Spring Pix

Here are the kids' Spring School Pictures.  Cheyanna is 5 1/2 and is in Kindergarten.

Cade is 8 and is in 2nd grade.

 Carson is 10 and is in 5th grade.

Charlie is 13 and is in 7th grade.

Piano Recital

 

Cade did great at his second piano recital.  He played Cops & Robbers, and When the Saints Go Marching In.  

Carson is getting really good at piano.  He has learned several hymns, and sometimes plays for us during Family Home Evening.  For the recital, he played Hedwig's Theme and Maple Leaf Rag.

 

After the recital, Grandma took us all out to lunch at the Super Eastern Buffet to celebrate the boys' great performances. 

Everyday moments from Grandma's camera

One of the things I love about having my Mom visit is that she takes lots of pictures.  And she takes pictures of things that I wouldn't usually take pictures of.  She remembers to bring her camera to all the little things that I forget to bring my camera to.  Like Amazing Jake's, and Cade's first Pack Meeting, and Chuck playing basketball.  And she captures little moments that I often overlook like coloring Easter eggs, or some of these moments...

Cheyanna wearing fake teeth

Carson giving Cheyanna a piggy back ride

Uncle Scott posing by a fountain  :)

Chuck and Charlie playing basketball

Me crashing on the couch after a long day at school

My weekly inspection of Cade's teeth to see if that tooth is making any progress, or if braces are inevitable

And everyday moments with Cheyanna 

It's so fun to have all these memories caught on camera, and it reminds me to get the camera out more often for little everyday moments that I usually forget to capture. 

Grandma

We really enjoyed our visit from Grandma last month.  She came from FL for Cade's baptism, then stayed for Easter.  My mom was a huge help to me when school got really crazy for a few weeks.  She kept the house clean, and everyone sane and happy.  We miss her!!

Grandma and Carson

Me and my mom

Cade and Cheyanna with Grandma.  

Love you, Mom!

Easter

Easter Morning 2010.  Here are the kids waiting to come down and start the egg hunt!

Lots of Easter Eggs were found. It was a really fun Easter with Grandma and Granny both here for the weekend. 

I love this picture of Cheyanna's excitement after openeing her Hippo Pillow Pet. 

Coloing Easter Eggs

Embracing the Gray

I remember when I was a young woman saying that I would never dye my hair.  "When it is time to go gray, I will go gray," I said.  When I was 33 and had too many gray hairs to pluck out, I changed my mind and started coloring my hair it's "natural" color.  Now I am 35 and still have too many gray hairs to pluck out, but I am tired of hiding from the inevitable.  Once you start dying your hair, there is no good time to let it go gray.  So I want to just let it go gray naturally, at whatever pace it decides to, while I'm still at a point where the transition won't be such a noticeable process.  I still think I'm too young to have gray hair, but then again, I am what I am.  So I am going to try to just let my natural hair grow out, grays and all.  I guess I thought if I posted about this, I'd be more likely to follow through, so we'll see.  If you see some gray hairs, do not be alarmed because I am now embracing the gray.

Taller

Here's the proof that Charlie is officially taller than me now.  At age 13, this kid is already 5'9" tall, and wears a size 13 shoe. 

Charlie loves to stand right next to me, and look down into my face and remind me that he's taller.  He's still my baby though.  No matter how tall he gets, he'll always be my son. 

LDS Twilight

Twilight Years from Tom on Vimeo.

Cade the Cub Scout

Cade's first Pack Meeting was a rocket launch!  These little paper rockets went super high.  The boys had a blast launching them. 

Carson is a Webelos. 

Cade earned his Bobcat award at his first Pack Meeting.  He has watched his brothers go through the rank advancement ceremonies for years now, and it is finally his turn! 

Amazing!

Amazing Jake's that is.  What an awesome place to take the kids!  One day during Spring Break, my mom and I took the kids to Amazing Jake's for a pizza/pasta/salad buffet, and then all the rides they could ride in 3 hours, and $10 of games each.  We spent 5 hours there, and the kids had a blast! I couldn't believe all the fun stuff there was for them to do.  We didn't even have time to get to the free bowling.   My mom brought her camera along, so we captured some of the fun!

Cheyanna loves Merry-Go-Rounds.  She rode this one several times while her brothers were playing Lazer Tag.  The train ride (below) was also a hit.

Mini-golf is always fun.  The boys loved the bumper cars.

Cheyanna loves all rides and roller coasters.  Poor Cade has inherited his Mom's motion sickness tendency.  Can you tell from the picture above that he did NOT enjoy the teacup ride?  Cheyanna rode this one 5 times, but Cade barely tolerated it once.  Poor guy--I know exactly how he feels!

The arcade games were fun.  The package we bought included $5 of games, but we brought their report cards, so Amazing Jake's gave each kid an additional $5 of games.  Cheyanna had a great time earning tickets and picking out some prizes. 

Charlie might be 5'9" tall, but he's not too big for the roller coaster ride.   He managed to cram his lanky legs into the little cart just fine. 

 The kids ended their ride time with go-karts.  

And to top it all off, never-ending pizza, pasta, soup, salad, dessert, and soda.  They boys went back for more ice cream and root beer floats in between rides.  It was kind of expensive, but such a really fun day. We'll have to save up and do it again this summer!  :)