Number 17!

I felt a little bad that after going all out for Kaya's birthday party, Taylor's seemed more of an afterthought.  Partly that was because, once again, he was gone for his actual birthday.  This year he went on a Boy Scouts High Adventure camp to Kentucky.  They canoed 50 miles and then got to explore a cave the old fashioned way--with headlamps and on all fours for much of the time.  He loved his experience and came back with lots of adventures to share.  

All of Kaya's decorations were still in place from the week before, so we thought it would be funny if, instead of redecorating, we just recycled everything--including the birthday sign and the pink streamers.  

Kendall decided to make the cake this year and had fun creating a Doctor Who Tardis design.  In fact, Doctor Who was a big overall theme.  Everyone knows what Taylor loves best.

Lynnsey's poem to Taylor says: "Fezzes are Red, the Tardis is Blue, Bowties are cool and so are you!!!"

There has been some talk around here since the big announcement that boys could go on missions at 18 instead of 19.  It doesn't seem possible, but just in case, we thought Taylor could learn something this year to help prepare...

Aside from Doctor Who, one of Taylor's favorite TV shows is Psych.  Spencer had overheard him one day talking about looking for the pineapple in an episode and he came to me and said: "I know what I'm getting Taylor for his birthday!"

And back to Doctor Who again...this was a fun shirt with quotes from episodes making up a DW Tardis.

Thanks to Nana for the best towel ever!

As usual I'm struggling to reconcile this great big high school senior with the little chunky monkey that I know I just had.  Our older nieces have been posting photos on Facebook recently of their adorable little babies and it is killing me to think how fast it all goes.  In a blink, their babies will be high school seniors too and I'll be dead.  No. Just kidding.  Probably.  I'm just saying that it is crazy how quickly they really do grow up.  I remember MY senior year of high school for crying out loud!  How is this even possible???  But if I have to have a great big teenager, I'm thankful to have one who is such a good kid who makes good choices in his life.  I had a mom tell me the other day that she is really thankful that Taylor is doing cross country this year because he is such a great influence on her son and the other boys who are on the team as well.  I know whether he decides to head out on a mission immediately or to get in a year of college first, Taylor will do well at whatever he does.  We are so thankful to have him in our family.  (Even Kendall who is counting down the minutes until he can take over Taylor's bedroom...)

The Best Birthday Surprise Ever!

I was mourning the fact that my baby girl, my BABY GIRL, was about to celebrate her 5th birthday.  This baby girl with two very loose bottom teeth who thinks she will be going to Kindergarten in just a few short weeks is growing up so much faster than I ever thought possible.  One day, in the midst of my struggle to let her grow up, even though she is such a delight and I am so excited for the possibilities that her future holds, I was on Facebook just randomly skimming through posts when one from The Laurie Berkner Band, one of my, I mean, one of Kaya's very favorite bands caught my eye.  It said something to the effect of "Check out our new concert locations."  So I clicked the link and saw that Laurie Berkner was not only coming to Michigan but that she would be here on the VERY DAY of Kaya's 5th birthday.  I knew we had to do it.  I thought it would be so much fun to surprise her on her birthday, so that's what we planned on.  

It was so much fun in the days leading up to the big day because she knew that we were taking her somewhere special but had no idea where.  So she kept trying to guess.  Guesses included: the playground, Kids 'n' Stuff Museum, the library, McDonald's or Wendy's, the zoo, The Chelsea Treehouse, and Disneyland.  (I was happy to know that, with the exception of Disneyland, all of her guesses were for the smaller things that we have done with her and that she felt any one of which would have been a special way to celebrate her day.)

We ended up buying a family four pack because it was like getting a free ticket if we did it that way.  This event was actually a kids music festival where we would be hearing around five other bands before we got to see Laurie Berkner. Lynnsey and Spencer had the job of deciding which of them would take the extra ticket.  We really would have loved to take the whole family (despite what Taylor says, we know he would have loved it too!) but it just wasn't in the budget.  Finally after much debate, Lynnsey and Spencer decided that Spencer would come with us and Lynnsey would stay behind with the big brothers to get things ready for her party, including decorations that Lynnsey was taking charge of.

