March...

March was awesome, because LOOK! My bestest friend had a gorgeous baby girl! =) Here's my grown up little lady holding her and one of my little man holding her too.

This is her big sister, who will now tell you, if you ask her, that the baby may be new, but she is no longer "brand new." This was back in March, after all.
We also went bowling with some friends. Here are the kiddos having fun at the bowling alley.
They later dressed up as superheroes to play video games. (I wonder if it helped their scores...)

This was also the month that held QUIZ FINALS! Madeline worked so very hard for weeks on end. She studied and drilled these questions from the book of Exodus, and the tournament was a lot of fun.

Family came from near and far...mostly far.

This was at lunch between matches. I snapped this picture after the sweetest exchange. Madeline asked Timothy if she could play with his Nintendo DS. Imagine my delight when, without hesitation, he replied, "sure, Sissy! I've been playing all morning and you haven't had a turn at all!" Moments later, as he was watching her play, he looked at her and said, "Madeline, I sure do love you, but you already know that." Melted my heart!

When all was said and done, Madeline found out that she had ranked in the top 15 quizzers in the district! She was mighty proud...and we may have been too. ;) Here she is with another one of NMC's ranked quizzers right after they received their plaques.

Here she is with her sweet teammates and the flowers my mom picked up for them, just so they could feel as special as they all are.

So, another good month. I was still taking classes, by the way...so the fact that I was there to record any of these events is really kind of a miracle. Never mind the fact that I didn't blog it until now.

-shannon

Fun at Quiz Fest 2009!
So, I am inserting a non-Christmas update blog in the mix here because we had such a big weekend! Madeline's quiz team from church had their annual quiz fest, which made for a very rewarding/exhausting weekend!

Here's our Madeline Rose with her two sweet teammates, ready for the first match of the day on Saturday.

Here's a clip that I took of the girls during a match. You'll have to turn the volume up pretty high to hear it, but I actually caught a streak where they all jumped and answered questions correctly!

The night before Madeline and one of her teammates got to quiz together in the 2 on 2 tournament. It was fast paced and fun to watch. They did great and had fun together. Here they are having some lunch together on Saturday.

Timothy had fun at quiz fest too. He watched a couple matches, but they had a game room, and he spent a lot of his day playing with other kiddos, informing me later that he wants an air hockey table for our house now.

The girls won second place in their tournament that afternoon!

Our NMC boys team brought home the first place trophy from their tournament!

Here are two of our NMC teams right after the awards ceremony with their trophies.
The girls were super excited. They all worked so hard, and each one of them contributed so much to the team. Their interactions are sweet to watch as they cheer each other on and strategize together with their coach.
They thought this placing the trophy on the head of their smallest team member was pretty cute...
until she ended up getting knocked on the noggin.....don't worry....no tears, just lots of laughing.
Here is the team with all the moms and dads. We were maybe a little proud of our girls!

This is Jim, who coordinates the quizzing at NMC and also for our whole region. He has done such an amazing job, and his fuel for doing it is his desire to see the kids hide scripture in their hearts. We are so grateful for his ministry. The battery on my camera was starting to go by the end of the day, so my pictures got progressively fuzzier, but here is one last picture of the kiddos on the way home. Do they look just a little bit excited? They slept well last night!

One other achievement worth noting I won't tell you, but show you...the kids and I have been working on this for the past two weeks during the drive to school. =)

Oh, and just because it was so precious, I have to share Timothy's prayer from dinner tonight. He said, " Dear God, thank you for my family and for our food, and thank you for everyone on this globe, even the USA, and even Alaska, and even Mrs. Garland's brother that lives in Hawaii. AMEN!" He's been learning about maps in school, and his prayers have since had more and more geography in them. I love our little turtle!

OK, that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and as always, thanks for your prayers for our family!

-shannon

Catching up: Installment #1
So, we obviously have had a ton of stuff going on, and I have a lot of pictures to add, which is why this lengthy update will come in installments. I am making no guarantee on how many there will be or how soon they will be up, but for now, here is installment number one!

Madeline's December quiz meet went well. She had a lot of fun with her team; they did a great job too!

She had three quiz outs that day. Here she is with one of her buddies after the last match of the day.

And guess who came to see the quiz meet....our favorite little peanut!
We all went to Chuck E. Cheese afterwards and had a great, though extremely overstimulating, time.

In other news, the kid's had a Christmas program at school called "Advent Lessons and Carols" which was a treat to watch, and we enjoyed some cookies and punch afterwards. Here is Madeline with her directress (that is Montessori code for teacher...) The teachers at the school are amazing, every one of them. The kids have been blessed to be in such a loving school.

Having punch and cookies with some of their friends....

The kids with the assistant from Timothy's room. They love her so much!

That evening the kids put on some new jammies and then had a good night of sleep before the last day of school before break.

Pajama day at school! I was volunteering at the school that week and got to help them make cookies that morning...here's some of Madeline's group...

Timothy's group...

Later that day we went ice-skating. Madeline took right to the ice!

Timothy with his directress....I am pretty sure that God brought her to Good Shepherd just for Timothy. She has been such a blessing this year!

Madeline with the assistant from her class...another amazing person that we are thrilled to have our kids spend the day with!

Even I got a pair of skates and ventured out on the ice!

The kids had a blast!

Back at the school warming up with some hot cocoa...

