T-Ball Season

Courtney and Kaylee just began their t-ball season. They are on the same team. That is wonderful for MOM. These pictures are from their first practice. Tonight was their first game. Kaylee is definitely more serious about the game. Courtney can often be seen tickling the third base coach. She has to be reminded to run to the next base. I enjoy watching them. They also get to play with their cousin Nalea. Ashley, Nalea's mom, is also their coach. It should be a fun season.

WII Can Read

This is our summer reading incentive program. The kids have wanted a WII for quite sometime. I just didn't want to hand it over--they are costly, you know. So I heard of another parent doing this during the school year. The kids have to read 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week, until late July. This way they will have a few weeks to play with it before going back to school. So far so good. They love putting up their sticker. Justin and I just finished the Magic Tree House, book #1. Kaylee is 30 pages through her first chapter book. Munch just loves to have stories read to her. I hope this helps keep them motivated during the summer and we can avoid the dreaded summer regression.

End of School MADNESS

The madness began about a week before school was to get out. I headed up to Provo with 6 other great ladies for the PTA convention. We spent 2 1/2 days laughing, talking, and eating. I remembered quickly that I am no spring chicken. Staying up until 1-2 each night wiped me out. It was totally worth the sacrifice......we'll have great memories. Oh yes, we did attend a few PTA classes inbetween the eating and laughing. It was great to be with these fun ladies. We should have a great year next year at the school.

Monday began with a school wide reading party. All kids who turned in 5 out of 6 months of their reading calendars were able to attend. The party was so much fun for them. There were western games (our theme was Reading Round-up), western pictures, cupcakes in the shape of a snake (we are the Rattlers). It was a great reward for all those readers. The great PTA did a wonderful job rewarding these readers.

Sorry about the terrible picture, it's a picture of a picture. Notice the cowgirl in the top row, yep that's Courtney. She tends to sneek into anything we do at the school. Eventhough she still has another year to go before she gets to be a Rattler. Kayleee is in the front row, center. We couldn't find Justin's photo, but he attended the party also.

Then the craziness continued with Kaylee's graduation from Kindergarten. Her class performed a couple of cute pirate songs for us. They all loved singing and showing us what they had learned. Each child had a turn to say their name at the microphone. I wasn't quick enough on the camera, so I told Kaylee to, "Wait, wait." She did, but with hands on hips. We finally got the camera to work and captured her moment in time.

Mrs. Barney was a great teacher. She has so much kindness and love for the kids. You can see all of her hard work pay off in the progress of the kids.

At the end of their ceremony, each child presented their mother with a flower. It was so great to see Kaylee blossom this year. She is an awesome reader. No matter where we go, she brings books with her. She can be seen reading at church and baseball games. I loved helping her class and watching her grow. Next year, it's on to first grade!! Good job Kaylee.
Are you tired yet???? Oh did I mention we went to Justin's baseball game on Monday and had to leave early to make it to Kaylee's graduation.

Tuesday-Field Day/Swim Party

Don't you love the bangs??? Cedar and it's wind ruins photos. Tuesday began back at the school for field day. What a fun, crazy day. The PTA sets up Snake Bait for 4 hours, raking in over $500. We provide water and otter pops for all students. We supervise the afternoon movie. And most importantly, we have fun with our kids. The above picture is me and two of my best PTA buddies, Nikki and Sara. I truly love the friendships that I have formed through the PTA.

Each grade competes in races. Justin came in third in the 100 and 200 yard dash. You can't tell from the picture, but he ran barefoot. He was so proud of himself. And lucky I, got to be there to watch it all!! I love being at the school with my kids. Justin's teacher, Mrs. Fuson had t-shirts made for her whole class. They say "Field Day 2008" and their name. She is the most amazing caring teacher I have met. We will miss her next year.......but Kaylee will have her in 2 years.

WE LOVE MRS. FUSON

Here's Kaylee with her class enjoying an otter pop. Her class also had races. She came in first place!!

In the middle of field day, I had to leave and take Courtney to her last day of preschool. This is a long awaited day. It was swim day. Courtney and Nalea could hardly take a second to stop playing for a photo. But as you can see, after chasing them down, I got a shot.

Now it's Wednesday and Justin and Kaylee's classes both earn ice cream parties from the PTA for bringing in the most Box Tops. The top 3 classes got parties. Justin's was 1st place and Kaylee's was 2nd place. I guess it helps to have a mom who is a Box Top Nazi.

