Playing Hard

 This summer has kicked off with a month just as we expected-lots of sun and fun and full of sibling disturbances.  For the sake of posterity, we will try to focus on the play!  We have played good and hard...literally for this little gal:

Katelee made her theatrical debut as an orphan (Betty) in a community production of Annie.  It was adorable!!  She loved every minute of it and has found her niche.  Never once did she complain about her late and lengthy rehearsals and she is already asking when she will be able to be a main character-yikes!  I have to teach her when you love theatre, you love being any part. 

 

 

All the orphans got to walk in a parade.  She is on the bottom right of the picture.  They sang as they marched-way to represent!  We all had fun watching her perform (well, except Brenna...she liked it for about 15 minutes, then I wrestled with her the remainder of the time.  Brenna did poke me and point up to the stage as she announced, "Mom, you dance like that lady."  She was pointing at Miss Hannigan, who was hilarious and slightly crude...yep, just my kind of gal!! It was a blast for Katelee!

 

 

The kids and I continued on our theatre month when we went to the production of Peter Pan with the Taylors.  It was a fantastic show!  We loved every minute of it, again, Brenna loved about 20 minutes of it before she started asking when it was over or when they would take HER to Neverland.  

 We have enjoyed the outdoors a bit this month.  Grant and Dave went on a Father/Son campout, we have gone to the waterslides, are hitting up the pool today, had swimming lessons and broke out the baby backpack for our first summer hike. 

 

 

We love the view from Ensign Peak. 

We had an awesome time at the hospital's health fair.  We look forward to it every year.  Here the kids are in the fire truck where Grant decided to share a story with the firefighter.  He told this community helper how his dad MADE him watch this show called 'Fear Factor.'  He asked the fireman if he had heard of it and the man, suppressing a smile said yea.  Grant continued on about how some people had to put on all this fire protection gear and go through a burning building.  Outraged, Grant said, "For 50,000 dollars!!  Can you believe it?! I would NEVER do that."  The firefighter taught us that is not a good idea and that money isn't everything! ;)

 

The boys in our family had a big month.  The runt turned 10 months!  He randomly stands but is hesitant to take any steps.  He sleeps through the night (Hallelujah!) and cut his first tooth!  Big boy right there. 

(Sissy boy in this outfit, says Dave)

We get to celebrate Dave in June with Father's Day and his birthday.  For his birthday, he and I had a most wonderful date night-dinner and the Arts Festival.  It was SO much fun!  We will plan on going to that next year and maybe even let our munchkins attend too!  We saw dancers, performers on stilts,

 

a jazz band, awesome visual art work, the Animals Inside Out Display, and had some really great people watching moments!

 

Here is the Father's Day breakfast in bed display....

For any of you unfamiliar with the white blob at the bottom, its a nice pile of grits!  I love Grant's face peeking through.  Grant had his first empty running away threat.  I found a backpack filled with granola bars, clothes and a sling shot and it gave me a clue.  After asking Grant about it, he was so afraid I found his goodbye note but he did show me the list he made of necessary items.  It included: clothes, money, food, water, knife, pocketknife, a note from his third grade teacher and a picture of Harrison.  Those are Grant's basic needs. 

So, on to month two of summer!!  We are loving late nights, sleeping in til 8 (yea, you are old when eight o'clock is a lazy luxury), and all the fun things to do!  The house is a constant mess, (not just because of moments like these:)

But, I can always clean in the fall, right?!

Lets Start Summer!

 We have begun our summer vacation!  Yeehaw!  I didn't take a picture of every event that wrapped up the school year, but here are a couple of highlihts: 

Brenna graduated her first year of preschool.  Congratulations to her!  (Congratulations to her teachers! They will probably enjoy the break more than the kids!). 

 Here is Brenna before the program started, she was so thrilled to show off her vast knowledge of songs and letter sounds.

 

 

Katelee had a first grade program that was lovely and both she and Grant had some really fun activities the last bit of school. Every year their school holds a carnival and for sure Brenna thinks about it all year.  We went at the end of May and Brenna has already started asking when she gets to go to the 'junior high party' again.  Pretty much this party is the reason we like this school!  Ha! 

