May 2016

I, in no way, expected the last month of school to be the busiest month of the school year.  And yet, it was.  It seemed like everyday there was something that the kids were doing, or needed to be to, or needed a volunteer for, or needed to bring something for, or something or other.  And while I am super grateful for the experiences that the girls were able to have, I think we could all use some simplifying and dial back the experiences just a bit! However this is how our last month of school went...

I was able to volunteer to go on a field trip to the Bean Museum with Quincy's class.  It was fun checking out all the animals with these kids... Soren, Quincy, and Leah.

This kid never stops... and she manages to find EVERYTHING that she isn't supposed to have.  Case and point... my make up!

Adalyn was baptized this month and it was an incredibly special day.  We have talked a lot with her over the past year about what being baptized means.  We have read the scriptures and discussed several topics with her so that she would be able to make the decision for herself.  She chose to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and we are so proud of the wonderfully kind and spiritually sensitive person she is growing into.  For her baptism, we wanted to keep the focus on the purpose of the day and we chose the following scripture as the theme for the day: 

The Invitation: 

On May 7, 2016 Devin baptized and confirmed Adalyn a member of the church.  She asked her cousins Carson and Natalee to give the talks during the program and they did such a great job.  Adalyn also chose to sing The Family is Of God and it really intensified the Spirit that was already brought by the wonderful talks. She was shown so much love and support on this day and we were grateful for all the family and friends who joined us for this special day.  I am truly grateful for the gospel and knowing that my children are beginning to grow their testimonies.  

Quincy had a field day where I was also able to volunteer.  It was fun to see all the kindergarteners running around and enjoying outside activities.  Tess stuck pretty close to Quincy and wanted to follow her everywhere! 

Tess has become obsessed with everything Elsa and its so fun to hear her belt out Let It Go...

Quincy started gymnastics and after only a month they had an exhibition.  She was so proud to show us the things that she has been learning...

School Dance Festival:  In my opinion, this was a bit extreme!  I got to the school blacktop a good 30 minutes early, only to find that it was already completely full of people.  Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles... all to see each grade perform for a total of 3 minutes?  I mean, it was great and all but do we really need every single person we know to support every. single. thing. our kids do?  I think this irked me so much because it was a lot of work to get to in the first place and then to not even have a good seat because hundreds of extra people were there! Any who... it was fun to watch the kids do their class performances...

Addie also started baseball this month.  She is the only girl on her team but she is doing a great job keeping up with the boys.  During the first practice, Devin overheard some of the boys teasing her when she got up to bat saying, "She's not gonna hit it!"  She hit almost every single one after that and the coach called out the boys who said it!  It was funny!

This is generally what happens for the rest of us during baseball practice...

And before we knew it, Quincy was graduating from Kindergarten.  I'm not going to lie, this is very bittersweet for me.  I always feel a bit sad when the kids move on to full day school but this last year has been a bit rough with 2 kids going to school at different times and toddler to boot.  So part of me looks forward to both being on one schedule but I will miss having Quincy around for part of the day.   Her Graduation Program was so cute and it was a little surreal when they announced the Class of 2028!

Mrs. Paul was such a fun teacher for Quincy.  She adored her and Quincy learned so much this year. 

Addie's last couple days of school included a Classroom Campout and a Luau...

Mrs. Woolstenhulme was also a great teacher for Addie.  It really is a blessing to have good teachers who are involved in our children's lives.  

And at the last minute we decided to throw a water party on the last day of school.  It was so much fun!  We had so many friends come over and it really was the best way to start off the summer!

On Memorial Day we went out to breakfast with the Payne crew and then headed over to visit the grave sites of Devin's Grandma and Grandpa Hancock.  

After that we met up with our Sandy Crew (The Rinke's, The Nielson's, and The Thorup's) at a park to hang out and enjoy the day. 

Lots of great blessings and memories throughout this month.  It really was a great way to end the school year and begin the summer.  I'm really looking forward to being done with schedules and homework and plenty of pool days and summer sun!