primary talent show, the last soccer game, memorial day, and preschool graduation

Last weekend we had our Primary Talent Show. Tyler did some "scooter tricks" and played "Pop Goes the Weasel" on the piano. I had a video of his piano, but it's too large to post here. Blast. I need a video camera.

Tyler had his last game last Saturday. It was our family's turn to help ref. so Dallin reffed the 1st half of the game.

Tyler & his participation medal.

After the game the team, coaches and parents went out for pizza.

But I'm wondering, why can I never get a "normal" smile from this kid? Maybe he's just grown up with a camera in his face too much.

For memorial day we had a bbq at some friends' home, and then played at the park behind their house. It was a lot of fun, and we actually had beautiful weather!

The park we played at had this slide. It was steep and very slick. Tyler loved it!

Adeline climbed the ladder by herself, but then wouldn't go down the slide. She hung like this forever, it seemed like, until we finally convinced her to let go. She did not like the slide -- at all!

Dallin decided to have a go. Anyone else thinking of a certain Tommy Boy scene right now?

What?!?! I was hungry!

Okay, really it was called their "Moving On Ceremony" because not all the kids are "graduating" from preschool.

I learned one of the disadvantages of having a child who is one of the taller kids in class -- I can never get a good picture of him! There was ALWAYS another kid in the way!

just your typical Sunday

Earlier this week I saw the Primary pianist at the grocery store, and she let me know that she would be out of town today. That was not a problem because I was not conducting or doing Sharing Time today so I could play the piano today -- and just for the record, the other people in the ward who can play the piano are, the R.S. Pres., the R.S. 1st Counselor, the YW Pres., and the YW 2nd Counselor.

This morning my 1st Counselor called and said she had had an allergic reaction and her eyes were swollen shut. She would not be there today. She was supposed to teach Sharing Time. She had everything prepared, fortunately, and she sent all of her lesson material with her husband. So, since I knew my 2nd Counselor would be completely uncomfortable winging it, I decided I would teach Sharing Time.

About 10 minutes before Sacrament Mtg. I was told that the Stk. Pres. would be visiting during the 2nd hour block today to do temple recommend interviews. When your Stake is 1 hour away, this is a big deal. Well, I still needed a Bishopric interview, and so talked to the 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric and told him I needed to meet with someone for my interview and that if I got someone else to play the piano during 2nd hour I would have 20 minutes at the beginning of the block to do both interviews. He told me that was possible.

Right after this conversation someone asked me if I knew who was playing for Sister Dillon today -- she is the ward organist, the R.S. 1st Counselor and wife of our Bishop -- both of whom were out of town today. I said I wasn't sure, but I had heard Sister Steele -- the YW Pres. & choir director -- practicing some hymns on the piano earlier (she doesn't play the organ, but plays the piano during the meeting) and so I said I thought maybe she was going to do it. Sister Steele was nowhere to be found so I asked her husband if he knew if she was playing. He said she wasn't. I then asked him if he could mention to her that I needed her to play during Primary 2nd hour. So then it was left to me to play the organ. I looked at the songs we were to sing today, and asked if it would be okay if I played them on the piano instead. I was not familiar with them on the organ enough to not butcher them to pieces. So I played the piano today for Sacrament Mtg. And Dallin had to help bless the Sacrament today as well -- he does this just about every week -- so our children were farmed out for the 1st 1/2 hour of the meeting.

After Sacrament Mtg. I had to make sure all the kids got to their classes. My Sunbeam teacher had let me know she was going to be out of town today, which wasn't a problem because her 1 Sunbeam was not there as well because his older sister had H.S. graduation today. However, my 5 & 6 yr old teacher was not there -- unexpectedly, so I put them with the 7 & 8 year olds, which turned out to be okay because only one of the 2 kids in that class was there today. So, we had 4 out of 9 active children in Jr. Primary today. Once I got that settled, I headed down to the Bishop's office, and Dallin met me 1/2 way and told me that they were letting me go first, and so everyone was waiting for me.

I passed my interview (phew!) with the Bishopric member and then waited a couple minutes for the Stake Pres. to get back from an assignment he had had. During our interview he sat and chatted with me for awhile, which I was okay with because I had just met the man. He also allowed me to keep my old recommend, which was totally awesome because Dad happened to be the Bishopric member who interviewed me for my last recommend. So his signature is on it. I thought that was cool. It will definitely be kept in a safe place.

After meeting with the Stake President I went into the Primary room, and singing time was running over -- completely okay by me -- and I ended up having only about 5 minutes for Sharing Time. I think we should have 5 minute Sharing Times more often. ;-)

After sending Jr. Primary to their class, we got ready for Sr. Primary. There were 7 of our 10 active kids in Sr. Primary -- 6 boys and 1 girl (she's the only girl in Sr. Primary). We have 2 boys who can be very defiant, and both of them were there today. Singing Time and Sharing Time went very well -- minus the 2 trouble makers.

