Band Concert

This school year Chandler and Shelby are both in band. Their concert was last week. They did a great job! We were very proud!

Here are pictures of both of them.

Shelby is the most beautiful flautist at the school, and she’s learning so quickly. She loves it!

Chandler is in his 2nd year of band, and he plays the percussion. At this concert he got to play the bass drum for 2 songs, as well as the practice pad along with the other percussionists for a few other songs. He’s really getting quite good, and is hoping to be in honor band next year in Junior High.

 

We were very proud of both of them!

Almost Break Time!

School is almost over until January. Tomorrow is the last day, but they’ve had lots of fun activities going on at school. I went to a few of them today.

First, I went to Harley’s class to make gingerbread houses. She is such a fun little lady.

Tatum had a Polar Express party, and they wore they’re jammies. I helped with this one by bringing hot chocolate with peppermint sticks for the kids. It was really fun! Here’s Tater in her reindeer jammies. (She’s been wearing these for years. I don’t know what she’ll do when she actually grows out of them.)

Finally, I went to Shelby’s class for more gingerbread houses. She did such a great job! So creative! Plus, I just love being with her.

And tonight, while dad and Chandler were at mutual, Santa surprised us with a visit. We were headed out to deliver some Christmas treats, and up walked Santa. Surprise!!! He gave each of the girls a candy cane, and had a funny elf with him that made us laugh. It was so much fun!

Christmas is my second favorite time of year (Thanksgiving still holds the first spot for me). I can’t wait for the kids and I to get out of school tomorrow and start PARTYING!!!!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Toothless day

Two lost teeth in one day!?!? This family is putting the tooth fairy in the poor house!

Funny Girl

I found this assignment in Harley’s papers today. It was an assignment they did about the chores they help with at home.

In case you can’t read the pic, it says…

“My chore is to make dinner. I make things that everyone likes. then, we eat it. I can tell that my mom thinks I’ll take her job.”

For the record, I HOPE she takes my job! *wink*

A Normal Friday Night

What did you do for your Friday night? Here's what we did...

Crazy girls!!!

Tatum’s 6th Birthday- 5/27/11

For Tatum’s 6^th birthday, she wanted to have a “fancy tea party”. So we invited 6 of her besties over for an afternoon tea party complete with pink lemonade, goldfish crackers, banana bread, cantaloupe, cookies, and pink and yellow tie dyed cupcakes…. All of Tatum’s favorites! Grandma Stewart even let us borrow her teacups and saucers to make it just right. She was grinning from ear to ear!

Here she is anxiously waiting for her friends to arrive…

Here is her cute group of wonderful friends, including sisters and cousins, too…

Here she is with mama (I love that I’m invited, too.)…

Here she is getting ready to blow out the candles on her specially ordered pink and yellow cupcakes…

Her friends were very generous, and gave her lots of gifts that they knew she’d LOVE…

Even Chandler got a good kick out of some of them…

Happy birthday to our very special little 6 year old!!!

Tater’s Field Trip – 5/19/2011

The first field trip for a Kindergartener can be a little overwhelming… the first bus ride, the first trip in public without mom, exploring a new place with friends, etc… This one was no exception and it made Tater VERY nervous. So, I decided to go to the museum where she was going and spend the day with her. I wanted this to be a positive experience for her. (I admit I was also a little nervous about sending her out in public with some random chaperone that I may not know.)

It was everything I hoped for it to be. She had such a great time exploring the museum, and it was a wonderful day for us to share. Here she is surrounded by all her little friends…

Here she is coloring an art project…

Here she is painting the castle…

Here she is bagging the groceries…

Here she is scooping ice cream…

Here she is playing the wrench xylophone…

Here she is in one of the MANY play structures…

It was a wonderful day for the two of us. Times like this make me SO grateful to be a stay-at-home-mom.

Marvelous Musicians – 4/2011

Chandler and Shelby have been taking piano lessons for just over a year now. They are improving so much every day. Chandler is even planning and preparing to be able to play the hymns in priesthood when he turns 12. It’s pretty awesome to watch them loving something that I also love.

They recently had a recital with their piano teacher (Lori Emig, a dear friend of many years) and all of her other students.

