Spring has Arrived

Spring is finally here in Lubbock! Usually when spring comes we think of beautiful flowers and green grass, but in Lubbock you know it is spring because the wind blows all of the time and there is a nice fine layer of dust everywhere. The grass is not green yet unless you are fortunate enough to have fescue, but the weeds are green and growing quite well. It was a beautiful day yesterday, other than the wind, so we decided to plant some flowers. I was amazed at all of the people at the nursery. I guess I don't usually go on Saturday to buy my flowers. We got a lot of the flowers planted, but I still need to plant the tomatoes and peppers we bought. Emily and her friend Landon knew Spring had come because they caught their first horny toads of the season. They were very excited because it had been a few years since they had caught ones that were so big. They only keep them long enough to show to everyone and take their picture, then they release them again.

Abigail's Temper Tantrum

Abigail's new thing is to throw herself on the ground and kick and scream when she gets mad over something. All of my children have done this, and I have learned just to let them do it. I am amazed at the looks other people give me when they see me not doing anything to help her while she is on the floor crying, I wonder, do other kids not do this?
Last Sunday Abigail didn't get a good nap because she fell asleep on the way home from church and did not stay asleep. Some kids function OK without a nap, but Abigail is not one of those kids. She got upset about something and did her normal temper tantrum on the floor. She cried for longer than normal, but then quickly stopped. When Jeff went in to pick her up this is what he found.


The funniest part is when I picked her up to put her in her crib, she woke up and picked up on the crying right where she had stopped.

The End of String Project

Emily had her last recital, or what they like to call "informance" in violin yesterday. She has been in a two year program at TTU where they teach you how to play the violin. It is twice a week for 45 minutes. She has come a very long ways since the beginning of it all. They have gotten the kids to the point that they could try out for the Lubbock Youth Symphony Orchestra, and all of the kids in her class except her did. She opted out of it since their only rehearsals are on Sunday. We are hoping we can get her into private lessons that are only once a week. It has been a little time consuming driving down to Tech twice a week. It is not close enough to go back home while she is at her lesson, but Abigail and Ryan are not quiet enough to sit in on the lesson, so we just had to sit in the Suburban and wait for her. The kids were thankful we have a DVD player in the car, but it wouldn't usually entertain Abigail for very long. It is all worth it to hear Emily play. We are so proud of her! She has worked hard and has stayed very self motivated. She gets up every morning on her own and practices violin and piano before school, and before even I get up. She is a great daughter to have!

These are some of the girls, and one of her teachers from String Projects.

Easter

We had a wonderful Easter. The week before Easter my Mom came out and visited. Everyone had a good time visiting with her. We spent a lot of time shopping during the day while the kids were at school. This is something I don't do too often anymore because Ryan and Abigail don't enjoy it and they do everything they can to help me not enjoy it, but it was good to get summer and Easter clothes for the kids. The highlight of Grandma's stay for the kids was the night before she left. We went out to eat, bowling, and then rented a video. They thought it was great the Grandma could beat me at bowling!

One Good Friday we spent a lot of the day weeding the bigger half of our garden. We were very thankful we did that since it got cold on Saturday. Saturday the kids went with Jeff to the movie, and then they decorated Easter eggs.





Easter morning the kids enjoyed doing an Easter egg hunt around the house before church. I enjoyed getting them all dressed in their Easter outfits. I don't know how much longer I will be able to make them coordinate for Easter and Christmas, but I enjoy being able to so far. I only have a one requirement from Tyson and Justin NO SWEATER VESTS!



This is not the best picture of them in their outfits, but we needed to get to church! I am planning on having a friend do some pictures of them in a few weeks so I will post them when I get them.

After church we went and visited with Lorel and Annabell. Annabell had just gotten out of the hospital, and we were all happy to see her doing so well. It was a great Easter!

Emily's Projects

Emily had two big projects due right after Spring Break. They both kept her extremely busy! She had to make a life size person to use while she presented a report on ancient Rome. She chose to make a giant doll. I was glad a knew how to sew and had made several dresses in my life! I thought she did a good job.

The second big project Emily had was to design and build a house out of Popsicle sticks. She was very excited about this project. Her art teacher encouraged them to be creative when designing their houses. After eight weeks of working on them at school they brought them home over Spring Break to complete. By the time the project came home Emily was not near as excited about it. She had the roof, flooring, and landscaping left to complete at home. After a lot of hard work it was complete and she got a 100% on the project. We were all impressed and proud of her hard work. We also learned if our other kids take art not to be quite so creative in the shape. Emily said she wished she wasn't the one who always had to figure these things out for everyone else!

The outside of her house


The inside of her house