Family Home Evening -- Southern-like!

After seven and a half years of being in North Carolina, it finally dawned on us one day that it is silly to live in the middle of racing country and within a 2 minute drive of the "Beast of the South East" (Lowe's Motor Speedway) and have not ever been to a race. We packed up the family and got our tickets for the Tuesday Night Shootout. Drivers of ages 8 and up compete in races with their own age groups. Only a portion of the track was used so the races were a lot shorter and perfect for the younger crowd. It was really fun to cheer for the little cars, but the highlight of the night was the School Bus Slobberknocker!!! The buses all had silly names like Sloshy Joshy, Stock Car Steele, Hillbilly Deluxe and Lugnut (driven by the Lowe's Motor Speedway mascot, "Lugnut") The raced buses around and around and around if they were race cars. They would bump up against each other on the turns trying to get ahead. At one point, one of the buses tipped over and the crowd when wild. We are definitely going to do that again!!!

Visitors from the Far East

On the way home from China Rick and Ella-Rene stopped by for a visit. It was great to see them again. We spent a few days with them just listening to the fun things they did while in China and letting them play with the kids.

We took them to a local Asian market and let them tell us all about what it was like to shop in China. It sounded like a completely unique experience shopping in a foreign country. I am grateful for the conveniences of living in the USA.

The visit was way too short, but they had been on the road for some time and were ready to go home. Thanks for stopping by!!

Vacation

On the way to Myrtle Beach nothing interesting really happened except when we stopped at a peach farm.

Do you like the flowers we saw? (Jeremy started this blog and when his computer time was up he delegated the job of finishing to me :)!)

It was just a short trip to the beach because we were all feeling land-locked and wanted to feel the wind on our faces and taste the salt water when we got smashed in the face by a wave. We hit the beach the first thing in the morning and stayed until almost dinner time. It was a great day of playing the waves and digging in the sand. We were completely exhausted and slept amazingly well despite the fact that we were all sunburned and in pain. The day at the beach was worth it though. The next morning we decided to not go to the beach and risk further sunburn, so we headed off to the Ripley's Aquarium. We all loved it and spent most of the day there just watching the different displays and shows. A dip in the pool back at the hotel really helped with the sunburns and we crashed again that night out of sheer exhaustion.

On the way home we stopped and got some peaches at the McBee farm. Our family LOVES peaches and so we got 6 cases to take home and bottle or freeze. That ought to last us a couple of weeks!!!

The Pool Wiggle

I think this video speaks for itself. I also think it might be time to buy that gun just so Steve can practice cleaning it menacingly before she turns 16.

Giving it 110%

Naomi wanted to help me do the laundry today. We started the water going with the soap while I went around the house collecting up all the stray pieces of dirty laundry for our growing pile. When I got back upstairs this is what I found.

No one can ever say that Naomi doesn't throw her whole self into a project!!!

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!!!

We have had so much fun since school let out. I cannot believe that it is almost July!!!

While Steve was in Anaheim for his yearly national conference, the kids and I went to cub scout camp and had an absolute blast. Nicholas and Naomi were pixies (non-scouts) and I was a den leader for Jeremy's den. We went non-stop from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. every day and came home completely exhausted from all the fun.

The first day was spent getting to know the boys and my co-leader, Richard. We were at Lake Norman all day long for various activities. The twelve boys we had were amazing and had a lot of fun just going with the flow and enjoying every minute. This is not to say that we didn't have some times of chaos, but for the most part it went very smoothly. We did canoes, football, conservation, physical fitness, and fishing all on the first day. What made it even more fun was that our den was paired with another den for the entire week. We had a fun competition going with Den 18. We all knew that Den 17 was the best!!!

Day 2 I had to miss some of the time in the morning to take Naomi to have her ear looked at. When I was drying her hair the night before I touched her ear with the towel and she screamed. She ended up needing some antibiotic ear drops. She had an outer ear infection otherwise known as swimmer's ear. This makes sense because she is a little fish. She was much better once we got the ear drops going. Thank goodness for the CVS Minute Clinic (shameless plug for CVS!!) The pixie leaders were grateful that she was in a better mood as well. When I got back to camp the boys were jousting with the knights. It was fun to watch each one of them give it their best. We also did the obstacle course, learned to tie knots, made knights helmets, shot BB guns, shot arrows, but the highlight of the day was lunch. Over lunch we got to watch the knights battle in full armor. We were divided into two groups and each one was assigned a knight. We cheered our knight on and had a blast. In the end our knight was defeated, but we cheered for him even louder when he stood up to take his bow. It was tons of fun.

Day 3 we were back at the lake and it rained almost the entire day, but that didn't stop us from having a blast. We played tennis in the rain and learned that tennis balls don't bounce very well when they are wet. We went fishing and caught several fish this time. It was wet day in the canoes and most of the boys wanted to have splash fights. We spent most of our lunch hour in the restroom wringing out clothing. The pixies got to do several of the things we were doing. On Day three they came to the lake and got to go out in the canoes. I caught a picture of them all in their life vests Naomi and Nicholas were both so excited. The temperature didn't get above 73 the whole day and those who were went were cold. We also got to go on a hike through Jetton Park and look for all the cool things in nature. There was so much to see once we paid attention. We were bused back to headquarters for the final event of the day.

