May 30 - Memorial Day

Bryan went & played tennis this morning at 6:30 (gag).  I woke the kids up at 8:30 and we headed to a Memorial Day program at the cemetery.  The program included:

Formal Flag Ceremony

Singing of National Anthem

Pledge of Allegiance

Vintage Airplane Flyover

Raising of Each Branch of the Military's Flags

Each Branch of Military's Anthem Played

Lowering of the Flag to Half-Mass

3 Shot Salute

Silent Gun Salute Routine

WWII Veteran Speakers

There was also a display of several hundred (maybe thousand) flags attached to a white cross with names on them.  Each flag symbolizes one fallen soldier from around the area from WWI - present.

It was a wonderful way to start our Memorial Day.

After we finished our donut breakfast, we headed to SEVEN PEAKS!  First trip of the Summer and we were so excited!  We got lots of (too much) sun and had so much fun splashing and squealing and being together!

Funny: Nora kept calling the Lazy River the Lady Liver.  "Let's go get in the Lady Liver!"

When we got home, I realized that I haven't taken pics of Haze's most recent favorite activity - color by numbers.  He's getting so good at it!

While I was taking pictures, I snapped some of the Transformer Book that me & Hazey made about a month ago.  He colored the transformers, cut out their names, and glued them all to the page by himself.  And then he narrated a story for each page while I wrote.

Optimus Prime: This is a very strong guy that can kick people right in the face.  You know he transformers in to a truck, right?

Guiltar: He can jump with his legs like this.  You know he can punch really hard?

Iron Hide: This guy is Iron Hide.  He is so awesome.  He probably has helpers.  He is so strong.  Do you see his chompers?

Bonk: This is Bonk.  He is like a truck but he looks like a thing that can turn in to a ball.

We were all beat from Seven Peaks, but we got enough energy up this evening to go on a family bike ride.  I had to snap a pic of Nora's Tinkerbell wings poking up out of the bike trailer.

Nora.  She was wide awake when we went to check on her at 10:45 and asked if she could come and hang out with us.  In our bed she goes.  It's not hard to convince us.  She sat & visited for about half hour about everything.  Daddy's bike, Seven Peaks, Summer time, her swimming suit, and her favorite thing on my night stand: a Willow Tree figurine of a Mom, Dad, & baby.  She loves it.  She always wants to hold it and when she does, she is very gentle.  She pats each of their heads and tells something about them.  "This is the Mommy.  She has a pony tail.  She is pretty.  This is the Daddy.  He's holding the baby so she can sleep.  This is the baby.  She is closing her eyes.  She has a hat.  She is so nice."  She sits & softly strokes each one as she talks about them.  It's the sweetest thing.  And then she strokes my hair and my cheeks as she tells me that she loves me.  Oh, she has me so wrapped around her finger.  And I don't even care.

May 29 - Church Day

Cute little kids.  Cutest ones in the whole wide world, in fact.

We had a rough time at church today.  Especially Nora Jane.  She got sad in Nursery because someone played with the stroller that she was playing with (past tense).  Like shrieking for the whole building to hear sad.  So we went outside for a bit.  And then Daddy followed the screams and found us outside.  Poor Nora just needed some time away.  She plopped herself far from me and played in the mulch for a minute.  

That was shrieking tantrum #1.  Of four.  F.O.U.R.  1. Stroller incident.  2. Took her shoes off but wanted them back on.  3. Fell off the chair in the "Mommy class."  (We finally decided to quit Nursery and try Relief Society for a minute.  Was going great until chair incident.)  4. Nursery friend started chasing her around and she didn't want to be chased.

It's rough to be two sometimes.

May 28 - Summer Saturday

I think Andlie's kind of sad about school ending.  It's the first Saturday of Summer and she used her time and easel to write every person in her class' name.

We wore the new Summer shirts that Shennie sent us this week today!

Spent some time at the Splash Pad this evening!  We're so happy to see it open because that means it's SUMMER!

After dinner, me & Nora headed out for her Special Night!  She was SO EXCITED!  She chose to go get ice cream with Mommy!  She mostly chose to get a bowl of candy with a side of ice cream.  She wanted: animal cookies, gummy worms, and M&Ms.  Some funny one-liners from her mouth during our date:

While I was buckling her in her car seat to go, I kept tickling her feet.  She finally screamed at me & said, "Stop it!  I the boss!!!"