 Katelee climbed this rock wall a few times.  She really is like this little spider scampering up with no problem.  She rocks it...ha ha!  Ok, that was a stretch. 

 There was an 'instrument petting zoo,' where all these orchestra and band instruments could be tested.  Brenna and her demure personality seemed to be drawn to the sweet sounds of the violin.  Well, she tried them all, I just like this picture! 

And, there was an epic sibling battle between our big kids.  It was rough in the arena, but I had major flashbacks of watching American Gladiators with my siblings and imagining what I would do to them!  Dave ran the Ogden Half Marathon that day (had his best time! We are so impressed!)  so he met us just in time for the sibling slap down.  It was a busy day of flag football, dance pictures, half marathon, and carnival.  Grant played flag football this year and dubbed the parent volunteer "GC" (grumpy coach).  Lets just say he isn't eager to sign up again anytime soon. 

We have already had some fun summer events, I will post pics all together of those later.  We have also had plenty of privelege revoking going on.  The sounds of summer have not been so sweet yet, but we have hope for the remainder of the weeks...or I may go insane!!

Harrison is so enjoying his first ever taste of summer.  So far, this little 17 lb 6 oz dude (just had his 9 month check...still 10% for weight and head, 25% for heighth) has gone crazy over rootbeer floats...

and popsicles....

 
We can tell he approves of this summertime season thus far!!

They Are Kinda a Big Deal

 

These four of ours have had some major events happen as of late... Number 1 (aka Grant) just got glasses!!

 Earlier in the school year he came home one day completely distraught.  We found out it was the vision testing day and he said everyone thought it was easy, but he thought it was so hard!  He may have shed a few tears because he got some answers wrong and was worried he would need the lenses.  I emailed the teacher and she said the vision testing results from Grant were fine and we would have received a letter if he needed a follow up.  So, we just kept an eye on him and took him to an eye doctor this spring. Poor kid was practically blind, for real.  In his appointment, I had to pull him aside and ask if he was trying to get all the letters wrong (cuz he wasn't reading one correctly!).  He was so exasperated that I would even question him.  He is a bit of an exaggerator, though, so I never know.  Anyway, doesn't he look older and ever so wise?  You are so welcome Grant for inheriting my terrible vision and getting glasses at the exact age I did. 

 These two lovely ladies had their spring dance recital.  Unlike the December one, Brenna let me put makeup on her.  However, by the time we were walking out the door, she had black mascara lines running down her face and smeared across her hands.How do the other littles wear makeup happily and spotlessly?  So, we opted for the au naturale look for her and dolled up Miss Katelee.  My friend took some great pics from the dress rehearsal she forwarded on, here are a few...

 

  Thank heavens for helpers-Michelle did Katelee's hair and Malia was here visiting, so she helped get them ready and out the door on time.  Both girls were fabulous!  Brenna owned it (I even had text after from people saying how her hips sure can shake!).


 And Katelee looked like she loved it so much more than last time.  She has ended her dancing career on a high note!!  She even had three dances to remember at this performance, it was a lot of fun! 


And, of course #4 (aka Harrison) is always a big deal around here, but as of yesterday, he has officially been out of utero as long as he was in there!  Yep, he is 9 months old!

 
We tried to get a photo op in his regular monthly spot, but he didn't think sitting around was very fun, but standing sure is...


He is still a big huge momma's boy with no teeth.  We are hoping baby dentures are not in his future! He is not in a hurry to walk cuz he is a speed crawler.  Harrison is close to clapping on his own and he mimics 'hi' and 'yay' pretty well.   He isn't a fan of eating much, he pops things right out of his mouth, but he has had some good nights this month where he only wakes up around 4 or 5 then back to bed after a feeding.  That is a HUGE deal! 

Yea, there were some nights he was up all hours -I keep thinking he is teething, but he has nothing to show for it...at all.  He is a funny dude, little Harry and a bit on the demanding and dramatic side...takes after one of his sisters, I'm not going to say if it is more like number 2 or number 3!!  He is so happy to have me hold him all day and walk around attempting to one hand all my chores. LOVE our little babe!