Justin is wearing his two medals he won for the field day races.

It's the last day of school and all we have left is an awards assembly. I wasn't planning on attending until I learned my little ones would be recognized. So it was back to the school. Kaylee received 2 awards, one for excellent work in computers and one for citizenship. Justin also received the citizenship award. Their teachers choose who receives what award. Way to go kids!! I love that you are both kind to other students and teachers. Oh there's Courtney getting in on the action again.

Eventhough the week was completely exhausting, I loved every minute of it. I feel so lucky to have the flexibility to be to every event at the school. I know the kids love me being there too. Not a visit to Justin's class goes by without him running over and giving me a huge hug! Those are precious moments and memories for both of us. I'm excited for a break from school, who doesn't want to sleep in a little. If you call waking up at 7:30 sleeping in. But don't worry, we've got plenty of fun activities planned for the summer.

And the color is.......

RED

It's hard to tell from this picture, but it is red. I'm relieved that I like the color. Red can be tricky.....too brown, too orange, too purple......but this is just right.

Tyler and I did another marathon weekend of yes, you guessed it, more tile. We spent 11 hours doing tile in our shower. Who knew how much work this was???? Not me. We now just have to grout it and then install the floor. We are now down to one last shower. It is just a free standing shower, so hopefully, we'll be able to finish it tomorrow. Doesn't that sound like a fun way to spend your Memorial Day??

We've hired a painter to finish the inside--thank heavens. We did this mostly because Tyler is out of town most of this next week, Tuesday through Friday. And I certainly didn't want to do it by myself. Once he returns we can work on the back patio. We have to finish this so we can put stairs going out there.

We still are waiting on POWER. If it doesn't begin to go in this week I am really going to SCREAM!

Mother's Day Escape

I scheduled a family weekend for Mother's Day. We first had a cotton candy event. This event is very small, so the kids could come. They watched the parade and got a bag full of candy. Then they each got to play carnival games, ride inflateables, eat junk and help sell cotton candy. The only purpose of this event is to make enough money to justify a fun weekend.

After the event we headed to Ashley's Home Furniture. I had scoped out a new couch set and entertainment center. I just had to get the bosses approval. It was a go. And we added 4 barstools to the purchase.

Finally, it was off to the hotel. The kids love to swim. And that is where we spent our time. They loved having Dad throw them in the air, well everyone but Courtney. Courtney made big progress at the pool. She got her eyes wet all by herself. We had to clap each time she did this.

We had our traditional dinner, Olive Garden-2 orders of chicken scampi and tons of breadsticks. The whole family eats like pigs. Justin can't get enough. But he wants to hurry and stuff it in his mouth so he can go back to swimming.

It was such a fun relaxing weekend. I have decided to make it my annual present to myself.

Baseball and Ice Cream

Justin's team had another game yesterday. At first, I thought it was going to be miserable because the wind had been crazy ALL day. We were so lucky that it stopped for the game. I missed the first 2 innings because it was my night to cook for the dinner group. After scurrying around like a mad woman, I finally made it there. Justin's team was up by 3 points. What??? I was stunned. We ususally are down 5 after the 1st inning. And then it's too hard to catch up. So things were looking promising.

Justin was up to bat about 10 minutes after I got there. Swing-strike, Swing-BANG!!!!! The ball took off out to right field. The player couldn't catch it. So Mom is standing cheering!!! Go Justin Go!! He got a double out of it. And hit 2 runs in. I was so thrilled for him.

The game became a nail biter (that is if you are competitive like me). The score is 11 for us and 7 for them. Dang, we needed to be up by at least 5 because there is a 5 run per inning rule. We have our last ups at bat. No one is out and runners are at 3rd and 2nd (Justin is at 2nd). So I was excited to see that most likely we'd score a run. Batter strikes out. Next batter is up and a wild pitch passes the catcher. The runner at 3rd goes and then hesitates and then goes. Yep, you guessed it, out at home. Now it's 2 outs---how in the heck did that happen so fast??? Batter strikes out.

Now the other team gets their last ups. They score 3 runs. Oh this is almost more than I can take. We are only up by one. There is a runner on 2nd and the batter hits the ball, we got him out at 1st!! Yippee!!!! Our second win of the season. The boys were so excited that they ran the bases to celebrate. But wait, it gets even better. The boys think they get an ice cream if they win. So Mom takes the team out for ice cream. We went to Brad's (our sponsor) for the ice cream celebration.

