Gallery Night and Frog & Toad #4

We went to Gallery Night at the elementary school to see the kids' artwork.  It was also the same night as Connor's kindergarten musical.  Grandma LeSueur was so happy that these things just happened to be going on during her visit and it was fun for the kids to have her there.  Zach's word art is up at the top in red.

 Savannah made an arctic scene with a polar bear.

 Connor's abstract art is at the very top of the picture directly above him.

 This was our 4th round of Frog and Toad.  Every year the kindergarten does this musical, so Connor has seen it before and also watches it on our home videos.  He was so excited to finally perform it himself.  He had a small speaking part that he was very proud of.

 In between each song many of the kids would talk or move all around.  Connor just smiled sweetly and didn't move because that's what the music teacher told them to do.

 Connor is well-loved at the school by many teachers of all different grades.  His smile is hard to resist.  This is the principal, Ms. Hildebrand, and the assistant principal, Mr. Fleming, with Connor after his performance.

Savannah's Baptism

On Saturday, May 4, 2013 Savannah was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  In our church children are baptized at the age of 8, when they have the ability to choose between right and wrong.  We are so proud of Savannah for her decision to be baptized.

We were so grateful that my mom could be here to celebrate this special day with Savannah.  Grandpa LeSueur was not able to come because of work and Grandma & Grandpa Strong were at the funeral of Savannah's great-grandma, which was the same day.  I know Dallin would have loved to attend his grandma's funeral and we were sad to miss that as well.

Savannah was so excited to share this day with her best friend.  They have been talking about it for years, so it was neat to finally have their special day here.  Savannah was baptized first and stood off to the side of the baptismal font to watch Morgan be baptized.  Savannah's friend April Bingham was also baptized as well.

Savannah's dress was very special to both of us.  A friend of mine in Tucson surprised me and made it out of my wedding dress.  I had given my dress to her for a business she had, because it had a small tear in it.  A few years ago (actually, the week I found out that Landon was a boy) I received a mysterious package in the mail from her and it was a baptism dress she had made for Savannah.  It meant so much to me that my only daughter wore my blessing dress and then my wedding dress for her baptism.

Mom & daugher besties

Savannah was baptized and confirmed by Dallin.  The confirmation is a special blessing given right after the baptism.  The other men who stood in the confirmation circle were Jeremy Benoit, Jeremy Bingham, Garrett Oleen, and James Negri.

Savannah has been blessed with wonderful teachers at school, and we were so thankful to her teacher Mrs. Bond for taking time out of her weekend to come and support Savannah.  Julie Bond is one of Savannah's favorite people right now and she was so happy to have her there.  Mrs. Bond also gave her a beautiful photo album to put all of her baptism pictures in, which I'm sure she will always treasure.

Melissa & James Negri also came to support Savannah.  They are family friends and Sister Negri was Savannah's primary teacher for quite a while.  She made Savannah a hand-stiched bookmark with her name on it.  Sister Emily Lucas also attended, who is the primary president in our ward right now.

After the baptism we changed clothes and went to lunch at the Benoits'.  The kids had fun hanging out and jumping on the trampoline.

This cracks me up, but Landon will totally let Savannah carry him around, especially when he is tired.  I think she only weighs a few pounds more than he does.  I can remember carrying my brother around like this too though.

The boys LOVED having Dallin jump on the trampoline with them.

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!