May--Megan

May is always a crazy busy month, and this year that has held true. So I thought it'd be better to post about May in separate posts for each kid. One of Megan's pet peeves is being last. She even gets mad about being the last kid born in our family. Sorry, girl. There's no changing that one.

But she can be the first to post about for May.

Since her birthday is in the summer, Megan got to have a birthday spotlight in preschool at school before the end of the year. We read one of her favorite books, Dragons Love Tacos, then shared some powdered donuts.

All year long Megan has enjoyed being able to go play on the kindergarten playground when we would drop the kids off for school every Tuesday. Usually the kids ride the bus in the morning, but Rachel has been in Math Club this year, which began at the same time the bus was picking them up, so I had to take them those days. Megan especially loved the swings.

 Megan has been going to a Spanish Preschool Club since January. She has enjoyed learning numbers, colors, and some phrases.

 To wrap up the year they had a fiesta where they same some songs they had learned. It was super cute.

They also got to break open the piñata they had decorated when they were learning their colors.

 Thursday Megan got to have her preschool graduation. They signed a song in ASL, then got their diplomas.

 And of course the dessert was the best part for everyone.

 Megan has will miss some of her friends, Mikaela and Kensie, especially, but is actually pretty excited that school is over so her siblings won't be going off to school without her for a while. Two days a week for 3 hours just wasn't enough when everyone else got to go every day for hours and hours.

Piano recital

Rachel and Annie have been taking piano from Sister Bauer for about a year. They had a piano recital a few weeks ago and did great.


 
Unfortunately I just took a picture of Annie's first song, when I thought I was taking a video, but she did great on that one, too.
These girls are so good about practicing most days without needing a reminder. They've gotten in a groove where they practice every morning before school and it is so much better than trying to get it done after school when they would rather just relax (but actually need to do their homework and chores). Annie actually will often practice in the afternoons, too, especially songs she particularly likes.

Family reunions-of a sort

My Grandpa Jolley died on April 15. We were very grateful that we were able to see him once more in March. And thankful that he was finally free of his body that had become such an encumberance to him, and able to be reunited with my Grandma Jolley. What a grand reunion that was, I'm sure. Since we had just been up there the month before, our whole family did not travel to the funeral, but I did fly up and it was great to see so many of my cousins and family that I don't see often.

There were tables set up with things Grandpa Jolley loved. Prune juice, black licorice, rootbeer floats, his life jacket from boating and fishing...

His saxophone, pictures of him and Grandma, some awards he's received as a dairy farmer, his hat.

His casket had this awesome picture of a John Deer embroidered on there. That's what he would have loved to have been riding on these last few years.

We went down to Idaho Falls for the burial.

Afterwards we headed over to my cousin Becky's house for food and visiting. I stayed there overnight and enjoyed a more time visiting with cousins and laughing far too late, then woke up early to catch my flight home.

The following Saturday we headed up to Gilbert for my cousin, Greg's, son's wedding.

It was hot outside. The kids may have cooled off a little in the water from the fountain there on the temple grounds while they waited for the wedding to be done. Megan was super bummed that she didn't see the wedding. Still every time she sees pictures from the wedding she starts crying, "I wanted to see them get married!"

George was great at entertaining Ryan and Megan while we waited for the newlyweds to come out.

After pictures we went out to dinner with Von and Patty and all the rest of their family (except Greg and Chelsea's family who were helping get ready for the reception). It was fun to visit with them for a while and get a mini family reunion in before heading back to Tucson.

In other news, Rachel found my glasses. She wishes she had glasses of her own.

April

After getting home from our trip we had a day to recover, then we were back at school for 4 days. I got to accompany Ryan's class on a field trip to the zoo.

The kids had Friday off because it was Good Friday. I don't remember what we did at all. Maybe I shouldn't wait two months to blog... :)

Saturday was General Conference. We were happy to be able to participate in the Solemn Assembly where President Nelson was sustained. We kept our tradition of going on a bike ride between the Saturday sessions and enjoyed a bike ride out at the Julian Wash Trail. Whenever we do that I think that we really ought to get out biking more often.

Saturday night Rachel reminded us that on Easter morning we always wake up before the sun rises and go outside to watch a Bible Video about the Resurrection. I think we have done that once (maybe twice?) before, but since we always do it, we had to keep up the tradition. Sunday Morning we enjoyed our Easter morning tradition before we went downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny had left.

We enjoyed the Easter Egg Hunt, then came back together in time for Sunday morning session of conference.

What a conference it was! We enjoyed the Sunday afternoon session at Grandma and Grandpa Knight's house and it was exciting to hear the announcement about ministering replacing visiting and home teaching.

Later that week I got to go with the priests and laurels down to the Insititute for them to get a preview of what is coming their way after graduation. It was really good for all of them to see how cool Insitute is.

Megan and Ryan got to start swim lessons at Sunshine Swim School. They've been making great progress.

Megan feels much more comfortable in the water and will jump off the step and kick out to her teacher, and float on her back all by herself, and even do finning and kicking on her back all by herself.
Ryan has gotten to the point that he can swim across the pool all on his own doing big arms.

