end of school...oh ya baby!

One of Taryn's favorite things to say is "OH YA BABY!"  especially when she is excited. The last day of school was a perfect reason to say "OH YA BABY!!!!" These girls are mine all summer and I can't wait to spend it with them. I am so thankful for the teachers they had this year. They couldn't have met their needs any better. Both girls had teachers who really taught them how to think and work and write. I love their teachers and hope they had as great a year as my girls did. 

Cami and Miss Litchfield at the end of the year program...

 Taryn and her end of the year award/program.

SUMMER HERE WE COME!!!

My what a great brain you have...

Both of our oldest girls have great brains. They are definitely unique brains and powerful. Cami is a reader. Always has been, always will be. She can read faster and comprehend faster than Brent or myself. Taryn is artistic and dramatic and has flare. Always has, always will. You should see her handwriting. It is like artwork. The girls school offers some children the opportunity to do a "Great Brain" project. This is a project about any topic they are curious about but it has lots of requirements (LOTS of work! field trips interviews bibliographies etc).  The girls choices of "Great Brain" projects were totally reflective of their strengths. 

Taryn chose to study "fashion." (and sometimes I wonder if she was switched at birth...I mean for reals she begged to study "fashion" and I wonder how a girl like me mothers a girl like her...)

She went on field trips to a department store to see how they order clothes, how they chose to display clothes, how they find accessories, etc. She toured a make-up store and LOVED the free samples they showered her with. She took sewing lessons. She designed then sewed several out fits (five skirts, a scarf, a shawl, and another fluffy skirt thing and a dress for Jocelyn/shawls for Jocelyn and Cami). 

She did library research on choosing appropriate fashion and looked at online sites to study hair styles. She had someone teach her how to make jewelry and made several necklaces, bracelets, and several sets of earrings. THEN she wrote a research paper and a bibliography. 

After all that she put on a fashion show and chose music and burned it to a disc to show her class. She had to round up models and found volunteers to do hair and make-up for the big show. She also made a poster with pictures to display all the steps of this to her class.

This was a ginormous amount of work and even though we started this project in like October it took her until the first week in may to finish it all. BUT through it all she persevered and thrived. In fact I am fairly certain she LOVED every minute of the work. I never thought I would be so proud of a kid who was wearing a whole lot of make-up and strutting her stuff...Below are the pictures of the fashion show...

Way to go Taryn! You earned every ounce of your medal!

My sweet Cami on the other hand chose to study horses. I personally am sort of terrified of horses so helping her with this was almost as much of a leap of faith as helping Taryn learn about fashion. Cami started taking riding lessons (made sure she had a helmet and protective clothes) and fell in love in the first five seconds. She got to help with grooming and putting all the saddle stuff on. She rode a horse named E.T. most of the time (an Arabian) and learned to lead the horse. She then learned how to mount it and ride it while it was being led. Then she rode by herself in the training ring. She graduated to a bigger area with barrel things and then to faster speeds. She was not quite strong enough to go super fast but she did get up speed a little. Now she is up for short trail rides by herself or longer ones with the instructor riding with her.

  Anyway, while she was learning how to ride she also did tons of research at the library. She then interviewed 3 "experts" (people who own horses, do 4-H stuff, and a former pro teacher). She then wrote and typed by herself a 5-6 page paper with a bibliography. 

For her project we thought a dose of reality might be good for her (because horses aren't all fun rides off into the sunset). We had her go to a farm twice a day to feed the horses and scoop poop and do whatever jobs they could find for her. She got up everyday at 530am before school and the went later in the evenings too. It made her day really long but I think it definitely taught her what the reality of owning a horse is. We had her do this for about a week and it was actually amazing that she didn't once complain about the work. The last day she got to ride one of the horses at the farm for as long as she wanted and she wanted to ride it forever. 

After each trip to the farm we had her do a video diary of what she learned. She then (seriously all by herself) made a power point presentation and added the videos into a section of presentation. She also made a poster with pictures about her project.

 Anyway I think my kids had a great experience learning about what they were interested in and I hope they continue to be willing to work hard to learn and grow. I am so proud of them and their excitement to learn. They kick bum! Below are pictures of Cami's lessons.

