Election Time & Sweep Time

Both of my older two children are running for office today.  Kody is running for Treasurer of the Sophomore class and Kayla is running for Mayor of Biztown.  Biztown is where the fifth graders get to simulate their own town, working, spending and dealing with daily life of a city for one school day.  So last night, I got to "help" with posters and Kayla's speech.  To my advantage I came up with one idea (we actually used it before so I did not have to think too much. Thank goodness.).  I used this for both kids, just changed the name and the office they were running for.  Since one is in Elementary and one in High School, no one will ever know. (HA HA HA)  Kayla is running against 12 others. I have to give her lots of credit for running.  She had decided that if she is not mayor she wants to be a new anchor or work in the Mariners' team store. 
This brings back memories of doing these things myself as a child. Unfortunately you win some and you lose some. Even though I would like a victory for both my children, I hope I have prepared them to move on graciously if it does not turn out in their favor.  Untill  then I will keep up the hope and pray for the best!!

On a side note: Kody's Cross Country team took 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the meet on Wednesday. 
Sweeping the competition.  He came in 2nd!  

The top 4 runners on the team.

Shane, Sterling, Marcus & Kody

Kody Makes the Paper

Kody was so excited yesterday when he opened the paper to the sports section and saw his picture on the front page.  He had a great first week of cross country.  He took 30 seconds off his time from last year on Saturday.  There were 320 boys in his race.  It was a crazy start.  Kayla said you could feel the earth move as they started the race.

WHITE RIVER CROSS COUNTRY:

White River scoots to top finishes at invitational.

By KEVIN HANSON

Enumclaw Courier Herald Editor, Editor

Sep 21 2009, 2:22 PM

The White River High cross country crew made its annual trek to Fort Steilacoom Park Saturday, getting a feel for the course that will later in the season be home to the district meet.

The Hornet boys placed 16th among the 29 teams participating Saturday. They were paced by Marcus Dickson, who finished 25th overall with a time of 16 minutes, 53 seconds. Kody Gould was second for White River, placeing 46th in 17:16, and Sterling Frye was third, 66th with a time of 17:35.

The first home meet took place on Wednsday September 16. The Hornet boys defeated Franklin Pierce 25-34 and beat Yelm 21-38, while falling to Auburn Mountainview 23-34.

The top finisher for the White River boys was Dickson, who placed second overall with a time of 17:03. Next across the line for the Hornets was Gould, finishing fifth in 17:43.  Rounding out the Hornets’ top five were Shane Coyle, 11th, 19:14; Tanner Wate, 15th, 20:17; and Zach Schneider, 19th, 21:18.


You can read the whole article here and see the picture better here.

ANTS...

Today Karlie got off the bus with a cute ant hat she had made a school.  I commented on how cute she looked.  Her reply was, "Mom, you know it is not a real ant". 

Another Lost Tooth

Karlie had a really loose tooth.  So on Sunday, September 13 she brought me the floss and we tried and tried to pull it out.  Finally convincing her to let her dad pull it and out it came.   The funny thing was Kelsee put a note under Karlie's pillow for the Tooth Fairy.                                                              

 "Dear Tooth Fairy,   Please put a picture of yourself here..( there was a tiny box).  Love, Kelsee & Karlie"

It was pretty funny!

She's becoming my "toothless Joe", but not for long, her permanent teeth are coming in fast.

Sixteen Candles

Finally, late Saturday night we finished celebrating the big "16" birthday.  He was so busy that we were not able to open presents or have cake until over 38 hours after the official date.  

Wow, Kody those new shorts make you look much taller! HA HA!!

The official birthday hug!

"Kody is awesome! Man he's one stud! There's not much more to say besides the fact that he's amazingly cool and just plain stunning!"-Tiffanee
Note: Although, I believe all the above to be true, for your information my blog has officially been hacked into and I have been impersonated.

The Wait is Over...

Kody took his written and drive test for his license over a month ago.  He received perfect scores on both.  The wait about killed him. So he turned 16 officially at 8:06 this morning.  After he took an AP Biology test,  we braved the Fair traffic (took us 45 minutes- normally it is 20 or less. UGH!), to make it official.  It was amazing we had no wait at the DMV.  The minute we took a number we got called up.  When he went to get his picture taken the lady questioned him and then took all of his information to another employee.  This made him a little bit nervous.  We never did find out what happened but within 15 minutes we left with the LICENSE!  After a quick birthday lunch (at Burger King, his choice), we rushed home and he drove off in his car back to school.  As a mom it was kind of heart-wrenching. He thought I was crazy making him pose for all sorts of pictures, but that is my right as a mom.  After he left Karlie looked at me and said, "My brother is growing up!".  I could not stop laughing.  So now we have another official driver.  At least I have a few more years before another one. 

Happy 16th Birthday Kody!!

Dog in a Backpack

The kids saw an ad in the paper showing a kid packing a dog around in a backpack. So of course they had to give it a try.















Tiko was pretty patient once they got him to actually stay in the backpack. Kayla thinks she is going to take him to school and pack him around all day..the look on his face says otherwise.

THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

The official ending of summer came today and I must admit I wanted a week longer. I figured then I would want another week so I guess it is best to jump in to the flow.





The girls were so excited! Kody not so much. He now has to get up at 5:30 am for seminary. He was a good sport about it though. I did not get his picture because it was early enough my brain was not working. He looked so handsome. So my bad!!

I cannot believe my baby is going to Kindergarten! (Ok, she told me not to call her my baby anymore).

Waiting for the bus.

She would not let me take her. She wanted to do it all by herself. It wasn't that easy for me though. I wanted so much to follow that bus, make sure she made it into her classroom and that she was all right. I resisted the urge and instead just cried a lot. Then I was supposed to pick her up off the bus at 12:20. So I left the house and made sure I was at the bus stop at 12:10. I was the only parent there. I figured either there were no other Kindergarten kids at our stop or I was the only loser mom who did not pick their kid up from school. I waited and watched for about 20 minutes. As I waited I began to feel more and more guilty about not taking her to school and holding her hand. I came to the realization that it had to be this way. She had to do it without me. Otherwise it would have been too hard. (It was a long wait). I waited longer. I figured the bus must be late because it is the first day. I got really nervous and did not dare leave in case it arrived. Finally, a few minutes later I received a call from the school saying Karlie had been brought back to school because no one was there to get her off the bus. The bus routes had been changed and I did not get the update. So I had a loser mom moment. When I got to the school she was fine and did not seem to care at all. Thankfully!! She was happy and had a great day.
The other kids had a great day also. Kelsee commented that she did not want to leave school. This was the child who did not want to go back to school. It was funny because after the girls got home Karlie told them it was much nicer at home when they were not here. Kody survived his first day as a Sophomore (Wow I can't believe that one either). I really can't believe he will turn 16 in 10 days....CRAZY!!
I spent the day busy! I canned 12 pints of peaches and 23 pints of pears.