2010 In Review for Real This Time

Okay, the previous title was a teaser for this posting (and not a silly mistake of hitting the "enter" key). That's my story and I'm sticking to it. :)




This year has been wonderful. We have had so many fun things happen and we would like to share the highlights with you.

January

Runner up:

Naomi starts gymnastics (after telling everyone that she meets that she was going to do gymnastics! She can be very persuasive and persistent)

First Place:

Jeremy won the Pinewood Derby for Pack 122

February

Runners up:

Jeremy turns 11 and Nicholas turns 8

Historic snow storm happens - 49 of the states got snow on the same day.

First Place:

Steve took on the project of making his own guitar. That is so awesome.

March

Runner up:

Building our miniature treehouses

Tie for First Place:

Nicholas is baptized

Jeremy earns his Arrow of Light and crosses over to Boy Scouts

April

Runners Up:

Neighborhood Easter egg hunt

Jeremy earns his first merit badge (Bird Study - SURPRISE!!)

First Place:

Naomi breaks her wrist (while Daddy is out of town, of course!)

May

Runners Up:

Year End Tests - both boys pass with flying colors

Naomi gets her cast off just in time for the pool to open

Nicholas gets into poisen ivy (not pretty)

Jeremy takes archery lessons

First Place:

Family camp at Black Mountain with Troop 122

June

Runners Up:

Painting Frenzy

Nicholas cut his head open and had to have 3 staples to close it up.




First Place:

Steve's yearly conference is a huge success (thanks to all his hard work since December)


July


First Place:


No Contest!!! The Cannon Family Beach Trip



August

Runners Up:

Dragonfly Delight and Hummingbird Festival at the Reedy Creek Park

I am made the Pack Committee Chair (WAHOO!!)

17 wonderful years of marriage



First Place:



Getting together with our homeschool friends again

September

Runners Up:

Nicholas starts scouts and earns his Bobcat.

Sean and Brynn married

A new niece is born. Welcome, Olivia

Homeschool roller skating is back!!!!

Nicholas graduated from speech therapy.

Steve is made the Scoutmaster (WAHOO!!)

First Place:

Steve's Promotion. Way to go, Honey!

October


Runners Up:

General Conference

Steve and I got Droid phones (welcome to the current century!)



First Place:

Trunk or treating with our friends.

Jeremy is Toad, Nicholas is Knight Mario and Naomi is Princess Peach

November

Runners Up:

Naomi turns 5 and loses her first tooth

Jeremy earns his Tenderfoot

First Place:

The leaves were the most brilliant we have seen in the nine years we have been here. We went on a lot of walks just to admire them. Here we are with our friends Paige and Hailee.

December

Runners Up:

Saw Tangled for my 41st birthday - best movie EVER!

Naomi got her ears pierced

First Place:

The first white Christmas in 63 years. We played the whole day.

Happy 2011!
May your new year be filled with happiness and success

2010 in Review

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas!

The title to this blog might seem kind of silly since I am writing from the South and we rarely see snow - especially on Christmas. In fact, the odds are completely against us since Charlotte has not seen a white Christmas in 63 years! Well, my theory on this one is that Naomi really wished hard for snow on Christmas and she has the magic touch. It started snowing on Christmas day about 6:00 p.m. and it still has not stopped (it is now noon on the 26th). My Christmas decorations finally don't look out of place.

The kids spent a blissful 3 hours rollicking in the 6 inches of snow. We started in our yard then we all migrated to the golf course to sled Southern style(we don't have a sled so we multitasked our boogie boards). Enjoy the pictures!

Going Snow Surfing! Cow-a-bunga, Dude!

So, what do you do for Family Home Evening?

During an uplifting and spiritual message about serving others and planning out some service we were going to do in the coming months I made the mistake of saying, "When serving others sometimes things don't go as planned. You need to be flexible." This is what happened immediately after that statement. It's a good thing I am flexible with our family home evening lessons!

Nicholas wins the flexibility contest. If he ever needed to do so, he could remove his contacts with his toes.

No one can ever say that the Cannon family is not flexible.

Big Day for Naomi

Saturday, December 18th, was a big day for Naomi. In the morning she FINALLY decided to have her ears pierced. We took her to the mall and after a few pre-piercing hysterics she has really pretty ear rings that make her look older (or so she says). You can't see them in the picture, but she picked out the cutest rhinestone, flower-shaped ear rings.

Then she had her first gymnastics exhibition. The gym where she takes gymnastics is trying to encourage us to let her be on the pre-team. This would mean 4 hours of gymnastics a week and competitions starting in the fall of 2011. Are we just being overprotective parents or does that seem a bit extreme for a 5 year old? She is good and she loves it, though, so this is a hard decision. We will keep you posted. The smile on her face when they awarded her the ribbons almost made me sign the paperwork right then and there!

This Blew Me Away

The other day we were working on our Faith In God requirements and I asked the boys to write a letter to someone that they really admire. Jeremy went to his room to complete the assignment, but Nicholas hung around with a frustrated and upset look on his face. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that he didn't know who to write his letter to. We talked about it for a while trying to come up with a person he admired. Then it hit me that quite a few of the people that I really admire are no longer alive. When I shared this thought with Nicholas he brightened up and said that he knew who he admired. He left the room and came back in about twenty minutes with this gem.

Dear Jesus,

I wonder how you made the world in seven days. When I'm up there, I want to be your assistant and help you shape the world and make people better than usual. And one day, I just want to be like you.

Love,
Nicholas