Photos

Early last fall, the primary presidency at church took each child outside and had the secretary, Mandy Carroll, take a picture of them. It is common. I didn't think anything of it. I know Mandy is a professional photographer, but these were quick shots. No big deal. At the quarterly activity in December, the kids made gifts to give others in their family. They made picture frames for Mom and Dad and little wooden treasure boxes, journals, and toy snakes for whomever they chose. Samantha was too young to participate in the activity. When we opened our gifts from Ashley and Jon, I was beyond pleased at the pictures included in the frame. They were the ones Mandy had taken. The picture of Jon is hands down one of my top 5 favorite pictures of him. I like the one of Ashley as well, though I keep her school picture in her frame right now. As a result, I couldn't find it to scan in for this post. When I locate it, I will try and remember to post it. My only disappointment? There was no picture of Sami though I know they took one. I was there when it happened.

A few weeks ago, I dropped the kids off in the nursery while I donated blood for an Eagle Scout project. They had finally put up the pictures of the nursery kids. I LOVED the picture of Samantha and have been plotting how and when to get it off of the bulletin board. Imagine how pleased I was when one of the ladies that helps in the nursery simply handed it to me at the end of church today.

Though they were taken quickly, I just love the pictures. Mandy has so much talent. I would love to have her take professional pictures of the kids. She works outdoors in natural light and specializes in working with kids. You can look at samples of her work at her blog or her official site. I would love it, but she is expensive. I am sure it is worth it, but I can't justify it. Still, I just had to share these pictures. They are great don't you think?

The Motivational Power of Chocolate

We are potty training Samantha, and it is not going well. It is a slow process. I mean SLOW. In the last few days, we have offered to give her a small piece of chocolate every time she goes to the bathroom in the potty. We only had one accident yesterday! See, chocolate can be a great motivator! Good thing Sami loves to brush her teeth several times a day.

Discovery Dash

Today was race day. Even though school is out and it is Memorial Day weekend, we started getting out of bed early to get up to Monticello High School for the Discovery Dash. We had absolutely perfect weather. (not trying to rub it in Dad and Muriel)

Pictured on the right are our two racers. While waiting for Ashley's race, we watched the dashers (3 and 4 year olds) It was totally fun to watch them go. Sami wanted to get out there and run so badly. She is not old enough, but watching those kids go made me wonder if I should have taken the age limit less seriously. Jon, who was adamant about not running, really wanted to race once we got there. There is always next year I guess.

Ashley did great in her race. She finished at the first pack of the second half of kids. Some of those kids have run for awhile. You could tell by watching them. This was Ashley's first thing like this, and we were really proud of her. She ran the entire half mile without stopping or walking and showed really good stamina and form. Most importantly, she had a great time doing it. She wants to work on her speed now so that she can be faster next time. She really wants a trophy.

Ashley as she was finishing her first lap around the track

Video of Ashley finishing her race

Ashley claimed to be tired after her race but had plenty of energy to run down a small hill and jump on the pad the High School has for the high jump. We figure if you factor in both of her races and the playing she did in between, she ran a full mile today.

Ashley with her ribbon for finishing her race

The kids that were 9-12 ran a full mile for their race. I was impressed watching them go. The kids that won trophies (top 3 girls and boys in each age division) finished their miles in under 5 and just over 5 minutes. I used to HATE running the mile in gym when I was in High School. I mean absolutely HATE. If there wasn't somebody chasing me, why on earth would I be running? Watching these kids was inspiring. I don't want my own kids to hate those things, and I am glad for opportunities like this that focus on having fun and showing the kids just what they CAN do.

The next event for us was the parent/child relay. In this race, the parent ran the first lap and the child the second for a total of 1/2 mile. I tried to get a good picture of Trent, but he was so fast, that I didn't. I should have just taken video. He was in the first pack of dads right after the two that were out front. Good job Trent!

That is Trent with the short dark hair, white legs and sunglasses on the outside of the pack

Here is Ashley coming around the 3rd turn to finish the race. Good job Ashley!

We stuck around for the awards and raffle prizes. Wouldn't you know, Ashley won a family pass to go bowling in the raffle. Thanks Ashley! When it was time to go, my kids all wanted to have a race of their own, so I let them run on the track. I didn't think they would go all the way around it, but all three of them ran 1/4 mile. I guess that makes 1 1/4 total for Ashley today. Jon stopped and started a few times and often turned around to make sure Sami was still coming with him, but he ran 1/4 mile. We were proud. What do you think his immediate response was upon finishing the task? He asked for his trophy. Too funny.

Jon and Sami running on the far side of the track

Go Jon Go!

