June

Can I just tell you how excited I am that it is June? The kids have been out of school over a week now, but the fact that today is June 1st makes it really feel like summer (although Max informed me that it's not officially summer until June 21st... yeah, whatever) and even though I lamented about summer a few posts back I really am excited. Due to past pregnancy complications, I'm not really allowed to travel after 30 weeks and tomorrow is 25 weeks so we are cramming it all into the next 5 weeks. 1 family reunion, 2 sets of out of town visitors, 2 birthdays (Abby's and mine) and 1 two week family vacation! It's going to be a blast if we survive it all! Oh, and the kids summer activities start this week: day camps once a week, playdate with the Farnsworth cousins once a week, Max has guitar and Scouts, Abby's gearing up for Tae Kwon Do... busy, busy, busy! I think the beautiful weather, the fact that my kids were very well behaved during church today (and the rest of the day for that matter... Afton was asleep by 8:30 and Max and Abby actually put themselves to bed by 9:00!), I was able to take a nice little nap this afternoon, my house is mostly clean and my sweet husband gets back in town tonight are also contributing to my extremely positive outlook right now. So, come on June, I'm totally ready for you!

"Baby Signing Time" Star!

Well, maybe not exactly the STAR, considering she wouldn't actually do any of the signs! She knew them all but when it came time to film we were in a park with a hundred distractions and they were a little behind schedule which made it nap time by the time we got started. She did look adorable in her costume and had fun running around with a balloon (if you look really close on the show you might catch a glimpse of her). She was actually the youngest baby cast and she had to audition just like everyone else (but we're pretty sure she only made it because I slept with the VP of the production company- is that too much information?) Another bummer is that they had to cancel her second day of filming because of rain so she didn't even get a second shot to show her stuff! Oh, well. She did get to meet Rachel, whom she's actually met quite a few times at Chris' office, but this time she was wearing the official "Rachel" costume.

Piano Man

Last night Max had his annual Spring Piano Recital and he did so well. He has been taking Piano for 2 1/2 years now and I am so impressed with how far he has come this year in particular. Last night he played 2 pieces, "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and the theme from "Jurassic Park". He also earned a composer statue. He worked really hard for it and had to memorize terms, take a theory test, do extra performances and practice regularly in addition to some other things. We are grateful for everyone who came to support him, I know it meant a lot to him. Afterwards we enjoyed ice cream sundaes and root beer floats at my parents house.
Excellent job, Max! I am really proud of the effort you have put in this year. I hope you can see how it paid off and that you will continue to work even harder to develop this wonderful talent!
Max with his teacher, Aimee Ward.

What time is it? Summertime!

Yesterday our neighborhood had an end of school party in the park (it was the last day of school for our local school). It was a lot of fun and many of our neighbor friends were there. The kids enjoyed water guns, a slip 'n slide and even sprayed whipped cream all over each other! Max wasn't sure he wanted to go (he thought he was too old for this kind of thing) but he ended up having a blast. Fortunately there wee a few older kids there and he even had fun chasing a certain cute girl around. Abby was most in to the slip 'n slide and had fun showing off her skills. Even Afton got into it. She liked to play in the water the slip 'n slide shot up and watching the kids slide down. She didn't understand why everyone got mad at her for standing in the middle of the slip 'n slide and was not happy when I took her off. Oh well, nothing a warm towel and a popsicle can't fix! Everyone brought a picnic lunch and yummy treats to share... there were some awesome cookies I'm going to need to track down the recipes for! It was nice to sit in the sun and enjoy the company of some of the other moms, too. Of course, in weird Utah weather fashion, it was hot and sunny to start out and by the end it was raining...COLD rain! But, it was super fun while it lasted and a great way to kick of summer! Thanks for organizing it, Cami. I think this will become a fun tradition for our neighborhood.

Watch Out, Ladies!

Max is not happy with me right now. I MADE him get his haircut, literally. Ever since he was 4 and people told him he looked like Harry Potter he has insisted on long, shaggy hair and even taking him in for a trim was torture. Well, I gave him about a weeks warning and told him I was putting my foot down... we were cutting his hair really short for the summer! I explained that at almost 11, he was too old for the messy look and needed to look like a kid who cares about his appearance. We talked about the importance of putting his best out there for the world to see and what people think when they see a handsome young man as opposed to someone who looks like they just don't care. Besides, I told him, the ladies will love it! Anyway, it's been a couple days, I LOVE it, and I think it's growing on him. I did have to sit down and go through a magazine with him to show him how cool that style really is, though.