none of that has to do with the below pictures of Ellen Claire's new "fancy" outfit nor of our new favorite game, Guitar Hero III! Thank you, Uncle Lee , for the second guitar as we now can ALL rock together!!

Ellen Claire and Spanish

Ellen Claire (thanks to Dora the Explorer) has moments where she will only do things in Spanish! She has started her Little Learners class on Thursdays. It's a precursor to preschool for the kids like ECP who missed the September 1st deadline last year but are old enough to benefit from a class setting. Trust me, as much as my brother Lee needed to be on sports teams as a preschooler, that is how much ECP needs to be somewhere where someone else can teach her. She is a sponge! My only "concern" is that she has these forementioned moments where she will only count or do her colors in Spanish! Her teacher is going to say No Espanol, pour favor!

Christmas Cookies!

We had a rare normal evening this week with everyone home--no work, no church, no basketball games...a blessed quiet sit down with everyone for dinner and early to bed night! So we decided to go ahead and start on our Christmas cookies! Meg and Jack request chocolate chip; Will, sugar cookies with sprinkles. My favorite is the Ranger cookie, but those are yet to be baked. Ellen Claire's favorite...well, ECP likes them all. Really all EC wanted was the beaters after each batch! We only recently in the last 5 years or so started making huge batches of baked goods for Christmas. It's one of those things Jack's mom Reese always did and he always wanted me to do--shock! And really, for all my fussin' over the years about it, we all really enjoy it. Besides, it's a bone fide tradition now!

I wish we could share all the goodies with you! Much love and good eating this holiday season to all!