This was the last week of Mapleton basketball for Kevin, Sarah, and Megan.  Their last game was Tuesday and they fought hard.  They played really well.  Megan plays in the guard position and is FAST.  She’s great at stopping the ball when the other team thinks they’re going to hurtle down the court.  They have to be quick, too, or she’ll steal that ball back for her team!  Sarah plays in the forward position and is a force to be reckoned with.  She blocks out, grabs rebounds, posts up with the shot, and makes great passes for assists.  They are both playing great ball!  They lost by only a couple of points on Tuesday, but it was a great game!  What a great season with a lot of team progress and some great coaches!



Calianne and Cheyenne have become huge fans of the tv show, “Winx,” in which a group of young ladies in spectacularly inappropriate clothing transform to fairies and save lots of planets from a very evil guy.  The twins rush home from school each day to see if the new episode has recorded.  Bethany is caught up in the excitement, as well, and has even learned the word “episode,” which may be the most I can say for the show’s educational opportunities!

One day this week, after Kevin walked in the door from work, Calianne rushed up to him to say, “Dad!  Next time the pixies are going to fight and they are just little! [insert lots of details that don’t make any sense to someone who hasn’t watched the show . . .] It is going to be so funny!”she finished in true rapture.  Kevin just stared at her, speechless.  I really wish you could have seen the bewildered look on his face.  I helped him out, “Won’t that be great?” I prompted him.  He recovered admirably, “Wow!  Yes, Cali!  That will be great!”  It was great.  I enjoy watching them enjoy things! 

On Friday Savannah got to go with some members of her Chinese class to an overnight at BYU’s Aspen Grove Lodge.  They met up with Chinese students (by this I mean students studying Chinese) from other high schools in the area and learned about the Chinese Flagship program at BYU.  They learned a lot about Chinese culture and had a lot of fun.  Savannah sure had fun!

On Saturday, we attended a piano recital featuring the five Skinners:


Can you believe I have this many piano students?  Anyway, they all did great!  Savannah played her own version of “Carol of the Bells,” Sarah played, “Jessica’s Theme from The Man From Snowy River,” Mariah played, “Do you Hear what I Hear?,”  Cheyenne played “Up on the Housetop,” and Calianne played “Silent Night.”  I’m impressed that I told you all that from memory!  It was a night of beautiful piano music and I was very glad that we have at least one violin student who made it possible for us not to bring Bethany and Benjamin!  Yay for Megan, too!

I have one more thing to tell you.  On Saturday I took the younger kids to the dollar store to buy gifts for each other, as is traditional in our family.  Calianne has been asking me since we got the tree up, “When are we going to buy presents for our sisters?”  She asked me at least every other day.   She is also the one who began asking me the week before Thanksgiving when we would put up our tree . . . and asked me at least every other day.  She is the motivating force for all the Christmas activities around here, it would seem!    It’s so fun.  She loves Christmas!