June 2016 Part 1

June was full of wonderful things!  During the second half of June we went on vacation to Denver, so I will write more about that in my next post.

We started the month with an end of the year celebration for Sheri's girl scout troop!  She was very fortunate to have two awesome leaders.  They were flexible with the various levels of involvement of each girl.  Yet they were organized so well that all could contribute and participate at their own level.  Sheri was able to participate in most of the weekly meetings and in many of the extra activities that were planned.  She also really enjoyed seeing her old friends from her previous elementary school.

Sterling's birthday was June 2nd.  We celebrated with cake and presents.  He didn't have a friend party this year because I try to save these for every 4 years (ages 4, 8, 12, 16).  Unfortunately all my kids are 4 years apart except him.  So everyone else gets a party this year, but he will be the only one getting a "friend party"  in a couple years.  He was a good sport about it, and enjoyed picking out birthday presents with me.

I love Sterling so much!  He is a happy kid with a good attitude most of the time.  He enjoys trying out lots of new ideas and experiences.  He is kind-hearted and easy going.  He is smart and is learning to persist at things that are challenging (including piano).  He is humorous and fun!  He is also helpful and patient (especially when helping his little brother).  We are so grateful for Sterling!

June 3rd was awards day for the younger kids at school.  They both had excellent teachers!

The last day of school was Monday, the 6th.  We also started dance dress rehearsals for the week.

On Tuesday we were also able to squeeze in Mormon night at the Clippers (baseball).

Saturday, June 11th was recital day!  We were in 3 shows.  The studio does their best to put siblings in the same show or at least the same day.  We are grateful that they especially try to put our kids' in the Saturday shows so that we can rest and worship on the Sabbath.
The show was Peter Pan.  The studio does a nice job of keeping the recital organized, paced well, not too long, and varied in dance level and genre.

Eve was a pixie for ballet, a sword for modern and a story character (from story time in the nursery at the beginning of Peter Pan).

Sterling's hip hop class performance was scheduled on a Sunday show and so he was unable to perform with that class.  In addition, he elected not to perform with his ballet class.  I asked the kids to pay for their costumes (above 2) and that was not important enough to him.  However, I think he really enjoyed the hip hop class and gained some self mastery in the ballet class.
Here he is in his 2 gymnastic dances as story book characters.  One was with Eve, and that was really fun to see them perform together!

Sheri was Happy for jazz (as in the happy thoughts that help you fly), a shadow for hip hop, and a storybook character (1 Fish 2 Fish) for gymnastics.  Sheri really shined on stage.  She had a dynamic stage presence!

It was all so much fun!  Rehearsals throughout the week and the shows on Saturday were a great way to celebrate all their hard work throughout the year.!  I love recital time!

The next day (Sunday morning) our good friends, the Thomas family surprised us with performance gifts.  Talk about thoughtful friends!  They came to a performance and brought each of the kids something special (even Christian).  It was especially fun since Eve and their son both "like" each other.  :)

This concludes the first half of June.  We left on vacation the very next day.  But more about that in my next post.

May 2016

May always brings the excitement of wrapping up the school year and anticipation of the summer.  Here are some of our highlights.

May 1st - Making lemonade

May 8th - Mother's day
The kids were so sweet to get up early and make me breakfast in bed.

Along with breakfast in bed I got these sweet gifts.

Saturday, May 14th was Christian's first dance recital.  The theme was "I Want Candy".  He was cotton candy for his dance number and Skittles for his gymnastics number.  Although he was starting to tire of rehearsing the dances each week and would act silly during practice, he loved being on stage!  He performed all the steps with his best effort.  Occasionally he would forget to follow his teacher who helped on the side as he smiled at the audience (performing the step he was on repeatedly).
He was the only little boy in his show, and the only one with a costume change.
Here he is at the studio.

Here are some pictures from the show.

We loved this little show.  It was short (1 hr), sweet, and so much fun!

Eve had her spring band concert.  It was really neat to hear some of the numbers they were able to play.  They played selections such as "Happy", "Star Wars", "March of the Cyclops", and a few others.  They had combined numbers with the 7th graders as well as a Dublin city ensemble group.  It is great to see her talent on the flute develop and grow.

And Sterling finished up his Soccer season.  He loved playing each week and loved to challenge himself by setting specific goals.  I love to see him work hard!

A few other fun things about May include . . .

Sterling helping out at the grill with Matt,

Christian playing in a box,

More flowers in bloom and planting the rest of our garden,

Going to a Clippers game with Matt's employees and their families,

Finding an abandoned egg on a hike and bringing it home (Sterling), then incubating it to humor the kids.  A week later . . . Surprise!  I cared for it for about a day and realized I was in way over my head.  We took him to a nature preserve rescue.

Attending the kids' school carnival,

Having lunch at school with the kids,

Watching Christian lead the 4th graders in duck, duck, goose and tag,

Sheri's Girl Scout Luau,

Sterling earned his Bear award in Cub Scouts,

Ice cream and family time on Sundays,

Christian finishing up his preschool dance movement class,

and most notably, Sheri's 8th birthday!

We celebrated Sheri's birthday this year with a "friend" party.  She chose the theme of animals and nature.  She enjoyed sharing her pets with her friends, and we also had games, food, a craft, and a movie (Rio 2).

We all had a great time!  For her birthday we gave Sheri some play makeup and a case for it, an art set, and a stepping stone kit.  She also enjoyed gifts from her grandparents!  We plan to have her baptism in June when we go out to Colorado.

Sheri is a sweet and kind hearted girl!  She is a great friend to her siblings and thoughtful of others.  She will often offer to help me when she sees I need a hand.  She loves to spend meaningful time with me and loves to snuggle or sit on my lap.  Sheri is happy and loves life.  She works hard and tries to do what is right.  She brightens life for those around her and we love her so much!

Each month we realize that we are abundantly blessed to have each other and the gospel of Jesus Christ to draw us closer.  We are grateful for our covenants that will keep us together in the eternities for eternal joy!