The Birthday Celebrations

Anders didn't want a big party so instead we had an informal picnic and soccer game at one of our favorite park with some friends.  It was a lot of fun.

 On Sunday morning, the actual birthday, Anders opened his presents.

 After church we made the cake.  It was a good one.

 Anders got the Lego City jail for his birthday and the boys loved putting it together.

Happy Birthday Anders!

The Busiest Month of All

You know how everyone complains about the holidays being so busy?  Forget that.  The end of the school year is the busiest.  We have been going a million miles an hour.  Here are some snippets in photos.  Sadly not all the events are documented with photos, and lots of these are from my phone, so not the greatest quality.

Park days and playdates:

 Lot's of time on bikes and scooters 

 Jim Henson biography oral report:

 Preschool graduation and swim party:

 Swimming with friends:

 A bird watching field trip for Tucker's class to Washoe Lake that was super super cool (too bad this is the only photo to remind us of on of the best field trips ever):

 Many hours were spent preparing for the medieval fair in 6th grade:

 Scouts:

 Lots of running (I have been getting back into running and run with friends most of the time.  It makes it good fun):

 Orchestra Concert:

 Working on facial hair:

 6th grade graduation.  I helped with the decorations.  Lucy earned a presidential academic award:

 Girl's night's outs, book club, recipe group, etc:

Walks on Thomas Creek trail:

 Putting together the trampoline:

Not pictured: fathers and sons, airsoft wars, playdates, dr/orthodontist appointments, numerous trips to Costco and Target, etc.  Life in other words. (Don't miss the other new posts.  It was a mega-posting kind of day)

Tucker's Marathon

Starting back in March, on Friday's the fourth graders went for a run and I joined them.  The idea was to run a marathon over the course of a few months.  It was really fun to go run with them.  The final run was at a marina and was a two mile run.  The weather had been absolutely perfect right up until the Friday field trip.  And then it snowed and hailed and rained and was soooo dang cold.  But we did it anyway, because we are tough like that.  It was a lot of fun and I am glad we could do it together.  Tucker is a great runner.  He has great endurance.  I look forward to more races with this kid!

Tadpoles

Our friend's had a ton of tadpoles in their pond, so we went and collected some and have been watching them get bigger and bigger.  It's been pretty fun.  I'm just worried they are going to really change into frogs while we are in Utah.  And our cherries are going to ripen then too....Oh well.  

Anders is 9!

Today is Anders' 9th birthday!  I really don't think I could ask for a better son.  He is smart, creative, talented (origami, soccer, and piano are particular strengths), and fun.  But best of all he is kind and caring and nice.  Life is just better with him.  We love him and are so so so lucky he is in our family.  Happy Birthday to our awesome son.

The Recital

The kids had their second recital.  I have been very pleased with their teacher here in Reno and they have made good progress.  They may not love piano (well Anders loves it, Tucker likes it, and Lucy not so much), but we have a rule at our house:  no complaining at all about piano is allowed.  None.  I won't hear it and if I hear it say goodbye to a beloved posession.  Zero tolerance.  It is working pretty well.  Anyway, they practiced hard and performed well.  Anders had so much anxiety that after his performance he sat down and burst into tears.  Poor guy. After the recital we celebrated with some frozen yogurt at U-Swirl.  Good times!  Can't wait to see how much they progress by next year!