Who are these people?

K's school had Spirit Week this past week and she eagerly participated....

Tuesday was Career Day....this smart girl of mine wants to be a doctor :)

Wednesday was Clash Day...she said she got some funny looks walking to school that day!

Thursday was Celebrity Day....any guesses?  a brunette Taylor Swift minus the nerd glasses...

Friday was Hawaiian Day....hooray for our Luau girl!

While K was showing her school spirit by dressing up, C had his Famous Person Report due and on the day of the presentation he dressed up as his famous person....Andrew Carnegie.

For a good laugh in years to come I have to mention that those cottonballs are held to C's head and face with honey.  

A brilliant idea by C's mom!  

Just don't ask C what he thought of my idea :)

Birthday Boy

Amongst all the packing and moving we have been doing, my husband did have a birthday in there.

#46!

We enjoyed outdoor weather and dined at Lardo's in SE....is that the world's biggest burger in front of Rich or what?!?

My patient husband gave up a real birthday cake in favor of cake balls and his wife, in her whirlwind rush, made some of the ugliest cake balls ever seen.

But no complaints by the birthday boy. 

Rumor is that they still tasted pretty amazing!

Happy Birthday honey!

Here's to a birthday wish that we will soon be settled into the new house and life will take on a slower pace!

one last time...

A couple of weeks ago we had some unseasonably warm weather and T took full advantage of the opportunity to be outdoors, enjoying the yard that he has grown up in and that has allowed him to be all boy!

I have said it before and I will say it again....the view I've had from my kitchen window for the past four years warms my heart to no end!!!

Middle School Musical....Annie (jr)

K's Middle School Musical, that she has been rehearsing for for almost three months, was performed May 15-17th.

No surprise, K had a ball being involved in it and she did a great job in her role as the "Star to Be"

K was blessed to have a number of fans come to see her perform.

Grandma came all the way from Utah and saw the performance twice...

T saw all three performances... 

(and I should mention that J saw the dress rehearsal and two performances so her little brothers were her biggest fans!)

Sarah D. came all the way from our new ward to cheer on her newest friend...

Aunt Sheri arranged her trip from Seattle to be in town the same weekend as K's play...

Mother's Day 2014

I may have a lot on my mind lately, but I didn't forget to have my hubby snap a photo of me with my kids on Mother's Day....a favorite family tradition.

(and I love that this year's photo is in front of our new house!)

After church we enjoyed a nice Mother's Day picnic at a park near our new home.

Simple but perfect!

But the real treat of the day was courtesy of my kiddos.

Every year the kids make a breakfast menu and I am served breakfast in bed.

The same thing happened this year with one major difference.  

When Rich asked K and C what he needed to buy for them at the grocery store for them to be able to make breakfast, their answer was "nothing".

K and C had pooled money with J and T and then they rode their bikes to the grocery store where they bought all the food they needed for breakfast on their own.

Such a thoughtful and touching addition to their Mother's Day breakfast tradition!

what the boys have been doing.....

I have spent a lot of time at the new house this past month.

A lot!

Most days the boys get dragged with me and since the projects I am working on seldom need the help of elementary aged kids, they have to find ways to entertain themselves.  

Although I am not usually a video encouraging mom, I have been very happy to have the video player babysit while I have completed a few things on my "do do" list.

5th grade BizTown

One of the events that the 5th graders look forward to most is their day at BizTown....a miniature town, complete with a cafe, all the utility companies, a health clinic, a town hall, a bank, a newspaper, etc, etc.

The kids become the employees for the day and they have to manage their jobs, as well as manage the two paychecks they receive.

Cason was employed by the town construction company as their CEO, which meant that he actually gave a speech at the end of the day.  The speech was mostly written out for him but I still think that he did a good job delivering it and I loved that he wore a white shirt and tie for the job.

 

It turns out there wasn't as much for him to do as some of the other CEO's, so in the end he helped his employees with their construction project (an adirondack chair).  

Not too bad of a lesson...that sometimes even the boss needs to roll up his sleeves and get the job done.

 

the first of many as we catch up on May!

So the School Carnival happened...

teacher appreciation

 It's teacher appreciation week (at least here) and I have to give a shout out of appreciation to this 1st grade teacher who showed up to my son's soccer game last week to cheer on J and his two other teammates that are also students in her class.

We totally {heart} Miss Davies!!!

life continues to be busy....

the offer came in and was accepted approximately 72 hours after the listing went active :)

Can I just say I am SO glad?

Those were the longest 72 hours of keeping the carpets vacuumed, the toilet lids closed (heck, the toilets even flushed!), the toothbrushes hidden, the kitchen counter clear, the shoes out of the entry and the kids and I out of the house!

Glad we didn't have to keep up that gig for long :)

a couple Tom Sawyers

Getting the house onto the market by May 1st took meant we had some last minute projects that had to be done and we were sure fighting the weather on a couple of them.

When the rain broke it was time to get the job done.

Our contractor had some pretty cheap labor (an ice cream sundae and a candy bar) and I'm not really sure whether they helped the task or delayed it :)