Tag!Your It!

So, Kelly tagged me for an image tag....
I think I did this right by doing a Google image search for the answers to each of the following questions. So, Here It Goes......................... See how many you can guess right.

Age next birthday:

Place I want to visit:

My favorite things:

My favorite place:

My favorite food:

My favorite color:

The town where I live:

Past Pet:

Nickname I have had:

College Major:

1st Job:

Goal for the Year:

O.K. you can post a comment if you think you know the answers.

Now comes the hard part. I am supposed to tag someone else, but I don't know anyone else who blogs. So If any new blog readers out there create a blog anytime soon, I tag you!!!You can use this as one of your first posts. (You guys know I am talking about you; Mom, Sis, Rob,Jen C., Tom B., Tim J.) So start blogging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also tag Gwen, Makayla and Kennedy. But their blog is private so only their parents and close friends can read it.Have Fun Girls!!!!!

Ian's Graduation

I can't beliave that my Nephew Ian has graduated, but it happened. Wednesday, May 28th in fact. Where does time go?????



Last Saturday my sister threw him a graduation party and it was so much fun. When I downloaded the images, I noticed that most of the time people were making funny faces so this is the collage that came about.

He left for NAU last Thursday and we do miss him already. He is attending a summer program for 5 weeks. Then he will go back for the fall. He is majoring in bio-med with plans of a medical career.

Congratulations Ian!!!! We are so Proud!!!!!!

Graduation Disaster

There are so many times, as a parent, that you get all excited for something, only to have it turn out a totally different way. Konnor's Kindergarten Graduation was one of those times. Let me give you some details that lead up to this momentous occasion.

1. Konnor has attended North Phoenix Baptist Preschool and Kindergarten(where I am the Director) since he was 7 weeks old. He knows every teacher, child and parent that comes into the school and they know him. He loves it there and he loves his friends.


2. Weeks before graduation the diplomas and sashes were ordered, the cake was ordered, the kids were practicing their Italian songs, the video yearbook was put together, and the invitations were passed out.


3. Monday before graduation Konnor had a soar throat and when I took him to the doctor he was diagnosed with strep throat. He could not go back to school until Wednesday.


4. Wednesday Konnor brought home all of his final projects and it was officially the last day that he had to wear a uniform.


5. Thursday morning he was crying that he didn't want to go to school. What? He never says that! He loves school and he wasn't even wearing his uniform! He never really said why he didn't want to go to school but it was really hard to get him into the classroom. I thought maybe he was sad that he was graduating that same night. This was definitely one of those times that I wished I could just read his mind!!!!!!


6. Daddy picked him up from school at 3:30 and I stayed to at school to help prepare for graduation. I was planning on Welcoming all the parents and talking about all of the kids that we have had since they were babies, including my own son Konnor.


7. I got home at 5:00 and started getting Konnor ready. I knew dressing him would be the hard part because he hates dress clothes. I pulled out every pair of nice pants that he had, but he hated all of them. I pulled out every button down and polo shirt that he had, but he said he hated all of them. It was a battle for the next 30 minutes to get him dressed. I think I bribed him with everything I could. I just wanted him to get to graduation. and at this point I did not care what it took


8. We finally got in the car and he looked great. Then he started screaming," I am not doing graduation. I hate graduation, I hate my clothes, and I am not graduating."

As a Mom I was devastated. Kindergarten graduation only happens once and I did not want him to miss it. He screamed all the way there and honestly, I started crying as well. I think I was overcome with the emotions that go along with your children growing up and I was upset that he did not want to do graduation. I didn't know what was going on.

We got to the school and somehow I got him up to the room. All of his fellow graduates were so happy to see him and were saying Yeah Konnor's here, come on Konnor we are getting in line. But, they could tell something was wrong. Konnor couldn't hold back the tears and started crying as he wrapped himself around my legs and pushed us both into the hallway. He said he didn't feel good and that he was going to throw up. O.K. I thought, now this is serious. I didn't know if he was sick, sad, mad about clothes, or angry at me, or just not wanting to get up in front of the 70 people who were in the room for graduation.

After much consoling, and giving up my role as Director and welcoming of parents, I convinced Konnor to at least walk in to get his diploma along side of me. In the end I couldn't even get him to do that. We almost left altogether, then Keith came and got Konnor to just sit in the audience with us.

So....I was very disappointed that my son did not participate in his Kindergarten Graduation and I guess I'll never truly know why. But I also know that I felt so guilty for feeling disappointed when I was so proud of everything that he has accomplished so far. Konnor did, however, give me a gift that night and get his picture taken with his teacher. So, although I don't have a picture of him receiving his diploma, I will always have this very memorable story and this picture of him eating cake afterwards with his teacher Mrs. Harren.

