Piano Recital

Madison and Payton had their year end piano recital. Payton played, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and Madison played "Arabian Song". We are so proud of both girls and how hard they worked this year.

La Rondine

We finished up our last opera in the season for the San Jose Opera. Our seats this time were in the balcony which was new for us. (Previously we had sat on the second row). It was fun to be able to see the scope of the full opera.

Due to the busy time of year, we had done very little prep on the content of the opera. (We had watched a movie on Puccini that gave us a little insight into his personality.... but sadly, that was as far as we had gotten) I was pleasantly surprised at how fast my girls were able to pick up on the story line. We had some friends who ended up coming late and Madison was able not only to quickly bring them up to speed but also picked up on the nonverbal aspects presented and could infer what was going to happen.

I am hoping that we are able to get tickets for next season. Fingers crossed they have announced a fabulous one!

Art Show

We had the kids year end Art Show. The teacher helped them choose the artwork they wanted to submit.

Payton choose her 'Toucan' and her "Cityscape".











Madison chose "Hare" and her "City Scape".














Alex chose his "Woman with a Long Neck" (I love the name almost as much as I love the painting!) You can see the pride in his eyes. He also asked me take a movie of him 'discussing' his painting. What a sweetheart!














Here the kids are with their 'fearless' teacher, Miss Karen. She has been so brave to teach them art for the past 2 years. They have really grown to care about her and even run back in if they have forgotten to give her a hug before they leave. I am grateful for her love and dedication. Thanks for all you do Miss Karen!

4H Easter Egg Hunt

Our 4H group sponsored an Easter Egg Hunt for the kids at Emma Prush Park. The kids had a great time looking for all of the candy filled eggs.

I know this isn't the greatest picture of Madison. I feel bad but the only other pictures I had were of her bent over helping Ashton get eggs.... and I know she wouldn't appreciate me posting 'that' on my blog. (You're welcome Madison, yes you owe me one!) ;)


























Notice the chocolate around Ashton's mouth. There is no point in waiting to eat your chocolate.... someone else might get it before you! (I think it is in the 4th child handbook)

Easter Morning

Of course, with everyone being so overtired from the previous week, we all were sleeping in on Easter morning. Well, all of us except Ashton. When you are 2, you get up when the sun comes up. That is just the way it is done. Our bedroom is right beside the living room. As usual, when Ashton woke up she came into our room. She didn't touch anything but was pretty intrigued at what she saw in the living room.

She would run into our room, then run back out, checking to make sure everything was still there. With each 'peek' she got bolder and bolder until she finally started coming into our room with things from her basket. When she started getting into her sibling's baskets I figured I had better get up- and get the rest of the house up.

We also had a little Easter Egg Hunt after they were done with their baskets as well. Believe it or not, all the eggs were found (there was a little while that we weren't so sure it was going to happen). BTW Ashton has also found and consumed some of the candy filled eggs prior to her siblings waking up.


Except for the small glitch of not being able to find the Easter baskets in the garage and having to use substitutes, I think the morning was a success (even though it began at the 'crack' of dawn). :)

Easter Egg Decorating

With our guests gone it was good that we had lots to help us keep our mind off of them. Thanks to Madison's eshopping abilities, in addition to decorating Easter eggs we also had Easter banks to decorate. We had a lot fun being creative.









Kevin with his egg masterpiece. (It was pretty cool. He held the egg in the dyes at different levels. We are helping our scientist explore his creative side! :)










All of our banks displayed on the piano.











We also did "He Is Risen" dioramas as well. They turned out beautifully and were a great reminder of the reason for our celebration.

Never Say Good-bye

Well, we tried to squeeze absolutely every bit of time out of their visit. There was no way around it, they had to leave.

















You can see my sweet Alex telling Nana not to be sad because we will be coming in July. Life is just so much simpler when you're 6.


I think it was the hardest on Ashton (and on Nana as well). Almost every time I left, Nana stayed behind and played with her. She had her very own 'private' Nana. Ashton cried when Kevin pulled out taking them to the airport. (I think Nana cried too).



Thanks for a great visit.