Last Week of March

Eliza was trying on a new (to her) outfit and wanted opinions on it, so I snapped a picture and posted it online.  She just looks so cute and sophisicated here.

Caleb got braces on Monday.  He will have them on for probably two full years.  We were able to use money from our tax return to pay in cash for them, which was nice.  I seriously can't believe how expensive braces are.  All together, we have spent nearly $10,000 on braces for three kids!  (And Eliza will need them again later, she is only in Phase One!)

 Annmarie figured out all on her own how to write her birthdate of March 14th. 

I snapped this picture of Eliza because she just looks so cute and comfy with her hair in a bun, dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans and wearing her glasses.  She really is growing up to be quite a beauty.

We went to an Easter egg hunt with some other families in our ward.  Nathan loved looking for eggs.  I invited Paige to come and bring Autumn and Brock.  Travis, Eliza, Jonah, Annmarie, and Nathan came with me.  Caleb and Westley stayed home.

Busy Saturday

This morning I took Eliza to the Japanese cultural celebration at the library.  I tried to get all of the other kids to come, but they refused.  It was too bad because if Aaron and Kaori were still here instead of living in Japan, they probably would have come with us as well. I did send out an invite to Adam and Eve but they did not come.  Eliza loved learning to fold origami with the Japanese woman who was instructing us.  We also watched a few different Japanese dances in the foyer of the library.  I love learning about other cultures!

Then I took Westley, Caleb, and Eliza to the the 50 Year celebration for J.J. Pearce High School.  My older brothers, Jordan and John, graduated from J.J. Pearce in 1993 and 1994.  I was a sophomore at J.J. Pearce for about six months until we moved to Utah that year.  We searched the class panoramic pictures for Jordan and John but could not find Jordan.  We did find John and I took a picture of the section he is in.  Can you see him? 

We listened to the brass quintet play some songs and stayed for some performances from the choir as well as walking around the school.  I didn't really run into anyone I knew, other than my old gymnastics coach's wife, Mrs. Larimer and one of my former gymnastics teammates, Scott Hrnack, who I'm sure had no idea who I was, as I was not even on his radar despite being one of only eight gymnasts on the school team (four girls and four boys).  I did move right when competition season was amping up, though, so that probably has a lot to do with why he wouldn't know me.

It was fun to see Pearce, but it would have been better if Jordan and John had been there with me.  Jordan would have loved it.  I almost bought a stone to be dedicated to Jordan for the quad where they are building some sort of statue or something, but it was $50, and in the end I just chickened out of spending the money.  I'll probably regret that decision.  After walking around Pearce, it made me really glad that I moved and went to Bingham.  Don't get me wrong, Pearce was a good school and I made some pretty good friends when I lived in Richardson, but I think high school ended up being better for me at Bingham than it would have been at Pearce.

Wylie ISD Celebration of the Arts

The school district puts on a big celebration of the arts for one week. We had three kids participating in different parts of the event.

Eliza was in the fourth grade All-district choir that put on their choir concert for the event.  She had to audition for this choir back in September and has had rehearsals every week for the whole year up until now.  It has been a good experience for  her.

Jonah had a clay sculpture in the art show.  Each grade from each school was represented and only a handful of students were picked to display projects.  Jonah's clay pig was chosen to represent sculpture/ceramics for first grade from Groves.

Westley also had artwork in the art show.  He is a very talented artist.  His teacher wants him to take A.P. art.  He loves art and drawing but he's not sure he wants to get into it on that deep of a level.  But his self-portrait is the drawing in the upper right corner of this photo.  He really is a great artist!

Award Assembly

Groves Elementary had an award assembly  for the third term of school.  Eliza earned an honor roll award for having all A's all term.  I don't think there has been an award assembly in which that she hasn't received an award.

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Jonah also earned an award.  He earned the "Shining the Way" award from his class for the term.  Only one student from each class gets this award each term.  It is the district's citizenship award.  My kids are such great students!

I can't believe we are now in our last term for this school year. Man, it has gone by fast!

Yard Work

This week while Corey has been off, we have decided to make our yard look better.  I planted marigolds near the front door (they are supposed to be good for repelling mosquitoes) and we weeded the flower beds and added dark mulch.  We also had to take out the old barrier between the flower beds and the grass because it was coming out and Corey put a new barrier in.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to snap a picture of the finished yard today.  Maybe I will later.  The kids had fun playing with the old barrier like it was a maze or obstacle course.

Silliness

We didn't really do anything very exciting over Spring Break.  Watched TV and movies, played some games, celebrated two birthdays.  We did spring cleaning too, which the kids didn't like.  I cleaned out the kids' bathroom and went through all the girl bows and hair accessories.  We gave what we couldn't use any more to our cousin, Autumn, who just turned three. 

Westley spent the week with mostly unwashed hair and a baseball cap on.  And he got a new white shirt from an uncle.  He thinks it's too big, but I think it fits about right.  It might be a little big, but he'll grow into it soon enough. 

Nathan loves to lick the powdered sugar from the pancakes/waffles that we have.  I had to get a picture of a toddler's joy.  Toddlers just have so much joy over everything they do and see.  I love it!

Annmarie turns FIVE!

This girl really keeps me on my toes and now she is FIVE years old, old enough to start kindergarten this fall.  Since today was Pi Day (3-14), we convinced her to have a pie for her birthday dessert instead of cake, since we had just had cake yesterday.  When asked what kind of pie, she chose banana creme, a surprising choice considering I don't think she even cares much for it.  I think next year she'll go with cake again or maybe choose a different kind of pie.  Jonah and Annmarie also got these fun pogo bouncers from Grandpa and Grandma.  Not exactly pogo sticks, probably much easier, but they have been enjoying them.

Swimming over Spring Break

Eliza's Activity Days leader has a pool in her yard.  While the weather has been pretty warm (high 80's), I would not have wanted to go swimming.  But that didn't stop Eliza from going and loving it!  That girl is a fish.  The pool was heated, but that wouldn't have been enough for me, unless it was heated to 90+ degrees!  I'm glad that Eliza went and had a good time.

Jonah's Birthday

Well, Jonah turned seven today.  We are on Spring Break, so it was a kick-back kind of day.  He requested a LEGO cake.  I made one for Westley a few years ago.  I really don't like working with bright colors for frosting anymore, so I convinced him he wanted a brown LEGO and then I just made a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting all from scratch.  He requested In-N-Out for lunch, so we all went out and got to see Dad at work.  Happy birthday, Jonah!

Haircut

I got my hair cut today and I love how short it is!  My phone doesn't have a selfie mode that works (I have no idea what happened there!) so I had to take a mirror selfie.  I'm really bad at taking selfies.  But I'm happy with the haircut.

Career Day

Groves had a Career Day and the kids could dress up in the career they want to be.  I don't actually know whether Jonah wants to be an In-N-Out store manager or not, but it was an easy costume to make.  I have made a small apron out of a manager's apron that the kids use sometimes when they help out in the kitchen.  Jonah then just wore a Sunday shirt, black pants, socks and shoes, and an In-N-Out hat that Corey brought home from work.  He was the cutest store manager ever!

Nathan's Checkup

Nathan had his two year checkup at the doctor today.  He is healthy, although he had a little bit of a heart murmur, so we are going to get that checked by a pediatric cardiologist.  He is sure cute though.

Groves Tech Night

Groves Elementary, where Jonah and Eliza currently go to school, held a "Tech Night".  They had a variety of activities for the kids to do so we went over to check  it out.  We didn't stay very long, but the kids had fun.  The theme was "Hollywood" and using tech in movies.