Friday night

To continue our celebrating the end of the school year, we went up to our cabin.  We had such a great time.  It was just a low-key overnighter, but we all enjoyed each other so much.  We had dinner, took a little hike, made a campfire, then slept in.  On our way home, we went fishing and Britton caught his first fish ever!!! It was so exciting. 
The highlights of the trip for me:
*Telling my kids the "Pea green soup" joke and "And so did the fat lady" joke and watching them laugh hysterically the most sincere laughs.  Seriously, I think Britton's laugh could change the world.
*Seeing everyone's excitement and utter joy when Britton caught his fish.  It made all the hours of waiting and waiting totally worth it. 
Jason commented to me later that the whole weekend was the most fun he has ever had with his family.  And I think we would all agree.  And we've had plenty of good times.  Even though it wasn't anything particularly special, we were just all content and happy to be together the entire time. 
 Family time is definitely what it's all about!


Blurry pics taken by the kids.

School's Out!

School's been out for over a week now and I am loving it!!!

First thing we did to celebrate was to play with Melanie and her kids.  They are here visiting from China for the summer.  It is always so good to see them.  We think of them as family.  Since this is the first time we have seen them in a really, really long time, Melanie and I just let the kids run wild outside, jumping off the tree onto the tramp and making a big mud hole.  They were so dirty, but they had tons of fun (except Ezra who is TERRIFIED of being dirty).  Melanie and I just got to sit and chat and catch up which is always my favorite thing to do.

What a great way to start out the summer!

DREAMING...

Britton and cousin Caden

This boy just loves babies so much!

Crazy Hair

This is the hairdo that Haley requested for Valentine's Day. 

She loves being silly!

Soccer

Britton played soccer again this year after a break last year. It seems like the soccer season ended as soon as it started. It zipped by. The weather was pretty cold for pretty much all the games. Actually, I think their March games were better weather than the May games. Crazy.

Britton played for the Green Goblins and absolutely loved it. He has improved quite a bit over the years. He actually has some skills and tries to pass and use his teammates. It's fun to see. His last game he scored a goal and barely missed on 2 other great shots. It was a fun season and we'll see what next year brings...

Britton's 8!!!

On April 19, Britton turned 8!  I can't believe I have an 8 year old.  This is such a big year for him.  He got baptized and got to start Cub Scouts.  He's been so excited for both of these things. 


He had a party with a lot of his friends from school, but I didn't get any pictures.  We had a picnic at the park and a little treasure hunt and a kick ball game.  It was really fun.  

I still can't believe how grown up he is and how much busier I am keeping up with his schedule now.   We only added scouts, but it happens to fall on our busiest day of the week.  I know I'm just beginning the craziness of juggling my kid's schedules though.  It'll only get busier from here on out.  Fun, fun, fun.

Britton's Baptism

On Saturday, May 1, 2010, Britton got baptized.  It was such a special day for me.  I am so proud of the person he is becoming and the decisions he is making.  It was such a wonderful day.  We had a lot of family from both sides there to support him.  Both his grandpas were the witnesses.  And his cousin, Reed, gave a talk on the Holy Ghost.  His friend, Ben Fletcher was baptized the same day, so it was fun to share the morning with his family.

After the baptism and confirmation, everyone came back to our house for a barbecue and just to hang out.  It was so fun spending the day with everyone.  I'm so grateful for all of our relatives who are so supportive and such good examples to us.  Britton has so many great cousins.  He is so happy just being around them all.

Haley Turns 6!

 

Haley's birthday was March 6th so these are way late being posted, but she had such a fun birthday party.  It was a princess party.  All the little girls wore princess dresses and then some of my neighbors came to help out and do their nails and make-up.  They all looked so cute!  The girls did a fabulous job making them into princesses and all the little girls loved it.  We played lots of basic games, but changed them to fit with the princess theme.  It was so fun seeing my little princess surrounded by all her friends having so much fun.             

St. Patrick's Day

This is the first year ever that I did anything for St. Patrick's Day.  I left green treats from "Lucky the Leprechaun" and dyed our breakfast green.  It wasn't much compared to some people, but my kids sure had a blast with it.  The pictures are from right after school.

Hooray!

I finally uploaded all my pictures from my camera, so I can blog again!  It's time to play catch-up!

Add to my list of favorites

Today Britton got baptized.  Wow.  What a special day.  I don't even have the words.  Definitely one of my favorite days ever. 

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted

Sometime within the last month, I have managed to misplace my camera cord that connects to the computer so I can download pictures.  There are so many things we have done recently that I want documented, but I keep waiting because I want the pictures to go along with it.  So, I've started a bazillion posts and saved them, just waiting for pictures so that I won't forget anything.  And I'll just try to post more often about our day to day happenings until I find the cord.

We have been really busy around these parts.  Life just doesn't ever seem to slow down.  I spent my day today running around.  To the school, to the store, back to the school to help out, to soccer games, to Pack meeting, to McDonald's.  It was a full, but fun day.  Now it's 11 pm and I work from 1-4 am so I have to keep myself awake until then.  My life is crazy. 