They practiced for months, and when the time came to perform, even though they were nervous in front of the crowd, they did remarkably well. Here’s a picture of the two of them after their performances. They were deservedly so proud of themselves.

Chandler’s in 5^th grade this year which means he gets to participate in school music classes. This year he chose to play the percussion. He carried that bell kit to and from school all year long until he FINALLY was the first in his class to test out of the bell kit and onto the drum pad. He was so happy only to have it and his drum sticks to carry around. Well done, Chan! Here he is at his end of the year concert…

Shelby has also spent the entire school year as a member of the Navarrete Elementary Chorus.
Isn’t she cute!!!

The chorus has done a number of shows, and even went to a choral festival. With 110 3^rd through 6^th graders, they were the largest chorus at the festival. They did wonderfully and Shelby was thrilled to sing on the “big stage” at the Chandler Center for the Performing Arts. It was so fun to be a part of. Here she is getting ready for the big performance.

Well done to both my little musicians! I’m so proud of you both!!!

Harley’s Egg Drop – 4/19/2011

The school does an egg drop every year for all the 1^st graders. It’s a fun Easter time physics lesson. They are supposed to place a raw egg inside a plastic bag. Then, they are supposed to wrap/package it up however they think will keep the egg safe when it’s dropped from the roof of the school. Finally, all the 1^st graders gather and watch the principal throw them off the roof… hard! It’s really fun for everyone involved.

This year I told Harley she could do it however she wanted to, only giving her a few suggestions. She chose to surround the egg with cotton balls and spend the rest of her allotted time on the decorating. That’s so Harley. She loves everything creative, especially coloring and drawing.

This is her final product… An Easter scene on one side… And the other side was picture of the principal throwing eggs off the roof of the school…

Harley loved watching the eggs fly through the air, and shrieked every time a package hit the ground. Finally, it was her turn. Here’s a pic of her pretty package flying through the air…

Here’s the result… A big smile and a big smashed egg!…

She loved every second of the event, and it was so fun to watch her having the time of her life.

LOVE THAT GIRL!!!…

Decisions! Decisions!

I've been trying to decide what to do with my blog. We've had lots of experiences as a family that I'm not sure I wanted public. Nothing bad, just special to us. However, I know that blogs are a great way to connect family, especially ones that are on different continents. And, I feel the need to continue to make my blog books as a record for our future generations. So, I'm going to go back and post to the blog the journal entries that I've been keeping private. Of course, the dates will all be messed up, but you'll still get the idea. Enjoy!

Hiding Tom the turkey

Tatum had to disguise Tom the Turkey so he doesn't get eaten at Thanksgiving. After some mad drawing by mom, here is her final creation. She's very proud of it.

Shelby’s 10th birthday party

Shelby LOVES to cook and bake. So, for her birthday party she wanted to have a pizza party. We took aprons and colored them with crayons and heat set them with an iron. They all turned out so cute…

Then, we made individual pizzas with all the toppings they wanted, and they were yummy.  Here they are waiting for their pizzas to cook…

Finally, we opened presents and had yummy tye-dyed cupcakes.

Shelby really had a great time, and her friends seemed to enjoy themselves. Happy 10th birthday, Shelby girl!

Birthday LOVE!

ON my birthday our family went out to dinner like we often do for birthdays. However, this one was a little different. My hubby had been conspiring against me. He left the front door unlocked and while we were gone, Some of my super sweet Young Women snuck in and decorated our house. Here are some of the pics from that night…

It was so cute and thoughtful, and it made me cry that they would think of me. Love those ladies!

My hubby also gave me a wonderful gift this year. It was something I’d been wanting for some time… a beach cruiser.

I love it! I ride it at least twice a day when I take the kids to and from school. It’s great for the knee, and fun to ride. I’m going to be sad when it gets too hot in the next couple weeks to ride at all.

Thanks for the birthday present. I LOVE IT!!!

Manual Labor

As Eric’s dad always says, “Work fascinates me… I could watch it all day!”

In reality, we’re trying to teach our kids that emptying the dishwasher isn’t considered hard work. So, every chance we get, we try to teach them what it feels like to do something that’s hard. Luckily, Chandler’s getting big enough that it’s paying off for us, too. Eric can just stand by and watch.