Rachel’s Graduation

Neil and Isaac and I went to cheer Mark on at the annual spring track meet.  This year he choose to run the 800 and 200.  Springville tracks meet are lots different than what we are used to in that there were hardly any parents there and no one was allowed in the middle of the track, which is where we had always set up camp to watch the races.  After hanging around a bit a the south end of the track we abandoned the stroller and headed to the stands to find Mark and his friends.  Neil loves running too and found the perfect spot to practice: the ramp up to the stands.We cheered for Mark.  He got third place in his heat in the 200 .Before we left to go home Neil collected a pine cone to bring home for each person in our family.Mark and Jessie and I had a late night.  We played Rummicub.  I sure like that game.  Mark had a ruff start, but he’s such a good sport and Jessie gets easily distracted while she waits for her turn.  Tonight she decorated herself with some duct tape remnants left on the table from making duct tape flower pencils earlier that day.  Abbie snuck down for the picture because she couldn’t sleep and Isaac entertained himself in the high chair dumping his binkie out of a cup.

Rachel came down on Saturday to do laundry and helped Spencer put together his model rocket.  They headed over to launch it in the open field by the cemetery, but no dice.  We need to get a new igniter.A little Saturday face painting.  Neil’s favorite color is green and he really wanted some green on his cat face which I think makes it look so cool!

Our fancy face painter with a french braid in her hair – her new favorite thing.We finally got around to using the board’s Ken bought months ago to make more shelves in my craft closet.  YEAH.  Neil always loves to help, and we got the whole project done in just one afternoon.  Yeah for organized space.One Sunday morning Mark and Abbie helped me make Abbie’s new favorite muffins.  Pumpkin with cream cheese centers and brown sugar crumbs on top.  Talk about a million steps and a lot of dirty bowls.  But man are they YUMMY!  Of course we had to double the batch!I saw a braided rug online that someone had made from old t-shirts and showed it to Jessie.  Of course she really wanted to make one, but after a week or two of collecting she only had two shirts so she came up with plan B; use old jeans instead.  I have an entire box of old jeans in my newly organized craft closet and so a fun new craft began.  So far we’ve just cut out strips, but there will be a finished project one of these days.Mark got his winter sports and reading merit badge.  Nice job!Neil found Grandma’s Jennie’s old wig that Jessie has and tried it on when we were getting ready for family prayer.  Then he wanted Isaac to try it on too.

My mom and dad came out for Rachel’s graduation.  It was fun to see them.Isaac loving my Jerry Bear.

We had a picnic at the park – taco salad.  It was a little colder than we expected, but some of us still enjoyed a game of ultimate football.  David brought their chickens and that entertained the kids too.

The little boys came with me to Rachel’s graduation and Neil was a great clapper!

While we took pictures Neil entertained himself jumping from one square of cement to the next.

Then we came back to our house for a dinner and games.  A to Z was the favorite, but don’t ask my dad about the xylophone that rolls down the hill – it’s a long story….

Springtime in our neck of the woods

Jessie taking more pictures for her Photography class.  The little white flowers and violets are volunteers we found.Neil was Jessie’s photo escort.  One picture with the flower in focus and one with Neil in focus.

And don’t let the toes give away who grabbed the camera next.  This is one of Neil’s favorite books right now.  He also loves Bear Snores On and Bear Wants More by Karma Wilson, all really cute books (her other bear books are ok, but these three are the really good ones). Abbie has been dying to make some clothes for a couple of her bears. This is the little dress we came up with.  And she was so excited.  We have another dress cut out for one of her brown bears we just need to sew it together.Since we’ve been home from Washington, Isaac has gone gung-ho on this walking thing.  He looks so big standing up!He and Neil really enjoy the newly discovered Marble Works toys (new to them.  They’ve been hiding in a box in the basement).  Isaac’s favorite part is swatting at the marbles as they go around and around in the funnel piece and Neil loves to watch one marble go all the way from start to finish.  I think my favorite part is keeping a steady constant flow of marbles going.Isaac also LOVES Jessie’s music stand.  Every time she sets it up he makes a bee-line for it and messes with every part he can reach.  The little pieces that hold your music in place are especially neat.  Usually I have to take him upstairs and play with him while she is practicing because anything downstairs is just not distracting enough when there is a music stand out.I love that my kids love to watch each other play games on the computer.  They are usually quite patient and wait their turn and enjoy rooting for the person who is playing.  This morning Isaac discovered Spencer’s remote control car.  So fun!

Look mom!!

Here’s our front flower bed.  A little sparse straight on, but from the road you can mostly just see the flowers and so it’s so pretty.  Some close-ups so you can enjoy them a little bit better!

Still practicing this walking thing.  He found this yo-yo this morning and has been dragging it around all day.We made duck tape flower pencils for Activity Days and they were a huge hit.  The next day Abbie had a friend over and they made some too.The swords from Grandma and Grandpa get played with all the time -- as do Halloween costumes :-).

Yeah it’s beautiful outside!  Let’s play!  How about Four Square?

Ever since Jessie and Mark’s April Fool’s Day prank of colored milk Neil has insisted on coloring every gallon we open.  Today’s variety is bright blue.  Now that should make you smile in the morning.This morning’s color was an attempt to make purple.  This is before they shook it; all the red had sunk to the bottom and the blue was on the top.The best thing about springtime snow is that it is beautiful and you don’t have to shovel.And besides, more snow is a great excuse to make a fire, right? A pretty bright yellow bird that came to our feeder one day.  Jessie and I looked up it’s name, but I too lazy to go find that information again tonight.  :-)