More May

Took pictures of the kids one Sunday cause they looked so darn cute. Miles came up with his post all on his own. Lindy also chose her own facial expressions. :) :) :)


It's so fun watching Miles and Gwen take on some small, but active, rolls in teaching Lindy during school time! This picture is Gwen saying, "Lindy, can you find the /m/ sound?" and when Lindy finds the "M" on the white board, she erases it. On and on it goes until the board it clean.


Richie came home from the farm one day like this, In fact, he comes most home most days looking like this. :) It reminded me of the descriptions my Mom gave me of her Dad, Grandpa Hinckley. Always out in overalls and an old white church shirt. (They are the best sunscreen and you don't get too hot). But apparently, his overalls were striped. The overalls Richie is wearing are actually my Grandpa Crosby's! Which is hard to believe considering the size difference between the two of them. :) But Richie "inherited" them after my Grandpa Crosby passed away and they have served him well.



The cutest little weeding buddy a gal could ask for!



My nephew Tucker and his fiance Belen were married in St. George! It was so nice to have such a wonderful excuse to get ourselves down to SG, even if it was a quick trip. They were sealed in the same sealing room as Richie and I, and had their reception in the same place, so it was kind of fun to relive that. :) They make a really fantastic couple, we're so happy for them. The kids were so excited to play with cousins, and so devastated that the trip was so short.


On our way back home Sunday, we stopped at Cove Fort to see my parents! It was so fun to see their missionary digs and meet their missionary buddies. We got to have dinner together for Mother's day. :)



Since January, part of Miles's schooling has included some reading tutoring with my cousin Janiel! She was a first grade teacher for a long time and had a great gift to teach kids how to read. I was getting a little concerned with Miles's reading skills halfway through the year, and brought up the idea to her. She came every Monday and worked with Miles, gave us books and materials to use, and really motivated him in such a kind way to learn to read better. I'm still waiting for that magic moment when the flip switches and he will LOVE to read....I'm so sure that if that flip switches, he will be 10 times more motivated to improve his skills. But for now, it's mostly still a chore to him. He's a pretty competent reader now...now if I could just get him to love it...


Got to see Ross and Amanda on their way back from a quick trip down from Logan! Even if it's quick, it's always fun to visit for a minute!

First week in May

The weather was so nice outside that first week, that we tried to do some of our school outside. It just seemed wrong to be inside! So, as part of our sight word practice, I wrote the sight words on individual hopscotch squares. Then wherever their hoppytaw landed, that was the word they had to say.


Miles earned his first rank advancement in scouts. He got his Bobcat and a few belt loops. Man, he was BEAMING! He felt so proud. I'm incredibly grateful for good scout leaders because I didn't have much to do with him earning any of it!


For a while now, the kids, outside our home, job has been to roll in empty garbage cans for our neighbors for 25 cents per house. After doing that for a while, they added collecting aluminum cans to recycle for money- just from the people on our street. Then they got serious about this idea to build a tree house in our huge globe willow in the backyard. We've wanted to ever since we moved in, I mean the tree is practically begging for a house to be put in it. But it's always been an "unnecessary, extra" expense that we could never bring ourselves to give up. So when the kids asked about it this time, we said we'd build it, if they could earn the money themselves. (Thinking they probably wouldn't get there.) Well, wouldn't you know it? They already have over $250 saved up. All their birthday money, chore money and job money has gone into that jar. They expanded their aluminum can collecting route, and now we take a van load about every 2 weeks and get about $10, plus enough for the kids to buy a soda of their own.


Tanner got his mission call!! Columbus, Ohio!!!!!


This picture just makes me wanna go snuggle up next to him!!


We finally got around to going to see the tulip festival this year, thanks to our pass! It was gorgeous and hot! The kids loved everything about it! Richie and I loved most of it. :) Let's face it, kids can really complicate things. The only time they have to go potty is of course not when you were near the bathrooms and you asked them...it's when you're on the opposite side of the festival. And Lindy is at that age where she's too big for a stroller, but to little to walk for long distances, so we did a lot of shoulder carrying. Unfortunately, we weren't expecting it to be so hot and she was wearing rather warm clothes. She was pretty dehydrated the rest of the day. It got a little scary. She refused to eat the pizza we went out for after the festival, was having trouble cooling down even after more water and baths, her personality was slightly off-including being oddly decisive (?) and then threw up twice throughout the night. I was so happy that she was back to her normal self the next day.


After that incident, I went downstairs and pulled out summer clothes. Miles didn't have any hand-me-downs for this upcoming summer. (We've been so spoiled with clothes for the kids. I rarely have to shop for them!) So Miles and I took off on a quick date to Kid-2-Kid and found 4 new outfits, plus some suspenders and a bow tie I just couldn't pass up. He was so excited about his new outfits and very particular about them.