Kaya was so excited the day of the surprise.  We decided not to tell her until we actually arrived.  Once we got out of the car in the parking lot we explained what we were doing.  Her initial reaction was a slightly puzzled "Yes!" but we think it didn't really sink in, until we were actually there watching the other bands and she realized that one of them was going to be her all-time favorite singer ever.

They had a fun (but crowded) instrument petting zoo.

We discovered some fun new bands, including Ralph's World.

Nice photo bomb Spencer!

Dan Zanes and Friends was a really fun musical discovery.

Meeting Ralph from Ralph's World

And finally the big event!  Laurie Berkner in person!

Laurie has a pig on her head!

At one point they did a fun song where they tossed a bunch of beach balls out in to the crowd and we had to keep them going all around for the duration of the song.  The kids got to keep any balls they had at the end of the song.

Wake up Laurie!

Meeting Dan Zanes.

We had hoped to be able to meet Laurie Berkner too, but she had to leave immediately to catch a flight so we didn't get to.  I had also sent a message just asking if it would be possible for them to do a birthday wish to Kaya.  I didn't expect that to actually happen but it never hurts to ask.  I got a reply back saying that they actually can't do that because there would probably be 20 other kids there celebrating their birthdays who would feel awful if Laurie didn't wish them a happy birthday too.  But they did take my information so that she could get an autographed birthday postcard in the mail.

After the concert we did end up taking Kaya to her favorite restaurant, Wendy's, for dinner.  Then we journeyed home for phase two of the birthday celebration.  The kids had made Kaya a cake and decorated the house.

A bottle of Root Beer from Spencer.

A mermaid Barbie from Nana.

Her very own Piano Guys t-shirt for our next big concert in October.

And her long-awaited very first American Girl doll, Kaya, of course.

It was such a fun day and a fun way to celebrate the birthday of our newest young lady (who will always be my baby).

Community Band

Our little community sometimes gets a bad rap from other communities nearby, but I just have to say I love this place so much!  I love the small town feel (even though when I was a kid in a "town" of 1300 or so, Albion would have seemed enormous), I love the diversity, the scenery, the people and I love the opportunities that abound for people to get involved.  

Once such opportunity has been the Community Band that performs a series of concerts every June and July.  Taylor has participated the last couple of years and this year Kendall decided to join in too. It has been a great chance for both boys to be challenged with harder musical pieces than they are used to and for them to meet other people of all ages.  And it has been a great experience for our family to spend some enjoyable Sunday evenings in one of the most beautiful parks in existence.

Shants--the Latest in Fashion (According to Kendall)

About a month and a half or so ago, Kendall decided to cut off a pair of jeans because the hole in the right knee (always his right knee!) had gotten enormous.  As a joke he cut off the right side but left the other long and he put them on and wore them.  Kalen told him that if he'd go to school like that, he would give him $5.  Never underestimate the power of a dare or the promise of money.  It took Kendall awhile to finally get up the nerve to do it but on the second to last day of school, he did it.  

He is such an embarassingly awesome kid!  

So if your children suddenly tell you they want some Shants as a part of their back to school wardrobe, you will know who to thank.

Quick Catch-Up

I've decided to re-recommit to my blog.  I really, really want to keep it up better.  But the thought of all those catch-up posts has been so overwhelming that I found myself ignoring it even more.  As much as I would love to have a record of everything that has been going on this past winter and spring, it's just not going to happen--at least not without me losing the summer too.  So I've just picked a few photos from the past few months that give a fair representation of what we've been up to and then hopefully I can do much better about keeping up with things from here on out!



We all had a good laugh one morning when Spencer came down to breakfast with some major bedhead!

Taylor was inducted into the National Honor Society and was asked to speak on Character.  He used a bunch of quotes from Gordon B. Hinckley and Ezra Taft Benson that impressed everyone.  We chuckled to think that they had no idea that they were enjoying quotes from prophets of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

Kaya was thrilled to get a package from Grandma Oswald with this adorable handmade reversible skirt just for her.

