Piano Recital

At home getting ready for the piano recital.  Ryan, Katie, Emily, and Megan have had a great year with Liz Cook as their teacher.  They have piano lessons on Wednesdays after school from 3:15 – 5:30.  The girls have a 30 minute lesson and Ryan has a 45 minute lesson.  Sister Cook comes to our house which is has been fantastic!  The kids love her as a teacher!

The recital was really well organized and the kids all did a great job…

Each of the kids played two or three songs and did really well.

Sister Cook had balloons tied to each students designated chairs with a note inside telling them what she appreciated about them.  It was a fun night.

Spotlight in Seminary–Ryan

Ryan was the ‘spotlight’ in Seminary today and brought this little pink card home to show me.  He had to answer questions that were on the back and share them with the class and then everyone in the class wrote him a note on the back.  Fun!

 

1. If you were a car, what type would you be?  Audi
2. Which temple to do you want to be sealed in?  Rome Temple or the Salt Lake Temple
3. Which mission do you want to be called to?  Germany
4. Who and what would you bring with you to a deserted island?  My family and my house.
5. If you had 24 hours to live, what would you do first?  I would go to Seminary.
6. Who in this class is most likely to be president?  Tate Gillespie
7. If you could choose how to die, how would you?  I would die of old age at age 111. (Eleventy-one)
8. Which ice cream flavor represents you best?  Strawberry
9. If you could meet and be with any scriptural character, who would it be?  Nephi
10. Describe the world you will create as a God?  I will create a world with 90% water with 12 islands on opposite sides of the world.
11. What is your weirdest or biggest scar?  0 scars
12. Scariest thing that has ever happened to you?  When my brother was lost.

Matt turns Five

Matthew’s birthday was on a busy Thursday and there was no way we had time to celebrate with the whole family.  Instead we decided we’d move his ‘birthday party’ to Friday night… but on his actual birthday Matthew and I had a special date to Barnes and Noble where he got to pick out his free birthday cupcake and then shop for a book.  When we found this one we sat down in the isle and I read him every page.  Fun to spend the time together.  He was excited to show it to the other guys in the house and now he and Luke quote the book and talk about it all the time.

Three presents from Mom and Dad.  Present #1: A Star Wars Darth Vader Chair, which he is pretty excited about.  He had a small ‘anywhere chair’ for years which he carried around everywhere and finally outgrew.  He’s pretty thrilled with his replacement and for the rest of the day kept saying, “I just want to play with my chair.”  Megan’s pretty excited about it too.

A card and a kiss from Emily.

A card and a kiss from Megan.

Present #2: a Darth Vader backpack for Kindergarten next year.  Love that picture on the right.  He was ecstatic!  Both of these things I’ve had for months because of a great sale.

Present #3: A Darth Vader pillow for his bed.  See a theme?

Love this kid so much.

Knight Playmobil from Grandma and Grandpa Walton.  So excited to have some ‘bad guys’ to add to his collection.

What a happy boy!

Letters from Grandpa

Megan, Luke and Matthew sent ‘Get Well Soon’ letters to Grandpa Walton about a month before he was going to have back surgery.  He then emailed them all back.  Such a great grandpa.

Dear Matt,

Thanks for the encouraging letter with the amazing picture of me with a very tall straight back.  My back is not that straight right now and I can’t stand that tall either.  I am hoping to get an operation that will fix my back so that it will not be so painful.  I saw pictures of you at the sleep clinic being tested.  I understand that you aced the test by sleeping all night.  You are much better than I am at sleeping.  I took the same test and I failed miserably because I could not get to sleep.  The wires and all the connections would bother me when I tried to turn over in bed.  The nurse was ready to send me home at 3:00 in the morning because I did so bad.  I like to see the pictures of you and Luke playing together.  It is good to have an older brother (usually) so you can do things together.  I am looking forward to seeing you soon.  Love Grandpa Walton

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Dear Luke,

Your letter made me happy, especially the picture of you and I holding hands and smiling.  I felt the warmth from the heart shaped sun, and I could almost hear the bird singing in the tree.  Too bad about that tree, it looks like it was in one of the tornados because it has a few branches but no leaves.  The grass is very healthy though.  It looks like spring in a beautiful park.  Do you have grass in your yard now?  

I heard about your dad’s broken foot.  It sounds very painful, especially after the operation.  Your dad is just as upset about not being able to play sports as he is the pain of having a broken foot.  I like to say hi to you on skype when we are talking to your Mom.  You seem to be happy most of the time and that makes other people happy too.  I hope you can do things to help your dad to be happy.  I love you a lot and am looking forward to seeing you soon.  (especially to play Oh Heck.)  Love Grandpa Walton 

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For Megan’s Letter Grandpa turned it into a Mad Lib  where she had to roll a dice to insert the right word.  She LOVED it so much I had to record it. 

