Mother/Daughter Date

Aubrey and I went with a bunch of friends on a Mother/Daughter date in Balboa Park over the weekend. The Junior Theatre was presenting Disney's Beauty and the Beast. It was great! I took her to lunch at the Prado and we walked over and caught a glimpse of the lily pads near the botanical gardens. I wish I would have taken more pictures of us! Darn. Just wasn't thinking.

My crafts on the side

 How does a mom like me survive the demands of raising three busy kids? I keep crafting! This doesn't happen all at once but every week or so, I get the itch to craft something. A friend of mine is raising money for the American Heart Association. I found this tutorial for these darling crayon rolls on her blog. I made a few for some friends and asked them to donate to her cause. Here's the link to her tutorial. http://craftychiclyric.blogspot.com/2010/03/crayon-roll-tutorial.html

 At our last quilt group, we made these darling clutches. Here's the tutorial we followed. I thought they turned out so cute that I made an extra one for mom for mother's day. http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/04/strippy-charm-pouch.html

Our ward has been busy with lots of baby showers lately. I haven't made these burp in a long time! So I finally decided to get back into them. I found the ribbon at Walmart of all places.

Connor's Special Day

Saturday, May 7, 2011, Connor was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We are so proud of him and his decision to follow the example of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Go Rangers!

Connor is on the Rangers this year for Little League. He's just had one year of t-ball under his belt so we knew this season would be a time for growth for Connor. He's handled it pretty well. He's improving on his swing and building up his defensive skills as well. Mike has been practicing with him and we've had a few FHE nights down at the park playing together as a family. It sure if fun to watch and cheer for him!

The start of a SUPER busy weekend for one SUPER special 8 year old BOY

The chorus concert was on Thursday and the days that followed are sort of a blur now. My mom came in town for Connor's baptism and it turned out that she got to be there for his party at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in Balboa Park as well. Grandma also made it down from Huntington Beach. It's been great to have her close by. Mike and I traditionally like to host our birthday parties at our house. We always come up with a fun theme and we have a blast planning and doing but this year we thought we'd have the party elsewhere since this was only the beginning of the weekend festivities. And since Connor's life ambition is to become an astronaut and an inventor, the science center was just the right place to have his party. Connor invited a handful of classmates to join him. The kids got to check out all the exhibits and then see an IMAX film about the Galapagos Islands. They enjoyed some cake in the Challenger Space Shuttle conference room. They had a great time and it was great for Mike and I to have a break from the clean up!

Shoal Creek Elementary School's Otter Melodies

 The boys have had the opportunity to participate in the Otter Melodies children's choir after school this year. Aaron started out last fall and at the beginning of the year, the director opened it up to 2nd graders, so Connor got to join in as well. They just had their concert where they performed Destination America. I was really nervous and worried about Aaron. He struggled at the dress rehearsal at school but he did amazing at the night performance! It was like night and day. I was proud of both of them. I guess the promise of 5 marbles each for the marble jar was enough to get the best out of them. They really had a lot of fun and the music was great. Mrs. White, the director, teaches music at the boys' school and she also is the Stake Youth Music director. She puts on a big production at Christmas time at our LDS Stake Center. We're so lucky to have her directing Otter Melodies! 

Connor, Mrs. White, and Aaron posing for a "WE'RE DONE!!!" picture. 

Hummingbird Update

The eggs have hatched! We see Hermoine (the kids wanted to name her, I told them it had to be an "H" name) feeding the babies quite often throughout the day but I haven't had my camera ready for a snapshot yet. Here's a picture of the baby hummingbirds less than a day old. You can still see the eggs in the nest.

 Hermoine swooped in to keep her babies warm.

Hermoine will continue to keep her babies warm for a few more weeks until the babies feathers come in. We're so thrilled to be watching this amazing cycle. Yes, we've researched the process and watched several youtube videos.

Here are the babies at about 5 days old.