Tumbling Performance

This year Cora was in a tumbling class that got to be in the big performance at the high school. It was pretty cool to watch her class, and see the other classes perform too. Here are a few shots before we left. Cora was thrilled to wear a teeny bit of make-up!

 

 

 There were a lot of classes performing, even with the students for the studio being broken up into two performances. We were on the first row of the balcony, which was nice for a little bit better pictures. 

This is how they started out. Cora is five in from the left.  

 And here's the end shot. Cora worked so hard learning the routine, and did a great job! She's had a great teacher this year too. 

And here are all the gymnasts in this one performance-- it's a huge studio!  

T-ball

T-ball finally finished up! Luke had fun looking forward to the games, but got a bit bored in the outfield and waiting for his turn to bat. There is a lot of waiting in t-ball! 

He had fun practicing outside though! It was a good experience for him, and he loved having us come to watch his games. 

 

  

  

Cousin time

Kurt, Jen, and Kenny came for a visit. It was such pretty weather while they were here! 

 

April Round up

We had lots of fun with the water table both inside (!) and out.

 

I caught this cute picture of Cora and Violet holding hands on the way to church. 

 We made it back to the zoo at the end of the month. The kids loved running around in the perfect weather. 

 

 

 I caught this cute moment of Violet reading to Luke.  

 Cora got to go on a field trip, so we decided to take a field trip of our own to the farm while she was gone. 

 

 We had a fun family dinner at Shad and Jen's house. It was great weather for playing outside too!  

We met up with friends at the dinosaur museum during spring break. 

Cora's school had a magic show family night. It was only so-so, but Violet was traumatized by the ending. At the end the magician told the kids that if they don't read everyday they would turn into a bird brain. He then took off his hat and had a bird standing on his head. She came home crying that she didn't want to be a bird brain. Ha! Poor girl.

Two snow storms in April?!? At least someone is excited! 

April Videos

I'm glad Evelyn was strapped in-- she wanted to jump in with the fish! 

Evelyn loved tearing off the paper of her birthday presents one little bit at a time-- too slow for her siblings! 

Luke hitting the ball

Happy Birthday to Evelyn! She looks a little bewildered!

Evelyn loved her cupcake, although to me it looks like she can't believe we really gave it to her!

Evelyn is a rocking pro in her new chair! Ta-da indeed!

Kid Updates

Cora has really improved with her drawings and writing. I just love this cute picture she drew for her friend Lindsey's baptism. 

 And I love how she would teach her class how to be a princess if she was the teacher. 

Violet is really enjoying preschool! This is her very favorite outfit, and she wears it every time it is clean. She had cowgirl day at preschool and loved wearing her cowgirl hat and boots. 

 

Violet is very interested in Cora's spelling tests and wants her own tests whenever I'm quizzing Cora.

When Violet says her prayers, she always asks "What's my gift?" and "Please help me to have more faith". We were reading the children's Doctrine and Covenants, and the chapter on spiritual gifts really impacted her. She does a great job reminding me what I should be praying for too!

Violet is still afraid of flush toilets. I'm not sure what happened to traumatize her so! It is really quite the ordeal to take her, and her first question on entering a public bathroom is always about what kind of toilets they are.

Violet loves to 'babysit' Evelyn for me when I'm in another room or doing other tasks.

Violet has named one of her dolls Roosevelt. She thinks it is such a beautiful name! I'm not sure where she heard it. It is so cute, I think it will be a while before I tell her who else shares that name.

She loves to write and draw notes for us. She does a great job! This one takes some deciphering, but it's pretty cool to see how she has sounded out the words. "My age is 4. My favorite food is hot dogs. The favorite toys is 3 ponies. A king pony, a baby pony, and the last pony is sparkle pony."

"I love you Grandma. You are sweet. I love to play with you."

 

 Luke played spring t-ball through the rec center. It included one training session and 9 games. There usually were as many adults on the field as kids! It was pretty fun to watch. He loved having his activity to do, instead of just going to Cora and Violet's activities! We might wait a year-- or two! to try again, but it was a fun experience for him. 

Luke is working so hard at writing his name. He's got the tricky 'e' down, but the 'k' still needs some practice. He is determined! 

Luke makes us laugh when he responds to our questions with "I think not" for no. So formal! 

Luke is working on his counting-- right now it usually goes like this: 1,2,3,8,9,10.

Luke has also been enjoying playschool. Participation has dropped off a little, but it's still been working out pretty well. He did this cute project this month. 

Evelyn loves watching the neighbor's dog out the window. When she wakes up from her naps she always goes over to see if he is there, and talks back to his barks. She is fascinated! 

