25 April 2010

We're anxiously awaiting the opening of Sophie's school play Alice in Wonderland this Thursday. The cast and crew are working hard to get ready. With much appreciated help from a friend, Becky sewed some extra-large pants for Sophie (Tweedle Dum) and Tweedle Dee. Tweedle Dee's mom bought shirts and socks for the girls. We can't wait to see the girls side by side, all plumped out with pillows.

Some, probably hundreds, of grubs were treating our lawn like their own personal salad bar. Our lawn really looks terrible. We broke down and got super toxic poison to kill them, kept the kids off the lawn for a week and are reseeding the bare patches. It's too depressing to take a photo of the dead lawn, so in the foreground are Helen and Gibson playing store. They're using leaves as currency. 

More yard woes-- this is our Asian pear tree. Its blossoms have come and gone and it is leafing in beautifully. However ...

... this is our Red Bartlett pear tree. It shows no signs of spring activity.

To end on a good note, this is a paper Abe made at school this week. It describes Super Turtle and the pictures show the superhero rescuing a baby kitten from a pit and returning it to its mom. We love Super Turtle's extensive powers, especially his biceps. 

18 April 2010

Construction in our neighborhood has essentially stopped. leaving many empty lots. This week those lots have been covered in a dazzling display of wildflowers. We drive past the flowers several times a day. On one of our trips this week, Becky had the kids get out of the car and pose for photos. We've driven a lot longer and hiked a lot farther to enjoy fewer wildflowers than we have seen every day this week on the side of the road.

Abe got his first real tie for Easter this year. Brandan is helping him learn how to tie it. He's worn it a couple of times now and likes learning a new skill. 

Here's a photo of Abe playing soccer on Saturday. His blond hair makes him easy to spot. Becky finds soccer games 90% more interesting when Abe is on the field. 

Gibson's main entertainment at the game was taking photos. Thank goodness for digital cameras. We let him take as many photos as he liked-- mostly of people's waists and the grass. Sophie borrowed the camera and took this cute photo of Gibson.

After soccer, we hurried over to the church for our Primary's talent show. Abe performed three magic tricks. The photo is of his favorite trick-- he placed one penny in a dish, waved his magic wand and dumped many pennies into his hand. If you look at the photo closely, you might see the secret to this trick.

11 April 2010

We spent the week in Maui, celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary. We had a truly wonderful time. Brandan attended a medical conference, but his classes ended by 11 am each day and we had lots of time to explore and relax together. This photo is of the banyan trees in front of the resort we stayed at. We loved their spreading canopies and the way the roots grow down from the tree. And in case you're wondering, we left Hawaii just as white as we came, thanks to the miracle of sunscreen.

This is the first LDS chapel built in the Hawaiian islands. We felt grateful as we watched general conference in one of the chapels on Maui.

We loved spending time on the beach. Our favorite beach was a black sand beach at Pailoa Bay.

We loved all the fresh local food.  Our favorite was a cherimoya. It tasted like pineapple gelato-- very sweet and smooth.

Brandan took this photo on our last night in Maui as we sat out by the pool at our resort.

Here are the five people who made this trip possible. Thanks to our kiddos who were very sweet about us leaving them-- although they insist we're going back as a family. And a huge thank you to Becky's mom, who traded in her busy life in Idaho for a week of carpools, soccer practice, music lessons, laundry and everything else that comes with 4 kids. Thanks, Mom! We appreciate your gift of love very much!

4 April 2010

Brandan and Abe made a goal to find and make some dutch oven recipes. On Sunday, they made a delicious apple crisp. We were a little worried about a light sprinkle of rain, but everything turned out delicious.

Although the Monday School trimester was supposed to end before spring break, we had to have a catch-up day to add the finishing touches to our projects. Sophie is annoyed, because she still didn't finish her embroidery, and has more work up ahead.

We had Abe's birthday party on wednesday- the last day in a while that both parents will be home to supervise. He had a fun time, playing outside, Decorating t-shirts, and doing a bike treasure hunt that took 20 minutes - 40 minutes less than it was supposed to.

Here's Abe With his birthday cup-cake. He was laughing so hard that he couldn't blow out his candles. We can't believe how old he's getting.

By far one of the most coveted presents was a bubble blowing gun. The kids all had fun waving it around, taking turns at being "shot."     ~      P.S. Abe's soccer team The Grizzlies had their first game on Saturday, and they won! Abe made some pretty awesome kicks, including one in which his shoe flew 10 feet in the air! Way to go Abe!     ~     P.P.S. Sophie wrote this post, because Brandan and Becky are at this very moment in Hawaii! Under the cover of going to a medical conference, this is actually their anniversary trip! Have fun!