Under The Sea

Preschool is almost finished, and Josh is so excited for it to end so he can go to kindergarten. He keeps asking me when the last day of Preschool is, and when I answer he says. "And then the next day I start kindergarten?"

However, I am not quite ready to give up my preschooler to elementary school, and am glad I have the entire summer to get use to the idea.

Josh has loved his preschool and is always excited to go. He has made some great friends this year, and has learned a lot.

He has great teachers who really care about him, and are just as excited as I am when Josh achieves his goals. When Josh started bringing home his reading books, His teacher, Mrs. Valerie got to the car first to tell me the exciting news.

Now that school is wrapping up it is time for the programs, and once again Josh's preschool put on a great show.

The theme this year was "Under The Sea." Josh and his speaking buddy started the program as crocodiles

and their speaking parts introduced the song, "Never Smile at a Crocodile."

But the part Josh was the most excited about was his duet in "Puff the Magic Dragon." This is one of Josh's favorite songs at school.

Puff was one of my favorites too.

They ended the program with "Yellow Submarine." I think Josh's second favorite part of the program was getting to play a kazoo in this song. Ryan had told Josh to sing this song really well, because it was originally sung by Grandma's favorite band "The Beatles."

Josh was a little confused by this, so he asked his dad, "Were they black Beatles, or the ones with the white stripes or were they brown?

I love watching Josh perform, because I can tell he loves performing. He sings loud and does all of the actions. It was a great show. I love you Josh.

The Giant Bees

Last Fall when I asked Joe if he wanted to sign up for soccer again, he said "No, I think I am done with soccer. I want to try baseball." So this spring when it was time to sign up for sports we signed him up. Tuesday was his first game of the season. He was excited to play and really liked his new uniform. At their first practice the coach had the team choose a name. They chose The Rubber Duckies, but I guess the coach did not like that name, because by Tuesday night the name had changed to The Giant Bees. (Coach is a big Giants fan.) So the Giant Bees it is. Sports are always more fun with friends. Joe's friends Max and Ethan are on his team. I took this picture right before the game. Joe was either getting his game face on, or posing for the camera. I am guessing it was the latter of the two. Can you tell who the comedian of our family is? Joe was really happy when the coach had him be the catcher for the first inning. He knew that Emily liked being catcher and he was excited he got to try it too.

He is playing Machine pitch ball this year. He didn't get a hit his first time up to bat, but he had a big smile on his face when he struck out. Joe seems to like baseball. Even when he was playing in the outfield and things were moving a little slow, he seemed to be very entertained. Although it wasn't always with the game. At one point he had a really good air guitar solo going.

I love Little League sports. They are always entertaining.

Cousins

Last week was spring break for my family in Washington, and it came just in time for Jon and Jenny to bless their new baby Violet. So starting Monday April 4th, things were very busy at our house. Monday night we went to Jon's for a final four party. (none of our brackets were even in play by then.) Then Tuesday everyone came to dinner at our house. The kids were really excited to see their cousins. The first couple of days the weather was pretty nice so the kids were able to play outside. But Wednesday a storm blew in, And after that this was the chosen activity when we were home. Good thing Grandma had a lot of fun things planned for us to do instead.

Valerie and the babies

Meet Violet, TJ, and Ben. The three newest members of the family. Valerie was so happy to have so many babies to take care of. She took turns holding each baby, and was very interested in what they were doing.

She was really happy when all three of them were on the floor. She tried to keep them all happy by giving them their pacifiers and even a few kisses.

Valerie was very happy to have Baby Ben stay with us all week. She was always trying to help Aunt Ellen take care of him. At one point she even tried to trade Ellen her baby doll for Baby Ben. The other thing Valerie liked about having baby Ben around, was the toys he brought with him. When she wasn't busy checking out Ben, she was in his toys.

It is fun to see her interact with the babies. Thanks Ellen for letting her "help" you with yours.

Temple Sqaure

On Wednesday we headed down town to visit Temple Square. (Emily and Joe were not on Spring break and had to go to school so they missed this outing.)

We started out across the street at the Church History Museum. On Tuesday we went to the BYU Museum of Art to see the Carl Bloch Exhibit. while the kids seemed to like it, it was a lot of being really good. So when we told them we were going to another museum we got a couple of moans from the peanut gallery.

