Field Day

 I love helping out at the school.  I get to see my cute kiddos interacting with each other, with classmates, and with myself.  I love that they are always so happy to see me.  I couldn't find Nathan on this last day of school but I know they all had a blast!  I helped at a booth which passed out 1500 Blow Pops over the course of the day.  Gross!

Happy 34th Birthday

 What a long and wonderful day.  I have such amazing family and friends and am so thankful to all those who helped me have an amazing day!  Greg and I spent the first half of the day buying a new car.  It was longer than I remember, but worth it.  We will definitely be driving in style.  We had our other van for over 9 years so when we thought about having this car that long it was crazy to think how old we and our children will be.  Time certainly flies!
The second half of the day was with my beautiful children.  We went to piano parties, baseball games, did some laundry and sorted through report cards and school projects that came home. 
Throughout the day I got calls, text messages, Facebook messages, and knocks on the door wishing me a happy birthday.  It definitely makes a 34 year old girl smile!

6th Grade Graduation

 This handsome tween has spent the last 7 years of his life at this school.  I can't believe how time flies.  Check him out as a cute kindergartner!  I had no idea what to expect at graduation.  One of the first things they did was pass out a Hope Of America award to a few girls and boys.  I had no idea what the award was for, or that Nathan was going to earn it, but he did.  I have been congratulated from a lot of people and it only confirms what I already knew, my Nathan is one amazing kid!

 Getting his diploma, on to 7th grade!

 The 5 sixth grade teachers were amazing!  Nathan had each of them for different parts of his week.  Callie got to sit by her bestie, Genevieve, but she still got a little bored with the 1.5 hour display.

 

 A lot of kids were checked out for lunch, given flowers or balloons or a myriad of other gifts.  I hadn't really thought much about that stuff (crazy week), but it influenced me to put this card together.  He loved it! Happy Graduation Nathan!  You are amazing!

Memorial Day

Family BBQues are always a blast.  Great food and great people equal lots of fun for all! I am always sad when we spend an hour or more filling water balloons and then the actual throwing of them all takes under 3 minutes.  I got Nathan pretty good though, with the cooler.  It was awesome.

Dance Festival

 We love going to the Meadow Dance Festival.  Every year I am so impressed with the talent, the choreography and the diversity of the songs and dances.  The kids are so in sync with each other!  We had our picnic after all the dances like last year.  Unfortunately this year was shockingly cold and windy so we didn't stay too long.  The kids did amazing though.  Nathan song was.... Ryan did Beat it by Micheal Jackson and Annabelle did a Kung Fu Panda song. 

 

 

 

Memories

Life is all about memories.  And moments.  So many moments happen every day, all of the time.  I can't capture all of them, but I love going through pictures every couple days and seeing what pictures I (or one of the kids) took.

 Callie's last day of preschool.  She had a blast this year.

 I love Nathan's friends.  They are so polite and perfect for him.

 Ryan joined choir this year (a big surprise) and it was amazing!

 The Ipad is quite an amazing asset in our home.

 Greg strutting a pose after some ward work.

 While the boys camped us girls got new tires for the truck.  We walked to IHOP while we waited and enjoyed some yummy American breakfast.  We did have 1 person stop and offer us a ride since it was a little rainy, but we were okay.

 Nathan is loved by Callie's little friend Eva.  Every time she comes over she wants Nathan to put some flowers in his hair and make her and Callie a treasure hunt.  Nathan is happy to oblige the little girls desires and it is really cute to watch him.

 On Sunday night we had 5 boys (cousins) at our house for a sleepover while Annabelle went with her 2 cousins over to Aunt Brandy's.  They all had a blast and maybe next year I will remember a picture of the boys.

 Cuddle with Daddy time.  We all love snuggles!

Scariest Morning Ever

I had nothing planned for Thursday morning.  That isn't usually the case.  On most days I am running from one place to the other with lots of little side errands along the way.  Today I just got to relax and leisurely enjoy my clean carpet.  I picked up after breakfast and yesterdays mess and I didn't even get into the shower until about 9.  Callie was playing great on her own so I decided I could take my time.  I shaved my legs, blow-dried my hair and since I didn't hear Callie and she hadn't come to "bug" me I curled my hair and put on some make-up.  Sure I thought I should check Callie a couple times, but she is such a good girl, never leaving the house or getting into mischief (unless friends are over) that I wasn't about to interrupt her independent playtime.  When I finally came out I called to her that it was time to play together.  I sauntered down to the playroom thinking she was there and picking up things along the way.  When she wasn't there I knew she was hiding, a game she is good at, and decided to have some fun looking around.  I called to her, calmly, to come out and play.  Nothing.  No sounds.  My windows were open and I could hear kids outside playing, so I walked around the house.  I started getting a little worried so I searched the house a bit more expertly.  My home is not big.  There are not many hiding places.  And since my carpets were cleaned the day before there just wasn't much for me to look around.  Horrible thoughts started filling my head.  "Why had I ignored that 1 little thought to go and check on Callie while I got ready?"  I had listened to a Podcast that morning at the gym dealing with how to get through big challenges in our life.  During which I thought (for the umpteenth time) how my life was going really well and I hadn't been faced with a big challenge, yet.  As the podcast came back to me I didn't want to admit that this could be my "big" challenge. After about 10-15 minutes I knew I needed to call Greg.  He didn't answer.  I texted him, "Callie is gone" and he called almost immediately.  That is when I lost it.  I was breathing rapidly and crying and I didn't know what to do.  He tried to calm me down and said he'd be home as quick as he could.  As we hung up I heard him announce to a room of his co-workers, "I need someone to take me home right now!"  (Greg takes the train to work and didn't have a car to get him home fast enough).  Greg had told me to call 911.  Dialing those numbers was really hard.  I didn't want to believe that I needed to do that.  When I pushed send my whole body trembled with more fear.  The nice dispatcher calmly took my information and asked what was wrong.  I, on the other hand, was not so calm.  As I explained the situation and explained what Callie had been wearing the morning, I continued to search.  I just couldn't believe she was gone.  It seemed that we were talking forever when I heard a noise, a noise I was almost certain was my Callie.  I called out to her and continued looking.  When I got up to my bedroom the pillows were moving and she was emerging, very scared looking (I am sure I was pretty scary sounding/looking myself).  When I told the dispatcher I had found her she asked if I still would like the police to come help me calm down.  I was an emotional wreck so I so no and hung up politely.  I texted Greg and called him at the same time.  A coworker and he were on their way but turned around.  Greg later said he was coming home mostly so he could help me calm down.  Callie ran to her room while I spoke with Greg for a bit and then I went to talk to her.  She promises that she didn't hear me.  Which maybe is possible because she had a bunch of pillows on her head.  But, I have 2 theories.  1-She got into my bed at the beginning of my shower and fell asleep.  When she did wake up she heard me yelling and came out.  2-At first she was excited that she had hid so well, then as I got more frantic she got more scared and was worried about the lecture she would get for hiding.  Perhaps it was a little of both.  We have talked about it a lot over the past couple days.  At first she smiled a bit at how well she had hid, but now she understands, I think, that I was really scared and that you should tell someone you are hiding before you do it.  I took this picture later in the day to show how hard it was to pass on by without thinking she was under the pillows.  She is there in the picture.  I look back and wish I had looked more before freaking out and calling 911.  But I truly thought she was gone.  I am glad it is over and hope that it never happens again.  Those feelings were horrible and my heart goes out to anyone who has had to deal with this tragedy for real.

Learning How to Play Hop Scotch