End of School Year Craziness!

Another school year has flown by!  And the last month of school is always the craziest/busiest of them all.  Lots of fun though.  If I was a better blogger I would have written a whole post of each event, but...I'm not.  So there.  ;)  Instead, I'll just highlight some of the bigger events.
The older two girls were involved with the school choir concert.  They love to sing.  Our school doesn't have a regular choir program, so this was the first time my girls have had an opportunity to be in a school choir.  They each had a couple of moments in the spotlight, so to speak.  Breanna had a speaking part and Becca put together a slideshow for one song and played the drums in another.  I'm sure choir concerts will be regular occurrences in our future.  Can you pick them out of the crowd?

Projects and more projects.  The last half of the year is full of them.  Here is Breanna on her pioneer day, holding her book report on Number the Stars.

Band concert.  I will refrain from stating my opinion on what a goofball the band teacher is, although he didn't even conduct the band once during the concert.  Oh wait...I just did.  Anyway, I'm still quite annoyed with him, so I will just say that Becca played the flute really well.  :)

Rebecca was also on a team, with good friends Cassie and Andrew, for Battle of the Books.  They won at the school level and went on to compete in the District Finals.  They did great!  (Can't locate my picture of that right now.)
TALENT SHOW!  This is always so fun for the kids.  This is our kids' 3rd talent show to participate in a small group with their cousins, Emily and Kacy.  The song was called "Chocolate" and they used lots of props.  It was a little stressful getting things ready and practicing, but they did great and they were a big hit!

Katie's kindergarten class did an act too.  She can twist, mash potato, and shake it with the best of them!  Too cute!

Breanna's class did an act to "Rockin' Robin."  With gloves like that, you know it was good.  :)

The sixth graders did a farewell act too, but the lighting was bad so no picture.  They changed the lyrics and sang to the tune of "Moves Like Jagger."  Sixth graders have to be cool like that.
 Awards assembly.  So proud of Rebecca and Breanna.  They are very good students.  Do you see the stack of certificates Becca is holding? :)

 Last day of school is so hard.  Lots of tears were shed.  This was Rebecca's last day at Falcon Hill.  She will be attending a charter school in the fall and none of her classmates will be at the same school.  She will still see friends at church but it isn't quite the same.

Breanna is lucky to have two really close friends, and one is even her cousin.  She had so much fun this year.

Katie loved her whole class.  I love that they can have so many "best" friends in kindergarten.

We had two graduates this year.  Rebecca graduated from elementary school.  Can't believe it!  She is growing up way too fast.  I am so proud of her and the young woman she is becoming.

Katie graduated from kindergarten.  Wow!  (They didn't really have a ceremony, just took a picture and sent it home on the last day.  Feel kinda gypped, actually.)  She is reading so well. Her teacher gave her a few Junie B. Jones books and she finished them in a couple of days.  She is a sponge.

I'm so proud of all our children.

But I'm so glad May is over!  Whew!

Mother's Day

I am so blessed.  I really am.  Even though sometimes all I can think about are the trials that I might have or that a loved one is going through, there are certain times when I am overwhelmed by my many blessings.
Mother's Day was one of those times.
The day before, my wonderful husband and children cleaned the house and made an awesome dinner.
(Steak is a blessing.)  :)

My amazing, hard-working husband was so exhausted from doing so much for me that he passed out after family prayer.  He is a HUGE blessing in my life.  (Don't tell him I posted this picture.)

Hello!  Breakfast in bed?  Even before 9am church?  Blessing!  (I couldn't eat very much though, cuz I was still full from the dinner.)

Richard and the kids spoiled me even more with a new video camera, clothes, and handmade gifts and cards (those are my favorites).  I won't post pictures though, as I am in my pj's in all of them.  But I sure felt loved and appreciated.

Of course, FIVE of my biggest blessings ever are Rebecca, Breanna, Katie, Jonny, and Megan. My heart is full when I ponder the great privilege it is to be their mother.  Truly so blessed!

 I can't post this without mentioning my own mom.  I seem to be missing her a lot more recently.  Perhaps because I am realizing more and more how much I really do need her and would LOVE to be able to talk with her.  (I do have lots of other people in my life that help me in many ways, but no one is quite like your own mom.)  Her influence continues to be a blessing in my life each and every day.  I love you so much Mom!

* Make fun of this picture all you want, but it is one of the few I have with just me and my mom.  I am 11 and this was at a Merrie Miss activity. So blessed to have such a wonderful mother!

