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The science fair is no small undertaking.  Sometimes along the way I question my sanity for agreeing to go along with it.  But in the end, everyone is so excited about what they tried, what they learned, and what they created (and yes, they create all of it!) that it is more than worth it.  

Emma and her friend were the only 2nd graders to participate!  And in the older grades, where they judged the projects (new for us, they never did in MN), Zach's project won first place for his grade!  He was surprised and pretty excited.   (And I love that when you zoom into the picture, Emma is right below him, and her face is as suprised and excited as his.  Love that she was so happy for him!)

They are both quite the scientists!  And of course, they are already planning their projects for next year…

Nate was out of town when it was Emma's Jr. Jazz team's turn to go to a game, so it was my good luck to get to go with her instead!  It was awesome.  

We sat on the very top row of the delta center (or whatever it is called these days.)  Emma kept saying, "I think we got the best seats in the entire place!  We can see everything!"  And we could.  

We got the biggest bucket of popcorn I've ever seen (quite by accident, but it made Emma's night):

AND, the lady in front of us gave Emma those blow-up noise sticks, we laughed a lot at the crazy boys from Emma's class sitting a few rows ahead of us, we got to watch dancers on stilts, Jazz Bear bowling, and a close game at the end that ended in a Jazz win – and streamers coming from the ceiling.  Oh yeah, and we got to do the wave!  Such a fun night for me to spend with her!  

Randomly this morning, while I was making a grocery/to-do list, I wrote a few words for Carter… and found out he could READ them!  

And then he came home from preschool with his first book… so proud that he could read it to "the kids" when they got home.  

I think learning to read is just the most amazing thing.  It opens up the whole world to you!  Such an exciting day.  

How on earth did her hair get this long???

We spent our Saturday (between basketball games) ice-melting and parachute dropping:

Wow.  Hard to believe Zach is 10 already – the years have gone by so fast!  We had a great time celebrating his birthday.  

He was up and ready early enough to open a present from Meg and Carter… must have been something he liked.  :)

It was awesome to have grandma around to watch the other kiddos while we went to an early breakfast at IHOP – so fun to hang out with just the two of us.  Can't remember the last time we got to do something like that.  

We dropped off donuts to his class – unfortunately, the kind without chocolate frosting – but it ended up working out just fine and Mom didn't ruin his birthday after all.  :)

Then, since we started having parties every other year, we had all available grandparents over for cake and ice cream that evening.  

10 things you should know about 10 year old Zach:

1.  He is a great teacher/coach.  Carter hates when I try to show him something but will listen to/practice with Zach for an hour.  

2.  He is super creative.  Love his pictures, stories, Lego creations… especially the details.  

3.  He has made the cross-country, school-switching, life-altering move with a lot of courage and a great attitude.  Not easy.  

4.  He is a model of gratitude and good manners.  

5.  He definitely has the "Woodward" gene for excessive talking.  (yes, through my family line… I have it as well.)  If you let him, he could talk from bedtime till past midnight with little or no effort at all.  

6.  He is a great brother.  

7.  He is unfailingly honest.  The few times he hasn't been he has confessed almost within the same breath "that wasn't the truth."  

8.  He always reminds me to be good.  And he always reminds me that we're all doing the best we can, we make mistakes, and we try again.  (all such good qualities to have in a first-born that sees a lot of parenting errors.)

9.  He has an amazing love of learning, and as a result, has quite the arsenal of information stored away.  I'd love to have him on my team in trivial pursuit.   And I am running out of books to suggest to him… he reads them all too fast.

10.  He can do anything he sets his mind to.  He really can.  The first 10 years have been quite an adventure, can't wait to see what's in store for the next 10!

half the time when Meg disappears these days I find her having thrown all the stuff off of Emma's bed, relaxing with a book.  :)

From Zach's jr. jazz game – love that the guy he is guarding is a whole head taller than him even when he's bent over… 

And Carter couldn't be happier about the prize for accomplishing his goal with Nate.  (It doesn't look like it but they are half size cans.  :)

Too deep for Meg to walk unless I shoveled a path for her in the snow!

(Carter dug at that huge hill of snow all afternoon…)