May's Days

Caytie and Timmy are good buddies.

He likes exploring dark, cozy places.  It tickles.  (According to Caytie.  I have no personal experience with this.)

Scott, Gracie, and Caytie had their spring piano recital.  Scott and Gracie did an awesome duet from music from Frozen.  Scott also did a song by Greig, Gracie did Chopin's Minute Waltz, and Caytie did the Sonatina in G Major (not Beethoven's, but I can't remember who...  it's the one that goes DUH nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh NUH, nuh, nuh…)

Our pools opened!  Our neighborhood got a new pool which we checked out one warm Saturday (though the water was still chilly!).  There's a park and a pavilion next to it, along with a great hill.  (I had some itchy kids later that day...)

Benson and Ben started making a little airplane.  Benson's tendency to be precise came in handy.

Benson made this self portrait at school.  Uncanny likeness.

Time for dinner!

This is a beautiful sunrise I saw on my walk one morning. ❤

Caytie had half a tooth break out a while ago, and the other half just stayed in there, until finally the molar beneath began to grow in.  The half tooth became sore, so she had Ben pull it out.  Operation: success.

(This post is what happens when you carry a camera with you all day every day. ☺)

I LOVE IT.

I got an early Mother's Day gift: a beautiful vacuum.  I love it.  Since we got new carpet almost two years ago, we've made do with our old Oreck (after a new Bissel we bought broke after six months).  The Oreck was decent, but SO HARD to push on the thick carpet.  The kids couldn't do it, and I had to use two hands and would end up sweating after a couple rooms.  We finally did some research and bought a Shark Rotator, and the first thing I did when we got it home was to make all the kids try it out.  Good news--they can ALL handle it, and vacuuming is an easy FAMILY chore again!  Hooray!

New Street in the 'Hood

Getting some ideas...

In Concert

Caytie auditioned and was chosen to be part of her school's Honor Choir, and they had a concert at the end of the year.  She gets a good spot on the front row!  (She's fourth from the left of the conductor.)

They sang a couple songs, and then combined with the 6th grade choir.

She enjoyed the experience, but not enough to do it again next year--she's going for art!

He's SEVENTEEN!

We took Scott (and the family) out for dinner the weekend before his birthday, since the actual date was a busy school night.  He chose a taco place, but since it was Cinco de Mayo, it was SUPER busy, and Scotty P's was an acceptable substitute.

Early morning traditions included presents between seminary and school, though no breakfast, since his chemistry teacher was making a big breakfast at school before his class took the AP test.  Fun way to spend the school day!  He got a calculator to use on the test.

I got nostalgic and had to find this picture of when he was a couple days old.  He was the best first baby I ever had!

After his AP exam, he came home for lunch and some lenient parents let him stay home for the rest of the day.  Lucky boy.

I asked what he wanted for his cake this year, and he said to surprise him--"like you did with the Darth Vader dress cake."  Challenge accepted.

I  made a basic chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, but it was the decorations that were fun this time.  I used the creepy lettering under "Christmas lights" (M&Ms), like in Stranger Things.  There were also waffles around the sides from that show. (Eleven's favorite treat!)  There was a sharknado, from Sharknado I, II, III, IV, and V, his favorite ridiculous movies.  (Alas, there were no gummy sharks at the three stores I checked, so we made do with green Swedish fish.)  Also, Boba Fett (a favorite Star Wars character) was lighting the candles with his flame throwers, and Spider-Man (or is that Iron Man?--anyway, he's representing Marvel comic movies) is lounging comfortably along the top.

There was also a hidden pineapple in the middle, from the show Psych.  ☺

It was fun to do, and he enjoyed it.  (Timmy enjoyed his own personal waffle after the cake was cut.)

Scott gave me these answers for his likes, dislikes, and describing words:

Likes: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Martian, Psych, The Office, Parks and Recreation, percussion, chemistry, church, church friends, The Book of Mormon, Star Wars, ultimate frisbee, piano, paint ball, video games, movies.

Dislikes: mosquitos, earwigs, being embarrassed in public, waiting in line for roller coasters, history, flat-earthers, being left out, messing up, not getting enough sleep, my phone dying, Wifi restrictions on time, being the center of attention, never getting to be the center of attention, not having food, people who think water isn't wet, lots of band rehearsals, missing family reunions for band, never-ending songs.

Describe: musically talented, funny, humble-ish.  (I must add "good.")

❤ WE LOVE YOU, SCOTT! ❤

Blast Cars!

