Boys Summer Trip

Since the girls were going on a little trip, the boys needed to go too!

Brad took Garrett up to Scoffield Lake and they camped and fished and slept in the tent. Grandpa Callahan showed up to camp with them!

 

 

 

 

Then Doug & Ian Rigby came down the the 2nd part of the weekend. They fished some more, rode 4-wheeelers, and went to see "Ant Man" !

In total Garrett himself caught 41 fish that weekend!!! 26 of them were in one day! crazy!

You can bet that if I had been there, there would be more pictures to share, but beggars can't be too choosy ya know! Garrett really seemed to have a fun time even if the other boy cousins didn't make it.

Summer Girls Trip

In place of a major summer vacation this year the boys and girls did a little split trip weekend. Grandma Callahan, the Staley girls, Sydnie, Janelle & Izzy Rigby and me and my girls went down to St. George for the weekend to see "Beauty and the Beast" at the Tuacahn Theater.

Now this was a really big deal for my girls and I'll tell you why: Their mom (aka me) gets to go on an annual girls weekend to St. George with friends once a year. Just moms -so fun by the way-. So when they found out that they got to go on a girls only trip to that same place mom takes her girls trip, they were over the moon! Couldn't wait.

 

We all shared a condo that was great! 5 Adults and 5 younger girls. The young girls thought their room was awesome as it had two bunk beds and two roll out beds so that they could all sleep together. Plus there was a pool! what's not to love? And they all fit in the one big tub haha! Very effective for cleaning as you can obviously see.

 

Janelle (Brad's cousin) bought all the young girls little Belle bags and filled them with all kids of fun stuff and they all thought it was fantastic! While Izzy was the expert in hair makeover for the weekend. And no one cooks like Grandma Peggy! She made them their favorite breakfast one morning, her famous pancakes, and steak and hotdogs another night!

The Tuacahn has a little market on the weekends so we went shopping there and at the outlets. I admit that not being a big shopper myself I have never really taken my girls on a shopping trip... fail? I told them that they could each pick out a new school outfit. They had a lot of fun with this! 

 And Beauty and the Beast? Awesome! we loved it. I had never been to the Tuacahn either and it was great to see an outside production and how well they used their surroundings as part of the show. It was really fun. Embrie and Maren were mesmerized!

We stayed behind to meet the cast and didn't get home that night until midnight, but everyone slept in and had a blast!

Please Believe Me

Mom's know a few things. Really! It's true!
As much as I would love to say that I know everything (ok so maybe I have told me kids that a couple times when they ask "how did you know?") I don't actually know everything. But I do know a lot of things.

So this just in:

Garrett: "Mom, I am going out to play baseball with Embrie. She wants to play." -as he goes up to get his baseball gear-
Me: "That's fine. Don't use your real baseball though."
Garrett: -comes back down with mitts and his baseball- "But Embrie says she wants to play with this ball."
Me: "Don't play with the real ball. She doesn't know how to catch as well as you do."
Garrett: -goes to the door- "But she wants to use this one."
Me: -right before he shuts to door- "But who is in charge? Embrie or me?"
-door shuts-

Me: "How do I handle this?" - said to Brad because I have to deal with kids not listening to me all the time-
Brad: "Just wait until she gets hit with the ball and comes in crying."
Me: "Yeah, but I mean him not listening to me. And here's what going to happen, is she is going to get hit in the head, that is what I worry about."

1 minute later (no kidding!) Embrie comes in the house crying, she's been hit in the face with the baseball.....

I know it was an accident. I had to explain to Garrett, yet again. That I don't make these rules just to make his life miserable. I was once 9, I was once 6, and I was once 4. I had to learn about life so that I could teach them.
Garrett is currently playing his 2nd season of back to back baseball. He knows it hurts to get hit by the ball and he also has been taught how to catch and throw properly. Embrie has not played baseball since the t-ball season of 2013. She needs to practice with the softer ball until she gets better.

Any other moms out there just wanting to pull their hair out sometimes and say "Please Listen to ME!"
oh well.... she may have herself a shiner for the first day of 1st grade. What can you do?

School Finale cont.... (seriously this is it promise!)

Yes, Yes I am a fan of my kids and I have shared every single thing they've done, but this is for me :)

As one last note, some before and after photos of this school year

 

Ah they grow up so fast!

School Finale

Well all the kiddos did great this year. Very proud of them! Both Garrett and Embrie worked extra hard to complete some extra tasks in school and earn their Mountain Lion Award. Good job dudes!

 

Garrett has and end of the year school (opera/musical) play. He played a Shepherd in the play

 "Jack & Jane & the Beanstalk"

He is not a fan of singing in public. He did a stint in school choir, but for the most part it's not his thing. His teacher put him in charge of stopping and starting the stage music too. He was so excited to be the "tech" guy.

 

 

 He also received a "Knights of the Math Table" Award and was "knighted" by the principle. For excellence in passing off his math facts.

 

And Finally I was also able to go with Garrett on his class field trip to the Red Butte Gardens and the History Museum. That was fun as I have never been there. (This field trip was rescheduled due to bad weather earilier this spring so it was at the tail end of the school year.)

 

 

Garrett and his teacher Ms. LeBeau whom we also loved! So great that we had such awesome teachers!

 

 



Finishing up the pre-school year

Maren is a doll. She had a pretty big class in preschool this year, but we continue to love our family preschool teacher who does a great job with the kids. Maren grew and learned so much this year! Here are some cute pictures from her preschool program at the end of the year.

 

This little miss is NOT shy which is a new thing for our kiddos. She loves to sing and dance so this program was right up her ally! She also memorized her part and spoke loud and clear with little persuasion.

 

It took her a little while to make friends partly because she is the youngest (and smallest) in her class, having an August birthday, and partly from the number of kids in the class, but she ended up with some buddies and loving it.

With Ms. Bre`. Love her. Maren has learned so much this year!

 

 

 

Finishing up our school year

Embrie did a lot of great things with school this year too, however, I am finding that I don't have as many pictures of her stuff for some reason. When she first started Kindergarten she was very shy. Probably my most shy child of the three. During her first meeting with her teacher Ms. Purvis, Embrie was shy and quiet. There were no friends that she already knew in her class, it was all new. Throughout the school year we noticed just how much she had blossomed! She is much more outgoing at school. She is even more confident in sports and dance! It is amazing to see how much she has grown.

This picture was taken in the van when I dropped her off at school one day this year. What a pretty girl!

 

on the 100th day of school they dressed up as grandmas & grandpas and then got to do a computer photo to make them look older so funny! Embrie made the picture on the right to show what she will look like when she is 100 years old.

She also wants to be a vet when she grows up.

 

I was so lucky to be able to go on her class field trip to the Zoo and this was our crazy group!

 

Ms. Purvis and both her AM & PM classes.

 

Embrie with Ms.Purvis on the last day of school. We loved her teacher, she was so great! And Embrie did so well this year. She mastered everything. Her report cards were always fantastic and her final one was absolutely perfect! And she is far above grade reading level. I was so happy for her, she does work very hard. (yes yes I know it is only kindergarten but a mama can still be proud!) 1st Grade here we come!