I don't know who likes sports more, me or the kids!!

House Update

The project for the last week has been tile. Saturday was the big work day. Tyler spent 15 hours cutting tile. He stayed until 12:30 am. The poor guy worked himself to death. While he was cutting I was laying the tile. Dayna came and helped for a couple of hours. She showed me the ropes of how to lay tile. That was a blessing and curse. Blessing because I would help, curse because I could help. I spent 8 hours on Saturday and so far 2 hours today laying tile. On Sunday I could hardly move. Who knew you used every muscle in your body to lay tile.

This picture if of our banister that goes to the basement. It has not been stained yet, but I love it!!

This is looking into the kitchen. Our granite countertops are being finished today!! Notice all the tile, yep, Tyler and I laid it.

Here is the outside. We've had most of the siding installed and the rock work is done. The next big thing is painting the outside. I'm scared to death. Red is the color I want, but what if I choose the wrong red?

Little Star Preschool

Courtney is soooo lucky that she gets to go to Little Star Preschool. Renae Clark does the best preschool I have ever seen. She really teaches the kids and prepares them for school. The icing on the cake is her wonderful backyard. She has an amazing yard for the kids to play in. She has a swing set, monkey bars, jungle gym, basketball hoop, sandbox, and tons of riding toys. As you can see from the pictures, she also has animals. This spring she got new baby chicks and ducks. They are a hit with all the kids. This has been one of my favorite things since our move to UT. Kaylee attended for 1 1/2 years and Courtney will be there for 2 years. Since Courtney's birthday falls after the cut off, she gets to go to preschool for one more year. Courtney is such a smart little girl, she's been writing her name for a long time. A few weeks ago, she said that she knew our phone #, and she does!! Renae also provides such cute arts and craft projects for them. We are truly blessed to have Renae Clark!!

Field Trip Week

It was Kaylee's turn first. They were going to the Livestock Auction and a farm. I've been on enough field trips to know that it is best to drive your own car and meet them there. The bus is the most exhausting time of the trip. Kaylee was sad that I didn't go on the bus, but she was soon OK. The livestock auction was fun. The auctioneer kept making it seem like one of the kids bought the cows. I let Kaylee have the camera and you can't believe how many pictures of cows she took.

Then it was off to the farm where we saw chickens, lambs, baby pigs, and that was when I had to leave. The kids all loved just being outside and running around. It's always special to spend one on one time with each child. It is amazing to me that they crave it soooooo much.

Courtney was up next. Her class was learning about different jobs in the community. One of her classmate's mother is a waitress at Sizzler. So we were off to learn what she does. The part the kids remember the most is the ice cream. They each had their own treat.

Three Little Pigs

I love going to the school. You never know what you are going to see. I just happened to pop into Kaylee's class one Wednesday after Snake Bait. I was so glad I did. They were reinacting The Three Little Pigs. And how lucky were we that Kaylee's name was drawn as one of the pigs. Kindergarten sure does some fun things!!

Take me out to the ball game....

I thought it would be soooooo smart to sign Justin up for Little League instead of Machine Pitch baseball because then his season would be done before summer starts. That would be great because then it's one less thing to have to schedule vacation around. I forgot one very important thing.....spring in Cedar means wind. We've sat through the last 4 games in near hurricane winds....maybe not hurricane, but totally crazy.

The wind doesn't seem to distract the ball players. Justin loves it. On game 3 his mom had near heart failure. Justin was asked to pitch. He'd never done this in a real game situation. I could see the nervousness and fear in his face. He just had to get us out of the inning....then the real pitcher could start. Thank goodness there is a five run per inning rule. Justin did his best!! Mom and Dad were sure proud that he was willing to try something new.

Justin's team is Brad's--as in Brad's Food Hut. Last Tuesday they finally won their first game. So coach Jones took them to Brad's for an ice cream celebration. Tyler has been helping out coach, at least until the house took over all his time. He is now up to his eyes in tile.

Doesn't he seem to small to be on the mound??

We're Ba-ack

Holy cow it's been over 2 weeks since a blog entry. I guess that's what happens when your husband leaves for a week to MEXICO--without me, again-- and takes the camera with him. So I'll be posting a few entries over the next couple of days to catch us up.