Caution: Photos Ahead

Ah, the end of the school year. This is where the insanity that led to my nearly four-month blogging break began. So many activities that something had to give. We gave up a clean house, regular family meals, exercise, early bedtimes...I may have been able to squeeze a few posts in if only I'd been willing to let go a little on personal hygiene, but even I draw the line somewhere. So photo scrooges beware, this is a photo heavy catch-up post.

We managed to fit in a couple of games with our awesome neighbors—this year we tried kickball instead of softball. They could say jousting, and we'd show up, just because they're all so awesome.

May 14, 2012

I helped with a water polo team dinner, a new experience for me to try to feed that many hungry teenagers.

May 15, 2012

I attended my last (sniff) kindergarten Teddy Bear Picnic.

May 16, 2012

The kids had also prepared a reader's theater. Funny story here:

The first group of kids lined up to do theirs in the classroom, with the other kindergartners sitting on the rug in front of them. Near the end of the performance, one of the little girls standing began to projectile vomit. Guess where Ainsley was sitting? Yep, right in front of her. She was covered, but refused to leave before performing her part. The show must go on...

May 16, 2012

Joey's teacher (and Robbie's former—and favorite—teacher) retired, as did Joey's 1st grade teacher, also a favorite.

May 16, 2012

Robbie performed with the percussion ensemble at the Junior High, and it was awesome. I discovered that he was a soloist when I saw it listed on the program, and had to text Rob to come and bring the other kids. Teenagers! He did well, in spite of his cast.

May 16, 2012

Not really an end-of-school activity, but I had to include this photo of us cleaning the church because it's a classic. Reminds me of a church dinner we were at: Joey started freaking out because Rob got mad at him for taking multiple desserts before everyone had been served, and a nice ward member who witnessed the meltdown said, "Oh good, I thought your kids weren't normal, now I can see that they are." Yeah, that's it, normal.

May 19, 2012

Rob, planting the flowers, because that was something I was willing to let go.

May 19, 2012

Backman Family History night was extra exciting, with a solar eclipse.

May 20, 2012

Another band concert. Joey did an amazing job, especially considering how little he practiced his clarinet. :)

May 21, 2012

We are so lucky and grateful to have a great-grandma who is healthy and supportive.

May 21, 2012

The water polo awards dinner. Robbie and Jonas got a special mention as the only seventh-graders on the team.

May 21, 2012

Joey, as an Idaho Spud in the 6th grade 50 States assembly.

May 22, 2012

The junior high awards night—there are some AMAZING kids there! I'm glad that Robbie is one of them.

May 23, 2012

Joey, after a poetry reading with one of his best friends.

May 24, 2012

And, Ainsley's last day of kindergarten. Sigh.

May 24, 2012

She adored her teacher, Miss Newman/Mrs. Gunn. :)

May 24, 2012

Rob will be shocked that I posted this photo, which is not the least-flattering photo that has ever been taken of me, but is probably the least flattering photo I've ever posted. It's because as a scout leader I had to help with the court of honor, and gave the picture-taking duty to Ellie. She didn't take one of just Joey, but I don't want to skip his big achievement—we finally made it through the 30 days of exercises, so he earned his Tenderfoot!

May 31, 2012

Drumroll here, for the much anticipated last day of school. Yay! Here's Ellie:

June 1, 2012

And Joey:

June 1, 2012

He came home with what appeared to be an arm tattoo. He explained that he didn't want to ruin his shirt by having his classmates sign it.

June 1, 2012

Robbie not only survived his first year of junior high, he loved it.

June 1, 2012

We celebrated by making homemade pizzas.

June 1, 2012

Fun, but a lot of work and a big mess to clean up. Next year I need to remember that and we can just go out for dinner...

June 1, 2012

This Week's "Field Trip"

How many kids get excited to visit the dentist? Mine do. Eye exam? Yep. Well, except maybe Joey, because he hates getting drops put in his eyes (gets that from Rob).

But they love trying on glasses...

Joey's vision is 20/15, but he can't resist a prop. I love the Napolean Dynamite specs. If he grows his hair out again, it'll be the perfect Halloween costume.

The big news is that Ellie needs glasses, just a little long-distance correction. She liked these three pair:

So, what's your vote? I'll post her choice when we pick them up next week...

Finally, the kids with those awesome disposable sunglasses:

Happy Halloween!

This is especially for Ralph and Judy. We made it to the other grandparents because they're all within two miles of our house. But by the time the kids finished their homework, it was time to meet their friends, and too late when they finished to drive downtown—sorry Ralph and Judy! More candy for you. Complete details on all the Halloween festivities to follow, hopefully soon, just wanted you to see the trick-or-treaters you missed! In case you can't tell, Ellie is a gypsy, Robbie a surgeon (who didn't bother to take off his cargo shorts and sweatshirt before putting on his scrubs!), Ainsley a witch, and Joey is something scary. According to Shawn, most Americans consume 24 lbs. of candy each year. The way the kids were groaning about how heavy their bags were, we may have picked up our quota.

Shutter Happy

I'm backdating this a couple of weeks because I'm sort of OCD, and would like this on the date it happened, not when I'm finally getting around to posting it.

So, back to Melissa's birthday. It was a day of firsts. The first day of our new monthly birthday dinner with the Marshes.

And our first dinner at their new high-rise condo downtown!

Also, the first of many great photo shoots while downtown. The flower beds at Temple Square were uncharacteristically empty, ready for tulips just before conference, but we had plenty of great backdrops on the public square just below their building.

For every photo of smiling kids I have at least five with silly faces:

See? Smiling:

And silly:

And lots of silly poses too. Here's Joey, a.k.a. Percy Jackson, controlling the waters:

This got a few smiles from people passing by:

This kid is not a poser at all.

Neither is this kid.

It must be genetic.

I love these.

I would never copy a professional photo, but I'm so excited to show the great portraits of the kids by Richard Busath, I'm thinking it's okay to show low-res proofs here. Anyone know the protocol on this? Hopefully this would be considered free advertising from a very happy client.

I ordered 12x12 prints of each of these:

And a collage of 5x5's that will look like this:

We should have the prints about the same time we go in for our family sitting, March 11th. I can't wait to hang them on the wall, and I'll be sure to post the finished product.

On the Last Day of Halloween

Yes, it's Sunday, and here are my kids trick-or-treating. We went to my parents for dinner, and knew they'd want to see the kids costumes since we never made it down there on Saturday.

We stopped by great-grandma's on the way home. We tried the Backman's too, but no one was home.
I didn't dress up, but I'll go ahead and play fortune-teller right now. I predict a trip next halloween. :)

Halloween Continued, The School Parade

This is another "especially for grandma" post.
Ellie borrowed Samantha's Alice in Wonderland costume, and looked so cute. As soon as she came home from school she informed me that next year she wants to be a gypsy, like her teacher. She's got plans for the year after that too—Cleopatra.
Ainsley was excited to wear her costume to the parade. We saw several bigger ladybugs, but none as cute as this bug.
Joey is sort of obsessed with ninjas right now, and this was easy to put together, yea! The current debate at our house is whether a ninja or a samurai would come out on top in a fight.
Rob is so vocally against halloween, and Robbie still worships his dad, so it's no surprise that he claimed he didn't want to dress up. We saw this idea on Family Fun, and it was clever and low-maintenance, not to mention cheap. A bag of Smarties and a roll of packing tape. Yep, he's a smarty-pants.