Friday, April 30, 2010

Homemade Playdough!

Audree said she was bored today...so we made some playdough!



Rylee is 7!!

This time of year it seems like we all get older all of a sudden around here. While our birthdays are spread throughout the seasons...they start coming fast in the late Spring! Rylee is the first and we always have a great time celebrating her big day.

We decided last year to institute a "every-other-year" friends birthday party. So the kids get to have a "friends" party on their even birthdays and a family party on their odd ones. I actually think this is pretty generous because growing up I only got "friend" parties on my 8,12 and 16th birthdays.

Unfortunately for me, Rylee remembered that when Karlee was 7 she had a "friend" party...so we had to compromise this year. We decided that Rylee could take one friend to go get their hair and nails done at the salon and then come back for cake and ice-cream. Everyone was happy with this arrangement.

So, yesterday I took Rylee and Alyssa (her adorable friend from school) to the salon and they loved getting all fancy! They were so funny...they both had planned to wear skirts, flip flops and matching hair bows...and showed up looking so fabulous! After getting all fancy at the salon we headed home where Grandma and Grandpa Clark were waiting with the rest of the crew for cake and ice-cream. When all was said and done Rylee said, "This was the BEST birthday EVER!" She was so cute and just loved everything about her big day...she thought it was really cool that even her karate coaches wished her a Happy Birthday!



Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Busy...busy...busy

I have had so much to post about, just no time to do it!! Let me try to catch you up...I don't even have pictures for most of this!

Karlee and Rylee performed in the school-wide talent show 2 weeks ago. They were amazingly brave and did such a great job! I tried to take video to post on You Tube for those of you who might have wanted to see it...alas, the camera's battery (which I swear I charged all night) was dead when we got there. I was super bummed that I had no record of this event.

Karlee tried out for a competitive cheer team at her gym last week. They have asked me to put her on one of these teams the last 2 years and I finally gave in. There are 3 levels of teams and she made the Senior team (the highest level). She astounded me with a perfect 10 round-off/backhandspring/back tuck at her try-outs and she really is quite talented at this stuff! I am very concerned about the amount of time and money we will now be pouring into this team...but she is so excited and worked really hard to pull her grades up so that we would let her try-out...I have no choice but to let her do this! Wish us all luck!!

Karlee also had a city-wide 3rd grade track meet (all 3rd grades attend this field trip and everyone participates). It was on one of the few warm days we have had and so Spencer, Audree, Jake and I all went to cheer her on. We didn't expect much...but she won 2 of her races and we all got a little sunburned! Oh yeah, and Spencer threw a rock at my face while we were there. I now know what it might feel like to be stoned...hurty. Sometimes that kid just doesn't think before he does things. It was a great day to relax and hang out at the track...plus...I remembered my camera that day!


Then Karlee had a school singing program the other night (really the last couple weeks have been all about Karlee...the other kids will have their turns here shortly I am sure). We all went and listened to her sing songs against violence...we all sang along since she has been practicing these songs at home the last couple months!

At Christmas my Mom gave the kids a large butterfly house along with a certificate to order live larva and grow butterflies at home. We sent for the larva once Spring came and spent several weeks watching them turn into caterpillars, chrysallis and then butterflies. I can't believe we didn't kill any of them! We kept the butterflies at home in their little habitat for about 2 weeks and finally let them go the other day. They were really gross to grow (nature at its best), but we enjoyed the experience. Here's what they looked like!

Here's the kids when we let them go free!

One last thing...I just had to share this photo of Spencer's shoes. We finally had to get him a new pair of shoes because he started using his feet as brakes when he rides his trike around. I am just afraid I will be buying him new shoes every couple of weeks at this rate! What a stinker!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Forts


Forts have created a love/hate relationship in our house... I hate them and the kids love them! They are a mess! Everyday the kids promise to clean it up when they are done (an empty promise at best since they can't fold blankets)...and everyday I end up cleaning them up at bedtime. Perhaps I should take more time to get inside and enjoy the forts myself...but...I don't. No matter how I try to get them to entertain themselves in some other way...the forts keep appearing. I guess I will just have to teach the kids to fold blankets!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Easter Buddies!






We had a great Easter weekend! It was so relaxing since it was General Conference weekend too! We hung out in our pjs and ate WAY too much candy. The Easter Bunny was generous and brought shirts, sunglasses and a fun outside toy for each of the kiddos...then we ate cinnamon rolls for breakfast...when I planned breakfast I didn't think about the fact that we would already be on a sugar high from the baskets...so the sugar intake for that day was enormous!! Anyways, it was a great day!

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Talented!!

Karlee and Rylee were excited to participate in the school talent show this year! There is a grade level show and then the top 3 of each grade are chosen to go on to the school-wide show 2 weeks later. So, yesterday was the grade level performances... Karlee did a gymnastics/dance routine and Rylee did a karate demonstration. Of course, I was proud of them and thought they were the best...but they were REALLY excited when they were both chosen as top 3 performers of their grade to participate in the big school-wide show in 2 weeks! I am glad that they both made it and one didn't have to be sad...I will have to let you know how it goes when it's time for the big one!

This is Karlee and her adorable best friend, Makayla. Makayla did a great clogging routine!

Here's Rylee looking fierce!

Here's Spencer thoroughly enjoying the talent show! I do have to admit that by the time we sat through 2 grade level shows (approx. 2 hours) he was DONE!

And this is Audree a couple days ago...she put on a fabulous fashion show for me. My favorite part was at the beginning when she was the announcer and she said, "Ladies and Gentleman...please turn off your cell phones for tonight's fashion show!" Classic!