Jacey's Last Days of 2nd Grade

Jacey missed quite a bit of school in May due to a recurring stomach bug. I felt so bad for her when she had to miss a lot of the end-of-year events such as field day, parties and assemblies. At least she was able to make it to her 2nd grade "Bugz" Musical that she was in, and she also got to participate in the annual dance festival on her last day of school.

Brookie's Preschool Graduation (sort of)

Brooklyn finished up her last year of preschool in May. Instead of doing a graduation for the kids, her wonderful teacher, Mrs. Clark, had a last-day-of-school swim party instead in her backyard. The kids went down the water slide, swam in her hot tub, and ate ice cream to their heart's content. It was a little bittersweet for me to think about my little Brookie going on to real school next year. Yeah, I'm still in denial even though the big day is now only a few days away!

Brookie and her buddy/boyfriend Ethan
Landon just loved riding around the backyard in the little cars!

Good Ol' Uncle Michael!

My kids love their Uncle Michael! He has visited us many times over the past year, and he is a good sport about playing with them when he comes (particularly with Brooklyn, who could play Super Mario Bros. on the Wii with him for hours). These are some pictures of when he came to visit for Landon's birthday, and I am happy to report that he has since cut his hair! I hope he doesn't hate me for posting these!

You gotta love this picture of Brookie picking her nose!

This was so funny! Michael was so tired one morning and Brookie jumped on him to try to wake him up, but ended up snuggling him instead. Since she didn't get the job done, Landon started ramming into them both over and over again with his toy walker.

Another Vegas Vacation

This is kind of posted out of order, but Jon, the kids and I went to Las Vegas in April for a little vacation while Jon attended a conference down there. The kids and I killed time while Jon was gone during the days by going swimming, doing a little shopping and sightseeing, and we went to the Shark Reef Aquarium at the Mandalay Bay. I was a little stressed about watching out for all three kids by myself everyday (particularly in the swimming pool), but I was surprised at how well we all did. The kids were very obedient and cooperative, and Landon did quite well also despite the fact that he had burnt his hand quite badly just a couple of days earlier on a space heater. Here are some pictures of what we did:

Not the best picture here, but I wanted to show one of Landon's poor bandaged hand (which he kept sucking on to the point that the bandages kept falling off). Brooklyn was having a tantrum here as I recall.

You can't go to Vegas without seeing the Bellagio fountain show!

The kids in front of a fake garden area at a shopping center (no lie, the grass was turf, and the plants and flowers were all fake. Why would you need to do this in Vegas?)

The kids loved Loved LOVED swimming in the pool! Especially Landon!

The kids enjoyed the Shark Reef Aquarium

The Bellagio Gardens:

And possibly the highlight of the trip for the girls: A shopping spree at Justice!

Happy First Birthday Landon!

From this:
To this!

I can't believe that my baby is 1! Where has the last year gone? We had fun celebrating Landon's birthday on May 7. My brother Michael was kind enough to drive all the way up from So. California for the occasion since we have no family close by. I tried (note the word tried) to make a special "1" cake for Landon, and we had a fairly low key, little family party to celebrate after Jon got home from work. Landon got lots of fun presents and "boy toys", but I am not sure whether he or his sisters had more fun opening and playing with them? We love this little guy more than words can express and are so glad that Heavenly Father saw fit to send him to our family. He is so fun and full of life. I love to see the world through his eyes. Happy Birthday Buddy Boy!

My pathetic excuse for a cake. Don't look too close at it!

This little cake took about 1/20th of the time to make as the one above but looked way cuter

The loot

Trying to rip off the paper!

"Hmm, where do I start?"

One of his favorite presents, the blue buggy!

Helpful sisters keeping his little hands away from the burning candle!

Testing the waters. . .

"Am I dreaming? Because this is too good to be true!"

KICKS Soccer!

I signed my girls up for the spring soccer league (KICKS) this year. It was quite a bit different than our experience with the fall league (AYSO), but they still enjoyed it, cold weather, disorganization and all! Brooklyn brooded about being on a team with all boys, but she actually ended up being about the best player on the team and scored many of the goals! Jacey also scored a goal or two for her team and also proved to be one of the better players. Now it's countdown to fall soccer!

That's my girl! (Look at her school all those boys!)
You maybe can't see it here, but Brookie always sticks out her tongue while she dribbles the ball!

Jacey is a really fast runner and always hustles to the ball.

Happy Easter!

This year Easter was a somewhat quiet affair, since it was General Conference and we didn't have to rush off to church. We did the usual, kids woke us up early to find their Easter baskets, and then we all indulged in some treats before breakfast. The kids were quite pleased with what the Easter Bunny left this year, lots of good candy, video games, and books for Jacey and Brooklyn, and some Gerber treats, new binkies, and a little toy car for Landon.
We did invite some friends over for Easter dinner, and attempted to do an Easter Egg Hunt with the kids despite the cold weather. We settled on a combination indoor/outdoor egg hunt, and while the kids were occupied outside Landon crawled around and found many of the indoor eggs. He was so intent on getting to the treats that he didn't waste time unwrapping them before popping the candy into his mouth!