April happenings for Kirsten!

Kirsten is getting to be such a great help. She loves to read and on more than one occasion you will find her with a book reading to one of her brothers.
Kirsten's 2nd grade class put on a story festival program. This is the program outline.
Kirsten's group telling of Captain Bumblebee. The girls on the floor are holding the mikes. Kirsten really had a ball with the preparing and the actual performance. She did one during school hours and one in the evening. Both were excellant! Ask to see the video sometime.
During the school performance the kids also demonstrated their love of music with the rhythm drums.
After the performance, their were refreshments and Kirsten loved having Caleb their to show off. What a proud big sister!

The view from the top of the Y!

We adults were still enjoying the view from the top, however the kids started edging their way down the rock. What a view though!
Nathan started down after the escapies and of course Caleb couldn't be left out. I started down with him. It was a little harder trying to balance two of us on the way down. A couple of times Caleb would slip and it would only be my viselike grip that would keep him from meeting the other kids farther down the mountain.
We once again are on the trail. Kirsten and Brayden aren't too happy. They wanted to keep going straight down from the Y rock, but their plans got vetoed. That's why they are straggling behind.
Here's the happy hikers at the bottom...still smiling, but rather hot and ready for some ice cream from the BYU creamery.
We went one step farther and splurged on dinner too. We waited and then ate dinner at the old fashioned counter.

Hiking with the aid of a stick!

All the boys had to have sticks...some were more conducive to walking while others...I'm not sure if they didn't just add to the fun they were having along the way.
Caleb looks like he is about ready to whack someone with his stick. Watch out. While Zach looks like he is going to end a poor bugs life.
Caleb-"Stay back you evil branches. I'll protect you Zach." Zach- "no, Caleb all you need to do is show them your stick and they will stay a safe distance away."
Caleb- "What, you mean I don't even have to lift my stick." Zach- "Nope."
"A hiking we will go, a hiking we will go...."

Shots along the way...to the Y!

Caleb decided to give dad a break and take a seat on a rock. So cute!
Then he notices that we are all getting farther up the path and he's falling behind.
"Uh, Dad shouldn't we catch up to those guys?"
Caleb caught up with the help of this here walking stick. Boys and their toys...some I'll never understand.

The big hike to the Y!

Here we are at the trail head to the Y on the mountain in Provo. We hadn't done this hike in a while and some friends invited us along.
We took the many opportunities to stop along the way for a picture along with a water and sit down break. It started out on the breezy side, but by the end we all were down to our bottom laters...at least those of us hefting kids up the trail.
There is a shop of the younger hikers..(bottom) Brayden Laing, Holly Carter, Sophie Laing, Addie Laing, (top) Kirsten, Aspen Cook, and Zach. Tayler Cook, Caleb, and Colby were all riding up on the backs of the adults.
We made it to the top. We are all taking a breather and having some gram crackers before we start the treak down.
Here is the big group shot. I think it took us an 1 1/2 hours to go up...we did take alot of breaks! We did have fun though and that's what counts. (L) Cooks, Carter, Laings, Stitts.

The Hunt for EGGS!

Due to the downpour of rain, Stephanie and I hid the 40 eggs inside the house. The kids had a great time trying to find their 10 eggs each.
From the beginning Caleb wasn't sure of what to do. He watched and followed around the others and then started finding some himself with a little prodding.
No space was unused for the hunt, including the spare room downstairs. There were lots of good stops on the marble game.
Caleb was utilizing the bed to reach those hard to reach eggs on the piano and in the lion flashlights mouth.
Now towards the end of the hunt we are counting everyones eggs. We are still minus 2 eggs, good thing Caleb can't count! We did find the eggs later the next day in the couch cushions. Caleb and Dad were the ones the enjoyed the late treats.

A Day for decorating...EGGS!

You'd think that decorating eggs for easter would be a given but I'd bet this is only the second or even first time for some that my kids have ever done it. Mom is such a neat/clean freak that this has always just seemed like such a pain, but after this positive experience we'll for sure do it again. We had our friends, the Reynolds' (Brian, Stephanie, and Colby), come for a little easter fun and BBQ.
Kirsten and Caleb are very into their creations. We even had a white crayon that you wrote on the egg before to make designs. Thanks mom for the decorating packets!
Colby and Zach were on the other side of the table trying out their creative juices.