Let's Play Music Recital (year 2)

Lincoln finished up his 2nd year in Let's Play Music with Mrs. Karen. He does SO WELL playing the piano when he plays by himself, but the recital made him freeze up. After his first mistake, he wouldn't participate in playing on the piano anymore. Poor kid!

 

Here he is getting his certificate for completing 2nd year.

 

Here is Mrs. Karen with Lincoln's 2nd year class.
(left to right: Lincoln, Aven, Boston, Kennedy, and Burke)

They learn classical music by play - through puppet shows! The 3rd year in the back is doing the puppets and 2nd year is doing the actions. The song is "Hungarian Dance #5" by Brahams.

We are going to MISS Mrs. Karen! She is moving to Idaho and so we had to find a new teacher for Parker and a 3rd year teacher for Lincoln. Mrs. Karen was amazing - so musically talented and pushed the kids toward musical competence. We love you, Mrs. Karen!

Mission to Mr. D's

I sent these two on a "social studies" mission... to the convenience store. I made sure they had my phone number and name in their pockets in case they really needed help. (I only got 3 calls...) I gave them each $1 and told them to go spend it! They were both so nervous, but they did amazing. They ended up combining their money together to get movie snacks for Movie Night (Fridays). Kung Fu Panda 2!

Potty Trained!

Oliver was potty trained in 2 days. He has been ready for sooooo long... (at least 6 months). All he needed was a bubble machine for a bribe. Then he did it!

Some advice on potty training... don't rush trying to get out of diapers. Some kids are just not ready to potty train at 21 months... (especially boys). If you force it too early, you'll regret it! Basically, you'll know they are ready when they are asking to go potty, or are totally willing to sit on the potty when you ask them. IT CANNOT BE FORCED.

Fur de Leash

Clever name for a puppy store, right?! If your kids want a pet, and you DO NOT, try a place like this. Just don't blame me if you fall in love with one yourself!

Zion National Park- Riverside Walk

I braved Zion on my own... and we had fun (and were drained of all energy upon arriving back home!).

They loved riding the shuttle buses.

 

They LOVED the 30+ squirrels we saw along the way. Of course. That's probably all they remember.

 

 

It was a hot day, so we stopped a lot. Especially near the water.

 

Griffin always tried to do what the older kids did...

 

 

Coolest kid in the whole. wide. park.

We need to do this again... this time with DADDY.

Jimmy Johns

You know you have a lot of kids when you miscount them!

 

We went to Jimmy Johns for their customer appreciation day... and the line wasn't near as bad as I thought. It was under 10 minutes until we had our sandwiches.

Each sandwich was only $1, and you could only get as many sandwiches as you had people present. I said 6, and the cashier gave me a "look" and asked if that's how many people that were with me. I looked around, attempted to count, and changed to 5, and then realized I had miscounted. Ooops.

Vegas with Emily

Emily came with Christian for work to Las Vegas and called me up to come visit. We did some talking, some shopping, and a little swimming. It was great to spend some time with you, Emily!

 Poolside at the Cosmopolitan. :)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Charity!

Can't believe my baby is 2! She totally understood opening presents and loved her bus and pony.

Mimi knows girls best, and got her a pink hat, pink flowery purse, some new clothes, and necklaces.

 

We had a party at the park with Florin & Irina, and also celebrated Peter turning 4!

Grandma sent boxes of clothes (literally!) and spoiled Charity with some fun new summery clothes.

Gluten-free pizza and strawberry shortcake cupcakes for this little lady.

 

Splash pad!

 

Lots of cousins (Lily, Jack, Cora, Jet, Ezra, Ada, Flora, Isaac)

 

Makeup

Charity is always getting into my makeup! She likes to color, and apparently she has watched me put black on my eyes because she did it to herself! Little stinker.