April 2015

April = Spring! Sun! Flowers! Awesomeness!

We got together with the Cropper cousins at the Marchant's house for a spectacular Easter Egg Hunt and dinner! 

 Lucky for Sam...Mary Ann made sure to have some Reese's included in the Easter candy!

 The kids got so much candy...enough for 20 kids to share! After they opened everything they went inside with the cousins and did some trading. Just like on Halloween!

I got to attend another fabulous field trip with Sam and the entire six grade class! This time we went down to the Gateway to the Clark Planetarium (one of Sam's most favorite places in the world!)!!!

Sam mostly stayed near the "Newton's Dream" feature that he loves so much. We also went into the dome theater for a presentation. I was worried that Sam would not do well in there and feel nervous or even sick...but he did JUST FINE! We also got to have lunch down at the Gateway. We took this selfie together while we were eating together. I love my Sammers!

Tyler decided to try something new this year...BASEBALL!

His coach, Randy, was awesome with the kids who had never played before (like Tyler). He was motivating and kind. Tyler got to try playing almost all of the positions in the outfield at one point or another. He made some new friends too. Their team had the best manors and sportsmanship out of all of the teams that I observed! They weren't the BEST team, athletically, but they were the best TEAM.

During the last few months, Sam has been doing some speech therapy homework at home. To motivate Sam, his therapist said that he could have a special time at school to spend with her therapy cat, named Sherlock! Sam was very excited about the idea and did his homework without complaint.

When the big day arrived, Sam was excited. He got a little shy and bashful around Sherlock though. This was about as close as Sam wanted to get...but that's ok. 

 Mr. Sam just loves Ellen DeGeneres. He likes it when we get to watch her show together...although we don't get to do it very often. He surprised me one day by spelling out her name with his Legos. I think we should send her this picture someday. 

 Charlie has pretty much adopted this giant stuffed dog as his own, even though it was given to ALL of the kids at Christmas. He has named it "Betty Ralph"...mostly because he couldn't decide if it was a girl dog or a boy dog. I likes to snuggle with Betty Ralph when he is watching a show. Sometimes Betty Ralph even sneaks up to Charlie's bed at night and sleep with him! Mysterious! 

This picture documents what my morning are like...most days. I try to get in some play time with Charlie while Lilly is at school. We play trucks, trains, balls, or cars...mostly. 

Out of nowhere we randomly got slammed by a huge snow storm! I went outside with the measuring tape to document it...8 inches showing, but we actually got about another half inch or so after I took this picture. Crazy!

With all of that snow, we decided to invite Van and Eden Baldwin over to play in it!!! After they were done, I made them some hot chocolate to enjoy. Yummy!

Later on in the month the weather got nice enough for us to finally sand and re-paint the playground!

 The kids were SO HELPFUL and happy to help. They loved painting! 

I love Charlie's cute little tongue hanging out in this picture!

 Sam reached a major goal at school for running 600 laps (the equivalent of 200 miles!). We decided to try and surprise him with a poster, balloons, the entire family, PLUS Grandma and Papa! 

Well, Sam had different plans. He only had 2 laps to go, so when we arrived we thought he would just do them and be done. But in Sam's mind he had already made a plan to run one lap at lunch recess and one lap at afternoon recess. Oh dear! It was quite disappointing for all of us who had come to cheer him on his last lap. 

He did finally run that last lap, at his afternoon recess, and many of his fellow sixth graders ran the last lap behind him! Mrs. Hohnholt captured the moment on her phone and sent the video to us. It was pretty awesome!

 I got to have a get away with my friend, Courtney Evans, to Park City for a night. We went to a chick  flick movie, ate at yummy restaurants, gave ourselves a facial, sat in the hotel hot tub, and went shopping! It was fabulous!!! 

I loved this little worksheet that Lilly filled out at school! My favorite part was: "If I could have one wish come true, I would wish:" and Lilly wrote, "To be a mom." (PRECIOUS!!!!)

Lilly's kindergarten class got to go on a field trip to the Discovery Gateway (children's museum) and I got to tag along as a chaperone! 

 Lilly 's "buddy" was her friend, Grace. I got a picture of them, and their friend Owen, climbing to the top of a big giant fake tree! 

Before we got on the bus to go home, we asked another mom to take our picture for us. It turned out really well! It was so fun to share that experience with Lilly!!!

 Sam's Miracle League baseball games started up again. This picture shows his coach, Coach Cole Joplin, pitching to Sam. Sam just adores his Coach and loves to tell him stories and random quotes from movies.

 Sam's favorite position to play is FIRST BASE. When the runners, from the other team, make it to first...Sam likes to point to the base plate and make sure that they touch it. :) Just helping them out....

Lilly lucked out that her birthday celebration at Grandma and Papa's house just happened to be in April this year, even though her b-day isn't until May! She requested Grandma's famous pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting for her dessert. (One of my favorites too!)

That's my happy girl...who will be turning 6 on May 1st!