Jonathan's 4th Birthday

I can't believe my Jonny boy is 4 now!  He was so excited to have a birthday.  All he wanted was a skateboard.  I'm not sure where he learned about skateboards...but oh well.  The day before his actual birthday, we had a regular Sunday dinner with family and Richard decided to make the cakes.  He is really awesome at this.  Check out this cool skateboard!  It is actually up on donut wheels.  :)  Jonny loved it!

Cousin Brandon got one too for his upcoming birthday.  Happy Birthday handsome boys!

The next morning Jonny couldn't wait for his skateboard.  So happy!

Already trying some tricks!

I took Megan and Jonny to the zoo while the older girls were in school.  It was hot, so we didn't stay long.  We rode the carousel and the "train," which is more like a slow-moving tram and Jonny wanted to get off.  Too boring.  But then Dad met us for lunch and played with him in the splash area for a bit.
Later, we took our family to Amazing Jake's.  I don't think Jonny remembers going here ever before, but he really enjoyed it.  He was so excited he got the drive the bumper cars all by himself, even though he didn't really move very much.

Here's cutie Megan with handsome Daddy.

The older girls love all the rides, but especially the Frog Hopper.  They are also great on the rock climbing wall.

We were all exhausted after all that fun, but Jonny still had some presents to open.  Here he is with his new toys on display.  He can barely keep his eyes open, but he's happy!

Happy Birthday Jonny!  We love you so much and are so glad you are part of our family!

Breanna's 10th Birthday

Well, it is now May...so Breanna had a birthday last month.  :)  Can't believe how fast she is growing up!  She had two or three days of celebrating this year!  Here she is on her actual birthday, getting ready for school with some new clothes and jewelry (of course!), curlers still in hair, eating a donut man with bacon arms and legs and a tator tot head.  Breakfast of champions!



I took her lunch to school (chicken sandwich, fries, and frosty from Wendy's).  But the kids all seem to like Megan the best.  You should see the kids flock to her. 

Breanna had her choice of where to go out for dinner, and what does she pick?  Golden Corral.  Yippee.  I think the kids just like to be able to eat whatever they want. 
Here's my cheesy boys at dinner.

And the girls...

Then we headed home to open a few more presents.  Breanna didn't want much this year. (besides a dog...our kids always want a dog, and the answer is always the same. Not now.)  So she ended up with more new clothes (always fun since she usually gets hand-me-downs), a giant teddy bear (cuz why not?), and an itunes gift card (so she can get some new games on her phone).  She was pretty happy. 

The next day was her birthday party.  She was so excited!  She invited 4 cousins and close friend, Desiree, for a sleepover.  (Becca got to have Desi's sister, Cassie, over to join in the fun too.)  Here they are eating pizza (what else????).

Breanna as a glow monster.  :)

The girls had a blast decorating t-shirts, getting pedicures, and watching movies.  They also really liked the cake balls and Dad's famous candy cake.

Breanna got more presents!  Kacy and Emily gave her 2 cute stuffed animals and cash!

Jenny and Kenedy gave more cute stuffed animals!

And Desiree and Cassie gave a gift card to Charming Charlie's.  Breanna is excited to go shopping!

It isn't a sleepover till you have a pillow fight!

Fun stuff!

Happy Birthday Breanna!  We love you so much!

Busy Easter Weekend

Easter was 2 weeks ago...must be time to write about it.
On Good Friday, Richard and Jonny went on our ward's Fathers and Sons Campout.  Such fun!  Jonny was so excited to go camping (which means "to sleep in a tent" to Jonny...the rest of the time wasn't really camping.  He kept bugging Richard, "Let's go camping!" while they were at the campfire, etc.)
Richard took a bunch of great pictures but they were mostly of plants, bugs, and sunsets, and cool stuff like that.  I'll keep this post short though and omit most of the pictures.
Jonny is a typical boy.  He loves to play in the mud!

My two cute boys!

Love that bed head, Jonny boy.  Finally got to go camping!

They came home Saturday and we dyed eggs and went to the Easter pageant.
The next day was Easter.  I love Easter as we really try to focus on the sacrifice and resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We keep their baskets pretty simple with some candy and something to remind them of Jesus Christ.  This year in Jonny's basket he got a "Future Missionary" pin; however he hates anything that goes on him or his clothes, such as stickers or even band-aids, so the pin didn't stay on past the few pictures Richard managed to take. But he sure is handsome!

