S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G B-E-E

Chase made the spelling bee! Two students from each of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes were determined by elimination. Chris and I were in Colorado over the weekend and I didn't remember about the spelling bee until Monday night at dinner. "Chase, tomorrow is the spelling bee! Did you study your words over the weekend?" "I don't know where my list is. It's no big deal." "OK....."

The contestants drew numbers to determine the order in which they will take their turn. Chase was happy to be number 12. The audience is only allowed to clap at the end of each round so it seemed all the applause was for Chase since he was last. He totally ate it up!!!

G-R-I-D-I-R-O-N One of Chase's favorite words from the competion. He broke into a huge grin when he heard it...no way was he going to miss that one!

Jake and Chase are totally relaxed. Tara and Emmy, the other hand, seem a little tense!

Twenty rounds later, the last eight between Jake and Chase, the winner is finally determined. Jake misspelled "cachet" spelling it without the "t" on the end. Chase spelled it correctly and then had to spell the next word correctly. "Tycoon" was the final word. Chase said he knew how to spell if from playing Mafia Wars on Facebook. I guess video games are all bad!

Presenting the 2009-2010 Spelling Bee Champion of Meadow Lane Elementary School!

Chase will represent MLE at the district spelling bee on February 11th. Instead of a one-page list of words to study, he got an 85-page booklet with words, pronunciations, and definitions. Here are a couple of words from the last page: affenpinscher and Pentateuchal. Looks like we'll definitely have to do some studying!!

"A'm so proud of ma bay-bay!!""

I took these two pictures for the yearbook. Chase likes the first one and I like the second one. Which do you think should be published in the yearbook?

Called to Serve

When Chris was the bishop of the Kaw River Ward, we served with many great and wonderful people. Among those were Neldon and Diana Dempke and their son, Isaac. Chris has always had a special connection with the young men and taught them many lessons about integrity and preparing for their future. During one such lesson, he presented a two-dollar bill to those young men who made a commitment to serve a mission. Both Chris and the young man sign the bill to cement the commitment. At the time of their missionary farewell, Chris trades the two-dollar bill for one of a more substantial value. The boy then writes his mission on the bill as well as other goals he has achieved such as seminary graduate, Eagle Scout, and Duty to God. Chris has accumulated a stack of these bills dating from 1994.

Isaac has been called to the Chile Concepcion South Mission and will enter the MTC on February 4th. Chris and I travelled to Pueblo, CO to attend Isaac's farewell today. Before leaving for church, Chris and Isaac traded bills. It was very special to hear Isaac recalling the things that Chris has taught him over the years. Isaac is an exceptional young man and will be a fabulous missionary!

Page Turners Turn 15!

My book group has been together for fifteen years! During that time, some of us have had babies, some of us have married off children, and one of us has become a grandma! What will the next fifteen years bring? Leslie predicts grandchildren for all of us!

Leslie made a yummy dinner for us all.

Darci and Stephanie taking a trip down Memory Lane.

I used to keep a scrapbook of all Page Turner events and activities but kind of lost interest (or maybe lacked the time!) after 1997 when Chase was born. While organizing a huge box of photos recently, I found lots of PT pictures that were dying to be chronicled so the mad dash to update the scrapbooks in time for tonight's celebration began.

Leslie looking at scrapbook number one: 1995-96. Scrapbook number two is for 1997 and the third scrapbook is 1998 and beyond. (I haven't made it to the present yet!) Mary Ellen perusing another scrapbook and Heidi is knitting as usual. She even knit the socks she is wearing...cute! Maria and Leslie modeling vintage Page Turner apparel circa 1997. Stephanie didn't join the Turners until 2002 so she never got her own PT shirt. She feels special wearing one now!

OK, does this mean "I love you" or "Go, Longhorns"?

Live long and prosper, Page Turners! Here's to another fifteen years!

The Fog

Kansas City has been shrouded in fog for the last four days. Not just any fog...thick, dense, opaque fog. Did you know that fog is a cloud that forms at or near the earth's surface? The things you learn being a Cub Scout den leader! Yesterday, Chase and I drove straight up I-35 to Cameron for Adam's birthday party. You can see that visibility was very limited. Several serious traffic accidents have occurred since the fog appeared and sections of highway have been shut down. Usually, most fog dissipates early in the day as the temperatures rise and the sun burns it off. The problem here is that temperatures are not rising and the sun has gone AWOL. These pictures were taken at about 1:00 pm.

Here is a picture I took of a neighbor's yard his morning around 9:00 am. The fog is just as dense as ever. It's beautiful and eerie at the same time.

This is the tree in front of Lannie and Valerie's house. I thought the crystals formed on the pine needles were so beautiful I had to snap a photo as I was leaving yesterday. I just wish I could Photo Shop that semi out of the background!

Hunter and Hunted

See Chase. See Chase's gun. See what Chase killed with his gun. See Chase smile. My kids is a hunter. Don't know where he got it from. I hate hunting. Chris hates hunting. Chase loves hunting! Chase shot a dove this morning. Apparently, they're in season right now. I didn't even know they were considered a game bird.

The rule is: If you kill it, you eat it. After Chase cleaned the bird, this was all that was left. Not much! Every recipe he found online called for six or twelve doves so he's going to try and get some more next week before the season ends. Fly away, little birdies. Fly far, far away!

And It Just Keeps Coming....

Snow, that is!

The kids were supposed to go back to school yesterday but we had another snow storm Wednesday evening with subzero temperatures and Arctic winds. We've had deep snow on the ground since Christmas eve two weeks ago. That's a record for the past several years.

This is how the kids and I spent their first snow day yesterday. It took the three of us two hours to shovel from the street to the garage doors.

And that was just shovelling the snow off the top...there are several inches of ice under that. I'm looking forward to the heat wave next week with highs in the mid-30's!

West Coast Swingin'

Chris' brother, David, invited the family to the church for some West Coast Swing lessons today. He and Genny have been practicing together so they could show us some moves. Even Lily is getting in on the action!

Oops...I've been caught!!

Chase hates having his picture taken these days, especially when dancing with his sister!

We're having fun trying not to step on each others toes.

Maybe the East Coast Swing is easier?!?