Choir Performance

The girls have enjoyed being a part of their children's choir these past few months. Instead of a big concert like they normally have, they had a small presentation at their choir teachers house to end the semester. They did a lot of talking to tell us about some of the fun things they have done at choir. Then each of the girls got to share their favorite thing that they did at choir over the past few months. At the end they sang two different songs. The first one was this America song that they took turns playing the piano for. Ashley and Alyssa got to play together and they did really well.

I didn't get a video of them singing the song, but they did well singing, too. The second song they sang was too long to post, but it was good too. And they each had a little solo part during that song. At the end, they posed for a picture and then we had cookies.

They really love their choir teacher, as well, which is why we keep having them go back.

Piano Recital

The girls had their annual piano recital last week. They both did very well with their pieces. They each played two songs of their own and then they did a duet. Alyssa passed off level 2 this year and is 3/4 of the way through level 3. They each got a little trophy and their teacher said some very nice things about them.

They love their teacher and they both enjoy playing the piano.

Camden's Second Birthday

We celebrated Camden's 2nd Birthday yesterday. He got this special chair from Gawbie and Grandpa. I think he was a little overwhelmed with all of the fun toys and things that he got. I made both chocolate and funfetti cupcakes because we have some picky cake eaters in our family. He loves Dora the Explorer and Paw Patrol, so he had cupcake toppers from both shows. Tyler blew out his candles on the first try, so we had to light them again so that Camden could blow them out himself(Tyler blew out the candle on my treat as well when we went to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate my birthday).

After he was done with dessert, he enjoyed some time alone with his new toys while his siblings were still eating.

I found these cute pictures of Camden that Alyssa took of him. I thought I would post them now since I never have put them on our blog.

The girls love to dress their little brothers up in girl clothes. Danny usually doesn't let it go on for long when he is around.

He had is 2 year well child check up on Friday. Here are his stats:
Weight: 31.2 lbs 90%
Height: 35.5 in 78%
He is really only a few pounds less than Tyler and they almost have the same shoe size.
Some of his favorite things are jumping, chocolate milk, playing outside, carrying around little characters from his favorite shows(or really, the favorite shows of his siblings that he sits and watches with them), balls, and playing at the park. His favorite foods are probably mac and cheese and cooked carrots(and candy). He absolutely loves to sing. His favorite songs are "I am a Child of God," "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," "A, B, C's," "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and "I am Like a Star Shining Brightly."

He is a cute little boy and so much fun to have around. It is especially cute when one of the other kids is crying, he will almost always stop whatever he is doing and run up and give them a hug. We also don't know where he gets his tan skin from, but it looks awesome with his almost white hair. We love our Camden Boy.

Alyssa's Field Trip to Camp Floyd

Alyssa had a field trip last week that I was able to chaperone. The boys were allowed to come along on this one and a couple of Alyssa's friends were so happy to have them along. They especially had fun with Camden. It was nice because I hardly had to worry about him since they were giving him so much attention. This field trip was supposed to be part of their unit on the Civil War. At the beginning, there was this soldier that talked to them for about 30 minutes about the history of Camp Floyd. Then we split into groups and rotated between stations. There was the school where the kids learned what school was like back then and got to play with some of the toys they used back then. I don't think this hoop was meant for hula hooping, but since Alyssa is good at hula hooping, she gave it a try.

They got to learn about the army and how to fire a gun.

 They learned how to make adobe bricks.

 They learned how to make candles.

They also learned about the pony express and got to tour the inn and the Camp Floyd Museum. After the stations, we had lunch and then headed back to the school. I'm glad I was able to go.

Some Random Stuff

While we were at the park for a Ward Spring Party, Tyler fell from the monkey bars. We couldn't get him to stop crying and he kept saying that his tummy and back were hurting. We ended up leaving so Danny could take him to the doctor. They ended up at the ER where they put and IV in him and gave him a CT scan. Fortunately, there were no internal injuries and after a day of rest he was back to normal. It gave us all a good scare. He said the worst part about it was having the "nail" in his arm.

