What's On My Happy List?

A peek into our household in this crazy month of May.....

I think May is the new December. It's a doozie but ya gotta love it! A few things on the calendar this past month + that I haven't had a chance to post.......

Arbor Day celebration at the park...Brie's poster won all of First Grade at Longview.



































Setting up for my brother's wedding open house...cousins hanging out....

Hannah performing in the Achievement Day play that she helped write...

Cinco de Mayo....this was the extent of it. :)

RS lesson...

Brunch with my Presidency...

RS field trip to the Central Bishops Storehouse {so interesting} and lunch after at the Corner Bakery with the ladies...

In charge of May RS birthdays..there are a few, like 17! ...

Teacher Appreciation Week....gift cards to Sweet Tooth Fairy for Brie and Hannah's teachers....

 Um....can't say enough about the Creme Brulee cupcake.

Hannah Dance Tryouts...
 Her best friend came and left her a good luck display on our front lawn on the evening of her tryout..so sweet!

Way to go Hannah!

Mom, Me & Muffin YW Activity...

Run to the IMED lab x4 for TB screenings so Emma can volunteer at hospital...

Longviews 50th Anniversary Soc Hop Celebration...

Emma Band Concert {phone died, thus no pictures}...

Taking Kyleigh and friends to State Water Polo Match...Brie, Kate and I tried to entertain ourselves while waiting...
Brie danced...her infamous move...

and ran! She is such a good little runner.

our stop after at the Sweet Tooth Fairy...again...I'm starting to alternate which shop I go to, {there are two in town,} so the workers don't think I'm a regular. Ha! 

Visiting Teaching Breakfast with neighborhood ladies...my favorite way to be visit taught!

Hospital Volunteer Training for Emma...

M.A.G. luncheon with Kyleigh...

Living Traditions Festival Performance downtown for Kyleigh.....

Spartan Spec...

Tennis Mtg...

Looking for a Promotion Dress for Hannah...got lucky on the 7th store...

At a Bountiful park while Emma was at bagpipe band practice...

  Art Show...

Emma's 8th Grade Swim Party...

Testing...
 All that end of school year testing throughout the month. Add a few more whoppers on top of that...Kyleigh had the AP World History Test, a huge Honors English Anthology Project due, as well as three tests, all in a matter of days. {it was a bit much} Talk about working on Anthology in the eleventh hour, til the last possible drama filled second. My little procrastinator about got burned this time. It's quite a story, tears included. A lesson was learned {hopefully}. I think we can all say that we are so done with the school thing.

Scofield for Memorial....
 ATV'ing in mountains and into town for a treat, hummingbirds, raspberry eating pot guts, movies, reading, napping, BLINK card game, and campfire s'mores.

 General craziness that ensues around here ....

 This was the day we heard the ice cream truck for the first time this year. Doesn't that sound just scream summer? I actually think the ice cream truck is a tad creepy and I don't think I've ever let my kids get a treat from it before. Brie can vouch for that. For whatever reason I did this day! I think Brie was really pleased with me.

What's On My Happy List?

Mother's Day!

Goodness me. The month of May can be a doozie can't it? We are doing are best to survive all this end of school year craziness and everything else in between.  Only two more weeks left. 

Can NOT wait. 

 We sorta gave up on the full blown Mothers Day Tea Party that we've done in the past...although I managed to throw together a simple, mini celebration for moi and the girlies. Funky cheeses, prosciutto on a baguette, blackberries, crisp flat bread with taboule and sweet sticks.{thank you Costco}

 These look like flower petals but they are actually really tasty vegetable chips.

 It was a good food weekend I must say! Grandma brought us panini sandwiches for lunch on Saturday from some Mediterranean market, add our afternoon munchies above and then Dad and I got a bite to eat later that night. Plus he made a yummy salmon Mothers Day dinner for us on Sunday! Add that movie popcorn & licorice from our Avenger movie Friday date night and it was a piggy wiggy weekend for sure.  

Love the girls that call me mom and the little quirky things that we have in common.

Little Brie has a little thing for scavenger hunts. like me.  She made one up on Sunday and sent me off.  The first clue said go to the place where we go to go poo. haha. oh and it is stinky! she added. Funny kid! She gave me pretty purple flowers in a decorated can she made at school. She's my Old Maid, Go Fish, Uno Partner!

My Hannah Banana..... she's the one that likes to watch an occasional Dateline Mystery with me. and I get a kick out of that.  I don't know why I find those shows so fascinating, but I do. They can be a tad creepy so we get creeped out together! We gave up earlier this year on all our previous favorite shows...American Idol, Amazing Race and the X Factor. The first two I have followed for YEARS, so I find it a bit surprising that I don't really miss watching them. Well....maybe seeing Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell on a regular basis *wink* but that's about it. She also lets me read WWII Children Survivors of the Holocaust type books to her. We've read 5 together since last summer. 

My Emmsie....love her. But the poor thing witnessed and endured my worst mother moment on record last week. I sorta blew at her. Big time. I don't think I've ever done that before. To that magnitude anyway.  And of course it was a just a few days before Mother's Day, which made me feel even more like crap. What kind of mother am I? lol {far from perfect, that is for sure.}

She wrote me the sweetest note on Mother's Day. She is good at that. Did you know she and I could single handedly devour and finish off a pan of peach and raspberry fruit cobbler? We sorta like that stuff and the only ones in the fam that do. She and I love the Friend Magazine. She reads every issue cover to cover and then tries to save it in her collection. {she has years and years worth}. To this day, if I can get my hands on it,  I still love reading the Children in the News section.

