Memorial Day Weekend

We had a busy weekend.  On Friday night we went fishing with the Southwards.  The kids both caught their first ever fish, with some help of course.

On Saturday we worked around the house and played with water balloons.

On Sunday after church we decorated graves in Henryetta.  Eli had been asking to do it, and my parents were out of town, so we did it.  I enjoy telling the kids about our ancestors and Derek is into family history, so he enjoys going too.  We decorated the Gastaldo graves too, but I didn’t manage to get a picture.

On Monday we went swimming and then had a cookout with burgers, corn on the cob, watermelon, and root beer floats.  If that’s not summer in your mouth, I don’t know what is!

GRADUATION He did it! We did it! It’s done!

I’m so proud of Derek for all of his hard work!  It has been a long hard road, but he did it and we are all very excited!  The one and only time go pokes is allowed.

These kids are so proud of their Daddy and very excited to spend more time with him.

Rodney and Mary arrived just in time for the big day.

Easter

The kids looked super cute for church in their matching dress and tie made by Stacy.

When we were trying to get a family pic at Mom and Dad’s, the kids weren’t cooperating.  Even candy bribes weren’t working, so David told them that if they cooperated they could hold Isaac.  Worked like a charm and made for some adorable pics!

At the farm, we hunted eggs and had a nice dinner with lots of family.  Aunt Caroline made the beautiful spring centerpieces.

Easter morning baskets

We were hunting eggs and doing Easter activities all month long including egg dying and resurrection rolls. 

These are pics from their school and playgroup egg hunts.  All the kids in Eli’s class had to make an Easter basket out of a milk jug.  I suggested this and he was happy to be a missionary and share the real meaning of the season.  One side says, “He is Risen,”  and the other side has the Savior stepping out of the tomb.

Science, Soccer etc.

Eli got first place in his very first science fair.  I looked through some books and gave him a choice of several different experiments.  He chose to do a simple egg cooking experiment, so we named it Eli’s Endothermic Egg Experiment.  He made a hypothesis and wrote all the headings on the poster.  He was very excited to win!

Eli is playing soccer this year and I’m coaching his team.  It is fun.  He really likes defending the goal and he has had several saves.

The league was a bit disorganized and frustrating, but after the last game he got a trophy and had a pizza party, so he was happy.

I took the kids to see Brooke’s big bunny.  Quite a while back, we signed Eli up for the Lego club free magazine.  He has been checking the mail every day.  One day he said, “My magazine is taking so long to get here.  It has been years and years.”  When it finally came, he was very excited.

On our trip to the zoo the lady in the rainforest took the kids to see all the snakes : ) and we had a picnic in the bamboo forest.

On Good Friday, Derek took Cori on a Daddy daughter date to the zoo.  She loved it!  There is a new grizzly bear.

One day, while Eli was at school, Cori made her name with macaroni and one day at Mom & Dads she had a tea party with turkey hunter Joey.

Nick, Kira, and Keegan were visiting from Guam.  We had Keegan for a few hours one day and we had fun doing some of her favorite things; jumping in puddles and looking at a fire hydrant.