May- Week 1- 8th Anniversary

"Because I'm Happy..." dance party!

http://youtu.be/uqc1CTNl8G0

I had to document this face.  Why, you might ask?  Because McKenna has this look on her face ALL the time!  It seems like she's concerned about something, but I think it's her "pondering" face.  She most often looks like this when she's watching something; a movie, a play, a story read aloud...  

Also big news about this girl- she lost her first tooth!!  I first noticed her bottom right tooth was loose on April 1st, and she lost it on May 1st!  I totally called it too.  The day it was SUPER loose I said, "Today will be the day."  And it was. :)  She had a string of beads on her shirt (pictured above) that she was playing with in her mouth.  Then all of the sudden, she said she felt something on her tongue, and it was the tooth! No blood at all, so you know that thing was ready!  She was a little embarrassed at first about her new looking smile, but she got over it.  That night, the tooth fairy brought her a gold, Sacagawea dollar coin, and left a note about brushing well so her smile will sparkle!  She isn't too money driven yet, so she didn't seem as excited as we thought she might.  But she still enjoyed the surprise.  

Dan and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary!  We went to dinner at Olive Garden, one of my favorites.  Then we went mini golfing...something we had never done together! Not sure how we never went mini golfing while dating in Provo.  Everyone does that.

Then we walked around City Creek and got a smoothie.  Such a great night with my honey and an amazing 8 years!  Can't wait to spend eternity with this guy! 

Some cute bed head on Miss Anna.  

She was clearly not too pleased with me taking a picture instead of holding her.  "Come on mom.  I just woke up."  :(

We made a lovely birthday dinner for my older sister who turned the big 3-4! 

Of course the kids helped blow out the candles.  

Randome selfie. 

Anna thought she was so funny tickling my feet.  

April- Week 3- Easter

McKenna has been taking a music class since September and had a recital on the 17th.  The class teaches the kids musical concepts like keeping a steady beat, making your voice go up and down and matching pitch, telling the difference between major and minor chords, recognizing steps, skips and leaps on a staff, clapping rhythms, Solfege hand signs and more.  Three cousins from the Stewart family also took this class.  The teacher mixed together her piano students' performances with her music students' songs to give some variety to the recital.  As a group, the students sang 6 songs: Let's Play Music, Red Balloon, Do Re Mi, Chords in Pieces, Bugs, and Are You Sleeping.  Some of the older students also played the tone bells and autoharp to help accompany the students.  

Are You Sleeping

Mrs. Geri T.

Following my childhood tradition, our Eater Bunny comes Friday night before Eater so we can focus on the true meaning of Easter on Sunday.  So Friday afternoon we dyed eggs.  

Sticking your tongue out totally helps make it look better.

Anna even got to sit and watch and play with dad's phone.  

So many cute faces. I couldn't make myself delete any of these pictures.  

The finished products!  They love putting lots of stickers on after they dry.  

Later that afternoon was a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt.  

Some groups shots

Easter weekend was also our Stake's productions of Act II of Savior of the World.  

Dan and I both participated two years ago.  This year, only Dan was in it and it was a wonderful experience as usual.
Lots of family and friends came to support.  

Other ward members in the cast as well.  

Saturday "Easter" morning.
Most of these pictures are blurry because of so much excitement and movement! ;)
"New mawtows!" as Ben would say.  

Love the hand covering her mouth as she gasped. 

Here's a lovely 7 minute video of the kids first coming out to find their treasures!  

"Best Eatoh Evoh!"

Reading our new book together

Putting those new markers to good use! 

Thanks to Grandma Sibber for getting the kids' new Easter outfits!  

 We will now call it McKenna's Easter "Sophia" dress.  :)

After church, we had a little family photo shoot.

McKenna said it was pretty bright out. :) 

Yes, Dan is restraining the boy.  

Then I tried to get a couple cute shots of just the kids.  Ben proceeded to put both his sisters in a head lock.  Anna didn't love it so much... 

...then an ambulance drove by.  

But I got this cute shot.  

And this one!

Sunday morning, we also did an Easter activity with the kids.  We had 12 eggs, and inside each was something that represented a part of the Easter Story.  For example, there was some cloth representing the robe the Roman Soldiers put on Jesus to mock him.  There's a small stone representing the stone that was rolled in front of the tomb.  But the final egg is empty, representing the empty tomb on the third day when Christ was resurrected.  Our kids seem to understand more and more of the Easter story every year and we love the opportunity to teach them about the love our Savior has for us!