Category: February

Winter Festivities

This year our resident NFL team did really well. They ended up making it to the play-offs. They haven’t done that for 20 years or something like that. I don’t remember they exact statistic. This year they made it to the play-offs so Ryan took Matthew and went with a friend of his from high school. They got seats for the lower bowl on the 35 yard line. It was COLD! Like low 30’s with snow and wind. They had several layers of everything plus snow pants and boots. They stayed pretty warm except for their toes, but that didn’t stop them from having a great time. The Chiefs won too! They lost the next week, but they won the game they were at which made it even more fun.

  • Chiefs Play Off Game!
  • Chiefs Play Off game with dad.
  • Chiefs Play Off Game 2019

The girls have been taking gymnastics for a few years. A couple months ago we switched to a new gym and they had pictures recently. So I got a cute picture of each of my gymnasts.

  • Allison’s gymnastic picture
  • Emilee’s gymnastic pictures

The high school has a Saturday cheerleader camp every couple of months. Allison and her friend Carlee like to go together and dance it up together.

  • Cheer Camp
  • Cheer Camp

This is Emilee’s second year playing basketball. She has come a long way. Last year she wouldn’t run to the other end of the court. When the ball went to the other side of the court she would sit under the basket against the wall and wait until everyone came back. This year she runs the court. If she gets tired though she comes up into the bleachers and asks Ryan and I if she can be done. Matthew works on her dribbling with her during the week and she is getting better.

  • Emilee having a team huddle with her basketball team ‘The Bears’
  • Emi playing in her basketball game.

February is always an odd month. Its short anyways and there is usually teacher conferences and President’s Day which are no school days. Then there is usually snow days. So far this month thanks to ice storms we have had FOUR snow days and its only half way through the month. Nothing makes the kids quite as excited as a surprise day off of school. We try to get in some fun activities and of course lots of playing in the snow.

  • Snow day facials
  • Matthew and Carson built a snow fort.
  • Emilee and Jovee built a snowman.
  • Allison and Leah went sledding with Ross and Lauren.
  • Emilee and Jovee working on their snowman.

Allison was Ms. Coovert’s class Student of the Month. She gets a special certificate and a coupon for a free ice cream at Culver’s. She was very excited and Ryan and I were very proud of her. One of her besties Hailey was PE Student of the Month with her.

  • Allison was the Student of the Month
  • Student of the Month with Hailey

More pictures from our Winter.

  • Allison decided to use her bean bag as her pillow.
  • Emilee’s 100th day of school celebration
  • The 6th Graders went on a ski field trip.
  • I thought this was a cute picture so I just stuck it in here. 🙂

Allison’s Valentine’s Box

Allison begins planning her Valentine’s Day box several months before it is time to make it. In fact about the time Halloween ends that is the next project she starts thinking about. Last year it was a giant robot covered in aluminum foil and then colored in different colors representing slime. This year she had a very unique idea as well. My parents were visiting so she recruited my dad to help her draw it and then she painted it… pictures are worth a thousand words so I’ll let you see for yourself. She is a pretty darn good artist.

  • Allison’s Valentine’s Box
  • She went with a rooster!

Pine Wood Derby

Allison was in her second pine wood derby this year. Ryan was helping her make it and was spending time making sure the weight was good. After a while she looked at Ryan and said, “I don’t care if it is fast, I just want it to look good. I can handle it from here.” She did just that too. She painted it all white and then put yellow circles all over it and then drew different emoji faces on each circle. It was pretty stinkin’ cute. Her car wasn’t the fastest but it won the ribbon for Best In Show.

  • Allison’s Girl Scout Troop
  • Allison watching the races.

Emilee was in her first derby this year. She did a great job helping her dad form it and put the weights on. Then she painted it all by herself. She had fun watching the races with the other girls in her troop. They are all a cute little bunch.

  • Troop 2779

My Grandma and Grandpa Jones

When I was visiting DeAnna we went and saw my grandparents one of the evenings we were there. We spent a couple hours visiting with them and my Aunt Mary. My Grandma’s short term memory is not very good sometimes but she was really good while we were there. I asked her to play the piano for me which she did. I wanted to ask her to play her trumpet too but didn’t want to wear her out. She decided to do it on her own which was awesome. She is absolutely amazing on both instruments. She has played them both all around the world throughout her life. She taught me piano lessons for a little bit when I was younger. I remember I was practicing one of my songs once and she was listening in the kitchen. I hit a wrong note and she told me the wrong note I had played, the correct note I needed to play, and the correct fingering so I could play it smoother. From the kitchen!

