Growing Up

 My kids are growing up!  Obviously...but it seems like they have hit so many milestones lately.  They are great kids and I am happy to have them in  my life.

Bridger lost his first tooth.  I think he was the last one in his kindergarten class to lose a tooth.  He is so competitive and losing teeth was no exception.  He didn't like that everyone was ahead of him in this department.  So it was a BIG DEAL when it FINALLY came out.

 Lilly is potty trained! Enough said.

Bridger graduated from Kindergarten.  On one of the last days of school they had a field day.  Lilly and Bridger had so much fun.  I was a little stressed out because it was day 2 of potty training and we were at school all day.  It went well.

Field Day at Cooper Mountain Elementary

Lilly prays every night about going to school.  She can't wait.

Lilly getting in on the fun.

I asked Bridger what his favorite story about Jesus was.  Then I asked Lilly if she knew any stories about Jesus.  She said, Yes.  So I asked which one was her favorite.  She told me it was when Jesus made the stars, then said, “He put the stars in the ovens”.  I’m sure she meant heaven but she may have thought that was how stars were made.

SO CUTE!

 

Spring Vacation in Pacific City

 My parents came for a visit and we decided to take them to Pacific City.  The end of May in Oregon, especially the Oregon Coast, is a very risky as far as the weather goes.  Very good chance of rain and definitely cold.  I warned my parents that this is not a warm beach by any stretch of the imagination and they should bring a coat.  My mom would need a coat in the middle of summer. 

We lucked out and the first day was sunny.  Second day only scattered showers.  My dad kept waiting that day for the sun to reappear....he doesn't know about how excited we are for "sun breaks"!  We had a great time anyway.

 At Cape Kiwanda there is this huge and hill.  It is so much fun to go to the top and run down - the running down part is fun, NOT the going up.  On dry days you can even sled down the sand.

 There are tide pools with all kinds of creatures.

Beautiful scenery.

 Hot tubbing and VERY tired kids.

What we've been up to.

It has been awhile since I have posted anything.  This is why...
Homework, piano, T-ball 3-4 days a week.

Trying to keep up with a naughty two year old who destroys her room, dumps pretzels, chips, crackers everywhere,  dumps drinks everywhere, permanent marker on 5 walls!

 

I've also been learning to do fondant on cakes.  Just for fun.

Happy Easter

Christmas Relief Society dinner

The last few weeks have been CRaZy in my life....and unfortunately, that carries over to my family.  Some days I honestly don't know how much further I can be stretched.  I do always manage to pull it off but this time it was a close call.  We are still trying to get our house clean (and by that I mean livable) after mom was missing in action for almost two weeks.

It started by me telling Derek that I didn't know how I was going to get it all done.  Derek's way of responding to that was to plan a week long vacation right in the middle of the "I don't have enough time" episode.  I'm sure he thought he was helping...and it was nice...but it caused much more stress.  Then I had to pack and unpack for the trip and lose the week to work on everything.  We did have a wonderful trip but once we arrived home chaos hit.

We unpacked, got our Christmas tree, put up Christmas decorations, planned a lesson, volunteered at the school twice,  had 6 hours of meetings, took down all my Christmas decorations for our Relief Society dinner, babysit for friends almost everyday, planned the Christmas dinner, painted a mural, had two sick kids, got ready to sell at a craft fair, had a sinus infection...that was in one week.  Next week finished getting ready for Christmas dinner, including almost 5 hours of decorating and food prep, and getting ready for the craft fair. 

I often wonder if it is all worth it.  But watching the women eating dinner and laughing together and having a nice night away; watching them feel the spirit during a Christmas program we put together...it made me feel better about what I put into my calling.

This is the mural I painted for our "Night in Bethlehem"   I did 95% of it.   I had a friend come with her airbrush and highlight and soften some of my lines and also add some of the "twinkle" to my stars.  She also added the palm trees.  She really made the difference in the painting and I am so grateful for willingness to help me.

Apparently, watching the white guy with a fro on PBS (when I was a kid) paid off a little.