Another School Year Ends

 The highlight of the end of the year festivities in elementary school is field day!  The kids look forward to it, and I have to admit, even though it is long and hot, it is pretty fun to watch!

Grades 1-5 do their field day together, so it is a little crazy to try to locate your child, but it is run very well.  Tori loved the soccer and the hula hoops.  She is such a princess, but she enjoys being sporty too!  She never stops surprising me!

 Liza was so excited when it was finally her turn for field day!  The kindies have their own field day a few days after the rest of the school and she could hardly wait.  The activities were different, but she had a blast!  This little girl has no problem getting down and dirty and just having a great time!

I love the look of concentration on her face!

The cousins crossing paths in their potato sacks!

 The day after field day was our preschool graduation program.  O didn't graduate this year, he has one more year of preschool left, but he did great in the program.  The kid is a ham with absolutely NO inhibition!

He said he line perfectly!  I was a proud mama!

I really love this guy!

 Then came the last day of school for the girls.  In kindergarten the last day of school is a royal wedding and those in attendance are asked to dress accordingly.  Liz and Soph know how to dress the part!  Q and U were married and will live happily ever after!

Liza with Ms. Katie--lucky for Liz she gets to have the same teacher next year!  

The cousins were in the same class and will be for first grade too. 

T loved Ms. Montoya!  

All three of my angels have grown and changed a lot during this school year!  I am proud of all three of them and shocked at how quickly the time goes.  I am thankful for their great teachers! We have been fortunate to have kids that enjoy school and do well.  I am sure that is in no small part thanks to their teachers!

Planting, Planting, Planting

Thanks to the example of a loving Papa, these little ones learn every spring about the importance of planting a garden!  

 These little hands have learned well from all of Papa's lessons!  Thanks Papa!

 T

 Liz

O

Easter 2012

It has kind of become our tradition to decorate eggs with cousins.  This year we dyed eggs with the Earls.

I don't have any great pictures of Easter morning, the egg hunt, the outfits for church...but, here's what I do have...

A very sleepy Daddy with a not so sleepy baby.

A VERY handsome little boy who has discovered a hat fetish.

 And several not so great pictures of four super adorable kids!

Spring Break 2012

We had a great time over spring break this year!  We spent a few days in Breckenridge having a blast.  We were really nervous about how Zac would do with five other people in the same room for sleeping, and vice versa.  Lucky for us everyone did a great job!  Zacky was a real trooper and the rest of us had a great time!  I only have pictures of the two main attractions: the gondola, and the mine.  

 This man makes a Snugli look GOOOOD!

Yes, they made EVERYONE wear a hard hat, including the sleeping baby...my arm hurt by the end of the tour!  The kids had a blast though!  Tori is convinced that she would have been a "Blast Monkey" back in the day.  She is the right age, but I don't think that would have happened.

 No gold found, but they had a great time anyway!

At the end of the week the three older kiddos got to go to Disney on Ice with their cousins!  They all dressed up and were so excited!

What better way to end a great spring break than with a lemonade stand?  I was really nervous to let them do it, but Daddy gave in.  I was so afraid that they would get everything ready and then get disappointed by people not stopping and abandon the effort.  Well, I was pleasantly surprised!  All three of them sat there working together for almost two hours.  No fits, no frustration, just sheer excitement and anticipation!

I sat behind them on the porch.  Far enough away that they could feel independent, but close enough to be there in case they needed help.  It was interesting to watch them all.  My favorite moment was when a couple of teenage boys walking down the street got about ten feet from them and said "You selling lemonade?"  The smirks on their faces told me that they were going to tease my babies, and mama bear was about ready to pounce.  I forced myself to sit and let it play out for a minute.  The boys then pulled out their wallets and gave the kids some money for their lemonade.  I almost cried.  I know that's silly, and I probably shouldn't admit it, but my babies are my world, and that day those boys made my babies happy. They had a blast, and made about $5 which was about $4.50 more than I expected!

A Weekend with Stanley

Some wonderful friends of our moved to Alaska a few years ago.  We miss them SO bad (enough guilt there Allie?).  Luckily we keep in touch (thanks to Allie, because anyone that knows me knows that I am TERRIBLE at keeping in touch!).  This spring their boy that is Tori's age sent a "Flat Stanley" for her to show around for the weekend.  For those of you that have never read the book, or had a child do this activity, it is based on a book about a little boy who gets flattened by a bulletin board.  Sounds weird, but it is great for a unit activity about travel, etc.  Anyway--Stanley was mailed to us in an envelope, we had some adventures with him, and then we sent them back.  Here are some of our adventures with Stanley:

Stanley had a sleepover with Tori and Lily.  Stanley enjoyed movies, popcorn, the works!

Then Stanley helped make a volcano with Owen and the girls.  

Finally, Stanley got to visit the museum.  

Sometimes it is nice to have an excuse to do some fun things and let everything else wait til later.  Thanks Shane!  We had fun!

The BIG Weekend!

Like I said before, I am lucky to have great sisters!  Thanks Nicole!  These are some of the pictures that we took for T's baptism announcement.  It was SO cold!  She was such a trooper while we tossed her parka on between pictures and then ripped it off and told her to "smile."

  

I was so proud of my beautiful eight year old when she chose to be baptized!  She was so excited and so prepared!  I love this girl so much!  She wore the same dress as her mama was baptized in.

We were so blessed to have so much family and so much love surrounding us for this VERY BIG weekend!  Saturday, February 18 we had a beautiful baptism.  Tori's Aunt Susie and Aunt Manda spoke, the cousins sang a song that Tori and her piano teacher played together on the piano.  It was so wonderful!  

 The Family

 Grandma and Tori

 Tori with Uncle Jon, Aunt Kelsi, and cousins Graham and Colin

 T with Uncle Sam, Grampy, Grammy, and Aunt Sue Sue

 T and her Aunt Nini, Uncle Chris, and cousins Jake, Brayden, Logan, and Gavin

 Tor with Uncle Ty, Aunt Ang, and cousins Hunter, Lily, and Sophie

 Big T with Aunt Manda, Uncle Collin, and cousins Marlee, Makenna, and Liam

Tori with Papa and Nana

Sunday, February 19 we had a baby blessing with my sweet little prince.  We didn't get all the pictures I wanted because there was too much chaos.  Chaos is caused when you are surrounded by so many people that love and care about you that you just don't have time to grab a camera.

 The man of the hour!

 The happy family

 Mom and the Prince

 Zac and Susie

 Grammy, Grampy, and Zac

Nana, Papa, and Zac

Sunday was also Owen's birthday, so we had a big family dinner with both sides of the family after church.  We celebrated Tori's birthday, Owen's birthday, a baptism and a blessing!  It was a huge weekend and we are so thankful for all the help, love, and support we had through it all!

My wonderful mother in law insisted that I buy a cake instead of making one this year.  I was disappointed, but went with it.  Owen wasn't disappointed, and of course, in the end, she was right!  Thank heavens I listened and didn't try to do one more thing that weekend!

WE LOVE YOU ALL AND ARE SO THANKFUL FOR ALL THE LOVE YOU SHOW TO OUR LITTLE FAMILY!