Priceless Picture

Tyson teaching Justin how to tie his tie before church yesterday.

8th Grade Banquet

Emily went to "Banquet" Saturday night.  I am not sure why they call it banquet because it is not a dinner it is a dance.  This is a pretty big deal out here for the 8th graders.  The girls all get nice dresses and some of the boys rent tuxes. Several of the kids were driven to the dance in Limo's, Emily was not one of these kids, she absolutely refused to have it be a big deal like that.  Emily and her friend Mikaela went together.  We took them out to dinner before they got their dresses on so they wouldn't spill on them.  This was a mistake because it took a lot longer to eat then expected so they didn't have much time to get ready which is why I don't have many pictures.  Emily had a fun time.  Here are the two pictures I have.

District Champion!

Emily played in her last tennis tournament at FMS.  It was in Plainview against everyone in our district.  This is the first time to play these girls because we usually just play the schools in Lubbock which are not in our district (they are all 5A and we are 4A).  Jeff took Emily to the tournament and I stayed home to take the boys to their soccer games.  Emily played 4 matches and won all of them quite easily.  In the second match she played the number one seed girl, here is what Emily said in her own words.

"This match was against the #1 seed girl, and she was expected to win the whole tournament. I ended up winning 8-4, but for the first time ever, I got mad during a match. The other girl was from a school called Westover. Westover feeds into Canyon High School. The Canyon coach stopped the match a few times (at least it was while we were switching sides) to give her 15 minute sermons about what to do if I hit the ball here, what to do if a do this shot, blah, blah, blah. On top of that, he stood there, right next to the court almost the whole match, yelling advice and such. In tennis, there are very strict rules about these kinds of things, and he broke all of them!"  Jeff said she played great all day.  We are all proud of her.  Ellen decided we needed to make her a sign and a trophy for when she got home since she only got a medal from the tournament.  We all sang "You are the Champion"  when she got home.  Here are a few pictures.  I wish I could have gone to the tournament to watch her, but I am glad Jeff got to go see her play well because he hasn't been able to as often as me.

Emily in front of her sign

Regan's drawing on the sign

Addison's drawing on the sign

Miller's drawing

Justin's drawing

a few of the others

 

 

Emily with the trophy Ellen made for her

 

Piano Lessons for Ryan

Ryan has always shown a lot of interest in the piano, but I don't start my kids in lessons until they can read, but Emily took the time to teach Ryan how to play the chords to "Rain Dance"  Ryan patiently listened as Emily helped him learn the right rhythm through out the song.  Here is a picture of him and Emily performing it for Family Home Evening.

His hand was too small to reach the chord so he had to use both hands.

I love to see the smile on his face, he was so proud of himself as were we proud of him.  If only the enthusiasm for piano lessons could stay forever!

Easter Festivities

We had a lot of Easter activities this year.  Abigail and Ryan had an Easter Egg hunt at school.  Abigail wanted to look like the Easter Bunny so I suggested we put a bun in her hair so it would look like the tail of the Easter Bunny.  She agreed and then pulled out some cotton balls and told me I had to put those in her hair to finish the tail.  Here is a picture of her "bunny tail"

Ryan and Abigail both enjoyed finding eggs at their hunt, although the weather was a little bit cooler than we had anticipated.

Ryan getting ready for the hunt

Ryan getting one of his eggs

Abigail looking for her number

She found one!

Ryan trying to make sure it is the right number

Abigail with a full basket

Ryan after finding all of his eggs

We had another Easter Egg hunt the Saturday before Easter at the park, it was Ward, neighborhood party.  They decorated cookies, got their faces painted, jumped on a bouncer, and hunted for eggs.

Ryan decorating his cookie.  He insisted on wearing his Easter hunting shirt again on Saturday.

Abigail's cookie

Abigail heart broken after her cookie fell on the ground.  She wanted me to pick out all the rocks so she could still eat it!

Ryan after getting his face painted

Abigail with her first find in the Easter Egg hunt

Looking in the eggs

Tyson (he had to leave early for his soccer game)

Justin

Abigail showing her bunny

All the kids

They all had a great time.  The night before Emily even got to have an Easter Egg hunt.  One of her friends did a night Easter Egg hunt where they used flashlights out in the field to find eggs.  She had a great time.  We had another big one at our house Saturday night where the kids could find as many eggs as they could.  We were planning on making it one in the dark like Emily had done, but we realized although we live in the country, we still have a street light right by our house so it doesn't get very dark.  The kids still had fun.  On Easter morning the kids just had to find their Easter Baskets, but no eggs since they had already hunted so many.  Here are a few pictures from Easter Sunday.

Emily

Justin

Tyson

Ryan

Abigail (She has "bunny ears" in her hair today.  She wanted me to make them stand straight up, but we convinced her most bunnies have floppy ears!)

We had a wonderful Easter, and the kids learned about the true meaning of Easter.  A few days later I heard a conversation between Ryan and Abigail that went something like this..... Ryan says, "It will be so wonderful when we die because then we can be resurrected, and when we are resurrected we won't get sick anymore, and when we fall down it won't even hurt."  Abigail responds, "Oh Ryan, I can't wait until I can die so I can be resurrected, will you make me die right now so I can get resurrected?"  Ryan then explained how he didn't want to make her die because he would be sad.  We are so grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ and for his willingness to die for us.