But once we got there I think they had lots of fun. This is a great museum for kids. There are so many fun things to see, and they have a great "Book of Mormon" Play area. After the Museum we went over to Temple square and took the kids into the visitors center. I forget that we have such fun places to visit so close. We usually go to Temple Square in December, but I never think to take the kids at other times. It is a lot nicer to go on a warmer less crowded day.

The Twins

During this visit Valerie and Sam became really good friends. by the end of the trip I was calling them the twins. Like Valerie Sam also has a great talent for climbing, and he also likes to be in the kitchen when there might be food. So we often found them together helping Grandma in the Kitchen. Most of the time they were helping make bigger messes. But they were having fun together. Unfortunately for Grandma, they also liked to help Grandma eat her food, even after they had a plate of their own dinner. Grandma didn't seem to mind.

Dino Museum

Friday all of my kids were able to join us to go to the Dinosaur Museum. This was the perfect place to go on a rainy/snowy day.

The girls seemed to like it too. I think the kids favorite part was the water and sand play area. The kids all tried to build dams to stop the water.

Last month Joe had spent the night at this museum for a friends birthday party. So he was a good little tour guide through the first part of the museum. He was really excited to get to show us where he slept. Before we went he had told me that he slept by the Utah Raptor, but he didn't tell me that he also slept right underneath the brontosaurus.

One of my kids favorite exhibits is the big shark head. And lets not forget these big guys.

The Ice Dragons

Because of all of the snow storms we have been having, softball season has been a little slow getting started. The clinic has already been rescheduled twice and one game was cancelled due to the fact that the fields were covered in snow. But Tuesday the weather was nice and by Wednesday the fields were playable. So Emily got to play. Her team is light blue this season, so they are calling themselves "The Ice Dragons."

Emily has graduated from the beginner league and is now old enough to play by all of the rules. So this season is going to be a lot more work, and a lot more fun. No more coach pitches. Three strikes, your out!

Emily loves softball and was sooooo ready to play. She was excited to be the first up to bat. I would have been too nervous, but Emily did great and got her first hit of the season.

She also got the first run for her team.

Catcher is Emily's favorite position. She was really happy when the coach put her there to start the game. She does a really good job at it too. I think her coach was pleasantly surprised when she threw the ball all the way to second base.

The other position that she played was second base. Where she picked up a ball and threw it to first to get an out.

My family was in town this week, so Grandma and Grandpa, and a couple of the cousins came to watch the game. The cold wind was blowing in the next snow storm. So it was really cold and by the end of the first inning most of the fan club had moved to the car to watch and keep warm. Emily didn't mind. She was happy to have them there, and they gave her their blankets so she could keep warm in the dugout.

Hopefully the rest of the season is a little warmer, but I am excited to watch Emily play. She loves it, and I love watching her.

Josh's Soccer Plan

Wednesday was Josh's first Soccer practice. Each boy was told to bring his own ball, and for the practice the coach played games with the boys that involved kicking the ball to the goal. Josh's favorite game was "red light, Green light" They kicked the ball on green light and stopped on red. When practice was over Josh was happy and excited for his first game. On the drive home he talked about the practice and his team. Then he realized that while practice was fun something was missing.

So he asked. "Will the coach tell us the plan next time?"

I asked. "What Plan."

Josh said, "The plan for winning the game!" That's my Josh, always planning.

Today was his first game. Knowing how Pre-k soccer works, every boy for himself, I decided that I better make a plan with Josh. So while I was helping him get his uniform on I told him that the plan for the game today was to kick the ball as much as he could, and try to get it in the goal. Josh seemed satisfied with that plan and was ready to play.

Josh did great. He stayed with the ball and got a few kicks in here and there. As usual with this age group the boys were often found in a big mass kicking each other while trying to get the ball.

Josh loves an audience so he was happy to have his fan club there.

He didn't seem to mind the assistant coach who kept following him around to give him his ball.

Grandpa took on the Job of keeping the Assistant off of the field.

After watching his brother and sister for years, Josh is so excited to finally be playing sports and getting to be part of a team. He had so much fun today, that he is already talking about signing up for soccer again next season.