the sprint to summer!

The last few weeks have full sprint speed and so busy. I love chasing these crazy babies and have been doing my best to keep up with them. They are each so sweet and so wonderful and have so much fire and energy.  We’ve been keeping up with the kids journals but quickly falling behind on mine. 

Spring Break was pretty quiet around here. We watched General Conference with conference cups and lots of cuddling.  As the girls get older we have more meaningful discussions about the messages shared and are hopefully getting better at it. We spent a lot of time at the park and playing with friends.  One highlight was a family field trip to Hang Time, a trampoline park and the girls absolutely loved it. And we spent a few days at Grammy’s house, shopping and playing.

Easter was fun, I coordinated the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt again.  We got a record amount of donations and had a good turn out.  Cousins came to join and the kids played great in the backyard and making up their own games. We dyed Easter eggs and did a few crafts and went to the bunny trail at Lee’s Market (they do fantastic special events with lots of giveaways and treats). And Easter morning was a ton of fun.  The girls loved their baskets with legos and new nightgowns. We attended church, took lilies to the cemetery and had a big Easter dinner.

A had a class field trip to the aquarium and had such a blast.  A friend that went as a chaperone sent me pictures of her on the ropes course, fearless and beautiful.  She told us about seeing an alligator and birds that were “flurping” and her favorite—the turtles. But no dolphins, she was sad about that. There was a submarine for the kids to explore and A led the way in a imagination game, pretending they were heading into a storm and trying to save another ship.

Husband has been very busy with his stake calling, speaking in a different ward almost every week.  It was really special to get to hear him speak and the girls loved it.

A and L came home one day hatching a plan to perform tumbling skills in a school assembly.  I told them to go ahead and sign up and we would work out a routine. The next day, a friend texted me a video of them doing it! They don’t take tumbling so it was overwhelmingly skillful but they were having so much fun.

Baby Z had his first smores.  We played at a friends house, having dinner and lounging in their hot tub. We took our fire ring over and made smores and Z couldn’t get enough!

The girls had dance pictures, which turned out adorable.  And we did the Tutu 5K this year.  I ran the 5K at 8 am with a girlfriend and then husband and Grammy brought the kids over for the 1K at 9am.  Even Husband and Z donned tutus (as required) and we had fun.  They ran the 1K and then we downed the Kneaders breakfast.

We attended the Fancy Nancy Goes Glamping Tea Party, one of the library’s special events.  Grammy and I took the girls and they loved it! We got dressed up and took pictures with Fancy Nancy (our fabulous storyteller lady) and did lots of activities.  The girls made purses, painted nails, read books, did stargazing, made a sugar scrub and of course, had a tea party lunch.  They even had a drawing and L won! She received a Fancy Nancy book. And then the stuffed animals they each brought got to stay overnight for the stuffed animal sleepover and the girls loved seeing the pictures the library posted of the animals having pizza, playing games and being silly.

We went to Grammy’s house for Mothers Day.  The girls loved playing in the Jacuzzi and could spend hours playing their imagination games in the basement.  We made lots of amazing food and tasty treats and cuddled and played all day.

L has loved going to Activity Days the last few months.  In May, they did a Mother Daughter activity, we had a tea party and she gave me an amazing hand massage and painted my nails. She’s growing so fast and it’s exciting to look forward to all the adventures we have ahead of us.

The girls are looking forward to summer drama camp this year and got to go to auditions. L sang and accompanied herself on the piano to “On My Way Back”. Then L accompanied A on the piano while she sang from Moana. And then E sang “You Are My Sunshine”. They did great and then recited their given lines with lots of personality. The cast list posted a few days later and L has been cast as a lead! She’s playing Charly in The Most Epic Birthday Party Ever.  E was cast as Pim and they are writing in a character for A.

We had a long and wonderful weekend for spring dance recitals. The girls did great at rehearsal, especially enjoying getting to run around and play with friends while waiting. Then on Saturday, all three girls danced in the Aladdin show.  A was a peacock with adorable feathers and a beaming smile. A was a pink genie with her long legs and precise extensions. And L preformed as a star and as a finale dancer, I was so impressed with her grace and fluidity.  We went to Park City Pizza for dinner and then L preformed in the evening show with Pack, doing their competition numbers.

The girls also performed at the Spring Piano recital.  E played “Dreams Come True”, she played perfectly with even tempo and poise and was so sweet. A played “Jackson Blues”, fumbling just a bit and recovering it well. L played “On My Way Back”, accompanying her teacher, demonstrating the impressive ability to accompany a singer as well as played a Jackson Blues duet with another student. After the recital, we lingered and had lots of treats and played with friends.

L attended auditions for next year’s dance team.  She has been so burned out and exhausted lately that she didn’t want to go. To the point of tears. Of course, it only took two minutes of being with her friends to get caught up in it and then once she was dancing, she was loving it all over again.  But knowing how burned out she is, I’ve worried about it. She really wanted to advance into company next year, I was hesitant for her to increase her schedule and commitment though, preferring she stay on Pack another year. In the end, she danced for three days of auditions and during callbacks, was called in more times than most of the girls which makes me think they really had to debate on her placement. Next year, she will be dancing with Pack! …Truthfully, she was disappointed.  I watched her face as she read the list. A moment later she lit up though when she saw her best friend is staying on Pack with her. The two of them are begging to do a duet next year and we had told them yes, if they were on Pack. If they moved to company, they would need to wait. The girls they danced with this past year split up across four different groups for next year and I’ve really struggled wondering if my reluctance kept her from advancing. I’m worried shes going to be upset or feel inferior when she sees many of her friends dancing on more advanced teams. She is so talented.  I even think more talented than some of the girls that did advance.  Her lyrical and ballet is amazing.  And she loves doing jazz, but the sass doesn’t come as natural to her. I think being on Pack again, getting to be one of the older girls, perhaps more experienced and being a leader will be really good for her. And I’m really grateful we won’t be increasing her schedule just yet. She wants to add a tumbling class and we wouldn’t have been able to with the additional company classes.  And then when she auditions next year, we will embrace what comes then.  The girls often skip a level or do a level two years depending on the size of teams so who knows.

