Have You Missed Us???

WALLACE NEWS

Taysom~

Becca reminded me this past weekend that this is the last Thanksgiving in which there is no doubt that we'll have Taysom with us... It is some what sobering. Most of the time, I don't even think about the fact that she is a senior and will be leaving for college in just nine short months... but when it hits me, I get a little teary eyed.

School has been kicking her butt this year. She is taking Sewing, Calculus A.P., French III (weighted), Lit. and Comp. A.P., Chemistry II (weighted), Touch of Class (vocal ensemble), and "We the People" (constitution team). I admire her ambition. With that said, where did she get it from? I took four classes my senior year and made sure they were the easiest possible classes that would fulfill the requirements. She is hoping 2nd semester will bring a little breathing room. (Her "We the People" will switch to a regular government class.) She is trying to decide what major to pursue, but she is leaning toward something in the medical field.

In addition to school work (and there is a ton of it), she has re-taken her ACT (and scored a 30!!!!), is working on college applications, continues to work on personal progress, and tries to fit in some social interaction. We went and had senior pictures taken a couple of weeks ago - here is a sneak peek.

Tucker-After all of that worrying about injuries during football season, it wasn't until basketball open gym (the week after football season ended) that Tucker actually sustained an injury. He was going up for a lay up when he got shoved from behind, propelling Tucker forward. His right hand "ran into" another guys nose. Tucker ended up with a torn ligament (ring finger) and the other guy ended up with a severely broken nose. Tucker's finger was extremely swollen for a couple of weeks. The school trainer said that it probably won't be back to "normal" for 8-10 weeks.

Even with an injured finger he made the JV team and will be playing Varsity when needed.

First game is Wednesday. (I am so excited!!! This is my favorite sport to watch!)

Since I don't have the football pictures back yet... here's another picture for you to enjoy... Fabio...

~The "girls"~

Ilah-

Ilah makes my day every morning by waving to me as I leave for school. She is the last to leave the house and has even started doing the morning kitchen clean-up/dishes to earn extra money. She bought herself a cell phone! (Yep - she is a tween.)

This is Ilah's first year of middle school. There are good things about middle school and bad things as well. She is sick of the girl fakeness and drama. On the good side, she tried out for the school musical (Annie Jr.) and made it! She is one of the orphans. Play practice is in full swing. We are looking forward to the performance February 3 and 4, 2011. Anyone want to come? :)

A couple of months ago, she bought a mouse. I told her that she could keep it as long as I never smelled it... Well, does anyone want a mouse. I don't think there has been a day that I haven't smelled it, complained about it, wished it was dead... you get the picture. I am NOT an animal person.


***Side note*** I took Snoop into the groomer. She asked me if I had noticed any changed in Snoop's health. I replied by saying that he was just getting older and slower. Trying to comfort me, she said that although Schnauzers generally slow down/age quicker, they hang on the longest - I'm sad just typing this :(




Henry-


Our youngest is a latch key child (remember that term?). He comes home to an empty house and lets himself in with a key :( But he handles it just fine. In fact, by the time I make it home, he is usually sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework. He likes to get it out of the way so he can play "Adventure Quest Worlds" on the Internet with his good buddy Ian. They call each other and put the phone on speaker and play for what seems like forever.)


In addition to his fantasy world on the computer, he also loves to escape by reading the Percy Jackson series. About a month ago, I walked by his room on a school night around 11:00pm. He was still up reading. I told him he needed to go to bed immediately. He pulled the book down, revealing his tear stained face begging to be able to finish the book. He had to find out what happened to Zoe, the huntress. I knew how that felt and had to let him finish the book that night.

Recently he made All City Singers. I can not wait until the All City concert December 13th. That is when I really start feeling the Christmas spirit. What will I do next year when my kids are too old to be involved in this???
He is also trying out for the advanced math team at his school. He'll find out if he makes it toward the end of December. He's our little nerd. (as I am typing this he is cheering about black holes...)

Last week Henry and Ilah created mazes in their bedroom with traps made out of string, duct tape, etc. The goal was to sneak into the other's room and steal something that had been selected earlier. If they were able to make it through the maze and capture the item without waking the room's owner, they won. Neither one succeeded, but check out these pictures to see why.