April is the month for AZ Merit testing for 3rd grade and up. To kick things off, they had an assembly honoring those who did well on their test last year. Rachel was highly proficient in both her ELA (reading/writing) and her Math tests last year, so she got a trophy. She's a good, hard worker at school and deserves great accolades.

Out of our laurel class, 5 girls are graduating. We are going to be down to just 4 girls for a couple of months.

With the end of the school year approaching, we have been squeezing in performances and sports competitions for the Young Women. A lot of the times it's fun to take the kids along to be exposed to things I wouldn't otherwise make time to take them to.

We've been to several track meets, plays, concerts, etc.

Sometimes all this craziness wears us out. Combine that with the sun rising so early that the kids think that when they wake up at 5:30 it's actually time to wake up for the day, and you end up with me trying to convince Megan to get a little more sleep down on the couch...

Annie is a performer at heart. She planned and put on a show for all of us in her room showing off her awesome dance moves.

Allergy season is here! Ryan's eyes have been itching like crazy, but when I suggested that that meant that he had allergies like Dad and Rachel, he denied it. Jacob managed to convince him that laying with a cool washcloth over his eyes would help him feel better.

It may have helped him for a little while, but this picture makes me happy always. :)

Say it, Don't Spray It

I brought this game along on our Utah/Idaho trip that I had found at either the Dollar Tree or Target that is a knock off version of Say What?! It was a hit with everyone.

 You put these mouth pieces in and try to read what is on the card while everyone else guesses what you're saying.

 It is hilarious.

Sharon was probably the best at enunciating and being understood. She and Mark (and everyone, really) were really funny to listen to.

Spring Break-Week 2

For the second week of Spring Break we embarked on an adventure. We drove up to Utah, then Idaho so we could see Lisa and Breck get married.

 We stopped more than I would have liked, which added some time onto our drive, but we survived. We stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam on the way up.

 The DVD players were what saved all our sanity. We tried to stick to the rule that they could only start a new movie when we stopped for a pit stop.

 Megan usually lasted all of 5 minutes after her movie ended before she started complaining about being hungry or sick or needing to get out of the car. Then it started snowing near Beaver. We pushed through the last several hours without stopping at all in the hopes we would get there before it started falling too heavily. We made sandwiches and let Megan (and the others) watch as much as she wanted and we made it.

Sunday was Ryan's birthday, so he got a 3rd birthday celebration, this time in Utah.

 The next day, Monday, we got in the car for more driving. We drove up to Salmon, Idaho so we could see my Grandpa Jolley who turned 92 the day before Ryan's birthday. They're almost birthday buddies.

Rachel's favorite thing to do at the ranch is climb hay bales (or straw bales).

 Ryan was excited that Nate was there and Nate was happy to take him out on the tractor with him. We also got to go feed the calves. There are tons of new babies at this time of year, and occasionally when there are twins or when the mom isn't producing enough milk, or something like that, they keep the calves in the stall instead of out in the fields and feed them formula. All the kids got to help feed them.

 Megan wasn't all too keen on the slobber, but she was happy to climb the fence and pet a calf's back while its head was busy sucking on the bottle.

My mom had flown up the Friday before (it was her Spring Break, too), so she brought Grandpa Jolley out to the ranch to drive around and to see us on Monday when we got there, then the next morning before we left for Rexburg we went into town to visit him at the nursing home where he lives.

 It was great to get to see him one more time.

On the way to Rexburg we stopped where there was snow on Gilmore pass to let the kids play in the snow.

 We had told them they'd get to see snow at some point on our trip, and this was the only place we had seen any in any quantity, so we took advantage.

 After 20 minutes or so we were all sufficiently cold and ready to call our bi-annual snow play done. We drove the rest of the way to Rexburg where we stayed with my cousin Mike and Julie. It was good to visit with them and so nice of them to let us stay there for the night.

By Tuesday evening everyone was mostly in town, and we got together with Breck's family to have a "meeting of the in-laws."

 With our loud children, and their almost-as-loud cousins, it was a good thing there was a separate area in the clubhouse where the kids could play. And good of Ashley to bring activities to try to corral them a little.
The food was a smashing success, and pretty much the only thing that kept the kids quiet for any length of time. :D

 It was good to meet Breck in person (we had only met him via video chat up until that point) and to meet his family.

 The next morning was the big shabang. It was great to be there for the wedding and we're happy to have a new uncle for the kids to beat up. :)

 Lisa had arranged for a couple sisters in her ward to watch all our kids while we were in the temple, then after we got back we managed a family photo with everyone there.

 Poor Joy was so tired. She fell asleep within about 2 minutes of finishing the photo shoot.

After the pictures we got everyone together, changed clothes, and headed over to a pizza place to enjoy a pizza buffet, unlimited fountain drinks (the kids' favorite) and good company.

 We shipped out after lunch and headed off to Provo while the newlyweds headed off on their honeymoon. We enjoyed another day and a half of cousin time, coloring eggs, an Easter egg hunt, playing in the back yard, and feeding horses and ducks, and lots of fun.

The Kansas Campbells had to head off on Friday late morning, so for the afternoon the kids enjoyed some aunt/uncle time and went to bed super sad that we were leaving in the morning. The drive home was uneventful, but still long. We were happy to return home, but happy to have been able to squeeze in so much adventure in just a week.