Tessa Wins!

 Tessa lost her first tooth!

In the Great Race to Lose Teeth, Tessa wins at our house.  All the others were 6 or even 7 when they lost their first tooth, except for Caytie who was 5, but Tessa is a couple months younger than Caytie was, so she wins.

Congratulations!

(She was so happy to lose it at school, because they gave her that cool tooth necklace, and she got to put a tooth on the Tooth Tree, and she gets a "spirit stick" to put on a keychain on her backpack.  So much better than just losing it at home.  She lost another one two weeks later, and held off until it just about fell out on its own, just to make sure it came out at school.)

Birthday Girl #1--Gracie's 10! (Two whole hands!!)

Gracie started her happy day with breakfast (scrambled eggs, OJ and toast) and presents.  She got some fun art supplies and the biggie--we promised to take her to get her ears pierced, as soon as we had a minute to go over to the mall... (I'm writing this a couple weeks after her birthday, and we did get them done last week.  She is so happy about it!  Picture to follow...)  She had to go to school, but we (me, Ben, and Benson) brought her some lunch from Arby's and had a good time eating with her and her friend Emily.

After school, she helped me decorate her cake.  She chose angel food with whipped cream and strawberries.  What great taste she has! :)

On Friday that week, she had a party!  She chose to watch the movie "Enchanted" with her friends, so they all came in pajamas.  They made some paper pajamas for little cut out people, and played "Pin the Pajamas on the Girl" as the first activity (as well as making some Shrinky-Dinks).

 Then, before the movie, we stuck candles in some donuts and sang "Happy Birthday!"  Gracie has a great group of friends (and sisters), and it's been fun to see them grow up together.

 During the movie, the girls came to the kitchen again to make caramel apple pops, and dipped them in chocolate and candies and other delectable things.

I can't believe my Texas Timekeeper is 10.  We are definitely blessed to have this one in our family.

A fun first for me!

 I finally got to be a field trip chaperone!  Our school doesn't like the chaperones to bring younger siblings, and though I could have arranged a sitter in the past, I just...haven't.  But this time...I did.  (Though the "sitter" was the boy's own Daddy.)  I got to go with Tessa's Kindergarten class to the Dallas Zoo!  Yay!  Traffic was so terrible, so by the time we got there and ate lunch, we had about an hour and a half left to explore.

 (They added a dinosaur exhibit, and one of them squirts water as you walk by.)

 An hour and a half was enough to have fun with my Tessa.  I hope to be able to do it again soon!

Weekend continues

On Saturday morning, since we didn't have enough "cake and ice cream" sugar from the day before, the kids were able to find their hidden Easter baskets, in time for Saturday morning cartoons--and then General Conference!

The bunny goggles makes cartoon/Conference viewing more fun.

 Between sessions, the girls got a music lesson from Uncle Devan, and that grew into a bluegrass jam session.

We had to throw in a soccer game or two that day, and the boys went to the Priesthood Session that evening while the rest of us ate pizza.

On Sunday morning, we had an Easter Egg hunt.  It was raining outside, so we did it inside, where there are actually more places to hide things.

We were accompanied by "Music and the Spoken Word."

Sweet girls.  Sweet treats...

It was a fun, long weekend!

I am thankful for being able to be a preschool teacher.  I am grateful for my baby boy who is no longer a baby.  I'm so happy to have Ben's brother and his family close by so that we can visit often.  I love to watch General Conference every six months.  I am so thankful for the reason for the Easter holiday--our Savior, Jesus Christ. He lives, all glory to His name!  Oh, sweet, the joy this sentence gives: I know that my Redeemer lives.

Birthday Boy #1--he's three!

Benson is a lucky guy.  His birthday fell in the middle of lots of things, so we got to celebrate big!  First, for preschool, we had an Easter Egg hunt.  Since the birthday was the next day, we got a bounce house (thanks again to my neighbor--the cost was Oreo cupcakes, homemade root beer, and a good online review) which was...awesome.  Here's Benson with his buddy Wesley:

 I cannot believe that he is three.

Then, the next day (his birthday!) was Good Friday, so the kids were off from school.  We also got visitors that arrived the night before--Devan and Kim (and of course, Naaman and Ellie) came over for the weekend!  The bulk of the day was spent like this:

 The big boys spent a lot of time doing this:

 Oh, have I not mentioned this new obsession yet?  In the Fall, Ben and Scott each got the "core" set for the X-Wing miniatures game, plus an extension ship or two.  And then another extension or two.  And then more.  And then mats, bags, upgrades, a few more ships...  I like that it is a game they enjoy together, but we have a motto for this game:

"Mistakes were made."

(Click the link to see the comic where that comes from.  So, so true!)

Ben put in some time making a cake for Benson.  Benson had seen one online that he really, really liked, and Ben knew he could re-create it, so...

 ...he did!

 Benson was thrilled.  It was a Jake and the Neverland Pirates cake.  He had gotten figurines on his previous birthday that would have fit perfectly with this cake, but we could not find them ANYWHERE...boo!  So Ben looked for another at the store, but all he could find was a giant Jake, which was too heavy for the cake.  (The next week I found the smaller Jake and Captain Hook and Tick Tock Crock in a toy purse.)  Oh, well--Benson knew what it was without the figurines.

 We stuck the big Jake on for a minute, but I guess I just got the picture of licking his feet off.

 He has loved his gifts this year--a Duplo car building set and a toy toolbox (with a HAMMER) from us, some hexbugs from Devan and Kim, and a Quillow from Grandma D.

Happy birthday, my big boy.

BUT--the weekend was not over!

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Happy, happy, happy!

Gracie and Kylie had a birthday the same week, so their soccer team celebrated with them after practice.  Nice party hats!  (I should crop Coach Guy and the other girls out, since they had no idea they were being photographed, but they are just so happy, I have to keep them...)

Coach Matt is very thoughtful!

Gracie has played with this team for five seasons now, and they're a fun group of girls.  Happy early birthday!