Friday Night Lights

Few things can compare to the atmosphere of a high school stadium on a Friday night. The booming band, the screaming cheerleaders, the cheering crowd, the savory smell of grilling burgers, and the resounding thud of big hits on the turf make for a truly authentic American experience. Football has been exciting this season, to say the least. Tucker is "living the dream" playing Varsity as a sophomore. His love for football is surpassed only by his mother's concern that her "little boy" will get hurt. With each snap of the ball she has to be reminded to breathe. In the first game of the season, late in the first quarter, the defensive lineman who played directly next to Tucker broke his leg. Snapped his tibia clean, leaving his foot and ankle lying at a 90 degree angle from the rest of his leg. Other players recoiled in horror, faces agape and ashen white as the paramedics rushed in to remove him from the field. Some tears were shed by some tough young men; but as Lorenzo was wheeled of on a gurney, his senior season over in less than one quarter, he smiled ear to ear and pumped his fist in the air to the delight of a frenzied crowd. The boys collected themselves and played on. The game was tight, tied 14-14 with less than two minutes to play in the fourth and Glendale on the drive. They made it as far as Joplin's 40 yard line and faced 3rd and short. Tucker and the rest of the defense held strong, stuffing them twice for no gain to get the ball back. The offense then drove 50 yards in less than a minute to set up the game winning field goal as time expired. Awesome!!! Tucker had four tackles, played well, and was out of his mind with excitement.

Week 2 was less eventful as Joplin easily crushed West Plains 42-6. In contrast, game three, against Hillcrest last night was a manic combination of big plays, painful turnovers and drive killing penalties. What should have been a challenging but certain victory, transformed into a gut wrenching struggle. The game was tied at 29 with less than two minutes to play, and Hillcrest had 1st and goal on the five yard line. Tucker broke through the line and crushed the running back just as he took the hand off, forcing a fumble and ending the threat. We won the game in overtime. See the article below from the Joplin Globe. (Tucker's big play is described in the 6th paragraph from the bottom.)

http://www.joplinglobe.com/sports/x788123971/Joplin-survives-in-overtime

Tucker's team has a tradition of carrying a pick-axe onto the field before each game and hitting a big rock. This is doubly symbolic, representing working hard and paying homage to the mining history of Joplin, but also representing the team motto "Break the Rock". (Rockhurst High School, in Kansas City, is always nationally ranked and wins the Missouri state championship every year it seems.) After each game the pick-axe is given to the player of the game to take home and love and cherish. Tucker was more excited than he will ever let anyone see, to be awarded with the pick-axe after last night's game. I'm happy to report that while it was in his bedroom, he did not actually sleep with it in his bed.

Michael R. Wallace

Girls State

Girl's State was a great experience, although I must admit that I didn't even know it existed until I was called to the office and was informed that I was one of two junior girls who would be representing Joplin High School at the event. Girl's State is like a mock state government. One can run for offices, you have to pay taxes (which goes to scholarships at the end of the event), you can be involved in the judicial system (which I did), or be a part of the senate or house and create bills. It is very busy and I definitely lost sleep, but it gave me an inside view into politics and overall reinforced my belief that politics is not about one's views, but rather who gives the best speech, wears the coolest clothes, and who is most popular. I suppose I am hypocritical because I really took advantage of the "political process" and made sure to get my name out and befriend every voter. However, I sure hope that if I ever do go into politics that I will be elected over what I believe than over how many compliments I give the public.

Here's some pictures :)

Girl's State was divided into 7 counties and 21 cities. Here are some members of Crowder City, Dewitt County.

This is me and my roomate Chrystal after our first day at girls state. The first day went by really fast and was super confusing, we were glad when it was over.

Me and my city at flag raising. Girl's State took appreciation for our country very seriously. Every morning and evening we would meet at the flag and show respect as the flag was being raised or lowered. It was great to see everyone being reverent while it occurred and as we said the pledge.

Alicia was shyer than most girls that attended, she was homesick after a couple days of being there, so I made sure to talk to her and let her know that our city wanted her to be there and we actually became good friends.

Miss Megan (one of my counselors)

me and Stephanie

Me being a dork :)

my room

cont.

My city loved having there futures told, we did it whenever we had freetime.

Our banner. (We were the crowder trains, so we drew boxcars, had two umbrellas spinning beneath them (like wheels), our mayor was the conductor, and the rest of us made up the train.

random pic

I ran for three positions: city municipal judge, county circuit judge, and supreme court judge. And I'm happy to say I was elected to all three :)

our voting box

We're wearing our lovely girl's state shirts.

Molly, me and our highway patrol.

city pictures were taken from a scaffolding. 800 girls in one gym... it was chaotic.

Me and Paige in court

After one hour of no cases to try we got bored and frustrated...

So we made some pictures with our bracelets.

