The Story of Emma

We have had a great ending to the school year.  We've got one week left and I don't know if my homework-hating heart will make it.

Emma had her final band concert for the year.  I tried to get a picture of her, but all I could see was the top of her pretty little head.



Emma's band teacher encouraged the class to listen to a song and try to play it.  One of Emma's favorite songs (thanks to her Mema) is "You Are My Sunshine."  Emma played it by ear for her teacher and her teacher found the sheet music for Emma to play as a solo at the concert.

I recorded it, but Millie was acting up.  You can hear her fussing, me telling her to be quiet and then there's a section of video where I'm trying to take the fussy child off my hip and set her on the ground.  This really makes trying to create a nice video difficult, especially when you're just holding the camera in your hand.

But enjoy the music.

Emma also made her own trifold highlighting her poetry.  She asked me to take a picture of it and post it because she did it all by herself.  With no help from me.  She's very proud of herself.

APRIL

by Emma

April is blooming rainbow,

The color of everything. It’s all colors.

It sounds like birds chirping to wake the sun.

It smells like fresh grass, rain drops, and sweet flowers.

April tastes like fruit. Spring fruit.

April feels like sun on your face after winter’s darkness.

Pictures and Stories

Extra!  Extra!  Read all about it!

Millie has begun to require a gate to keep her in her room after bedtime.  When the gate doesn't go up, Millie begins to wander.  The other morning I found her here on the bottom three stairs.  She actually looked kind of comfortable.




Emma was one of two 4th graders invited to play in the 5th Grade Honor Band.  They did a great job and she'll be playing her clarinet again next year.  Meanwhile, Abby heard the band play and was so impressed that she's decided to play the flute next year.




Millie will often hand me the camera and say, "Cheese!"  Then she'll pose with some random object and expect me to Ansel Adams her.  Do you think this photo will be worth $20,000 someday?




The other day Josh brought me home some flowers just because.  He's a good man.



Friday night we got to watch my sister graduate from college.  She's planning to attend NAU's extended campus classes to continue her education.  She's been working hard.



We went to Wildlife Worlds Zoo this weekend.  The exhibits are very open and give you a close, intimate feeling to the animals.  When you're this close to a rhino, it's no wonder you feel a bit close to them.



Nearly everyone got to go up and visit the giraffes.  Here is my dad on the left, my sister Tara on the right, and Millie on the rails.  Abby said she fed the giraffe and she touched its tongue.  She said, "It was slimy!"



Emma had a science fair a while ago.  This photo was on my phone and I just downloaded it.  She did a great job.




After Emma's band concert last week we stopped by Baskin Robbins.  It happened to be Tuesday night so scoops were a dollar.  Millie needed some help getting the last of her ice cream out of her dish.




Abby's choir got to sing for the school board a couple of times this year.  She's sitting in the back row with the white bow in her hair.  This is another older picture from my phone.  She had a lot of fun in choir this year and plans to do it again next year.

 Matt didn't make it in any of these pictures.  Not sure how that happened.  So, here's a funny story.

The other night I told Matt to use the bathroom before getting into bed.  I asked him what was taking so long and he said, "Mom, the machine isn't working."  I guess he didn't have to go after all.

Dual Holiday

Today is Mothers Day.  It's also our 12th anniversary.

This is the first time we've had this double celebration.  The first time it would've happened had been a leap year. 

I thought I'd do something special for Josh since it's our Dozen Anniversary.  He and Matt were gone Friday night at the father/son campout so the girls and I set up an elaborate activity for him to come home to.

I borrowed my brother-in-law's gps for geocaching and located six of the geocaches in our neighborhood.  We then left a note in each cache for Josh to find. 

The notes contained dates that I consider "perfect" days in my life.  Dates like: December 19, 1998, the day we met; February 14, 1999, our first date; etc.  Each note also had the coordinates for the next cache site. 

In the end, Josh was led back home where he found his new grill (one side with propane, the other for charcoal) and the final note with pictures of our children saying I look forward to an eternity of perfect days with him.  I think I was allowed to be cheesy at the end since I was such a genius for the rest of it.

It really was fun to do and plan. 

And because Josh got such an incredible grill for our anniversary, I got a wonderful gourmet dinner tonight for Mothers Day.




A happy man and his new grill


That's right.  I went through all those hours of planning, strategies, and searching for tiny pill bottles hidden in the rockscape of our neighborhood so I could get a nice bbq chicken tonight.

Josh grilling corn on the cob

And it was worth it.

Happy anniversary to my best friend.  And Happy Mothers Day to all of the moms I know and love.

Spirit Week

Last week was the real spirit week at school for the kids.  We didn't look quite so out of place on the way to the bus stop this time.

Monday was

Book Character Day

We had Harry Potter

A grumpy Hermione Granger (Abby purposely was trying to be an overly serious Hermione)

And Jim Hawkins from Treasure Island.  I asked Matt if he wanted to be Long John Silver and he said, "No way!  He's freaky."

Of course, Millie needed to be in the picture too. 

Tuesday was Crazy Hair Day.  I forgot to get the pictures that day.  But I can tell you that it included messy buns, french braids, lightning bolts, and hair colors (blue, black, white, pink, purple, and gold).  You would've loved to see it.

Wednesday was Career Day.  No pictures.  It was kind of our throw away day.  The kids just made something up the morning of.  Matt probably had the most thought-out costume.  "An Army guy."  I had to tell Matt that he probably can't really be an army guy because of his heart, but if he grows up to be a doctor or nurse maybe he can work in civil service and help the army guys.  He liked that idea.  Heck yes.  Let's get a doctor or another nurse in the family!

Thursday was

Rock Star Day

Pictures!

Emma went for more of a punk approach.

Abby wanted a laid-back sweatsuit rocker look.  Maybe more of a rapper?  Not quite sure.

Matt wanted to be Elvis.  He had the curl of hair on his forehead and the sideburns.  I told him to curl his lip and this is what he was able to give me.  I about fell over laughing when the kids got on the bus and Abby told the bus driver that Matt was Elvis.  Matt stepped up the stairs of the bus, paused and did this groovy point and lip curl move at the bus driver.  I should've taught him to say, "Thank you, thank you very much!"

And what rockers are complete without a groupie?



Somehow our house comes alive during dress up weeks.

Easter 2011

I'm a bit late getting my blog updated.  We've had a rough couple of weeks.

Anywhoo....

The Easter Bunny came.

He made a lovely mess that the kids happily indulged in. 

Josh's mom sent some bunny ears for the kids.  I was having troubles getting just the right shot of them.....

We had a nice Easter and even got to spend time with some of our extended family at my cousin's house.  Of course, I forgot the camera for that.  Duh.  Maybe next year.