April & May Quotes

I was crying one morning because the house was thrashed and after praying and reading my scriptures and taking a nap (at 9:15AM!) and writing in my journal, I still could not scrounge up the energy to tackle all the work that needed to be done to take care of my family.  Bennett saw me crying and this conversation followed:

Bennett:  Mom, you okay?

Me:  Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just crying a little bit.

Bennett:  Why you crying?  Who punched you?

Me:  Nobody punched me, sweetie, I'm just crying because I wish I had more energy.

Bennett:  Does your tummy hurt?

Me:  Yeah, my tummy does hurt a little bit.

Bennett:  Why does that baby give you owies?

Me:  That's just what happens sometimes.

Bennett:  Here, mom have a drink (handing me my cup) It will help you tummy feel better.

Me:  Oh thank you Bennett, that's very thoughtful of you.

Bennett:  Okay, now you can be really happy, okay mom?

Me:  Yes, I will be happy and stop crying.

Bennett: Yeah, now you can stop crying and just be happy. . . . Are you happy, Mom?

(And he continued to ask me if I was happy for the next 10 minutes.)

I had several brass players at my house one afternoon to practice their solos for solo & ensemble.  Bennett has a fascination with instruments lately, thanks to his interest in the Little Einstein's show.  When the first one started playing he said, "Oh, nice, you playin' the tramboon!"  (trombone)

Hayden:  Are you happy being a Mom?

That question cut me to the heart.  I think he was just curious, but this pregnancy was a tough one emotionally.  I ended up going on medication for pregnancy-induced depression and until we got all of that figured out, I was kind of a basket case.  I cried A LOT.  And even though I tried to wait until I was alone, my kids saw me in tears quite often.  So it made me sad that Hayden had to ask me if I was happy being a mom.  I LOVE being a mom.  I wouldn't give it up for anything in the world.  But being a mom is hard sometimes and  being pregnant makes it even harder.   And, it makes me cry  more than usual!  I explained that to Hayden, but I also thought that I need to make sure my kids see me loving being a mother.  Working on that.
  
Bennett:   I am great at playing games and watching shows!

Bennett:  Mom! The birds just flew away! Okay, birds, you better come back here.  I count to three.
One . . . two . . . three!
Okay, birds, now you get a spankin on you bottom!

Our May(hem)

May 2016

May is such a crazy month with all of the end of year events to cover.  Here are a few of the things we kept busy with this month.

Piano Recital

Sydney has been learning some piano songs here at home, so when the other kids were playing in their piano recital, she asked if she could play in it too, which surprised me, to be honest.  She played Old MacDonald Had a Farm, and did a great job.  I was proud of her for being so brave!

Basket Night

This was one of our better basket nights.  The kids all had fun, nobody cried, nobody had an accident, and nobody got lost.  Except Daphne's wallet.  Which we found several days later . . . in her purse.

Movie Star

I found out that I made it into less than a second of the official Captain Fantastic movie trailer that I worked as an extra in a couple of years ago.  Look out, cause this could be my big break!

Mother's Day Tea

Sydney's Kindergarten class had a Mother's Day Tea where we had tea and cookies and they performed some songs for us.  Each mom also had to guess which picture was supposed to be her.  I picked mine out right off because Sydney draws all the time, and has a style that I recognize.

Potty Training

After multiple failed attempts at potty training Bennett, I gave up and decided I would try after the baby was born.  But one day, Bennett decided he wanted to wear underwear.  I didn't have time to mess with it, but fine, if he wanted to wear underwear, he could.  He ended up pretty much potty training himself!  The pooping took a little bit longer, and that's what this is a picture of.  He had an accident, and Arthur offered to clean him up.  After a couple of minute, I heard Arthur say, "How do you DO this?" I walked in to the bathroom to see this:

Blog to Books

One of my goals for 2016 was to get our blog for the  years 2012 and 2013 published into books.  Before Nathan was born. And yahoo! I did it!  2 years into 4 books done in 5 months. Feels good to have one of my resolutions completed by May!

Fieldtrips!

Of course, the kids all had fieldtrips at the end of the year.  I don't usually get to chaperone field trips since I always have at least one child still at home.  But it was really, really important to Hayden that I come on one of his field trips.  I was able to get a friend to watch Bennett and got to chaperone Hayden's class field trip to Dion's.  We walked there from the school and I was glad I was able to keep up since I was SUPER pregnant at the time.

End of the Year Concerts

Orchestra--Dallin played in Advanced Orchestra and General Electric

Dallin and Daphne both sang in Five Star Show Choir and they were each in curricular choirs also.  All the show choirs and curricular choirs performed at the end of year concert.  The first part they wore their Show Choir costumes, and then the rest of the concert was a Disney theme.  Daphne dressed as Tigger and Dallin dressed as a Newsie.  It was a great concert, and the last one directed by Mr. Prior.  Eisenhower will miss him.  He built such a great choral program.

The last song was with ALL of the choirs together--it looked so cool to see that many middle schoolers dancing and singing out on that gym floor!

And here are the 8th graders at their last choir concert.  They will be a great addition to whatever choir they sing with in the future!

Sydney's Kinder Performance

For their end of year moving on celebration, the 4 kindergarten classes sing songs for the parents followed by a picnic.  Their songs were darling, the picnic got rained out this year, but we still had a great time eating our lunch under the overhang.  

                   

Mrs. Sanchez (on the right) has taught 3 of our kids at Hubert Humphrey.  She is moving to Colorado this summer and we will miss seeing her bright smile at school!  Sydney had a wonderful year in her classroom.

Last Day of School

Dallin and Daphne on their last day of school

 

Hayden had a 2nd grade picnic and games at the park on his last day

Yahoo!!! School's out for summer!

Braces for Daphne

The day after school got out, Daphne got her braces on.  She has a new smile for the next 18-24 months.

Dallin's Done with Middle School

May 24, 2016

Eisenhower Middle School Promotion Ceremony

Dallin graduated from 8th grade!  He had a great three years at Eisenhower Middle School due in large part to his participation in the music program there.  Over the course of his time there he performed in Five Star, Mike n Ikes, Concert Choir, Beginning Orchestra, Advanced Orchestra and General Electric.  (Arthur thinks his education was a little heavy on the music and light science/math etc.  That may be true, but when your mom was a music major and she's the one taking you to all your activites, well, you might be exposed to stuff that she loves.)

Dallin worked hard in all of his classes, got excellent grades, made lots of friends and is a great example where ever he goes.  We are really proud of this kid and so grateful that he is in our family.  And now it's off to High School!  I'm excited for him and what the next four years will bring.

Flag Football

This spring, Hayden tried out flag football for the first time.  He LOVED it!  He made a touchdown his very first game and usually at least one touchdown for every game after that.  It was really fun watching him play.