Here's the whole family in our Easter best.  It was fun to try to coordinate the girls' dresses.  I contemplated sewing this year, but it just didn't happen.

We had the Eldredge family over for dinner and then an egg hunt.  Fun times!

The next day, Rebecca and Breanna had a piano recital.  They did great!  Since I can't figure out how to load the videos, you'll have to take my word for it.  ;)

 

 

Rebecca's Adventure on the High Seas

So much for blogging more often....

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago Rebecca and I had the opportunity to go to San Diego for a 5th/6th grade ELP (gifted program) field trip.  Sounds fun, right???  I thought so too, until I found out exactly what we were in for.  The students (and parents) were to be "hired" as the crew for the Star of India sailing ship in 1874, and we would be treated very much like crew members.  Shortly after we arrived at the ship, we were organized into crews and Becca was put as the mate in charge of the linehanders crew.  The captain and first mate were quite strict with the crew and we all learned very quickly to not put our hands in our pockets (unless you wanted to do push-ups) and to reply quickly and loudly, "Aye, Captain Sir," whenever we were given an order.  The rest of the first day we were trained in all the many things a good crewmate should know and do.  One of Rebecca's crew's first tasks was to learn to lower the Captain's rowboat.  They did great!


Another job was to go down to the bilge (or the lowest part of the boat) to check for leaks or catch mice.  Fun stuff, I tell you.  Here you can barely see Rebecca (blue shirt), lying on her stomach on a small platform on wheels, being pushed into the crawl space.  I did it too, and it was NOT pleasant.  

Next was learning to handle the ropes to move freight.  Here is Rebecca giving the orders to her mates about how and when to pull the ropes.  It was a hard task, especially with the Captain putting pressure on her to get it right the first time. She did great though.  (By the way, this was one of my only times to sit down.)

After a great dinner of rat stew and soft tack (beef stew and roll), we had a couple of hours that the Captain wasn't so strict and the kids were actually laughing, dancing, and singing sea chanties for a bit.  Around 9:30pm we were instructed to lay out our sleeping bags on the mid-deck, had a silent fire drill, and were given instructions for our night watches.  Becca finally got to go to sleep around 10:30 but had to be up again at 11:15.  I didn't even bother trying to sleep during that time.  Our crew was on watch from 11:30pm-1:00am.  During that time, they were not allowed to talk.  They had one station where they read and wrote letters to loved ones, another to write in the Captain's log, another to learn to tie knots, and one where they just stood holding onto the wheel.

Did I mention it was COLD??? 

We finally were done with our watch and got to sleep in our clothes on the nice hard deck.  Great night's sleep.  At just after 6am, we were awakened by banging pots and the Captain shouting at us that we had 7 (S.E.V.E.N.) minutes to get up and have all our gear packed up and ready to go, lined up on deck.  What?! Most of these kids don't even know how to roll up a sleeping bag.  Needless to say, there was no time to change clothes or even use the bathroom.  After a quick breakfast, it was time to swab the deck.  Not easy work.  Makes me feel like mopping my kitchen isn't so bad.

Unfortunately (?) we were then told that the Captain found a more experienced crew and would have to let us go.  The contract was sold to the kids' teacher, where they would be made to continue their education, therefore giving them a chance for a better life.  Here's all the crews in their formation.

After he stepped out of character and before we left the ship, the Captain posed for a quick picture.  He was actually a great guy and a fantastic actor/historian.

Next, we hurried to a different boat (one that actually moved) for a floating lab.  The kids helped throw out and haul in a net full of sea creatures.  Here is one ugly fish getting up close and personal with Rebecca (in the braid).  

Becca was pretty anxious during the first part of the trip but after awhile she relaxed and got into it.  Here she is holding a shrimp.  Braver than her mother.

If you squint you can see the tail of the gray whale we saw.  Apparently we were very lucky to see one, as they are usually further out.  Wish the picture was better.  But we were pretty close when it surfaced.

Proof I was actually there.

One of Becca's favorite parts was all the sea lions on this dock.  This picture doesn't capture it but the docks were covered before a guy came out and literally shooed them away.

Last stop was pizza on the beach.  BUT, we couldn't get wet or even take our shoes off in the sand.  That's ok.  All we really wanted was a shower and our own beds.  It was a long (stinky) ride back to Mesa.

It was a great learning experience...but I don't think Rebecca wants to be a 19th century sailor when she grows up.