6th grade awards

Tonight was Brianna's turn to be rewarded. She was nominated by her computer teacher to receive an "Extra Mile Award". Each teacher is allowed to pick 2 of all their students to receive this award so it was a great honor that she was chosen. So once again we got to go out for a treat afterwards. :)


I missed them calling her name because we had no idea what she was getting the award for, but at least I recorded her receiving the award.

8th Grade Graduation

Chelsea didn't want to go, but I made her attend her school's 8th grade graduation. I'll admit that it's not as cool because she has only been there 3 months and doesn't really know anyone. It's not like she even had a chance at getting any of the outstanding student awards, but everyone went through the commencement and they read your name off. It was long. It was boring. But it wasn't in alphabetical order so she got to sit by the couple of friends that she did have. Then she got the "diploma". It's hard to read here but it says, "This certifies that as of June 4, 2009, you will have satisfactorily completed the course of study for the promotion to the ninth grade as prescribed by the Clark County School District. You will receive your actual diploma after the successful completion of your core curricular classes and your final exams." Or in Chelsea's words, "Here's a piece of paper to make your parents happy. If you don't fail your finals then you will get to go on to 9th grade. Congratulations."

It's not really a graduation blog without a group shot of a bunch of people sitting in a gym and you know your person is in there somewhere but you can't get close enough to get a good shot.
To reward her good behavior for sitting through the program, we got to go out for custard afterwards. Here's the few minutes that I was waiting all night for. Of course they didn't say her name right (even though she gave them a card with it spelled out phonetically) and unfortuately, she inherited my genes for grace, that I inherited from my mother. Watch the clip and you'll see what I mean.

Sunday drive

We were board today and decided to go for a little drive. That is something we used to do all the time when the girls were little. Now they just think it's boring. The girls opted not to go with us. We drove up to Mount Charleston which is on the north end of Vegas. The elevation there was over 8000 ft. It was even a bit cold up there. So cold that there was still a little snow on the peaks in May. We let the boys out to wander for a bit. It was nice to get out of the heat and see something new. The views were beautiful. Mike was looking for some good climbing hills for a bike ride. Maybe someday we'll go up there and have a picnic when we are sick of the summer heat.

The Dumb Dam

Memorial weekend and we were ready for an adventure. We invited some cousins down to go to the Hoover Dam with us. All week long all I heard from the teenagers is "I don't want to go to the dumb dam". Oh well, they had to go anyway. This amazing structure is only 30 min away. The pictures I took don't even do it justice. It's impossible for you to see how tall it is. At the end of the day the kids had to admit that the trip wasn't "dumb". I think the best part of the day was getting to say "dam" all day long and not get in trouble for it. For instance, "Can we go to the dam store and look for a dam t-shirt?" or "Does anyone know where the dam bathrooms are?" etc.


(Mason loves his shirt that says "I can't hear you, I'm too busy being AWESOME")


We started the day with a movie and a tour of the dam. I hope it's a little bit interesting for the kids to learn how the electricity is made. We then explored the visitors center. They had some fun activities for the kids to generate their own electricity. Then those who wanted to, walked across the dam. I thought it was super cool!



Behind Chelsea you can see the bridge that they are building now. Pretty soon you won't be able to drive across the dam. I guess it's too big of a terrorist threat. The bridge freaked me out just looking at it. After our adventure we headed back to the car to make some sandwiches. As we ate in the parking lot, I was reminded of the many adventure we have had with the Mortenson family where we are eating lunch out of a cooler in the back of a car :). After we got home we enjoyed ice cold popcicles in the back yard. It was the end to a great day!

We finally make it to the strip

We were looking to have a good time with our cousins who came down for the weekend, so we decided to head to the Vegas Strip. In the 3 months that we have lived here, we hadn't done anything down there yet. We went to the Belligio to see their water show. It was so much cooler than I had expected. We also wandered through the Garden there. I heard that they had just redone the display. It was amazing. My pictures just don't do it justice. We are excited that they are having a sleepover with us and we are off on an adventure tomorrow!

The art show

Brianna's art class had their spring show this week. Brianna had 2 pieces in it that she worked really hard on. She still loves art. In 6th grade they only get 1 quarter of art. In 7th grade she has signed up for a semester, and if she continues into 8th grade she can take a full year of art. It was fun to go to the show and see her work displayed there.

Chelsea's Makeover

Chelsea made a couple of changes to her appearance this week. First, she finally got her glasses. She has been telling me for a while that she is having a hard time seeing in school. As soon as our insurance kicked in, we got her checked out. They are even the fancy glasses that change dark in the sun (which made getting some pictures difficult but can come in handy). She tells me that she never knew that things around her were so blurry. I remember that feeling from when I first got glasses. Then on Saturday she decided to change things up a little more. She got more layers cut and then decided to try a bang. That's the beauty of being a girl, you can change it up easily and get a whole new outlook on life. Her daddy thinks she looks older. I think she looks cute! Then she let me take lots of pictures. I'm looking for pics to blog, she wants pics to facebook.

You just never know what he'll say

On Saturday we decided we all needed haircuts. I'm usually pretty impulsive about this which makes it hard for me to make an appointment at a nice salon. We usually just hit a great clips where you can just walk it. They had so many hair stylists there that each of us (me, Chelsea, Bri, and Mason) were able to sit in different chairs and get our cuts at the same time. Those of you who know Mason, know that it's easy to hear his sweet high pitched voice. I could hear him chatting constantly, but I couldn't really hear what he was saying. At one point I heard his stylist laughing and repeating what he just said and I just thought "Oh no he didn't!" He had just repeated his favorite joke. Without warning he just asks, "Are there holes in your underwear?" This is usually followed by a shocked stare by the unsuspecting stranger. Then they answer, "No". To which Mason then asks, "Then how do you get your legs through?"