The rest of Primary went well, and we had our ward 4th Sunday potluck after church -- yum! After getting home I crashed on the couch and had a much needed nap.

One of the things I have learned in this ward is to expect the unexpected, and how to just roll with the punches and not stress out so easily when things are thrown in my face!

just for fun

Just some fun pictures from the last week.

more yard pictures

Here's a shot of our yard now without the trees or the bushes. I transplanted all my hostas from the south side of the house to the north side, split a few of them, bought & planted a few shasta daisy plants, and a couple larger hostas. It looks barren now, but I'm hoping if I did everything correctly, it should fill out more next spring. Never mind the garden gnome in the foreground.

One of my larger hostas. I can't wait till these babies grow-up!

We have greenage! We are finally getting some grass growing in the space where the trees used to be.

more soccer

petting zoo

I went with Tyler's preschool to their last field trip of the year -- the local petting zoo. I don't remember what some of these animals are, but they were cool anyway.

While we waited for the bus to pick us up the kids played some parachute games. Am I bias to think my son is just as handsome as can be?

update

Not a whole lot has been going on around here. Just the normal everyday. Tyler has his last soccer game this weekend. It's been very interesting to watch him develop as a player in just 6 short weeks. He has definitely gotten more confident on the field. We've already had a couple talks about sportsmanship. He played a team a couple weeks ago that was very aggressive -- pushing and shoving and tripping Tyler's team. On the way home Tyler told me that he tripped a couple of kids on the other team because they tripped him. A short discussion on sportsmanship followed. I'm not sure how much of that he heeded. Yesterday I signed Tyler up for swim lessons. He's excited now; we'll see how he does when he actually gets in the water. He only has 1 1/2 more weeks of preschool! I can't believe he will be in kindergarten next year! He's already starting to recognize some "sight words" and can read just about any 3 letter word you put in front of him. Our biggest challenge with him right now is the attitude he brings home with him from school. I know he behaves well in school, but I can see behavior in him at home that I know -- from observing his class -- he's learning from other kids in class. I know this is just the beginning of such things -- I just hope I'm better able to cope with it when he's older.

Adeline becomes more independent and defiant every day. As Dallin says, "She may look like me, but she acts just like you." She still has her "addie-tude" and displays it regularly. She is absolutely fearless -- although for some reason she's become afraid of the dark -- I think she has learned this fear from her brother. Last week Dallin and I were working in the yard with Addie right beside us. The next thing we know she's in the neighbor's yard on top of his 6 foot ladder -- smiles and all! She loves going to Nursery every Sunday and can now say the names of all her friends -- and calls to them loudly during Sacrament meeting. The whole ward thinks it's adorable. I just want to hide under the pew. She is also finally growing out of 18 month clothes -- well her shirts anyway. She still fits 18 month pants length wise.

Dallin is almost finished with school for the year. He has signed a contract, but the school is doing some changes next year, so he's still unsure what subject or grade he will teach next year. He's been helping out a lot around the house & especially in the yard with things that I'm not able to do right now.

I'm doing as well as can be expected when you're pregnant. I'm always tired, and now that it's warming up I'm always hot, too. I just hold down the fort and if the house is not completely trashed at the end of the day, I consider it a success. Primary is going well, although difficult at times. It has definitely been a learning experience -- and I'm grateful that I'm learning how to do this calling with a small Primary -- despite all the challenges that presents -- instead of a large overwhelming Primary.

I went to the Dr. yesterday for another appointment. It looks as though our c-section date is going to change to the 18th of June instead of the 23rd. Turns out my Dr. is going out of town the afternoon of the 18th, and because they are getting a new partner in the practice for some reason this means he can't do it on the 23rd anymore. The 18th is the earliest he can do it without compromising the health of the baby. I will know for sure at my next appointment on the 1st.

had an ultrasound, and we are having...

A BABY!!!

We had another ultrasound yesterday. This one was because at my last appointment I measured "too small." The dr. thought it was possibly because the baby has turned and is now head down. But because I'm having a c-section, he wanted to make sure everything was okay.

Turns out the baby is head down now -- which *I* could have told him as there are more kicks in my ribs now, and we were able to get a picture of the baby's face. While we were watching the baby's face on the monitor it kept putting its arm up to its mouth and sucking on it. It was very awesome! But I kept thinking, "Oh, no. Another thumb sucker." :( Perhaps this one will take to a plug better than the other 2. And we are definitely having either a boy or a girl.

"almost to a hundred"

Tyler: Mom, how old are you?

Mom: Right now I'm 29, but I will be 30 this year.

Tyler: You're going to be 30?!?! Addie, Mom's going to be 30!

A couple minutes of silence...

Tyler: Mom, you're almost to a hundred!