How to take care of a kitten

The Emperor's New Hair

Mitchell's first grade class just had an author celebration day!  Each child participate in a fractured fairy tale play!  Mitchell was the emperor in the play "The Emperor's New Hair," and he was delightful to watch!

After their plays we returned to their class where parents got to listen to the children read books they had written!  Then we ate a yummy cookie and watched  a DVD with pictures and video clips of the class throughout the year!

  

I loved the title of Mitchell's book,  Mysterious Encounters!  He dedicated it to Sasquatch.  

Funny!

Oh how Mitchell adores his teacher.  His gets teary every time he thinks about the school year ending.  

She will always have Mitchell's heart :)

Memorial Day

 For memorial Day weekend we spent time reflecting on past memories- and making new memories too!  We arrived at the cemetery at the end of the day on Sunday- just as the sunshine turned soft and golden.  Our dear friends, the Eddy's joined us as we shared our favorite memories of Caleb. 

  

We spent Sunday night at my parents cabin and woke up to a "cabin breakfast" cooked by my dad.  We ate our fill of pancakes, sausage, and hash browns!  YUM!  

Then we spent the rest of the morning hiking to the big tree. 

 Mitchell spends a lot of his life keeping up with his older brothers.   His brothers ran ahead on the hike, but Mitchell took his time.  He wasn't sure if he was going to make it, but he did- and he found lots of treasures on the way! 

Mitchell loves to pose like Big Foot...

Matthew found some fun sticks to carve.

And I'm sure Josh spent his hiking time engaging in intellectual debates with whoever would listen! 

Josh and my little sister Alisa

Josh, Uncle John, Cousin Brad, Matthew

 It took all five of us to stretch our arms around the tree! 

It was a wonderful day to make memories together!  

Mother's Day

I had such a sweet Mother's day. Each of my boys went out of their way to do something special. They made me a great big chocolate cake with chocolate bars on top! Mitchell played "Happy Mother's day to you" and insisted I blow out candles. The boys picked out some happy flowers and made cards that melted my heart. They even served up a nice dinner in the kitchen they cleaned themselves! I was so proud of them! I love being a mom!

Morning Mouth

Mitchell loves to snuggle in bed with me in the morning!  The other day as he woke up he said, "Mom, how come no matter how much spit I suck up and swallow, my mouth still tastes like mold and my tongue feels like it's covered in hair! "  

That was the perfect description of "morning mouth" and it still makes me laugh! 

Matthew the Terrific Kid

Each year the 6th grade classes in our school district choose one girl and one boy to be honored as terrific kids.  Matthew was chosen this year and was so excited.  

I've always known Matthew is terrific, and it was sweet to see him have his own moment to shine. 

Matthew also recently participated in a district wide orchestra concert.  He played his cello in an orchestra made up of over 300 6th grade students!  Most of these students have never played a stringed instrument before this year, and it was amazing to hear the progress they've made! 

We are so proud of you Matthew!  You truly are TERRIFIC!