My grandpa always has a silly poem or rhyme to tell, or a song to repeat. He read us one while we were there from an Irish song book that he thought was clever.

I had a really nice evening with them. I enjoy seeing other extended family but I was glad to get to spend some time with just them. They are wonderful people.

NOTE: The process for loading videos has changed. I am trying to figure it out but haven’t quite got it yet. Each video should be different but I think instead it is showing all six videos over and over. So…there are six different videos listed here even though it just shows one. Click on the upper left hand corner and it will let you select what video you want to watch.

Visiting My Sister!

We had some Southwest Airlines credit that was going to expire so I used it to go see my sister DeAnna in Utah. I left Kansas and the sub zero temperatures from the polar vortex that was blowing through and had a very uneventful flight (best kind of flight to have) to Utah, which had nice 50’s temperatures when I arrived.

DeAnna had baby number six, and boy number five on December 10th, so I got to meet my newest nephew for the first time when I got there. Joseph is a sweet little baby. He is so chill, he didn’t fuss very much at all but has almost a constant string of grunts. I loved snuggling him as much as I could. In the few days I was there you could tell his eye sight got better and he was getting better at controlling his hands. I think 8-10 weeks old for babies is a really fun exciting time. They start becoming a little more adjusted to life and start trying to figure things out and you see their personalities more. They had his baby blessing the Sunday I was there so it was nice to see that. I think it is the first one I have been to for my nieces and nephews. I loved getting my fill of new baby Joseph snuggles.

I loved seeing my other 4 nephews and 1 niece as well. They have all grown up a lot since I saw them last. Tyler is still as smart as a whip and can build some pretty amazing things with Lego’s. He was great at getting all of his jobs and things done so he could have the rest of the time to play. I got two hugs from him while I was there that made me happy too.

Hannah let me use her room, which I appreciated very much. She is a sweet little girl and does a great job at helping watch out for her brothers. For scriptures one night we read a conference talk and I was very impressed with her reading skills. We drew and colored a picture together one night that was a lot of fun.

Michael and I read some books together. He wanted to cheer up his brother Peter, so he picked out all his favorite books when we read. I thought it was very sweet. He almost always had a snack in his hands and most of the time was very willing to share. He colored several pictures for me to bring home.

Nathan knows what he likes and doesn’t like. He is pretty good at explaining it to you too. I loved his drawing and explanations of why every detail was the way it was. He has a great imagination. He also loves to pose with his food for pictures and if you weren’t in the mood to take a picture, he was good at convincing you to do it anyway.

Peter and I were on a good road to being friends, he would give me a big sweet smile and come sit next to me. The poor little guy got sick shortly after I got there though and then no one would do but mom or dad. I get that though. He would let me wipe his nose without protest before I left though.

We spent most of the time doing things around the house, especially once kiddo’s started getting sick. It was nice to visit and chat. I got to do a little organizing too. John and DeAnna have many talents but organizing is not one of them. I love it though so I don’t mind going through a few closets and drawers one bit while I am there and organizing stuff. We went to lunch and got our nails done and did a little shopping. We stopped at Kneaders Bakery a few times too and sampled many of their desserts. We still have many to go. We watched movies, played games, and talked some more. We talked about having another sister’s trip soon with Sherri, a cruise would be awesome!

It was a nice trip. I enjoyed getting to spend time with all of them and be an in house aunt and sister for a few days. I wish I could live closer to her. I always learn something about being a better mom when I am with DeAnna. She is so patient and consistent and kind with her family. She takes everything in stride and does an amazing job taking care of her them. Her and John are a good pair.

There was a snow storm the night before I left and they had school canceled for the first time ever the next day. Instead of getting to play and enjoy it thought Peter had RSV and an ear infection, Joseph was coming down with RSV, and Michael, Hannah and Tyler all had sore throats. 😢 I didn’t feel like a very helpful sister by leaving. I have been praying that they will all get better quickly.

  • We went to the Jordan River Temple together.
  • Joseph in his blessing outfit.
  • Heading to church.
  • We spent an evening with my Grandma and Grandpa Jones. They played the piano, trumpet and read us stories.
  • Sweet little Joseph.
  • One of Nathan’s many poses with his dinner.
  • Despite the snow storm, flights were still only 30 minutes delayed.

Family Jeopardy

Our Stake President spoke in church a few Sunday’s ago about different titles of the Savior and Satan. He focused mostly on the titles of Satan as an Accuser and the Savior as our Advocate. It was a really good message. Ryan and I both talked with the kids about how we should be advocates for each other in our lives, and not accusers. This has been on my mind a lot and I have been trying to catch myself when I am being an accuser and change to advocate. Not always easy.