There was nothing I could do as I sat there getting my hair cut. After Mason was done they came over to get the mom inspection. I told the stylist that I was sorry for anything that she had to sit through and I was afraid of what he may have been telling her. I guess he repeated some story about when he threw up and described what he had eaten prior, and there was another story about trying to catch the chicken pox. He must have been 3 or 4 when that happened, why would he decide to tell that story now? I guess it just goes to prove that you just never know what will come out of his mouth and that makes life interesting!

Friends

It was so much fun to spend time with a good friend, Kieth, this weekend. It's been a LONG time since we have seen him and he was in town for a convention. He was part of our inspiration to go ahead with the law school dream. A long time ago (Chelsea was probabally 3) Mike worked for Keith making wood crates. When the business went belly up, Keith decided to go ahead a pursue his dream of going to medical school even though he was older and no body thought he should do it. He moved his young family across the country to make it possible. He has now been a doctor for 5 years and loves it. I'm always amazed that when you meet up with a good friend that you haven't seen in years, it's like you just saw them yesterday. Thanks for hanging out with us this weekend!

Cars

This is Cord's latest pastime. He LOVES cars. Every time we clean these up, he gets upset and gets all the cars out again. I'm still amazed as he takes the cars along the road, parks them at a building, and makes sound effects. I guess it's fascinating to me because it shows that he knows what's going on and is figuring things out. It just shows me how much he is growing up! And it's really cute to watch.

Braces

Today was the big day! Brianna got her braces on. She was so patient as she sat in the chair for over 2 hours. I got to entertain Cord in the lobby for that long. I'm not sure who had the hardest job.


She looks very cute with her mouth full of metal. If she is really good a follows all the rules, the will come of in 18 months. And the first thing she wants to do is come up to St. George for a sticky party at the Schwendiman just like Brooke. So Shelley, mark it on your calendar for Nov 2011 :)

Time to get naked

I love it in the evening when I say to Cord, "It's time to get naked". He drops whatever he is doing and runs upstairs to the bathroom. He knows it's his bath time and he loves it! Lately he runs into the master bathroom. I guess that's because it's so big. For him it's almost like swimming. I also love how he smells after I rub him down with baby lotion and he is dressed in clean jammies. How old is to old for baby lotion? I hope it's not soon!

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mother's day to ya all! I've been working this weekend so I got to sleep most of the day. That works out well because it seems like the harder the kids try to get along to make mom happy, the more they fight. I did have some nice surprises today though. I feel so loved! I worked Saturday night. Mike called me early in my shift and asked if I could break away for lunch around midnight. He met me at the hospital with a cheesecake to share with me (my favorite dessert). It was such a nice way to start mother's day and a very nice surprise. I guess I'll have to hit the gym twice on Monday to make up for it :).

When I got home from work, this nice surprise was set up in my bed from Mason. He had made this wonderful things at his scout day camp on Saturday. I thought the dirt in my bed was a nice touch though. I was too tired to care and was touched by his thoughtful display.

When I woke up from my nap I found a note leading to a treasure hunt for lunch that was also designed by Mason. After a series of clues that lead me all around the house, I found this heart cheese sandwich, that he made all by himself, in the microwave.


Both girls designed and made me these fabulous magnets for me. I also received some nice homemade cards full of love. I woke up to a nice clean house thanks to Chelsea. Besides the kids getting along, a clean house was my 2nd wish. Then the kids and I spent some time playing the wii. Thanks to everyone for an all around nice day!

Another nice, thoughtful gift that Mike got me was a bottle of sunscreen. I know you are thinking that it's a weird idea, but when I dropped Mason off at school on Thursday I noticed several parents outside their cars lathering their kids up with sunscreen. I called Mike and told him that once again, I was a loser mom because I didn't even think of putting stuff on Mason. I just dropped him off and drove away (and I didn't get a call from the school). Mike bought me my own bottle of sunscreen so I too can stand outside my van and show the world how much I love and care about my son because I'm protecting him from the sun's evil rays (insert the sound of angels singing "ahhhhhhh" here and imagine the glorious scene in slow motion to improve it's effectiveness). Therefore I must be a fabulous mother, right?

It's a girl!

For Chelsea's health class they are doing a parenting project this next week. The assignment was to have a 10 lb "baby" to carry around and pretend that you are a mommy. They have to have it in different clothes each day with a new diaper (the teacher will mark it each day so you can't reuse it). We weren't sure how to carry this out, so I headed to the store to find a cheap baby doll. Then we had to preform "surgery.

We cut a hole in the back, took out all the stuffing, and filled the doll full of rice. Her head is really heavy and floppy now, I guess it's just like a real baby in that way. She even preformed the procedure in the legs. Then Chelsea sewed the baby back up, making sure to make the stitches small so she doesn't scar. I don't know if it's 10 lbs but we don't know what else to do. The baby gets weighed on monday and we'll see how well we did. We may have to put weights in her diaper if we need to add more weight.

Chelsea named the baby Joyce. Do you really think that pretending to be a mom for one week will convince any of the kids to wait until they are older to become parents? I don't think so. It's not like the dolly will keep you up at night, make your body hurt, or change your life forever. But I guess it's fun to see her playing with dolls again.

Last day of freedom

To make up for leaving Mason at school on monday, we decided to find something to do for fun on his last day of freedom. I'm about 90% sure that he starts school tomorrow! The splash pads around town are now open so we decided it would be the perfect way to cool off. This one happened to have a pirate theme. The boys had fun but Mason kept complaining that the water was too cold. I think in another month he won't be saying that. Cord just ran around a giggled the whole time, but he doesn't really like getting to wet. He just got close enough to touch it.