End of the school year

The boys had another good year.  They had good teachers and friends and made good progress.  They both received good comments and marks on their report cards.  Nathan got to participate in GATE (gifted & talented).  His favorite thing is still recess and PE.  Jared liked art and lunch.  :)  They both had their artwork chosen and displayed in the public library.  

Who does this look like?  (Jared looked at a photo to paint this.)

The next to the last day was a camping theme for Jared's class.  I signed up to make a fake campfire.  I think it turned out pretty well.  I even put a fan inside to make the flames move.  

(Only a couple of their good buddies are here... just the ones available for a picture.)  Both Nathan and Jared were well liked.  I am most grateful that Nathan and Jared are still such good buddies too.

Thankful for another successful year!  

Baptism Day - Choose the Right Way!

We're proud of the choice Jared made to get baptized.  Alex was able to perform the ordinance, as well as conduct the baptism.  Nathan gave the talk on baptism, and my mom gave the talk on the Holy Ghost.  I am also thankful for my dad and brother giving prayers and for Carrie being our pianist.   

The opening song was "When I am Baptized" and the closing was "Choose the Right Way".   Nathan, Jared, and Owen sang "I am a Child of God" as a musical number.  It was a nice program - we were glad to have family and friends join us for Jared's special day.

I displayed this collage at the baptism.  I think it's fun to look back and see how he has grown.  

The first picture is about 3 months old, then 2, 4, 6 and 8!  I suppose his glasses will be one of his distinguishing features that will change over time.  He really wanted these green glasses right now.  

Handsome boy.

Jumpin' Minions

We didn't have a friend birthday party this year for Jared.  Instead we had a small party with family, who came for Jared's baptism.  On his actual birthday, he requested french toast and smoothies for breakfast.  He wanted frozen burritos for dinner.  (I guess we have eaten those enough times to become a favorite...)  We had Dr. Pepper floats and ice cream sandwiches for dessert.  

He got another big Lego set as one of his presents.  Unfortunately when he opened it, it was missing pieces, so we had to box it up to be returned.  We ordered it on-line, so he was going to have to wait to get a replacement.  Alex had a different Lego set he could give him right away, but Jared said he wanted to wait for the other one.  Wow... we were impressed at his patience.  We are thinking this might be a good sign for the future... the ability to delay gratification.  He may not have done so well on the marshmallow test, but this experience was promising.  :) 

My parents and my brother and his family came for Jared's baptism.  We spent a couple of extra days with Baba and Papa.  Papa went to the beach with Alex and the kids one afternoon (while my mom and I were preparing for the weekend.)  No pictures from the beach.  The boys also were excited to play Carroms and Ticket to Ride with Papa.

It was cute to see Savannah with my dad.  She was fascinated with his head and eyebrows.  I think if she could talk, she would have asked why he had no hair on his head, but fuzzy eyebrows.  :)  Of course, she doesn't have much hair on her head yet either!

 We took Baba and Papa over to the school to show them the kids' chalk art drawings.  They had faded a bit.  Papa and the kids had fun swinging!

some of my favorite drawings...

We had a full day on Saturday.  The boys played at a local jumping place, with cousins Nicholas & Ryan.  Weston cried pretty much the whole time and refused to play at all.  The rest of them had a great time, although I didn't pay for Savannah to play, so she was probably bored.   

After that, we came back for pizza lunch and cake.  Nicholas' birthday was just a few days before this, so we had fun celebrating both his and Jared's birthdays.  Look at these silly minions!

They got to open presents from grandma and grandpa.  

After the party, the kids got some good cousin playtime before the baptism in the afternoon.

hot days in May

We had some pretty warm days in May, which we're not used to here.  It got up to 99 one day, which is pretty uncomfortable in a place without AC.  At least it didn't get to 99 inside our house - only 88.  The boys enjoyed sitting right in front of the fan.  It was definitely a movie day and we had smoothies with our dinner.  We also spent a while at the library (which has air conditioning).  On another day, we swam in a friend's pool.  The boys weren't complaining too much about the hot weather - movies, smoothies, and pool time... 

But it was pretty miserable.  At least it didn't last more than about a week.