A few days after his talk the kids went back to school from a three day weekend and I found myself looking around the house and saw mess after mess that they had been told to clean up, and other jobs they had done but not well. I started thinking about how it was time to have yet another lecture on doing what you’re asked, doing things well, blah, blah blah. As I was mulling over what to say and how to do it as an advocate not an accuser I had the thought to make a jeopardy game.

It didn’t take very long at all to get ready. It took about 20 minutes to make up categories and then five questions for each one. After dinner I set it up and we had the kids play. I was the game show host, dad was the score keeper and played the Jeopardy theme music when we needed it. The kids were a little unsure at first, but after a few questions they started to get into it. Allison was the most enthusiastic, she loved it and gave really good answers. They were so thorough we started giving her a time limit for answers. Matthew was s little bit of a stinker at first because he was having a hard time beating the girls to the buzzer but by the end they were all participating. It was a little surprising the answers they got right or wrong. I need to give Emilee a little more credit and responsibility. She is a little to good at playing the ‘I don’t know how’ or ‘I need help’ card. According to all her answers though she is quite aware of what she is supposed to do.

The final winner was Allison followed by Emilee and then Matthew. They were all on pretty even playing fields which is hard to get most of the time. Allison loved that she legitimately beat Matthew at something. She wants to play Jeopardy every week. I don’t know about every week but it is something I think we will do again on occasion. It is really easy to fit the categories to whatever we want to talk about. It was a fun family activity, we had lots of good, non-confrontational conversations, and had a few expectations clarified or explained.

For example, all of our kids are aware of what the “Golden Rule” is but a little fuzzy on its application and meaning. I remember not quite getting that when I was younger. I remember pondering it many times trying to figure out what I was missing. It might be helpful if it had a second line about treating others the way you want to be treated, regardless of how they are treating you.

Ryan and I learned we need to give the kids more credit as far as what they are capable of around the house. We also need to be more consistent in holding them accountable for what they are asked to do more and remind them less. They are good smart kids.

As a side note, to make it interesting we let the kids have a say in the prize for the winner before we played. The majority vote was for money. The winner got $5 and the other two got $1. When we gave Emilee her dollar she was a little sad. I asked her what was wrong and she said, “I don’t really like dollars, all I do is lose them.” Haha! I thought it was pretty funny. Allison can’t have more than a dollar without it burning a hole in her pocket so she wanted to go to the dollar store the next day and found many things to add to her slimes. Emilee was happy to trade her dollar for a coloring book before she lost it.

  • Favorite Category- I should know this by now.
  • Allison is the winner!
  • Matthew needs to review how to correctly make the ‘loser’ sign.

House Rededication

At our last Stake Conference the Stake President  gave a nice talk about our homes and comparing them to the temple. He asked every family to have a family home evenings and write down a dedication prayer for our homes and dedicate them, or rededicate them if we had already dedicated them.  Then keep it somewhere we can read it occasionally. We have always dedicated our home when we first move in. We have never wrote the dedication prayer ahead of time and I never thought about rededicating it either. It makes sense though, they rededicate temples sometimes too.  We read a couple of temple dedication prayers with the kids and we worked on it for a few weeks for part of FHE, everyone gave their input and we rededicated our home last week.

Dear Father in Heaven, we thank thee for this opportunity to kneel together as a family and rededicate our home to thee.

We thank thee for this country and the freedom to worship thee. We are thankful for the temples we have on earth to attend and make covenants with thee. We are grateful for the holiness and the blessings and peace the temple brings to our lives. We are thankful for the Book of Mormon and the Bible and the opportunity we have to study and apply it to our lives. We are thankful for our living Prophet and the guidance and direction he gives us from thee. Father we thank thee for this beautiful home we have been blessed with. We thank thee for the many necessities and comforts and safety it provides for us from the outside world.

At this time we would like to rededicate our home to thee, to remind us of the sanctuary we have been given here on earth. A place to always feel thy love and thy spirit. We ask thee to bless our home and help us have the same spirit of peace we find in the temple, in our home. Please bless us to remember the Savior and emulate him and foster a spirit of peace and happiness and love. We ask thee to help us remember and treat all those within the walls of our home with respect and appreciation for each others individuals talents and personalities. Help each of us to know and understand our worth as a child of God and help us to see that worth in each other. We are blessed with many talents. Help each of us to encourage  and support each other as we strive to develop and discover our talents.

