Matthew is GINORMOUS!

Well, our little Matthew is no longer very little. We took him to his 6 month well check last week and he is now 19 lbs 9 oz! That is the 90 percentile for weight...he is also in the 95+ percentile for height though, so he really doesn't have that many rolls (except under his chin!). The nurse measured his head twice because she thought that it was such a big jump from the last check up. I just told her we just grow them big.

This was taken as we were waiting for Jay to buy our tickets to get into Hogle Zoo.

Cousin Johnny and Matthew...we love him!

Finally asleep, at least for a minute or until I try to lay him down. He has it all figured out...he'll sleep if I hold him, but unless he is really out, when I try to lay him down he wakes up and screams so we will pick him up again. Needless to say, we aren't getting much done around the house, but he won't be a baby forever right!

Showing off...sitting up. With all our tile floor, we don't put him down on it too much, but he likes to sit up on the soft bed and prove to us that he can. So cute!

Matthew is eating his baby food twice a day now, and even tried a little corner of a graham cracker and Ritz cracker yesterday...he thought they were the best thing ever! He keeps us busy and our arms are tired from lugging him around everywhere. We now leave the infant seat in the car when we go places unless we can put it in the cart...it's just too heavy. Matthew thinks he's pretty smart, sitting up, picking up things, able to talk...the kids are convinced that his first word is Mom or Ma, but I'm not sure if he knows that's me yet or if he is just babbling and trying to copy everyone. He is fun and definitely not starved for attention around here!

Spencer, our Soccer Player Extraordinaire

The first thing Spencer wanted to do when the snow finally melted is take the training wheels off his bike. So here he is showing you how cool he is to be a "big kid." It was the neatest thing to see Logan and Katelyn running alongside, encouraging, and helping him. The only problem is now he is so fast, I can't keep up with him!

Spencer played soccer this spring. This was our first experience with soccer as a family and let me tell you that if you ever need a good belly laugh, sign your child up for soccer. It was awesome...seeing a whole pack of kids follow the ball around the field, kicking each other in the shins, making goals for the other team. We laughed hard. It was fun though and eventually they figured out what it was they were supposed to be doing. Spencer ended up being a pretty good little player and was great taking the ball down the field. In the last game, while Jay was coaching Logan's first baseball game at another park, Spencer took it down and scored two goals, and assisted on a couple of others. It was a good outlet for all of his energy.

Who are those monkeys hanging upside down? Just Spencer & cousin Molly at Hogle Zoo a couple of weeks ago. Instead of staring at the monkeys, the monkeys were staring at them and trying to copy their moves...as Katelyn looks on.

Every time we take a picture, Spencer wants to jump right in. I was taking some pictures of Matthew sitting up the other morning in his Spiderman pj's and Spencer wanted to be a part of it. Luckily, you can't smell their morning breath from where you are! What a cute kid, or should I say kids! Gotta love them!

Katelyn's 2nd Grade Program and Dance Recital

Katelyn's end of the year program was wonderful! The 2nd grade spent all year learning about and doing service for their families, community, country, world, environment, etc., so it was all about that. The slide show was also broken down into each service project, one a month, and the songs were cute...here's a little sample of it.



Katelyn also performed in May at the Ellen's Ecceles Theater on Main Street in her Ballet Recital. She was in two numbers, one was to showcase the techniques they have been learning this year and the other one was more for fun (they were dressed like kittens). She stole the show. Jay's and my parents both came, as well as my grandparents and sister, Merilee.

The Young Women in our ward had a dance camp as a Girls' Camp fundraiser. They invited all the primary aged girls (3-11) to come and learn a dance from "High School Musical." They practiced for 3 days and then performed that night. Katelyn LOVED it! I had a number of people come up to me at the performance who were involved with teaching the dance, and a bunch of others just watching to tell me what a great dancer she was. I just thought it was a great idea for the YW...no overhead, 3 days and it was over, they made tons of money, and everyone had a fabulous time.

Katelyn is also now in Activity Days for the 8-11 year old girls. The past month they have been working on a Mother/Daughter party where the girls all picked and modeled a modest summer outfit. It was fun! They had the girls fill out a spotlight including their favorites which they read as the girls walked around the stage. Some of the girls walked as fast as they could, so they were still talking about them well after they had exited the stage, others were just hamming it up. One of the little, shy girls in our Primary class blew a kiss to the crowd at her last pose point...it was great! Then we all had cheesecake and each mother and daughter had their picture taken in front of the beach props on the stage.



Katelyn is still always wanting to be around Matthew and is so loving and helpful with her little brothers. She loves making them laugh and Jay & I are always trying to settle them all down so we can eat our meals....maybe someday we'll have manners!

Logan has been busy...

At the end of the school year, Logan had some fun activities. He ran in the Wellsville Mile along with all of the 5th graders from numerous schools in Cache Valley. (He's in the gray shirt behind the boy in the middle in red.) There were 3 heats for each of the 4th grade girls & boys and 5th grade girls & boys. They had all been practicing and timing their miles for a month or so to divide them into the right group. Logan was in the 5th grade boys 3rd heat (the fastest and the very last race of the day)...he did very well and placed 39th overall. It was quite the event and a tradition throughout the valley. They even had the high school track team running with them for encouragement and support, started with a racing gun, and cooled off after in a misting tent as they weaved back and forth to receive their time, drink, and treat.

The 5th grade at our school also participates in a Civil War reenactment with water balloons as ammunition. It was amazing. They had students and the principal introducing each battle and telling a bit of history before they would line up and fire. They all had to sign a contract and get a parent signature commiting not to ruin the war with crazy behavior or put anything but water in their balloons. They spent days practicing to get everything just right. I volunteered to help with props and was assigned to make the general's uniforms from two button down shirts. Logan is modeling them here.

Logan was also chosen to speak at his 5th grade graduation and awards ceremony. A boy and girl from each class were asked to tell about their experiences during the year. He did a great job! We found out after he spoke that those who spoke also received the "Hope of America Award" from the Kiwanis Club recognizing students for their academic achievement, leadership qualities, and overall good work and potential as future leaders of society.

The medal has his name engraved on it and is the "Great American Award." He had to do a whole list of things (memorize the Preamble of the Constitution and the Gettysburg Address, take the US Citizen's Test, Identify the States and the Capitals, Name all 43 Presidents of the US in order, write the Pledge of Allegience with perfect spelling, punctuation and grammar, and sing the Star Spangled Banner.) He was the first one in the whole grade to accomplish everything and he didn't even start until the 2nd trimester. He also got a few other awards for reading and core testing etc. He had a great year, teacher, etc. Logan is now in the middle of baseball season and the star pitcher and catcher on the team. Jay is coaching and enjoying the ups and downs that come with that!