More of This, That and the Other

Last Saturday we went to the National Junior Gymnastic Championship. The tickets we had were good for the whole weekend but we went on Saturday and planned to spend the evening there. We drove over an hour to get there... to Puyallup... (say it Piu-all-up), but after 30 minutes everyone was ready to go home. The gymnasts were awesome. The Olympians are chosen from this group even... but it was our rear-ends that had had enough. The few bleachers they had set up for this enormous event were filled with what appeared to be the families of the gymnasts. We ended up sitting on the concrete floor in the front. Ouchie to our little highnies. From our vantage point we could only see the balance beam and the floor routines which were superb and amazing, but there was the vault and bars that we couldn't see. Anyway, it was great to say that we were there but surely not worth our money for the little amount of time we spent there. Ady got a souvenir in honor of her gymnastic talents...
Peace, Love, Gymnastics everybody.

The BOYS.

Kaden and I enjoying the delicious weather we've been having lately.
Emmy had a kindergarten program this week. It was entertaining and cute.

Emmy popped out her very first tooth today. She wrote a long letter to the tooth fairy and then stuck her tooth in a little Rubbermaid container. Just a bit bulky to put under her pillow I'd have to say.

And Emmy funny: So, tonight as we were kneeling for family prayer Emmy said, "Dad, you are in your 40's. That means your not going to be around much longer." I giggled through the prayer while Jeff just shook his head feeling depressed and old.

This, That and the Other

Last Monday night for Family Home Evening we were invited over to Leslie and Denny Hancock's home. They are a cute couple in our ward who run a shelter for women and children. Denny also is a fabulous musician who has written hundreds of songs and does firesides all over the area sharing his message of service and the Savior. He has built a theater room/recording studio up in their attic where he does all his work and he wanted to record our family doing some music. First of all this room is incredible. One day he opened his linen closet and saw that it has access to an attic, so he built this room from there. Now you open the linen closet to steep stairs going up to this big room. It has a stage with strobe lights and a glitter ball plus a big screen to watch movies. The girls were at home. It was their dream place of existence. If you pull back the carpet on the stage there is a big race car racing track which we couldn't Keep Kaden away from. Emmy brought her harp to play and everyone sang songs and duets. They all transformed to "American Idol" wanna be's. They were recording artists and loving every second. Leslie took pictures and sent us this collage.

I think Denny knew we had some talented kids but he was amazed at how they became one with their mics. It made it even cooler to have headsets and hear yourself on the playback. They like to saythat they are recording artists but unfortunately it only wet their appetite. They are salivating for more. The girls wrote them thank you cards today in hopes that they would get invited back sooner. I still can't figure out how to download music to my posts so I'll keep trying and let you know when the music is on.

Other than that things have been the usual relay of action packed fun. The weather has been fabulously beautiful which has made the kids quite wild running around like orphans in the street. Here's a run-down of all the little critters.

Emmy has been a story stretcher. She told her Primary teacher that I was pregnant and having a girl. (I might look pregnant but I'm not. The teacher had to check with me to find out the truth before she spread any rumors.) Emmy also told this beautiful little Indian girl in her kindergarten class that her dad wouldn't let her play with her because she had brown skin. (Not good. We got a call from the principal for that one.)

Kaden is in the process of being potty trained and depending on the day does pretty well. He does get to a point during the day where it's too much work and he wants to be "little and wear a diaper." I thought Spiderman, Diego, Mickey and Thomas the Train undies would work like magic... not yet. I just find it completely exhausting to be the trainer... it's hard to go anywhere and it's up to me to make sure he's constantly being reminded to go. I'd like to skip over this stage and move on. He's also perfected his scream that could melt the wax in your ears.

Last night Emmy was the only child to perform in the Stake's Cultural Night. She and I played a duet. There was a little girl who wandered from the audience up to the stage where Emmy was playing. Emmy didn't miss a bit with her fingers plucking the harp... although her eyes stared at that little girl and followed her until she got off the stage. The fact that Emmy could keep going and play without looking at her fingers impressed everyone the most. I guess she's used to playing with distractions but now we just have to work on not looking like we're distracted.

Maryn did awesome on a math test this week. That's awesome especially since we quit her math tutoring. Yeeha! Maryn also has babysat officially twice this week. She did great and especially loved the money that came with it. Go Green!

Adyson and I got to go to a Mother/Daughter tea party for the Primary Activity Day girls. It was fun for just me and her to be together. We went around the room with the Mom's saying why they love their daughters and the girls saying why they loved their moms. I said that I love Adyson because she makes our home a better place. She is a peacemaker. Some examples are: I played a homework game with her and she could have won but she let me win because she didn't want me to feel bad. When we were about to finish reading the Book of Mormon (just the kids and I) Ady said, "Let's wait and read it with Dad so he can be with us when we finish it. He'll feel sad to be left out." She's easily able to feel what others might be feeling. It makes her a great friend and a great daughter to have. Ady said that she liked me because I am nice and creative and I make her laugh.

