Math Olympiad

Near the end of school, Amanda was picked as one of 15 5th graders to attend the district wide Math Olympiad. She compete in the 'Set' category. (Set is a game where cards are placed in rows and you have to find 3 that follow the rules of the game. The rules are pretty random. I practiced with her and it wasn't a game you pick up easy...)She did really well. The schools that placed (1st, 2nd, 3rd) must have practiced non-stop during school because they won in every category. :) Anyway, Amanda did awesome and we are proud of her!

The Party

He can't take his eyes off this awesome cake!

If these photos look familiar, it's because B wanted the exact same birthday party as last year! So, we did our best to compensate. We had fewer boys come over, but the cake, (which Brandon helped to decorate-its a volcano from Star Wars with S.W. guys) the party favors (lightsabers), and music were all the same! It did make it easier to put the party together! And the boys all had a great time. We had been having rainy weather all week, but lucky for us, it didn't rain until right as the last party boy was leaving! Hooray!

Discussing strategy!
The heat of battle!

Below-left: Matthew B., Henry K. Brandon, Spencer H, Tanner C., Nick S., Kolton N., Will G with his back to us.

The Birthday!!

May 19th our baby turned 5! I spent the day with him looking at his baby books and then crying! It was so hard! He's just my little buddy and I love having him around. I'm not wanting him to grow up. Mike thinks it's great that he's growing up! Kids are more fun to play with when they are older. Anyway, for his birthday dinner he wanted hot dogs! Yippee! An easy one!

He got some awesome Star Wars legos! We also got him the new Mario Galaxy game for the Wii, but had to wait until it 'came out' on Friday. Brandon told me his favorite thing to do with his Dad is play the Wii....it's a guy thing.

The official cake!

Putting together the legos!

Brandon's croquet par-tay

We had the grandparents up on Monday to celebrate Brandon's birthday (more on that to follow). We had a nice little dinner - compiled of food mostly bought at Costco! Everytime someone would say something was good, I would reply, 'Costco' Gotta love Costco.

Anyway, Brandon had his heart set on playing croquet with everyone after dinner. Being good family members, we happily agreed. The game grew quite heated between the grandparents. I was surpised at how well my Dad knew the rules. Brandon enjoyed every minute!

Pictures from the rest of the party I will need to get from my Mom as my camera battery died. Thanks grandparents for a fun night celebrating our little Brandon!

Photo shoot

I enlisted the talents of my sis-in-law, Cozette, to take pictures of our kids. She just got a fancy new camera and is putting it to great use! We tried for about 3 weeks to get together, but this crazy Utah spring weather has not been helping much. Finally, we got a day and met at Temple Square. These pictures are a few by my camera. I'll post some of Coze's later. It was a fun, warm day and we could have stayed for hours! Enjoy a few!

The pictures of the flowers were all taken by Amanda. When we got home, she and Sydney pulled out her oil pastels and drawing pads and sketched those same flowers! They did a great job!

"Little purple pansies dressed in yellow gold" I loved that song as a child! Probably because my Mom would sing it....

The Lone Survivor

It's happened.....Mike has strep! Mike never gets strep!

Strep has hit 4 out of 5 in our family. I am the lone survivor....will I make it?

Place your bets!

Brandon wisdom

After watching "Star Wars - Attack of the Clones" Brandon told me that "if your hand gets cut off, you can get a new one and glue it back on." Just so you know.....

Some random randomness

Ok, and for my first randomness....this is my Hook grandparent's house. This is where my Mom grew up! The kids and I had met Cozette & her kids at Temple Square last week to take pictures (those in another post). Afterward, Brandon got picked up by Mike and they had a boy's night out with Mike's family. Jim & Renae took the boys to see the Three Muskateers at Hale Center Theater.

So, the girls decided to go to dinner! We hit Training Table with Cozette's family. After leaving them, I just started driving around downtown and south to show the girls some of the things of my childhood. I'm not sure they have ever seen the house where their Grandma Gib grew up! It was fun and I was so glad that Amanda was brave enough to take a picture for me. It was a great house and I still remember so many things about it. The yard has changed a lot. There weren't stars above the windows. But, my favorite July 4th memories remain here. We would come over for a bbq with the family and then walk down to the park at the end of the street. That park was kiddie-corner from Liberty Park, so we could see all the fireworks! I loved sharing those stories with our girls. We also hit The Dodo for some dessert since we were in the neighborhood!

Sydney was so excited to get her ballet costume that she tried it on, asked me to take a picture and then told me I should put it on the blog. She's so cute! Love the girl's ballet school.

Then, Brandon's preschool had a Mother's Tea last week. The Moms came and were served by our cute children. It was so fun. Brandon just stayed by my side and hugged me. He was really excited to have me there!

They sang a little program for us. Mostly songs about letters of the alphabet. So darling! Brandon sings these songs constantly at home and I love it!

After they were finished, they presented us with cute little flower pots that they had painted and planted a petunia! So precious!

I can't believe our baby is just about done with preschool! I'm having a hard time not wanting him to grow up! He's my buddy. Always there with a great hug or snuggle. Always wants me to tickle him. He likes to tell me stories.

I just hate to think that someday, he won't think I'm so much fun to hang with!

What is a normal routine?

We've had one of those weeks. We haven't had one in awhile. Sick kids. It started on Monday with Sydney. Not sure what is wrong...just a headache and tummy ache. Amanda said she felt a sore throat coming on, but went to school. Took dinner to our friends, Lindsay and Al who just lost their baby at 20 weeks-stillborn.

Tragic. Emotional.

By Monday night, Amanda's throat was severe. Kept her home on Tuesday and went to the doctor. Strep. Wednesday, Sydney and Amanda stay home. I have a hard time getting Brandon to school because he wants to hang with 'the sisters' (I think it's so cute that he refers to them this way) Amanda begs to go to school, but hasn't been on the meds for 24 hours yet, so Mike & I tell her she must stay home. Tears.

I love having the kids home. Don't love having them sick. Who does? But, there is something to be said about a routine. And there is no routine when we have sick kids.

This morning, Sydney not wanting to go to school, but does. Amanda wanting to go to school and does. We'll see how B does going to school this afternoon.

Finally, I can get a little order back into my week. So, this is what I'll be doing this afternoon (after the visiting teachers leave)....

Maybe it would be more fun to have the kids home.....

Mmmmmmm.....

This was a good dinner (aka everyone ate it)....honey walnut (I subbed pecans) shrimp!

Watch out PF Chang!