Piano

Abby had her 2nd piano recital a couple of weeks ago. She did really well. Piano has been a little bit of a sore subject at our house as far as practicing goes. There are some days that go over really well and other days that I have to put my foot down and make sure it gets done no matter what. Tears and all. I have high hopes that now that school is out she won't be as tired and grumpy about it........

Here she is waiting for her turn. She requested a side ponytail and loved it.


Abby had two songs to do and she enjoyed playing them.




She did a cute little curtsy afterwards and I tried to get a picture of it but it turned out blurry - boo! Anyway, great job Abby!!

Carnival!

Abby and Brooklyn have been waiting all year for this past weekend. It is "the" weekend. Lamar Days. Where we get to have fun all day long. We generally start the day out by going to a pancake breakfast (we skipped it this year), swinging by for the parade where we get loaded up on crap candy, and then head on over to the carnival which parks itself right across the street from our house.

So here we are just a ways down from the carnival where they were giving FREE pony rides. That's right. Thank goodness for something free on carnival day otherwise poor little Jace may just have had no fun at all! We got the girls all day bracelets but I just couldn't get myself to get one for Jace too. There were only two rides that he could have gone on and while I'm sure he would have loved it I just didn't want to the hassle. I would have had to go with him on both rides and they were making the adults pay to go with the kids (can you say rip-off?) and Darren was at a golf tournament so I was alone and you get the idea. Anyway, lucky for me Jace was just as happy watching everything that was happening around him as he was about any rides. (Until I broke down and bought him a few tickets to go on the carousel and then that's all he wanted to do - which I knew would happen so I waited until later in the afternoon. Smart move!)

Here are Abby and Brooklyn headed for their first time ever on the Pirate Ship. They were so excited and hadn't actually paid enough attention to it before getting on.



Like I said - exciting.

And fun.

Until the first really big swoop.

And then it was more like panic mode.

And relief at finally being done.

It was really funny watching it in person. The swore they were never getting back on that ride again. But surprisingly they both did. Abby ended up loving it and going again and again. But Brooklyn went just one more time to be "brave" and called it quits. She spent more time on the huge slide and the fire truck that went up and down slowly.

The girls had a blast as usual and Jace was a lot better than I thought he might be. I envisioned three children all crazy with excitement running in three different ways and me just standing there wondering who to chase first. Luckily, he was able to stay in his stroller for a lot of the time and just watch. Goodbye Lamar Days! We'll see you next year!

Mother's Day

In lieu of Mother's Day I decided that we needed to take a Mother's Day picture! Here I am with all my children. If you're wondering what Abby is doing she's gotten a hold of my necklace for some strange reason and I'm trying to get her to let go of it quickly before Darren takes the picture - he took the picture anyway.

But this is the best one we got (Darren is not one for trying for more than a couple....) and so here it is!

We celebrated by having all the women (me, my mom, and my grandma) cook a fantastic dinner - roast beef, mashed potatoes, strawberry salad, poppyseed salad, jello, rolls, cinnamon rolls. Delicious! And maybe some day the men will be in charge of it:)

These are the cinnamon rolls that I made and I couldn't resist taking a picture of them. Just to remind me. (And for lack of anything better to add.) They really are good. So good that I can't make them often. It isn't good for the system. Trust Me. I Know.

Happy Mother's Day!

Easter

Happy Easter! We made it to our annual Easter Egg Hunt at the park. The day, as usual on Easter Egg Hunt Day, was freezing but surprisingly not windy. Jace was in one age group and the girls were in another so I was unable to get "action" shots. So here they are after the big race (which took like 30 seconds!).

I wasn't sure how Jace would do and he wasn't sure of exactly what to do for most of the race. But he started running with me about halfway through and by the end he was picking up eggs with both hands! And then it was over!

I didn't get to even see the girls in their hunt but from what Darren said they did fine. Brooklyn didn't have a very deep basket and half way through looked down to see a very empty basket. She had been dumping them as she swung her arms to run really fast! She was shocked!

Here we are on Easter Sunday. This was taken after church and no one was really in the mood for pictures ( by that I really mean Darren - who is never in the mood for any picture taking. No matter what the occasion).

Shortly thereafter Brooklyn picked up on "someone's" sour mood. Brooklyn obviously didn't want to smile at this point (which was the 2nd picture we took.....) but since we were self-timing it we didn't notice until after the fact.

Now she's very upset that I would be showing the world her grumpy face:)

After we bribed Brooklyn with her Easter candy she was willing to try a few more shots with her sister. They wanted to show off their Easter dresses that Grandma Dena had bought for them.

We ended up eating Easter dinner with some friends. We generally eat with all my family but my mom was out of town helping my Grandma Hyde and my Grandma Lu wasn't feeling well, and my dad was happy to just watch Fox News so we altered tradition a little bit. All in all we had a great Easter and feel very blessed to know of our Saviour's atoning sacrifice for us.