May Roundup

Violet is usually a bit timid with climbing... so she surprised me at the park when she went right up the wall! 

 She was so excited and proud of herself! 

 Of course, lots of pictures and a video were in order.

Cora has been working super hard in gymnastics. This month she got her back handspring and front walkover-- two big tricks!! She gets nervous if she thinks about what she's doing too much, but she's doing a great job! I missed seeing them in class, but her wonderful teacher took videos on her phone and sent them to me.

The last unit Cora had at school was all about animals. She had to pick an animal, study it at the zoo, research about it at home, make a visual, and present it to the class. Man, I don't remember doing that when I was in kindergarten! She was pretty excited to learn about the ostrich and did a great job with her presentation. She did all the cutting out, lettering, drawing, coloring,wording, and choosing pictures for her book so it really was her own project. 

Her books says:

This is an ostrich.

Ostrichs live in the desert. The desert is dry. 

Ostrichs eat seeds, plants, roots, and lizards.

The Mom and Dad both sit on the eggs.

The adults protect the chicks under their wings.

An interesting fact about the ostrich is that its kick can kill a lion. 

There, now you too know more about ostriches!

Cora writes in her kindergarten journal two days a week for her homework.  It is so fun to read and see more of what she is thinking and what is important to her. At the end of the year her journal has lots of Evelyn updates!

Evelyn sneezed in her elbow. She has the hiccups after she eats. I hope she smiles soon. Her eyes sparkle. 

Kindergarten is fun but I will miss my friends and teacher. I had so much fun learning about the world.

Cora loves to draw at home too, I thought this picture of our family and the temple was just perfect. Especially the initials of each family member's name on top of our heads!

Violet's Preschool Update

Violet, Evelyn, and I had a special field trip date to Discovery Gateway. It was fun to be there with her preschool pals! 

 We also got her class pictures back-- what a bunch of cuties! 

 And one special cutie in particular, of course! 

Downtown

We've had a lot of fun playing at City Creek since it opened.. it sure is handy to be able to visit Kissie and Pata and be steps away from lots of fun! 

This is the closest Luke was willing to get to the fountain this day. 

    

 Luke is always so thrilled to see Kissie and Pata. He asks almost every single day when we will see them next. 

 We caught the very tail end of the spring flowers at Temple Square this year!

  Luke going to great lengths to play on the computers in the Visitors Center.

Cora's Kindergarten Graduation

Cora's kindergarten graduation was o-so-cute! I love the picture she drew of herself on the graduation invitation-- graduation hat and everything.

I also LOVED that graduation was for each individual class, so we celebrated with 25 kids instead of 125. 

The kids did a little program and sang a few songs. Short and sweet!  

Pata was able to come celebrate too.

(Kissie was up in Blackfoot helping Grandma Ellis move into an assisted living facility)

Pata helping to keep Luke quiet and happy

Cora walked across the stage so fast my picture of her receiving her certificate is just a blur. But here she is afterward.

Cora and her teacher's aide, Mrs. Rasmussen

Cora and Mrs. Proud. She was fabulous! I'm so happy Cora had such a great first experience with school.

Cora's official graduation photo and her regular school photo too. Aren't school photos lovely? 

I think she was nervous for them. 

 

One of the songs the kindergarten class sang-- to the tune of the Mickey Mouse song. Cora is in the front row on the left side. 

Evelyn Update-- 5.5 weeks

Tongue out

Tongue in!

Evelyn got her first taste of a ring pop sucker yesterday, courtesy of Luke. I guess she's lucky that she has a big brother making sure she isn't left out. (And a mom who needs to keep eyes at all times on her).

Evelyn and Layla

Jen managed to catch a picture of one of Evelyn's first smiles!

Evelyn smiled yesterday for the first time... but unfortunately most of our attempts to capture it ended up like this:

Evelyn at One Month

Our little Evie is one month old! 

Evelyn is still mostly sleeping a lot. She eats about every three hours night and day! She likes to be held and snuggled, she sleeps best swaddled in her A&A blankets. She still gets many many hugs and kisses every day by her siblings (and parents!), and sometimes will be sporting oatmeal in her hair from Luke's messy post-breakfast kisses. 

I think it's pretty amazing the things babies do on instinct. Evelyn will be all swaddle up laying inbetween Kevin and I in bed, and she'll scootch herself over bit by bit to snuggle next to a warm body. It's funny to see how fast she can latch, even with her eyes closed, when she's about to eat... almost like pouncing. And how she knows already who her food source is by smell and sound. 

Evelyn likes her binkie for sleeping and will usually go to sleep easily when we hold her and bounce on the exercise ball.

 Luke saw Evelyn naked and wanted to join the photoshoot!

 Evelyn had had it by then! 

 First bath with sisters! rub-a-dub-dub, three sisters in a tub!

Fun friends!

Heather, James, and Samuel came to visit and play, and brought us a delicious lunch too! The kids had a great time together, as always. I'm so grateful for all of the help and support we've received in the last month from our friends and family. All the meals, visits, gifts, check-ins, and playdates have made a huge difference. It has helped tremendously with how our adjustment process has gone, especially for the kids. It's nice to be loved!

Mother's Day

Unfortunately, although it was Mother's Day, we didn't get a picture of Kissie with the grandkids, but this picture of Pata with the was too good to pass up. Kissie and Pata arranged for a yummy Mother's Day dinner with take-out from the Cheesecake Factory the day before Mother's Day. It was so nice of them to invite us to celebrate altogether. Especially since that was the only celebrating we did, except for the ward Mother's Day breakfast Kevin got put in charge of and preparing a talk Cora had to give on Mother's Day!

On another note, Luke and Kevin went to their first Fathers and Sons campout Mother's Day weekend. Kevin said that Luke did great, sleeping well in the tent and everything. Maybe next summer we'll be brave enough for a family camping trip! 

Violet's Mommy and Me Day at Preschool

 Violet has such a wonderful preschool teacher who puts on darling programs. Mommy and Me Day included some cute songs and fingerplays, and a really amazing magician. Such fun! 

 Violet really was enthralled by the magician

  

 She even got to help with one of his tricks! 

 

Miss Amanda arranged for a photographer to be there to take special Mommy and Me photos.

One of the songs the kids performed was "I See the Moon". It is a sweet song, and is one of Violet's favorites. We looked up the video of it when we got home and it's a family favorite too now. Miss Amanda read the book "To the Moon and Back", had a beautiful cake decorated like a moon, and gave the moms moon necklaces to remember our little ones. It was a memorable morning!

Here's the song in the movie clip, with Claire Danes singing.

And, a video of Violet participating in the magic show!