18 years and counting.

We made it 18 years so far and I have to say that at least a few of them have been pretty good. The years of no sleep with babies in bed with us are not my favorites for the two of us. Kids do ruin many romantic moments. But, I think the next 18 should be wonderful. Here's hoping!

Two blankets and my own toothpaste has help us keep the bliss.

I am finished!!

I have finished the first draft of my book. It is over 167,000 words so about 700 or so pages. I figure that with all the editing it is going to need that I can get it down to under 300. It has taken a bit over a month since I started, but it has been fun. I hope the edit process is as much fun as the writing process. YEA!!!! I can cross one thing off my Bucket List.

Busy fun Christmas

We had the family over for Christmas Eve and then again for Christmas dinner. It was a busy holiday with lots of family, fun and food. I ate until I wanted to puke and still found room for a few more goodies. I hope you all had a great Christmas. I received two very heavy items that should help me improve my physical strength this year.

The photos are of Cenneidigh and Gunnar playing the guitar game. Cenneidigh wanted a Hannah Montana Guitar game for the TV so we gave it to both her and Gunnar knowing that that is as close as Gunnar is getting to the real guitar hero until his grades improve.

I will post more photos when I get them off of David's camera.

PS...I am almost done with the book I am writing.

Neighbor gifts

Not to be out done by Heather I have to show you the cookies Cenny, Zeke and I made this year. We got the idea from a blog David reads and then we made out own. We also made macaroons dipped in chocolate, puppy chow and truffles. I have been very lazy with the camera lately sorry. Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Are your children driving you as crazy as mine are?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.

Love, The Peters Family.

Holiday concert at Banfield

The Holiday Concert was postponed due to snow on Friday and then a two hour delay to school today cancelled one of the three times, so it was crowded in the gym where the kids sang favorites like, All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth(1st Graders), I'm Getting Nothing For Christmas (3rd Graders), Zeke played his recorder to Jingle Bells. It went for an hour with the talking bits they add to make it more of a show then just the kids singing. It was cute and enjoyed seeing my three smiling faced children happy about going to school today.
Gunnar's concert was last week and it was a beautiful evening of music. The high school ended the concert with the Hallelujah Chorus and Silent Night where everyone was silent for a moment following the song, it was very dramatic.
Christmas has just snuck up on me, I feel totally unprepared. I spent four hours shopping today.

Snow Day

No School, there is snow everywhere. Qatar was not sure he could open the door to let the dog out, but he made it.

I taught at Woodson yesterday and those 5 year olds were very active. Every time I asked one child to do anything we would spell, "N O". I told him I was impressed with his spelling ability, but he needed to do what asked or go to the office to talk with the principal.

When every one gets up they will be out to shovel the snow away.

I am freezing and sick of sick kids

It is so cold I am sitting typing with gloves on to keep my fingers from freezing.

I am freezing to death.

Cenneidigh threw up on Monday night several times and it was always after I had just finally gotten to sleep again. She stayed home Tuesday with Qatar who has a nasty cold. I missed a day of work, I said no when I was called since I did not think Qatar would be good at cleaning up after Cenneidigh if needed. I guess that is why I have this sort of job.

My stomach has been sick since Monday.

The Gift of the Magi according to Qatar and the Muppets.

Qatar gave a talk in Sacrament meeting today and was asked to tell his three favorite Christmas stories. He started with "The Christmas Carol" and then "The Gift of the Magi". Qatar started the story and told the congregation that it was a Muppet story where Kermit sells his watch and Miss Piggy cuts off her hair to sell. Kermit buys Miss Piggy combs for her long hair and Miss Piggy buys Kermit a watch chain. It is about how giving all we have is so much better then receiving. I was breaking up in the back. I really started to laugh as I looked at the Bishoprics faces as Qatar continued the story of Miss Piggy and Kermit. It was so funny when they kept looking to see if Qatar was serious. He was, that is the Story of the Magi to him. He finished with the story of the Nativity and I was very proud of him, he did a very good job.