Jeff's been coming home earlier this week from work which has been a treat for all of us.

There you have it. Never a dull moment. Always some chearleader high kicks and chinese spilts going on here with yodeling and clogging to celebrate life. If you are in need of entertainment or ear spliting noise come on over. Life just couldn't be better.

Ady's Day

On Saturday, May 3rd the Young Women in our ward had a bake sale to earn money for camp. They had a silent auction for the "BIG" stuff and we won this beautiful cake that a girl made. As a side note, the bakery was a funny thing for me because we had to go buy all the ingredients for the goods;the mom's ended up making all the stuff and then the families returned to the church to buy their treats back. So, all in all we paid for our daughters camp anyway. It's a good thing they made enough money at the bakesale that we don't have to write out anymore checks. I say for next year please save us the trouble and let us just write out the check in the first place.

Because the cake was so big and beautiful we had to share it. We invited the Gehretts and Webbs over and Ady asked to have it be her birthday cake so "I wouldn't have to make another one for her." (example of her thoughtfulness.)

Ellie and Anna Gehrett with Maisy Webb and Ads.

On Monday, Ady's birthday she asked for homemade pizza and a fruit salad in a watermelon. I believe we had that last year too. We also had strawberry shortcake for dessert. All she wanted to do on her birthday was go to the church and play games as a family. She's so low maintanance... I hope it lasts.

Kaden's loving the shortcake.

Daddy's artwork for the birthday girl. The girls thought it was weird that it said, "Happy Adyson Birthday."

I've said it before but Ady loves to claim herself as a fashion designer. (Maryn even lets her pick out her clothes on school days. ) Ady asked for some Spring clothes. Especially since she and Emmy have been sharing clothes and they are still wearing some of Maryn's hand-me-downs she is in desperate need of some fresh clothes. Adyson is a great artist too. This year she has made some amazing art pieces at school and at home. I made her a book of her artwork that I scanned into the computer and had published. The hug that came with that book was totally worth the effort it took to make.

She is the tetherball recess champ at school and got a tetherball for her birthday. It was set up in our backyard as her friends were arriving for her birthday party on Friday. She was crazy happy about that gift.

Her friend party consisted of our spaghetti dinner with no dishes. Her friends got dressed up in their garbage bags and thought we were the weirdest family around.

Sometimes I think that my kids are picky eaters until I am around other kids. I couldn't believe that out of 6 girls only 2 had sauce on their spaghetti...only 2 had salad and 2 hated garlic bread. Come on you parents! What's up with that? It's YOUR fault they're picky not theirs.

In hopes of warm weather we made our rag flip-flops. They turned out adorable!!

Ady's friends are Georgia, Sophia, Nadia, Anna and Maya. All great girls from her school class.

Adyson's class at school made a book of why they like her. Each drew a picture and wrote 4 sentences of why Ady is unique and special. Every single student made a comment about Ady is smart (which she doesn't think she is, but just goes to show ya that others see you totally different that you see yourself.) They also said she was funny, had a great laugh, was the nicest girl in class and small but mighty. A parent loves to see that others see great qualities in their child. Ady is SO special. Sometimes I think that Ady is one of Heavenly Father's favorites. I think that she came to our house because WE needed her Spirit. She is so thoughtful of others. Example from this week: On the way to gymnastics Ady happily switched leotards with Emmy because Emmy didn't want to wear the plain black one with straps that slid off her shoulders. Emmy was carrying on and on about it, so Ady stripped down in the car, took off her leotard and switched with Emmy eventhough the straps were even bigger on Ady's shoulders. She said that she didn't want Emmy to be uncomfortable at gymnastics and she wanted her to stop crying. Another example from her birthday: Ady got a package of TWIX for a gift... her very favorite candy. Everyone she was with wanted one so she passed them all out until they were gone leaving her with NONE for herself. She said it wasn't a big deal. I could go on and on about how special she is. She'll see someone carrying something heavy and make a comment about "they must be so tired." Or she'll come help me do something because I've "had a big day." She is a peacemaker. I learn from her all the time. She is sweet and kind. She hardly complains and whines when she practices the piano, which, I might add she is getting really good at. She loves to help in the kitchen. She loves to watch t.v. She is working on gaining 20 pounds by August so she can ride horses at Ensign Ranch. She only weighs 47 pounds. Ady is our "precious moments" girl who wants to do what is right and who tries to help others choose the right too. She has a good heart. I can't believe that my little Adsie is 9 years old! Happy Birthday!!

Tip toe through the tulips

We went way up north 2 Saturdays ago... over an hour drive to see the Tulip Festival. Usually when you go to Tulip Festivals you go for the purpose of enjoying beauty and preserving the beauty by taking lots of pictures. This is not a trip to forget your camera like we did. We tried the next best thing... taking pictures with your phone. Not the greatest but at least we captured the proof we needed to show that we really were there and there really were lots and lots and lots of fields of flowers in the whole county. BEAUTIFUL!