Preschool Graduation

We attended Ashton's preschool graduation Wednesday night.  It's so amazing to see how much he's grown over the last year!  We are so proud of him!  My baby's off to Kindergarten!

Room switcheroo

Ethan finally got his own room over Memorial Day weekend.  Cameron and Ashton now share a room and Ethan gets his own space!  The photo is totally acurate.  He has new bedding, new curtains and a rug since his room isn't carpeted like the rest of the house.  He loves it!

Memorial Day Swim-a-thon

We spent Memorial Day swimming at two different pools and having a cook-out with friends.  It was a great way to get ready for summer.

Camping

We spent this last weekend on our second annual camping trip in Oxnard and had a great time!  We borrowed our friends pop-up trailer (thanks Broyles!) and we were able to skip the tents this time!  Yeah!  The boys had space to run and ride their scooters and a mile or so of beach to explore.  The Hubbards spoiled us with yummy food and the weather cooperated for us to spend most of Saturday at the beach.

Goofing around in the yard

Yard work

The Hubbards bought me some new plants and bark to landscape our front yard.  The boys helped too!  Here are some of the after shots:

Where's Ashton?

Ashton's found a new hiding place.  Or, at least he thought he had!  I thought I'd share.

Mother's Day/Birthday

I had a lovely mother's day/birthday combo and feel very loved!  Derrik did surprise me with a new camera but I haven't had time to load photos from it yet.  As soon as I familiarize myself with the manual and get the software loaded, I'll share the pics we took over the weekend. 
Right now, I'm gearing up to finish our homeschooling year!  I have a big meeting Friday to show off our quarter school work.

Boys in the Striped Pajamas

The name has been picked, the outfits perfected, the music selected and the boys are officially a band!  Ashton isn't an active participant and may just jump in for a song or two, but Ethan and Cameron have worked really hard on these concerts!  We usually are given tickets and get autographs afterwards.  It's great!

Spring Concerts

We had our final choir concerts for the year!  Cameron, Ashton and I did ours on one weekend, and Ethan did his the following weekend.  The boys did a nice job and we are all breathing a sigh of relief that that part of our school year is over! 

San Diego Spring Break

Derrik attended a conference in San Diego last weekend and we tagged along for some spring break fun! We did a lot over the four days we were there so I created a slide show to share the highlights.  I moved it to the bottom of this page to make room for other posts!

Jim Henson Studio and Hollywood trip

We had the privilege of visiting the Jim Henson studio today and take a look at what goes into making one of their current shows, "Sid the Science Kid."  The muppets are officially owned by Disney now but small projects are still going on at this studio.  It is also the original studio where Charlie Chaplin made many of his movies.

The boys each took a turn using the computer that makes Sid's mouth, eyes and ears move.  Very cool.

The trip ended with us hunting for the Hollywood sign.  Just when we though we'd lost it, Derrik took us up a hill through a residential area and there it was! 

Eastery fun

Cameron and Ashton enjoyed decorating some eggs.....
The Easter bunny came by and left some treats......

There were 117 eggs to find in our yard.......

We then went off to church and then to the Hubbards to have a yummy Easter lunch.  It was a good day.  While we were driving home, the 7.2 earthquake happened down south.  We didn't feel a thing!  The Hubbards felt it at their house.

Ethan's birthday

Thank you to everyone for all the birthday wishes!  Ethan took the day off from school and spent the day doing what he loves: watching tv!  We took him to see "How to train your Dragon" in 3D and then out to dinner.  Then we went out for some clothes shopping!  He is officially eleven  :).

The ring that won't let go!

Cameron bought a ring from a vending machine yesterday afternoon and slipped it on his middle finger.  It slid on okay but he later noticed that it wasn't coming off.  We tried dish soap, cooking oil, taping the finger, etc.  He began complaining that it was hurting and the knuckle on the finger was starting to swell because he was pulling on it so much.  Finally, Derrik came up with a plan:  remove his finger!  No,   :)  he used some pliers to gently stretch the metal until it snapped open.  Cameron was very happy and will never, ever buy one of those again!

Singing in church last weekend

The boys all sang in church services last weekend with their choirs. It's always fun to see what songs they've learned. This year added an audition-only choir for Ethan that he is especially proud of. Here are my photos: