Math Counts

Just a little update on Garrett's first participation in Math Counts: he placed 3rd out of our team of 8 students from Miraleste (behind 2 8th graders), and 10th out of 72 individual scorers! The MIS team came in 6th out of 32 teams, just one place shy of qualifying for the state competition (they take the top 5 teams). We are so proud of Garrett doing so well in his first year and look forward to several more years of Math Counts competitions! Thanks to Mike for being a proctor for this event!!

Just for fun!

It sure was fun to have uncle Ben pop in for a brief "hello" a few weeks back. Here's a picture or two I've been meaning to put up from that visit.


The Gang's All Here! (well, sorta)

















Michaela and Blakina

Great Job Jenna!

Jenna recently received a few awards and we wanted to share them with our family (because why else would you have kids?)

On the right, you can see Jenna's Math Counts certificate. She was one of only eight representatives for her school at a recent area competition.

On the left is a letter of recognition for having been selected as one of two nominees from Media Creek Middle School for the Marian Huhn award, which recognizes student leadership, personal integrity, community service, and academic achievement. She will go to a conference sponsored by California Junior Scholastic Achievement on March 29 as a representative of her school.
















For the third year in a row, Jenna's basketball team won their league and has advanced to finals play. And for the third year in a row, Jenna will miss the finals because she will be going to the City of Children in Mexico as we traditionally do this time of year. Gotta love the spinning basketball trophy!

District Spelling Bee

Garrett accepts the 3rd place trophy (of a bee, of course!)

Celebration dinner at Poquito Mas (Mike had fish tacos in honor of our trip next week!)
Garrett placed 3rd in the District Spelling Bee today. So, out of all the 6th graders in our district of 3 middle schools (around 1,000 kids) Garrett placed 3rd. Not too shabby... He does not go on to the County Spelling Bee as they just take one student per district. We are very proud of him!

Mammoth adventure

At the top!!

Blake's sled flies!
4 skiers and 1 boarder

Since we didn't have any soccer games or Evita rehearsals this Presidents' Day weekend, we headed for Mammoth (along with the rest of So. Cal). We drove up late Thurs, so we got to ski Friday, which was our least crowded day there, plus Sat and Sun. Everyday was gloriously beautiful! The snow is SO white, the sky is SO blue, and the trees so deep green that Mike wondered if an abstract artist used those three colors on a canvas we would recognize it as the Sierra Nevadas from the colors alone....

Fun times!!

It was so fun to roll into Thousand Oaks a few days ago and see all the CA Wall cousins.  What a blast to go for a "putt" blaring our music and just goofing around.  Sorry Michaela, I'll work on getting a seat belt for you and our next outing!  Love ya, Uncle Ben. 

A cool picture

I love this picture of Jenna that she took on my computer at Thanksgiving.  She is so beautiful and her smile is just awesome!!  Keep smiling Jenna!

New Family Member!

We welcomed Coffee to our family this week. Blake will be using her for his science fair (a la Pavlov). She is a European black teddy bear hamster, and she is really sweet. She was afraid the first day we brought her home, but Blake is gently getting her to eat out of his hand.

Mother and Son Cotillion

The annual Mother/Son cotillion took place Friday night. Actually, it's very nice - the mothers have a special dance with their sons (I think ours was a waltz) and the fathers have a special dance with their daughters (theirs was a tango, I think). Everyone is smiling while they are dancing with their special person : ) Garrett did a great job leading me in the waltz...