It’s a Darth Vader kind of a Morning

Boy, this kid loves to dress up.  Inevitably right before we have to leave for school I find him completely dressed as a different character – but today he was Darth Vader right from the get-go.  They sure do love their Star Wars.

 

Boys

I just love the fact that these two little guys are best friends. 

• They love to play Wii together – Super Smash is a favorite.
• They love to battle with their Knight Playmobil.
• Matt loves to do his ‘homework’ when Luke does his.
• They love to squish their fluoride for a long time.
• They love to play Dress Up. 
• They both DON’T love to clean their room.
• They love to wear matching shirts. 
• They love to jump on the trampoline and play outside.
• They love to play with their Star Wars guys.
• They love to be tickled when I’m tucking them in bed.
• They love to take a bath.
• They love saying family prayer – and both do a great job.
• They spend hours together every morning keeping themselves occupied.
• They love to sit on the same little chair and take turns on the computer.
• They are happy far more than they argue.  I love that.

9 Things We Love About This Girl

First of all, we love everything about this girl.  She is absolutely wonderful.

1. Megan is always eager to play sports.  She loves being active and is not only happy but beyond excited to try something new.  She really enjoyed her first basketball season and is loving another soccer season.  She is aggressive, a good runner and puts her heart into it.  She is always asking Dad if he wants to come play Basketball outside in the front yard with her.  She loves to be outside, riding bikes, jumping rope, doing an obstacle course, jumping on the trampoline, playing tag, and shooting baskets.
2. Megan is a Daddy’s Girl.  She loves to snuggle up by Dad to watch movies, is always writing long notes to him about how much she loves him, loves to play sports with him and always calls him Daddy.
3. Megan is sensitive to the Spirit.  I love that when she feels the Spirit she gets a little teary eyed and looks over to me as if to make a silent connection.  We are similar in this regard and I love it.
4. Megan loves music.  She is always asking me for my iPhone so she can turn on music.  She loves all different kinds of music and is quick to memorize lyrics and belt it out.  She has enjoyed being in the 3rd grade Choir at school this year as well.
5. Megan is a card-making / letter-writing thoughtful sweetheart.  She loves writing letters and making cards for her siblings or for someone who doesn’t feel well or just for fun putting a surprise picture or note on Mom and Dad’s pillow.  She has always liked to express her emotions in writing rather than verbally.  Even when she is feeling bad for something she had done wrong, her apology will come in the form of a thoughtful sweet note.  We love them!
6. Megan is a snuggler.  She wants to cozy up to Mom or Dad and loves to have her back rubbed or her hair played with.  She likes to be tucked in at night (and especially loves to hear a story of when mom was little.)
7. Megan is very interested in clothes and picking out cute outfits.  Right now she’s in a ‘skirt/dress + her jean jacket’ phase.  She loves headbands but her preferred hair style is a ponytail.   Second is to have curled hair – but even then it doesn’t stay down for long.  She almost always puts it back into a ponytail by the time I see her in the afternoon.
8. Megan is very responsible.  She does well on her weekly responsibility chart – waking up before 7:00 every morning, always making her bed, doing her zone, practicing piano, getting her homework done, 30 minutes of reading, getting ready for soccer and gymnastics and getting to bed on time – all without having to be reminded.  I sure appreciate her diligence.
9. When Megan was little we used words like sassy and feisty to describe her while clenching our teeth and crossing our fingers for the future.  Now it’s those same characteristics that make her so much fun.  She’s a go-getter.  She’s fearless, aggressive in sports, outgoing, has lots of friends, is a leader, and always wants to try new things.   We love her sense of adventure.  Megan, you are still feisty… and we love it.

Megan’s 9th Birthday

Megan picked French Toast for her birthday breakfast.  Nice to have a Conference Sunday – instead of 9:00 church, so we could enjoy breakfast together. 

After both sessions of Conference Megan opened her presents…

I love that my kids love to give each other cards.  Luke was pretty excited to have Megan read every word.  Man, I love his facial expressions!

