4th of July 2013

So I'm a little late- what ya gonna do, right?!!  We had a fun filled week long celebration this year full of good times and family. My sister in law and I each took some fun pictures I would like to share.  My only regret was not getting our annual family shot all dressed up in our red white and blue, but we luckily have another try on the 24th. It was hard to pick the best photo's to tell the story, but I think these will do. We love our Wilson family, come back again real soon, OK?

Sparklers are always the most fun when it comes to child enjoyment.  Abby was particularly entertaining with her creations. Here are some of my favorites:

"Bug Eyes"

"Smiley Face"

"Name in Lights"

We ended with a fun fountain show and a few surprise aerials!  It should also be noted that I learned NOT to put blueberries in the fruit punch- while they look very festive, they WILL get stuck in the spout!!

I hope you all had a fabulous holiday too!!

The final update...

I am finding it hard to continue to back track when our summer fun is in full swing, but continue I must! I feel that I need to have these things documented so that when I finally get around to scrapbooking these photo's I will remember what was happening.

And so we continue with the middle child, the lovely and talented Olivia:

The biggest highlight of her winter was creating her volcano, and then celebrating her 8th birthday, but most importantly she finally was able to get her ears pierced.  Now this was a HUGE event, not only because out of the three girls my little fanshionista was going to enjoy them the most, but because she also harbors the most fear for things unknown, especially when they will involve some pain!  She thought about this for months, and I told her by no means would I make her do it, it had to be her choice.

 She finally decided she was brave enough so we went down to the mall for the spa treatment at Claire's and she was a champion!

 She couldn't have been more excited!!

The day before Paul's 37th birthday Olivia had her baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Paul told her that this was the best present she could ever give him and after her father preformed the ordinance he lifted her up into his arms and gave her a huge embrace.  It was priceless and I hope she remembers just how loved she is and how happy she was about making this choice.

In the Second Grade they study all the different Native American tribes in our country's history, but mostly focusing on the ones that lived and still live in Utah.  Olivia loved this subject and was thrilled the day they had a grade celebration and everyone was able to dress up for the day.

In March my Aunt VaLoice passed away.  She had lived a long full life and she was such a character to be around.  VaLoice had lived with and been a part of my family for almost as long as I can remember and my girls over the last few years loved taking her out to see movies together.  While we were all sad to have her gone we are so happy for her to be reunited with her parents that passed away some 50 years before- I am sure it was a moment full of joy.  I am including this picture because the funeral took place in Clarkston, UT on one of the coldest most bone chilling days of the year - and I know that if I showed her this picture of my girls all bundled up she would be giggling for hours at how funny they looked out freezing to death in the wind and snow!! 

Continuing in her studies Olivia was assigned to read a book about Sacajawea, create something that represented what she learned and then give an oral presentation to her class.  She went for it! She did all the reading, decided to make a Tepee like the ones the Shoshone Indians lived in and tell the class about how they were hunter/gatherers until she was taken captive and found her way onto the Louis and Clark expedition discovering and mapping out the Western United states.  My favorite part?  That little fire she put on the inside- so awesome!!

She made me these most delicious flowers for Mother's Day in her Activity Days group.  This girl loves to craft up a project so this was right up her ally.  Also, can you believe she is old enough to be going to Activity Days?!!

On the final day of Shakespeare week at the school they have a feast.  Abby's class and Olivia's class joined together for the celebration and I was part of the food prep/party planning committee so Eva had to stay after her class and join in the fun too.  All the other kids were so funny about these three sisters together and just kept saying how they all looked exactly alike.  I don't really see it, but it was fun to have them all together for the party and to watch the professional Jugglers put on a show during the feast.

However by the end of the afternoon I couldn't help but smile and wonder what I am in for with these three cute girls because I looked up to see them surrounded by the boys and working their audience!!! :)

The last day of school arrived and Olivia was so sad to see it come to an end- she LOVED her teacher Mrs. Gorrell who really embraced her strengths and desires.  This was a perfect class for her this year, such a safe and loving environment for her while she one by one lost 3 of her best friends over the course of the year.  It is a hard age to have best friends move and have to find a new friend, not even thinking of doing it 3 times in one school year.  We had lots of tears and some sad days but she is such a fun loving girl that it all was fine in the end and I am thankful to her teacher who was sensitive to her needs and a class full of really great kids.  She also did well in her school work this year and walked away with the award for Excellent Artist of the 2nd grade, and the Math award for the mastering all her math facts that year.  Way to go Olivia we are so proud of you!!

Her final event of the year was her Dance recital on June 8th.  Olivia LOVES to dance!  She can just feel it in her bones.  Mostly she loves to tap dance- she likes the rhythm and the speed that goes with it.

I also have her taking a Ballet class because that is where she learns the body control and discipline and long lean lines that a dancer needs.

