The Brothers Fox Rock Out

Cannon and George are in a sort of "School of Rock" band.  They go to band rehearsal once a week with Nate Anderson Productions.  A couple weeks ago they had their first concert.

Abe and I were blown away!  Cannon was on guitar and sang. In this picture George is on the right side, but in the video he is on the left.  They absolutely loved it and we loved it and they are so excited to start back up in November.  Their next show they will squeeze in right between a Nutcracker matinee and evening show.  So much talent, so little time:)

In Which We All Quite Like One Another

Upon hearing that he had brushed my hair for long enough to "earn" a wished for toy, Peter announces to the family, "Raise your hand if you are jealous of me!"  So loud.  So intense. So driven.  So earnest.  So loved.

She is definitely living her best life:) She fell asleep on the couch while reading a book, with her unicorn for company. 

Dinner and games with the Johansen Family-- no better way to spend a Sunday evening.  Our combined numbers were markedly fewer than they've been in the past, but it was lovely to be together nonetheless.  Clark (Texas) and Kara (Argentina) both return from missions in mid-December and we enjoyed anticipating their return.

We don't have "recess" per say... but Elinor and Faith did take a break from school work to have a spa day with Greta.

George joined me on part of a morning walk recently.  He's a cutie.

 I saw this on Facebook recently and it spoke to me.  I feel very blessed.  And sometimes squished with hugs, but mostly blessed. 

Her make-up skills are improving.

Her smile reminds me of Bethany's.

One more, because she is just too much fun.  

The Littles and Bigs are so good for each other.

Both Elinor and Faith were invited to play in a service recital at an assisted living home.  They slayed their pieces with their duet partners.  

See what I mean about squished?  But I'm not complaining.  I rather like them.

Abe and the kids were looking through the book of photos from his Dad's funeral.

Faith and her neighborhood friends at a recent stake dance.  They are the best girls!

Faith and George working on a project for their tech class.  

A couple weekends ago Elinor and Faith had simultaneous water polo games on neighboring fields.  Elinor's tournament is this coming weekend and then Faith is the following weekend.  Then no more polo till March:(

 

Fall Piano Federation 2019

Faith and Sariah were duet partners for Federation.  They played two duets together and did so very well.  They both got superior ratings.  Good things happen when Foxes and Schramms join forces:)  They worked hard for their first Federation, and as their former piano teacher, I am pretty proud of both of them.
Here is the video of their recital:

I don't have a good picture of Elinor at her recital, but she and her duet partner also did great at Federation and got Superior ratings.  Her partner, Luke, also swims with Elinor on the high school swim team.

Here's a picture of her from a couple weeks ago.  Granted, she has worked on her flexibility, but what the heck?  She hasn't even taken any dance since she was 4 years old.  Apparently the flexibility is very helpful for swimming--  But maybe there is such a thing as "too flexible".  I took Elinor to a Dr. last week to have her shoulders examined.  They've been giving her some trouble because she has so much flexibility in her shoulders that it makes the joint somewhat unstable.  She's is supposed to do some physical therapy and NOT do much shoulder stretching at practice.

We are enjoying the rhythm of the school year.  October is such a lovely month.  We are getting to the end of the fall water polo season and high school swim is up and going.  The boys are in full swing of dance classes and Nutcracker rehearsals.  The kids are working on Christmas recital pieces.  The schedule and calendar are quite full, but full of activities we love doing.  Things are about to get a little crazier as Abe is entering his super busy two months of work.  We won't see nearly as much of him as we'd like, but we are very grateful for his hard work. 
And speaking of two months... CLARK COMES HOME TWO MONTHS FROM TODAY!!!!  I can hardly believe it.  Talk about the second year of his mission going fast.  We are so excited!  Bethany 

General Conference in Rexburg

We had a happy Foxy Ladies reunion on Sunday up in Rexburg.  It was General Conference weekend and we figured we'd all take a little road trip to visit Bethany and watch some conference with her.  I've really missed her and I'm impressed that we made it over three weeks without seeing her!