My poor mouth.

My mouth hurts from putting the aligners in and out to eat. I have stopped talking while wearing them because one side of my tongue is in shreds and talking makes me want to cry. I am assured that this is temporary, but with four weeks of this set ahead of me I want to cry. I hope my tongue gets use to these and then I can talk again. I just hope I do not go through this with the next three sets of these things. I will now just take them out if I have more then a few words to say. I know what you are all thinking, but I am going to wear these like I should. I will just have to learn to be quiet. It will be a learning experience for me. I am not a quiet person usually.(That last statement is for those of you who do not know me well.)

Clear aligner for my teeth and WOW they hurt.

I went to the orthodontist yesterday and I think I had to be the oldest patient in the room. Well we had money left in our flex account this year and I have tried to spend it every which way I can and so I decided to get my teeth that have been getting crooked over the years fixed. It should be easy, wrong. They had to take several different molds and a bite record then sand paper with very thin strips between my teeth. My teeth are extremely tight and even the orthodontist commented that he had never seen teeth so tight. As they put the first set of aligners in it took lots of wiggling and pushing to get them on and boy do they hurt. I had them in all night and at breakfast took them out to eat. Putting them back in really hurt and so Advil is my new friend. For my sore muscles and now my sore teeth. Why do I do this to myself?

We are all back and very tired and grumpy!

Eagle Bluff was a great experience. Qatar and I hurt everywhere and are both very tired. But, what a great time we had. We hiked, rock climbed, zip lined, walked across wires 35 plus feet in the air, orienteering up and down a ravine(for over 2 hours), tried to start a fire with no matches, built a winter survival shelter and started a great fire to boil water with only few matches, learned about the Oneota Indians, the environment, recycling, food waste, reptiles, raptors, how wintergreen certs when chewed will light up in your mouth and how to work as a team. We hiked miles in 10 inches of fresh powder and in thirty pounds of winter gear.

The teachers were great, the kids were great, it was a wonderful experience and I am glad I was able to go with Qatar. Thanks Amanda for your help and I am sorry you did not feel well. We have a great 7th grade at Ellis. The group I was assigned to had 15 kids and 3 adults. Mrs. Gosha was our advisor teacher and she was terrific to work with. I got very tired and it took everything I had to keep going at one point, but I did not want to look bad in front of the kids I was with, so I kept going. I even at one time thought about faking an injury, some soft tissue injury they could not see but would have to drive the gator out to pick me up for. I fell enough while orienteering, in the forest with all the fresh snow we could not see the fallen limbs and other obstacles in our way, that it could have looked authentic. What a great adventure to have with Qatar. I sat with Qatar and his friends at meals and they are wonderful kids, lots

of fun to be around. I enjoyed the kids and the other adults. The beds were hard, but the second night I was almost unconscious when my head hit the pillow so I really do not remember. The food was OK, but we ate lots to keep us going. Food helps keep you warm. (We all had hat head and looked pretty rustic at the end.)

David returned from DC today also. Qatar and I arrived back at Ellis at 2:20pm we drove to get the kids at Banfield and then dropped some off at home and then to the airport in Rochester to pick up David. I am really looking forward to my bed tonight.

It was a wonderful, terrific, spectacular experience for me to spend time with the 7th graders(and Qatar) working hard and having fun. I have a whole new appreciation for these kids. I encourage anyone that has the opportunity to go as a chaperon to jump at the chance. Iwould love to go again next year.(Maybe with Connett or Charley or Caleb-Hint- Hint.) Thanks to all the people that helped with my kids while David and I were gone. The Whites, Amanda, Sarah and anyone else I may have left off. THANK YOU!!!

The big group shot is the amount of 7th graders we had on our trip and then the second group came in as we were leaving. Great kids.

David in DC, Qatar and Lisa at Eagle Bluff.

David leaves for DC during church this morning. I am driving him to the Rochester Airport and then will try to make it back before church is over so I can attend a Primary Meeting.

