Pinewood Derby

Jack participated in his first Pinewood Derby last week!  He had been so excited about the big event and really had a great time.  Ben helped him with his car, which didn't take long, and we've kept it up on a high shelf in our closet ever since, because it was just too tempting for him to play with it and make it unusable in the TWO MONTHS between the time he received the kit and the race.

He won one of his races and ended up placing solidly in the middle of the 28 racers.  He thought the other cars were cool, and now that he's seen them and knows how the race goes, perhaps he'll put a little more effort into his car next year.

He was so excited to get his kit, after waiting in line and signing for it
at the end of the Blue and Gold Banquet in February.

Jack was so anxious to work on his car, that he finished it the day after he got the kit,
shaving off a little bit in the front and back, then painting it blue.

"Most Avant Garde" Award

A Post About My Eldest

I am so proud of Cat, who she has become and how she continues to try to improve.  She reads the scriptures on her own every day, she tries to stay organized and be responsible, and she manages to do a good job in school while maintaining a busy schedule of piano, soccer, and other activities.

On top of all of that, Cat is so helpful at home.  She babysits, cleans, cooks, gets Luke buckled in his car seat, and jumps in when it's time to do things like plant the garden, usually with a good attitude.  I really don't know what I'd do without her.  I've been told that she's just as helpful at school, even walking around looking for service projects to do for teachers and administrators while other kids are catching up on missing work, and tutoring a younger student in math most days.

Track Season Has Begun

Jack and Eliza's track season began last week and they both love it already.  The younger kids practiced running and staying in their designated lanes at the first practice and Jack and Eliza were in the same competing group, which made picture-taking easy.  Their first meet is next week.

Intensity.

Looks like Jack is checking out his competition.

Eliza has lots of ailments these days, much like Cat did at this age.  She's often wrapping or
bandaging this part of her body or that.  She'd been complaining that her foot was hurting for
several days before track practice, but she was still able to run well.  It is bothering her less now,
so maybe the problem was a lack of exercise?

Luke's Birthday

Luke's birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so we did a fun family activity on Saturday, going out to see The LEGO Batman Movie.

Luke opened presents Sunday afternoon and he loved all of his surprises.  He got several new pictures books, many of which we've own previously but the older kids had destroyed before they could get to Luke.  We also surprised him with a new-to-him bike with training wheels.  Grandparents sent fun toys, all of which he and the rest of the family are thoroughly enjoying!

Luke's special birthday dinner consisted of corn dogs, watermelon, corn on the cob, and "doggy soda," which is what Luke calls root beer because the Mug root beer icon at Costco has a dog on it.  The birthday boy got to enjoy the last sip.

He had a "blue spiral cake" as requested (I showed him some options online and this is what he chose) and blew out his candle like a pro.

Shark Teeth

Eliza with two loose front teeth in mid-March.

Lost the first one on April Fool's Day.

Lost the second one a few days later during our trip to Goblin Valley.

At the dentist's office a few weeks later...

and the incoming and outgoing teeth in her x-ray immediately
made me think of how sharks have rows of teeth.  Eek!

The first graders traditionally sing "All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth" during the school's Sing Around the Tree event.  Eliza might have been one of the few first graders with both baby front teeth in tact when she sang it in December, so we've done our best to make up for that by having her say "Sister Susie Sitting on a Thistle" over and over again.  She's getting tired of it, but I'm not.  It's pretty cute.

On a somewhat related note, my boys squeezed onto a single exam table so they could
watch "Transformers Prime" while we waited for the dentist to do Jack's exam.

Easter 2017

I didn't take many pictures on Easter, and it was a pretty hectic day, to be honest - one of those days I'd do differently if given the chance.  But we had some good family time, so I'm thankful for that!

I was singing with the Choir in the morning, a beautiful program of sacred music, and I took a minute to walk through Temple Square to enjoy the scene.

I'd been sick a few days before and played catch-up the day before Easter, so I hadn't prepared anything for our Easter dinner with cousins.  I should have just cut back but stupidly I insisted on baking a carrot cake from scratch and milling wheat for homemade whole wheat rolls.  Dumb, I know.  But the food was yummy.  (Lest you think our entire dinner consisted of baked goods, we also had ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and carrots.  But those couldn't have really been prepared in advance, so I didn't kick myself over those things.)  Cat and Lindsey helped make the dinner festive by making the rolls into little bunnies, and we had a sad little bunny cake for dessert that might never be attempted by yours truly ever again.

Ben's brother and his family moved away just a few days later, so this was our last big family dinner together.  After dinner we took the opportunity to recreate the picture from the week they arrived in Utah.  The top picture is from April 2015 and the bottom picture is from April 2017.  They've grown so much in two years!

Luke is 4!

Retsae 2017

We had a quick, fun Retsae celebration the day before Easter.  Because I would be gone Easter morning, we added Resurrection Rolls to our traditional Retsae activities of Filled Easter Baskets, Easter Egg Hunt, and Dyeing Easter Eggs.  We were lucky enough to have some really nice weather most of the day, especially during the short window of time when we were all together and ready for festivation.

Luke finally has his own Easter basket!

I told the kids that we could put some coins in a few of the Easter eggs we would be hiding
around the yard, but when I put Jack in charge of filling the plastic eggs for the hunt, he didn't
want coins in any of the eggs, so we didn't do that.  As you can tell in  one of the pictures
above, Cat was disappointed not to find any money.

Luke was very patient, waiting for his egg to dye, and also very hands-on.

Today's Visit to the Park

In which I hung out with Luke,

Eliza read (because she was supposed to finish her reading time before we arrived),

and Jack pushed his imaginary friend John on a swing.

(Jack took a turn on the swing also, but John wouldn't return the favor.)

The Science Fair Continues!

Cat was chosen as a winner at her school science fair in January, along with one of her good friends.  (The winners were announced on Disney Day.  Cat doesn't usually don Mickey ears at school.)

This meant that Cat and the other school winners were invited to participate in the district science fair at UVU in February.  She came close to missing this one because we had trouble getting her registered, but we're glad she made it because she and her friend were chosen as winners once more!

The third and final science fair (the regional level) was the Central Utah STEM Fair at BYU.  This was held at the convention center on campus and took place during school, which didn't bother Cat, surprisingly.  The participants received t-shirts (Cat is wearing her shirt in the pictures below because she'd already changed out of her Sunday clothes by the time I took pictures), backpacks, and some other swag.  There was a pizza lunch for everyone and activities during the participants' down time while the scores were being tallied.  Cat and her friend played chess, enjoyed a Mad Scientist presentation, and watched other kids win door prizes.

There was just enough time after the fair was over at BYU to get a frozen treat before we needed to pick the other kids up from school.

We were excited to find out that Cat was one of the 1/3rd of the participants at BYU to be invited to an awards ceremony, where she was given a fourth place trophy in the category of engineering and a cash prize.

As the three of us walked out of the awards ceremony, Cat was telling us her ideas for next year's science fair project.

Also, she's decided to be a civil engineer when she grows up.