While we were sitting at the table eating ice cream, "We Will Rock You," came on the radio.  Nora looked at me with huge, excited eyes, raised her hands in the air, & exclaimed, "It's the Rock 'n Roll band, Mommy!!!"

After our date we stopped at Smith's to grab some milk.  She "drove" the cart the whole time. On our way out she told me she was driving us to the car and when we got to the car she said, "I drove us to you car!  You welcome!!!"

Since the bowls & spoons at the ice cream place were "Angry Bird" themed, we made sure to make Angry Pig faces at each other a few times before laughing hysterically at each other.

She's just the best 2 year old in the whole, wide world!  I feel so blessed to be her Momma!  And I love that she is the one who remembered that it was her Special Night tonight.

May 27 - Last Day of 1st Grade!

Andlie has sure LOVED having Daddy take her to school every morning this year.  And he's loved it too!  Every day, he opens the back door for her and she says, "Thank you, taxi driver."  And then giggles.  And every day when the drive by the yellow Beetle, Andlie slugs Bryan & says, "Slug bug yellow!"  It's a great start to both of their mornings.

I can't believe it's the last day of 1st grade for Andlie!  Her teacher sent me a text earlier this week and this is what it said:

"There are a few kids I might cry over losing and Andlie is definitely one of them.  She is the sweetest girl and I am so thankful she was in my class!"

She has learned so much and grown up so much this year!  We're so proud and lucky and blessed to be her parents!  We love you, Andlie!  Congratulations on a wonderful year of school!

Just for comparison, here is a picture of her on the first day of school:

She came home with a perfect report card and her advancement certificate in to 2nd grade!  Yay, Andlie!

To celebrate, we went to a little lake with lots of friends and played in the sun and ate good food!  We had about 8+/- adults and 30+/- kids there!

Finished our fun day by having a family picnic at the park.  There were about 11+/- adults and 25+/- kids there.  We had so much fun and we're thankful for our wonderful friends and neighbors!  Let Summer begin!!!

May 26 - 20 Weeks

Today was Andlie's last full day of 1st grade.  I wanted to take a picture of her very most favorite lunch from this school year.  She ate school lunch every Wednesday since it was pizza day!  But most of the other days, she took home lunch.  Her favorite home lunch was: a Pizza Lunchable, some Sun Chips, and a Capri Sun.  Cute girl.

Today was Field Day!  She wore her sporty clothes and a pony tail.  She had fun doing three-legged races, jumping rope, and playing games outside for most of the day.

After she left, I realized that today is the halfway mark in pregnancy #4!  I can't believe it!  Totally required a picture.  We're so excited for our ultrasound next Wednesday!

Haze was so proud today because he put his own clothes on, put his own shoes & socks on, combed his own hair, and posed himself for this picture.  What a little stud!

After school, us girls realized that we all had the same color of shirt on so we took a picture!

May 25 - Dance Festival

Each year at the end of the year, Andlie's school has the Dance Festival.  It's outdoors and each grade does a dance.  This year, Andlie's class did a Chinese Ribbon Dance.  She's worked hard at school for a few weeks learning the moves.  And since she started practicing, she's been coming home & telling me, "MOM!!  There is a SURPRISE at the end of our dance and you are gonna LOVE it!!"  Followed by lots of giggling.

Well today after the calming flute music was over and the ribbon dance ended, some party music came on and the kids started jumping up & down & wiggling all around.  Andlie looked back at us with her shy smile and then threw her head back & burst in to laughter.  She's so cute and she was so much fun to watch today!

 

During the festival, Haze & Nora played on the school play ground.  Afterwards, they had some very important news for me.

"Mom, this girl with white hair and curls and a gray shirt and she was 5 said, 'DON'T DO THAT!' to us and we didn't like it so we made a mad face! Like you make your eyebrows straight and look your head down and get your mad lips out and fold your arms. Because we were mad."

We've been so happy to have Bryce back in town!  He's moving back to Orem and has been staying at our house since Sunday until he finds an apartment!  We love having him here!  The first thing Nora asks when she wakes up is, "Is Bryce here?"  And when his car comes home, the kids race to him and can't wait to play.  Tonight he played Transformers with the items in our garage with Haze & Nora.  He's pretty great.  We're happy to have him back!