Day 4 was pretty much the same as day 2, so the den leaders got to relax a bit and watch from the sidelines a little more. At archery the boys really wanted me to try it so I did. The adrenaline was really pumping when I shot the first arrow and actually hit the target. The boys were cheering me on and I had a great time. I ended up getting two bulls eyes. These boys are the best and I loved being a part of their den. Just as we were about to leave the archery tent the lady who was running archery asked me if Jeremy was coming back next year as a youth leader. She wanted him to be in the archery tent with her because he is a natural with a bow and arrow. He was also helping the other scouts get the hang of it. That really boosted Jeremy's confidence. He is excited about coming back next year now.

Friday was a fun and sad day. We had a catapult contest with the catapults we had built. We designed "Leave No Trace" posters. There was a pizza party for lunch and afterwards we did our skits for everyone. Afterwards I had to say goodbye to "my" boys. I didn't think it would be that hard, but I was really going to miss them. Through the ups and downs of the week we had really gotten close. I will definitely be back next year to volunteer again!!

Happy Birthday, Mom and Dad!!!

In honor of my parents birthdays, (Dad 3/17 and Mom 4/3) I have updated the blog for all to enjoy. The thing they wanted the most was to see their grandkids. Since airfare is still slightly unreasonable we did the next best thing - video conference call. It was fun to let the kids talk with them and interact "face to face". I cannot believe that something from the cartoon The Jetsons is actually a reality today. Isn't technology the best!!!!????!!! You can thank them for rousing me out of my laziness into productivity.

December was really busy and a lot of fun. Jeremy had the lead in his classes portion of the 4th grade muscial. He was Professor Snow-It-All. He did his costume all by himself and everyone was amazed at how he delivered his lines without any mistakes. This was quite a feat considering that his lines were all about how snow is made and contained several very large, scientific words. He did this all with a really quirky "professor" accent.

There was also considerable excitement in that Jeremy and Nicholas decided to try jumping off the futon onto and exercise ball to see what would happen. Let me tell you what happens - you get catapulted face first into the bookshelves immediately opposite the futon. Thank goodness Nicholas hit right below his nose and above his teeth or it could have been REALLY ugly. The boys have learned their lesson. That night, while icing Nicholas's face all the fire alarms in the house started going off. We finally got them shut off and found that there was no fire. That was just the beginning of a very eventful night. The alarms went off every two to three hours the entire night. It turned out that we had a faulty alarm in Jeremy's room and once that was replaced we have had not recurrences of the false alarms. We did learn that we needed to revise our fire escape plan. Steve and I thought that the boys would wake up and be able to get themselves out of the house - that we would only have to worry about Naomi. This is not the truth. All three children slept through all the alarms. Good to know BEFORE that bit of information is needed.

Naomi's Joy School re-enacted the nativity for their parents at the Christmas party. The kids were really proud of themselves for having practiced so hard. We also decorated the sugar cookies as a class as a surprise for the parents.

Jeremy was so excited to receive his Bear and move on the Webelos. He worked so hard to get this done two months before his birthday, as all his friends at school were in the Webelos. We found out that night that in the church they advance on their birthday. Instead of being upset about having to wait for two more months, Jeremy took it as an opportunity to earn some arrow points. He is a great kid!

Christmas was a fun and relaxing day. We opened our stockings, had some breakfast, opened a few more presents, played, opened a few more presents, played some more... you get the idea. We let the kids think that all the presents had been opened and they were busy playing with their new loot. About two hours into this Steve "discovered" another present under the tree. The kids opened it and everyone in a 200-mile radius heard the screams when the boys realized there was a Wii in the box. That was well worth the months of waiting to give it to them.

As relaxing as Christmas day was, the day after was the total opposite. The kids were HYPER and to make things more fun, the fire alarm went off for real this time. Nicholas had put some rolls in the microwave to warm them up -- for 4 minutes. I was talking on the phone with Steve at the time and had gone in his office so I could hear him since the kids were being so noisey. I ran into the kitchen which was filled with smoke. Thank goodness I was able to quickly diagnose the problem and get it resolved; however, the microwave still has a slightly smokey smell. It is getting much better though.

Steve took a few days off and we did some sight-seeing. The kids really wanted some snow to play in so we headed for the mountains (that is what they call hills out here). There was really no snow, but we did take the opportunity to visit Blowing Rock. It was amazing. Before 1752, when Moravian Bishop August Gottlieb Spangenberg visited the Blowing Rock area, the windy cliffs of the area were home to the Cherokee and the Catawba Indian tribes, hostile to each other, and the basis for the story of “The “Blowing Rock”. Two star-crossed lovers, one from each tribe, were walking near The Rock when the reddening sky signaled to the brave that he must return to his tribal duty, and the maiden urged him to stay with her. His desperation in choosing between duty and love caused him to leap from the edge of the gorge toward the rocks below, while the maiden beseeched the Great Spirit to bring him back to her. The famous winds of the John’s River Gorge blew her lover back into her arms. This legend was not hard to believe while standing on the rock and feeling the force of the wind.

