End of May

 A rare symphony date! We went on a bit of a goose-chase afterwards to find this picture of Boba - but we did find it!

 Bring on the sunsets at the lake

 Poor Cpc - we went to a neighborhood party and he got hit by a ball.

 Fun at the Clark Planetarium

 EB and Cdc finished up their sports class! Grateful for good buddies!

 We spent a portion of Memorial Day weekend at Bear Lake, and the other portion at Narnia.

 How lucky to find this on the wardrobe.

 Arc really really wanted to eat breakfast outside this day.

We may have been a tad bit excited that we got to welcome my sister home from her mission earlier than planned! Seriously, my kids were THRILLED. I might have been as well.

Our friend from Maryland got married so we took the kids down to Provo for his open house! Very grateful to have known the O family.

Here Comes Summer

Cpc LOVES the library and LOVES reading. He has been pouring through chapter books like nobody's business. We have a 90-minute quiet time every day, and for the past few weeks Cpc has been reading an entire chapter book during each quiet time. Needless to say it's hard to keep him supplied with enough books for that. At first I was a little sad about all the books that he's reading that I don't get to really enjoy with him. However, I'm learning that it's a lot of fun to talk about the books with him afterwards and discover how he interprets and comprehends the stories, and how they affect him. He and I walked home from church yesterday, just the two of us, and he told me he still wants to be a Librarian. We love the librarian at our local library who does most of the preschool story-times. She has really been a great influence on Cpc. She gave Cpc the opportunity this past week to read a book aloud to the group for story-time. He read "It Looked Like Spilt Milk" and even thought of a great idea for the craft afterward - gluing cotton balls to blue paper! He did a great job reading and I think it was such a good experience for him. Afterward, we rewarded him by letting him finally get his very own Library Card. He also got a bag to hold his books with a little pocket sewn into it for his library card. Unfortunately he plowed through all of the books he checked out in one quiet time (he chose not to get any chapter books)! He also learned how to get on the library website and put books on hold. He asks me multiple times a day to check his account to see if his books are ready yet, and he's quite impatient about the fact that I will only take him to the library once a week. This is the kids in front of the library on his special day!

Arc is quite the fashionista - she absolutely adores clothes and shoes and accessories. I do not have much of that in me, so I find it entirely entertaining.

The Hogle Zoo recently opened their new Lion exhibit and we got to go see them this week. Cdc was so excited to have his best friend CS join us. These kiddos want me to take pictures of them in front of every animal sculpture in the entire zoo every time we go. It cracks me up. I'm SO excited they refinished the Lion drinking fountain I remember drinking out of as a kid!

I've been teaching a little neighborhood music class for some of Cdc's friends in the neighborhood and we had our little final performance today. Unfortunately, Cdc wasn't feeling very well and didn't sing most of the songs. I did manage to get him to come be in a picture at the end, even though he couldn't get a smile on his face.

It has been getting pretty warm, although I didn't think it was quite warm enough for playing in the water in the yard. However, Cpc and Arc convinced me this afternoon to get this little baby all set up. I figured they'd feel the freezing water and chicken out, but they proved me wrong and played on this thing for nearly an hour. Arc kept walking around sticking out her little belly and rubbing it saying "belly!" I think she really likes her belly with that swimsuit on! Cpc might be a little too big for toys like this? It makes me sad. I can't believe how grown up he is!

Reflux, Trains, Olympians and Potties

Cdc started a mini sports clinic this week with his neighborhood friend EB. The poor kid hasn't stopped coughing since he caught a cold in February, and we finally took him into the ENT last week. Turns out he's got nodules on his vocal chords, and that he's likely got reflux still. Remember when he was a baby and he was hospitalized for breathing episodes because of reflux? Yeah, we're apparently still dealing with the same thing. It looks like the reflux is irritating his throat so he just can't quite get over colds, and all the coughing is causing those nodules. Well, we started some medication, and his cough is actually lessening finally. But the poor kid has just had to learn to adjust to life with a cough. So here he is at his first day of t-ball with his buddy, and his arm over his mouth.

I found out a little too late that this cool train called "Big Boy" came to town because it's being pulled from it's museum in California back to it's home in Wyoming to be repaired. So we didn't get to go see it on display - however, it was probably for the better, because we did find out soon enough that I got to drive the kids to Echo where it made a 10-minute stop. The kids even got to put pennies on the track and now the each have a penny smashed by "Big Boy," one of the biggest steam trains ever built! When we got home they pulled out their trains that haven't been touched in almost a year and set up a track and were pretending to be Big Boy. I love it!

We also took advantage of a little neighborhood celebration in honor of the fact that 10% of Team USA's Olympic team this year came from our neighborhood Liberal Arts College - Westminster. It took a lot of coaxing to get these two boys of mine to go meet these Olympic athletes - but they were SO thrilled when they got to actually touch and hold their Gold and Silver medals.

That night while Pmc, Cdc, Arc and I all went to a pretty lame USU recognition dinner, Cpc got the privilege of attending Peter Pan at Hale Center Theater in Orem with his Grandparents and cousins. When he got home he just gushed over how neat it was. I was feeling so proud of him! Then, I nearly banged my head on the wall when he said "Mom, it was such a long play, there was even a half-time!" I adore this kid. We hear that he and all his cousins were just totally enthralled with the play and were laughing out loud the whole time! I'm so grateful for great family that appreciates such quality, wholesome entertainment, and can help us to pass on a love for it.

Arc has been acting really interested in potty training for a while now, and so we decided to give it an attempt to see how she did. She actually did really well for about 3-4 days, she totally gets the idea. But on day 5 she was having quite a few accidents and I think she was just a little overwhelmed. So I finally asked her if she wanted to wear underwear or diapers and she straight up told me "di-puhs"! She is so young, I don't want to push her. So we're back in diapers for now - but she was so pleased each time she earned a chocolate chip - this girl would do anything for a chocolate chip. She also earned ice cream a couple of times and was so pleased with herself.

We also got to celebrate Grams' 60th Birthday this week! We are so grateful for her in our lives! I am so glad to have such a loving, caring, always willing to watch the grandkids Mother-in-Law!

Last but not least we got the privilege of talking to my little sister over Skype. She is on a mission for our church in Ecuador. I am so impressed with how brave she is to go down there, she is making me really grateful for my mission - I didn't have to learn a language or deal with a super different culture, or the bugs!

I LOVE being a mother!

Via Instagram

Graduation Day

Pmc got to celebrate graduation! We went up to Logan and stayed at the "Crystal Inn" - which is a big deal to our kids. We had a blast, even if the graduation ceremony was WAY longer than it needed to be. The boys insisted that we get some flowers for daddy for graduating, and were thrilled to sign the card for him.

We enjoyed some good old "Aggie Blue Mint" ice cream and showed the kids my college campus before heading on up to Bear Lake with my mom for dinner at Cafe Sabor. It was quite the celebration!

Cpc decided after the graduation that if daddy got to graduate, then he wanted to graduate too. And he wanted to graduate on the same day as daddy, and wear the same graduation hat. So we turned the evening into a graduation night and Cpc officially graduated from Kindergarten. Cdc also decided that if Cpc was graduated, then by golly he should get to graduate as well. So Cdc officially graduated from Preschool. I don't know what Arc is graduating from - but she got in on the action as well!

Via Instagram

yoneeley Yay!!! In love your dress! You look so great.
victoria_obseussed Horray!! Congrats! Such a huge moment!
alovelylittlelife Congrats!!
tiffany_sowby Very, very cool!!
annwhatch Congrats!! That is awesome!