Baptism

Madison was baptized yesterday. It was such a beautiful time for our family. The spirit was so stong and Madison was so excited to be baptized. She is such an amazing girl with such stong simple faith and we are so proud of her and the decision that she made to be baptized. We had so many members of our families and friends who were there for her and that means so much to us. Thanks to all of you, and Congratulations Madison we love you so much.

Happy Birthday Madison

Madison is 8 years old! I truly can not believe it. She had such a fun day. She woke up at about 5:15 so she didn't even get breakfast in bed, but Tom did make her eggs and sausage for breakfast, she loved it. We also let her open a present after she ate. She got some new clothes and a whale webkinz. She was so excited. At school he class had a party for her. I took icecream cups and she read one of her favorite books to the class. In the evening she had a party at the park where she and her friends played games, made crafts, and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, aside from the rain it was a fun time for everyone.

Catch-Up

This month has been so crazy, it has been fun a stressful at the same time, but all good.So here are some of the many highlights...

The elementary school had as storytelling festival, it was so much fun. There were different story areas like fairytales, western, foreign lands, there was also a professional story teller. We listened to stories and made crafts add cotton candy and face painting to the mix and what can be better.

We have had some nice weather so we spent the afternoon at the park. C.J. had so much fun on the slide and climbing around the jungle gym. It was good for him to burn off some of his energy. I just can't wait until the weather is nice all the time.

Madison started softball, she is playing coach pitch again this year. These are some pictures from her game. It is so much fun to watch her play. The games at this age are so funny, most of the time the girls don't know where to throw the ball but it is fun to see them get better as the games progress. Madison made some good plays while she was playing 3rd, it was fun to see her be so excited about her accomplishments.

Emma graduated from Preschool! She was so cute. The kids all sang songs and talked about what they had learned. She has made some friends at school and is very excited to go to Kindergarten in the fall. Emma has really learned a lot this year. She now knows all of her upper and lower case letters as well as the 33 sounds that the letters make. She is also reading and catching on really quickly. She can write her numbers from 0-9 and can count to 40. She is so smart and she loves school. I just hope that when kindergarten starts we can get her out of bed and to school by 8 o'clock.

My Brother the track star!

Words can't to justice to what these pictures represent. Who would have ever thought that my little brother would be on the track team? A brother who doesn't realize that he is any different than the rest of us. He has been taken in by a group of amazing high school kids that give him more opportunites that any of us ever thought he would have. He throws the shot put for the High School tack team. Even though he only thows it about 6 feet, his reaction and the cheers from those who watch him throw are amazing, you would think that he won. I am so glad to have my little brother as one of my greatest examples what a blessing he is to me. If any of us were to put our heart into the things we do in our life the way he does then nothing could stop us. Thanks Garrison we love you!

Rock Shop

Madison's class went on a field trip today to a rock shop. It was really pretty amazing. The older couple that has the shop in their yard and garage are so sweet. They are both in their 80's and they work all year to get everything ready for this field trip. The pictures above are of her class and some of the rocks that she was given. The top left is a picture of a petrified mushroom cap that Madison won. It is now her prized posession. Also, the dionsaur is actually carved from one rock. They bought it somewhere in South America. It was carved by a 12 year old boy. It is amazing. Their collection ranged from petrified dinosaur dung and wood to every kind of rock you can think of. Each of the kids was given 3 bags of rocks to take home they were polished and cut and amazing. This couple was so cute and it was such a great opportunity.