While we were away...Bella turned 6!...and other things

April 25th

Garrett and I left for the airport (for our cruise) right after the kids left for school on Friday morning.  Poor mom was thinking that we left on Saturday, but that was when our actual cruise left.  She was completely fine though.  Before I blog about our trip, I thought I'd just blog a little bit about what the kids did while we were gone.  It wasn't anything too exciting...but I did want to throw in Bella's birthday. 

Lydia had a field trip to Salem to see the Capitol building.  Here are some of her pictures that she took:

This is looking down on the grass from the roof.  Not sure if they were on the roof of the capitol--and if they were, I have no idea why.  

April 26th

 doing crafts with grandma

She always brings such fun things to do and really tries to think of different things that the 2 older girls would want to do.  She brought stuff for Lydia to make a scrapbbook since she loves to take pictures with her camera.  And she got all sorts of supplies for Maggie to make a quote book.  She even took the time to find quotes and type them up for her.  It was awesome!  She is such a great grandma!

That night, Maggie went to a Dance Festival Conference for all the youth-- and was able to watch all the other stakes perform their dances.  She said it was a lot of fun!

April 30th

At school, Paige was the Star Student in her class for April.  Luckily for some reason, Lydia had her camera with her at school and was able to get a picture of her.  I'll have to get the write-up of what her teacher, Mrs. Rooke, wrote about her.  

This isn't her teacher, I think she's an aide or something.  I'm not sure where her teacher was.  

I left instructions with Maggie to have her help decorate the house and Bella's doorway the night before Bella's birthday.  I forgot to have her wrap up some of the presents that I had for Bella. Oops! Mom had brought one with her, but then she felt bad that Bella didn't have any more, so she went out and bought 2 more for her.  

 She bought a tablecloth and this cute cake and they had their own little celebration!  She made Bella swedish pancakes for her birthday dinner.  :)

 Opening presents:  she got some necklaces, 

 I guess on this day the temperature was up in the high 80's and my kids were out riding bikes and running around in long sleeved shirts, sweat pants and snowboots/Uggs.  That's why Noah looks so sweaty.

 She also got this cute dress and shirt, 

 and some of her very own Lego friends!  She loves these!

 in her new cute dress

 The cake

Singing happy birthday to my sweet 6 year old.  Thanks mom for taking care of her!

The kids didn't take anymore pictures during the week, but I think they all had a good time.  I know they told me that they had a couple of movie nights and watched Frozen and Tangled and had popcorn and M&M's.  That's mom's special treat.  

We got back really late on Saturday night--like 1 am and of course everyone was asleep.  We just hung out on Sunday and looked at pictures and swapped stories.  Then on Monday night (the 5th) we took mom out for dinner and had Jim and Georgia come too because they wanted to talk to mom again.  We went out to Chevy's.

 Garrett snapped these pictures at the restaurant and I didn't even know it. 

Mom left the next day and unfortunately we didn't get a picture together and we didn't go out and do anything fun.  I really appreciate her coming out and taking such good care of my kids so that Garrett and I could get away.  My dad was going to come to, but the timing didn't work out.  He is starting to build his barn that he's been dreaming about for years and all of his supplies were being delivered that week.  Bummer.  Oh well, we'll get to see them in the summer. 

Here is Bella's Birthday Questionnaire:

6 years old

1.  What is your favorite color?  yellow

2.  What is your favorite toy?  baby dolls

3.  What is your favorite fruit?  strawberries and watermelon

4.  What is your favorite TV show?  Sophia the First (Disney Jr.)

5.  What is your favorite movie?  Frozen

6.  What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  mac & cheese (she also likes honey and banana sandwiches--weird, I know)

7.  What is your favorite outfit?  cozy pants--like leggings and butterfly short sleeved shirt

8.  What is your favorite game?  marbles (Lydia and Garrett both got some recently and Garrett's been teaching the kids how to play)

9.  What is your favorite animal?  deer

10.  What is your favorite snack?  Minion shaped graham crackers (from Despicable Me)

11. What is your favorite song?  "Let it Go" from Frozen

12.  Who is your best friend?  Lauryn Squire and Ji-Su Odil

13.  What is your favorite book? Princesses and their Puppies

14.  What is your favorite cereal?  Chocolate Cheerios

15.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?  Ride my bike

16.  What is your favorite drink?  lemonade

17.  What is your favorite holiday?  Christmas

18.  What do you like to sleep with at night?  Froggy, bunny, blanky, 2 monkeys, baby dolls and glow start pillow.  You'd think she wouldn't have any room for her in her bed.  :)

19.  What's your favorite thing for dinner?  she said hot dogs, but this girl likes a lot of stuff.  And she eats a lot too.  She's one of our best eaters.  

20.  What food do I NOT like?  hamburgers

21.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  a cowgirl

22. What is something that I do well?  Color and puzzles

23.  What is something that I need to practice?  soccer

24.  My favorite place to go:  Disney World

25.  My favorite family activities:  ride bikes

26.  My favorite thing about my home:  my bedroom

27.  My favorite chore is:  making my bed

28.  My least favorite chore:  sweeping the floor

29.  A place I want to visit:  Grandma's house

30.  My favorite part of each day:  bed time

31.  Something new I'd like to learn this year is:  to swim 

Then I had her sign her name and draw a picture of herself.  

