Benjamin watched Shark Boy and Lava Girl four times this week.  He can quote some of the lines and has asked me for a blank notebook that he can use for a dream journal.  It has really captured his imagination!  Savannah was the first of my children to be captured by that show, so it reminds me of her!  Especially when Ben watches on the iPad and sits in Savannah's favorite spot by the front-room heater with Bethany.

Bethany continues to sing and dance her way through our home.  She's doing well at school and dance and has friends over every day after school to play imagination games.  On Saturday, her friend Josie and she used their own money to buy a plush animal craft from Funfinity.  Then they spent all afternoon making their twin raccoons!

Cali and Cheyenne had a busy week.  Their dad has agreed to coach a Bantam basketball team for them and they started practices this week on Tuesday and Friday.  They also had games for their Mapleton league on Tuesday and Wednesday (lost one, won one!).  On Wednesday they also had robotics and piano lessons!  They are rocking their busy lives.  It's a good thing they had a birthday party Saturday afternoon because while Cali sat at the table with a book, Cheyenne wandered the house feeling bored!  This was even after she helped Dad rake up a whole trailer-full of leaves.  I guess busyness is happiness.

Mariah tried out for the high school basketball team this week!  Not only did she make the sophomore team as a freshman, she made the JV team, too!  It's pretty exciting!  Because ninth graders are still at the junior high and the JV team practices during an advanced conditioning class during school hours, Mariah will need to change her schedule and attend the high school for part of the day.  That has been a little stressful, but should start next week and work out fine.  Unfortunately, Mariah jumped out of a tree yesterday while raking leaves and twisted her ankle!  Hopefully, she will recover quickly and be back on the courts soon!

Wasn't Megan sweet to make Mariah a good-luck poster before try-outs?  She is pretty cool.  She's been busy with her pre-calculus and physics classes, oh and let's not forget AP World History and AP Language and Composition, and oh yeah, Chinese 3.  Hello?  That girl is an academic rock star.  She also recently filled our chalkboard with a new inspirational quote.  She is really great!

Megan also came to the mall with Sarah and me on Saturday while Sarah and I got our eyebrows threaded.  Megan declined the invitation to go through such pain again but came for Sarah's moral support (and to get Sarah to buy her something at the pretzel shop)!  Sarah was getting dolled up for the Senior Ball!  This is a stag dance the school offers just for seniors and included a catered dinner.  Sarah and her friends had a blast and she looked gorgeous!

Also this week, Sarah had her first chance to be the teacher in her preschool class.  This is a child development class offered at the high school which offers the students the chance to make their own lesson plans and teach an actual preschool held in their classroom twice a week.  Sarah made a matching game as part of her lesson plans and did other fun stuff.  She LOVED it!  And so did the kids!  She can't wait to do it again.

Saturday marked sixteen years since we moved into this house on Brookside Drive!  Savannah was three when we moved in and the house seemed enormous for our little family of five.  We have definitely filled the house with people and memories.  To celebrate, Kevin spent the day fixing the bathroom sink which needed to be completely replaced because of outdated parts.  Ha, ha!  We love you little house, even when you give us fits!  (Well I do.  Kevin might love you again someday.  Give him time.) ;)