We ran into a couple of Trent's classmates from the JAG school. The kids were all in different age groups for the parent/child relays though, so none of them ran against each other. That could have been fun. A great day. Good job everybody.

Happy Birthday Jon!

We celebrated Jon's 5th birthday today. It was a quiet day for the most part, but still a lot of fun. After Jon woke up, the first thing he wanted to do was open his presents (of course). We waited until 8:00 and then woke up Dad before opening gifts. You may wonder what is with the scissors. My mom has gifts with curling ribbon. Seriously, true gifts. You try not using scissors.

Among the haul was a stuffed giant pacific octopus much like Jon's friend at the national aquarium, the Planet Hero moon buggy. Jon is very into Planet Heroes right now. A couple more of said Planet Heroes, and a cool amphibian remote control car.

His sisters kindly let him open his own gifts for the most part and also kindly offered to help him play with all of them all morning.

Opening presents (I think this one was Dazzle Venus)

Remote Control Car. Jon kept trying to move things away from his sisters.

Trent figuring out the car. Yes, he is reading the instructions!

This year, Jon wanted a flying saucer cake. As usual, I diligently looked all over the internet for ideas to steal. I took a few and combined and modified them into the final product. I have never used rolled fondant before, and I did not leave myself the necessary time to experiment, so I went with frosting. Many thanks to my good friend Megan (who is amazing when it comes to all things crafty and cooking related) for a good recipe and smoothing technique. It worked well. It would have been far more impressive if I had the fondant thing down, but Jon was so pleased that it really didn't matter. It does look like a homemade mom cake, but I am still fairly happy. If you want to do something like this and want a more spectacular finish, I suggest the alien spaceship cake from Debbie Brown's 50 Easy Party Cakes.

Note: sparkly decorating gel does not stay stiff. Either use butter cream or put alien on right before lighting candles. I had to scrape first alien off and start again after he slowly oozed down the window.

Our friends the Krajewskis joined us for cake and fun later. Jon has confused Leonora and Sonja as his cousins lately. I am not sure why. They are great people, and we will miss them when they move at the end of this month. They also brought Jon some space themed legos. Very fun.

I have video of Trent helping Jon with his remote control car and then of Jon taking it himself. Until I can figure out the orientation, however, I won't post it. What I don't have video of, but was more funny was of Trent playing with the remote control car while Jon followed him around chanting, "that's my car." and occasionally tugging on Trent's shirt.

Trent and Jason thought about racing this car and the other remote control car of Jon's. Sadly, the other car turned out to need its battery recharged. Another day perhaps.

Jon is such a great kid, and we are grateful for him and the chance to celebrate him and the things that make him special.

Happy Easter

Wishing you all a very happy Easter. It seems I was not to get a picture of all three kids in which all was well. Here are some of the better or more amusing attempts.

Poor Jon. We did come home early from church. Jon said he didn't feel good. He has had a cold this week, but I think he is more tired than anything and is currently napping. Trent stayed home altogether. He now has a full on cold.

Again, happy Easter from all of us crazy Warners.

A Visit From Flat Stanley

I am sorry to be entering this late. This trip was actually February 23. We have been a bit busy around here lately, so it was harder for me to get out on the big computer to post these pictures.

Our nephew Blake sent us his Flat Stanley recently. We were very glad for the opportunity. Of course we wanted to do the best job we could before sending Flat Stanley back to Blake's second grade class. One of the items on the list is to take a picture with Flat Stanley at a landmark of some kind near where you live. Considering that Monticello is about 20 miles or less from our house and it is a recognizable landmark, we chose to take Flat Stanley to Monticello.

I have been to Monticello, but Trent still hadn't. I also had a Relief Society board meeting that morning and was recovering from Ashley's sleepover. So, Trent and Ashley took Flat Stanley up to Monticello. I understand that Flat Stanley was very well behaved. He did not try and jump on the beds or try on Jefferson's boots or sit in the chair in Jefferson's study. What did Flat Stanley learn you ask. Well, I can't be certain, but I will catalog some of Ashley's and Trent's impressions.

Ashley has been to Monticello before. She went with me. She was surprised that all of the flowers around the west lawn are gone. It was late summer when she and I went before. Ashley also thought it was very cool that she was the only one who raised her hand when the tour guide asked who had been there before. Finally, she loved that her dad walked down to the parking lot with her instead of riding the shuttle bus back down. I am glad they did that too. It was a great way to gauge how long the walk is in case we ever wanted to just go up to the grounds or the gift shop without taking a house tour.

