Mother's Day

Mother's day has become one of my favorite days of the year.  I love the homemade cards and crafts.  I love the extra hugs and kisses.  I am so grateful for a spouse that honors my role as a mother.  I am also especially grateful to have a wonderful mother.  She has always nutured us with humor, forgiveness, great spirituality, and unconditional love.  I hope that I can be a blessing to my children in a similar way.  

During the week leadig up to mother's day, Ruth spontaneously surprised me every morning with an immaculate house and this note:

May randoms

David's final school assignment was to interview a California immigrant.  Fortunately, Grandpa was in town just in time for the report.  The kids were surprised to see this beard on him, which was the result of a 3 week backpacking trip through Argentina and Chile.  He gifted the kids all kinds of water canteens (to inspire them to hike, I think).

Our city held its annual art festival.  I don't know a bigger Harry Potter fan than David.  He's invented his own Harry Potter card came and is getting ready to start the 7th novel.

Two pink tongues... I guess Emmy is making the most of her only playmate during the day.  She also loves to make the family laugh.

James is such a happy person when he has a pen and paper in hand.  It's no wonder that my tape disappears so fast!  These are two turtles.  

Dancing life

As summer approaches, things are winding up to wind down.  My home studio held its final showcase this past week.  We invited the parents to observe a class, the kids performed a few dances, and then each were awarded with a medal.  It was so joyous to watch the parents (especially dads) grinning from ear to ear the whole time.  Several of the kids are moving on to other things besides dance next year, so I am a bit sad to see my time with them come to an end.

Emmy is the only two year old in the preschool class.  The rest are 4 or 5 years old.  I did not expect her to participate in the showcase, but she gave it 100% and even insisted that I do her hair in a bun just like Ruth.  I guess she enjoys an audience!

I only had 4 girls in Ruth's class, but they were a lot of fun.  Cute Stephanie broke her arm halfway into the session, but still gave it her best!

A few days later, we hosted a mother daughter dance party.  Ruth hung homemade welome signs around the house and insisted that we decorated with ballons.  At one point in the night, we had all the mothers join in "the hokey pokey".  Before anyone could leave the dance floor, I turned on the song, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".  It was such a precious scene to watch each mother dance with her daughter.  After about an hour of dancing, the kids lined up for ice cream sundaes, decked with pink icecream, oreos, whipped cream, sprinkles, and an cherry on top!  Pretty good, eh?

A few more...

The concept of living next to a downtown is a novelty to us.  Orange County is just one huge sprawl that is too far away to be considered a suburb of LA.  Downtown Louisville is small enough to be unintimidating, yet has the nice features of a city, including restuarants, museums, cool buildings, and the hustle and bustle of a city.  After a tour of glassworks, Grandma treated us to lunch at the Spaghetti Factory.  The kids thought that it was the coolest restaurant imaginable.  

One our way home, we made a last minute stop by the river.  This surray turned out to be quite a workout, especially since James' legs are still a little too short to help with pedaling.

Neat statue of Abraham Lincoln.  Can you tell how massive it is?  I am sitting on his thumb.

Did I mention that people in Louisville eat really well?  Mom and Dad treated me to a date night at Corbett's for my birthday... the most gourmet food I've ever had.  Seven course dinner.  

Can you believe the beautiful hair on Jessica?  She gave me a training session on how to curl hair, so we are both dolled up.  Not sure I'm brave enough to try it again.  Almost singed my hair a few times.  Yikes!

Favorite things...

There are some special things about Kentucky that my kids always look forward to: playing with cousins, eating Graeter's ice cream, painting fingernails with grandma, visiting the farm, and riding on grandpa's lawn mower.   

 

James and Bryson really bonded during our stay.  Always inseparable, even during mealtime!

Cuddly Ruth cozied up on grandma's lap during general conference, which resulted in a nice nap!

As mentioned, we always enjoy Emily's farm.  She was so sweet to take us on a tour while we were there.  The kids were even issued nice rubber boots!

  

David especially loves the animals.  The best part of the farm tour was cuddling these sweet baby bunnies.  Emmy is hiding between my legs and shrieking for fear!  Did I mention that it was freezing cold at the farm?!  I am so grateful that I grabbed the children's coats the last second as we were leaving California. We got more use from our coats during our one week stay in Kentucky than we have during our entire winter.

Love this picture of Emily as she demonstrates the frustrating process of catching a cow.  The cow seems to know that she has a vaccine in her back pocket.

Kentucky!

Our annual trip to grandma and grandpa's took place during Spring Break this year.  I am so glad that we went.  Home felt like such an oasis and it was so nice to take a break from ordinary life.  The night of my arrival, we met up with Emily and Jessica for their ward's relief society birthday dinner.  Katie was there too for her kids' spring break.  How fun to celebrate sisterhood with the women of my own flesh and blood!  

The following day, we took an adventure to Abraham Lincoln's birthplace in Hodgenville.  We also stopped over at the location of his childhood home nearby in Knob Creek.  What an incredible man he was.  I am touched by this quote regarding his mother: "I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life."

Birthday!

I turned 33 years old on March 28.  Luckily for me, some sweet friends from the ward joined me for breakfast that morning.  I ordered a "sunny side" egg, not realizing that it is basically a raw egg.  My tummy was in protest the rest of the day!  :)  Anyway, I am grateful for the people that come in and out of my life.  What a blessing to have wonderful women to step in when my own sisters and mother live so far away.  

Joseph gave me a homemade German Chocolate cake for my birthday.  I had been looking forward to it all year, and it did not disappoint!