Memorial Day 2012

Family time and making memories are really important to me.

I felt like our Memorial Day was one for the books as it lived up to all my wonderful expectations of a day full of fun, memorable activities.

The day started with a Memorial Day Breakfast at church.  It was advertised as a pancake breakfast but I was personally thrilled when it turned out to be breakfast burritos.  Stephen coordinated the scouts on a flag ceremony and ....

I learned that on Memorial Day the flag is raised completely and then lowered to half mast and then at noon it is to be raised all the way to the top--WHO KNEW?!?!  

Then a veteran came and spoke to us brieftly about his experiences and how we should be grateful for those who did their duty and offered the ultimate sacrifice for us.  I thought of Stephen's grandfather, Joseph Daniel Day, a decorated veteran who is buried near Ft. Worth and I wished we'd had planned it into our day to go and visit his and Grandma Day's graves.  Mental note taken for the future.

Then we came home to do a few things (food prep and yard work) and get ready for activity #2 of the day: Water Fight and BBQ with my parents!

We had fun....

Then on to fun activity #3:

Summer Sounds City Concert Series featuring

Allen Philharmonic Symphony and Chorus

AND Fireworks

This place got pretty crowded but we found some seats with some friends 

(sorry to say I forgot the camera)

And really enjoyed some music.  Lindsey would get up and dance around, Matthew bounced to the rhythm in my lap, we enjoyed popcorn and granola bars (still stuffed from the BBQ) and stayed an hour because it was a school night.

Our children were exhausted from all the excitement, and we were happy to have had such a full, fun day!

Recent GREAT photos!

 This is my favorite recent pic!  These two have such fun together.  They had on their jet packs (stuffed animals strapped to their backs), and were ready to ride the zip line (hangars at their waists) and just to be safe, they were armed and dangerous!  FUN!

 This cute guy was sporting a baseball hat at Sam's infamous Rise and Shine assembly performance....

And this is my handsome husband.  Taken at a recent Boy Scout Camporee, Taken by a fellow scout leader with a great camera--isn't it GREAT?!?!

Mothers Day Weekend

It was SUPPOSED to be the annual Fathers and Sons outing, but wouldn't you know it?  It rained most of Friday so it was cancelled.  So us girls decided to let the boys join us on our Girls Night Out plans by going out to dinner at In & Out and then to Target to have them each pick a new nail color for a manicure & pedicure party at home.  But shock of all shocks--the boys wanted to go to Cabellas instead....and while we beautified, Sam and Dad played on the Wii, it was fun to have some family time.

Saturday morning I met up with my mom (with a few kids in tow) at a Farmers Market in McKinney, I'd always wanted to go and really loved it.  The food was fresh and delicious and it was something out of the ordinary to do with my family, here are my 3 who are sporting fresh springs of lavender:

We enjoyed some fresh peaches, corn, asparagus, and carrots!  YUM!  We'll be going again for sure.

Sunday Mothers day was nice.  Stephen and the kids made me waffles for breakfast and made me a yummy dinner!  Stephen can cook but doesn't very often, it was a wonderful change not to have to cook or do dishes.  I don't do well with just sitting doing nothing, I like to stay busy, so I had to force myself to sit still and stay out of the kitchen.  But it was a good day to be thankful for being a mom.

I am grateful for each of my children and for the blessing it is to be their mom.  I am humbled and overwhelmed at times with the responsibility and enormity of the task of raising them, but I am grateful for my Heavenly Father who guides me in raising them, it's my most important work!

End of school year activities

May is such a busy month!  But I look forward to it because it means that after the hectic few weeks we can look forward to a much more flexible relaxed schedule.....here are some highlights:

Sam finished his 4th season in Soccer, and we had a pool party to celebrate, here are the Dragons!  Super excited for next season and head coach Stephen, aka DAD!

And this gorgeous girl showed nerves of steel and performed in the school talent show!  She played a piece entitled "Little Indian Lance"--I may be biased but she was the best one!

And Lindsey had her end of school year performance for preschool--this was really cute as she recited a poem and sang some songs, and danced as a ladybug.

 A cute thing happened at her show.  Matthew was DONE sitting on my lap and really wanted to go up and sit with Lindsey and her teacher.  I was worried about this because these two are notorious for not getting along that well.  Matthew is the normal 2 year old little brother and knows EXACTLY what buttons to push to make Lindsey scream and cry and he does so with proficiency countless times a day.  Therefore I thought this would be a problem, but they shocked me....

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BIG BOY BED

BIG NEWS around here is that we've taken down the crib. We're going on some vacations this summer and I'd really like to not have to worry about bringing a pack and play or hoping for one of the few roll away cribs that all the hotels we'll be staying at probably have (and eeeeeewwwww for sharing). So we've made the switch!