Trent, first off, got to finally figure out where Monticello is exactly. It seems impossible that it could be up as high as it is when you drive past the turn off on the 53, which he does at least 10 times a week. Once you have been there though, you get an appreciation for the idea of Mr. Jefferson's mountain. Next, Trent remarked on what he discovered he and Thomas Jefferson had in common. I loved his observation, because I think most people think about those attributes of Thomas Jefferson that they don't share with him. It was interesting to think of him as a typical guy in some ways. For instance, Trent noted that he and Jefferson both liked gadgets and enjoyed taking something someone had already created and trying to improve upon it. All true. Jefferson was certainly the 18th/19th century equivalent of a gadget guy. Trent did make one observation that I found funny. Jefferson was criticized for having such a grand home with no grand staircase. There are two very small and steep staircases off to either side of the house in Monticello. Jefferson's response to this criticism was that a grand staircase took up space and was unnecessary. Trent found this hilarious considering that there is a dome on Monticello and the dome room where you can actually see the dome is and was seldom used. Well, we all have those things that are unnecessary but which we absolutely love don't we?

In composing the letter to accompany Flat Stanley back to Kaysville, I reflected on all of the history of Virginia. Like John Denver sang, life is old here. It was fascinating to think about even the main points of history here in Virginia. Those reflections are perhaps best left for another post though. For now, here is one more picture of Ashley and Flat Stanley on the west lawn at Monticello. Thanks Trent for the great pictures. Thanks Blake for the great opportunity. We hope you and your classmates have as much fun learning about Flat Stanley's Virginia adventure as we did planning it.

Hiding Places

My kids all have their favorite hiding places. Sami's favorite place to hide is in the back of the closet in her and Ashley's room behind the stuffed animal and shoe cubbies with the stack of bigger stuffed animals.

On Monday night, we were looking for her to put her in bed, and we couldn't find her anywhere. Usually if I can't find Sami at bed time, I go into the girls' room and call her name. She then answers, "I'm in here," from her hiding place in the closet. This time she didn't answer. Trent and I both looked in the closet first and then started searching the house and backyard for where she could have gone. Knowing that the closet is her favorite and that she was very sleepy, I tried the closet again. Sure enough, we had both looked right at her and missed her the first time. In her pajamas, she blends right in with the stuffed animals. Keep in mind that it was dark as well. You have the benefit of a flash in these pictures. Anyhow, she had crawled into her favorite cubby and fallen asleep. I would say that this will teach me to look more carefully in the future. If I am being honest, however, I would likely make this same mistake again. I've done it with the other two and their hiding places as well. Do all kids do this, or is it just mine?

Brownie Smile

This week at Brownies, they had an informal ceremony where the girls were awarded all of the try its they have earned thus far. Try its are remotely similar to merit badges. The try its are the triangular patches now on the front of Ashley's brownie vest. Ashley was actually shy during the ceremony and talked very quietly when it was her turn. That was surprising.

The other patches they earn for various things all go on the back of the vest. For those of you wondering about the patch you helped her earn when she sold you candy and nuts, it hasn't come in yet but will be displayed proudly on the back when it does.

By the way, Ashley is now currently selling girl scout cookies. So, if you need an order source, she would love to sell to you. Trust me. She loves it. Cookies come in for us on Feb. 12, and they will continue selling through March.

Inclement Weather

I received an e-mail yesterday telling me that the LCS coffee (scheduled for Thursday night) was cancelled due to expected inclement weather. I knew there was an anticipated snow storm, but we have had several anticipated storms turn into not much. I thought it was a little strange to cancel before seeing what the end result would be. It didn't really matter though, because I couldn't go as Trent is busy writing his first submission of his research paper.

This morning at 6:35 as I was fixing Ashley's breakfast, the phone rang. I figured it was the instant alert system from her school. It was. School was cancelled due to inclement weather. I encouraged Ashley to go back to bed and as I headed back to bed myself, I laughed a little. It wasn't doing anything outside. The roads were dry. I have heard that they shut things down here at the slightest bit of ice or snow, but I thought this was a little silly. Well, Ashley couldn't sleep, so at 7:10, she got me back out of bed. I told her she couldn't wake Jon and Sami yet, so she watched some t.v. and ate. She informed me shortly after that it was snowing. Well at least there was now a reason for the inclement weather. Jon joined us around 7:30, and he and Ashley watched it snow from the window because I wouldn't let them outside yet. Last time it snowed here, it was barely a dusting and only lasted a few hours. I was bracing for their disappointment. It is my cynicism that was disappointed, however. By the time 9:00 came and the kids were all bundled up, there was around 2 inches of snow, and it is still snowing. Definately inclement weather and a snow day particularly, because things tend to shut down around here with the slightest sign of ice or snow.

Since Trent is obviously writing from home today, he got in on the fun for awhile too.