Qatar and I leave for Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center early Monday morning. Amanda is watching the kids and has run into some scheduling issues, but she told me not to worry. I hope all the different schedules work out. I am leaving a list of things the kids must do and what they can do. I will pack my cell phone, but then I will not have a car to return anyway.

Cenneidigh being clever and mean all at the same time.

Cenneidigh came up with unique names for her older brothers. She calls Gunnar, Gun Nerd, she calls Qatar, Qat Terd. She thinks she is pretty funny. I have told her it is not appropriate to call them mean names, but she is not convinced.

This is Cenneidigh and Zeke at Gunnars play last month. Kids are just so fun somedays.

Ezekiel 2nd Place in the Geo Bee

Ezekiel was very nervous about being in the Geography Bee at school, but he did great. He told me the night before he was going to just drop out because he was so scared, but I told him to just do his best and not worry about winning. He did great. Cenneidigh came and sat with me because she had an appointment with the orthodontist at 2pm. We had to leave when everyone was still in the bee and I thought they are going to be there until tomorrow, but when we got back to school Zeke told us it went pretty fast after we left and he got 2nd place. I wish I had not missed that. This is a picture of Zeke holding his ribbon talking to people on the phone to tell them how he did.

We learned that Cenneidigh is going to need to have her upper palette expanded so all the teeth she has that want to come in can. About $1200 for that and the braces to keep her front teeth together so the other teeth have space in the right place. In a few years then the real braces to pull all the teeth to the correct position. Yuck!!! Every time I look in my kids mouths all I think is $$$$$, only Qatar has teeth growing in where they belong. He has had 8 teeth extracted to make room for the teeth and it is working, his teeth are looking great. I think now I can forgive him for flooding our furnace when he was two.

Qatar did great in the band and choir concert last night at Ellis. He had a basketball game earlier that day and it was fun to see what a difference a year makes. The kids were all much bigger and playing much better then last year. I never did make it to my scheduled event at 5:45pm yesterday to many things got in the way.

Busy Days Yuck!!!

Today Ezekiel has a Geography Bee at 1:15pm, he is very nervous, Cenneidigh has an orthodontic appt. at 2pm. Qatar has a Basketball game at 4:30pm. Then I have an appt. at 5:45pm and Qatar's Christmas Concert is at 7pm. David is leaving for DC on Sunday. He has a conference to attend there. Qatar and I leave for Eagle Bluff on Monday and we all get back sometime on Wednesday. By the way it is suppose to be very cold while Qatar and I are gone on the outdoor adventure at Eagle Bluff where the motto is, "It is never to cold to be outside for the day." Goody for me.

Gunnar has Basketball practice until 6pm tonight. Last night Gunnar got home at 6pm from practice and then was gone again until after 8pm handing out phone books. The Basketball team is doing the phone book delivery for cash for the team. Poor Qatar was gone yesterday from 7am(Jazz band rehearsal) until he got home at 6:30 from practice and Science Olympiad prep. He left at 7am today for Early bird Choir and he will be at school until after the concert. Science stuff right after school again. Enjoy your little ones that stay at home most of the time. At least you get to see them for more then five mins a day.

Snow and Gym

I worked for the gym teacher at my kids school yesterday and I had Cenny and JT come to gym. I had a great time. I got to wear sweats and tennis shoes. Yea! Everyone else was looking very dressed up and I wasn't yea again.

It snowed last night and today everyone had to be at school early and so at 8am I started shoveling snow. It took me over an hour and I am now quite sore. I exercise, but I do not exercise shoveling snow. My sore back.

America Girl Birthday Mystery Party

Guess who has been invited to play a character in the Kit Mystery Party? No, it is not Cenneidigh. It is Ezekiel, he is to play the part of Will. It looks like fun, the invitations are really cute with colored cards with the character you are playing. He needs to dress like the character and it looks like it will be an easy costume to put together.