 

Grandparent letter

Dear Grandpa and Grandma,

                How are you doing? I hope everything is going well for you! It was so nice to see you last month. We had such a fun time visiting with you.

                We’ve had our share of crazy spring weather, including two April snowstorms! But it looks like it’s going to be sunny and warm this week—so much fun! We’ve taken advantage of the sunny days to play outside, ride bikes, and go to the park and the zoo. The gardens at Thanksgiving Point have tons of tulips and we’ve had fun walking around there too. During Cora’s spring break we also visited the dinosaur museum there, it’s full of fun activities and dinosaur exhibits.

                We’ve been having fun family movie nights on Fridays. We have a picnic in the family room and watch a movie together. To my surprise, the kids have loved watching the older movies like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and Swiss Family Robinson. It’s been a lot of fun.

                We had a lovely Easter! It was just our little family at home, but it was relaxing to have a nice meal together and read some Easter books and watch some Easter videos.

                Violet turned 5 on March 31^st. She was most excited about her pink cowgirl boots and that she has her very own library card now.

Evelyn turned 1 on April 19^th. She thoroughly enjoyed her jumbo cupcake, especially the frosting! We did a new tradition too, gathered a tray of items representing different professions in front of her. Whatever she picks up first is supposed to be what professions and/or attributes she’ll have when she grows up! She picked up the syringe (doctor) first, but also liked the calculator (sciences), and the orange (wealth). So we’ll see J.

Luke started t-ball this week. He is so excited! It will be fun to see how much he learns. It is twice a week for 4 weeks, so it’s a good first start into sports programs through our rec center for him.

Cora got to attend two of her friends’ baptisms this month. She still has over a year to go, but it is neat to see her so interested and excited about her own baptism already.

Love, Terrah and family

Evelyn at 1 Year

A few notes about Evelyn now...

Evelyn is very interested in the toilet. We need to do a better job keeping the bathroom door closed! She hasn't gotten into the toilet water yet, thank goodness, but she is fascinated!

When she doesn't get her way, she will pout and hmfph to let us know she is displeased. 

She loves pb&j for lunch. 

She will clap when we say "good job!".

She is still nursing, but not for much longer I think. She doesn't fight it, but doesn't demand it either. I think it will be easy to wean her. 

Evelyn doesn't like being left out. She knows when she is going to bed first and everyone else is staying up, or if she is being left behind from an outing.

She loves dogs! They make her laugh. 

Evelyn fights getting dressed. She's got too much to do to sit still for that long! 

Evelyn doesn't like to snuggle much anymore, unless she's in a rare mood for it. She'll kiss herself in the mirror more than she'll kiss us! She's too busy! 

Evelyn likes to empty drawers and fill up boxes. In and out, in and out. 

Kevin was making a popping noise by popping his thumb out of his mouth. Evelyn was fascinated and keeps on trying to get that sound too! 

She sticks her tongue out of the side of her mouth when she is concentrating. 

Evelyn brings so much joy to our lives. We love her and we are so grateful she is part of our family!

Eveyln's First Birthday

Happy Birthday Evelyn! 

Birthday breakfast

 Birthday balloons!

 

 Looking out the window, waiting for Cora to come home. 

 Present time! Evelyn didn't really need more toys this year, but she did love opening the ones she received. The paper was almost as much fun as the presents! 

 

 Evelyn got two dollies of her own, a grocery cart, soft pretend food, and a sand and water table.  

 Evelyn was very interested in her birthday cupcake! 

 She loved the frosting and mushing the cake between her fingers. 

 Happy girl! 

Evelyn's birthday was a bit simpler, since she didn't need many new things. So we added this Chinese first birthday tradition to her birthday celebrations. It was so fun, I wish we would have known about it earlier! It is a zhua zhou tray, and each item represents an interest or ability. You lay them in front of baby and wait to see which item she picks up and takes away first (just touching doesn't count). There's no official list, but here's what we did: 

Ball=sports, library card=academic, cymbal=music, calculator=sciences, brush=arts, syringe=medicine, stamp=high ranking official, pen=writer, orange=fortune, tree-love of nature, rolling pin=baker.

 

Here she is, checking it all out! 

 The calculator was her top choice--maybe she be our science baby!

 It was so fun to watch her, we let her keep choosing. Next Evelyn chose the syringe. Medicine and sciences do go together!

 And finally the library card. A girl after my own heart! 

 Happy Birthday Evelyn! We love you! 

A few days after Evelyn's birthday, Kissie and Pata came by with their gift. They gave Evelyn Pata's rocking chair from when he was a little boy. How precious! Evelyn was thrilled to have a chair of her own, and I love having something with so much meaning and history.