April's Random Stuff

April 10

Connor lost his first tooth!  He was super excited when it started wiggling like a month before, and it finally popped out without any blood.  He lost the one next to it a few days later.

Connor quote:

I was helping Connor with his kindergarten homework. His math question was "Show how 8 kids could share 12 sandwiches equally." He drew 12 sandwiches and he said that each kid can have 1 sandwich. I asked how he would cut the remaining 4 sandwiches and he said..."Um, I would just put them in the garbage.  Then we don't have to cut them."

I came around the corner one day to see this.  He cracks me up.  (He was doing some concentration yoga thing on the Wii Fit.)

 

Friday, April 12

This was Jacob's year for a friend birthday party and we had it a couple of weeks late.  All he wanted was to invite his two closest friends over for pizza, video games, and a movie.  So after judo they all came here for dinner and then they played Minecraft together on the Kindles.  Landon still idolizes Jacob and thought he was one of the big boys.  He was so sad when they shut the door to the bedroom that they let him come in to hang out with them.

It was the same thing when it was time for the movie.  The four big boys...and Landon.

Friday, April 19

Cousin Blake Medford was born!  We're so excited for Jeremy & Carrie and their new addition, and hope the best for their family right now.

Wednesday, April 24

Savannah started Activity Days at church on April 10.  It is every other week and she loves going and hanging out with the other girls.  Her leaders are awesome!  This particular night they had a "tea party" and learned all about good manners.

 

Savannah & Connor build these "forts" all over the house lately.  I don't mind as long as they let Landon it too, otherwise it turns into one huge fight.

Saturday, April 27

Dallin's grandma, Lorraine Strong, passed away in Alpine, UT.  We are happy that she is no longer in pain and reunited with Grandpa Strong.  We'll miss you Grandma!

I spent the entire month of April totally spring cleaning and reorganizing my entire house.  I have wanted to do this for years, and I finally had the determination to get it done.  I did every closet, drawer, and cupboard, and it felt great.  We finally have like things all together, instead of in 4 different closets (for the most part).  My main achievement was to get the garage organized in a better way.  We have 7 bikes, 5 scooters, camping stuff, ice chests, auto stuff, roller skates, etc., and we park both cars in our garage.  I put up shelves, another bike hanger, and various hooks for the scooters, helmets, and ladder.  I LOVE it!  I love that the kids can put away their own bikes and scooters because it's not a puzzle to fit it in somewhere.  And we don't have helmets rolling all over the place.  Our pool noodles and camping chairs slide in right behind the crate shelves.  

I was pretty excited about these crate shelves that you build that I found at a yard sale.  I also have stacks of 4 cubes each in 3 of the bedrooms as well and with those in the garage together I got them for $3 total.  They are by far one of my favorite yard sale finds ever.

 

Connor's Kinder Field Trip

Friday, April 19

Connor's kindergarten field trip was to the Elgin Christmas Tree farm.  They'd been learning about plants at school and got to go and learn all about planting trees.  Connor liked the animals that they have there, especially the baby chicks.

 They played some fun games as a class.

 It was FREEZING cold that morning.  It had been pretty warm all week and the sun was shining with no clouds, so I dressed Connor in just a hoodie jacket, figuring it would warm up by the time we got to the farm.  But the wind was so strong and freezing cold for the whole morning.  I never knew what cold was in Arizona, because we did not have the biting, cold wind like we have here in Texas.  I pretty much spent the entire morning with my arms wrapped around Connor so he wouldn't turn purple.

 

 Connor's favorite part of the day were the duck races.  They have water pumps that the kids pump like crazy to make rubber ducks race on PVC pipe tracks.  He loved watching it and cheering his friends on as much as doing it himself.

Youth Carnival

Saturday, April 13

The youth in our stake (for church) did a big carnival for special needs kids.  The only problem was that it was the same day as a huge Special Olympics event, so they didn't get a very good turnout.  I saw an email from a friend telling everyone to bring their kids for the end of the carnival.  We grabbed a couple of friends and I took Connor & Savannah for an hour and we had a great time!  The youth did a great job and were really good with the kids.  They had a TON of different games and activities too.  We're so happy we got to go!

 

 

 

 Connor was all over the place, so I didn't get many pictures of him.  But he absolutely loved the snake he got on his face.  He was so sad to have to wash it off that night for church the next day.

 

Happy Birthday Savannah!

Sunday, April 7

Savannah's birthday was the day after she got back from her water park trip.  It was also Sunday, and General Conference.  She'd had a pretty busy weekend already, so it was nice to just chill at home, watch conference, and celebrate as a family.

Savannah's doll "Elizabeth" that M gave her

 Opening presents from Grandma LeSueur always requires scissors

 Savannah LOVES this monster art tub.  She got a drawing book as well and it all fits great.  

 Just Dance Disney for the Wii has become one of our favorite things lately as well.  

All the kids love to join in.

 Savannah was super excited to open this nail polish kit from Grandpa LeSueur.  We've already used it some, but I'm sure we'll make great use of it this summer.

 Watching our prophet speak during General Conference

 

 Happy Birthday Savannah!  We love you!

Great Wolf Lodge

Friday, April 5

Savannah & her best friend M have birthdays 5 days apart, so they usually get to celebrate them together in some way.  M's family does something special for their kids' 8th birthdays.  Their family goes to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine, TX, and the birthday kid gets to invite a friend.  M invited Savannah and they had a blast.  Great Wolf Lodge is a huge indoor water park that is in the middle of a family-friendly hotel.  They went to school for a couple of hours on Friday and then drove up to Dallas.  After checking in they spent the whole afternoon and evening swimming and going on the water slides. 

 

I was really proud of Savannah because she just learned to swim well without floaties during the last week of summer last year.  She didn't really swim in the water at the beach, so this was her first time really swimming again.  Erin said she did great!

 

At night they had a big pajama story time for the kids.

 

 

 On M's birthday the girls exchanged gifts, and M gave Savannah the Toys'R'Us version of an American Girl doll.  Savannah has never been into dolls, but ever since M got one Savannah has loved playing it with her.  They are thrilled to be able to play together now, and it's fun for me to actually see Savannah with a doll after all these years.  These dolls are more like "tween" dolls with cute outfits and accessories.

 Savannah had such a fun time and we're grateful to good friends for giving her such a good experience!