Dr. Seuss & Such

It's that time again when elementary schools around the country celebrate the contributions of Dr. Seuss - all week long.  Quinn and Elsie happily participated in 'dressing up' each day.

 Crazy sock day.

 Crazy hat day.

 The back of Quinny's hat.

Quinn's 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Gentile, hosted a family reading night in the school cafeteria/gym one evening.  Kids could wear their pajamas, bring blankets and pillows and eat lots of cookies.  What's not to love?  We did get a lot of reading done even though sitting on the gym floor wasn't exactly comfortable.  Funny it didn't seem to bother the kids - I would have preferred the soft chairs!

 Anna also came along but spent her time chatting with friends and sampling cookies.

 Dress up like any Dr. Seuss character day.

 Elsie - Thing 2 & Quinn - Cat in the  Hat

Tanner's final day of high school was changed from Friday to Wednesday, March 2 due to the state basketball championship tournament in Boise.  This week marked the end of the 2nd trimester for all of the kids but the high school moved testing days up by two to accommodate the play-off games.  Our community is very supportive of our local basketball program and a lot of people pull their kids from school and drive 5 hours to attend the 3-day tournament.  Our own kids were pretty disappointed we couldn't squeeze the trip into our schedule so streaming the games and watching from home had to do.  Friday night's game - totally amazing.  Most incredible finish to a game I've ever seen.  Down one with a second to go, Madison tipped in the most unbelievable shot to win the game.  Worth watching the youtube replay of Madison vs. Borah (54-53).

Saturday morning Brinley hitched a ride to Boise with Haley so they were in attendance for the championship game.  We faced our rivals once again but didn't come out on top this time.  A 2nd place finish was a huge disappointment for our team as they have beat Highland twice already this season.  With a packed stadium and a crowd so loud the announcers had a heard time thinking straight, it was an intense evening.  Aaron and the kids have especially followed the team in recent years because one of the star players is in our ward.  Aaron has been the Edelmayer's home teacher for nearly 8 years so Jaxon is like family.

 Nice of Aaron and Tanner to oblige me in taking their picture at 4:45am as they headed out the door SLC airport bound.  Saturday was a very long day of travel for them but they arrived safely in Costa Rica in time to watch the final 4 minutes of the basketball game.  Their reception was better than ours - crazy!

Hanging out in the sky club in Atlanta airport - traveling with Aaron has its perks.  The benefits were not lost on Tanner as he has been so appreciative of Aaron making arrangements to travel down to Costa Rica with him.  It also made it possible for Tanner to bring along a suitcase full of donation items to share with a local orphanage.  Aaron will stay in a hotel and do a little work/play while in San Jose. Tanner will be attending language classes and staying with his host family for a few days.  When Tanner ships out to his project area, Aaron catches a return flight home.  Yeah, I slept much better last night with this latest arrangement.

 Yesterday marked Quinn's final basketball game.  This season has been a learning experience for the boys and they have come along.  Last week's game was Quinn's favorite because he scored a lot of points and they WON!  It was an answer to his many prayers:).

 Elsie and Lexi spent an afternoon grocery shopping, swinging at the park, having lunch and frequenting Jamba Juice together.  Elsie was SO excited about their outing - we'll be hearing about it for weeks, no doubt.  College-aged girls are so cool to hang out with!

Somehow I didn't take any pictures of Brinley, Jantzen or Anna last week.  I did manage to snap one of this fun flower arrangement Brinley put together for a class at school.  She also played in an orchestra concert Wednesday evening and has been busy with the start of the official tennis season.  Jantzen received his "Life" scouting award along with several merit badges at a Court of Honor on Tuesday night.  He has been busy juggling basketball and soccer practices (we are now in the overlap time frame between these two sports), helped with Logan B.'s eagle project, and pulled straight A's almost effortlessly.  Anna was the first in our family to check out the latest community rage - "The Escape House" as part of a friend birthday party she attended Friday night.  You have an hour to gather clues and solve a mystery in a particular themed room/setting with a group of people.  It's popularity is growing here in this college town - what an awesome date night or family night or party night! It's on our bucket list of things to do before Tanner ships out.