May 2011

May has been a busy month in our house (and I'm sure everyone else's too!) The month started with our cousin Hillary's wedding in the Orrqurih Mountain temple. For soem reson, my kids think that dancing is an essential part of any good wedding, so they started some impromptu dancing of their own.

Aubree and Kaden

Cambree being not a happy camper having to wear a dress and a flower.

Tyson and cousin Crystal

Brennen and cousin Karlee (aka Bugga. Brennen will not believe me that her real name is Karlee)

Tyson had his spring program for Musical Mustangs. He and his buddy Kaleb were so excited to sit together and be "cowboy fish."

Silly Pose!

I put sponge rollers in Aubree's hair on Sat nights to get her hair curly for church on Sunday. Cambree decided that she didn't want to be left out.

Brennen had preschool graduation. This is a stressful night for me, as I am the teacher, so I make Bruce video tape it so I can go back and watch it as a parent. He has come so far in preschool this year, and I'm excited to get him going next year!

For Cub Scout Pack meeting in May, we had the Cub Olympics. These are the cookie medals that we made for treats. 751 is our Pack number. I have really enjoyed my calling as Cub Master.

I got to go to school with Tyson on the last day of school. He wrote a story about his year in 1st grade and got to read it to his class. His Teacher, Miss Eberhard, is in the background. She was an amazing teacher for Tyson.

Tyson set a goal at the beginning of the year to get perfect attendance so he could stand on the stage on the last day of school. I told him if he reached that goal, I would take his picture and post it on the blog. So here he is getting his perfect attendance award. I am so proud of him for setting that goal and acheiving it!

Brennen and Cambree swinging at East Elementary. They have been such troopers through all the craziness. I sure do love these little munchkins!

Star Wars Party

I think the whole birthday party thing is getting out of control! I love birthdays way too much! Kaden wanted a Star Wars birthday party this year, so this is what we did.

We had about 15 kids that came, mostly boys. As they came, they made their "lightsabers". I bought pipe insulation and wrapped the end in duct tape. Then I had colored tape that they could use to decorate their light sabers.

After all the light sabers were ready, we had lightsaber training. Each child had a balloon that they had to keep in the air using only their light sabers. This got a little tricky when the wind picked up, but it was still fun! Then they each picked a partner and had a duel. The only rule was only light sabers could hit light sabers. No hitting people on purpose.

After light saber training, we had blaster training. Each "padawon" was given a blaster and had to use it to shoot at pictures of different star wars villans. Each villan was worth a different amount of points. The kids probably could have just played water guns for the rest of the party and been happy. They had a lot of fun with those.

Next I divided them into teams and had each team build a death star with chalk. Then they had to use their blasters to destroy the other team's death star.

The original plan was to use water balloons, for bombs, but I ran out of time to fill the water balloons. It would have worked better to use water balloons, because the kids got frustrated with how slow it was.

Next they had to free Han Solo from Carbonite. I froze little army men in blocks of ice, and they had to get them out however they could.

We then took a food break and went to the Cantina for Jabba Hut pizza and Yoda Soda. They could choose to have their Yoda Soda with or without Dagobah Sludge (lime sherbet.)

Next we had training with Master Yoda. I set up an obstacle course they had to complete with Yoda on their backs. They had to battle the Storm troopers (buckets with pictures of Storm troopers they had to kick over.)

Fly their fighter into a black hole ( a frisbee with a picture of a star fighter on it they had to throw into a bucket).

Make it across the lava planet ( a red tablecloth with paper plates for stepping stones.)

Finally they were ready for battle. I made a Darth Maul pinata by buying a Spiderman pinata and spray painting it black, then taping Darth Maul's face to it. It turned out pretty creepy. The little girls I was tending that morning were pretty freaked out.

They were blind folded so they had to use the force to fight Darth Maul. It worked out perfect because the last boy to have a turn was the one who broke it open.

We ended by eating light saber cupcakes. The boys got to take home their light sabers, blasters, and all the candy they got from the pinata.
Kaden said that it was his best party ever ands thanked me for being the most awesome birthday mom! That's why I do these crazy parties. It is worth it to see my kids so happy and to be the most awesome birthday mom!

Kaden's Birthday

Kaden's Birthday was pretty much a party all weekend. His birthday fell on a Sunday, so we had his friend party on Friday. On Saturday we went out to see my sister Larissa's new baby and he went shopping to spend all his birthday money and out to dinner. Then Sunday was his actual birthday. It was also ward conference that day and the Stake President invited the bishopric over that evening for dessert and socializing, so everyone there sang to him too. What a fun weekend!

Blowing out his candles.

His Star Wars cake.

