...and a few of Eden

No graduations or big stepping stones for this little lady. I keep waiting to get serious about potty training. I just think it will be better to go for it after the baby is here and our summer schedule slows down towards the end of July.

She's not our little baby any more. We love hearing the things that come out of her little-big-girl mind. She still runs screaming to the door every night when Cori comes home from work. And she still takes a three hour nap every day. She loves to dance, do summersaults, and make silly faces.

Eden remains a feisty firecracker. She is always the first one in the pool and the last one out. Pictured below is a sweet little death-gripped kiss she gave to Grant as part of an apology. She can go from tear-streaked furious to smiling in a matter of seconds. Most of the time, this transformation is accompanied by a gesture of wiping the tears out of her eyes and an exclamation that "I am happy now!" She and I have spent lots of time talking and hugging in time out on the stairs. She is learning. Her energy and determination will become super strengths to her.

final days of preschool

Tee ball wrapped up just as the weather started getting hot. At the end of the season, the coaches put the tee aside and the boys got to try out coach pitch. This was most exciting as batting is 90% of the reason most boys like baseball, I think.

Umbrellas were regularly employed to make shade, and coach Bill organized a donut party at the last game. Grant loves this trophy!

The L boys enjoyed a weekend at our ward's father and son campout. Grant got to play and play into the late hours of the night. And Cori loves evenings around a campfire. They got to go hiking and explore a cave the next day. They are looking forward to next year already.

Preschool graduation was super, as always. I was late to the sign up sheet and drew the short end of the stick (in my opinion:)). We made these little cupcakes to contribute to the festivities as a result. 

The children sing songs and recite poems. When Miss Carrie gives them their diploma she asks them two questions: What was your favorite part of preschool? What do you want to be when you grow up? Grant's answers were that he loved playing outside at the basketball hoop the most and that he wants to work at Honeywell and be just like his dad when he grows up. 

Kindergarten glitter!

Grant is very excited to start elementary school next year. I took him in for his kindergarten screening a couple of months ago. He is so ready. It was a bittersweet good-bye to Miss Carrie this time around. After teaching Grace, and then these last two years with Grant, next Fall will be our first school year since moving here that we won't be driving to her house regularly.

final days of first grade

Summer is off with a bang. We have been done with school for just over a week. Those last couple of weeks sure got busy. But then, just like that, final book reports and recitations were completed, appreciation gifts were delivered, assemblies and class parties were over and we had our Gracie back to ourselves. It is a big treat for me having her home. She is a great little momma.

Lest the school year end without any drama, Grace head planted into our TV console whilst rough housing with her brother. The resulting cut wasn't wide, but it was pretty deep - and, oh boy, do head wounds like to bleed. We decided to take her into urgent care to see if she needed stitches. The thought of getting stitches sent Grace into complete hysterics. She vowed she would much rather have a big scar on her forehead than have to endure the procedure of having her skin sewn together. I got her to urgent care before she hyperventilated and, happy day, surgical glue was the mending agent of choice. She had to miss gymnastics and some swim time. But things are healing up nicely...

A bright smile from afar at her awards assembly

Grace got an award for being a peacemaker in her class. I was very grateful that she got recognized for her sweet heart. In the last month or so of school, she started having troubles with some of her classmates. These were girls whom she had loved playing with all year who had started treating a couple other classmates poorly. The girls would say mean and manipulative things ("If you don't do what I say I will be mad at you/ won't play with you/ will put you on restriction from our game" and "We don't like so-and-so and will just run away if she tries to play with us."). Grace didn't want to give her friends up, but that kind of behavior is not in her nature - and completely unacceptable by our family's standards. We spent a lot of evenings talking and crying about it. She tried many times to help her friends behave more kindly and to be more inclusive. Some days were good and some were still very sad. She finally started playing with some other friends. I kept encouraging her to just play with the boys - boys don't do that kind of stuff. In any case, I know her little class award had nothing to do with these playground politics, but it was an answered prayer for this mommy that she was recognized for being the kind of kid that she is. She has a lot of academic confidence already. Gracie got to work on her social confidence this year, sweet girl.

The last day of school for Grace was a half day. She got to take a Sharpie to school to get her spirit shirt autographed. Once we picked her up we headed straight for some frozen yogurt.

