Mary Poppins and Pre-Summer Fun

Bethany, my dad, and I took Kevin and Elena to see Mary Poppins back in May.  The Governor's School was lucky enough to be one of the first in the country to preview the high school version of the Broadway play.  And we had a great time watching it.  They did an incredible job.

I was very excited to be volunteer of the month in May at Elena's school.  Like super, nerdy excited.  I got my name on the school marquee and my own parking spot.  I would get especially annoyed when someone else would park in MY spot. :)

 

The kids helped Grandad to plant a garden in his backyard.  3 months later, it is quite impressive:  There's tomatoes, cucumber, herbs, squash, etc.

I love this picture so much!  Kevin is "fixing" the castle and Jonah is handing him tools.

The kids love our little backyard pool.  It's perfect for them to play in during that tough time of day from 4-6 when they would normally be fighting and cranky.  It's easy to fill and empty too.  But I learned last week that I just need to be careful not to leave the pool full of water long enough for the grass to start to die underneath it.  It made our backyard smell a little like a compost pile for a couple of days.  Yuck. 

We had a great group of kids over for Kevin's class' preschool graduation.  We had a pool party in our little pool and a picnic lunch.

  The graduates:

The boys' enjoying some flying time together:

I thought this moment was so cute, I just had to capture it.  When Jonah saw how Elena and Kevin were lying, he just had to be like them.

We got into the routine of going to Home Depot for their monthly kids' building workshop this summer.  It's been a lot of fun and a great free activity.  I love how they do it outside during the summer and give away free snacks (popcorn, snowcones, and sometimes hot dogs).

I love his cute face.  It's hard to capture on film, but Jonah does this wrinkled-nose smile a lot.  In this picture he is coming at me with a snake that is going to eat me.

#33

June 2014:  I had such a great birthday this year.  I was able to start my day off by going to see a little performance at Elena's school.  She was one of the 3 little pigs in mini-play that she and some classmates put on.  It was great to see her in her element first thing in the morning. 

Elena and her Language Arts and Social Studies teacher Ms. Jamison.

Elena and her good friend and neighbor Logan.

After Elena's performance, my mom treated me and the boys to breakfast at IHOP.  This is going to for sure be a tradition.  I haven't been to IHOP in entirely too long, and it reminded me how dearly I love ALL breakfast foods.

As much as I hate spending money on things that are consumables/perishables, I have to admit that LOVE getting flowers.  And these ones are so pretty and yellow. :)

My mom told me that she would make me a cake, but I never imagined that it would be this awesome.  Thank you, Mama.

Coincidentally, my new neighbors had given the kids poppers the day before, so we had fun with them at my birthday dinner.  My birthday meal was Papa Murphy's chicken garlic pizza.  It's my favorite and no one else in the family likes it, so it was a real treat to order it.  I've loved that particular pizza ever since I first had it while visiting my cousins in California back in high school.

Just what I wanted!  I'm not very good at it, but it's really fun.

My dad and Elena had to give "Just Dance" a try.

Two days after my birthday, it was the last day of school.  Elena won the Teacher Award.

Senora Wornom was Elena's homeroom teacher and also her math and science teacher.  She did such a great job teaching in Spanish.  Elena learned so much and became much more comfortable with the language during first grade.

Also on June 12th (Happy brithday to my little brother Adam!), Erin and Bami came into town and I got to meet Lilly for the first time.  I miss her so much now that she's gone!  It was such a treat having the 3 of them here for 5 weeks this summer.

Her sweet little face is so gorgeous!  I cannot wait to see her again at Christmastime.  She'll be so much bigger then.

 I love when Erin comes to visit!  It's so hard to keep in touch while she lives in Europe.  I miss her dearly.  I wish we could talk more.  (I think it'll be easier when I eventually get a smart phone.)  We've been best friends since her family moved across the street when I was 5 and it was meant to be.

