For one of the Activity Day Girls activities, they had a mother/daughter night where we played "Minute to Win it" Games. It was silly and a lot of fun. There were 4 games actually. The first one involved ping pong balls in a tissue box tied around your waist. You had to jump, wiggle, shake your hips, booty, whole body to get all the balls out of the tissue box. It was funny. Luckily, I got out of that one. I only took videos of my kids doing it, not pictures, so this is another group doing it.
The next game was stacking 5 wooden blocks on a paper plate on top of your head. Then you had to balance the blocks on your head for 5 or 10 seconds. (Can't remember which.) It was tricky and required some concentration.
This next game was so ridiculously silly that we were all laughing as we did it and as we watched others do it. You put a pair of nylons on your head with a tennis ball in one of the "feet". Then you had to swing it to knock over 6 water bottles. The first couple were fairly easy to knock down, but if you were left with one standing, then it became really hard. My friend Suki took a video of me doing it, but I couldn't get it to load. Paige, Lydia and I did it at the same time, so I don't have pictures of us.
The girls went and invited the Bishopric to do it also. That was pretty funny.
The last activity, was a compliment station. The girls lined up on one side and the moms/leaders lined up across from the girls. Each girl would give a compliment to the mom and then the mom would give a compliment to the girl. Then the moms would move down to the next girl in the line until everyone complimented everyone. It was a cute thing to do. They ended the night with ice cream sundaes. It was a fun night and I know my girls had a lot of fun. Thanks activity girl leaders!
Noah just discovered our bouncy horse and loves to ride on it.
Maggie had her piano festival on May 4th (the same day as Bella's birthday party.) She was really nervous to play in front of the judge and didn't want to be there at all! She was scheduled to be the first person to play and unfortunately let her nerves get to her. She choked a little on her first song and was pretty upset by it. She did really well on her second song though, but was pretty embarrassed by her first performance and so she didn't really bow after she was done. After all the performances were over, the judge talked to all the kids as a group and offered really good advice about being confident in your playing. And even if you don't feel confident, at least pretend to and try to look it. Most of this, it felt, was addressed to Maggie, and rightly so because all the other kids showed confidence in their playing and it seemed that they enjoyed playing. I think Maggie enjoys playing, but hates to practice and is a little sick of piano. I don't want her to quit because I know she has a great skill, she plays those 2 songs perfectly at home, she just got nervous there. I totally remember how much I hated playing in front of people. That was actually the reason I quit. I really regret that now and know if I just practiced playing in front of people more, then I would have conquered that fear and gotten better. Back to the Judge's comments though, I feel that after addressing the confidence issue with Maggie, I think that she should have praised Maggie for her second song because she played it beautifully with more feeling and confidence, but she didn't say anything else to Maggie, just moved onto the other kids. Maggie was pretty upset for most of the day and it was a hard lesson for her. Hopefully she'll take the good advice and keep practicing and working on her confidence.
I signed Bella up for swimming lessons for her first time and she is really loving it.
Of course, Paige and Lydia wanted to sign up too, so I found times that were all right there together. Unfortunately it's right during dinner time, so it's been a challenge to get dinner ready and eaten before we leave at 6. We usually eat around 7. Eating after lessons meant that we wouldn't eat until 8:00 and that was pretty late. It still feels like we are at the pool for hours though. Bella is first, then Paige follows her and then Lydia's starts 10 minutes after Paige's. It's been so long since the older 2 have had lessons that I couldn't exactly remember what level they were on. I was right on with Paige, but they bumped Lydia up one level, so I think she's level 4 now. She's loving it though. They all are!
Lydia learning to dive.
On May 11th, we went and traded in our old camping trailer for a new one. We've been trying to sell our old one for years, but haven't had any luck. So, Garrett decided to try trading it in and felt pretty good about the deal they made. Really, we're only paying about $20 more a month for a brand new trailer. So, we're all happy.
This is in the back bunk area for the kids, which has a slide, so makes it even bigger for the kids to play. Paige sleeps on the top bunk and the bottom couch folds out into a bed and that's where Noah and Bella sleep. Then on the opposite side is another bunk where Lydia sleeps.
(I just went out and took these pictures. They weren't taken the day we picked up the trailer.)
Lydia's bunk. I love that there are drawers for their clothes now! Before, the kids just kept their little suitcases at the foot of their beds.
This is a view from the back showing the 2 doors. One goes straight into the bathroom which we love!
This is the master bedroom
This is looking from the master through the kitchen and down towards the bunks.
living area
looking toward the master bedroom from the bunks.
Picture of the new trailer taken on day we picked it up
Old trailer left in parking lot.
It was such a good trailer. It was sad to leave it behind--we've had it for 7 years and it was a great trailer. But we are excited about the new one and the extra storage and fun things in it!
This was on Mother's day. Jim and Georgia came over after church for a BBQ. She and I opened our gifts and cards after dinner.
I was treated like royalty all day long--it was really nice to be taken care of like that. I had all my meals made for me, got to have a nap and was given lots of gifts and hugs. The only thing that I didn't get was a picture of me and my kids. I forgot about it until the next day. Oh well.
Paige made this sign for us.
Jim and Georgia gave me these beautiful flowers.
These are all of my cards and gifts from this year. I was really spoiled! Thank you Garrett and kids!
Lydia has a big fear of riding bikes. She told us that it's because she watched one of our neighbor friends fall off her bike years ago and bust open her chin. I guess it was pretty traumatic for Lydia (she only told us this recently.) But, Garrett and I really want her to get over that fear because we know that she will love to ride bikes. Garrett and I really enjoy riding bikes, but we don't do it very often because not all of our kids can ride. So, Garrett bought her this brand new bike in the hopes that she will learn to ride. We haven't practiced much yet, but hopefully this summer we'll get her and Paige riding bikes. Maybe even Bella will want to do it too!
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