These pics were taken at Sassy's "graduation" from safety town. This is a wonderful program for kids ages 5 & 6. I feel terrible I didn't know about it when C was that age. K loved it and now Sassy has too! This picture of A2 is such a classic A2 face. I had to add it to the post.
She can dress herself so cute! That's our Sassy!
One day K decided he was going to help mommy and clean out the hall closet. He wanted "rocks" so he could have more wii time! So intentions weren't necessarily to help mommy but for his own benefit. :) hey, I'll take it! In the process, A2 found lots of fun accessories. It was ReALLY hot that day. I went outside to see what the kids were up to and this is what I found. Silly girl! She was so happy in her Sassy's winter hat, K's flip flops and her gloves. I didn't get a picture of the gloves on. She was quite the looker!
She was also running around the yard "picking flowers". :)
I was doing a newborn photo shoot at Amy's. The girls were with me and had been very good girls. But eventually they wanted in on the fun. Amy had a straw hat lying around and the girls thought they were cute in it. I was more than willing to catch their silliness on camera!
Nothin but smiles! 
I still can't believe we have a middle schooler in our house. Mom, is a bit scared for him. Lockers, class schedules, sports, more rude kids, HOMEWORK! Ok, mom is scared for herself too! C is a very introverted child. He hates standing in front of a crowd and having to face them. It makes him very nervous and uncomfortable. I was so proud of C! He did a great job getting up in front of 175 of his classmates families, perform a song and walk across the stage to get his certificate/diploma thingy. You can tell in the picture above he wasn't thrilled about it.......
..... until he had that baby in his hand. He immediately sat down and flashed mom a big C smile! I LOVE HIM!
Now don't get me wrong, I am very proud of him and his accomplishments. He finished the year with straight A's! I'm beyond proud and believe they deserve to be recognized but I think the full on elementary graduation is ridiculous. Yes.... this is the question I get from K at 6:50am while waiting for the school bus. I knew this wasn't good! I walked outside and discover K was trying to prove to C that he could throw rocks further. We now know that maybe not farther but definitely harder.
as you can see, ( i couldn't tell until later in the morning) the rocks he threw went right threw the window. Found the rocks on the inside. 
We also now know that safety glass does what it's suppose to. it shattered into thousands of tiny pieces but i held in place nicely. Unfortunately, this was the first of May and of course, it thunderstorms almost every afternoon. When I called the window replacement company, the gentleman advised me to call my insurance but DO NOT tell them that my 8 year old did this; to just say I woke up and found my van this way. Well, our insurance agent is a member of our ward and a good friend. I talked to him and he couldn't believe that K actually did this. But he said we had comprehensive coverage with no deductable. PHEW... K's butt was saved. Our prayers were answered. I didn't have to come up with a $300 that day but i still wasn't happy with K.
These two LOVE scouts! K has been WAITING ever so long to join his brother! They only have a few months together in Cubs and then C is moving up. C was awesome welcoming him.
C his first day of cub scouts. My how he has grown up! He was just as excited as K was! 
Sleeping Beauty! 
Out like a light!
Amy is still "training" me to work under her. Here are some pics I took of K for his baptism program and such. I was so pleased with how they turned out. LOVED the location! And it makes it easy when you have a kid that really doesn't mind having his picture taken and can give you that "right" smile almost every time! He is quite the photogenic child!
A little too posed for my taste but he was so silly and really getting into it by the end. HA HA!
It is such a blessing to have an 8 year old in the family again. It's such a gift to me as a parent to sit and listen to our child KNOW what it means to be baptized and WANT it for himself as much as I want it for him. G'ma C gave the talk on baptism. She was asking K a lot of questions, and I sat back amazed about how much he knows the doctrine and history of the church. 
I'm so blessed to be married to a honorable man that holds the priesthood. It's moments like these that remind myself of why we are here on earth, to redirect what's important and to take the time really remember them. It's also these moments that I feel like I'm doing my job as a parent. That I am doing some good in my child's lives. We are so proud of K and HIS decision to become a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! 
K has been counting down the days until he got his own scriptures and new bag. No joke! He was so looking forward to this moment almost as much as the actual baptism.
