Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Huge accomplishments!

Rob won best Teacher on the planet!  It's a contest done through the radio station Planet 94.1  This is the letter from the parent that nominated him:

     Mr. Wilkes is amazing the the kids.  This is the first year that my son is excited to go to school.  He struggled in the past few years.  He has lots of energy and would constantly get in trouble for having a wandering imagination.  Not this year!  Mr. Wilkes used his energy as a teaching method.  For example, they were studying the middle ages, he took the kids outside and worked like the middle ages.  My son came home so muddy, but with the biggest smile on his face, telling me all about the middle ages and the work and the feast that they used to have (Mr. Wilkes brought in a feast for the kids too.)  it is so heart warming to see this kid so exited to learn.  Grades?  Well, report cards just came out.  He went from a straight C level report to all A's except for one B and on C.  To me and my kid...mr. Wilkes at GWA is THE BEST TEACHER ON THE PLANET!


Our other big accomplishment is....ASHLEY EARNED HER MEDALLION!  I'm so proud of her for this.  She worked so hard.  I didn't get a good picture of her face in with the medallion so...

Here is the medallion

 and here is Ashley on the same day

Thanksgiving!!!

We spent Thanksgiving in Wickenburg, AZ!  I grew up spending almost every Thanksgiving in Wickenburg so I love that the kids get the same experience.  There is very little use of electronics since Grandma and Grandpa Wilkes live where there's not great access to internet so the kids play with the dogs, the dirt, and the  cousins.  They had so much fun!

What better ice breaker is there for teens than hanging out in Grandpa's Mustang



 Cole and Sage helping with Thanksgiving dinner

 Bonding on the swings

 Family time in "the barn"



 Lots of football fans make for a great time at Thanksgiving!

 My favorite age group...the teen table!

 Almost time!

 The kids table!

 A few minutes into the meal and Noah is out.  

 Just one of the many reasons they're my favorite age group


 Hunter, Ashley, Wyatt, and Karina took off for some late night Black Friday shopping in Surprise!

 Not just cousins...buddies

 Down time by the fire


 Aunt Becca took some of the older kids out for a "night on the town". 
 In Wickenburg this is about it. 

 Last few minutes before arriving home in St. George!!!


The drive was more difficult for some than others


Halloween!

The week prior to Halloween was Red Ribbon week.
  This is Luke dressed up on career day as a scientist 


 Sage on crazy hair day

 Carving pumpkins at Darren's house


 Ashley and adorable Zombie at Thriller


 Rob dressed up as Robin Hood since his class was reading 
about Robin Hood in school.  They loved it!


 Luke is Hawkeye from Avengers


 Vintage Sage


 Gypsy Ashley


 Slenderman Noah


 Noah and his best friend Nathan at the Trunk or Treat


 Morgan, Ashley, and Emily!  


 Cole won the Chili cookoff!!!
He's such a great cook so I'm not surprised.  We're so proud of him!


Back to School

I was excited for school to start because I love to be on a schedule but I HATE all the homework the kids have to do.  This year Rob is Sage's teacher so everyone is really excited about that.

This is Ashley and her friend Sarah at the Cross Country camp just before school started.


 Sage and Luke are helping make decorations for Rob's classroom.  Ashley and I went with Rob every day for 2 weeks to work on the classroom.  





 First day of school!  

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Playing Catch Up

I haven't blogged in such a long time.  I've been very sick since November and I think the emotional aspect of my illness was so much more debilitating (to blogging anyway) than the physical aspect.  I didn't even post anything about Christmas, or Easter, or major events!  So now to dig through the pictures and find what I actually documented.

Last month I had my adrenal glands removed so hopefully this will help me to recover from that awful monster Cushing's Disease and I can be a better wife, mother, and person.

In the midst of decorating for Christmas Cole enjoyed making this giant hamburger.  Cole is elusive so I have to add any picture I can get of him.


Sage has been dressing up like Santa at school for years.  She was happy the school gave her another opportunity this year.


This is what December looks like in St. George, green grass and lots of leaves from our Mulberry trees.  The 2 extra kids are Christian Spangler and Martha Bown.  Our house has 2-10 extra kids on any given day.  I love it!!!


What is sweeter than a boy and his dog!


Ashley's Christmas dress.  We made her wear it and she hasn't worn it since.


Noah's first day of preschool!


Jack's first professional haircut.  I usually just hack away at him myself.


Sometimes you just have to collapse where you are when you're as busy as Noah.


Sage's Native American day at school.  


Noah is enthralled with watching youtube videos of men with nothing better to do showing their collections of hot wheels.


Luke broke his collar bone :(


Ashley and I had a girls day with Chanelle and Candra!  What a great day!  I can't wait to do it again.



Noah is so lucky to have one friend close by and now 2 more have moved in. (Tayton & Mason Millet and Nathan Forsyth)


There are hundreds of pictures of Ashley on my computer since she's always taking pictures on my phone.  I couldn't pass up posting this one.


I took Noah and Luke to the car show by our house.  This was Noah's favorite car.


Luke and Noah got glasses!  They both look so good in them.


We had a visit from the Snow's!!!  We've known the Snow's since Ashley was a baby so our kids have grown up together.


We only have 2 kids left young enough to do the Easter egg hunt.  The other 3 are happy to be home sleeping in.


Coloring Easter eggs!  Don't let Cole's presence fool you.  I just made him stand here for the picture and as soon as I was done he was out the door.  Who can expect a 14 year old boy to color Easter eggs right?


Sage's traditional Easter basket hairdo.  This is one of our favorite hairstyles we get from our favorite hair blog.  ( A Princess and Her Hair)


Pretty girls on Easter morning.  Ashley looked like Audrey Hepburn that day.


Well that's all for now.  I need to get busy having summer fun with the kids so we can get some good pictures.