We were hopeful that we'd have at least a night or two when he didn't realize he COULD get out, our other kids were that way, and we were silently even hoping for another Lindsey experience who NEVER played the "up down" game, but that wasn't to be.

He was REALLY tired last night but still fought us for about 30 minutes, getting up a handful of times. They way we'd situated the toddler bed made it easy for him to climb from the headboard to the top of his crib, so today we turned it around.

This morning I got a visitor at 4:55 who said he was thirsty. I tried to get him a drink but in the dark couldn't find the plug for the sippy cup, when he insisted that he take it to bed with him I was too tired to protest. Sure enough after I thought he'd gone back to sleep I crept downstairs and back into bed. I was almost asleep when.....you guessed it, I had a visitor again. I put him back in bed where he moaned and cried until just after 6 when Sam woke up with him, in a matter of minutes all 4 of the children were awake.

Sure makes for a long day!

Tonight, with a 2 hour defecit of sleep he only fought for less than 20 minutes and only got up twice, so I guess my plan for the next few weeks is to wear out this cute 2 year old as best as I can so he won't fight me at bedtime!

The BIG CHOP

A day my beautiful Kaitlyn has been waiting for....

THE BIG CHOP!!

She's been growing her hair out again and really anxious for the ease and coolness of having shorter hair.  I'd asked her to wait until after her baptism for pretty pictures and because I knew for sure it would be warm enough to be staying warm.

So the day came.....

In all she cut 9 1/2 inches off, we'll donate it at Relay for Life in a couple weeks.  She LOVES the new "do" and I'm so proud of her!!

Aunt Sarah.....

Is now a missionary, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

She has a SPECIAL assignment though, she's a performing missionary in Nauvoo, Illinois, a church historical site.  She'll learn some shows and serve as a tour guide.  She was among many hundreds of people auditioned, and she was one of 20 people chosen.

We went to College Station to see her during the 2 weeks she had between school and her 4 month mission.

It also coincided with an Aggie Institute Reunion and the retirement party for the long time director, who also serves in the Stake Presidency, this was a group photo of us at the party--we're a fun group!

 And this is us with Aunt Sarah going for a drive in the car....

We'll miss Aunt Sarah-mundo and being able to see her this summer, but we'll go see her in Nauvoo AND we're planning on writing and sending care packages (Sam's got these all planned!)

Walking to school may be harmful for your health

Matthew is walking proof that walking to school may not always be good for your health.

Exhibit A:

When walking to school, sometimes you will fall and skin your knee......

Exhibit B:

Then after skinning your knee, and you run to your mother in tears to tell her about your injury, you MIGHT fall, over-rotate and conk your noggin on the sidewalk and get an even bigger injury!!!

Poor guy, he's just trying to keep up with all the other kids, good thing he's cute!

I will raise READERS

So the other day my kids were complaining they didn't have any books they really wanted to read.

My older two are my children who know how to read and they get books regularly from their school library so I thought we were good, but my children were asking to READ!!

So we spent the afternoon at the library.  

They each have their own bag, my "readers" have their own library cards.  My older two can get as many books as they are old, at least to start, I think Sam ended up with a couple extras.

Movies are always a favorite, we got 5.

Sam was so excited about his books that we checked his out first and then Kaitlyn took her turn, then we did Lindsey and Matthew's.  When I turned around I found Sam lying on his stomach reading one of his new treasures, I should have snapped a picture but I didn't think to.

After this we hit up Sonic for a slushie that we shared.....

Then we tried a new thing (that I heard in an interview with Julie B. Beck of something she did in her house): BRING A BOOK TO DINNER--it was a total hit!  And probably the quietest meal we've had in a long time, if not ever!

Then the kids were ready for bed early, and this is what they did:

I will RAISE READERS!!!

Sam turns 6

Our house is a bit crazy in the spring.

We celebrate 4 birthdays in 22 days, throw Easter in there too and it's busy!

Sam's is the 3rd in this barage of celebrations.  

So this guy turned 6 and with all the hoopla over Kaitlyn's special 8, we tried to make things special for him too.

Of course on THE day Stephen took the day off from work and was the resident watch dog:

Lunch was from Canes (we were almost late, silly 10:30 kindergarten lunch period makes it hard for fast food to have made the switch from breakfast to lunch).

Gifts included some new books (Encyclopedia Brown, A-Z Mysteries, and Magic Treehouse), a remote control car, and a poster of his Book of Mormon Hero Moroni, Grandparents Lewis got him this really cool Lego Star Wars Encyclopedia book that he has since spent hours pouring over, and Grandparents McKneely got him some water guns which we've really enjoyed!

His special treat was a blue cake with sprinkles on top (DONE)--we keep cakes simple around here, I do a lot of things, but I don't do fun cakes.

So Happy Birthday to my sweet, analytical, talkative, affectionate, dis-tractable Sam, I can't imagine our family without you!