 Sadly her tap class shrunk through the months (as girls her age switch to jazz and hip hop) and in the end she only had 3 in her class and they didn't put a tap routine in the show- but she had three other fun dances and two different costumes so she was OK.  This year the studio did a Disney Princess theme and many of the classes learned routines to different movies.  The oldest professional group all dresses up as the different princesses to introduce each class- it was really cute and fun and all the students LOVED it- almost better than Disney Land :)

 Here is Liv with her Rapunzel - so cute.

A flower and panda from grandma AND a trophy- doesn't get much better than that!!

For your viewing pleasure here is her Rapunzel Dance- she starts out on the far left, but she travels so keep a close watch!!

And now Olivia is ready for summer!!

Update continued...

Next up is Eva, because she is always upset that she has to be last all the time!!

Back in January Eva was finally able to dance in the School Dance Festival.  She had been watching it for the last 4 years and was more than ready to strut her stuff to the "Chicken Dance".  She did a wonderful job shaking her little tail feathers around the gym with her classmates.

We did get snow this last winter, not too much, but a couple of storms rolled through town dumping enough of the fluffy white stuff to let the girls go out and play.  Being the youngest means that you get the hand-me-down's that are still too big for you- good thing she has such a cute little face peeking out of all those large layers!! Of course it wouldn't be fun without our neighbor Kate playing too.

February brings with it Grandparents Day at the school.  With all three girls at the school this year it was a little tricky to cover all the classes but the Davis' were up to the task.  Eva was delighted to have Grandma spend the morning with her "Because I never had Grandma in my class before" she told me most emphatically.

Of course we couldn't miss the huge class celebration of the first 100 days of school.  Eva made this poster of 100 pennies mostly by herself (Grandpa Griffiths helped with the hot glue) and she was so proud of how it turned out.  The lady at the store thought I was crazy when I asked to trade in a dollar bill for a bunch of pennies though :)

Eva LOVES dogs.  That was an understatement.  Eva REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVES dogs!  She has booked marked a million different dog breeds on our tablet and comes to me multiple times a day to let me know that "I really like this cute one mom, and look, it is very low shedding and really good with children".  We will not be getting a dog.  So Paul bought her this life size puppy and she quickly named him Luke (after our friends dog that had recently passed away) and he is now her constant companion. She has taken him everywhere, slept with him nightly, and buckled him in safely next her her on all our car rides. She wants to bring him with her to church, but that is where I draw the line! 

Our tree out front was in full bloom and this year Eva was able to climb it all by herself to immerse her senses in all it's pinkalicious glory.

Eva lost her first upper tooth!  It was a long hard battle between father and daughter.  I mean truthfully, a two month battle of wills before she let him pull it's brown wobbly self out- which fell in her mouth and then she promptly swallowed it!!!

That happened just in time because the next day Eva graduated Kindergarten!!!  Our school doesn't do a big ceremony, but they do spend the last day on a field trip to a park in Alpine for a picnic and playing games all day- oh, and they get to wear JEANS! Such excitement!! 
Eva had a great year in school. Our shy little girl that had never been without her sister's opened up and blossomed under the care of our beloved teacher Mrs. Strong.  She was a well behaved girl who followed instruction, learned really well, and became friends with all the girls in her class ("not the boys mom!).  Math came very easy for her, as did her phonograms and spelling.  Eva truly excelled in her reading.  When the class was finally ready to start sending home reader books in January, Eva skipped them all and went straight into the 1st Grade chapter books!!  She loves to read.  All her free time is spent with a book. We still have to go to the library every week just to keep her stocked up with new books. We are so proud of Eva!!

Soccer!  After the last day of school, Eva's soccer team played their final game of the season and ended it as undefeated champions!!  This spring she still loved the game and found herself more in the mix.  She loved to kick the ball down the field, block the other team from scoring and she even scored 3 goals!

The "Knight Lightning's"  were a very fun team (the only other girl, Mya, was missed on the last day). Coach Lee was so great and wonderful with these kids and hopefully we will have him again next year too.

 Oh, and it is all about the trophy for this girl too!!

And now Eva is ready for summer!!

Let's catch each other up!

Alright, I've been kicking myself for weeks to get a new post up- what? You are still enjoying that we are stuck at Easter here on the blog?  Well, I am tired of looking at the same pictures when I pop in here to check out what you have all been up to!

Naturally we have been doing ALOT over here these last 8 weeks.  Where to begin, where to begin? So I decided to do a series of quick (or not so quick) posts that highlight each of my girls and their grand accomplishments throughout spring, putting us nicely ready to highlight this fantastic summer ahead of us.

So lets begin!! First up, because she is my first born, is Abby:

For starters, I need to answer all of your questions about her science project!  Oh yeah, that thing I was alluding to so long ago. Well, she did a fantastic job putting the scientific method into practice finding out which battery brand last the longest and which brand is the best value. And she received the highest level ribbon for her work.

