Alayna Singing I Know An Old Lady

Alayna Singing Pizza Hut

Kayla's 6th Grade Band Concert - May 2008

Tyler's Solo During 4th Grade Program

Tyler School Choir May 2008

Tyler's bird feeder

Tyler with Michigan display and float

Busy, Busier, Crazy busy???

5/21/08 Busy, Busier, Crazy Busy???

I really shouldn’t take off 3 weeks from writing the family newsletter, especially considering how busy the end of the school year gets. My memory isn’t what it used to be, but I will do the best I can.

Tyler’s 4th grade musical- Tyler actually auditioned for and got the solo for one of the songs!! He was so excited, but very nervous. When he started to sing…well, it was so beautiful it made me cry. (Of course, I am the mom, but that’s beside the point) We were all very impressed. Unfortunately, our camera didn’t tape it so well, but we will get it up and posted anyway. The musical was on Character traits. It was well done and so fun to watch. I am very impressed with the music teacher at his school.

Tennis for Marisa- The rest of Marisa’s tennis season was tough since she had that bike accident. She still really enjoyed playing although she limped through a few practices and games. She is healing now and tennis season is over, but I think she will tryout on the Freshman tennis team next year.

Softball for Bob- Softball season for Bob started a couple of weeks ago. He is still playing with his same team. We haven’t seen him play yet, but maybe we can get to a game once school gets out…in 11 days! (But who’s counting?)

Adventureland- Marisa’s orchestra went to Adventureland all day the 1st Saturday in may. They even got to perform there. She had a great time, even rode some rollercoasters!! She wrote a quick synopsis of her trip and it is posted on the blog.

Cinco De Mayo- Kayla’s team celebrated Cinco de Mayo and had a huge party. We made enchildas and then fun activities to celebrate. Again, maybe I can get her to type up her experiences. It was the same day I subbed in the library. I learned something very valuable…I don’t want to be a librarian!

Stake Beehive Conference- Kayla was able to attend the Stake Beehive Conference the same day Marisa went to Adventureland. They had tons of fun classes about good books, how to dance, etc. She had a great time!

Kris birthday- In the middle of all this insanity, I had my 37th birthday. I made myself a giant cookie and decorated it in frosting and it was awesome. We also went out to Pancheros as a family for dinner. It turned out to be a nice birthday.

Orchestra concert- Marisa had her final orchestra concert. We have a video clip to post so I hope to have Bob post that tonight. She is getting very excited to join the high school orchestra next year!

Primary Quarterly Activity- As a primary presidency, we had a Primary Pajama party! All the kids came in pajamas and we served breakfast. Then we had lots of games, activities, and crafts. According to the kids it was a great success!

Birdfeeders- Tyler chose to make some birdfeeders for his ornithology unit in school and for scouts. He has done a fantastic job! We have some pictures to post. He has had many birds visit his feeder. Hopefully he can hop online to tell exactky what birds have come by. We also had a Robin build her nest under our deck. Her eggs just hatched this week. It has been SO cool to see the new babies through the slats on our deck.

Survivor- We had several friends over for our Survivor Finale. We had lots of yummy food and had so much fun. We invited a new family over that has 4 boys. It was so much fun!

Garden- Well, we finally planted our garden. Grandpa and Grandma Hart came and helped us build raised beds for the garden. We planted tomatoes, green beans, peppers, onions, raspberries, and we have our strawberry plants from last year. We will plant the zucchini soon. The weather here has been PERFECT! Wish it could stay this way.

Kindergarten Concert- Alayna had her kindergarten musical concert this week. It was one of the most adorable things I have ever seen! My favorite was the fast food song- we will post it. She was so animated and cute! She also got to help lead one of the songs.

State floats/choir concert- Tyler has been working for weeks on his State Float. He chose Michigan for his state. If that shocks you, as much as it shocked me, you should ask him why he chose it. Anyway, he made an incredible float and all the 4th graders displayed it in the State Float fest. He looked so sharp and did a GREAT presentation. Right after that, he had his choir concert with the “Linn Grove Grace Notes”. He did a GREAT job!

Temple trip- Kayla had her very 1st temple trip yesterday! I haven’t talked to her to see how it went. Bob and kids stayed in Macomb for the weekend. Anyway, she was very excited to go. Marisa went too. Kayla is also excited to attend girls camp for the first time this year.

EFY- Marisa’s EFY in Iowa was cancelled because not enough people registered her, so they transferred her to the Special Nauvoo edition session. She is so excited!

Marisa birthday- Well, Marisa turns 14 tomorrow!!! Yikes! We wont celebrate until this weekend. Her friends are coming for a slumber party and on Saturday we will go see the new “Indiana Jones”!

Job search- 2 new jobs posted for Excelsior. I have applied and we will see if anything happens. I have been requested to sub every single day. It has been a busy couple of months, but I enjoy it. I will let you know if anything happens with the job search.

ENDORSEMENTS!- After 3 years, I finally received my Middle School generalist Endorsement. It has taken forever to get this, so I feel like it is a HUGE accomplishment. This will be the first summer in 3 years that I don’t have to take classes. I can actually relax (what exactly does that mean again??) The kids have already started filling in my schedule- they all want me to read the Harry Potter series. I will get working on that right away.

Band Concert- Kayla has her final band concert tomorrow night. I will post a clip tomorrow after the concert.

Ok. Did I get it all? Sheesh! As you can imagine, life has been a whirlwind! We only have 11 days of school left- whoohoo! How is everyone else doing? What is new in your lives? Well, until the next entry…

Marisa's Adventureland report

Well, yesterday I went to Adventure Land in Des Moines to preform in a “Festival of Bands” competition. It was so much fun! I had never been there before, so it was all new to me. First, we went on a ride called the “Space Shot” and it shot you straight up in the air really fast and then bounced you back down. It was great! Then I went on the “Tornado” which was a really fast up and down roller coaster. We did it 3 times because it was so fun! We also went on a Ferris Wheel and a whole bunch of other spinning and swinging rides. At the end of the day, we went on a roller coaster called the “Dragon”. I WAS SCARED TO DEATH!!!! It was super fast and it went upside down 2 times!!! I’ll never do it again, but at least I can say I did it. Overall the whole trip was really fun and I hope our family can go sometime!