Kinder Promotion

School is out for the summer in two days, but today was a big day for Gavin!!!  It was the kindergarten promotion ceremony at school.  Brooklyn and Blake didn't have anything like this at the school they attended for kindergarten so this was something new for us.  I do have to admit, it was just about the most darling thing, watching these little munchkins in their miniature caps & gowns!!  They sang a couple songs and each child was called up to receive their "diploma" which they traded in for their real diploma when they returned their cap and gown.  I loved watching Gavin's face light up when he saw me in the audience.

(the asterisk by his name denotes Principal's Pride, straight O's, all year)

Me with my kinder graduate! (daddy couldn't be there)

Grandpa & Grandma Hamilton

Grandma Palmer

He was so cute and kept saying this was the "Best Day EVER!!"

Gavin's kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Little, was just perfect for him this year.  She's so sweet and has told me several times how much she adores Gavin.  She even calls him "Gav" when she opens the car door for him at pickup time! Gavin has asked if Mrs. Little could come to our house and if he can stay with her next year, silly goose!  We couldn't have asked for better! :)

Congratulations, Gavin, on completing kindergarten with perfect grades ALL YEAR!!!  You're such a smartie!  We know you worked really hard and can't wait to see you go on to 1st grade (all day) in the Fall!

5 months old

 Still waiting for time to slow down a bit!!!!

This is such a fun baby stage!  Hayden has really come "alive" this past month!  She's smiley, noisy, grabby, roly- poly and just plain CUTE!!!  I don't know if people are just being courteous, but we are constantly hearing what a beautiful baby she is and we couldn't agree more!!

Hayden finally figured how to roll from back to front and now, I find her halfway across the room from where I left her.  She grabs at E-V-E-R-Ything and brings it right to her mouth.  She's pretty proficient at chewing on her toes, even!

When I get out my big fat black camera, she hyperventilates and practically goes stiff trying to get at it! haha  She has discovered that I put headbands on her and grabs the flower or bow and pulls the whole thing right down over her eyes, chews the heck out of it, or wears it around her neck.  Silly girl!

Still having blowouts.  As soon as we finish up this package of size 2s, we're moving up to 3s in hopes that thst will prevent me from having to completely rip apart and clean her whole carseat every week.  I won't post  anymore gross poopsplosion pictures, although I DO have them.

Her bottom gums are bulging!  Those baby toofers should be popping through any day now!!

Hayden has become a very nosy nurser.  If the kids walk by or there is some sort of noise across the room, she cranes her neck while still attached (ouch!) to see what is going on.  I can't nurse her in the car because she wants to look everywhere and when I try to use the nursing cover, she bats at it as I'm trying not to flash everyone.

A favorite spot where you can often find Hayden 

One night when Matt and I were laying in bed, I just said outloud, "I needed Hayden."  He agreed.  And I'm so glad she's ours!

Mother's Day

Friday, all mothers were invited to Gavin's kindergarten class where they gave us Mommy Makeovers including blush, eyeshadow, lipstick, fingernail polish(!!!) and lotion.  Gavin went easy on me, thank goodness!  Some of the mommies weren't so lucky, haha.  He gave me a little book that they had written and colored in and a magnet photo of themselves, on mismatched day no less!  They served us muffins, fruit and lemonade.  Gavin was so sweet and I loved every second of it!

I love all the cute homemade cards that come from the kids.  The boys woke me from a dreaming slumber  this morning, surprising me with breakfast in bed, which I promptly brought back downstairs so I could eat with my family. ;)

Matt drove me down to the Verizon store yesterday to buy my Mother's Day gift, a shiny new iPhone since my Droid had pretty much bitten the dust.

For my Mother's Day flowers, I got some pretty marigolds added to the vincas in the flowerbed out front!

I wrote something along these lines in the card I gave my mom for Mother's Day --- The longer I am a mother, the more new experiences and stages I encounter with my kids, the more I appreciate my mom and all she did for us growing up.