Results:  Duracell was the leader in performance. However, Kirkland brand was so close in longevity while having a lower price point thus making it the winner for best value.  (nice to know I have been spending my money so wisely all these years!)

At the end of Feb. she had her class Devotional Presentation.  In the fourth grade the students study Utah History.  This was great because they took 8 field trips during the school year to discover and have a hands on look at the things they were learning about.  Thus the theme of the play reflected all they had learned.

Abby did a great job delivering her lines about the Prophet Brigham Young and the values he taught to the people as they made the trek west.

Her soccer team competed in an Indoor full size field league up in Salt Lake.


She loved this venue, playing in the "bubble" was so cool to the entire team.  They were playing teams a year older and they finished in 4th place, I was pretty proud of them.

For spring break we went up to visit my grandparents in Shelley Idaho.

My girls have never spent this kind of one on one time with them before.  They were spoiled rotten by the greats!! They had pies and Ice cream of every kind for them daily and we crafted together, went to the Idaho Falls Museum with my Aunt Bonnie and cousins, played at the park, and went to dinner with Uncle Stan and Aunt Donna.  It was so relaxing and fun.

This was my favorite picture of the trip.  Paul had it right when he said "This photo could have been taken 30 years ago of you and your sisters and it would have looked exactly the same".  So true!!

Mother's Day-

Just a photo to show me with my girls- love them to pieces and they showered me with thoughtful love all day.

Abby made this plate for me in her Activity Days group- I will love putting it out on display every year :)

Every May the school has Shakespeare Week. A celebration of the time, and masterful writings of this great author and poet.  Everyone in the school dresses up in period clothing and focus on it in their History, geography, and writing classes.  Everyday they attend an act in the play of choice, this year it was "Comedy of Errors" performed by the 8th grade.

 Because Abby has grown so much, it was time to make her some new costumes.  Because my mother was still recovering from her broken arm I had to do the majority of the sewing- this was new! We made two white under gowns and then a Purple, Blue, and Orange over dress.  I think they turned out so well.  She LOVED them and really that is all that matters
.
Outdoor soccer and Soccer Academy started up again in March and played until the last week of May.
She was in her final session of Academy- they were the graduating seniors and had a fun goodbye party from their coaches and the younger girls.

 She will miss the fun times they had together as they worked together in their skills training.

This is Coach "Gel", Abby loved her so much and she was so great with Abby over the three years they worked together at Academy.

This season her competition team was back in the girls league playing their own age again.   The team did so well and finished the season as Division Champs- Go Storm!!

Of course the Trophy was really what it was all about to this girl!!!

I DIE over this picture when we found her crashed that night on the couch after the championship game-

  Oh to be 10 again when "All was right with the world"!!

After that, last week we had to endure tryouts for the U11 team.  I don't handle the pressure very well, with 52 girls trying to impress and snag one of the 12 spots on the team! But Abby is a seasoned veteran at this point and rose to the challenge and once again made the team she really wanted to be a part of.
Way to to go Abby, we are so proud of you and all you are doing!!

And then it was the end of the 4th grade.

 Abby is so sad to say goodbye to Mrs Knight :(  Seriously the BEST teacher she ever had!  Also her best friend Natalie is moving back to Tennessee this summer:( but she left with her usual heaping pile of academic awards and we couldn't be more proud at how well she did this year in her school work!

And NOW Abby is ready for summer!!!

Easter 2013

I know, I know!! One post last month, seriously.  What can I say, I just haven't been feeling it lately but today I am driven to post up about our holiday.

My brother Cory and his cute kids came over and joined us on Saturday for some Easter festivities. First we went to the City Egg Hunt at the park by our house.  We haven't gone in four years because last time we went the girls were too intimidated and only came away with a couple of eggs.  Boy how a little time and maturity changes things- plus having some cousins with us didn't hurt!

We came away with tons of eggs and lots of goodies- including Abby finding a dollar in one of hers, score!!

It was the most perfect day.  The sun was shining brightly, there was no wind, and it was almost 60 degrees in the morning. We were shedding our layers and couldn't believe our good fortune at how wonderful it was outside. So we spent the rest of the afternoon doing our own "Number Egg" hunt at home, had lunch, and then went back to the park for more play time together.  Sorry I didn't take any pictures of this, but just know it was a grand time together!!

Sure enough the Easter Bunny did come that night and the girls were thrilled with all the treasures, although Eva has been asking more than she should if I am the Easter Bunny :) But believing Liv is quick to tell her,  "of COURSE NOT, how could mom go to all those houses in one night?"  I mean really Eva, don't be absurd!!!

Then of course we all put on our new Easter dresses and withstood the yearly photo torture session before we made our way to church.

I hope you all had a terrific holiday with your families too!!!