Music Classes by Dallin & Daphne

Dallin & Daphne are doing several music classes this summer to earn some money.  They sing songs with the kids, and do crafts and have a snack, and it's been a lot of fun!

Animal week:

Pirates and Princesses week.  

This was the "Knights and Princesses" day.

We got out the scarves and turned on Frozen music and everybody had the best time belting out "Let it Go!" 

Snack Time

April/May Quotes

Okay, I'm really behind on the quotes here.  And unfortunately, I don't even have that many collected.  But we'll have a go at it anyway. 

One day during family prayer, we kept smelling something gross.  After the preliminary olfactory investigation, it was discovered that the smell was emanating from two persons in our family.  It was Sean and Hayden.  The Smelly Boys.  They were gently reprimanded by the entire showering population in our family (only 4 of us, actually) by questions and statements such as: "When was the last time you guys showered?!?"  "You guys stink!"   The most offensive smell was narrowed down to Hayden's socks.  After Sean smelled those socks, he said, "So THAT'S what that smell on the bus was!"  Oh how embarrassing.  We are that family.  The family with smelly kids whose essence permeates the entire bus.  And yes, we are working on some better hygiene habits for certain members of the family.

During our drive to church in Florida, we drove through a very wealthy country club area.  Daphne said, "I want to live in one of these expensive houses!   I like expensive stuff."  

Again, in Florida, Hayden was disappointed when we got to Gatorland and saw the gators in their exhibits.  He said, "I want to go to some random swamp and find some wild alligators.  I like a little bit of danger."

Me: (At church) Church snacks are for babies.

Sydney: But they are also for big humans too, right?

Sean: Can I drain your iPad battery?

After a month of waiting for the tooth fairy to show up, I heard Daphne exclaim one morning, "Our tooth fairy is the WORST!"

One of the songs on the CMT rehearsal CD is "Elegance" from Hello Dolly.  As we were listening to that one day, Sean asked, "What does elegance mean?"   I said, "It kind of means you are poised, and in-style and feel sure of yourself."  Sean replied,  "Oh, I guess I'm pretty elegant."

Hayden and Sean were playing catch one day.  Hayden got hit in the head with the ball and started crying.  So I said,  "Hayden if the ball looks like its gonna hit your head, just duck and get out of the way."  Arthur hearing me, ran outside yelling, "NO, NO, NO!!! Don't listen to Mommy!  She doesn't know how to play catch!  If the ball is coming at your head, you CATCH it!"  

Hayden:  Yesterday was the last day of school, so I know everything there is to know in Kindergarten.

Sean:  (about a cockroach) I didn't kill it because God made it.

Hayden: (to a pigeon eating our cherries)  Yeah, you BETTER run!

We spent Easter Sunday in a ward in Florida.  Sydney refused to go to their primary, so she came with me to Relief Society.  During RS we watched a video depicting the Savior's crucifixion and resurrection.  When it was over, Sydney turned and whispered in my ear, "Is He alive?"  I felt a beautiful confirming spirit as I said, "Yes, Sydney.  Yes, He came alive again!  He is alive."

Cub Scout Day Camp

May 28th-31st

The week after school got out, Sean went to his first Cub Scout Day Camp and had a great time!

Chess.  This is kind of an interesting phenomenon.  Put a bunch of squirrely 8-year-old boys together and how do you keep them still?  Pull out the chess boards.  This group of 10 boys sat quietly for 45 minutes playing chess and were totally engaged!  

Archery!  Definitely something the boys were looking forward to most.  

Sean is a really good shot.  All 10 of his arrows but one hit the target, and he got 2 bulls eyes!

Memorial Day 2014

Monday, May 26, 2014
Memorial Day

Our Memorial Day was a perfect start to summer.  We picked cherries, went for a bike ride, and enjoyed a super fun BBQ and swimming with lots of friends at the Breinholts. The weather was awesome-- sunny with a cool breeze and it even clouded over for us on our bike ride and got warm again in time for swimming!

Okay, this big inflatable thing was pretty fun.  Chuck held it in the water, while the kids all took turns jumping off the diving board onto it.  I had fun playing with my "sports" setting on the camera on some of the jumps.  I love the long line of kids waiting their turn.  That's a LOT of kids!

Here goes Daphne:

 And here goes Sean:

So thankful for the freedom we enjoy in this country and for all those who have fought and given their lives to preserve that freedom.  God Bless the USA.  

Everything is more Glamorous now!

Remember that camera I got for my birthday?  Well, I have been having fun playing with it, and just have to tell you that my life looks vastly more glamorous through the lens of my canon rebel.  And that's just the lens that came with that camera--not one of its super expensive upgrade lenses.  :)  

So last post, (before I had my camera) was all about the busy-ness of May.  But then my camera arrived, and I started noticing other parts of May.  Here are some lovely moments that happen in May between all the other running around: spring weather, flowers, sunshine, cherries, gardening, trampoline time . . .  May is good after all.

The kids found this perfect birds nest in our apple tree.  We got up and took it down to look at it after the birds had left for good.

Bennett and the Esplin twins on the swing.  Couldn't narrow it down to just one . . .

Bennett is unofficially betrothed to one of these girls.  I can't tell them apart, so this may or may not be the right one.  But we could probably use it in their wedding video someday, regardless.

Arthur finished a major project on his to-do list.  He pressure washed the flaking paint off the cinderblock wall fencing in our yard, and repainted it all, so it is fresh and clean and new.  It was a huge undertaking!

Garden helpers

Doesn't my green bean sprout look like a rockstar when captured by my new camera?