Memorial Day Weekend, part 1

Every year just before Memorial Day weekend, the school starts doing the End of Grade (EOG) testing for grades 3 and up.  The kids and teachers feel a lot of pressure so I try to lighten the mood.  When Abby was in 3rd grade, I sent her a Harry Potter-themed note.  In 4th grade, I sent her a note made with puzzles.  This year was quite possibly my greatest moment and I'm so excited I got to send it in with both Abby and Sam.  In fact, not to brag or anything, Abby enjoyed it so much that she ripped off the bottom that had her name and passed it around the room for all her peers to enjoy.  These are all inspired by lyrics from songs that the kids listen to regularly on the way to school with Roy.

We kicked off the weekend by going out to Jordan Lake, which is just 15 minutes from us.  We spend several hours in sand and water--the perfect way to start the summer.

The giant hole you see by Abby was this crazy combination of sand and clay and it was a sinkhole that went up to my knees.  Nora loved slogging through it.  Roy wouldn't put both legs in.  He has experience with NC sinkholes and while it's something that the rest of us still belly-laugh about, his recollection of it usually results in a chuckle and eye-roll.

Sam and his "fossil"--a catfish skeleton.  No, he didn't get to bring it home, much to his disappointment.  Yes, he did stage it to look like something climbing up a tree in the hopes that it would freak someone out.

The kids all wore blue to church yesterday so I had to get a picture.  Plus we were 13 minutes early for the second week in a row, which also deserves a picture and moment of celebration because that has not been our normal for the last several months.  One of the perks of the sun coming up so early and right into our bedrooms is that we can get up and moving a lot easier.

As crazy as life gets, as chaotic as it might feel, I'm grateful for these people in my life and so grateful they are mine forever!

Spring Break

We have had a really fun, relaxing, busy, productive week of Spring Break.  I always love spending extra time with Roy and the kids and I'm grateful for that.  We tried to do at least one fun activity each day and started off with a bang by going to the Morehead Planetarium at UNC for the Magic Tree House planetarium show:

Then on Sunday, we finally remembered to take a few pictures for Grandma and Baba.  And Sam's scary eyes made a reappearance :)

You guys, Nora just kills us.  She is at this great age of learning so quickly and wanting to show off her funny skills.  She has recently learned to safely climb and sit in this chair and she celebrates big every time.

We went to the local bookstore and read books for a little while.  Abby had a volunteer job interview there.  She has the coolest opportunity to be a book reader for books that are pre-publication and recommend whether or not the bookstore should buy them and write reviews to be posted at the bookstore to help sell the good ones.  She got a stack of 10 books to read over the next few weeks and stayed busy reading and writing reviews.  This was one of those perfect Mom moments--my kiddos all reading in the sunshine and Nora on my lap reading with me.

On Tuesday, we organized a group of friends to meet us at the zoo.  It was a fun, chaotic adventure and we all came home exhausted and happy.  We started listening to "The BFG" by Roald Dahl on the drive and it made the hour drive through gorgeous farmland even more enjoyable.

We also remembered to dye eggs this year.  I usually completely space on this tradition and I am proud to say that we successfully dyed eggs and not clothing, table, or each other.  The eggs turned out really pretty and Nora provided great entertainment for us as she played with that towel :)

We participated in the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning.  I love our neighborhood so much.  We have good people here who are friendly and kind.  I only got pictures of Nora and Abby while they were hunting.  I use the word "hunting" for Abby, but not Nora because all Nora wanted to do was pick up the eggs and relocate them :)

Sam was awesome and planned a great dinner for Saturday night to pass off one of his Bear requirements.  He planned the whole meal: hamburgers, french fries, corn and ranch, and mint chocolate cookie bars for dessert.  He set the table, cleared it off afterward, cooked all the food, and was super excited to use the "awesome giant spatula" on the BBQ.

Thanks to a delayed package delivery from Amazon (that we hope gets here next week some time), the kids were extra spoiled for Easter this year.  Thank goodness Roy did a last-minute Walmart run for us!  The kids are really excited to try out the slip 'n slide the second it gets warm again. 

We are grateful that our Savior provided us a way to overcome sin and death.  We are grateful to be connected to each other forever because of Him.  We are so grateful for the knowledge we have of Him and His gospel and especially grateful that we can keep learning and strengthening that knowledge and testimony that we have of Him.  Jesus Christ and His teachings truly are a light to our family.

SPRING!!!

I love the spring.  It makes me so happy to have my flowers pop up, our grass turn green (you may not know, but bermuda grass is super common in our area and it turns yellow for half the year....not pretty, but it sure is exciting when it slowly turns green!), and my kiddos and I get to spend more time outside.  We went to a fun county expo last weekend where the kids got to ride mini horses, participate in a boot scramble, and hold baby animals.

Lately, Andrew loves to build with Legos during lunchtime.  He makes all sorts of fun designs and then asks me if I can make a cooler one.  Since he's the judge, he always wins that competition.  I registered him for kindergarten this week and I will miss the constant chatter, silly jokes, and cuddles when he goes to school.

We saw this little flamingo at Walmart last week.  Nora was reaching for it and I just had to get a picture so Grandma could see it.  

Last month, Lydia was the student of the month for responsibility.  This picture hung in her classroom all month to celebrate it.  She was so excited and proud to bring it home and hang it up.

We got school pictures back last week.  I'm so glad I didn't buy any of them.  We've had some good pictures and some not so good ones, but these ones just made me laugh, especially Sam's.  Oh my goodness, we had a great time laughing about his :)

Now that Nora is a great walker, she can participate in all the fun at parks.  The boys and I took Nora to a tiny playground while the girls were at jump rope class.  She's so cute and the boys were so sweet in teaching her how to do the playground :)

We were trying to get a picture of Nora's new hairdo.  Her hair is long enough now that we can pull it back and she looks so cute.  If we stick her in the carseat with it still wet, her little ponytail goes straight up and it's comical.

No words, you guys.  One of my favorite quiet moments of the week.

Nora has figured out how to climb up on Andrew's bed, much to his sometimes aggravation and sometimes pleasure.  She climbs up and pretends to fall asleep, which only lasts for as long as it takes Andrew to tickle her.

We try to attend storytime at the library every week.  Andrew loves it and is getting brave enough (finally!) to participate in the songs and fingerplays.  The last few weeks, he has pretended to be a chicken doing "Head, Shoulder, Knees, and Toes".  The librarian is so awesome and did a second verse with chicken parts :)

I loved this view of a typical night.  We read scriptures, sing a song, and say prayer.  I love this time and I love these people.