It feels great to have so many people love your children! Thank you all for making K's weekend such a memorable one!
K requested a rising sun for his birthday cake. He wanted it because it was on his karate uniform. Something he really enjoys right now.
So a little background as to why K likes the Minnesota Vikings. The year K was born Cheeto bought me some Steelers silk capri pajama pants for Christmas. I LOVED them and hinted I would like another pair. So for mother's day he got a couple new ones. The only problem was he couldn't find them for the Carolina Panthers or Steelers then. So he bought me Texans, because my little sister was serving a mission in Texas at the time and I do like the color (red, white and blue). The other pair he got me was the Vikings because I do love the color purple. K took it that mom like the Vikings so he sided with me and just decided to start liking the Vikings too. And it has stuck. Even though Cheeto is NOT much of a Vikings fans, he does allow his children to chose who the like and allows such things in our home. :) 
Nothing better than a iTunes card. 
The friend I work with that is a photographer has great kids and our kids love them around. She came to the party and was more than willing to take pics. This was awesome because just like most mom's out there, we are the ones behind the camera and never in the pictures. That just explains why I'm in the some of these. I was working on cutting and serving the cake. Cheeto was being cute and posed for Amy, re-enacting a "cutting of the cake" moment. 
And this time he took advantage of the fact I wasn't dressed in a white wedding dress and did what he probably really wanted to do almost 13 years ago. :) It was funny and love him for it!
Our girls LOVE to play dress-up. This was A2 playing dress up while potty-training. Isn't it adorable.... princess on the pot?!?!? LOL! This will be a classic that will show up in her wedding video one day or maybe use it for blackmail. Who knows! She is completely potty trained and does a great job telling ANYONE when she needs to go. :) and I do mean ANYONE! Can I just say what a relief it is not having to budget in the $40 box of diapers at costco each month? Cheeto and I have officially started the next stage of kids. We no longer have to carry the diaper bags, bottles, sippy cups, wipes, etc. It's bittersweet... but so exciting too! 
I added this picture because these are my little helpers in crime each day. A1 has started going to pre-school a couple mornings a week. And I have to say, it kinda makes me sad! She will start kindergarten in the fall and there goes another one out the door and out of the protective walls of home all day! K swears he will be a good big brother for her at school. I thank Heavenly Father every day for giving me the best of both boys and girls. But I am so grateful the girls came at the end. We have so much fun together shopping, baking, cleaning, movie watching, painting toes, the list goes on and on. Mom, Dad, and Lettie offer to keep them so I can run errands but I very often like to decline unless it's a dr appt or something. I just so love spending that time with them!
sigh... Oh the glorious pinewood derby. Don't get me wrong it's a good activity for the boys but every years it's something. This year Cheeto was so busy it was hard to get him and C to work on it together. C looked at a bunch of different styles online and chose to make one that looked like a military hum-V. So I helped him trace it on the block of wood to be cut for scout night. Then the next scout activity was to paint it. Well, Cheeto and C had yet to do weigh it or drill holes, etc. Cheeto said we did it all backwards, but what was I suppose to do- not let him paint it because he hadn't done anything else to it. Then everyone (C included) got on ME for cutting it out wrong and that it wasn't going to be very aerodynamic. I simple said, "I didn't choose the design. I did as I was asked. That's it."
So C procrastinated and it was the night of and they were still trying to weight it down and weigh it to that precise 5 oz. UGH! C was all upset saying it's a crappy car, he wasn't going to a THING, that next year he didn't want mom or dad's help, and didn't even want to participate. I gave him the speech that it's all in fun and please be a good sport regardless of what happens. With a frown on his face and frustrated we started the race....
There was some major issues with the track. Cars would literally jump off the track at the same point each time. Here is Cheeto inspecting the track... not that he had a say in how to fix it. But still a curious Cheeto. :)
OVER EXCITED C!
Some intense competition....
but good sportsmanship goes a long way...
Earlier in the evening we had to take C aside once to get his behavior in check. He as upset about losing then overly excited about winning. (SIGH) This is his in between excitement. :)
First place.... VICTORY!
GOOD R
Ya... he said sorry to mom and dad pretty quick afterwards.
