Tootie-Ta

Ryan is the short blonde boy between the two tall girls. Emily recorded this for us.

Wide Mouth Bullfrog

Life's Getting Crazy!!!

We only have two weeks of school left, and it is always crazy at the end of the year trying to fit it all in.  This last week Tyson tried out for the talent show with some of his friends, they made it and I will have a picture of them for next week.  He also did Battle of the Books.  Their team won the first round, but lost the second round.  They had a great team.  They all happened to be Mormons.  We tried to get them to be named the "Stormin Mormons", but they chose "The Return of The B.O.B. squad."

Emily had her end of year choir concert.  She did a great job and they actually had her in front so I could see her.  The last concert she was behind a really tall girl.  She got to narrate the last song.  She did a good job at that.  She also went to Amarillo for a choir thing last Friday.  They competed and then went to the amusement park there.  She had a lot of fun.  This is her second traveling trip that she has gone on for school that I have not gone with her.  I am glad she can go on her own and have a fun time.

Friday was suppose to be a Father Son camp out, but it got rained out.  Emily was really looking forward to our Girls night out so we went ahead and had a girls night out while the boys went with Jeff on a boys night out.  Emily, Abigail, and I went to dinner and then came home and watched "Hairspray" and made watches for the teachers for end of year gifts.  The boys went out to dinner and then to the movie "How to Train a Dragon".  It was a great night for both of us.

I will have a continuation of this post next week after we wrap up a few more end of year things.  I will be so glad when summer is here.  I am hoping we can have some weather that feels more like summer too.  They canceled our soccer games Saturday because of the rain.

Happy Mothers Day

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have of being a Mom.  I can't think of any greater blessing in my life than getting to be a wife and mother.  Not a day goes by that I am not full of gratitude for this great blessing in my life.  Emily wrote me a poem today that is just beautiful, I thought I would share it.

A Mother

Everyone is given blessings, some are great and some are small.

Each of us is very grateful for them all.

But one special blessing is unlike any other,

That special blessing is the gift of a mother.

A mother will care for you all day and night.

A mother's caring smile will fill a room with love's light.

All day long, a mother cares, cleans, and cooks.

A mother will play games with you or read you your favorite books.

When siblings fight and quarrel and tease,

Only a mother can put them at ease.

If there's something you can't do, or simply don't understand,

A mother will guide you with her loving hand.

If  you get lost or start to stray,

A mother will gladly show you the way.

A mother will support you in all that you do.

A mother will constantly show her love for you.

A mother will teach of gospel truths.

A mother will help you prepare while in your youth.

A mother will help you discern wrong from right.

A mother will help you walk in the light.

Mother, I appreciate all that you do.

Dearest mother, I love you.

I am also so grateful for my mother and for all that she taught me and has done for me.  

Happy Mothers Day to all the Mothers!!!

My kids make it so easy to love them!!

Nose Getter

Today Abigail was going through one of her bags of "stuff" and she pulled out some play tweezers.  She very excitedly ran to me and said, "Mom look I found some nose getters!"  I asked her what she meant and she said these are what you use to get beads out of noses.  Although tweezers are used for many things, I doubt there are many that would classify them as nose getters!

New Independence

Ryan is starting to become so independent.  I love it when my kids can do things on there own, not because I don't want to help them, but because they get to feel that sense of accomplishment that comes from doing things for yourself.  Ryan is definitely starting to reap the rewards of independence.  He loves to clean his room and then have me come in and tell him how proud I am of him.  Sunday while I was getting dinner in the oven Ryan came in all dressed and ready for church.  He had done it all by himself and he was so proud.  He usually does a lot of it himself, but in the past I have had to help some.  Here is a picture of him all dressed and ready to go. 

I just love this boy, you can tell by the look on his face just how proud he is of himself.

Catching Up!

We had a wonderful Easter.  The week before Easter my Aunt Marie came and visited.  We enjoyed getting to see her, it was a busy week, but she got to see the boys practice soccer, Emily play tennis, and she attended an Easter egg hunt with me for Abigail and Ryan.  Tyson and Justin were  both sick with a 24 hour flu while she was here, but as far as I know she didn't come down with it.  Friday my Aunt Evie and her daughter and two children came to pick Marie up.  We enjoyed visiting with Alisa and Evie, and the kids had a lot of fun playing.  David and Mary, Alisa's children, are the same age as Ryan and Abigail, so it was fun for them.  Unfortunately Marie was so busy taking pictures it didn't occur to me to get my own camera out and take some pictures!

Easter was on General Conference so we got to stay home and enjoy the day.  Getting Easter clothes for the kids to wear is one of my favorite things to do, so I had them wear them to church the week before.  Here are a few pictures of them.

This is the picture of Justin he prefers, he has decided his eyes always look closed in pictures, so he was determined to have his eyes opened.  I love it when they go through this stage.  At about this same age Tyson was looking at pictures of himself and decided he didn't like how his smile looked.  It has taken about 3 years, but we are finally starting to see a natural smile of Tyson again.

Here is the picture I prefer.  It took about twenty shots to get one that looked natural.  He was not happy with this one.

On Easter day the kids did an Easter egg hunt in the house and then later they went and found some Easter eggs outside from Grandpa and Annabell.  Here are a few pictures of them finding the eggs outside.

Here are also some pictures from our trip to Oklahoma city that I didn't have downloaded when I wrote about it.

The hair that got Justin on TV!

The Memorial

Fun at the Science museum!