Please bless that we will have a spirit of holiness prevail in every room of our home and shield us from selfishness and sin. Help us to focus on each others strengths and be forgiving of our weaknesses. We ask that each of us and all those that enter our home will feel loved and appreciated and know they are welcome. Please help us to emulate the Savior in our home so that our family and guests can feel the joy the gospel brings to our lives.

We ask that our home be a place to foster our testimonies and help them to grow and solidify. Please bless us with the desire to read our scriptures together and individually and to participate in family and individual prayer. We ask thee to help us desire and remember to have family home evening together, and attend church and other meetings, attend the temple, fulfill our calling and all other activities to strengthen each of our testimonies as we strive to return to thee and be an eternal family. Father, we ask thee to protect our home and those in it from negative influences. Please bless each of us with safety and to feel safe in our home.

We thank thee and ask thee for these blessings at this time. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Pre-Spring Break Break.

Today was the third day in a row I have received a call before six in the morning saying school is canceled due to inclement weather.  This is a picture of the ‘inclement weather.’ When did we get so wimpy Kansas! It is cold, and we have had some ice, but the roads are dandy. My kids have been out of school for a week now (parent teacher conferences…President Day…three snow days).  My kids have been loving the bonus spring break. Ryan and I have both worked this week so it has been a little tricky figuring out who can watch our kids last minute. Luckily we have awesome Aunt Lauren to help us out in a pinch. It is looking like there should be no reason to cancel tomorrow but I thought that the last two days. Fingers crossed!

Last weekend was the final basketball tournament games for Matthew’s season. We wanted to keep him busy through the off season for baseball so we just signed him up through the city of Olathe sports. His friend Finn ended up on the same team. The first practice looked a little rough but they had a great coach and they did really good. Their end of season record was 7-1. They were the winners for their division, and were bumped up to the next division for the tournament.  The trophies they are holding are for winning their division. They won the first game but lost the second game of the tournament. Matthew played pretty good. He is great at the steal and break away for a layup because he is so fast. He made a few threes too. He needs to work on his dribbling so he is more comfortable with his left dribble but he had a good, fun season.

Emilee is finished with her three basketball practices and has had her first two games. The first game she would run down and shoot the ball if she got it on offense, but when it was time for defense her and Reese went and SAT against the wall until it was time to run down the court again. Game two was better. She stayed on the court and held her hands up wherever she was whether she was standing by someone or not. We have been working on dribbling this week for her last game.  I love watching little kids play sports. It is so ridiculous if you sit back and take in the whole scene but it is a lot of fun for them. She is so proud of herself when she is done.

Alli's famous

A few years ago Ryan had Allison come to his work and take some pictures for some brochures they were making and other advertising stuff. They just redid some of it and added a video on their Facebook page. The last part ends with this picture. We showed Alli the video and I said, “Look Alli, you’re famous!” to which she replied in her best ‘mom you just don’t get it voice’, “Ya, I’ve been famous for years.” I hope she holds on to that confidence.

Ryan and I went on a group date with some of our friends to an Escape Room this last weekend.  We have done it once before a while ago. It is a fun time. The room had a 34% pass pass rate and we were able to figure it out before our time ran out. That made us all feel smart. Then we all went to KC Joe’s BBQ and had some delicious BBQ. I am becoming a BBQ snob, which is easy to do in  a city known for its BBQ. It is probably my favorite type of food too now.

Conferences and the violin play off.

Last week was parent teacher conference time again. I met with each of the kids teachers and their music teacher.

Alli’s teacher is on maternity leave so she has had a long term sub for the last six weeks with three more to go. Her regular teacher is nice but Alli seems to click with her substitute a little more. Her name is Mrs Hathaway but she goes by Mrs Happy. She is a boisterous person with a large personality which fits Alli well. The first thing she said to me is when I walked in was, “Hi Sugar! Your Alli is a little spit fire, she doesn’t take any guff from anyone, and I love her for it.  She is a future leader.” I was expecting a bear hug the way she was approaching me but instead got a hand shake and a hand on the shoulder. We talked for about 40 minutes and I am glad Alli has the opportunity to have her for a few more weeks. She is kind of like Alli’s own Mary Poppins. Mrs Happy has noticed and seems more aware of Alli’s traits and strengths and weaknesses more than any other teacher she has ever had, and she has been actively focusing on her to help her improve. Alli is doing well in school. The two biggest areas she  struggles is her spelling tests and the comprehension portions of her reading tests. Mostly for lack of effort and rushing. Mrs. Happy has  made an effort to call Alli out and give her strategies and processes to improve in those areas.  After some eye rolls from Alli (sigh) and some of Mrs. Happy’s own ‘no guff policy’,  Alli has improved steadily in both areas the past few weeks. She seems to be more willing to do her homework too. Mrs, Happy also pointed out she loves Alli’s friendship with her new best friend this year named Carly.  She described them as serious, no drama, solid foundation, riding the same wave length friends. They are quite a pair, and they seem to get each other. I am proud of how hard Alli works at school and the effort she puts into her work. I agree with her teacher. She is a born leader and she is a force to be reckoned with.  She has amazing potential, Ryan and I just hope and pray we can help her channel it in the right direction.