Easter was lovely once again.  The snapshots of the kids on Easter Sunday were typical!

Taylor got his ACT scores back.  Way to go!

At the Jr. High/High School Spring Band Concert, Kendall was given an award for Outstanding 7th Grade Band Student.  The teacher spoke about each award winner and it was really awesome to hear the nice things she had to say about Kendall. 

Kendall had a ball on April Fools Day pulling all sorts of pranks and practical jokes.  Lynnsey and Kaya woke up to a t.p.'d bedroom.  Spencer had a cookie sheet of water right outside of his door.  The dining room chairs were tied together at breakfast so no one could sit down to eat.  He wrapped an elastic around the sprayer of the kitchen sink.  And that was all before 7 a.m.! 

We were joined by the Bramhall's for spring break and had a great time as usual visiting and cramming in fun activities like the Nature Center, playgrounds, the movies, and the Chelsea Treehouse. 

I came downstairs one morning to see Kendall's latest corny project.  He dressed up all the pins from our inflatable bowling set in clothes and costumes.  It was so funny to see everyone's faces as they came down and saw them!

Lynnsey did an ancestor report on her great-great Grandma Lang for Faith in God Activity Days.  She even used one of Grandma Lang's old aprons as a part of her presentation, and of course, it's not Grandma Lang without the braids pinned up over her head! 

After no fall soccer this year, we were all excited to have it come back again this spring.  Lynnsey has really developed some skills and is so much fun to watch!  Her team won their division for the season.

Spencer had so much fun this season.  He is still so tiny compared to some of the other U-8 players.  But he had a phenomenal coach and even though they never won a single game, they all felt like they had  because he focused so much on just having fun no matter what the score.  And it was great to see how much their little team had improved by the end too, Spencer included.

And Kendall, who thought his soccer playing days were over, was able to play again too!  He is just really good.  He does well in any position but played most on offense and as goalie.  His team also won their division for the season! 

Kaya still wasn't old enough to play but she loved to come to the games and watch.  I snapped this picture of her with her old friend (that I used to babysit) who she hadn't seen in a long time.  They spent the whole time playing together and I just couldn't resist this cute photo op of them holding hands.  Too cute!

It was such a cold spring this year that everything bloomed much later than usual.  But when it did, it was absolutely beautiful!  Or maybe we were just so thankful that spring was finally here that it just seemed more beautiful than usual.  Regardless, it was lovely.  And our pond lilies are so perfect that they almost seem unreal! 

And wrapping up spring, was Kaya's preschool graduation!  My BABY is moving on to Kindertgarten next year!  She loved her preschool experience.  Her teacher wrote on her final evaluation:  "Kaya has the most beautiful smile that lights up her whole person.  She is a strong and determined young lady who is such a pleasure to have in class.  She will be very successful academically and have a great year in Kindergarten."  I just can't believe it has gone so fast!

Argghh!!! --Blackbeard the Pirate

Once again our local youth theatre

 brought the Missoula Children's Theatre back to town for another great performance.  This year they did Blackbeard the Pirate and it was so much fun!  Kendall, Lynnsey, and Spencer all participated once again and we felt so relieved that they all got parts this year since there was such a huge turnout for auditions that many kids didn't get parts this time around.

Spencer was cast as a parrot, Lynnsey was a seaweed creature, and Kendall was perfectly cast as Peachfuzz the Pirate.  They all had a ball and are already excited for next year.

Parrots--"Brawk!"

We loved the Seaweed Creatures crazy costumes!

Peachfuzz!

The Pirate Crew--Bluebeard, Redbeard, Blackbeard, Greybeard, Yellowbeard, and Peachfuzz.

The kids really loved their directors this year--Jennifer was one...

And Jeremy was the other. 

This has just been such a valuable experience for our kids.  We hope they continue to bring them back every year.  And if you ever have the opportunity to participate in a Missoula Children's Theatre Play--do it!  You will love it!