Spring events- March 2016

March
With the weather getting warmer, the kids have enjoyed a lot more outside time.

Jeff's gotten back into basketball again too.

For a while, Lily and I had a fun routine where I would braid her hair at night while she did her homework.

 It helped her stay focused on her work better, it gave me a chance to play with her gorgeous hair, it was fun mother-daughter bonding time, and it turned out so cute after she slept on it and took the braids out in the morning.

 

Sophie loves her friend, Tessa.  She would go to her house during my morning preschool class and then they were in my afternoon class together.

 One night, Sophie was at Tessa's birthday party, so we decided to take the three oldest ice skating.

 They all LOVED it!  Jeff and Lily picked it up quite quickly. 

 Tom was good to help Cedric.  He did pretty good for his first time.

 I have two left feet when it comes to skating, but I still had fun.

 Sophie loves her picture taken.  She wanted me to take a picture of her and her doll with the glasses we'd made for her.

 Cedric went through a phase where he was obsessed with hydra's.  His school class had earned a party and the kids got to pick what kind of party it was going to be.  They voted and ended up choosing a poster party (aka: more homework for mom).  They could do a poster on anything they wanted.  Cedric picked hydra's.  He was so proud of his poster and still has it hanging up in his room (along with his turtle poster and Cedric poster).

 My little princess buddy.

 Lily's choir teacher always does a fantastic job with the choir students and they sing such fun songs.  Here she is at her spring recital.  Lily is on the end of the front row.

 One night, Tom and I went on a spontaneous date night to watch the BYU basketball game.  (we were trying to get a picture with the Y on the mountain).

Afterward, we saw some deer on our walk back to the car and then stopped for a swig.

 Unfortunately, while we were in Provo, the power went out back home.  Several neighborhoods were out due to an accident.  Lily was babysitting and the kids were just getting ready for bed when the house went dark.  Luckily, Lily had her phone flashlight and the kids made their way outside to see what was going on.  They saw our neighbor a few doors down also outside and told her they were scared.  She helped bring them back and set up beds all in Cedric's room so they could be together.  She checked on them a few minutes later and they had said a prayer and were all laying in bed.  Tom and I got home several hours after the power went out and it was still dark.  They had one of the iPad's on and Cedric's glowing Pillow Pet on as night lights and were all sound asleep.  Just minutes after we got home, the power came back on and we put the kids in their respectful beds.  They were all a bit shaken up, but I told them they did a perfect job getting through the ordeal.

 In March the Provo City Center Temple was dedicated.  Because of the dedication, there were no church meetings, but three different dedicatory meetings that were broadcast at the Stake Center.  Since only children 8 and older could go, we decided to open our home for neighbors to bring their young children over so they could go to the first dedication.  Then we let Cedric and Sophie go to one of their houses while we went later that day.  We did a little Sunday School with the kids.  They colored, watched scripture videos and we had a brief lesson.  The kids seemed to enjoy it.

 These two are so cute together and I'm really going to miss it when I don't have little kids in my house anymore.

Jefferson turns 10!

 Ten years ago, on May 22, 2006 Jefferson Max was born.  

He was a chubby, blonde, sweet baby boy.

Then he grew into a silly, adorable, mischievous little boy.   

Now he's turned into an independent, smart, athletic (still silly, adorable and mischievous) young man!

Even though his birthday was on a Sunday this year, he got most of his presents on Saturday.  First, he got a new bike from Mom and Dad.  He had been begging for days to open his presents early.

That Saturday night was his birthday party at the West Valley Fitness Center.  The kids first played in the Educenter while they waited for everyone to arrive.

 The rec center provided everything, including the cake.  Of course, for Jeff we chose the basketball cake.

 They provided us with a room, decorations, pizza and drinks too.  But the only party room left was the one with the little tiny chairs and tables.  This didn't stop these tween boys from having fun though.

 The boys scarfed down the food. 

In fact, the boys were loud!  And in the small, echo filled room, it got quite loud. 

 Then it was time for cake.  It took several tries to get this excited, silly boy to smile for a picture.

I'd forgotten candles, but we sang to Jeff anyway.

Then he opened his presents.  He loved all of them!

 Lily, Sophie and Cedric (& mom) gave him a smoke gun, which he thought was pretty cool.

After the party, he and his friend, Wesley tried it out. (It shoots smoke rings).

 When the presents were all opened, we headed over to the pool. They swam for almost two hours.

 When the pool closed, they played Tornado/basketball.

 Then some did ping-pong...

 while other's did the rock wall.

 It was a super fun party and Jeff was very grateful for the friends, presents and fun that made it so special.

 Sunday was Jeff's real birthday.  He spent sacrament meeting like this.  When he woke up, he complained that his stomach was hurting.  So Tom took him home and he slept some more while the rest of us were at church. 

 When we got home, he was feeling much better (surprise, surprise).

 Tom gave him one more present, some new Jazz shorts (he'd also given him some magic card games earlier too).

 It was nice to have a Sunday at home with nowhere else to go.  We let Jeff pick what the rest of the night's activities were.  He played card games while I made his dinner of  choice, Orange Chicken.

 Then we sang to him again, this time with candles and the leftover cake.

 We had ice cream cones too.  Then we watched "Teen Beach Movie" and ate popcorn (I worked on preschool scrapbooks while watching and Tom worked on the dishes).

 It was a good day.

The next day, Nana and Grandpa Bryce stopped by to give him a present, a game pad!

 Then the following Saturday he went on his birthday date with Grandpa Kent, Grandma Suzy and Grandma Kay (Suzy's mom).  They went to Wendy's for lunch and then Jeff picked out a Minecraft bow and arrow.

Here are ten things I love about Jeff...

1.  He gets good grades in school and is a good student.

2.  He's great at initiating games, activities and projects with his friends.

3. He loves his Dad, looks up to him and enjoys spending time with him.

4.  He'll still hold my hand in public or lean on my shoulder at church.

5.  He is really talented at sports and loves to play them.

6.  When put in charge of a situation, he takes his job seriously, such as babysitting his siblings.

7.  He is a smart boy and things come easily to him.

8.  He wants to be a Deacon and go on a mission some day.

9.  When choices are hard, he usually ends up making the right choice, even if it's not what he wants.

10.  He makes friends easily and enjoys being with people.  

Happy Birthday Jefferson!