And look! We finally put up our Christmas tree that night =)

So, I'll try to make this worth the wait....
I thought I'd update the blog this weekend, since I had some time (relative to previous weekends, anyway....) In case anyone still stops by here, this is what we've been up to!

Madeline is on the quiz team at our church. They are studying the book of Exodus this year, and she has been working very hard. Yesterday was her second quiz meet, and the first I have been able to attend.

Here she is ready for questioning with the two gals who were on her team.

Time out with the coach....
The look on her face here is one of realization that she just had her first perfect quiz out and earned her gold medal!
picking up that gold medal.....

After the final match of the day with her team. (I tried to get one with everyone's eyes open....maybe next month!) They did well, got better with each match of the day. One of her teammates had her first quiz out and earned a silver medal!

So.....other things we've been up to.....Madeline learned to ride a bike without training wheels!

We took the kids to the top of the parking garage at IUSB and had them ride in circles. Here's a shot of Timothy having fun and working hard.

We went down to TN and had a surprise party at Chuck E. Cheese for Madeline. Here she is with her beautiful aunts....

Here's Timothy with Uncle Brent...looks like he loves him ;)

Now, you tell me, who is more excited about that token Timothy has?

Madeline getting ready to blow out her candles....birthday song! I can't believe this is birthday number NINE!

Uncle Brent and Aunt Laura brought their nephews from the Robinson side, and Madeline and Timothy had a blast with them.

Mimi and Papa got Madeline tickets to see Veggietales Live that night! Timothy even got to come along =)

Doesn't look like he's scared of Harley anymore....getting some kisses!

While we were down south, I decided it was time to get a haircut....

I was able to donate close to 11 inches to locks of love......

Plus I went home with a cute new haircut from Laura....thank you!

The next weekend we had our Ohio family over to celebrate Madeline's birthday. Here she is waiting outside for some of our guests to arrive. It was such a beautiful day!

Timothy's buddy from church came too. Here they are playing a game, waiting for the festivities to start.

Madeline with my cousins from Ohio.....what a precious row of princesses!

See how we got the guys to watch the present opening? We placed it right in front of football.

With the yummy ice cream birthday cake.

Papaw even got on the trampoline to jump with his princesses!

Biggest birthday surprise came the next day on her birthday....when she went to her room to get ready for bed she found a new bike!

Our church had a Halloween alternative night for the community. It was the first chance Madeline had for quite awhile to see some of her best friends. They had a fun night together, and a couple weeks after, the girls had Madeline over for a sleepover. Good fun with good friends!

Here's Timothy climbing one of the blow up toys at the church event. he had fun too!

The kids were part of a choir that sang at a dinner/fund raiser for their school. This is the only picture Mike was able to get of the two of them together. He did get a video of the singing, but it was pretty dimly lit. I'll post that so you can see as much as you can see....

A picture of my best friend's little girl because it was so precious I couldn't resist posting it! My BFF and her little gal came by because they were in town. We were supposed to go out, but I had sinus and ear infections and was feeling really crummy. It was good to see them for the short time they stopped by though.

Timothy is such a good friend, helping her get her shoe back on when she jumped right out of it on the trampoline.... (This picture is a definite keeper....we'll have to use it in their wedding slide show...can I get an "Amen!", BFF?)

All three of the kids having a little fun on the trampoline.

We took the kids back to IUSB so Madeline could try out her new bike.....she loved it, of course.

Timothy enjoying his bike ;)

Ok, now anyone that knows me, will be able to tell from this picture that something is up.....how in the world did Madeline's hair get so fixed up on a Sunday morning?

Aunt Laura flew in to surprise us for the weekend! That's how! (Uncle Brent got to come up too! What a treat to see them....sorry I didn't have more time to spend with you guys....you know how med school can be =P)

We went out for dinner that night with our friends Mike and Jaci from church.....

We met up after dinner with our friends Marcus and Heather too....we had to take a picture of the three of us gals together because look, it's "Heather, Shannon, and Laura"

To cap off the surprise weekend, Mike had gotten tickets to go see Third Day in concert. Here's our whole crew after the concert.

So, that's some of what we've been up to the past couple months or so. As far as school goes, I am now done with embryology, anatomy, and on Friday, finished biochemistry. The Lord is faithful and I am receiving A LOT of prayer power, I am well aware of that! Thanks so much for caring about our family and lifting us up in prayer.

Speaking of thanks......if you are still reading, you need to know that my mother-in-law is a saint! She came over last weekend to watch the kids so we could go to the concert, (Mike had planned that whole weekend without me knowing.) and the next day she drove Laura and Brent to the airport for us, before heading back home. As if that wasn't a tremendous enough help to us, she came back this Thursday to pick the kids up from their half day of school and spent the night with us. While I was away studying, she didn't just love on my kids for me....she did all my laundry! Thanks so much for your help, Mom. Love you!

Ok.....it's off to the wonderful world of Histology for me now. The last class before Christmas break....cannot wait!

I uploaded some new videos, so you can find those below. Thanks for reading!

-shannon

The kids riding bikes on the top of the IUSB parking garage.....

One of Madeline's first solo streaks on her bike.....

Here's a spin on bike riding....now it's my dad who needs a push from Mike. You thought I forgot I had this, didn't you, Dad?

Not that you'll be able to make any of this out, but here is the dimly lit video of the kids singing for the school event. Timothy is on the front row on the left and Madeline is in the back row closer to the center of the group.