The next day in court was better. My city took our superintendent to court for an "assination attempt on our counselor" (she squirted her with a water gun). It was very entertaining. This picture however is of a marriage ceremony... it was weird.

We signed everyone's shirts.

The superintendent was amazing! She was funny, totally comfortable with herself, and befriended everyone. She is definitely one of my role models.

more fortune telling

Bailey was so funny! She is crazy, outgoing, and Mormon! We had a lot of fun discussing the church with the other girls there and impersonating our favorite comic... Brian Regan.

Me and Jasmine represented Crowder city well by taking 2 of the 7 supreme court judge seats :)

Black dress night.

I loved this ice cream machine!!!!

Supreme court judge pictures :)

Me acting powerful :)

I didn't get any pictures of my favorite night unfortunately. After five days without boys, the sponsors of girls state paid for a boys occopella group to come sing for us. I have never heard girls scream so loud in my life! :) The "True Men" from Truman university were really good and I ended up getting one of their Cd's the next day :)

Marvelous Mother's Day

Just a preview picture to wet your appetite... Aren't these two adorable!?!

I wasn't really looking forward to Mother's Day this year. Our family was going to be fasting and Mike had bishopric/PEC/etc. meetings Sunday morning...SO... that meant no yummy breakfast in bed. Plus the Friday/Saturday prior to Mother's Day was the Father and Sons camp out - which meant that Mike had been gone all weekend (excellent planning by the Priesthood) and therefore didn't have time to purchase or plan a fabulous Mother's Day surprise. All of this was confirmed when he asked me Saturday night what I wanted to do for Mother's Day. I replied that I just wanted a grilled meal - not really thinking that he would go purchase a new barbeque.

Sunday afternoon one of my friends asked me if I had enjoyed Paris.... I was completely confused! Realizing she had made a mistake, she apologized profusely with a bright red face. Since I knew that there was NO way that I would actually be going to Paris, France, I tried to figure out what it could possibly mean, but I couldn't come up with anything. After a wonderful sacrament meeting (in which Mike spoke and had me laughing one moment and in tears the next), I came home and was ushered up to my room. The kids were doing something that I wasn't supposed to see...

Finally, Ilah came up to my room and handed me a heart that read, "We know you've always wanted to go to Paris... Happy Mother's Day" signed by all of the kids. She then gave both Mike and I a first class ticket to Paris along with our passports.

I am soooo happy you can't even see my eyes!

We were taken down 1 flight of stairs and boarded the airplane (in the den/library room). The kids had rearranged the couches so they were one in front of the other. There was a rope tucked into the couch for our seatbelt. Ilah was our flight attendant. She showed us how to fasten our seatbelt and explained what to do in case of an emergency landing. Henry was our pilot. He said things like, "We are now at an altitude of ______ feet and climbing." "Please look to your left and/or right. You'll notice that we are in the clouds." (Ilah had drawn clouds and fastened them all around the room). Henry told us when it was safe to move about the cabin. Then Ilah came in and told Henry to hurry up and land. He said, "You will notice that the fasten seat belt light is now blinking. We are descending to our destination of Paris, France. Please buckle up as we might experience some turbulence." We landed the plane with sound effects and all as Ilah looked on annoyed that it took so long.

This is our pilot and flight attendant who also doubled as our garcon (waiter) and hostess :)

Check out the lovely moustache and the duct tape shirt!

She then walked us to our dining area... our screened in porch had been decorated with white Christmas lights. The kitchen table had been moved to the porch and set with our nice dishes and candles.

Isn't the Eiffel Tower beautiful!?

We were served french bread and grapes with Laughing Cow cheese for the 1st course. The 2nd course consisted of a delicious green salad with a vinagrette (prepared by Taysom) and grilled London Broil (prepared by Tucker). For dessert Taysom made us her famous crepes with Nutella and sliced bananas. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the crepes... probably because we were all too busy eating at that point.

Oh, I forgot to mention the orange Kool-Aid

The grill master

You gotta love the tee shirt, apron and tie combo!

I can honestly say that was the most memorable Mother's Day ever. I felt like I was in an episode of the Cosby Show. These kids are soooooo creative and thoughtful!!!!!!!!!!! How did I ever get so lucky? I love being a mom - even though I am FAR from perfect. I just hope that my kids can feel how much I love them every single day - I never want them to doubt that.

My beautiful daughters


My crazy sons!

P.S. In honor of The Cosby Show - here is one of my favorite moments. Of course the Cosby kids have nothin on my Wallace crew.