Matthew’s teacher said he is doing really well too.  Matthew really spoils me when it comes to school. He has always been good at getting his homework done and turned in without being asked. He is pretty self sufficient with everything and responsible. I’m crossing my fingers that his organization and self motivation will continue and be a permanent trait. Math is one of his best subjects, he says he doesn’t like it but I think he does.  He is getting a little streak of the beginnings of a teenage boy silliness and cockiness but he is a good kid. I can count on one hand the number of times he has forgotten an assignment since he started kindergarten and he has never just not done it.  Than remains true for this year too, until orchestra.

This year HE decided that he wanted to be in the orchestra and picked the violin to play. He has orchestra twice a week for a half hour.  This makes the progression through lessons fairly slow.  The first semester was a little ridiculous, over the course of four months they learned six notes and were supposed to pluck them (they don’t learn the bow until after Christmas) for 100 minutes a week.  ‘Mind numbing boringness’ is what Matthew called it, and I couldn’t blame him. As a result he became pretty lax with his practicing and I let him. After Christmas they started learning the bow and a few more notes and playing more songs. After some reminding, nagging, prodding, incentivizing and more nagging his practicing habits stayed pretty much the same as first semester. So by the time conferences came around last week he had a nice F for his music grade.

When he told me about his F he said it with the attitude of that was just how it was and it was out of his hands. I asked him how much he had been practicing and he said, “A lot its just to hard .” The ‘just bad at it’ excuse.  I told him he was full of crap and all he needed to do was practice consistently and he would get better. His grade was a result of his lack of practice not his inability. Then to prove my point I challenged him to a violin play off.  Basically I spent about half an hour learning how to play ‘Twinkle Little Star’ on the violin, then we went in another room where no one could see us and each of us played it without telling those who were listening who was playing. The results… Ryan, Alli, Emilee, and his friend Carson could not tell who was who.  Matthew was a little embarrassed to be bested or at least matched by his mom who until thirty minutes before had never touched a violin and decided he would put more effort into practicing. He now has a B in orchestra.

The hand bells are back!

About four years ago I asked for a  set of hand bells for Christmas. I can’t remember what started the idea but I got it in my head that our family could be a little bell playing family. It could be a fun little hobby all of us could do together. Who doesn’t like to add to their  list of unique and quirky talents right?! So I got some bells and after about ten minutes of trying to get my kids to follow any type of instruction with them I put them back in the bag and hid them in my closet before me and every other adult within hearing range went crazy.

Later that same year we went to Florida for a Jones family get together. My parents asked everyone to share a talent for part of our family home evening together. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to try our bells again so we practiced an easy song like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star a for a few weeks before. It was a little rough but I didn’t think it was to bad. We took the bells with us to Florida and when it was our turn to perform we did…and it was awful. You couldn’t even tell what song it was. Everyone was nice and clapped and we moved on. I decided that we weren’t quite ready to be the Terry Bell Band…yet.

Fast forward  four years to about a week before Valentine’s Day. I decided to try again! So I got out the bells and found a few songs to play and we practiced. It was much better! We decided to play the ‘Happy Birthday’ song but sing ‘Happy Valentine’s’ instead and record it and send it to our Grandmas and Grandpas for Valentines. It was still a little rocky but after practicing a few times each day for a few days it sounded pretty good. On Valentine’s Day we decided to record it. The first few times did not go well. Twenty plus tries later it was going even worse. We decided to play it one more time and record it and send whatever we got. We did and once again, it was pretty bad. We must have stage fright issues…or general listening skill issues. 🙂 We still sent it and the Grandmas and Grandpas were very generous with their praises. My ears are ready for a break again so I think I will put the bells away and hopefully in another year or two we will be able to really start the Terry Family Bell Band. 🙂

The video below is one of our attempts, Ryan was at work but Emilee’s friend Reese was here so she filled in for him. Notice how Emilee just rings her bell through the whole song whenever she feels like it. Lol!

Bell Band Beginnings