Her last-day-of-school-dinner-choice was the Olive Garden, as usual. She dove into her summer reading present at the dinner table. We don't have much travel planned this summer and so felt free to get signed up with some other activities. Grace will stay busy with swim team for the next 5 weeks and we will continue with weekly piano lessons and gymnastics classes. Here's hoping she likes being home as much as I like having her home for the next couple of months. :)

And for the sake of keeping records, some paper work she brought home with her on the last day of school (smarty pants):

in the lovely month of may

Our anniversary often falls within a couple of days of Mother's Day.

It is a great arrangement.

Last week, Cori and I celebrated 9 years together. We met up after tee ball practice and took the family out for Chinese food. We couldn't manage to get anything more exciting planned with our calendar (and pregnancy) as it is this month. There were flowers and gifts. I love Cori so much. Though I had no qualms with our simple celebration, we've already started talking about the big 10 year anniversary as a type of compensation. 

A couple of days later, it was Mother's Day. 

Cori and the children gifted me 120 glorious minutes with a massage therapist on Saturday morning.

Cori and I had a date at the Temple that night. 

And Sunday was a huge treat as neither Cori nor I had a single extra meeting to attend.

I am one lucky girl being a wife and mother in this family. So grateful!

***UPDATE***

 Last night, I dreamt about the Temple. It was on my mind when I awoke, hence the little post earlier today.

Something else that happened last night- Grace woke us a couple of times. She had a flaming fever and was not feeling well. So I kept her home from school today. We were getting ready to have lunch and get Grant off to preschool and Eden down for her nap when the texts started buzzing away on my phone. The crowds were gathering at the church. Angel Moroni was going up!

We grabbed our shoes and loaded into the car for the short drive to the Temple site. We got there just as they were placing the stone piece upon which the Moroni statue would rest (pictured left).

The Temple grounds were semi-accessible and Moroni was on display and made available for photographs. After we took our turn with him, we retreated to the shade of the church building to watch the progress.

 This photo! Oh, I wanted it so badly. My hands were shaking, and my heart was ready to explode.

It took a while, but at last, the statue was attached to the crane. It began what we thought was its ascent to the top of the Temple.

 But then it was lowered again for a photo op with all of the construction workers. They all removed their hard hats and cheered as it started its way into the sky.

Again, it took a while to get things into place. The workers made at least two attempts threading the grounding wire down through the tower properly. By this point, the sun had moved so far across the sky that our shade was gone. It was hot. My little crowd was pretty restless and my braxton hicks contractions were turning into one giant contraction. So we loaded back into the car to head home. 

 I drove through the neighborhood on our way out to catch a glimpse of the finished work. And just like that, he was up! Hurray!

This afternoon was a little dream come true and I was SO grateful that Gracie was home with us.

all the panels are up

The Phoenix Temple is coming right along.

We are all anxiously awaiting the Angel Moroni's arrival.

Grant and Eden and I paid a special visit one breezy morning.

I love that our children get to see this building every Sunday when we go to Church.

The dedication is still a year out, at least.

Can't wait!

Gymfest

Gracie's gymnastics studio holds a gymfest every year. It is a gymnastics meet where the kids get to perform little routines on all of the apparatus and are adjudicated by members of PGA's competition team. Everyone gets an all around medal, and a ribbon for each routine (white-good, red-better, blue-best). They also get a shiny team leotard. This was most exciting to Grace. 

Grant and Eden went to a friend's house to play so Cori and I could go. This was also most exciting to Grace. Oldest children don't get this kind of time with both parents very often! 

The gymnasium is pretty big and there were lots of people there. We did our best to get some good pictures, but the distance made it a little tough. 

She came away with a blue ribbon on bars, vault and beam and a red ribbon on floor. Grace has almost passed off all of her level 1 requirements. She still loves it so much. 

They marched the gymnasts into the gymnasium in small groups. I think the girls were instructed to smile and wave. Grace owned it like an olympian. Smiling and waving in front of a crowd of applauding people is right up her ally.

Saluting after her routine on bars

The only place she needed a little hands-on help, hence the red ribbon on floor. Kick overs are tricky. :)

Running to the vault

Finishing up on beam.

Medal salute!