May 2017

We got a piano!

It was an adventure to get it though. An online auction had just the right piano for us (happily, it ended up being a former piano of our piano teacher, so we knew it was a good one!)

I got a little excited about 'winning' the auction, so I may have inadvertently outbid myself at the last moment. So I payed a few extra dollars, but it was totally worth it in the end.

We fixed up our guest room! It wasn't in time for Aunt Kelsey (Sorry!) but Grammy came and got to enjoy the splendor!

Grammy got to see Sock's 4th Grade play, "The Pied Piper"

 Socks played the mayor and had a small solo. It was so fun to watch!

We also got to celebrate Grammy's Birthday with her!

Our days were filled with the usual chaos.

Hair-dos.

Lego-ing. (The iron rod and the Tree of life!)

Dentist visits (like a pro!)

Orchestra concerts

And Haircuts!

Socks loves keeping his hair long. "I just don't like short hair because I like how it feels when I run my fingers through it long." But we reached maximum capacity

ENTER... the $10 haircuts.

Grapes dared the boys to go VERY short for summer. She offered them $10 each!

Of course they took her up on it. (I don't think she thought they would!)

One Sunday, late in May, the kids complained that they were bored. So I told them to make a cake, not thinking they would.

But they did!

And it was also May-May's birthday, so we decorated accordingly and sent her a photo.

Then we ate it.

April 2017

Grapes had an Odyssey State competition in Tucson.  The Doctor and Pencil accompanied her.

Their team got 4th place (out of 11 teams) and unfortunately that meant they were ineligible to move on to Worlds.  Thankfully this trip went much better than the last time these three went to Tucson. (Dad didn't get sick this time!)

They didn't  forget to stop by and see the nearly completed Tucson Temple!

Pencil puked on this trip though... right before this picture was taken.  

(Salt River Canyon is no laughing matter for this boy!)

Feta discovered the many remarkable qualities of Chapstick. 

It makes very nice window ornaments, in case you didn't know.

Grapes entered the Navajo County attorney's office art contest (the theme was preventing suicide)

She won second place overall, and first place in people's choice!

It was so fun for me to accompany her to the conference they held that day, and to watch her win!

Feta continued to be wacky and adorable. She discovered the rips in her old blanket (not to be confused with the pink blanket of nearly same size, shape, texture and color) made for a fab-lee-us "down" for her to wear at every possible occasion. Never mind that it didn't have a back. It was her favorite!

Unless she was wearing nothing. She liked that a lot too.

She helped Grapes pick out new glasses (Grapes didn't get pink though... much to this little girl's dismay) And we only spun one rack of frames (launching them EVERYWHERE) so it was, all-in-all, a very successful optometry visit.

Socks designed (and wowed) with a pickachu pine-wood derby car.

Pencil successfully compiled his first report. He was very excited to include the important facts and display it in a artful way.

EASTER!!
We are beginning to need more eggs for coloring than we can possibly eat, but it is still a very happy tradition that we cannot hope to complete each year without our dad helping us. (it's probably one of his favorite things for us to do as a family that isn't Christmas related!)

The warm weather brought lots of dandelions, and Feta fell in love.

She would blow the 'pon-pons' for as long as we would let her.

Grapes and S-- you don't often find one without the other.
We loved seeing "Singing in the Rain" at the high school.

What follows here is simply evidence of our silly family and how much fun we have together.

I fiercely love these faces!