I love my kids

I have been having so much fun with my kids lately.  I think it's a combination of the weather being warmer so we can play outside and me not being quite as busy.  Whatever it is, we've been having a blast. 

The other day after school we went straight to Nickel City, a new arcade place that just opened up.  It was so much fun.  It wasn't crowded at all.  We played ski ball, air hockey, and Britton won the jackpot several times on this one dump truck game.  He earned enough tickets so that Haley could get a cute little teddy bear that she wanted.  She was so happy.  She even named it Britton since he gave her most of the tickets.  I love it when they are nice to each other.

When we got home, we went straight into the back yard to climb the tree and play with Britton's parachute men that he got.  Britton got talking about things he wanted to do this summer.  I told him about a list I made of all the homeschool things I want to do and he got so excited.  I forget how much he loves learning from me.  He asked if we could mostly do science-y things because they don't do much science at school.  Of course, I'm happy with that.  Love that kid.  We talked about the field trips we would go on and projects we would do.  Haley got really excited and said, "Let's start now and do it everyday after school and on Saturdays and days off."  She had an idea that we should learn about pirates and then go to Pirate Island for a field trip.  Britton piped right in, "Haley, Pirate Island is just kind of like an amusement park, you don't really learn anything there."  I thought it was hilarious.  He's so serious about his learning.  (when it's at home with me, not so much at real school)  It was so great just hanging out with them hearing them get so excited about learning.  I think once they started school, I stopped focusing on teaching them things.  And I need to remember how important it is to still do it.  Of course, I still teach them things, but not in the same way as when they were younger.  I really made a huge effort when they were younger.  So, I'm going to go back to that even though I don't have all day every day with them. 

Britton went to go get Isaac and I thought they were just going to play in the backyard, but they came running in to get me.  I guess Britton had invited him over to have a science class with us.  :)  So, I really had to scramble to put something together quickly.  We ended up making a hummingbird feeder and they LOVED it.  It's not quite warm enough to hang it yet, but I can't wait until we can watch hummingbirds everyday. 

That evening, when Jason got home, we played a football game in the front yard--me and Britton against Haley and Jason.  Later, as I thought about my day, I became overwhelmed with gratitude.  I love days like that.  Nothing overly special, but completely enjoying the moments with the ones I love. 

I stole this picture from Jason sister's blog (I hope that's okay, Kris!). It is from her baby Caden's baby blessing day. Caden is the newest member of the Kemp family. I just love this picture. They all look so perfect holding a little baby. We need to get us one of those. :)

I have been the worst blogger in the world lately. I have so much to post about and so many pictures to upload, but I just wanted to jot down a few things about Haley lately before I forget them.

*The other morning she came in first thing and woke Jason up, "Dad, dad, is it a lion or a lamb day today?" It was so cute. Jason didn't have any idea what she was talking about. They've been talking about March coming in like a lion, going out like a lamb at school I guess. So, everyday she wants to know if it's a lion or lamb day.

*A week ago, Haley turned 6. This week I have overheard her so many times saying, "When I was 5, I used to..." like it was soooooo long ago. And like she's so much more grown up now. It's funny. And adorable.

*Just a few minutes ago, she came running up the stairs crying so hard. When I asked her what was wrong she said that the boys made a mii on the wii named Haley and that they were calling it "the real Haley". Through sobs she said, "But I'm the REAL Haley". It was so funny, but she was so serious, I couldn't laugh about it.

*The other night, we told Britton and Haley to go to bed and Britton jumped up and started dancing all over the room. Haley jumped up and said, "Oh, Britton, save it for your pillow!" I have no idea where she got that from. Jason and I couldn't stop laughing. She obviously heard it on tv or something, but it was too funny hearing it come out of her.

Cousin Sleepover

A few weekends ago, Hayden and Corbin slept over. They all made this fort to sleep in. Britton wanted to sleep in a "real pile" like on Where the Wild Things Are.

Poems

Here are a few poems Britton wrote at school lately.

I write of me climbing, and jumping
on the bed.
and thanks-giving,
about monsters!
and monkeys,
and beautiful mountains.
about animals
and stars.

I think I will do nothing for a long time,
but listen to the sounds of birds chirping in trees
and crickets chirping at night,
I hear music and the water in the fish tank,
I hear my neighbors talking.

I love these! They are just so him.

The other day I straightened Haley's hair.

The Note

The other day Britton handed me this note after school and said," I wrote this a few weeks ago, you'll know what it's about."

Note:
"This is just to say I'm sorry I was climbing on the bed. You were watching a movie. I'm sorry. Forgive me. I was just having fun."

And then it said, "I'm sorry" a whole bunch of times all over.

I thought is was such a cute note, but it also broke my heart a little. You see, I can't even remember this incident. And I feel horribly that I apparently got mad enough at him for him to be worried about it at school. Lately, it seems like I am getting mad at him all the time. Over every little thing. And, it's not fair to him. I've been so busy the last few months. And I don't always take the time to give him the attention or patience that he needs. And that breaks my heart. I love that boy more than anything. And I wish I could show that more.