Dance Fever

Ok so I have been horrible at taking pictures lately...For example the girls had their end of year dance recitals and I took like three pictures on one of the nights....Taryn dance jazz on Friday and ballet on Saturday. Cami danced jazz on Saturday. Jocelyn had her "recital" in class the Wednesday before. They of course did awesome and were fun to watch. Maybe I was just so busy watching that I forgot to take pictures....I do have to give Uncle John props for coming on Friday night. He was very supportive and went the extra mile to be there. Grandma Rice was also great to come Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday...I guess there is just something about a tutu that is hard to turn down....

Anyway, here are the three pictures I did take. Taryn post jazz dance.

 Taryn is such a graceful pretty girl. Seriously I don't know where she got her moves but she totally has killer moves...and eyes...and face...

 Cami came with Brent and I to watch Taryn on the night before she danced....

And I did use the phone camera to get on very blurry Jocelyn recital picture...Her very first flowers-love that cute girl.

Piano Baby

This springs piano recital was more than a little CRAZY! Brent was sick with Bronchitis/Strep/Sinus Infection all week. So needless to say it was a one parent with all the kids at the recital event. It wouldn't have been too bad but we had just sat through high school graduation for my niece Madison (who totally rocked being valedictorian). So the kids "sit in a chair quietly" behavior was all used up. I think after the first two players I bolted out with Creed and Jocelyn. Taryn made her way on out after one more girl. I stood in the door way listening for Cami and was able to snap this one and only photo. 

And I snapped this picture thanks to a neighbor who witnessed the downward spiral of behavior and came out and held Creed/Jocelyn so I could listen for a second. So thank you Doug for taking one for the weight family. It was really fun to hear Cami. She is getting pretty good-she had one song completely memorized and the other mostly memorized but wanted her book there for safety...Anyway, I was really proud of her and really happy to have the spring recital done! 

And on a positive note Taryn has started piano this summer and has been playing constantly...Mary had a little lamb and hot cross buns...

PS-We are all REALLY thankful that Brent is feeling better.

We have radiant roadrunners in the family...

At the girls school there is an award given each year call the radiant roadrunner. A kid has to complete homework all year, not be late or miss too many days, participate in science fair, speech contest, reflections contest, and also meet a whole slew of classroom criteria (certain grades and bench marks). Anyway it is a sign of good hard work and commitment to earn one of these awards and both Cami and Taryn were able to this year. 

Taryn was really motivated by Cami's medals in the past so from the first day of school she has been working to earn hers. Cami always wants to participate in everything so by the end of the year she gets one kind of by default (although she does work hard-she just likes the challenge of a project not necessarily the end reward). So I am very proud of my RADIANT roadrunners! They worked so hard all year and I so value good hard work!

Taryn after getting her medal.

 Cami with Miss Lichfield after getting her medal.

Thanks to awesome teachers that we love both girls really made so much progress this year!

A for real bike ride with all four kids...aka its a miracle!

   One time when we were hiking with Cami and Taryn I told Brent we couldn't have more than two kids because we wouldn't be able to carry any more kids...The same thing was true of bike rides...only two kids fit in the bike trailer. Somehow logistically certain things are just harder with lots of young kids...BUT the good news is that kids grow up and get stronger.
So now Cami and Taryn are independent bike riders and Jocelyn is almost as well. So a few weekends ago we decided to try are real family bike ride (more than just around the block) with everyone... We rode down to a trail along the river, all the way to a park, and then back up to our house. It was several (maybe 3) miles and the kids did awesome! Cami and Taryn rode the whole way without any pushing from us. Jocelyn rode on the tandem bike thing with Brent and Creed rode in the bike trailer being towed by me. We are finally at a stage where we can do hikes and bikes with more than two kids and not go nuts...YEA for family time!!!

At first Creed thought it was cool to wear a helmet like everyone else and hang out with his animal cookies...

  

Then he got hot and sweaty and he wasn't as sure the helmet was a great idea....

I kept having the words to that little ducks all in a row song going through my head...

The big girls leading the way down the river trail...

Jocelyn's first trip on the tandem bike thing...She LOVED it....Incidentally she is getting really good on her two wheeler with training wheels but there's no way she would last more than just around the block on it....

