Laser Island - May 27

All the friends for Ella's party!

Snow Cone maker!  

Ella's picture frame!

Another fun birthday at Laser Island!  Ella invited some girls and we had a blast doing two games of laser tag, mini golf and the arcade games.  Not to mention pizza, drinks and cupcakes!  She sure had a great weekend of birthday fun!

Home Teacher's Grandkids - May 26

Our home teacher and his wife came over to celebrate Ella's birthday Sunday night.  He had his daughter and her four kids visiting from Arizona, so we had them over as well!  The more the merrier!

Whale Watching - May 25

Waiting to board the boat.

On the side of the boat.

Going pretty fast, see the white water!

A bunch of dolphins!

Sea lions, asleep on a buoy.

Andrew was asleep right before I took this picture...

Something about the boat ride really wore us all out!  Kaitlyn fell asleep on the ride home.

Ella's Birthday - May 24

Class pizza party complete with watermelon, cookies, cupcakes and redvines!  Her friend, Abby has the same birthday as Ella.

Kaitlyn and Emma ordering the Pig Trough at Farrel's Ice-Cream Parlor!

They finished it!

Ella, taking a break from eating her complimentary sundae.

Not too tired at 11pm to open some presents!

Oak Mesa Open House - May 23

Mrs. Waas, the choir director is retiring this year.  The kids surprised her with a special song, just for her.  Ella is third from the right in the front row.

Ella and her school projects on display at her desk.

Ella and her teacher, Mr. Symonds.

Andrew and his teacher, Mrs. Young.

Open house is always fun.  We have had some really great teachers this year.  Both teachers said that Ella and Andrew have been wonderful, model students who are high achievers.  They sure have put in a lot of hard work, and it shows!

Social Studies Project - May 22

Kaitlyn had a project where she made a 3 dimensional version of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.  The teachers created an evening where the school put on a display of all the projects the students had made.  All the things were of different time periods that were studied this past school year.  Kaitlyn's is the one that is closest to her arm.

Puppy Love - May 18

Ella with a puppy dog face!

Ella sleeping with her new "puppy" names Ralph.

Ella went to a birthday party of a girl who actually has the same b-day as Ella does.  They went to Downtown Disney to the Build-A-Bear store.  Ella picked out a dog and named it Ralph.  She was thrilled that she was able to choose a "bark" noise for it and an accessory, which ended up being a food bowl.  The girls also got their faces painted, and Ella picked the puppy face!  She loves her new puppy and slept with it in her bed all night.

Quakes Baseball Game - May 17

Waiting for the game to start.

Kaitlyn read her book during the game, the whole time.

Andrew and James on the field!

Andrew on the field during the National Anthem.

Getting to meet the players and mascot.

We had La Verne Little League night at a Quakes game in Rancho tonight.  Andrew was chosen to go out on the field at the beginning of the game for the National Anthem and he got to meet some players and the mascot.  He looks so little compared to that umpire guy!  Kaitlyn was in a contest to see who could finish the last book in the Fablehaven series, and she begged us to let her bring her book.  I didn't think that she would read the whole time, but she did, and still read on the way home and the next day.  But she did finish the book over the weekend.  Andrew had fun watching the game with his buddy, Sean.  Andrew's favorite parts were when they hit the ball out of the stadium!  Super fun night!

Choir Pop Show - May 14

Emma and Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn and Thanh

The middle school did a choir pop show at school today.  They had each choir do songs from a different decade.  Kaitlyn's choir did a few of the songs from the musical, Newsies.  Unfortunately she had already changed out of her costume for these pictures.

Mother's Day - May 12

My cards and service coupons!

Outside surprise!

Another message for me!

Flowers Andrew brought home from school on Friday.

Flowers that Little League gave me for Mother's Day.

I had a wonderful weekend for Mother's day.  At Andrew's baseball game, they had all the mothers go out on the field with our team.  It's actually much different watching the game out on the field than behind the fence.  Each player wrote on a ball and gave it to their mother for Mother's day.  So all the mothers earned a "game ball."  It was super hot that day, all the kids got their swimsuits on and helped James wash the outside of our windows.  Last weekend he borrowed our neighbors carpet cleaner and cleaned the carpets!  I know it's practical, but the gift of steam cleaned carpets and clean windows is free and something that I have been wanting for awhile.  He did surprise me with a whale watching boat adventure for the whole family coming up in two weeks!  For Sunday dinner, James made salmon and it was great!  I even had a berry pie!  Yum!  It was nice to see the younger kids sing in sacrament meeting and Kaitlyn took over sharing time in primary, so that the leaders (including me) could attend Relief Society.

School Carnival - May 10

Kaitlyn made it to the top of a rock wall!

Andrew taking on an adult for a hand ball challenge.

Ella and her friend Ava.

Thank You Teachers - May 6

The room parent had given the kids a note card to write a message in for the upcoming teacher appreciation week. When I gave it to Andrew, he asked, "another Mother's day card?" and when I told him it was for his teacher, he asked, "I have to make a Mother's day card for my teacher?"  So I explained to him it was a note to write for teacher appreciation week. I was distracted with helping Ella with some of her homework and when I came back to check on him, this is what I found....

Baseball and Kickball - May 4

Andrew's team played on the big boys (major team) field today!

The kids found a new friend at the park.

Ella would take this dog home if we let her.

Yummy BBQ!

James in his uniform for the kickball tournament.

Fun teeter - totter.

Andrew had to take his turn playing kickball.

We had another beautiful sunny weekend.  Andrew's team played on the major field today, which was fun. James played kickball and competed against other dental school students.  The faculty sponsors the event and it was a blast.  Andrew could hardly sit on the sidelines and stay still.  He wanted to play too.  Afterwards, James threw the ball to him so that he could take a turn kicking it.  There was a BBQ and lots of dogs for Ella to run around with.