Spacer #2: Out

This must have been Benson's lucky month, because his second spacer-encased-tooth wiggled out, leaving his mouth (for now) metal-free.  Now we just need those healthy teeth to grow in to take their place.

 

Who Are the Critters in Your Neighborhood?

Last year I tried to document the flowers I saw on my walks, and this year I thought I'd keep track of the critters.  I forgot how difficult it is to photograph birds and small mammals with a phone camera, so I had to settle for the smaller, slower creatures--which mostly meant the bugs.  Not the plan, but still kind of interesting...  Here's the first installment.  (Names supplied by Google Lens.)

Eastern spruce budworm (maybe?)

Not a bug--just cool tracks in the cement.  (Maybe opossum?)

Earthworm

Probably a (dead) European hornet

To add to the flowers from last year: Coral honeysuckle

Garden snail (?)

Mourning dove feather

Armadillidium vulgare; also known as roly-poly ☺

Forest tent caterpillar (moth)

 More to come...

Party Time!!! Gracie Edition

So, I realize now that I really didn't do well taking pictures at Gracie's party.  The parts that weren't photographed included a hamburger dinner, games, candy, lots of friends (Rachel even drove over from Grand Prairie!), thoughtful gifts (there is a picture of a tool box to take to college!), and a movie.  She chose to watch "Much Ado About Nothing," and we forgot about the beginning naked backside scene.  Caytie tried to fast forward through it and accidentally paused right on a key scene, and then accidentally rewound it so we could watch it all again!  There was lots of laughter and averted eyes, especially from the one gentleman at the party.

We got a Dairy Queen ice cream cake instead of cupcakes, and somehow the picture is with Benson and Ben instead of friends...but they were there, and everyone enjoyed the cake.

Love this girl.  Welcome to adulthood. ❤

 (Just for documentation purposes, that day also included an FSY kickoff for Caytie and Tessa and two 8-year old baptisms, one for a good family friend and one where, for the musical number, I played the piano and Gracie and Emma sang with the mom.  Busy day!)

Senior Pictures

Gracie had a vision of what she wanted for her senior pictures (bluebonnets and a cowboy hat!), so we tried to make it happen.  The bluebonnets were not as plentiful when we could schedule with the photographer, but there were still some.  They came out so well!  We were all so happy with the results.

Wish I could include them all. 💓

A Brand New Adult

Gracie also wanted to ring in her birthday in a classic way, with donuts and chocolate milk.  Being an adult brings out the kid in us. ☺

She opened her gifts after seminary, and was not too surprised with the note promising a laptop, to be purchased before she heads to college in the fall.

She also received piano books, origami paper, pajama pants, scripture glue-ins, mint Oreos, and Texas hot pads (to prepare her for college in Utah).  She didn't actually go to school that day, because she was invited to be in a news segment about scouting that was being filmed that morning!  More about that later...

This tiny baby was born about a month after we moved to Texas.  Sweet girl then and a sweet girl now.

She requested a pina colada cake, and since she was going to have cupcakes at her party on the weekend, I complied...and it was tasty!  (I barely got it finished, as I had preschool that morning, and then went to pick Gracie up in Dallas after she filmed her news segment, and I had Primary Activities that afternoon, where we made energy balls and smoothies and did exercises, and it about wore me out!)  Anyway, if you want me to be a softie, just go ahead and turn 18.  You can have whatever you want, darling, even if it barely gets finished!

(i'm not crying.  you're crying.)
 

Yay!

Tessa was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society.  Yay!

She was also a Student of the Week.  Yay again!

Ben decided to shave his beard.  Yay!

He immediately regretted his decision and started growing it back right away.

Gracie finished her last merit badge and passed her board of review.  Yay!  Time to start planning the Court of Honor!

She and Caytie also got some freeway driving time on the way home from a LDS scout family encampment.  Yay!  (Wait--they didn't actually camp out.  They went up early in the morning and came home in the afternoon.)

Gracie's Top Ten Percent sign was delivered.  Yay!

One of my tulips bloomed!  Yay!  (Hopefully the others will follow its example next year.)

I saw a cute bunny on my walk one morning.  Yay!

My preschoolers bean plants ALL sprouted (eventually).  Yay!  That is never a guarantee.

In all--April is going pretty well so far.

 

Zoo Day!

We had let our zoo passes expire for the first time since we got them years ago, and we decided to fix that for the school holiday the day after Easter.  The zoo is our happy place--especially since Ben was able to come with us! ❤

We miss having Scott on our family outings.  He texted while we were there, about an event his religion teacher Anthony Sweat hosted, where they artistically represented...something--I can't remember the theme...  This was what Scott did for it: