Preschool Graduation

Driving to preschool this morning, I got teary eyed.  It was Gators last day of preschool, I will never drive another kid to preschool.  I love seeing my kids grow up, but sometimes it just hits me how fast it is happening.  Tonight was graduation, and it was the absolute cutest program.  Owen just kept checking to see if the tears were flowing yet.  I made it to the very end, then during their DVD presentation  I just couldn't hold them back anymore.  It has been a great school for Gator for the last 2 years, but she is ready to move on to kindergarten. 

 Gator has been taking tumbling for a year.  They have a corner in the gym where they sale leotards.  Gator has wanted a leotard from her gym the whole year.   The Leotard became a prize.  I told her if she did a back handspring all by herself we would get her one.  She's been working so hard and she's been so close, but just wasn't able to get the hang of it by herself.  Well, look what she is wearing in the picture below.  Today was the day, she did it, not just one, but 4 in a row.  I thought she would be dizzy, but she got done and her eyes went right to the corner of the gym where the leotards are.  I love seeing her so proud of herself and so excited for learning to do this.  As a mom, that has got to be one of the best moments, seeing your kids work so hard for something and finally getting to their goal. 

Fieldtrippin

I volunteered to go along with the 4th grade on their fieldtrip to Fort Buenaventura.  And where I go, Gator goes.  She is always the class party/fieldtrip bomber.  Good thing the boys and all their friends are so good with her.  Although I am worried about what her opinion of school is.  She always goes for the fun part, next year when she is expected to sit in her chair and work may be a problem.  I loved that Davis would take his little sisters hand and help her along even with all his friends around.  I hope they all always look out for eachother. 

 We got to throw Tomahawk's.  A little scarey handing over a hatchet to children, but they all were great and loved it.  Even Gator and I got to give it a shot.  And I have to brag for a moment.  The whole class went through one round with no success, the adults gave it a whirl and boom my first try my hatchet stuck!  Davis couldn't let his mom show him up though and he quickly got the hang of it. 

 I was only around for the Tomahawk throw and the tug of war, so that is all I got pictures of.    The rest of the day, I was off cooking scones or helping set other activities up.  I love being able to be so involved with my kids and their school, good thing they don't get sick of having me around. 

Jackpot

In between school and basketball, we made a quick visit to Toads.  We were only able to spend about an hour there, but that was long enough for D Stew to hit the jackpot and win 1,000 tickets.  He was so excited. I'm mad I let that little stinker talk me out of bringing my better camera.  He totally did it on purpose. 

My day

Since 2008, I have had breakfast in bed made for me on Mothers Day.  A couple of times I've had to come home from early church and get back in bed for lunch in bed, but today it was breakfast, and it was good.  I looked back on my blog to the first time my kids did this for me and I laughed so hard.   In 2008, I was eating cheerios with sprinkles, carrots and ranch dressing, chocolate pudding and vanilla pudding.   They've learned a few things since then and this morning I got a bowl of strawberries, a cup of orange juice and an egg and sausage bagel sandwich. 

 Since it was Mothers Day, they weren't allowed to say no or throw a fit when I asked them for a picture. 

 Yes, this picture is posed, and yes, they "look" like 3 beautiful children who get along and love eachother.  Well, so much for not throwing a fit when I ask for pictures on Mothers Day, because this one little photo brought on huge fit!  Owen didn't want to swim and he got wet, Davis wanted to jump on the trampoline with the sprinkler not swim in the pool.  They were up late Friday and Saturday and just need their sleep, but I got a picture, Owen got out of the pool, Davis jumped on the trampoline and we were all happy. 

Gator enjoyed the pool though.  It was warm today, but I still don't think it was warm enough to be swimming in a kiddie pool.  But Gator would be out there in the middle of winter swimming away in her pool. 

 Back to smiling and happy kids, thankfully.  We spent some time in the shade playing card games.

Remember playing Old Maid and when you had the Old Maid card in your hand, you'd carefully place it higher than the rest hoping someone would pick that one, well, I tried it and it didn't work.  I lost. 

 Drying off and warming up in the sun!

 I am not much of a griller myself.  I'm just scared I will burn my house down trying to get our grill lit.  So we didn't cook outside, but we enjoyed a nice dinner outside on this beautiful Sunday.  It was a perfect Mothers Day, just spent relaxing outside with my 3 favorite people.

Invading Burger King

After kids got done with soccer and camping we all went out to lunch.  When we are all together we are quite the crowd!

Cousin camp

The boys were invited to go camping for the night with Josh, PJ and Colin for their wards Father and Sons.  It is great when most my family is all in one ward, we can slide right in under the radar and no one even knows there are extra Jeppson/Stewarts.   They were excited.  Another gene they did not inherit from their mother...the love of camping.  I'm fine spending the day doing "camping" things like 4 wheeling, having a BBQ, hiking, shooting or whatever, but when the sun goes down I want a shower and my bed.  So when other people offer to take my boys camping, they are all over it.  Ally and I went to play at Krissy's.  We also had a great time having dinner, chatting and playing with cousins. 

All over the place

This blog post is so unorganized.  It is just some of everything.  The Jr. primary girls were invited to Young Womens last week.  They had a princess tea party, and Ally loved it!  They painted nails, and made crowns, did hair, and frosted cookies. 

 Last night we got home from TBall to a flooded kitchen.  I had the windows open letting in cool air, and it started to rain.  Well pour actually.  I looked at the mess and thought eh I'd rather go play in the rian than clean up this mess.  So we went back outside and walked in the rain. 

 The boys were out with friends the other night, so Ally and I had a girls night.  She painted our nails.  She was so excited that we matched. 

 Davis got off the bus yesterday and he had written all over his arm.  How could I get mad at him when he drew himself a mom tattoo. 

 It's not very often anymore that my kids crawl up in my lap and let me rock them to sleep.  I knew this would make for a late night, but in the moment I just didn't care, I was enjoying rocking my "baby". 

 Owen had his final choir concert of the year.  He has really enjoyed taking choir.  The teacher is an amazing man and teaches these kids alot more than just singing.  We ended the evening at Farr's. 

 Every day, Gator asks to go to the park to do the monkey bars.  She has blisters on her hands, but still wants to do the monkey bars. 

 Davis came home from scouts and they had made catapults.  Such a simple gadget, but my kids had so much fun with this thing shooting fruit snacks at each other, or in Davis's case at himself.  They may be soft, but I'm sure it still would've hurt if he had gotten himself in the eye. 

TBall

We are not much of a baseball family.  But TBall, now that is my sport I've decided.  Everyone hits, everyone is happy, and the parents are all nice and chat and everyone wins.  Gator was so excited for her first game.  She waited all day on Tuesday for it to be here, waiting is not easy for a 5 year old.  After a quick power nap, the moment was here and she had a blast.