April

Molly's school has something called "Artists in Residence" each year.  The kids are able to choose one of their programs (poetry, dancing, acting, etc.) and they go to classes for two weeks, taught by a guest instructor.  It is pretty cool and super fun for the kids.  At the end there is a program/assembly for parents.  Molly was in a play this year.  She was disappointed that she didn't get a speaking part but had fun anyway.  And she stayed in the back the whole time, so I'm not really sure how she would have done with a speaking part anyway!

Jade Boynton, Molly, Mackaydie Hair, Eryn McCorristin, Rebecca Greer, and I don't know the girl in the front

I decided to surprise the kids with a fun dinner while Justin was at the Priesthood meeting.  Molly always begs for the muffin tin lunch and I usually don't give in.  They were excited, though, for dinner that night!

In keeping with tradition, we went to Gene and April's for Conference Sunday.

My girls have such amazing women surrounding them, on both sides of the family...I realized how grateful I am for that as I was snapping this photo.

Aunt Camille and Grandma with the girls

And all my kids are lucky to have so many awesome cousins to play with!

Stockton, Riley, Brynn, and Cameron

***

Spring Break

We were so excited to have a week off of school.  To celebrate our first day, I made some chocolate waffles sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Yum!

Brynn had it the good way...with strawberries on top.

We also had a great day meeting my mom and Ali and her boys at Temple Square.  We grabbed some lunch at City Creek and the wandered around the temple and oohed and ahhed at all the beautiful flowers.  This is hands down my favorite activity all year-and the kids seem to love it as well!

Gavin, Molly, Brynn, Grant, Stockton

The fountains were definitely the things to see this year.  The kids couldn't get enough of sticking their hands and legs in the water.

Before we left, we had a treat from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and let the kids play a little bit more in the big fountain at City Creek.  This is what Brynn ended up doing:

And this is how that turned out:

I had packed jackets so she got stripped to her diaper and wore her jacket the rest of the way home.

Before we left, we had one last stop.  When we first got there and were heading to the food court, we passed a Claire's.  On a whim I told Molly that she could get her ears pierced if she wanted to.  I totally thought that she would say no way because we've had that conversation before and she's always told me that she wants to wait until she's older because she's too afraid it would hurt.  Well, she surprised me, and after thinking about it all afternoon, she decided that she really did want to go ahead and do it.  Of course, I had already told her she could, I had to follow through.  She picked out some cute little blue flowers for her studs and they just went ahead and did it!  She was pretty scared right before and even said it was scarier than riding The Tower of Terror.

But she went ahead with it.  I was glad that there were two people there so she didn't have to do one ear at a time.

She cried a little bit right after but she got over it pretty quickly. 

She has done really well with them.  We left the studs in for the recommended six weeks but she can change them now if she wants.  She will still wear her studs quite often, because they are most comfortable but she does change them a few times each week.  She can even change them independently now!

That was the most exciting thing that happened to her for Spring Break.  The next day she couldn't wait to show her friends.  I was excited for her.

During Spring Break, Molly also got to go golfing with Justin (I haven't actually seen her golf, but from what I hear, she's pretty darn good at it!) and do a lemonade stand with her friends.

Elise Jones, Molly, Maggie Stephenson

We had such nice weather for the whole break that we spent every minute we could outside.  It was wonderful, and went by all too soon, because it was back to school after that.  But we could see the end in sight, with only about 7 weeks left until summer.

***

Stockton's new obsession is Power Rangers.  This is not something that Justin or I have loved but it is what it is.  Hopefully it will be a short-lived phase.  Anyway, he really wanted a Power Ranger guy but since his birthday was still a few months off and Christmas even further, I told him he could earn some money to pay for it on his own.  He already had some money but needed about $10 more.  We made up a simple chore chart.

Each chore was worth 10 cents so in order to earn the $10, he had to do 50 chores.  He was pretty enthusiastic about it and his enthusiasm didn't seem to stop until he had nearly earned all 50 check marks.

vacuuming out the couch turns into seeing what a vacuum feels like on your belly

 

Finally, he earned his money and Justin took him to the store to buy his Power Ranger guy.  He was a happy kid!

It was actually a little bit more than it said online so it took every penny he had, plus a little help from Dad. :)

April was soccer month.  Each season, Molly gets better and better.  She even learned a new position this year and got pretty good at it: defender, although her first love is still forward.  Her team was great and we had a super coach, but not too many of the girls had ever played before...they did get better and better as the season progressed, and they didn't let too many goals by toward the end.  Molly got the prize, though, for scoring the team's one and only goal.  She was pretty excited for that!  She only scored once, but she had so many almost-goals.  It was a fun season and I am excited to watch her continue to improve.

Stockton and Brynn had a fun day playing school.  I set up the TV trays and pulled out some stuff I had leftover from when I did joy school with Molly.

They even had their lunch there.

It was fun to watch them, probably because I remember playing school so often growing up.  I think it was probably a favorite game of me and my siblings.

Pizzookies for dessert one Sunday evening.  Yum!

If you've never had a pizzookie, you're missing out.  Chocolate chip cookie dough baked in a skillet, topped with ice cream (cookie dough, preferably), and hot fudge.  The warmth from the cookie and the cool from the ice cream is really quite delicious!

Molly is facing a bit of a tough summer since most of her friends are moving away.  The first little friend, Kaylan Minson, was the first one to go at the end of the month.  Molly didn't play with Kaylan all the time but she really had fun with her when she did.  It was hard for her, since it was the first friend to go and she knows that many more will follow this summer (Rebecca, Jade, and Elise).   

Elise, Kaylan, Molly

And here is one last picture from the month.  Stockton and Brynn being crazy during breakfast.  I've said this before, but I swear my kids do not know how to sit at the table like normal people.