I built this lego tower with the boys one night while Danny and the girls were gone somewhere. When Ashley came home and saw it she insisted on leaving it standing. The boys immediately started throwing balls at it to knock it over and she did her best to defend it. On Monday morning, she wanted me to protect it while she was gone at school, which I told her wasn't going to happen. So we took a picture of her with the tower to remember it. As I suspected, Tyler immediately got to work knocking it down as soon as she was gone.

 Ashley loves this Target dog. Apparently Camden loves it too.

Tyler loves to help Daddy with yard work. I couldn't resist taking this picture when I caught him helping Danny mow the lawn.

This was just a cute picture that Danny sent me of the girls. It is a rare occasion to see them getting along well enough to be this close together and smiling. Definitely worth documenting.

The kids love to go for a ride in the back of Daddy's truck. They went out on Sunday night for a drive around the neighborhood and Danny took this picture of them.

 Ashley came home from school a couple of weeks ago with a little bag of red chalk dust. She told me that they had learned about India in class that day and were given the chalk because one of the ways they celebrate stuff in India is by throwing chalk up in the air and letting it rain all over you. I guess I already knew about this tradition since they have the Color Festival down in Spanish Fork every year and I have seen pictures of people that had gone(covered in colorful chalk). Ashley decided that it would be fun to share the experience with her brothers(including the one that walks on 4 legs). As a result, we had a surprise bath night shortly after the chalk raining fun.

Alyssa is also in the middle of soccer season with Danny as her coach. I will try to get some better pictures at her next games to post. They are having fun with it.

Tulip Festival

On the day after Easter, we took the kids to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. The weather was pretty nice that day and we had a fun evening looking at all of the beautiful flowers.

Alyssa brought 4 quarters from her own stash of money so that each of the kids could have a handful of fish food to feed the fish.

After the fish, we had a picnic dinner and then went to look at the Christ Statue Garden. We read some of the scriptures that went along with some of the Statues. Then we explored a little more on our way out of the gardens.

We stopped and got some ice cream on the way home and called it a successful Family outing. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful night for it. We were glad that we went when we did, because it got colder and rainy the following week.

Ashley's Devotional

We got to go and watch the 3rd Grade Devotional at the school a couple of weeks ago. Ashley did such a great job with all of the songs and with her spoken part. It talked about the different Christlike attributes that we should work on developing in our lives. There were a lot of stories shared of different people in history who have demonstrated the different attributes. She got to sit front and center.

Here is Ashley saying her part during the devotional.

Easter

I know this is a little late, but we had a good Easter. On Saturday of Easter weekend, we took the kids to a neighborhood egg hunt. They were only allowed to get 6 eggs each, but I think they still had fun(even though their faces in the second picture seem to tell us otherwise).

Later that afternoon, we dyed eggs. We did it while Camden was napping, so he didn't join in on the dying fun.

 

After dying eggs, that evening, we read about the Easter story from the New Testament with the kids.
On Sunday, we had Stake Conference, so Danny left before 7 for an early morning meeting. Once all of the kids were up, I let them get into their Easter baskets and then they hunted for the eggs that were inside the house(the Easter Bunny left like 200 hundred eggs, so that kept them plenty busy). Then we had breakfast(boiled eggs and some of the best cinnamon rolls I've made ever). Then they got dressed and we took a few pictures in their new Easter outfits. We didn't have time to hunt down the outside eggs before church so they did that after we got home.

We had a nice meal and another egg hunt at Gawbie and Grandpa's later that afternoon. Gawbie also read the Easter story to the kids and gave them each a little Easter prize(a picture of Christ, a pinwheel, and some candy).
Easter is such a special holiday and I am so grateful for Jesus Christ, His life, His example, and His atonement that make it possible for each of us to be forgiven for our sins and to return one day to live with our Father in Heaven and our families.