Trevor's First Piano Recital

This is Trevor sitting in anticipation just before his first piano recital.

Amelia, his cousin, is sitting next to him waiting to play her Viola.

This is Trevor playing "Merrily We Roll Along" just 4 weeks after starting lessons with Aunt Alison. As he put it, "I did it! It was fun! I didn't even make any mistakes." Good job, Trevor! We love you even when you make mistakes as we all make them from time to time.

Happy 2nd Birthday, BriAnn!

Trevor and Tyson have been so excited about BriAnn's birthday which was today. Tyson helped me wrap her presents and sang to BriAnn several times through out the day. Each time Tyson and I sang to her, she would get a huge smile on her face and start dancing. Sometimes she would sing, too. She loved the dolls, teddy bear, dress, books, play pen, and high chair she received. She gave each of the dolls and bears kisses and loves and was having lots of fun "feeding" the babies some of her birthday cake. She took two bites of her cake and decided she didn't like it. Oh well, I tried! The rest of use didn't like it much, either. The egg replacer changes the consistency a bit and gives some of the family members more gas than regular eggs. I guess it is the thought that counts?

We purchased a balloon for her today. She had a blast playing with it in the store. She would pull the ribbon towards herself until she had the balloon. She would then let the ribbon go and watch the balloon pop into the air. This entertained her for about an hour as we tried to finish up some other shopping. The last two items to be loaded in the car were BriAnn and her balloon. She gave one final tug on the balloon which was attached to an anchor and the balloon came free. BriAnn was upset at first, but then had fun waving good-bye as we watched it soar out of site.

We have her on video trying to blow her candles out. She blew them out the first time but then just blew her hair up each time she tried after that. Trevor and Tyson had fun helping her. Trevor said to me today that BriAnn is much more fun and cute now that she is two.

Unwanted Guest!

Jason took the boys back to the cabin on Monday while BriAnn and I went to the doctor to get some meds for her ears (which were indeed infected). They had a great time and came home tired. Jason got up to go to work on Tuesday and promptly came in to wake me up with the comment, "Honey, I think I have a tick. Will you help me get it out?" Of course, I went to the computer and goggled "tick removal" and read a couple different sites to figure out what to do. All this was done just moments after falling back asleep after taking care of BriAnn. So, I was feeling a bit hazy and queezy to begin with. When I started pulling that tick out of Jason's back, I about went down for the count. I would NOT make a good nurse! However, mission accomplished! All parts of the tick are in tact and a nice specimen is now floating in rubbing alcohol (bottom picture). We will watch the bite area (top picture) for the next month to make sure the "bulls eye" ring does not occur which would indicate Lyme Disease. Those are Jason's hands holding the jar, by the way, so you can see what a nice-sized tick was attached to him.

Notice the nice swelling on his arm? That is from his allergy shots that he has been getting on a weekly basis for the past year and a half. He has only ended up in ER once and hasn't had to take any allergy meds this spring so we feel it is definitely worth the investment of time to get them done. Maybe some day they will let him give himself the shots.

Memorial Day Weekend

Jason was explaining to the boys what Memorial Day celebrates (those who have died while serving our country). My brother Kory is serving in the Army right now (reserves for now, but is at his specialized training after spending a couple of months at basic) and Tyson asked if Uncle Kory was dead because he was in the Army. I told him no and he was relieved. At least we know Tyson was listening!

We went to the family cabin for a night during the weekend and had lots of fun! We spent time clearing dead fall limbs and twigs while Jason cleared trails. It is always amazing to me to see how much mother nature takes care of things during the sometimes harsh winters. We also went to the lake and Trevor was wading in the freezing cold water within minutes of arrival. BriAnn and Tyson were content just throwing rocks in.

The kids didn't sleep but we are getting use to that. The boys are going back up tomorrow while I take BriAnn to the doctor due to fever, sleepless nights, pulling at ears, lack of eating and drinking=ear infection. She is working on her two-year molars and as with past teething experiences, has come down with an ear infection. I will be quite shocked if she doesn't have one.

On the way to the cabin, we stopped to use the restroom at the top of the pass and played in the snow a bit. The pass opened from being closed all winter just hours before we crossed. Not much traffic to contend with this Memorial Day weekend. Nice!

Garden update

Left to right: sugar peas, corn, green beans, cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, squash and zucchini, roma tomatoes, delicious tomatoes, egg plant, marigolds, potatoes, dying raspberry bush, sunflowers, pumpkin, watermelon, onions, beats, carrots, strawberries, lettuce.

Tyson planted sunflower seeds around the base of the watermelon mound. Hopefully we will have success with at least one of these plants. We will probably have to transplant the sunflower closer to the fence to be next to the other sunflowers Tyson planted back there. He has been a good garden helper this spring!

"What Makes a Good Mother?"

Written by Tyson and his mommy: "Once upon a time there was a mommy who was asked to give a talk on Mother's Day. Her 4-yr-old told her she was not a good mommy because she yelled too much. The mommy thought about this comment and decided to change. She then asked her 4-yr-old "What makes a good mommy?" He replied, "When she lets you play on the computer at bedtime." After some prodding, he agreed the following makes a good mommy: one that reads you stories, spends time with you, gives hugs and kisses, does Family Night. He said she was not good if she read scriptures and took him to church, because he already knew everything about Jesus: that he was resurrected and was baptized in the river Jordon. "What do you think Jesus' mommy taught him?" The 4-yr-old was too busy working to reply, so his mommy will answer that for him."

This was the beginning of my talk that I gave on Sunday for Mother's Day. It was just too cute and candid not share it on our blog. Happy be-lated Mother's Day to all you mothers!

Trevor's First Kindergarten Field Trip

Thursday was Trevor's First Kindergarten Field Trip. They rode the bus to the White River Museum where they learned about the history of our city, sat in a real train caboose, created a quilt square out of paper and made butter. They did really well and I think they all really enjoyed it. I know I did!

After school we drove to Aunt Alison's and Trevor had his first piano lesson from her. He has been asking when we were going to have more music lessons with Aunt Alison for about a year now so we decided it was time. I think he had a lot of fun. She is such an awesome teacher!

PTA Convention May 1-3

State PTA Convention is this weekend. I volunteered Friday and Saturday for a few hours each day in order to be able to attend free. As our PTA has not been function for who knows how long because this is my first year involved with the school, the State PTA staff was very generous and allowed all our elected officers to volunteer each day in order to attend conference for free. We have learned a lot and look forward to a new school year with a good team that likes to work together. Can I just say...WOW! PTA is so much more than cookies and carnivals. It is a child advocacy association that takes issues to congress to improve the lives of children through out the nation. The National PTA President was in attendance at the conference. She is counting down the days until her term is up (about 50 more days left) and what does she plan to do with all her extra time? She plans to do what is most important in her life...spend more time with her family. She is an amazing woman with an amazing story to tell about her heritage. I was able to attend one of her classes about diversity and working with it in PTA. I'm excited to implement some of the things she taught in order to reach out to all families of Pioneer Elementary. Thankfully we were able to divide up days so I do not have to attend Convention on Sunday. I think Jason was glad, too. He has done a great job with the kids while I've been gone but he is ready to have me back.