As a child, even until the time you leave your parents' home, you don't realize how MUCH mothers do for their children and to keep the household running.  Aside from the teaching and nurturing that goes on, there's the endless cleaning, cooking, laundry, running errands, homework, shuttling kids to extracurricular activities, all while maintaining sanity.  I am grateful for the opportunity I've been given to be a mother to five beautiful children, even though it is the hardest job I've ever had.  Most days, I climb into bed feeling pretty inadequate and I'm just praying that I'm doing a good enough job.

❤❤❤❤❤

School Spring Carnival

Tonight was the kids' Spring school carnival.  I really enjoy watching the kids interact with their school friends outside of the school setting!  For about the first 45 minutes, we were all there as a family.  They had all sorts of fun things to do!  

Gavin got the chance to dunk his teacher in the dunk tank!

Brooklyn, Blake and Gavin all tried climbing up the rock wall.

This is about the time that Matt left to go to a guys night out so I was on my own with all 5 kiddos.  I kinda stood in the middle of the field and kept my watching back and forth as the kids each did different things.  Gavin and Preston would have stayed in this bounce house all night!

Brooklyn goes down the giant slide 

 Blake stuck on the velcro wall (right)

Brooklyn and Blake each took a turn doing the bungee run

Cooling off with sno cones!!!

The Rural/Metro fire department was there so on our way out, we stopped to let the kids explore the fire truck.  Preston was thrilled to be in the driver seat!!!

Four CrAzY cute kiddos!!

Yard, Karate, Current Obsessions

This is a conglomerate posting of little random things I've missed blogging about.

Back a few months ago, I mentioned to Matt that for my 30th birthday, I wanted our front yard done.  Such an old lady thing to say, right?  I have enough "stuff."  I'm trying to get RID of "stuff."  What I really want is progress around the house; painting, decor, furniture, yard.  We talked to a guy in our ward who does landscape design as his profession and got the ball rolling.  The day after our anniversary, the one where I was down and out with strep, was the day our yard was put in.  I've wanted grass in the front since we moved in because it's so much more warm and inviting than rocks and scraggly desert bushes.

Before:

After:

Such a HUGE difference!!!  We still need to put flowers in the flowerbed just in front of the porch.

The same day the yard was going on, Blake participated in his second karate tournament.  I was soooooo sad to miss this!!!  I was trying to figure out a way to go but I was just miserable so I sent Matt and Blake off without me.  Last year, he only competed in one event, open handed kata, but this year, he added a weapons kata and sparring.  Blake got 2nd place (out of two kids, minor details) in the weapons kata and was thrilled to get a trophy!!!  He took 4th place in open handed kata and got matched with a Goliath in sparring and was out the first round.

The boys are OBSESSED with Skylanders, a Wii game that they got for Christmas.  At first, I couldn't find any of the additional characters in stores at all.  Apparently they were a hot holiday item!  I kept searching high and low and after several months, we've managed to amass a pretty good collection of these gremlin looking guys.  Blake insists that we MUST have EVERY character and somehow, I've given in.  I have a small problem where sometimes I have to have every piece to something and so I guess it has become an obsession for me!  There are a total of 32 characters and I think we're only missing two that are extremely rare to find.  I don't even want to admit how much $$ I've dropped on these stupid little creatures.

And another GOOD obsession for Blake has been reading.  I can't slow him down and we have to MAKE him put books down so we can eat or get ready for school.  I  like to tease him by saying, "Stop reading, Blake, or you're going to be in time out!!" ;)  He finishes books so quickly and is always asking if I have another one for him.  I pulled out the first book of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series to take with us to the cabin over spring break, and since then (one month ago), he's finished  7 books.  And these aren't piddy little books.  They are between 300-500 pages!!!  He has loved reading these Percy Jackson books and is frequently spouting off info about Greek gods and their Roman counterparts.  I think Harry Potter is up next on the list for him to read.  I love it!