Camille's Band Concert

This morning we were able to attend Camille's spring concert. The hat is for a piece they played called Hoe Down. She was a bit embarassed as she was the only one to remember her hat, so the teacher pointed her out. She is also the only trumpet, so we could hear her. Good job, Sweetie!

Memorial Day

It was obvious Memorial Day morning that my kids expected a holiday. Nathan had a full schedule painting for money (which we always need), so it was up to me to come through. We all packed the sunscreen, the picnic, extra diapers and seven children into the suburban and headed for Temple Square. When we arrived, excited to get going, we discovered Ethan didn't have any shoes. Ugh! We decided to just see how far we could get, but knew that it might affect our plans.

This is everyone, fresh for our adventure. The kids have been watching old episodes of Gilligan's Island lately, and Jacob bought the white hat for his "little buddy".

We ran into some sister missionaries. Ethan was entertaining them showing them all the ways he could wear his hat. They even told him he looked like Gilligan, which made him happy. Then they asked me if we were going to the children's exhibit at the Church History Museum. I replied that we had originally planned to, but Gilligan forgot his shoes. One sweet sister said, "Just tell them the pioneers came without shoes too!" So with that in mind, we did visit the museum and had a nice time. I sat Seth in front of the table with the blocks that the kids can use pretending to build a temple. He only stayed a minute, then returned to the "hospital" section, took a reflex hammer out of the little doctor kit, and returned to the blocks, hammering each one into place. He knows you can't build without a hammer!

As we were running down, and our parking time was running out, we headed back to the car. Waiting on the street corner for a light, I started to tell the children what to expect next. "Okay kids, now here's the plan..." and a gentleman crossing the street toward us exclaimed, "The plan is, not to lose any of these kids!" Yes, kind sir, that is the ultimate plan. I want all of them always!!!

Leslie's Birthday

Leslie turned 13 yesterday. This is her "watermelon" cake. She designed it herself.
Teenage world, watch out! Leslie sporting her birthday shorts, bangles and sunglasses (with sparkly hairclip, but not actually visible in the photo, so just believe me.)
We love you, Leslie!

Cinderella

My kids have been watching Cinderella, and now they are playing Cinderella. The funny thing here is that Ethan volunteered to be the stepmother. :) Also, in our version, Cinderella gets fed up with all the attention, hollers at everyone and stomps off. All the subjects of the kingdom then wander the basement (castle) and call out, "Cinderella! Cinderella!...."

Leslie's Art Show

We spent last night at the Jr. High art show. Leslie had two items on exhibit from her art class this year. The first is her rendition of her shoe. She doesn't love this, but it really is a great shoe.

Next we come to the exciting part, Leslie's still life took 2nd place! Way to go, you good Leslie, you!

Look Mom, No Training Wheels!

Ethan came to the house, yelling with excitement this afternoon. "Mom, I can ride my bike without the training wheels!" This was something he just decided to try to master on his own. We are excited to see him go!

Wa-hoo! Red letter day! (He is so fast! Just tears around.)

So I can plant beans....

This is my latest labor of love. We have really missed having a vegetable garden since we moved to the city. So, for the last several days, I have been painstakingly disassembling what was a very expensive, quite nice flower bed. It has been sad to take out the plants and even cut down a tree. There are still a couple of bushes left. We are going to try to move them. I moved several other plants too. What I am hoping for after all of this is that I can plant enough beans to bottle, enough tomatoes to satisfy my mania for them and enough other veggies to make us feel like little farmers. I hope hope hope it will thrive. I am not the best gardener. Too many irons in the fire to be the best at anything really. But, the idea of beans and tomatoes keeps me going.

This is my bouquet from Seth today. He brought it in, with his standard,"Fwowers for you, mom!" This has been going on all spring. As soon as a tulip would begin to bud and color, he would pick the head off and proudly present it to me. We always put them in a little bowl on the cupboard. I have to admit though, this is the first child to bring me just the stems :). Love you, Seth!