Birthday Girl

Yep, She's Finally 6!!

Birthday mornings at our house start nice and early...I think this was taken before 7 am. Ugh. We usually have the gifts wrapped on the counter and it's the first thing we do to start the day. None of the kids like to wait until dad gets home from work, so we usually open before he leaves for the day. Nat is waiting in anticipation for dad to give her the go-ahead...

We didn't have big plans for the day, but we didn't want to let it go by without doing something fun, so the girls and I went to a local ceramics shop and painted ceramics. Let's just say that art is NOT our strong suit. Never-the-less, the girls had a fun time and we came home with some LOVELY artwork that was promptly hidden in the cupboards! Nat is displaying her ceramic dog -she was very proud of his multi-colored skin and the red ball she painted in his mouth!

Here's Emily and her multi-colored dog dish. I'm sure that Buddy was very grateful.

Abby with her painted monkey coin bank that she made for her cousin, Halle.

We ended the day with Rainbow Cupcakes that I swear I will never make again. They were very cute, but a PAIN IN THE BUTT to assemble. If you want to see the original recipe, click HERE. It's a good thing that birthdays come only once a year!!

Happy Birthday, Nat! We LOVE you!!

And If We Weren't at Baseball or T-ball...

...we were at SOFTBALL! Em played girls softball for the first time this last summer. We're not sure how much she loved it, but we do know that she improved ALOT over the course of the season. She had fun playing with her friend, Taige, and a few girls from her class at school. They had a great season and we hope that she will try it again next year.

Watching Paint Dry (aka: T-Ball)

Down and Ready!

Sa-Wing, Batta Batta!

It's cute the first time, and maybe even the second. But, after that, T-ball is like watching paint dry. Slowly and steadily, the 5 and 6 year olds learn the game of baseball....it usually involves hitting the ball just barely off the tee and then watching the entire defense run after the ball in the infield. It usually ends up in a dog-pile to recover the ball and finally get it thrown to first base. It's entertaining to watch the first few times, I will admit that. Never the less, Nat had a grand time hitting the ball with her vibrant pink bat and then learning to catch the ball with her vibrant pink mitt. I hope, we all hope, that next year we can advance to coach pitch - which is more or less like watching paint dry some more!

Miss President

All Hail to the Chief! The Chief of the Orchestra, that is...

Abby was elected the official, and ever-so-important, President of the Chamber Orchestra for the upcoming school year. Her official duties will include: planning all parties and gatherings, officiating at all orchestra concerts, being enslaved to her orchestra teacher - Miss Jimenez, and of course, polishing her tiara. Congratulations, Miss President! Your parents are so proud!

Pomp, Circumstance, & All That Jazz

The Graduate, Himself

The Proud & Supportive Parents With The 7th Grader That Won't Smile

Jake officially has graduated from elementary school. There were no tears, no shouts of joy. Only the shouts of his mother that very morning - threats of bruises and pain if he didn't put on his Sunday clothes for the ceremony. Yes, we all know what torture it is to have to wear Sunday clothes on any day other than Sunday! We are officially parents of one stubborn 7th grader!

Surgical Center

Jake has a problem. A very serious problem. I know this is disgusting, and I probably should spare you the anguish of knowing this about him, but since this is my blog, and I'm the mother, I will post it anyway. This child does not know how to use a toe nail clipper. Instead, when he needs to trim his toenails, he rips them off. And, almost inevitably, the tearing of the toenails leads to ingrown toenails. We've been to the doctor's office twice in the last 6 months to have them removed - they get so infected and irritated that the dr. has to go in and cut them out. It's not a fun process, and you'd think after the first time of having a needle inserted into the end of his big toe, he'd figure out how to properly trim his nails. But, no. He's got to try out this painful process a few times.

So, after the 3rd time this same child came to be with an incredibly swollen, infected, digusting toenail, I broke out the surgical tools. We enlisted the help of Uncle Mike and Aunt April (who were the lucky souls that happened to be staying with us that weekend!) and Kim set out to play doctor. There was crying, a little bit of screaming, and I do believe that if Jake could have said some curse words, he would have said them! (If you've ever performed surgery on yourself, you will know this pain!)

After a few moments (hours, according to Jake), Kim was pretty sure that he got out the nail and we sent Jake off to bed with some ibuprofen and some sympathy. A few days later, we ended up in the Dr's office anyway and the surgical procedure that was performed in our living room became null and void. I think next time Jake will veto our vote to attempt surgical removal ourselves!

Adda-Wyn Bef

The girls and I left the boys at home and traveled to St. George to meet our newest family member - Addilyn Beth Thomas, or as Halle calls her 'Adda-wyn Bef Thomas'. She is as cute as a bug and the girls really enjoyed holding her and as always, entertaining Miss Halle. We even tried to convince Halle to let us take Addi home with us, but she seems to like her baby sister and wanted to keep her around. We enjoyed the baby, the 2 year old, the visit with Brenna, and especially the SUN! (We've had an especially rainy and damp spring!)

A Post A Day

I must confess that I have no really good excuses for my lack of blogging, so I will provide only a few that might gather some sympathy:
1. I am busy.
2. I lost my camera USB cord, therefore I have been unable to upload pics from the camera.
3. I am busy.
4. I was too lazy to take my camera SD card to Costco and make a CD, therefore allowing me to post any new pictures.
5. I am busy.
6. My computer hard drive is nearly full and I am afraid to upload any more pictures to the hard drive.
7. I am busy.
8. We are doing the same things that we do every summer and it seems a bit boring to repeatedly post about all the baseball, swimming, and kids fighting.
9. I am busy.
10. I am too lazy.

Yes, the last excuse is probably the best one and the most accurate. However, the others still hold some truth to them. I finally took my SD card into Costco today and uploaded over 800 pictures and video clips onto a CD - I still can't find my stupid USB cord to my camera. So, I will be playing catch up...going backwards. It will begin tomorrow with a post that belongs back in May. Hopefully, this will alleviate the guilt that I feel from taking a 3 month hiatus and my mom will stop asking me 'When are you going to update the blog?'...so, mom, here you go!!