My little Kate

She and I have taken up ant watching together. We like watching those little critters. She'll lie on the sidewalk on her belly and I'll plop right down on the sidewalk with her and we ant watch...She is saying words like amazing, beautiful and delicious. It kills me. I love her so.

She makes me ponder this question. Do you ever wonder if you are a better mother, or at least a more effective mother to your younger kids versus the older? Or the other way around? There are things I adore in every stage of a child, but I have to say the toddler stage is a little more challenging and harder to relate to for me than some of the other stages...Not that I would change a lick about her or wish away her toddler-ness..its gone all too soon anyway... but I think I would take 5 teenagers in the house over 5 toddlers. Call me crazy!  

 

Ready for church

 

The first to call me mom, Kyleigh!....is always listening to her iPod. That, and leaping and skipping down the hall or out of her room. I don't do that haha but we do both love music! No secret there, but it dawned on me that we really share a love for beautiful music. I'm talking orchestral/symphonic songs that are really dramatic..like ones you'd hear in an epic movie trailer or something. Not so odd for someone my age but I find it interesting for someone her age to already have such a appreciation for that type of music.  

My sweet mom!  Keep us both away from yogurt covered almonds!! She is such a great example of complete devotion to her husband, children, and the gospel. I know she is always praying for me and my family's well being. All her kids paid tribute to her by writing a letter to her for Mothers Day to put in the newly released Mothers of Faith book.

I wrote a big old happy list of memories that I have of my mom from over the years. She's a wonderful mother.....

 {I can barely put this book down. It is THAT good. Such an uplifting, inspiring read if you are looking for one.} 

What's On My Happy List?

Dance!

Brie, Hannah and Kyleigh had their year end Spring Recital....

Brie danced to Justin Bieber's Baby Baby...

For the first show I was one of the mothers in charge for her class...our job was to keep twelve  6/7 yr olds quiet, sitting in their chairs, 

get them on stage at the appropriate time to do their number AND not lose anybody along the way....haha..it's actually harder than it sounds...

 

 We just so happen to own some Justin Bieber perfume... so since they were dancing to the Bieb I brought it with, gave a little squirt to each girl before they went onstage to perform...

Brie with one of her dancing friends.....they made the Bieber proud!

I only have one shot of my Hannah Banana. I tried to get more but cooperation and the proper lighting was lacking. ;) Her ballet dress and dance "Renaissance Celebration" from Tangled, with lighted lanterns even...was be-utiful!!  She also had a jazz number to Skater Boy!  She did awesome!

This was Kyleigh's last time dancing as a Starlette, *tear*  so I spent some time back stage taking random photos of her for memory sake.. She had to change costumes 20 times over the course of the four shows....that alone would drive me nuts. But she absolutely loves everything about that and being on the stage performing.

She loves the shoes...

The jewelry...

The makeup!!

And the glitter! 

When I say these girls glitter up, they spare no glitter! {I still have traces on my bathroom floor.} They just kept putting more and more on. Kyleigh can not get enough of that stuff. So since it was their last hurrah together, it was only appropriate that she gave each of the Starlettes a tiny jar of glitter that said "Always Remember to Sparkle!"   Thanks to Kyleigh's fb page and those of her teammates for some of the following pics....

Oh my goodness if you were to have seen the emotions after their last dance together. You thought someone had died. There were tears and deep sobs. {that would be my girl} Even Dad got teary eyed.

 One girl fainted, actually numerous of times that night.  She has a medical condition that causes her to do it, but my goodness it was crazy and added even more drama to the evening. 

They had boys dance with them to their opening Jazz number...Diamonds Are A Girls Best Friend. 

 These boys were lingering backstage after the show was over and I'm sure witnessed quite a site....all those boob'in girls!!! It was sooooo hard emotionally for Kyleigh. and I knew it would be..before we even left the house she about burst into tears as I was doing her hair in the starlette-do for the last time. 

I went backstage on night one and saw this sight. They were praying before going on stage. So sweet I think. Kyleigh's friend, Schyler, got to fill in on this night for one of the original boys who had another commitment. I swear he's had the opportunity to watch her dance more over the years than any of her other friends.  Mostly because he has sisters that dance too but it was kinda cool that he got to be a part of it with her. 

                                                                Contemporary

danced to The Man Who Can't Be Moved by The Script

Pointe

The Way You Look Tonight...

Ballet

Men and Women of Our Memories by Enya...Gosh her Ballet dances...gah...I could of cried. 

 

Tap

 Wish I could post the whole "Candyman" tap number but it is more than 4 minutes long. I was able to post a bit of it though....They rocked it!

She loves all the girls and her instructors so much! They've spent hours and hours and hours together over the years. All but three are leaving the Company and moving on to other things, so it was super duper hard for everyone to see it end. Some are contemplating going back just for ballet and maybe contemp but it won't be the same.  Not without that Rockette style tapping and kick line...

       A thank you to her talented teachers....Lone Star Gift Card...

Kyleigh had a balloon given to her with a "star" ring attached from her teachers.  She loves that ring. When we got home that night we kissed that balloon bye bye and let it loose towards the star-lette filled night sky...what a great ride this has been...we are going to miss it. a lot. {Even my little Brie got choked up about it all}, but we are moving on, somewhat reluctantly, but excited for her new dancing adventures.