Addison's Preschool Graduation

 Addison is officially a preschool graduate!  She had an amazing teacher that we love, and had a great year.  She started the year not knowing her ABC's, and now she not only knows all her letters, but she knows the sounds they make and is starting early reading.  She tells me all day what words start with.  She's blossomed a lot, and we are grateful for her teacher.  While I have never thought of preschool as anything more than a social experience for kids, I'm glad she did learn a lot as well.

She kept waving at Marty and I.

Addison got to lead the whole group in the Pledge of Allegience.

Then she got to go back up later to sing "Popcorn Popping".  It was so cute!

Getting her diploma.

The little graduate!

Addison is a little sad that preschool is over for the year, she had a great time.  

I'm hoping we can find something for her to do next year in California.

Happy Birthday Claire!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!

Another birthday, another "where did the time go?" sentiment.  

Our sweet Claire turned 7 earlier this week, but we waited until this weekend to celebrate with Marty.

Claire is just the sweetest girl there is.  She's quirky, and silly and happy and fun, but she's also sensitive and caring.  Sometimes she'll tell me about her "friend problems" at school...which are that everybody keeps fighting over who gets to play with her at recess, so she's had to assign different people different days of the week, because they won't play together.  She's so funny.  I tell her that just means she's a nice girl and people want to be around her.

I just love this sweet red head of ours!

Here are the fun outtakes of her 7 year old pictures.

 She wanted to be in the tree, but then she'd just hang there waiting for me to take pictures.  It was cracking me up.

Celebrating her birthday...I didn't take many pictures.  The day kind of got away from us and we finally got around to doing her cake right after the girls had bathed and it was almost bed time, so I didn't take a lot of pictures.  But I got a couple.

Claire's request for her cake was "white cake, chocolate frosting, and 'Happy Birthday Claire' written in pink".  So I called Harmons, told them those directions and that she's 7 and they could do whatever else they wanted.  She was thrilled with the outcome.

Singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles.

Earlier this week, Claire was also in a little "opera by kids" that her class did and was a mermaid.  We threw her costume together one afternoon and called it good.  She LOVED it.

And just to show what an incredibly sweet and intuitive girl Claire is, I have to share this note she wrote me one day.  Addison had been really difficult this day, screaming and crying, hitting and kicking...it was great.  I had just about had all I could take and Claire walked over and handed me this sweet note.  She is the best!

So there we have it.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY CLAIRE!  We love you SO much!

Beautiful Sunday Evening

So...let's get real here.  Things haven't been exactly peachy with Marty gone.  Sure, we're alive and surviving, but things have been rough at times - especially when it comes to a certain 4 year old who misses her daddy and is acting out - A LOT.  Lots of tears and screaming, but we're doing our best.

Anyway, Sunday was another one of those FANTASTIC (except the opposite) days where we had a few tantrums, including one hysterical screaming fit that lasted 45 minutes...all because I told her she could get her own cup of water.  Oh yes.  This is my life.

We finally got over that, played with the cousins for a little while, ate some dinner and then we went outside.  I had originally gone outside to try and get some pictures of Claire - who turns 7 this week - but soon everyone else followed, and they played and played in the driveway and park.  It really turned the day around and helped end it on a much better note.  And because I had taken my camera outside with me, I took the chance to sit and take a bunch of pictures of the kids.

And now, you get to enjoy those pictures!  You're welcome!

(you can click on the pictures to see them larger)

Jeep Rides - always a favorite (it was a bit windy outside)

Molly makes some funny faces

Brielle - I blackmailed her into smiling nicely with a picture of a horrible face she made.  Total parental winning moment.

Claire - The attempt at 7 year old pictures didn't go as great as I'd hoped.  Then I sat down to just watch the kids play and all of a sudden, she remembered how to smile and be cute in front of the camera. :)

Addison - this kid is kind of a nut, but so funny.

(don't mind her outfit, she had been playing dressups before we went outside)

Molly - what can I say.  She's the cutest little girl.  And SO sweet.

Especially her "cheese" face

We had a limb hanging down low enough that the leaves hit the car when we'd drive in and out of the driveway.  I mentioned that I should probably cut it off, but Claire discovered it worked great as a "Tarzan vine".  So they swung back and forth on it for a while until it finally broke off.  Which means they took care of that job for me.

Can I just say how much I'm going to miss our huge, long driveway?

Anyway, back to what we were talking about.  After the limb was broken off from the swinging, they used it to play "tree tag".  Someone would hold the limb and chase the others around with it.  When you got touched by the leaves, you had to freeze.  I only took pictures of Molly's turn with the limb, becuase it cracked me up.

And there we have it!  A beautiful Sunday evening out in the beautiful St. George weather.  Grateful for moments like that to get is through the tough times.