Careful or Casual?

Okay, so it has been a bit since we last wrote, but life seems to fly and then when you get a new computer it is a ominous thing to have to redo everything and that takes time to make the new computer feel good like the old one did!

School is buzzing, piano is moving and we are all thinking that time is swirling like the speed of light. This past year flew by and when thinking upon it, I feel like more things in my life have needed to be accomplished. New goal - we are going to make this year a better year for service to others! That is our main family goal this year!

We have a new saying (as of today) in our home! Are you being careful or casual (refer to Henry B. Eyring talk). We had a Great family discussion on this and since we have adopted BYTS ( Be your True Self) our next level of knowledge will be this Careful or Casual) Careful is where we are focusing on those things that will draw us closer to the our Savior. Casual is becoming light-minded in All things, even down to "Are you really listening in family scripture study? " These little sayings seem to really work with our kids and have helped our home become much more unified and helped our older four children keep gospel perspectives in their everyday lives, whether at school, home or with friends! Wayne and I get these blitz of enlightenments that are amazing and we feel so grateful to the Lord for blessing us with these small but powerful gifts to teach all concepts of the gospel to our children.

Ankles are a tenuous thing! They are supposed to be quite flexible and in reality, they are. Brianna's ankle growth plate broke and so now we are in a series of Dr. visits and X-rays and Ct Scans and the works. She has been up and down in her moods, but seems to be much better since she received a fiberglass cast. She is crawling all over the floor and having a great time today! She is a trooper, for sure! We love you Brianna! We are really glad that you already were baptized a few weeks before this happened!

The weeks just fly by. Mikayla just finished her 5th grade Completion Ceremony last Friday! It was amazing. I felt like I was at a high school graduation! Mikayla has accomplished so much for only being 11. Please remember that I am printing these blogs out for my own journal entries!

Mikayla Anne Schmidt 5th grade Accomplishments: I did add in Taks Testing, as well!Picture of Mikayla and Mrs. Varner (Sandy Lake Park)

*Student Leader for Pirrung Elementary

*Video Crew Spokesperson

*Mentor Leader (Kindergarten Assistant)

*All A's Medal for all of elementary school career

*Outstanding Citizenship Award for Elementary Career

*Honor Choir Outstanding Student Award

*First Place-Sandy Lake Choir Festival - Soloist

*Mesquite ISD FutureQuest Essay Contest Winner 1st Place in the district- won both years (2008 and 2009)

*All-City Choir Honor Award

*Mesquite Children's Choir

*Mesquite Arts Festival Winner

*Reflections Program Excellence Awards (4th grade-2nd place in district in Art & 5th Grade Award of Excellence in Photography)

*Science Fair Honor Award

*Commended on Science and Reading TAKS(5th Grade)

*Perfect Score on Writing TAKS (4th Grade)

*Commended on Reading and Math(4th Grade)

*Commended on Reading and Math(3rd Grade)

*Fine Arts Festival for Art and Music Honor Awards

*Drill Team Competition 1st place City Division trophy with Mesquite Saints

Mikayla has been very busy this year and we are so proud of her! She is an amazing young woman and we love her dearly. We look forward to her accomplishments in the future. Mesquite School District consists of 5 high schools, 8 middle schools and 32 elementary schools!

Forever Ago!

Yes, it has been FOREVER since my last entry. School is almost out and we are so excited for Grandpa and Grandma Hawkes to come in three weeks. Brianna will be getting baptized and Mikayla will complete her graduation ceremonies for Elementary School. I am in charge of the decorations for the 5th grade picnic as well as the graduation decorations. Busy, busy for sure. Since the last entry, Andrew turned 9, Mia turned 2, Mikayla turned 11, Gabby turned 4 and David turned 6. That should make me feel horrid for taking so long to blog, but Hey, I am not a procrastinator, I just got into facebook!!!!

Mikayla and Brianna both had their Drill Team competition on Saturday, November 22nd. Both of their teams took First Place (City Champions) and Best Costume award. They worked so hard all fall season and it paid off for them. Many, many many countless hours were spent practicing their routines and We were so happy for them on Saturday night when they received their trophies. Here is a picture of them befor the competition began. I must admit, it was nice to have this football and drill season over. Until next year!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brianna's Community Project

It is that time of year again for our third community project. The project has to be about something here in Mesquite only. Every 2nd grader in our home has had to do one of these and this year it was Brianna's turn. She decided to do Incredible Pizza, which is just an incredible place. It is a glorified Chuck E Cheese with go-karts, bowling, mini-golfing and a fairgrounds area. The food is pretty good and there is LOTS of it! Our kids love that place and it is a bit pricey but a lot of fun! This project took many hours and I am SO glad it is over! I slept great last night knowing it was over!

Halloween leftovers

We had a great Halloween. Brianna decorated a pumpkin for 2nd grade. Our traditional pumpkin contest we enter at Pirrung Elementary with whoever in our family is in 2nd grade. Mikayla did Mickey Mouse, Andrew did Batman, which I believe is shown in an older post from last Halloween and now Brianna decided this year to create Alvin the chipmunk. It was a very Heavy pumpkin and a lot of work. She won first place, which is also a tradition in our family.

Trunk or Treating was fun this year and we had a family picture taken by a sister in the ward. Wayne had been gone all week to Minnesota and we enjoyed spending Halloween with him. All in all it was a great night. Since then, we have been eating a lot of Halloween leftovers and enjoying the candy!

Football Season is almost over. I look forward to having more free time as a family, but we are a big football familyand enjoy watching our boys play as well as the girls cheering. Wayne and I loved watching the game last night against Texas and Texas Tech. What a game!