Opening presents. He got an Air Hog Chopper and a Star Wars Transformer.
I cannot believe it has been 10 years since he was born. Where has all the time gone? Kaden is a great kid; he is just naturally good. He always does the right thing, not because we want him to, but because it is the right thing to do. I don't know if that made any sense, but I really don't know how to explain it. He is also so kind and is always concerned about everyone's feelings. He doesn't like it when people are being picked on and stands up for others. His teacher this year always commented on the amount of integrity he has and how unusual that was for a 4th grader. He is a straight A student, especially excelling in science. Happy Birthday Kaden! We love you!

Gone Easterin'

Easter for us Emery County folk is a big deal, and because of that , I have always loved Easter weekend! We have always done all the Easter Bunny/ Easter Egg stuff on Sat, so that Sunday could be all about our Savior and His resurection, and that is something I have continued with my own children. In fact, we have always gone to my parents house for Easter, but because of Aubree's ballet recital Friday night, this is the first year the Easter Bunny had to find us at our house. Tyson was really worried about this, but luckily he did find us, so he was quite relieved! He did have to find new hiding places for the candy, because we weren't at Grandma's

Dividing up the booty. Glad I look so cute in my PJ's!

Cambree was more interested in what was inside her basket. She didn't waste any time breaking into the candy. Each kid got a movie and a book.

We then headed over to Grandma's for some good old Emery County Easterin'! It really is a verb where I come from. Everybody heads out to the San Rafael for good food and a whole lotta egg rollin'! I was so excited that all my siblings and their families (other than my sister Larissa's husband who was in the Bahamas) were there for the weekend. We have so much fun when we all get together! Here are all the kids (other than Brennen and Cambree, who were asleep in the car) at Buckhorn Wash. It is a cool place with some Indian writings.

After Buckhorn wash, we found a hill to roll our eggs down. In the Larsen family, the term roll is used loosely, as the eggs always seem to end up flying through the air. I blame my Grandma Sitterud for that one; she always used to start the egg fights when we were kids! Here are Bruce, Aubree, and Cambree with some cousins rolling eggs.

Tyson making the hike back up the hill. Grandpa picked a really steep one this year!

Kaden plotting his next move.

Brennen after a really good throw!

No trip to the desert would be complete without a stop at the wedge! We actually haven't been there for a few years, so my kids were way excited to go again!

Aubree's Recital: "The Magic Coat"

Aubree had her ballet recital in April. I love watching her dance and I love the studio she takes dance from. She takes from Heather Wilson at Discovery Dance Works, which is a classical dance studio. Heather is the most amazing dance teacher ever! This year they performed "The Magic Coat".

Aubree had 2 parts in the show. First she was a Traveling Sailor. (She looks stressed out because a piece of her costume was missing and we were scrambling to find it.)

She was also in the scene 'Calming the Storm'.

Traveling Sailors. Aubree is 4th from the left.

Calming the Storm. Aubree is on the far right.

Curtain Call. Aubree is the 4th from the left.
I am so proud of Aubree. Ballet is her favorite thing in the world and she works so hard at it. I love watching all that hard work pay off. Good Job Princess. We love you!

Tyson Art Night

East Elementary had their annual Art show. This is a night where all the art work that they have been working on in Art Class is displayed throughout the school. Each class also does a little 15 minute presentation in their classrooms. Tyson's class performed a couple of songs.

The first was "Who Let the Letters Out" which was like "Who Let the Dogs Out" but with all the letter and letter sounds.

The second was "Too De Ta" which was a hillarious song with a little dance that went with it.

After the kids performed it, they got to invite someone from their family up to perform it with them. Tyson picked his dad.

Cambree just sat so quietly in the desk watching.

Jacob Enos Jarom Omni Words of Mormon

Our reward for finishing the book of Jacob was a treasure hunt. I tried to make the treasure low key and relevant to the scriptures, so I got them each a bookmark and marking pencil for their scriptures, and picture of the Savior blessing the Nephite children, and a few pieces of candy. With the treasure I put a note reminding them of Jacob 2:18 and that our true treasure is the scriptures, because they lead us back to our Father in Heaven.

Our reward for finishing the book of Enos was a late night party, because Enos prayed all day and all night. Tyson didn't make it past 9:00, and Aubree, Kaden and I were the only ones who finished the whole movie. Even dad wimped out at about 10:30. But it was still fun having a sleepover in the front room.

Jarom, Omni, and Words of Mormon are the 3 "bridge" books, so what better way to celebrate than under the Arches. We had dinner at McDonald's! (Dad had to miss out on this one because of School Board Meeting.)
Our journey now continues into the Book of Mosiah. We are excited to read about King Benjamin, Abinadi and King Noah, and Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah!