Family Fun Day!

We had kind of a rough start to the summer at our house. Just as school was ending the stomach flu began. At the rate that it was going I was not sure if we would recover in time for Family Fun Day, but by Thursday everyone was on the mend.

So after a week of staying inside we were really ready for some outside fun to kick off summer.

Family Fun Day is an event our Stake puts on every June.

There are all kinds of treats to eat.

A rock wall to climb.

A dunk tank....Joe was the only one of my kids brave enough to get in it.

Face Painting.

Building and launching paper rockets.

Bounce houses........This was Valerie's favorite part (along with the treats) She stayed in them for the first hour and a half.

And last but not least

The Water Slides

This is where the boys spent most of their time.

What a great way to kick off the summer!

Valerie The Big Girl - No More Diapers

Valerie is my child who can't wait to grow up. She wants to be just like the big kids. From the moment Valerie could move around and play on her own, she has wanted to run around with her brothers. She loves them and wants to do the things they are doing. Last November she took this love and admiration to a new level by dressing in some of their clothes.

By January when I told the boys to go get pajamas on, Valerie would run in and put some of her brothers pajamas on too.

And she loves to wear their underwear.

Sometimes she puts it on over her diaper, and sometimes she decides to take her diaper off and just wear the underwear. At first when this would happen, I would put the diaper right back on and she would usually keep it on. At least until it got a little wet. After a couple of months of that she started just taking the diaper back off. So I told her that if she didn't want to wear a diaper she had to use the potty. Valerie does not like diapers and will take hers off every chance she gets.

I got the potty seat out of storage, washed it, and then showed Valerie how it worked. She sat on it for a few minutes and then happily went on her way with a diaper on. I left the seat in the bathroom, but we did not do much with it. The other kids had not potty trained until they were three, (I tried earlier with the first two) and not without a struggle. So I did not see any reason to push it.

Valerie did not show much interest in the actual potty, but the diaper-less escapades in her brother's boxers became more and more frequent. As time passed I realized that when Valerie did this she was not having accidents, and when she felt like she needed it she would ask for a diaper. I also noticed that I was finding the diapers she removed to put on the underwear in the bathroom. So I began to think that maybe potty training would be possible.

But I also new it would mean staying home for at least a week, and our schedule had just gotten REALLY busy with sports. For the next two months there was not one day where we would just be home. So I put the idea to the side and thought I would come back to it later.

In April we stopped by the library one night after Emily's game to pick up a few books. I let the kids each go look for a book too. Valerie and I walked through the kids section and I noticed the "Potty Book" display. Valerie and I picked out a few to take home and read together.

After we read the books, Valerie started being a little more interested in actually sitting on the potty. When she asked I would set her on it. Sometimes we would play pat-a-cake or read a book. Valerie never did more than just sit and play. When she was done playing, she would get off. I did not mind because I was not ready to really train her.

A little over a month passed and as far as I noticed nothing had changed. I did not expect it to, because I had done nothing to change it.

On Sunday I found Valerie in the bathroom two times taking off her dirty diaper. This was not too unusual, because Valerie hates having a dirty diaper on. Sometimes she takes her diaper off the minute she is done wetting it. So I helped her get a fresh diaper on and went about the day.

Then about noon we were sitting in the front room. Valerie stood up took her diaper off said "potty" and ran down the hall. I ran right behind her. She sat on the potty and used it.

When she was finished instead of heading for a new diaper, she walked into her brother's room pulled out a pair of Joe's underwear and put it on.

She wore it and kept it dry the entire day!

So the next day I took her to the store and we picked out some Big Girl pants for Valerie. She was really happy with the ones she found. (I was worried she would still like the boys better.) She came home and put on every pair all at once. We are staying home this week to really get it down, but Valerie is doing great.

Potty training is one of my least favorite stages as a mother. I am so happy that Valerie took it upon herself to figure it out. Way to go Valerie!

You are such a big girl!

But don't grow up too fast. I love getting cuddles and loves from you and I am not ready to give those up yet.

6th Grade Graduate

It is hard to believe that Emily is finished with 6th grade. She finished off the year with her Country fair.

She chose to do her report on France, because that is where Ryan served his mission. She has been working on her France report all year, and she did a great job. Lucky for her Aunt Tracy visited France during the year and shared her pictures with Emily. Emily liked doing this report and I could not believe all of the things she learned and remembered about her France.

Then to celebrate the completion of 6th grade and Elementary school, the PTA threw a 6th grade party.

The rule was student attending had to bring a parent with them so that meant I got to go too. the party was basically a dinner and a dance. It was fun to watch Emily with her friends.

I got some fun videos of them dancing, but Emily does not want them posted. So out of respect for her I wont, but they are really cute.

The kids all had a good time and they are all ready to move on to Jr. high..........So ready or not here they come!

Emily the Actress

Emily had so much fun in "Up With Kids" last year that she wanted to do it again this year.

Her friends Lindsey and Tiana also signed up. Every Friday they worked hard learning their songs and parts, and they had lots of fun together.

About January they get to let the teacher know which parts they are interested in. Most of the parts are about the same size. Everyone gets a speaking line and they all sing and dance in the scenes, but there are a few larger parts. I told Emily that she should go for one of those parts, but she did not want to . She told me that she likes to be in the plays, but she does not like to stand out.

Emily was given the part of The 6 of Hearts. She was very happy. As you can see from the photo she was one of the lucky cards in the croquet game, but she blended in nicely. Just the way Emily wanted to.

May 14th was the day of the big show. This years play was titled "Alice in Wonderland"

The play was cute, and I could tell Emily loved doing it.

Emily has also been busy at school preparing to perform a shortened version of "Midsummer Nights Dream"

They got to try out for the parts they wanted, and again Emily wanted something simple that did not make her stick out to much. So she was Very happy to be Fairy #3.

She looked really cute in her fairy outfit, and did a great job on her part.

When the kids in the class were not on stage they had them sitting on chairs on the side, so I could see Emily the entire time. I am so glad I could, because the thing I loved the most about this play was watching Emily when she was not on stage. She sat with a big smile on her face, laughing, watching, and enjoying the play as her friends performed. I could see that she did not care about her part, but just being a part of something fun and good.

The Karate Boys

The Karate Boys have done it again...............................

They worked very hard and passed their belt tests. Joe is now a low orange belt, and Ryan is a Green belt.

About a month before the test Sensei told Joe he did not think he would be able to test, because he did not seem focused and ready enough to do it. Joe showed Sensei how much he wanted his new belt, by working really hard the next month. I was really impressed with how hard he worked to get to test.

Ryan was also not too sure about this test. He has trained into the harder levels now, and he was not sure he had his technique down well enough to do this next test.

But they both did a great Job and I am really proud of them.

Joe is really excited about his new belt, and he was happy to get to show it off at the 1st Grade Talent show. I was a little worried when I saw how the stage was set up, but Joe did great at improvising his Kata to go up and down the different levels.

He was not sure about doing this in front of his class. I thought he did a great job, and his friends seemed to like it.

1st Grade Zoo Day

When Joe brought home the permission slip for his class field trip to Hogle Zoo he was really excited. He told me all about it, handed me the permission slip and then walked off. The next morning I handed Joe the permission slip and happily told him that I marked that he would bring home lunch and that I would come too.

I thought first graders wanted their moms to come to school things, so I was a little surprised and sad when Joe's reaction was an unhappy "Ohhhh, Why!"

He reluctantly took the slip back to school.

A few days before the field trip Joe came home and happily handed me a note about the field trip. Joe showed me the list of kids I had assigned to my group and told me that because I was the mom coming he gets to be the group leader. So that made it a really good thing that I was coming.

My group was Joe, Charlie, and Max. My friend Angela had two boys in her group ,Cooper, and Gibson so we decided to go around together.

The weather forecast for the day of the field trip had been saying rain all week. So I picked up some rain ponchos at the dollar store for our group. I am really glad I did because, it made it really easy to keep track of the boys, and it rained the entire time we were there. The kids didn't seem to mind the rain though.

We started out at the tigers. They were eating when we got to them and the boys thought that was great.

I loved the new baby elephant.

There was a special dinosaur exhibit going on at the zoo. All over the zoo were animated dinosaur statues.

They had this one for the kids to climb on for a picture. If you look at the dinosaurs mouth you will see that Joe is not the only joker in the class.

These two dinosaurs were their favorites, because they sprayed water. The boys loved this.


The original plan was to go to a park after the zoo and have a picnic lunch, but because of the rain we just headed back to the school.

But the kids still got a little bit of a special lunch, because they got to eat it in the classroom.

I am glad I got to go on the field trip. It was a little cold and wet, but I loved being with Joe and his friends. I hope he was glad I came too.

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.