SimonSays 6

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Silent Night

Merry Christmas from The Simons

Santa Hats: $12
Duct Tape: $6
Having a Silent Night: Priceless!

Luke, Kyle, Dylan, and Nicholas

Silent Nicholas

Silent Dylan

Silent Kyle

Silent Luke

Smile!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

For YEARS the boys have been begging for a puppy.
Our last few attempts hadn't gone well, so we were reluctant...
but the constant pleading wore us down and we gave in when my Aunt Vicky's dog had puppies they were trying to get rid of.
Aunt Vicky, Tim, Amanda and Choya came into town and brought a few of the puppies so we could decide which one we wanted.
We initially thought we would only want one, but after thinking about it...
we decided to get two to provide a playmate for the other.
Merry Christmas to the Simons!

By the time we got the puppies home, they were pretty tuckered out.
Snoop doggy dog, snuggled right up with Dylan and fell asleep.

Luke loves playing with Riley

Nicholas picked out Ashes before they even brought the puppies

Puppies getting spoiled with all of their new playmates

Our first two picks were Snoop and Ashes, but once we met Riley we just couldn't let her go

Ash is always wrestling with Riley.
He has a very fun, perky personality

Nicholas originally wanted to name him Toby, but he looks like he rolled in Ashes...
so we call him Ash

The puppies Mom was a yellow lab (she died one week after the puppies were born)
and the Dad is an Australian Shepherd/Collie mix

Play time

Trying to teach her to chew on toys, instead of fingers...
but she definitely prefers fingers

Snoop playing with toys

Bubby and Sissy

Riley has the sweetest personality
She is definitely a lover
She always comes up after I feed her to give me her thank you kisses

Riley in a basket

Riley and Ash
The favorite Christmas Presents of the year

Li'l Miss Riley

The puppies like to be close to us and then they start to wrestle
It's really cute

Nicholas is thrilled beyond words!
He loves the puppies!

We ended up deciding that we wanted to keep Ashes and Riley!
Everyone was heartbroken to send Snoop back with Aunt Vicky, but this household just couldn't handle 3 dogs.
There were lots of crocodile tears and there is a picture of Snoop in a frame by Luke's bed.
Hopefully they'll get over it quickly

Northview High School Cabaret Concert 2010

Today was Northview's Annual Cabaret Concert where Dylan performed with his orchestra once again.
Doesn't he look so handsome in his tux?

I love this face.
Whenever he plays, this is his look of concentration

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Kyle makes the Honor Roll

Kyle has really matured this past year.
He was very excited about starting High School and takes his role as a Freshman very seriously.
So far this year, his behavior has been very good and I haven't had any phone calls from the teachers or principals about Kyle.

Today we received a letter in the mail informing us that Kyle's grades were good enough during the first quarter to place him on the Honor Roll.

We are very proud that he is trying so hard in school this year!
Keep up the good work Kyle!

Monday, December 6, 2010

What a day

This was quite the day for us. Dylan slipped and fell at school with a stack of books in one hand and his cello in the other. He ended up landing on his tailbone. He was complaining pretty good about the pain and said he felt like "something was rubbing past each other whenever he walked" , so I took him to the Pediatrician and had him checked out. There wasn't too much evidence of a break, and even if there was a break, the treatment would be the same....rest, ice, Motrin 800. They took a Xray to know for sure. No breaks, just a bruised ego and bum He was feeling much better by bedtime and grateful not to have to tell others that he "broke his butt".

Then Nicholas and Luke were goofing off at bedtime. Luke fell and gashed his leg (shin) on the metal bed frame. He came down howling and we knew something was seriously wrong and all I could think is "I might be living in the Twilight Zone" (not the first time I ever felt this way).

We called our friend Morgan (he works as a Trauma PA) who said we probably should go to the ER, because it might need to get stitched. Flower's ER was awesome. They were so good with Luke. The nurse Marcia joked around with Luke getting him to giggle and relax a bit. She was great about forming the trust bond with him right off the bat. She told him they were definitely going to need to put stitches in. The spot where he gashed his leg had too much tension to just use Dermabond. Dr. Guff came in and placed six stitches in Luke's leg. He too was great in explaining things and helping Luke get through a scary experience. Luke was very unhappy about the Lidocaine injections, but he hung in there. Jonathan watched the whole thing without getting woozy. I was shocked! It's amazing what a parent can do when it comes to their child.

Well, we got through the day in one piece, but it definitely ended up being interesting. It's kind of ironic because when we were on our way home from Frankenmuth on Saturday, I started feeling a cold sore coming on. I was quite mystified because it has been years since I have had a cold sore and now this was the third one I have had a cold sore develop in two weeks. I started putting Abreva on my lip right away, but by Sunday morning my lip was quite swollen with a monster of a cold sore (it kind of looked like I had Botox injections done in my lip). I was scheduled to work Sunday and Monday night. The last thing I wanted to have to do was use the vacation/sick hours I have been trying to accrue with hopes of going on a vacation in the Spring. I was pretty frustrated about having to call in to work, but now I see the wisdom in my need to be at home. My family needed Mom there more than I needed to be at work. I'm grateful that the Lord knows more than we do when it comes to what we "need".

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Dylan's Priest Ordination

Dylan was ordained today to the office of Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood
Grampa Cady, Dad, Uncle Jeremy, Mike Richter, Uncle Jeff and Harvey Miller participated in this ordination.

We're all so proud of the young man Dylan has become

Doctrine and Covenants 20:46–52
46The ^apriest’s duty is to preach, ^bteach, expound, exhort, and baptize, and administer the sacrament,

47And visit the house of each member, and exhort them to ^apray ^bvocally and in secret and attend to all ^cfamily duties. UAdd a Note

48And he may also ^aordain other priests, teachers, and deacons.

49And he is to take the ^alead of meetings when there is no elder present; UAdd a Note

50But when there is an elder present, he is only to preach, teach, expound, exhort, and baptize,

51And visit the house of each member, exhorting them to pray vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties. UAdd a Note

52In all these duties the priest is to ^aassist the elder if occasion requires.

As a Priest Dylan should
remain worthy to represent the Savior by
doing all of the following regularly:

1. Keep the commandments.
2. Live the standards in For the Strength of
Youth.
3. Have daily personal prayer.
4. Read the scriptures.
5. Attend seminary
6. Attend sacrament meeting, priesthood
meeting, and other Church meetings.
7. Keep the Word of Wisdom.
8. Pay a full tithe.
9. Bless the sacrament.
10. Serve as a home teacher as assigned by
his priesthood leaders.
11. Perform other assigned priesthood duties.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Frankenmuth

We attempted to go to the Ann Arbor Nativity Festival today,
only to discover they stopped having the festival three years ago...
so we made an impromptu road trip up to Frankenmuth.
The kids didn't like the car ride much, but became quite excited once we arrived.