A Memorable Memorial Day

This weekend my sister, Becca, and her family came to visit!  Her son, Mason, is the same age as Allie.  He is the only cousin that is one of my children's ages, so his visit was well anticipated, as well as the twins, who are only 2 years younger than Gabe.  As soon as the cousins arrived, the group began playing.  We even had a hard time getting them to come to meals! 
On Sunday, in between mission farewells and celebrations for our 2nd cousins, we went down to Hollywood.  My sister, Krissy, and her family also joined us.  We walked along the Hollywood Boulevard and saw the stars on the sidewalk.  We went to Grumann's Chinese theater and saw the handprints and the footprints.  Our favorites were Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and Star Wars.  We loved seeing all the characters along the sidewalk, spiderman, wolfman, Darth Vader, Mickey Mouse, Capitan Jack Sparrow, and Shrek.

 Monday was spent on the beach.  It was such a gorgeous day, I was expecting enormous crowds, but it wasn't very crowded at all.  It was a very pleasant day at the beach.  The water was a little chilly, but that didn't stop the kids!  They boogie boarded in the water, then came back on the sand to dry out.  They buried each other in the sand and made sand castles.  Someone told them that seaweed was used in ice cream.  So they spent a fair amount of time collecting seaweed in anticipation of a cool dessert.  They were very disappointed when we informed them the seaweed would NOT be going home with us!  We had a great visit with our family, and hope that they will come again soon.

Gabe's 10th birthday

 We spent the whole week celebrating Gabe's birthday.  We had a sleepover one night, then a small party on another day, then a family celebration on Monday.  The only day we didn't do much for his birthday, was on his birthday.  For the first time in 10 years, his birthday fell on Mother's Day this year.  So we deferred the family celebration from Sunday to Monday, that way he didn't have to share his birthday with mom!  He still had a great birthday with plenty of celebrations!  For his birthday, he received a new bike.  He has been enjoying riding the bike to school every day this week.

Prom 2013

Yesterday was the Mormon Prom.  Maddie went with her long time friend, Josh Zoller.  Some of you may have known him in a 5 year old form of Joshie, her best friend.  We lived across the street from the Zollers many years ago and Maddie and Joshie played together every day.  Of course, his mother and I planned the day that they would go to prom together, but as we moved away and the friendship faded, so did our plans.
Yet, here they are!  We were thrilled to see that their friendship could stand the test of time and see them go to prom together.

The theme for the prom was "Vintage Hollywood".  Maddie wore a Civil War Era dress complete with hoops skirts and gloves.  I put my foot down on the corset claiming that no one would want to wear a corset to a dance!  Josh donned a few extras to his outfit to take him back to the 1920's.  They looked very cute together.  Maddie seemed to be the coordinator for their group, which consisted of her friends Cali, Jordan, Alyssa and Jack.  They all had a great time.

I am so grateful that our area has a Mormon Prom every year.  It is a great opportunity for all the kids to get together and have some clean and modest fun. 

Greek Festival

During their 6th grade year, the class studies ancient world history.  The Greeks and the Romans are a part of that study.  For fun, the teachers have a big Greek festival at the school.  Each child is required to either dress like a Greek god or goddess, and give a summary of who they are and some of their accomplishments, or make a diorama of a temple and present it to the class.  Then they have a big feast and eat all sorts of Greek food.  This year, Allie was very excited to participate.  As a result of reading all the Percy Jackson books, she is quite familiar with the Greek gods and goddesses.  She chose to be Athena.  So we made an Athena costume, and learned a lot about her as we wrote the essay.  I had to make baklava for the festival.  I certainly enjoyed eating it!  The festival was a great success and it was fun to see all the different kids dressed up!

Match Left, Salute and Shake Hands

This week was Maddie's last fencing class.  After 4 years of fencing, their tight knit group is being broken apart.  The instructor is moving out of the area.  Therefore, the class will not be continuing anymore.  She has really enjoyed the years she has spent fencing.  It is her favorite sport and was a welcome addition to her week.  She made many friends there with similar interests.  She will really miss the camaraderie of the class.  Here are a few pictures of her last class.

Oh Boy, Oh Boy!

I have really enjoyed watching my boys play their sports this week.  I always enjoy watching my boys, but this week, I have been so proud of them, it almost feels sinful.

Jayd has been playing on the junior varsity volleyball team this year.  Since he played on the team last year, it has quickly become his favorite sport.  He plays the game every opportunity and has worked very hard to improve.  He has been a starter for the entire year and been doing very well.  He is one of the more consistent players on the JV team.  In the match on Wednesday, he had eight kills and three serving aces.  On Thursday, the coach asked him to practice with the varsity team.  After practice the coach announced that he would be moving to the varsity team.  I was a little nervous about the move.  As expected, the competition on the varsity level is much more difficult than the junior varsity.  Jayd rose to the occassion.  He played in  two games with the varsity team on Friday.  He had seven kills and one serving ace.  I was very happy to see that he was able to fulfill expectations and play so well.

Gabe is playing little league baseball this year.  His team is struggling, they are the Bad News Bears of the league.  For his game, a typical score is 15-1, and once the other team won by 20 runs.  However, yesterday they showed everyone and themselves that they can come out to play ball.  They tied the only undefeated team in the league, 11-11.  With the bases loaded and no outs, Gabe hit a line drive over the center fielders head that rolled to the fence for a base clearing triple.  Later in the game, he hit a grounder to third for a base hit, stole 2nd base, stole 3rd base, and stole home on the overthrow to score a key run.  The batter struck out on the next pitch to end the inning.  Without that run, we would have lost the game.  Our pitching lacks some finesse, 20 walks or more per game is pretty standard for us.  In the bottom of the fourth, our pitcher shut down their powerhouse team with an amazing performance to keep the score tied.  It was the best game I have seen our team play this season and a joy to watch them improve and play to their potential.

 It has been a very fun sports week for our family.

Easter Dresses

As my children grow older, the demand for matching easter outfits has diminished.  This year I only made one easter dress for Allie with a matching scarf for myself.  So when I told the kids to report for pictures, they were all a little confused, they didn't have matching outfits!  I told them it didn't matter, I wanted a picture of all my children on Easter!