Dear Megan

You are a very (list 1) ____________________ girl, and I am very (list 2) ____________________ to have you as a (list 1) ____________________ granddaughter. Your (list 1) ____________________ handwriting almost brought (list 1) ____________________ tears to my (list 1)____________________ eyes. I had to (list 3) ____________________ and get a (list 1)____________________ Kleenex to (list 4) ____________________ away my (list 1)____________________ tears.

I do remember some of the (list 2) ____________________ times that we have shared together, like when we were at the (list 1) ____________________ Oregon coast and we went outside to (list 4) ____________________ those (list 1) ____________________ bubbles in the (list 1)____________________ front yard of the (list 1) ____________________ yellow house.

You are very (list 2) ____________________ to have such a (list 1) ____________________ Mother and a (list 1) ____________________ Dad, not to mention your (list 1) ____________________ brothers and (list 1) ____________________ sisters.

I hope that my (list 1) ____________________ back will get better soon. Perhaps if you could (list 4)____________________ on my (list 1) ____________________ back I would feel a lot better.

I look forward to seeing you soon.   Love Grandpa Walton

 

When Megan rolled the dice and filled in the blanks it read like this…

Dear Megan,

You are a very handsome girl, and I am very brave to have you as a big granddaughter.  Your nice handwriting almost brought handsome tears to my big eyes.  I had to sneak and get a handsome Kleenex to stomp away my ugly tears.  I do remember some of the unfortunate times that we have shared together, like when we were at the fat Oregon coast and we went outside to skip those fat bubbles in the ugly front yard of the handsome yellow house.  You are very disappointed to have such a nice mother and a handsome dad, not to mention your ugly brothers and nice sisters.  I hope that my sweet back will get better soon.  Perhaps if you could crawl on my ugly back I would feel a lot better.

I look forward to seeing you soon.  Love Grandpa Walton

Grandpa included an ‘original’ version just so she knew exactly the way it was supposed to be. 

Dear Megan

You are a very nice girl, and I am very glad to have you as a sweet granddaughter. Your nice handwriting almost brought sweet tears to my handsome eyes. I had to run and get a nice Kleenex to wipe away my big tears.

I do remember some of the happy times that we have shared together, like when we were at the beautiful Oregon coast and we went outside to blow those big bubbles in the beautiful front yard of the nice yellow house.

You are very lucky to have such a sweet Mother and a wonderful Dad, not to mention your nice brothers and sweet sisters.

I hope that my back will get better soon. Perhaps if you could crawl on my back I would feel a lot better.

I look forward to seeing you soon.  Love Grandpa Walton

A Friend Party for Megan

Megan’s birthday was in the beginning of April but with so much going on we couldn’t figure out a party time until the end of the month.  As it was we had five soccer games that day.  Luckily a friend offered to give Ryan a ride up to Denver for his game so I had a couple of afternoon hours to pull everything together for Megan and the girls. 

This cute little frame is my future summer extra job chart but I thought I’d use it for her party.  Katie helped me by printing out cards with all of the party activities.  Each girl got to take a turn picking what we would do next.  I asked Katie and her friend Brooklyn to be in charge of games and to help with crowd control – which worked out great!!

First, Tacos for dinner.

Next someone picked ‘Say Happy Birthday to Megan!’ and then ‘Open Presents’ from the birthday chart.  Megan got some fun things from her friends…

An art set from Brooklyn, books from Naomi (both friends from Germany) painting horses kit and extra rubber bands from Sydney, a doll hair kit from Brynnley, a gift card from Sara, and a bag to color from Lizzy.  Claire couldn’t come to the party but she stopped by earlier and dropped off her present… a cute purse and lip gloss… which was so nice of her.  Megan has a great group of friends here.  There’s roughly 25 girls in her Activity Days Group. 

After ‘Opening Presents’ someone picked ‘Play Pictionary’ so we moved to the dining room to play.

Next picked was to ‘Give Megan a big hug’ and then ‘Eat brownies’.

Katie and Brooklyn took the girls downstairs to ‘Play Twister’ and goof around until their parents came while I tied tags on these jars and cleaned the kitchen.  Love those teens.   Once all the girls left then I took Ryan to a Multi-Stake Dance and then dropped Brooklyn off – all while Chris worked downstairs the entire evening.  Busy day, but glad we fit in a fun party for Megan!  Love that girl.