It was WICKED!

Wicked was awesome! I was in heaven being able to see it again and the kids were so well-behaved! WOW! That's a first, right?! LOL. I sat by Rachel and she did not move the entire time. It was so fabulous! I'm glad we were able to share this with the kids and that they loved it as much as we did.

No One Mourns the Wicked...

In One Short Day I will Defy Gravity and be Popular! I so totally can not wait!!!!!!!

The kids are so excited too! We have been looking forward to this for almost a year! YAY!!!

I'll let you know how it was and post pictures of us at the show on Thursday. Stand by!!

Meghan and Rachel are taking piano lessons and about once or twice a week Mike sits down at the piano and plays their lessons to see if he can do it because he is trying to learn to play also. The funny thing is that every time anyone sits down at the piano, Miss Sidney's radar goes off and she runs over and hops up onto the stool and starts to play also.

Lately, she has been watching everyone so closely that she is now a little mimic and sits pretty still to play. I mean really, she looks like she is actually playing! So funny! So I couldn't resist taking this picture!

That stupid recorder

I have officially decided that the recorder is the worst instrument invented and the person who invented it should be shot! I am not kidding. I am so annoyed by the sound it makes. I know this feeling is largely due to my special 4th grader that plays it constantly and not always the right notes either.

So to solve this dilemma I have instituted the rule that she has to do it OUTSIDE! Since the weather has been crappy, she hasn't been able to go outside and it has been killing me. I don't want to squash her desire to practice it, so I try not to be a butthead about it, but really...I just can't handle it.

Anyway, you can imagine my delight when the weather was nice last week and she got to go outside to play. I couldn't pass up the chance to snap this picture of her playing while sitting on the tramp.

She is so adorable. I really do enjoy her even though she is 10 and hormonal and moody and all that. :]

Great Harvest bakery tour

So the kids are off track and trying to entertain them is not my forte, but one of the mom's of some other kids in our neighborhood that are also off track is a go-getter and she arranged a tour for us at Great Harvest Bakery.

We got to see the big oven that they cook the bread in.

The kids were able to gather around the big table where they knead and roll the dough into loaves to put into the pans and roll out their own little ball of dough.
Sidney had tons of fun sitting at the table and eating a slice of bread.
All the kids (and one of the moms) gathered around listening to the lady talk about baking bread and stuff.
Here is the lady (I think her name was Kristin) telling the kids about yeast. It was pretty interesting.
We had a fun time and the best part was that the kids got a free slice of bread and a coupon for a free big cookie. They thought it was pretty neat and since we haven't been to get our free cookies yet, I get asked at least 20 times a day when we are going. I guess we better go soon!!

Easter Sunday

Oh how I love Easter! What other holiday can you get away with putting your kids in matchy matchy clothes and forcing them to smile for a picture year after year. Yay Easter!!

This year I made the girls their Easter dresses. They were made clear back in February so they could wear them to their Aunt Deanna's wedding and match her colors. Because I am weird like that. Anyway. I stressed and barely got them done for that, but am so glad that I did, because with my new calling I don't even have the time to get my MENDING done, let alone sewing projects!!

This post is mainly for Grandma who couldn't see us in all our finery. Check out my skills in the sewing department! And tell me what you think, okay?

Here is Sissy in her dress and sweater. Hers is the only one that I did not make. I hate sewing things in super smallish sizes. It's too hard. So I found hers and bought it! P.S. She doesn't like posing for pictures, so she is pictured here with her cute daddy!

Next we have our little man Jonathan. He is getting so big and handsome (I can't call him "cute" anymore)! And he is the spitting image of his daddy. It's crazy!

Gorgeous Jenny. Her dress was fun to make. I liked the material and the style. She is a doll!

Rachel loves to CHEESE it up for the camera! Oh my! She is becoming quite the little lady.
Here is my almost-a-young-woman Meghan. WoW! She is so big! When did that happen?
Here is the only picture I have of all of them together where Sissy is even looking at me. Aren't they cute? Well Grandma...what do you think of this crazy bunch???

Easter egg hunt

So we did the annual Easter egg hunt that our city does. We haven't been for 4 years and decided this year would be a great year. The kids loved it. It is funny because they have one of the firemen do the siren on the firetruck at 9 am SHARP and then the kids all run for it and grab the eggs and other stuff they have laying out on the grass. They have this big park all divided up by age group so it is pretty fair. All the girls were in different spots and Mike went with Jonathan to his group and I took Sidney to her spot and then we met up afterward. Sidney was so funny. She was too interested in the siren and didn't want to pick up eggs. I was like begging her to pick them up. But then she saw it was fun and went gung ho.

The pictures are in the wrong order, but I don't have the patience to change them around. Sorry.

The top one is the kids on the firetruck after the hunt.

Here they are all holding their baskets of LOOT! Sidney is trying to reach back in hers to get more candy. She LOVES candy.

Sidney picking up eggs during the hunt. YAY!!Jonathan was one of the lucky ones that found an egg with a little coupon in it to redeem at the bowery for a giant teddy bear. He was so excited!

I've had a birthday. Shout hooray!!

Woohoo. I had another birthday. It's just not that exciting as it was when I was a kid. Mike made me an instant cheesecake cuz it's my favorite. It was yummy and I seriously ate half of it!

I have been informed....ahem....by Shannon....that my blog sucks lately because I am not updating it. Man, I know. It sucks. I am so uber busy that I can not even begin to try to do one more thing and so the blog has suffered.

My humblest apologies.

I will try to rectify the situation by posting something. Anything.

Please pretend to be interested.

Who is this cute baby? Why...it's me of course! Why am I showing this picture? Because it is my birthday and 34 years ago today I was born! Hooray me!

It was a great day getting to listen to General Conference. I so enjoy listening to the Prophet and other church leaders. I always feel so uplifted as I listen to their counsel.

Thank you to everyone that sent me wonderful birthday wishes. You are all so sweet to me!