Ben and Jason, the leaders of the girls' Venturing Crew, found a bunch of blast car kits (they're like big pinewood derby cars that get shot off with a CO2 cartridge in their back end) and the launch pads for clearance at the Scout Shop, so they bought up the lot and the girls had a good race!  Here is Gracie's Perry the Platypus car racing a purple one:

Here is the final heat, where she got beat by a super fast one:

The girl and the car up close:

Emma did a dog design, with felt ears that flapped in the wind:

They had the flat course, this bumpy one, and the original pinewood derby track.  Gracie's car didn't make it far on the bumps:

Emma's made it a bit further, but not quite as fast as the purple one:

They all had a great time building and racing the cars.  I think Ben and Jason probably had the best time, but it was a fun day for them all.

Shining Star 2

Benson was chosen as his class's Shining Star again.  This time I made it to the assembly!  His teacher said that he has a good work ethic, shows respect to the adults, and is kind to even "the most annoying." ☺  I'm glad he's enjoying school so much!

Love All

Gracie took a tennis class this year, and they had a little practice tournament with the other junior highs in our city.  She played doubles, and did pretty well.  She has enjoyed this new sport!

She's FIFTEEN--Part 2!

After our little weekend away, it was time to get back to regular life.  On Monday, I picked up a rotisserie chicken for dinner--Emma's favorite!  I also made her cake request, which was different and delicious.  It was a crepe cake, which is layers of crepes spread with Nutella mousse, and topped with ganache and chocolate dipped strawberries.  I got the recipe on ourbestbites.com, and can say we highly recommend it!

So, we really did have enough candles, but she wanted this, instead! ☺ 

After dinner and cake, we went over to her high school for the 9-11th grade awards.  We knew she'd be getting one, but didn't know what it was for.  We were a bit surprised to find out it was for perfect attendance, since I've taken her to a multitude of pediatrician/orthodontist/dentist/endocrinologist/scoliosis/orthotic appointments this year, but I guess she got all the appropriate notes turned in, and she was there for the rest of the time!

Here's what Emma said about herself:

Likes: dogs, blue, green, "Canada's Worst Driver," movies, music, The Piano Guys, The Greatest Showman, my family, The Book of Mormon, hot dogs, chicken, friends, stuffed animals, chocolate, Oliver and choir.

Dislikes: fish, being left out, snakes, people staring, mosquitos, roller coasters, thunderstorms, and rude people.

Describe: funny, love of beauty, kind.  (I have to add hard working.)

❤WE LOVE OUR EMMA!❤

She's FIFTEEN! And...A Trip South

Ben's cousin Michael, who lives east of Houston on the Louisiana border, has a son Ethan who got married.  Since they're our closest family (and we're theirs), we went down to celebrate with them!  Ben drove to Houston for their sealing on Wednesday, and came back that night.  (They got married the week that the Houston Temple was rededicated, after the flooding from Hurricane Harvey last year.)  Then we all drove down after school on Friday, and stayed in a recently renovated Best Western.  (Everything in their town is recently renovated, thanks to the hurricane!)  We had too much fun with the closet door...

Emma was excited about the trip, even though it was on her birthday!  We woke up on Saturday, and some of our traditions came with us (namely--the birthday banner, presents first thing in the morning, and her breakfast choice--which happened to be the hotel buffet).

The Birthday Fairy managed to find all of the things she requested--even Robin Eggs, after Easter!

After breakfast, we headed over to Michael and Beverly's house (which was in the middle of renovations--thanks to the hurricane, when water covered all their property and came up a foot or two into their house).  Their dog recently killed a possum mother, so they were fostering the babies.  Of course, we were fascinated.

(The little runt!)

(This reflects Benson's true feelings about the experience.)

Then they let us play with their One Wheel!  (It has a motor in the wheel, and moves--fast!--when you lean correctly.)

Then they brought out their baby colt!

Watch out--he kicks for fun...

But, he's still cute.

Then we found their chickens!  (They used to have a coop, but it got flooded and broken.  Now they're free range.)

(There's that sneaky colt!)

Caytie found a snuggly cat.

Then we went back to the hotel with Sissy and Bubba and went swimming in the freezing cold pool.  It didn't last very long!  Then we all went to Wendy's for lunch (Emma's choice, of course).  Then we headed back to the house.  The older kids went out on a bike ride, and the rest of us played some games.

Then we found their swing!

And the hammock!

Then we got Dad to come and push much higher than Mom could.

Then the horses came back from wherever they went, and got some lovin'!

And we rested a bit...

We went back to the hotel to change, and headed to the reception.  We were served delicious gumbo!  And look--Emma got some cake on her birthday.

Emma tried out one of her gifts that night.  It's a weighted blanket (filled with pockets of glass beads), and she said she loves it.

We went to church with them in the morning, and then headed on home.  We had some more birthday celebrations for Emma on Monday, so I'll cover them in another post.  It was a fun trip, and I just now realized that I didn't get any pictures of the bride and groom--or his parents, or grandparents (Ben's Aunt Dianne and Uncle Reed)…  We'll probably make our way back again.  It's lovely in April.