Then later that night, I took Gwen on a date. She had another meltdown session earlier that week, and was really hard on herself. I'm not sure how to help her through those hard moments. Those really hard parenting moments, when your kid's breaking down and beating themselves up, are not my favorite. I figured some one-on-one time couldn't hurt. I had a coupon for a cupcake at the bakery in Gardener Village, and it just so happens they were having a fairy garden festival Perfect! It was really magical. Gwen was light and happy. We strolled through a linen shop and ooohed and ahhhed over all the soft pillows and blankets. I saw this quote there and liked it enough to take a picture. :) It was hard to pull ourselves away from the beautiful weather, sweets, and magical atmosphere.

The rest of April

Great Grandma Garner was down this way from South Carolina and so there was a big get-together. It was fun to chat with her and snap a few pictures. It was Benson's first time meeting her! She has the prettiest snow white hair and I don't think she quit smiling the entire time she was there. I love listening to her talk in her fairly heavy southern accent.


Lindy had her first turn at the dentist. She was so excited! This picture is blurry, but she did such a great job. No fear, just excited to watch Moana while they cleaned her teeth.


Another art class. We learned about Dale Chihuly and tried our best at making some "glass" sculptures. The pieces themselves turned out really cool. I still haven't assembled them into the finished product...


Hopefully our chickens will be producing eggs soon, but in the mean time, I'm getting spoiled with these farm fresh eggs from UNM (where Richie helps). They are so beautiful on the outside, and so much yummier than store bought eggs.


In our science curriculum these days, we're learning about rocks. We tried our hand at making some "crystals" and have had some success there. There was a rock exhibit in south jordan for only $1 for me and the kids! So Friday night, we got all of our chores done because we wanted to see the cool rocks on Saturday morning. The kids ooohed and ahhhed over every single rock. They also thought it was hilarious that some vendors had fossilized dinosaur poop.


Right after the rock show, we went to a tea party! The hospital had invited anyone who had given birth in the last year, to a tea party. I was skeptical, thinking it was just going to be another chance for them to try and sell me something, but it turned out to be the coolest thing! It was at a fancy-schmancy reception center, and as soon as you walked through the doors, there was classical music playing, an all-out photo op of a fairy garden, beautifully set tables, and a full lunch buffet. The kids felt so fancy using glass plates and cups, and grown up silverware. :) I think what made them feel the most fancy though, was when a chef came out of the kitchen, and he was wearing an actual chef hat, like you see in the movies! :) After we ate, we walked around the grounds and explored the beautiful landscaping, and then made a fairy garden to take home! Such a fun outing. Glad we went.


Richie has been working with the kids for about 3 months now getting ready to be in the Bluffdale city art council's play, "Beauty and the Beast". I have been tremendously grateful for his initiative on this front. Being in plays is not in my wheelhouse. (neither is the desire, actually) But I think it has really filled a gap for the kids. They have learned to perform and be in front of an audience, they have learned discipline, and they have had a blast socializing with all the other kids. Richie is a rock star for taking this on. For the last while, they usually only had play practice on Fridays. But this last week, it was every night for around 4 hours. The kids, whose usual bedtime is 8, didn't get to sleep till at least 1030 every night. It was a long week. The day before the first performance was dress rehearsal, which meant full costumes and make up. I giggled all the way through putting eye liner and mascara on the kids and Richie. Especially Richie. After the first night, both Richie and Miles refused the make-up. :)


With the kids and Richie away so much, Benson and I had lots of wonderful quality time together. I remembered what it was like to have just 1 kid! We did lots of bath time as a time filler and because he loves it.


I got to go see the play on opening night. How thrilling to catch a glimpse of my gang in full costume before they went on stage!! I have had very little to do with this whole process, so I was finally getting a peek into this thing that had been taking up so much time. My crew was only in 2 songs, and then the finale, but they performed their little hearts out! I wanted to cry every time I saw them! Gwen was so worried that her "scared" face wasn't convincing enough, so she prayed really hard that she would do well at that. :) I was surprised by how much Miles got into it. Richie had to practically drag him to try-outs. We were both nervous that we were forcing this on him, and maybe shouldn't be. But he ate it up and was so animated on stage! What an awesome experience for my little crew! They were incredibly supported by family and friends who came to see them. Everyone came and they felt so special!


We've reached that point in the school year where I typically burn out. I keep saying "Just ___ more weeks!" to the kids, but really, I'm saying it to myself. The first picture is the younger three playing while I work with Miles. Cuties. The next one is Miles and Gwen on "the repenting step". :) It's an idea I read about in a parenting book. Basically, when there's a problem that involved 2 kids, instead of you having to be the judge, you just send them to the repenting step/bench/chair whatever. Then they can't leave that spot until they have calmly apologized for whatever they did. Wasn't it Elder Bednar that said, "There's no pancake so thin that there still aren't 2 sides to it" ? Anyway, there's usually something they can both apologize for. I still try and listen to both sides of the story so that they feel heard, but after that it's up to them to solve the problem. Works like a gem.