Everyday smiles

Having fun at primary activity days.

Anything with trucks.

Lost both front teeth within a day of each other!

These two are always getting into trouble.

Travis planted our first tree on our lot. We were very excited about it. Hope we don't have to cut it down come construction time, ha ha!

Violet practicing her skateboarding (hers is a smaller kind).

Or excavadoras.

And savoring sweet moments.

End of Year Awards, Competitions and Dances

Violet was involved in a lot this year, but one of the biggest events was Battle of the Books. She had to read 20 different books and answer questions regarding them. She started in September and read all 20 over the next few months, and multiple times. She was the only one on her team that read more than 3 books, so she really carried her team through these competitions. She spent many lunch recesses inside the library practicing with the librarians while the rest of her team wanted to play outside. 

First they had their class competition, then the 3rd grade competition, then then 3rd/4th grade competition, followed by the students vs faculty, and then, FINALLY, district level. They placed 3rd in the district, out of 13 schools. We were so proud of her! But she was VERY glad to be done. But she's already read the next 20 books for this next year so here we go again...

Violet and Ginger also had their spring ice skating competition and they did great! Ginger placed 1st in her age and Violet 3rd. I wish it wasn't so hard to get good photos of them on the ice.

We had our spring piano recital which the kids did well at...

 Ginger got a reward for reading the most out of the kindergarteners...

Of course Violet read the most of the 1-3rd grades...

And she had her final Chinese yo-yo performance. Although it was difficult, I'm glad she stuck with it all year. She learned lots of cool tricks!

Of course we ended the school year with the school dances! I was pleasantly surprised to see Jaxon really getting into his dance. Believe it or not, it's the first time I've actually seen him dance. He despises dancing.

Violet's grade did a traditional Filipino dance. 

And Ginger's class did a Troll dance.

Easter and "Spring" Break

We planned on spending spring break at the cabin, of course, but we had our annual Easter egg hunt with Mamie and Papa a couple days before we left. Since it was so cold and snowy outside, they had it at their church! It was a fantastic place for an Easter egg hunt, especially for the older kids!

On Tuesday afternoon we left for the cabin. It was definitely not a spring break- it felt like a second WINTER break! It was the first time we've had to use chains on our tires this year. This is the top of our gate...

Needless to say, this is the most snow we've seen up here. Here's our weather vane, which again, is about the same height as Violet, maybe a little taller. We probably had about 5 feet around our cabin.

We had fun sledding all kinds of hills.

And drew on the snow with icicles.

And of course had all sorts of fun inside the cozy cabin.

Travis brought his old homemade weapons he made as a kid. Our kids have absolutely loved playing with them.

Then we came back home to spring again. :) Yes, this was the best photo I could get.

School Projects and Presentations

Violet worked on this Native American project weeks. We even had time to make a small harpoon, and she planned to pass out candy to students who answered questions correctly.
 

Unfortunately it ended in tears as there were far too many kids wanting to visit her poster and things quickly got out of control as they all tried to steal her candy- which some older kids managed to do and ran away with it until a teacher got it back (by that time most of the candy was gone). She was pretty traumatized by the experience, but we encouraged her that things like that shouldn't deter her from trying again. 

The next week, around 8pm, I had finally settled down for some "me" time. Then Jaxon walks into the living room and asks, "Mom, aren't I supposed to turn something big in tomorrow?"

"Um...What?"

Luckily, I already had the costume, but we had both spaced the trifold. After a little talk about responsibility, we went to work. He did a great job despite being sleep deprived. He had to memorize his biographical speech in English and Chinese, and there were buttons on the desk for whichever one you wanted to hear.

Violet participated in school choir this year and they did such a good job. I don't think she expected how difficult it would be getting out of bed early every Tuesday and Thursday just to go to choir. She was happy she did it, but I'm not sure she'll want to do it again next year! ;)

Ginger also had a wax museum in her kindergarten class. She did such a great job! She was so happy to be seated by her best friend Riley.

 They also had a fun spring presentation for parents. It was so adorable.

Contrasting Climates and Pi Day!

It's still plenty cold here, with some snowy days. The younger two like to go feed the ducks Monday mornings despite the cold. There never seems to be enough snow to actually play in...

Until we go to the cabin! Then we've got plenty and then some. The girl's fort is still in good shape, we have to keep digging it out because we're still accumulating inches up there. Nothing seems to be melting yet!

This is our weather vane, it's usually probably about the same height as Violet? This was taken over President's Day weekend...

...and this was a couple weekends later, in March. In fact, we tried to go sledding, and it's nearly impossible for me and Travis to step in the snow without getting stuck. There were several times I my boot would sink and hit a tree branch from the nearest tree. We need to invest in some good snow shoes.

Travis' hats. He's made one for each of our kids now. He made a cute tank top for Ginger, too, to wear over a shirt. A man of great talents, he is.

In addition to crocheting, he also makes great snow forts. Jaxon is also in there towards the back.

Here's the entrance to the fort.

I like seeing the multiple layers of snow on our roof. You can't look through the upstairs windows anymore, they're blocked.

We just love our cabin and spending all that time in the snow. But it is nice to be able to come back home and enjoy the spring weather as well. Jaxon loves taking Talmage on walks. I think they're wearing their hats in this photo.

And, in other news- for the first time in 10 years...we were able to celebrate Pi Day with our original Pi Day friends. After a decade of moving around the country, the Philbricks and Monsons moved back to southern Utah County. We were just missing the Greens, but at least they're only a couple hours away. Who knew I'd still be friends with these guys 20 years after high school?