It don't think I'm the only one who has missed her:)

There are five Fox cousins up at BYU-Idaho this semester.  They are all delightful! We brought up lunch for all of them (and us) and we enjoyed visiting with them in between sessions. 

We pretty much had the big student eating area all to ourselves.

It really did my heart so much good to see her in her new element.  This is where she belongs right now and she is happy and thriving. 

There is a lot of D&D talk and planning among the menfolk of the family these days.  They have a brother's weekend planned for February and it will involve a LOT of D&D.  Moses is the family expert Dungeon Master these days, so Abe enjoyed getting his perspective.

We delivered the custom wall hangings that Bethany's friend Corrine made for her.  Corrine is awesome in a thousand ways-- and seriously-- she creates the most beautiful things. 

I loved being almost all together again.  A couple more months and Clark will be home and that will be a happy moment, indeed!

Great road trip, great General Conference, great time with family, great girl figuring out this whole college thing.  

Homecoming 2019

Elinor went to homecoming last weekend with a friend from her seminary class.  And it turned out there were a couple other kids in the group that she knew as well.  I haven't seen the group pictures yet.  They had a great time and I'm glad Elinor gets to have these fun experiences.

I love her and am proud of her and excited to watch her continue her journey of growing up.  She keeps on surprising me-- in the best ways possible.  

October 5, 2019

It's always nice to start a post with a picture of a perfect little sleeping Greta. 

Oh look!  Here's another one. 

Peter is really enjoying practicing his Christmas recital piece.  He has definitely surprised me with his interest and inclination for playing piano.  He has already memorized "We Three Kings" which I had planned for him to practice for a couple more months.  I think I'd better find him a new piece. 

The kids and I have enjoyed some excellent read-aloud books this year.  Last week we finished Where the Red Fern Grows which ended in lots of crying for Elinor and I.  We began The Giver last week -- which for Cannon and Faith was sort of shocking and horrifying and fascinating and intriguing at the same time.  I love the change of energy in the room as soon as they are hooked on a book and listening intently.  There are lots of things I enjoy about homeschool, but family read-aloud time is tops on the list.

It's stating the obvious to say they are growing up quickly.  Abe took this picture of the boys and Greta and when I saw it I was surprised to not see three not such little boys.  And so it goes...And it's a beautiful thing. 

Abe is about to begin an extremely busy couple of months at work.  Knowing his free time hours would be very limited, he put up Christmas lights this weekend.  And since I was away from home for most of the day, and not around to... suggest another course... he let the Littles get on the roof with him.  And that's all I have to say about that.

I went to Elinor's swim meet up in Bountiful.  She swam in six events over the course of the the two-day meet and she dropped so much time in each of her events.  She has worked so hard and I am thrilled to see her see the results of her hard work.  She is an inspiration to me!  This race was the 100 breast stroke and she is four lanes down from the top in a white cap coming in to the wall.  She had a sleep over at Grandma and Grandpa's house up in Farmington since the meet was Friday night and Saturday morning.  She had a great time with them and reported they took great care of her.

She also had high school swim tryouts this week and after racing the 50 free, 100 IM, and 500 free was "ranked" the 3rd fastest girl.  She is excited and ready to work even harder (if that's possible) during the high school season.   

George is really enjoying his ballet classes at Ballet West Academy, and he is also continuing to take a tap class at Wasatch Arts.  George and Peter are in the boys hip-hop class there together as well -- which they love.  Greta cries every week that she wants to go to hip-hop too!  

 A couple weeks back I picked up Cannon from ballet to find him surrounded by a gaggle of ballerina's with cell phones out, videoing Cannon.  What was going on?

Come to find out he was rapping Hamilton and it would appear they were impressed. And rightfully so-- he has so much of it memorized and it's pretty entertaining to listen to him.

Greta and her cousin, Jules at Jules' Troll birthday party.  They are so sweet together.