A earned a karate test again and was able to demonstrate her skills and understanding, earning her purple belt! Her teacher complimented her to me, saying she’s come a long way with her control and discipline—what we hoped for the most with doing karate. We’re so proud of her. She’s very talented and good at everything she tries so it’s been a challenge to find something she really loves and wants to excel in. Lately, her life revolves around her friends and playdates. I worry sometimes the importance she puts on their opinions and are trying to fit in playdates when we can with our busy schedule in hopes we can encourage relationships with friends that are good role models. We are definitely looking forward to more flexibility this summer and lots more playtime.

And E graduated from preschool! It was a busy night with our family scattered everywhere. So it was just her and I and Z.  We got ready together, she picked out her favorite church dress (her new blue one from Papa) and she got to pick out dressy clothes for me too. We attended her adorable ceremony and videoed the whole thing for Daddy to see later. My friend teaches at the preschool and stayed to sit with me and celebrate after. Her class sang songs and each got a speaking line (“our future looks bright thanks to parents like you!”, said with lots of flair and excitement and a dramatic pointing to the audience). As their names her announced, they got to speak again into the mic and she declared “when I grow up I want to be a panda trainer!” This little girl is my ray of sunshine.  She is happy and bright, eager to love and hug and make me happy.  When the girls are together she can be needy and feisty, fighting for attention, but most of the time, she is so delightful and I love my time with her. She is sweet and perceptive and always the first me compliments and encouragement. And brutal honesty.

With kindergarten graduation, karate test and dance audition callbacks all in one night, we needed to celebrate. We went to dinner, spontaneously choosing a new place in town so we could have a nice evening out.  It was awful. Tiny rooms meant for quiet, intimate dinners, and an expensive, pretentious menu had me nervous but we decided to go for it.  And then the food was awful. But the girls were good sports, we laughed it off and went home for dessert.

Then the next night we each invited a friend over for a movie and pizza and dessert and had a great night to play at home.

And in the back of all this somewhere… I started a business. I meant to write a whole post about it, but it took off at light speed and I’m barely keeping up. So once upon a time I started decorating cakes here and there, just for fun, for my nieces and nephews.  Sometimes they turned out great, sometimes not quite like I hoped but always getting better.  I’ve taken classes occasionally and then took a series of classes my with my mom and sisters, just for fun.  But it was such a blast and I remembered how much I love doing it. And a few people have asked if I would do cakes for them. And I realized I could do cakes in trade for a family photographer and such. So I did a few, registered for a license, posted a bunch of pictures online and things took off! I’ve been doing 3-5 cakes a week.  It’s been a fun challenge, it always takes more time than I anticipate and I struggle to find the right price points to make it worth it, but I’m enjoying it! This weekend I had kept open to run Ragnar and then dropped from the race (undertrained, have been sick and such) so it was a much needed weekend off from cake decorating. Next week I’ll dive back in for more fun, crazy challenges.

L had a school walking field trip, they went to the intermediate school to go swimming and had lunch at the park. And A’s class did a walking field trip to the local grocery store.  She begged me to join them so we met them at the store, exploring the bakery, the popcorn counter, the meat department and store freezers.

Memorial Day Week was pretty rough. We had planned to go camping with my family but couldn't get the schedule to line up right.  Then the flu landed on our house was vengeance and I'm glad we were home to deal with it. We were so, so sick. Everyone.  a lot.  By Monday, most of us were rallying so we joined husbands family for rounds at the cemetery.  But by that evening the flu claimed round two on most of us, it was thankfully brief but awful and exhausting. 

For the last week of school the girls had lots of fun parties at school.  L got to participate in the 3^rd grade talent show and was picked as one of her class top two to perform in the school assembly.  She danced to Moana and we got to go see it. And they loved field day! They play lots of water games and the fire trucks come to the school to spray them.

For the last day of school we took last day pictures and wore new outfits to celebrate. After school (half day) we took a picnic to Daddy’s office and ate on the grass outside. Then we joined the neighborhood water party at the park! There were TONS of kids there playing water kickball and we rigged the playground with lots of sprinklers and water toys. Z was particularly charming and sweet, wearing his adorable hat and downing popsicles as fast as he could! A’s heart got broken right away when she was declared “out” on her first turn at kickball and not understanding the game, was convinced they were kicking her out of the game.  Poor girl. But she found other friends to play with on the playground and perked up. L was attending a birthday party so she came late and jumped into the kickball game. E flitted around playing with lots of different friends and eager to share at the water table.

And then last night we drove into the mountains for a campfire. The girls did a little fishing and we grilled dinner and made smores.

And now onto summer! The schedule is filling fast with camps and adventures and I’m looking forward to more play time with my sweet kiddos!