Cards from Emily and Katie…

I am a big Little House on the Prairie fan… so is Katie.  I think she and I have watched the entire series through twice… once in Washington and once in Georgia.   Emily remembered bits and pieces but Megan remembered even less.  When we watch the ones recorded on our DVR Megan is always the one saying, “This doesn’t make sense to me.  We need to watch it from the beginning.”  And I couldn’t have agreed more.  Megan got Season 1 and Season 2 of the newly remastered picture quality DVD’s.  Can’t wait to watch them with you Megan!!

A new book, a perfect t-shirt for soccer practice, Disney Headbanz and Twister and a trip to Barnes and Noble with Mom to pick out something special and get her free birthday cupcake!  Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

The next day I took treats to Megan’s school class.  Ryan and Katie came with Matt and I since they were already home from school.  Megan felt pretty special to have them there – it’s not very often that she gets a little red in the cheeks because of so much attention.   She handed out the cookies while I talked to the class, introduced Megan’s siblings and asked if they could sing Happy Birthday to Megan with me – which they did and then waited patiently for Megan to sit down and take her first bite.  Class tradition.  Then they all dug in.  After a minute Ryan came up to me and said, “Mom, you really were a teacher.”  I looked a little confused as he began again… “Mom, you knew exactly how to talk to the class and what to say and you sounded exactly like a teacher.”  It made me laugh.   “Ryan, I’m sure I use that voice all the time with you guys at home.”  “Nope,” he said, “That was definitely a teacher voice.  That’s so cool.”    Pretty funny – It’s been a long time since I had my own class of 2nd Graders… almost 16 years to be exact – but I guess some things you never forget.

Ryan, Katie, Matt and I visiting Megan at school to celebrate her birthday.

General Conference

Above Pictures and a few below by Katie

It was a quick five days home from St. George before Conference was upon us.  Six months seemed to fly past.   We had soccer games Saturday morning so we recorded the Morning session and started after lunch.  On the way home from Ryan’s game in Denver I called Katie and had her print out some packets for the little kids and they excitedly gathered their notebooks from last year, enough crayons and markers to last the whole weekend, and settled into the couches for two sessions.   Ryan and Chris headed to Priesthood Session at the church just as Chris was getting home from working on-call for most of the afternoon.  

Sunday we enjoyed Megan’s birthday breakfast of French Toast and then watched another two sessions.    The kids were all really attentive, even the boys knew they had to stay put and hang with us without complaint.  We had a big Sunday dinner… roast, potatoes, gravy, carrots etc.  and then celebrated Megan’s birthday with presents and a big cookie cake… post to follow.

Katie with her camera… Luke and Me… a Conference Selfie… and a Sunday afternoon April snow storm.

 

School Stuff

Emily and the entire fifth grade class acting and singing in the ‘End of the Year’ Fifth Grade Play… a look back at a typical day in fifth grade.  It was pretty cute.  Here’s Emily doing some of her lines and singing in the choir when not on stage. 

Emily and Megan have enjoyed the Elementary School choir this year which includes 3rd through 5th grade.  Their Choir teacher is really a fun lady and picks great songs.  It’s a great program.  Choir is over for the year now so no more Friday and Monday early mornings with Ms. Clark.  Love these cute performing girls.

Megan’s Post Spring Break Essay

“Nice hit Megan” said my Daddy as we were golfing!  During Spring break I loved going golfing.  The day before, my Dad said that Mom, Emily, Him and me were going golfing.  I was excited but… I’ve never been golfing before.  My favorite thing about golfing was driving the golf cart (from some help rom my Dad).  One time I hit my pink ball so far the ball was pretty close to the hole.  Out of all the clubs, my favorite was the putting club.   While my Parents, Emily and I were golfing, Katie and Ryan were home with most of the cousins.  Some of the cousins were golfing with their Dads.  One thing I learned about golfing is that you use more than one golf club.  Golfing was one of the most awesome things I did over Spring Break!!