 Bonus/random picture of the kids on the 4th of July.  I love them so. :)

Residency Graduation

I hate that summer is half over!  I don't know where the time has gone.  We haven't gone on any trips or anything, we've just enjoyed hanging out together.  The most significant thing that has happened this summer is definitely Dan's graduation at the end of June.  It was very bittersweet for him because he loved working at the hospital and he loves his fellow residents.  He's worked incredibly hard for the last 3 years, and I'm so very proud.  We had a wonderful time at his graduation dinner.  You gotta love pediatrics - even though it was a semi-formal event, everyone's kids were invited. :)

It was such a beautiful night, I made the kids pose for pictures on the bridge to the restaurant while Dan was parking the car.

 

 It was so nice to have my parents there too.

  Jonah played under the table for a bit.

Kevin put his head down when he got tired.  He didn't actually sleep, but he stayed relaxed and calm.  The alternatives could have been: throw a big tantrum, run around like a crazy person, or start a fight with his sister. I was so glad that he made a responsible decision for himself. He's getting so big.

 There was a wonderful and funny video presentation.

 Tired but happy kids.

 There was a caricature of each resident.  Dan and the rest of us in the background are dressed like farmers just like we did for the Harvest Ball at the 2013 retreat.

 With the 3 chief residents:  Brad, Mark, and Kate

 

 

 Time to try to get 3 kids to smile for family pictures at 9:30 at night:

 They did very well.  One last photo of my parents.

 Final picture of the night. Isn't Daniel handsome? :)

Afternoon at the Museum

Look it's a big rubber duck!

 The local art museum has been closed over a year due to a huge renovation.  When they reopened, they did it in a BIG way with "Rubber Duck" by Florentijn Hofman in front of the museum.  My kids loved it and didn't want to go inside to check out the rest of the art.  We did eventually make it inside, but Jonah couldn't wait to go back out and see the duck when we were done exploring.

 

 My mom came too!

 Elena wanted to pose in front of the pink glass collection.

 So, Kevin found something blue to stand next to.  He wants to do everything Elena does.

 I love this Tiffany stained glass window.

 Apparently, I put my camera away after the glass wing and didn't remember to take it out again until the end.  They have a room where kids can try to recreate a section of this painting.  Elena did the bottom corner... 

 ...and Kevin drew the flying metal machine in the middle.  It's impossible to see with the huge flash reflection, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

 One last look.  Did I mention that my dad was running errands near the museum that day and surprised us while we were in the museum.  So fun. I'm so glad that I picked Elena up from school early so that she could join in the fun. I'm soooo ready to have her home for the summer!

For the First Time in Forever

Elena and her friend Lauren had been singing Frozen songs on the bus together for months, so when they heard about the school talent show, they were both thrilled at the idea. They practiced here at our house and attended 5 mandatory weekly rehearsals.  They were prepared and excited.  I was amazed (and jealous) at their lack of stage fright. They loved the song and their outfits (Thank you, Mom, for making the 2 capes).  

I couldn't get the video to upload, but it is on facebook if we're friends you should TOTALLY check it out.  Plus I'm turning my blog into little journal books, so I guess the video isn't really necessary here anyway.  Just trust me when I say that they were adorable.  Heck you don't have to trust me, here are some pictures. Just picture these two cuties on stage singing and you can imagine how well it went.  Lauren is of course Elsa and Elena is little sister Anna.  Hard to believe they are both first graders - it's quite the height difference. :)

They sang with confidence and a few cute little hand motions. Lauren did a spin towards the end and Elena's curtsies before she left the stage couldn't have been more ladylike. :) Their microphones cut out for a few seconds in the middle (Dang cell phone interference!), but they got right back on track.  I loved how much they enjoyed themselves.  It was wonderful too that Dan actually had that night off and was able to come.  I kind of can't believe that he was able to make it to her piano recital and the talent show.  Such good luck for us!

In case she didn't get to dress up enough at Thursday night's dress rehearsal and at the Friday night performance, Friday at school was Career Day.  The students were supposed to dress as if they were going to work that day in their chosen field.  So: Elena went as a ballet teacher.  I love her.