Guild 2018

Caleb participated in guild again this year where he played 10 memorized pieces and their scales in front of a judge. The judge marks C's for areas that are commendable and A's for "areas needing attention." This year, Caleb was feeling a bit overwhelmed for guild due to baseball...he played the championship game the night before guild and went to bed after 10pm due to the long game. As he practiced through everything that morning, he was making mistakes and feeling especially nervous. We were able to have a good talk and prayer together as I encouraged him to do his best and that the results didn't matter.

He performed really well on all his pieces and was able to keep his nerves under control. The judge wrote things like "young artist award," "top talent," fabulous Clementi!" etc. He earned 39 C's and no A's this year, which is an improvement from last year (36 C's and 1 A). His final piece was actually ear training where he had to be able to name all the major intervals the judge played as well as the minor 3rd and 6th intervals and identify major/minor/diminished chords. Great experience and his hard work paid off!

Spring 2018 Baseball Season

Both my older boys had a great season of baseball!

Caleb's team, the Marlins, won the family fun day tournament where they played short 30 minutes games throughout the day. We were not prepared for how COLD it would be that day--drizzly, no sun, started in the low 50s and got colder throughout the day--and I didn't send my boys off with jackets or blankets!

Matt was an assistant coach for Caleb's team.

Both Caleb and Carter made the All Star team for their ages, and the final game was yesterday so our baseball season was especially long. We are looking forward to the freedom and laziness of summer!

Caleb's All Star team as district champions!

The coach gave out a total of 4 game balls for outstanding playing, and Caleb earned 2 of those balls! He played some incredible defense in all the games--diving catches, and batted really well in the first 2 games.

Carter about to make a hit

Carter's All Star team also won the district championship for his age level! It was especially meaningful for him because his regular season team never won a game all season long, so it was nice to be part of the All Star team and win some games!

End of the School Year

We survived another year of school! Both Caleb and Carter got all As all year and all Es (excellent) on behavior. Carter also got perfect attendance for the year. At Caleb's school, one boy and girl in each class is selected for the citizenship award--all around model student, and Caleb was selected for his class.

Carter and Mrs. Shepherd, his 2nd grade homeroom teacher that Caleb happened to have as well. She taught Math, Science, and Social Studies. Carter's Language Arts teacher was Mrs. Carter. 

Caleb's teachers were Mrs. Goady (Science/Social Studies), Miss Davis (Language Arts), and Mrs. Wofford (Advanced Math). 

Another round of preschool is over too! I've enjoyed teaching Bryson the last 2 years; the kids in his class were a lot of fun! I really worked on amping up my science and music curriculum this last year, and it was neat to see their progress in all learning areas. Now I have a year break before I start up with 2 years of teaching Austin!

Mission Homecoming

We are SO excited to have my parents back from their mission! We have missed them tremendously but are grateful for the experience they had and that they were able to make an impact on the young single adults in Denmark.

They had a shocking welcome with the AC in their house going out soon after they got home as well as all the work that needed to be done to get back to living in their house after renters.

Carter's Baptism

Carter chose to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 14, 2018. 

This is the picture we used for his baptism invitations.

Such a handsome boy.

He and his friend Kate were baptized on the same day.

In trying to correct a mistake we made at Caleb's baptism, we made sure to take a lot of pictures! We should have changed up the scenery though...

Matt's dad said the opening prayer and Caleb played the opening song, "If the Savior Stood Beside Me." Kate's father gave a talk on baptism and then Jared and Ariane played a piano duet, "The Spirit of God." Matt baptized Carter and Jared and Zane stood as witnesses. Drew gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and Matt confirmed Carter a member of the church and Carter received the gift of the Holy Ghost. Jared played the closing song, "Baptism" and Kate's grandma said the closing prayer. We had some cookies and fruit for refreshments.

After the baptism, we ended up having my family over for games and pizza since Carter's baseball game was cancelled due to weather.

I hope that it was a memorable day for Carter. He is such a sweet boy. We are proud of the decision he made and hope he continues to follow the example of Jesus Christ.

Carter's 8th Birthday

Carter's and my birthday landed on Good Friday this year so he had the day off of school! Carter requested playing at the creek with friends and cousins. It was cooler weather, and the creek was higher due to hevy rain a few days earlier, but everyone still had a good time. After the creek, I took Carter to a birthday lunch at Chick Fil A. We went to a musical play that night that my friend put together and that my nieces were performing in. Then I got some girl time when some friends took me out to ice cream later that night.

We celebrated Matt's birthday on April 2nd by trying out Grimaldi's Pizza and then heading to Culver's for some ice cream sundaes. After an FHE in the car and quickly putting the kids to bed, Matt and I finished the night with some tennis.

Spring Break 2018

The highlight of our Spring Break was having a "beach" experience right by our home! We have a large creek near our neighborhood (the same creek that led to our flooding problems in September), and a friend showed us a section that has a great open sand area to play. The sand is much better than Galveston!

Carter getting buried in the sand by friends

Digging

Caleb's cave

Austin having a great time!

Wading in the creek

Bryson exploring the other side of the creek

Other happenings during Spring Break:

Monday- Austin had a wellness visit at the doctor. Austin's eyes had started having extra discharge and the pediatrician said it was either allergies or mild pink eye. He gave me prescriptions for both. The pharmacist said the prescribed eye drops could possibly cause burning and irritation. Sure enough, after I used them Austin cried that his eyes hurt the rest of the day and rubbed them incessantly. The whites of his eyes were scary red-looking in the outer corners for the next 5 days.

I took all the boys to a cool park about 20 minutes away for our outing for the day. It was miserable on my end as I dealt with a cranky Austin the entire time and couldn't find anything that would distract him from rubbing his eyes.

Matt and I played tennis that night after Austin was in bed. We've been playing with higher frequency lately, and it was one of our closer matches where Matt won in a tie breaker 7-6, 13-11.

Tuesday- Poison ball in the morning, beach in the afternoon. Carter had a baseball practice late afternoon and then I took Carter rollerblading at a skating rink with his new (early) birthday present. It was fun to have some one-on-one time with him.

Wednesday- The boys begged to go back to the beach again even though I was stressed getting ready for my pi party I was hosting that night. They helped clean up and fold laundry so that we had time to go.

My pi party was a lot of fun that night! We had a pie crust demo and I shared tips that I had researched about how to make the best flaky pie crust. Every one got to take home their own 5" pie crust, we sampled everyone's pies, and we also did a "history of pi quiz."

While I was hosting my pi party, Matt went to his parent's house to help with a fan that fell out of the ceiling. While fixing it, a metal bracket came lose and sliced his hand requiring 2 stitches!

Thursday- Poison ball in the morning and we relaxed in the afternoon. We hosted dinner and games with Jared and his family later that night.

Friday- We went to a trampoline park in the morning, had a friend over in the afternoon, and Carter had a birthday party and baseball practice in the afternoon. Matt and I also played tennis later that night again.

Throughout the week, Caleb and Carter have enjoyed watching March Madness which they are both obsessed with (Caleb more than Carter) since they filled out brackets. They both have been constantly checking their brackets on my computer to see how they are holding up compared to the rest of their cousins, aunts, and uncles.

Spring Break is always a much-needed recess from the school grind!


The week before Spring Break, Caleb participated in a wax museum, a major grade for Social Studies. He did a research project and then dressed up as a person from history. Each child was on display while parents walked around. Here is Caleb's project:

Wernher Von Braun: leader of the team that built the first V-2 missile for Hitler during WWII (not good) but later became a US citizen and was very influential in rocket development and space exploration in the U.S.