Eight Months and Easter

This stud muffin hit eight months and his photo shoot was a little wild!

I couldn't get him to hold still, which is how he is all day!  He is a super crawler and has yet to master the stairs, so we are in extreme potential danger mode.  He thinks it is the funniest thing ever when I make him go backwards down a flight.  My other babies hated it, he is so funny.  Really everything is funny to him- except unfamiliar faces, he hates them all!  We love him SO much.  I feel like I can't possibly have loved my babies as much as I do this boy.  (I'm sure I did!)  Really, we are all enamored by him.  See, here is Katelee having to ride with him in the little car...

Then there is Grant...

Yea, can't even get enough of the boy, he thought it was worth jumping in the tub fully clothed.  Weirdo! Brenna isn't in love with Harry on a consistent basis. Sure, some days she has the high pitch baby love voice, but last week she told me she was tired of him and she doesn't want him anymore.  In fact, she had just the friend (Megan), she wanted to give Harrison to.  I asked her if Megan wants a baby and Brenna said, "I think so.  And, she has a dog.  I want a dog!  We never have a dog!"  She is concocting a straight up trade dog for cutest baby alive...not gonna happen! 

 

Easter came and brought awesome weather along this year!  It was so nice we even did an outside night time egg hunt the Friday evening before. 

 

 

We let the kids decide if they wanted to be a part of the organized chaos the city puts together...the seven second hunt.  I am positive it can not be called an egg hunt because it is more like, as soon as you hear the bell, stuff as much things in your basket before you are trampled.  And of course, they wanted to do it! 

 

I can see Katelee!  This was her age group.  We made it just in time for Dave to wheel the baby and Brenna to her area, I had Grant run to his field next to Katelee and showed him where to meet us and I stayed with this little lady.  It was so funny!  We had all the kids decked out for that Sunday, but I stayed home with the little dude who had a 104 fever!  He recovered quickly, but it freaked me out.  I was totally sick last week too.  I can't even talk about it with out grossing anyone out, but I smelled so bad.  I told Brenna to stay away from me and she was like, "I love stink.  I can smell it and I love it!"  Giving me a hug was worth the stench, what a sweetie!

 

I dressed up Harrison even though he didn't go to church.  We also had visitors this month.  Grandma and Grandpa McArthur were in town for baby Jack's blessing.  It was so good to see them (I forgot to take pics, darn it!).  We also had Brent, Kimber and Max and Karly stay here. The kids were in heaven!!  They don't get cousin time enough. 

 

We are so grateful  for our Savior and the Easter season that reminds us of what life is, why we are here, and the hope of things to come.  We are truly blessed!

 

Photo Shoot

 

 Last month, we took the kids to a studio for Harrison's 6 month pictures, so I could get some good ones of all of them together.  Well, I don't know how successful I would call the experience, but here are some things I realized after the outing:

 1)When you have four kids, there is no way you are gonna get a picture where all the kids look good.  One of them, at least, will be doing something goofy, guaranteed.  It will result in no photo being your favorite.

 2) When you are as unfashionable as I am, you should consult with a fashonista, because they will remind you to think about shoes.  Or, you end up getting there with raggedy tennis shoes and consequently, you will opt for the shoeless look!

 3) Do not talk before hand about how some people smile not showing their teeth.  If you do, you will have someone age 6 or so, do it just to see what it looks like on them...thus pulling a goofy face as mentioned before.  Drats!  This would have been a good one!

 4) Its a myth that girls only like their pictures taken, check out this stud.  Well, I guess you have to consider his dad!

 5)Pictures can be deceptive and revealing of personalities.  Take what you will with that! 

 6) Harrison was not into pictures AT ALL!  He thought they were fairly torturous, in fact.  Speaking of facts..my babies have not been impressed with the high pitched sneezes photographers fake in order to ellicit a smile.  I'm certain they are confused as to why they are making the outrageous sounds. 

 7)Finally, while it wasn't exactly what I had hoped for, these pictures, and mostly, these kids,  make me smile!! :)