We also got to drive a portion of the Blue Ridge Highway on the way back home. It was a really fun day and a much needed diversion.

January was mostly notable for the snow days. We got snow twice in three weeks. This is relatively unheard of here in North Carolina and the kids made the most of their days off of school.













When the boys were back in school Naomi and I had some girl time. We did our nails and hair. Naomi was going through my hair stuff and found a pink bandana. She put it on and started to dance around. I had to laugh because it reminded me of my "wiggle" when I was just about her age. I found a piece of triangle-shaped fabric and tied it around my middle and called it my wiggle. She is such a silly girl.

February was the month of birthdays. Nicholas decided that one day was not good enough. He wanted to celebrate the entire week. We sat down and picked out activities that would be fun for each night. The highlights were having Elder Adair and Elder Searle over for sliders, french fries, cake and ice cream and getting his new red loft bed. It doesn't take much to keep a seven year old happy.

Jeremy's birthday was just as much fun. We celebrated all week long as well. It was Jeremy's year to have a party if he wanted one, but he chose to take the money and run. He is saving up for a Nintendo DS. We had banana cream pie instead of cake and he was happy to just be "zero teen" at last. (that is the new, cool, hip way to say you are 10)












On the 100th day of school the first grade had to dress like they were one hundred years old. Here is Nicholas's version. He really got into it and loved acting the part. He is such a ham when given the opportunity.

We also found out that Nicholas is allergic to house dust, dust mites, mold, cats, dogs and eggs. This was discovered when I realized the poor kids nose was completely clogged. I took him to the pediatrician to make sure that it wasn't due to the pre-holidays exercise ball trauma. She quickly told me it was most likely allergies as his poor nose was completely swollen shut. She did a blood test on him for common outdoor inhaled allergens and everything came back insignificant except for his IGe number was incredibly elevated at 490. This meant that he was incredibly allergic to something, just not what he had been tested for yet. Next we went to the allergist who did a skin test and found the culprit. Oh well. Jeremy is allergic to everything we eat, Steve is allergic to everything outside and Nicholas is allergic to everything inside. I can't win - I think I will move to Hawaii.

Nicholas wished for snow on his birthday and almost got it. On March 2nd we got 5 inches of snow. It was tons of fun to play in the snow. They took full advantage of the two days they got off of school from this storm. We put a fire in the fireplace, played games, ate popcorn and just chilled out.

Always in search of some new fun/mischief Nicholas and Noami emptied the entire bottle bubble bath which I had left on the back of the toilet while I went to check on Jeremy in the other bathroom. They then closed the curtains and splashed away making a prolific amount of bubbles. This is the aftermath - abubbleable monster.

What does a good brother look like? Naomi was bored with playing "boy" things and wanted to be totally girlie. She talked Jeremy into being her fairy godfather. They played happily for quite sometime until the novelty wore off and Jeremy had to pursue something more manly.

A blog from the Cannon's would not be complete without a trip to the emergency room. Nicholas and Naomi were having a grand old time pulling each other on a blanket across the wood floor. Nicholas decided to try to go really fast and what happened looked more like a "pull the tablecloth off the table without upsetting the dishes" gone bad. Naomi flipped over and landed on her nose. It was bleeding and swelling so fast that after watching it for a half an hour we went to the ER. Thank goodness it was not broken, but it looked really bad for a bit. The doctors thought she was quite funny. They asked if they could look in her ears and she let them. They asked if they could look in her eyes and she let them. They asked if they could check out her nose and she threw them a "how stupid do you think I am" look before saying, rather emphatically, "NO!" We all got a good laugh out of this one.

March 27th was the ward talent show and Steve put together a great synchronized swimming routine with a bunch of the guys from the elder's quorum. Here is the link to You Tube since it was too big to post here on the blog. Kathy, this is in honor of your birthday since it occurred on your birthday. Enjoy!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ttj5JuQho0

The biggest news I have to share is that I was surprisingly released as the Relief Society secretary. It was a bitter sweet day in that I truly enjoyed what I was doing and dearly love the ladies I was serving and serving with - however; it was time for a change. I didn't realize just how badly this change was needed until I was having a talk with Nicholas about the upcoming primary activity. He really did not want to go and I told him I was coming with him to help out. His mood lightening a little bit. He told me he wanted me to stay with him. I told him that I would be coming to primary every week with him from now on because my new calling was with the 6 year olds. He smiled more and asked, "Does that mean you don't have to do all that Relief Society stuff anymore?" I told him that is exactly what it meant and he threw himself into my arms for a huge hug. That tells me it was time!!

I hope you are all well and enjoying the wonderful signs of spring that are finally starting to appear!