She is such a sweetheart and is so fun to have around.  I'll post about her "Frozen" birthday party after the cruise posts.

Easter and Maggie's Birthday

April 19th

The Saturday before Easter, we went out to grandma and grandpa's house.  They hid eggs for the kids to have an egg hunt.  There was a threat of rain that day, so we went over in the morning  to avoid the rain.  

 Lydia and her camera.  She films everything!  

 Noah was told there was an egg around this tree--he looked for a few good minutes before finding it on the ground next to the tree. 

 After the egg hunt

 Then we came inside and dyed our Easter eggs

 Bella has a loose tooth--grandpa was offering to help her pull it out!

The whole gang--minus grandma who was taking the picture.  

After we cleaned up the egg mess, they had BBQ'd some hot dogs and hamburgers for us--Yum!

Paige and I left right after lunch to go to a baptism for Paige's friend Brooke.  

April 20th

Easter Sunday

 The Easter Bunny came!!

 Easter pictures after church.  I spoke in Sacrament meeting on the resurrection.  

 Grandma and Grandpa surprised us by showing up at our ward so they could hear me speak.  Then they came over for Easter dinner.

 Our Easter Table

Yummy dinner.

Then we had family home evening by Garrett about Easter.  

April 23rd

We celebrated Maggie's birthday a day early because our ward was having it's annual youth fundraiser for girls camp and scout camps and it was on the 25th.  The YW were in charge of planning it and I was in charge of decorating.  We decided to offer decorating responsibilities to one of the YW to do for a personal progress project and Maggie enthusiastically volunteered.  So, we had to go decorate the stake center on the night of the 24th--her birthday.  So, on the 23rd, we all went out to her favorite place--The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner, then came home and opened presents and had cake and ice cream.  

 She HATES to be sung to!  So we made sure that she was!  :) 

 Birthday presents

 She got more arrows and a quiver to keep them in.  Plus an arm guard, so she doesn't keep getting huge welts on her arms.  And, she got a huge target to shoot at.  

 She also got some new Nike's for running

 She loves the movie Tangled, so I got her a T-shirt with the floating lantern scene.

She wanted a carrot cake for her birthday.

Here is her birthday questionnaire:

Favorite color:  Purple

Favorite dessert:  ice cream

What is your favorite thing for dinner?  Spinach Tortellini Alfredo (or Panda Express)

Do you collect anything? No

What is your favorite movie(s)? Tangled, Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain America

What is your favorite book(s)? Tiger's Curse, Throne of Glass

What is your favorite song? "Don't Ya" by Brett Eldridge

Who are your best friends? Emma Lloyd and Hailey Owens

What do you love about yourself?  My hair, eyes, nose, confidence, my sarcasm, perserverence, height, bad sense of humor, handwriting, grades, responsibility, friendliness.

What is your favorite thing about school? Learning new things, teachers, classes, friends

Who are your teachers?  from most to least favorite:  Mr. Fishback, Ms. Doan, Mr. Stinger, Ms. Bywater, Ms. Duncan, Ms. Bader

What is your favorite thing to do with your mom? shopping, cooking, talking

What is your favorite thing to do with your dad? make fun of mom, party, make lame jokes

If you had a day alone with mom and dad, what would you do? Go eat food and go to a concert

What is the best thing you have learned this year? Algebra, to eat healthier, persevere, and be healthier

What makes you most proud?  Becoming more in shape, good grades, piano "excellence", helping others, not procrastinating

What makes you happy?  reading, playing piano, hanging out with Emma, crazy family moments, food, music

What makes you laugh/smile?  Lame/cheesy jokes, being with friends, being with crazy siblings

What makes you sad?  bad grades, fights, people giving up, violence, pain (mine and others)

Where would you like to go on vacation this year?  Disney world, Europe, California, East coast, Mormon church history sites

What are some of your wishes for this year?  Get even better at running, survive freshman year, driving next year!, wear contacts (hopefully)

What do you want to be when you grow up? teacher and a mom

What is your favorite Scripture?  1 Nephi 3:7

What do you like about being in Young Women's? acquaintances with other YW, being with Emma, the leaders, Dance Festival Practice

She is such a great person with such a good head on her shoulders!  I am so proud of her and who she is becoming!!

April 24th

Here were some of her decorations for the fundraiser:

 This was one of the centerpieces that we made.  She borrowed her grandma Georgia's sundae cups for these. 

 she also borrowed a lot of the wall hangings and records from some friends of her friend that had used them in a play last year--so that was really helpful.  

 The "jukebox" belongs to someone in our ward; and then we borrowed the little coke table, red chairs and coke tray and napkin holder from grandma Georgia for a little photo op area.  

 It turned out really cute

April 25th

Night of the fundraiser

This is her and her best friend Emma.