Swim Season!

Bring on Summer!

Celebrations

The school year is wrapping up, which means all sorts of events!

Lydia's Preschool Graduation

I can't believe my baby girl is going to be in Kindergarten next fall. So proud of her and how far she's come this year!

Celebrations of Learning

Ethan has had such a great year and I'm so proud of him! He's doing so well in so many things and has really enjoyed his teacher and new friends! Garrett's first year with TAKS testing, which he pretty much blew out of the water. He's such a grown up kid. So proud of him!

Our teacher gifts this year: We had some pretty incredible teachers that helped all three of our kids have really great experiences this year.

Garrett's 9th Birthday

What a way to spend the day! Happy Birthday Garrett!

Spring events

Pre K Muffins with Mom

Ethan's 1st Grade Reading Cafe

Garrett's Spring Soccer Season

He was named the team "sweeper". This kid LOVES soccer. He may be small, but he is fast and is right in there with the really big kids! He could go wherever the coach needed him and deliver...way to go Garrett!

back to school

backpacks. lunch boxes. new clothes. teacher gifts. back to school party.

And with that...

They're off.

(and next year I'll take pictures BEFORE we brush teeth,

as to avoid the water drips down the front of our shirts)

It's just me and you, kid.

baptism

It's hard to believe it's here. Garrett is 8 years old. Garrett has chosen to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Words can't describe it. Special kid. Sacred occasion. Super emotional mom. Love him.

Garrett's birthday

(February 2003, 9 months old)

Somewhere along the way my little guy turned 7. My first thought is of all the psychology research about the first 8 years being the most critical in development and influential in a child's life. So I guess that means one more year to cram as much in as we can, and undo any damage we may have done, huh?

Really though, he's one pretty fantastic kid in a million different ways, and we love him so much and are so proud of him.

the project that never ends

I came across these pictures a few days ago, and I just couldn't resist.

I love how little and adorable my boys look.

I love the piles and piles of leaves.

I love the memories of our days at Wymount.

I had some spare time last week so I bravely revisited my quest to scrapbook (Wikipedia uses it as a verb, so I can use it as a verb) the lives of my kids and my family.

With the addition of these pictures, our family scrapbook is now up to November 2004.

Considering I've done a year and a half of Garrett's book and haven't even started on the other two, I'm over 16 years behind, cumulatively.

That's just downright depressing.

It's not that I don't like to scrapbook. I really quite enjoy it, especially when I've got a good Jane Austin flick playing that I can half listen to while I'm in my zone. I've tried a myriad of methods and I've got my system down, now I just need a good year with nothing else to do...at all.

a story and our wall

Once upon a time a little boy found some himself some heroes.

These heroes:

They are the Stripling Warriors. This painting by Clark Kelly Price is entitled, "It's True Sir- All Present and Accounted For". Their story is found in the Book of Mormon, which is a second witness of Jesus Christ and a companion volume of scripture to the Bible that records God’s dealings with the ancient inhabitants of the Americas. Their story goes like this:

(as told by the artist)

Seldom in the annals of history has there been such an inspiring example of unwavering faith in God as was exhibited by the valiant young sons of the Ammonites. These two thousand and sixty young men were a "Great support" to their country's defense. Though they had never fought, the scriptures tell us "they were exceedingly valiant for courage . . . . . and true at all times in whatsoever thing they were instructed. They were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God, and to walk up rightly before God." (Alma 53:20-21) Their mothers had especially influenced their faith. Their commanding officer, Helaman, called them his "sons," "for they are worthy to be called sons," he said. (Alma 56:10) They called him "father", such was the love and respect they had for him.

This scene depicts the moment when Helaman (shown on his horse) learns from a subordinate officer that all two thousand and sixty of his beloved sons have survived a terrible battle in which everyone of them have "received many wounds." This was the second time this had occurred, though many other soldiers in the army had perished, this "little band" under Helaman's leadership, lost not a single man. Speaking of this unbelievable occurrence, Helaman states, "two hundred out of my two thousand and sixty had fainted because of the loss of blood; nevertheless, according to the goodness of God and to our great astonishment, and also the joy of the whole army, there was not one soul of them who did perish.

A year and a half ago, our family took this little trip to Palmyra, New York. We spent some time in the Hill Cumorah Visitor's Center where there happened to be a beautiful, BEAUTIFUL video clip about the Stripling Warriors.

Although it was nearing time to begin our 6 hour journey home, we could not pull Garrett away. He pushed the button over and over and OVER. Each time, my eyes welled up at the poignant message and the genuine intrigue my sweet little boy had in these 2000 young men.

Some 5 hours after leaving Palmyra, Garrett sat quietly staring out the window. After this continued for some time, I joined him in the back seat and asked him what he was thinking about it.

He replied, "The Stripling Warriors".

This began a tender conversation about these heroes, his deeper understanding of them and what it was about them that made them so valiant, faithful and full of the strength of the Lord.

At some point, it hit me. He gets it.

He wants to be like them.

Help him do it.

Since this time, we have often discussed the Stripling Warriors with our family. They come up in Family Home Evening and in very unexpected yet precious teaching moments. We've likened ourselves unto them, discussing the qualities, the faith, the courage they had, and what we need to be to be like them.

We want their story to be our story.

Matt and I want to be like Helaman and the parents of the 2000 Stripling Warriors who must lead our precious little ones off into battle, having taught them the truth and to have faith in God.

I think of my kids. Valiant. Faithful. Going forward to wage this horrible final battle against Satan himself.

Our quest is that in the end, we rejoice as Helaman did, knowing that we are:

round one

Off he goes...

So grown up. So ready to conquer the world (or at least a 1st grade classroom).

(sniff, sniff)

Back to School Weekend

It's finally here. We are so looking forward to the stability and routine that is a natural byproduct of school being in session.

With one last trip to the community pool,

(is that an awesome community pool or what?)

...and a Back to School Celebration Dinner

(another great idea courtesy of NieNie)

...complete with a Tuxedo cake

(Ethan wanted Double Chocolate, and Garrett wanted Confetti Coconut, so there you go)

...along with back to school shopping, haircuts, prayers and blessings, I think we're ready to go.

Garrett starts tomorrow, Ethan starts next week.

Bring on the sack lunches, homework, and a little extra piece of cake for Mom during the quiet hours of the elusive afternoon nap.

(really this picture's sole purpose is to show off my new dessert plates from Luiz Salvador Ceramic Shop in Itaipava, Brazil. I love them.)

almost all packed up

extra curricular activities

I am so happy my boys both have passions in their lives.

Garrett's is futebol. He eats, drinks, and breathes the sport. He spends all week anticipating soccer practice with his Brazilian soccer coach. He does a pretty good job keeping up with the rest of the kids and following thePortuguese instructions!

Ethan's passion is music. Passion is probably an understatement. His whole life pretty much revolves around his music. He seldom goes anywhere without his MP3 player in his pocket. He's been going to a weekly music class that he loves. He now wants to play the violin and the guitar when we get to Texas.

Ethan and his music teacher, Claudia

Ethan "hooked up" to his music

And just for fun, the boys talked Matt into taking them to a nearby skate park. They had so much fun. I don't know how long I'll go along with the skateboarding thing, but they sure looked cute.

on a walk to school

The school year ended for Garrett last week, so in honor of that I'm posting this slideshow of the beautiful surroundings we walked past everyday to school for the last 4 months. It also includes a few last day of school pictures. Hooray for summer (or in our case, winter) vacation!