Happy 11th Anniversary to Us

This year we spent our Anniversary a bit differently. The girls had their last quiz meet of the year up in Brighton, MI. It was over all 20 chapters. Kaylee only missed 3 questions out of 60 receiving a gold trophy. Kianna missed 6 questions out of 45 receiving a silver trophy. Kianna received a 2nd trophy for saying 10 out of the 20 bible verses she memorized over the year. Way to go girls. We are proud of you for investing so much time into learning God's word!!!

Following the quiz meet, we had a nice lunch at Olive Garden, which is a special treat since we don't have one in Adrian. Then for dinner the kids decided to play "Chopped" and cook us dinner. Kaylee made a yummy spinach, pepperoni pasta salad. Trace made a fruit salad with the help of Kaylee. Kianna made a molten lava cake for dessert. We had a special day with the kids.

Science Fair Projects

Both girls competed in the science fair at school again this year. Kaylee was required to participate, but Kianna was not. Kaylee's experiment was trying to find out "What Conditions Make a Cut Flower Last the Longest". She had six flowers to compare. She put the first two flowers in bleach water (1T vs 3 T), the next two flowers were in sugar water (1 T vs 3 T), and the final two flowers were just in water. She cut the stem of one and left the other one uncut. She monitored the flowers over two weeks. She found that the flower with the cut stem lasted the longest followed by the uncut flower and then the 1 T of bleach. She did such a great job working independently on her display board this year. Last year, she received lots of help, but this year she took it up to her room, listened to Adventures in Odyseey and went to work. I typed up her work and she did the rest. It was great!

Kianna's experiment was trying to see "What Color of Crayon Melts the Quickest?" We thought the darkest colors would melt the fastest, but after several trials discovered that the position in our oven seemed to matter more than the color of the crayon. She too worked more independently this year. It helped to have a year under their belts. Both girls received ribbons. Way to go girls!

Exciting Day

This has been such an exciting few weeks. Our men's basketball team made it to the championship game at the Breslin Center for the first time in the school's history. They were expected to get blown away by the two time state champs Southfield Christian. However, they were in the game until the end only losing by two points. It was such an exciting way to end the season.

The team was welcomed back into town by the Adrian Fire Department escorting them through town. Trace, Kaylee and Trevor got the honor of riding on the fire truck through town. They were thrilled.

In addition to the basketball game today, our girls had a zone quiz meet at Tecumseh Church of the Nazarene. Unfortunately, Kianna and I had to stay home from both events due to Kianna coming down with the stomach flu during the night. However, Kaylee was still able to compete in the zone quiz meet. She did a great job. She and the rest of our team received the top 5 scores creating our zone's All Star Team, which will compete next week in the districts. Poor Kianna had studied hard for 10 days preparing for this quiz meet but was too sick to compete. She was sad she didn't make the All Star Team too. Thankfully, she will still be able to use the knowledge she gained next weekend at the district quiz meet.

Trevor's 40th Birthday

We celebrated Trevor's 40th birthday over the weekend. The partying began on Saturday when we invited The Marsh's and The Johnson's over for dinner. We served mexican food, carrot cake and Dawn's apple creme pie. For entertainment, we played Hand and Foot and watched our kids' skits throughout the evening.

On Sunday (his actual birthday), we had a pretty low key day, which is what Trevor wanted. We went to church and then pretty much laid on the couch and relaxed all day long. Trevor doesn't get as much time to lay around as he would like, so that was his request and we delivered. In honor of Trevor's 40 years, I composed a memory book highlighting some of the funniest things that have happened to him over the years. Thank you to all who contributed stories. He got a kick out of reading them. I'm really happy with how the book turned out. I tried to add a link below to view the book on Shutterfly, but I'm not sure how well it will show up.

Trevor's biggest gift is still to come. For as long as I can remember Trevor has told me that for his 40th birthday he wanted Chicago Cub's Baseball tickets. We haven't been to a Cubs game since before we moved to Michigan. However, we have tickets to watch the Cubs vs Cardinals game at Wrigley Field in May. Our good friends, The Johnson's, have agreed to watch the kids for us so we can have a weekend away. I guess we'll still be celebrating his birthday in May...

The Cook Chronicles

Click here to view this photo book larger

Create a gorgeous, high quality wedding photo album at Shutterfly.com.

Fun in the Snow

This has been a CRAZY winter. So far the kids have had 14 snow days and 3 delayed starts. They have already made up two days by canceling our mid-winter break. In addition, our school year has been extended by three days. I think since Christmas Break, we have only had three full weeks of school. In addition to missed school, there has been a crazy amount of snow. We are at record levels. I believe we are at around 84" of snow so far this winter with rumors of one more snow storm in our future.

The temperature has been extremely low with windshields reaching as low as -40 degrees and most winter days being in the 20's since December. Needless to say we now get excited when it reaches the 30's. Despite the low temperatures, the kids have had a few chances to get outside and have some fun. We have managed to go sledding a few times and recently the melting snow made for some great fort building. Despite the fun we are all ready for winter to end and warm weather to begin.

80's Night

Tonight we had an awesome time remembering the 80's at LCS' annual auction. We even dressed the part, which if you know Trevor was a BIG step. I wore a side pony tail and a scrunchy in my hair; along with a mini skirt and leggings. Trevor wore a button up shirt with the collar up and a sweater tied over his shoulders. He also had his jeans tight rolled, wore big glasses, my grandpa's Hawkeye hat from the 80's and unlaced high tops. We looked rad!