My sister did help me feel better by reminding me that one day, Konnor would have kids and they would have a Kindergarten graduation and that will be a perfect time to bring up this story again..... Thanks Sis!!!

American Idol

Just a note to say,
We Loved David Cook.
Our favorite song that he sang all season was Billie Jean( I think that was week 3 or 4.)
You can hear it on Americanidol.com.

New hair

Thought I'd share my new doo with you. I don't think I had cut my hair for at least 5 months and my color had grown out for the past 7 months. I am so bad about scheduling appointments for myself. Janet Marceau cuts my hair and she is amazing. I just brought in a picture and said, " Can you cut it short like this?" She did. She said it was about 31/2 inches I cut off. Let me know what you think.

Before: After:

I haven't posted in so long. Sorry. But I do have a lot to share. First I'll talk about the kids choir concert on May 18th . It was wonderful. Konnor sang with the Pre-K and K choir and he dressed up as a biblical boy. He loved this because he hates to wear dress up clothes so he got to wear anything he wanted because he would have a costume covering it. He also loved the costume because it had a belt on the front, and he twirled it the whole time he was singing. It even distracted him so much that he did not do any of the motions to the songs. Oh well. At least he got up on the stage. I was very proud.

Makayla and Gwen also sang in the choir. The 3rd through 6th graders put on a performance called"Race to Win". It was centered around Nascar and racing. The message was all about "whose race are you running?God's race! of course!" It had a really great message and it was truly wonderful. Ruth Lewis is the Children' Choir Minister and she has been at our church for 35 years teaching music and leading children choirs. She is a blessing to so many people. The girls really enjoy singing and always take part in the children's choir and ensembles at Christmas and July 4th. The girls had a special part in the performance where they had to do a choreographed dance with inflatable tires. They loved it and they did a great job. Here is a snippett from their performance.

Unforgettable!!

We began our weekend last Saturday with a Garage Sale, a Baseball game, and a mother/daughter tea. Keith and I were playing tag team all morning. He went one place with 2 kids I went another with the other 2, then we switched kids and events later on and headed to something else. It was just one of those Saturdays. At the Garage sale we made $70 and got rid of many clothes and the big freezer on our back porch.(Yeah!) I saw Konnor hit the ball out to the fence at his Baseball game. Then I spent a very relaxing 3 hours with my Mom, Sister and 2 of my wonderful daughters at a Mother/Daughter Tea. It was great. But the best event had not yet happened.

At 3:00 we were going to Carolyn's first dance recital on a real stage. She really enjoys getting ready for special occasions and this was no exception. I washed her hair so that I could make curls while I was drying her hair. This is her favorite way to wear her hair. She then put on her favorite pink leotard along with her favorite pink skirt. The outfit wasn't quite right until she added the perfect hair accessory which today was her brown head band with the pink bow. She was ready and couldn't wait to get to her dance recital. When we arrived at the school, she seemed a little apprehensive and walked really close to me. I quickly had flashbacks of when Gwen and Makayla were having their first dance recital. Gwen did every dance. Makayla, however, screamed,"I am not dancing!" and ran off of the stage in the middle of the recital. I wasn't sure how Carolyn would do and now I was worried. I took her backstage and reassured her that she would be fine and she went off with her teacher. As I took my spot in the audience, I said a little prayer that everything would go well. Since this recital was for the dance classes that we offer at our Preschool, I pretty much knew everyone in the audience and they all knew that Carolyn was my daughter. As the girls came out onto the stage Carolyn was doing great she found her spot and waited for the music to start. She started off great and then this is what happened.......

It was so cute. She started out every dance and then moved to this position with her arms over her head just watching until the song ended. Even when the other girls were bumping into her because they were jumping to the right or left or circling together around the stage; Carolyn stayed in one spot not moving a muscle. Her teacher even tried to grab her hand at one point to get her to move with the other girls. But there was no moving her. Between the 2nd and 3rd dance, each dancer was called on to the stage one by one to show off a special tumble on the mat. Each girl came out quickly. Then there was a long pause between girls. No one was coming out. I was sure that it was Carolyn not wanting to come onstage. We all waited on the edge of our seat, when, finally, Carolyn entered the stage area to perform her tumble. You could tell everyone in the room wondered if she would do it. And then..............

The crowd went wild!!! It was so wonderful and unforgettable! The last number they performed was the boogie woogie. There were about 30 girls on the stage and Carolyn did every step we were so proud and I think she was too.. ...Sometimes, as a mom, I get so caught up in scheduling and going from this event to that, that it really is the unexpected moments in life that make you stop and appreciate the simple things.

Thank You Carolyn!!!!!

Weekend Thrillers

Sometimes our weekends seem so packed with events that we are actually excited for Monday to come along so that we can relax and get into a routine again. The weekends in April and May always seem to be filled with year end events. Here is a recap of some of the events the kids have been involved in recently.

In March Konnor started playing Baseball again. This is his second year and he loves it. Well he loves every sport, but Baseball is one of his favorites. He does quite well and Keith and I still aren't sure where he gets his amazing talent. The name of his team is The Red Raiders. They have 10 players on their team and Konnor is #10. During his first game this year, one of the other players hit a fly ball right to Konnor. He stuck out his glove and caught it. Everyone was amazed at the great catch. Konnor really loves to hit the ball. He always hits with all his might and we love to cheer for him. He already has his own cheer squad with his 3 sisters on the sideline yelling for him. In the 1st picture he was climbing the fence in the dugout while he was waiting for his turn at bat. The second picture is Konnor talking to his friend Caleb from the opposing team The Yellow Jackets. They are probably talking about their cool baseball shoes.

In April, Our Girl Scout troop went to spend the night at Crazy Horse Ranch in Black Canyon City. This was a lot of fun and the best part was that Sally and I didn't have to plan a thing. The girls got to do so many fun things. First they got to decorate shirts, which most of them adorned with cute sayings and pictures that had to do with horses. Then we had dinner and of course smores around the campfire. That night we had to sleep in tents. This would have been o.k. except that the tent I was sleeping in with about 5 other girls almost collapsed in the night. It was very windy and every time the wind would blow our tent would blow in and almost collapse onto us. I think we maybe got 3 hours of sleep. However, we had a wonderful day when we woke up. At 5:00 the girls were up getting ready. they went straight down to the horses so that they could pet and feed them. They really learned a lot about the horses that day. They brushed and cleaned them; saddled them; cleaned up horse manure; and had an hour riding lesson with them. It was great. After we had lunch our guide took us down to the creek and the girls went Tadpole hunting. I think they all loved this the best because they were not expecting it to be so fun.

Last weekend the girls had their birthday party together. As they get older, they are beginning to have many of the same friends so this was a great compromise to have their party together. It was a fun time and they had 8 girlfriends over for a 70's swim party. They decorated the pool area with colorful fish and colorful garden hangers. They previously picked a few things from Oriental Trading company like Tie dyed beach balls and hippie rubber duckies. They also purchased neon colored tote bags which every girl got to decorate when they first arrived at the party. They also planned a relay race that ended up being a fun way to get the girls into the pool. Of course, a girl birthday party would not be complete without snacks. The girls planned a menu of Cream puffs, brownies, watermelon and cantaloupe, mozzarella sticks, potato chips and lemonade. They served the lemonade in Hurricane glasses with umbrella straws. They had a great time and it is so much fun to see how much they've grown year after year.

Well that's all for now. Look for upcoming events which may include, but are not limited to, Carolyn's Dance Recital(May 10), Spring Choir Concert(May 18) and Ian's Graduation(May 28).

Spontaneous Talent Show

I'm not sure if it's just our family or not, But do you ever have those nights that turn into an all out talent show? Well tonight was one of those nights for us. It started out like any regular day. The kids went to school while Keith and I went to work. I got off work and picked up all the kids and went home. We had Taco's and Spanish rice in celebration of Cinco De Mayo. The little ones went swimming after dinner while Gwen, Kayla and I went to a Girl Scout Leader meeting where I was unknowingly awarded my 10 year pin.

Anyway, when we arrived back home about 8:00, that is when the talent show began. Konnor wanted to read a book to his Dad but when he came into the room he had brought every book that he has from school(About 22, 8 page books) He wanted to read every one to us. We were so proud of how well he is reading. It's Amazing the growth in one year.

While he was reading, Gwen was playing her Flute in her room. As Konnor was finishing up reading his 5th book Gwen came out and said, " Can I play you a few songs?" We were delighted to hear the beautiful melodies she is now playing. It is so cool to remember how she could hardly play any notes at the beginning of the year and now she is playing the William Tell Overture. Again it was Amazing.

Konnor began to read his 6th book and Makayla started playing the piano. She said, " Mom, can I play you the new song I made up today?" Of, course I couldn't wait to hear this. She loves to play the piano but has never taken lessons yet.(I should definitely look into lessons for her!!) She, also, was amazing!

By now I am thinking that the kids are all vying for my attention. Konnor keeps wanting to read more books to me, Gwen is still playing her Flute in the background and Makayla is quietly playing her songs on the piano. Then Carolyn comes out carrying her puppet show booth. she said, "Mom. Can I read you a puppet show book?" We all stopped what we were doing and watched Carolyn's Puppet Show. She read the pictures in the Barbie sleepover book and showed us the pictures through her puppet show stage. It was also amazing!!

We had a long day, but it was so nice to have an evening where everyone could show off all of their talents. I am truly blessed with Amazing children.