The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

Miller Elementary hosted its  very first play, the Wizard of Oz! Victoria and Austin got to participate in it. It would have been great for Karissa too, but that's part of the deal with being at a different school. This play was great for many reasons. First, they chose multiple Dorothys and some of the other main characters so that it would not only be an easier task for some of these busy kids to take on, but also so that more kids would have an opportunity. Also, they had a chorus to sing the songs rather then having solos, another plus for kids just getting started in the theater arts. Finally, practices weren't overwhelming. They were once a week in the morning before school at 8. At the end there were a couple of extra practices, but it wasn't bad. Since Victoria was one of the Dorothys and Austin was in the chorus, they did have to go to different days of practice, but Austin got a ride every day from some friends who were already in the car for middle school drop off and heading to the practice as well, so it was perfect!

Austin singing in the chorus in the green shirt. One of the songs he got really into  and was smiling and bouncing to the music.

Victoria is the Dorothy on the far left.

 The one thing that could have been better would have been a dress rehearsal, but it was still fun to watch and a great experience for all involved. Austin was so nervous, for some reason, that his stomach hurt the whole week of the performances. He kept telling me his stomach hurt and the school kept calling me, which was unusual on his part, and we couldn't figure out why. He finally said he was really nervous for the show! He did great, despite his nerves, and sure enough now that the show is over, I haven't heard any stomach ache complaints!

Her biggest fan!

It was great for my mom to be able to come out for a quick visit to see the show. She needed a little break from her busy schedule on her mission in Philadelphia and we were just close enough for a short flight and a good excuse to see a show!

Our celebration after the final show. Victoria got to go with her friends.

The weather was perfect, so Erik and I got to take her to some parks, garage selling, and put up the trampoline! Victoria  had her Cecchetti ballet exam and she and Austin also had their soccer practice/game Saturday. Karissa went on a bike ride with Grandma and I and was a good support to her siblings for their busy weekend. Jason and I even got to go to the adult session of Stake Conference!

Check out my new curio cabinet in the background! Major deal at a garage sale!

I've learned that May is a very busy month!

Birthday Bash

We were privileged to have another birthday bash weekend celebrating my dad's birthday with him, and Jason's. Two years ago my dad and Mary Lou came out over his birthday when my dad turned 70. They were here again this year to help celebrate Jason's 40th the day after my dad's birthday.

It wasn't all birthday fun, though. We started with a Ladies' Night Out that my kids' orthodontist put on for the women of her office. I took Mary Lou along with me about an hour after I picked them up from the airport. It was at the Stayin' Alive Night Club for some Mexican food and Salsa dancing lessons, all provided for by Dr, Teifer (I love our orthodontist!)

At the Night Club

 The kids did their usual activities: school, piano, dance, soccer, and Wizard of Oz practice for the upcoming play at Miller. Jason and my dad even got to take the boys to the father/son campout on Friday night and us girls made pizza and watched a movie for a girl's night in. Actually, the boys didn't sleep at the campout, just did the nightly activities and came home, but went back for breakfast the next day. Luckily, the campsite isn't very far. It was probably good they didn't sleep there because it was like in the 30's that night with rain, as usual. The father/son campout always gets rained on! They didn't sleep there because Jason had just had a 3 inch incision in his back to finish up a mole he had removed a couple of months ago. It was benign, but atypical. 14 stitches in the back makes things like sleeping on the ground difficult for a person! I am the lucky one who gets the wash and dress it every day! Let's just say that I don't have the nurse/doctor qualities that allow me to do the job without feeling like I'm going to get sick....

The hair stylist is in!

While the big kids were at school all day, Erik got to go garage saling, on walks, to the ice cream shop, and Belle Isle with Grandma and Grandpa and me. He did very well with all the adults around.

On Belle Isle

Belle Isle Botanical Gardens

Downtown Plymouth 

Downtown Plymouth on our walk after our special birthday ice cream outing. 

For the birthdays: on Saturday, my dad got to go to the father.son breakfast in the cold, watch Austin play soccer in the cold, and then we had some good meals and played games at home the rest of the day. Belle Isle was supposed to happen Saturday for his birthday, but we changed it to Friday so we could at least have nice weather while we walked around there. So, for the rest of his birthday we hung out at home. Since Jason's big day was on Sunday, I wanted to take him out to eat. So Grandma and Grandpa got to man the kids over dinner and watch a movie with them while Jason and I went to Black Rock, a new place where you cook your own meat on a black stone from Australia that's heated at 755 degrees. It was pretty cool. When we returned, we had cake and ice cream.

Dancing to the birthday song.

Apples to Apples

I didn't do 72 candles...

Jason's birthday morning consisted of his favorite breakfast, biscuits and gravy, and gifts. The rest of the day was church, family home evening, and more cake and ice cream!

Awesome gifts!

Check out his new sport coat and tie! He even looks good still in his pjs!

Looking dapper...

Doing the "dab" with Victoria.

I did a 4 and a 0 for Jason. 

All in all, I think we all enjoyed both birthdays and the time we got to spend together. Happy Birthday Dad and Jason!

Favorites

I love being a mom to my four children. They are so special and unique in their own ways. With Victoria's dance recital every Mother's Day weekend, she's usually pretty tired on Mother's Day. This weekend was no different, so there weren't many extra special things done for me, except Jason made a delicious shrimp dinner and Karissa and Austin made the brownies for dessert. The best thing, though,was that they all played well together and we had a great family home evening about our ancestor mothers (mine and Jason's grandmas, great grandmas, and of course the kid's grandmas). We did a relay race for our activity, which was run by Victoria.

What I got out of the day was the time I get to spend with each of my kids daily, doing some of their favorite things. 

Erik: every day he loves to play with his puppets with me. They're actually not his. We check them out from the library, so there are different ones every week. This week we have a polar bear, an eagle, and a squirrel. 

Austin: Austin loves to talk to me every night when I follow him around to make sure he's getting ready for bed. He will talk and talk about minecraft, about Star Wars, legos, his friends, or whatever else is on his mind. It reminds me of some very talkative people from my growing up days...

Karissa: even though she is a great reader and when she gets in her reading mode, you can't get her out of it, she loves for me to read to her every night. If it's a little too late and we haven't much time, she still insists I read for just a couple of minutes. It helps her fall asleep faster, she says. We read a lot of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books recently, and to my surprise, I actually enjoyed them!

Victoria: lately she has been keeping up with a hair blog. I think a family who are members of the church run it. She gets all these creative hair styles from it and then wants to do them on me. Usually it's at night when the others are asleep. She sprays my hair with water and hairspray, and then, of course, it doesn't look good the next day, but it's fun to see all the different hairstyles she can do! Let me just say that she's way better at doing hair than I am!

This is the last one she did. It was the best because I slept in it and then ran it the next day and it still looked good, so I wore it that whole day!

On Mother's Day, Erik wanted his picture by the tree, I guess we should have moved over there, but we were pressed for time. 

I wanted the picture by the flowers, so this is what I got from Erik. 

And this....

 It's great to be a mom!

Less Reading, More Watching

It's been a busy week! I got my groove back with posting videos on You Tube, so I have posted videos you can watch. Now that I have the know-how with posting from You Tube again (it seems so easy, I don't know what happened the last few times I tried to post videos!) I'll have to post something of Austin playing ice hockey. For now, enjoy these. Karissa at the wax museum, Karissa's 3rd grade music concert. Victoria's ballet and tap dances for the recital this year. Never a dull moment around here!