Track Meet Bum kicking

We got to go to our first elementary school track meet this spring and it was sooo fun! Here you get to choose three events to participate in for a school meet with 3-5th graders. Cami chose the soft ball throw, the 100 meter dash, and the 400 meter dash.

Brent was able to watch for the first while then the kids and I came for the last while. We all had a great time. Creed tried his first cotton candy for the first time. Jocelyn insisted on wearing her "fashion show" hat (purchased at DI in a family spoof fashion show and yes it is a winter cap). I got sunburned and loved every minute of cheering-I was so horse the next day. There is definitely something about sports that makes me totally have strong visceral happy feelings.

Cami tried really hard in the soft ball throw but you know it....It didn't work out so good for her. She did decent in the 100 meter dash but the real excitement was the 400 meter dash. She SPANKED it! She started off really fast and had the lead right away. In my mind I was thinking oh no she is never gonna be able to keep up this pace....but she did. She won by like 25 meters....Seriously it was AWESOME!!!! So she qualified for the district meet which was all of the elementary schools around. She didn't win there but she did do really awesome again. I was so proud of my endurance, stick to it girl. I love her!!! 

Creed with the cotton candy. He can be a member of the family officially now because he loved it.

Not that you can see but this is Cami on the back side of the track taking off and leaving a cloud of dust....

This is Cami winning it but again it was hard to see. I did however get a great video and should figure out how to post videos sometime...

Cami and her good friend Kimberly.

Jocelyn in her fashion show hat....and shorts....

Creed's first Campout

I think we accidentally forgot to take a picture of Creed's first camp out dang it! I can't find one any where but it did in fact happen. Maybe I forgot pictures because I was working on 2 hours of sleep from the night before (I got sucked into a teacher appreciation project for the PTA).
We went with a few families in the neighborhood to a place called Cedar Pockets. It is just off I-15 in the gorge but it feels like it is not right in the middle of a high trafficked area. We got there late afternoon and the kids played in the river. The river was so warm that we all had to sit in it. And the sand was really really soft in the river itself which meant it got crammed into every nook and cranny. Usually that is a good thing but camping is not really the best place to clean all the sand out of the nooks later...The kids all played really nice with each other and it was really relaxing.
After a great afternoon of river play we went back up the cliff area to our camp ground and roasted hot dogs and smores and starbursts....yes starbursts and they were way good.
Pretty much after dinner we party pooped and went to bed though I think our friends stayed up and enjoyed the stars. Creed did great except he woke up at like 4 am and wouldn't go back to sleep unless I was holding him and walking with him...
In the morning we made pancakes for breakfast (the only time I really like pancakes is when camping) and the we hit the river again for a few hours before heading home. It was a pretty great camping trip, especially considering it was only 20 minutes from home.

Just for fun....we're bringing sexy back

Just for fun we decided to bring sexy back all the way from DI....

Easter Awesomeness

So Easter was pretty awesome around here. Living in the same town as my mom has its perks because when everyone comes to visit her we get in on the action too. My two sisters from up north came down on different weeks-one before Easter and one for Easter and then my sister from Seattle came just after Easter. So it has been busy busy busy but in a good way. So Easter Saturday (we make a weekend of it) we got our Easter baskets filled with swim suits flip flops and sunglasses. The Easter bunny brings the same stuff each year so we know we'll be prepared for summer.

 We also get one or two treats...This year we all got a Cadbury egg...Creed was a big fan. He put his in his mouth in one big bite and I was scared he was going to choke on chocolate...After he managed somehow not to choke he swiped Jocelyn's egg and downed it too. Guess he's serious about chocolate...

After our baskets we went to Grandma's for an Easter egg hunt. Thanks to the older cousins who hid the eggs the younger kids had so much fun finding eggs....After they were all found the kids went to the side yard and we rehide them. After they found all the eggs again the kids hid them and the adults found them. It was so much fun. 

Then we decided to go feed ducks and go for a hike. It was pretty awesome too until I was reminded that the hike has some tricky parts and probably shouldn't be attempted by a mom in flip flops or a three year old in flip flops. After the hike we ate lunch together and died Easter eggs. That night we had a birthday party for cousin Jared and roasted hot dogs and smore's over the fire. It was a great idea for a party. And by the end of the day we all slept REALLY well!

c