Student of the Month

Good job Anders!  Ms. Ryan said he has been working so hard in class.

We are so proud!

Humanities Field Trip To The Museum

We met Matthew's Humanities Class today at the Fine Art Museum for a field trip.  We looked at paintings and identified the elements of art.  I think this was my favorite class to teach.  What a great group of kids.  I really enjoy them.

Here is the class minus one little girl.

And here they are again with the younger siblings who tagged along.

After looking at paintings, we had lunch outside and then went to the Science Museum.   Here they are all sitting in a dinosaur footprint.  Aren't they cute?

Picture of The Day

When you live clear across the country from your family, you are so very grateful for technology.  I've started sending a picture of the day to my parents and siblings.  (I try to do it every day, but we all know how inconsistent I am.)  

Every once in a while I get a picture back from them.  It always makes my day. I feel almost as if I were a small part of their special days, of their growing up, and their mundane glorious lives.  Here are the ones I have received so far. 

Annie and John's graduation from Utah Valley University.   

My beautiful niece Maddy on her baptism day.

Rosyln on a school field trip.

My daddy with his brother, Uncle Royce.

Claudia as the second attendant in the Little Miss Payson pagent.

Cadence's hurt hand on cello day.  She couldn't play.

Coda

Lucy.  (She and I have matching eyes.)

 My daddy with Baby Kensington sleeping on his tummy.  How cute is this?

More to come..... (hint, hint)

Going For A Walk

Spring is finally here and Matthew and I took a walk to celebrate.   The blossoms on the trees and bushes are so bright and cheery.  Check out how these blossoms match Matthew's sweat shirt.

Anders New York Visit

During Spring break Anders went to hang out in New York with his grandparents.  Here he is with his cousins Max and Patrick.

He also got to spend a couple of nights with Mimi.

He had such a good time.

Rainy Soccer Game

Holden loves soccer and we love him.  So we stand in the rain and watch him play.  Go Bulldogs!  

Puppet Show

The one thing Nicholas and Holden wanted to do during Spring break was have a day where he could stay home.  They really are Joe's sons.  So while the party poopers stayed home on Wednesday, Matthew and I headed to the Springfield Museums to see a puppet show.  His friend Jacob and his mom came to watch it with us.  

The boys liked it even if it was Beauty and The Beast.  The marionettes and sets were really well done.

After the show the performers came out and showed the kids how the puppets work.  I'm so glad I have one kid who likes to run around with me.  Or at least doesn't about it.  

Kite Flying

Aunt Karen gave the boys some fun kites for Easter.  They have had a really good time flying them. Nicholas and Matthew  played with them while Holden was at soccer practice.  The first day everything went great. 

 The second day was perfectly breezy day.  Then Nicholas's kite got got in a tree.  He gave up right away, but Joe didn't.  He took two sticks and bound them together with vines he found on the ground.  And it worked.  We saved the kite.  

Quabbin Reservoir

We headed off the the Quabbin Resevoir on the second day of spring break with some friends from church.  It was a beautiful day and we really enjoyed it.

Here are all the kiddos right when we arrived.

This is the back side of the dam.  The kids were running right up it.  The ground was soggy.  

Waiting for the slow visiting moms.

I wish I could take credit for this beautiful photo, but Marcia took it.  

The kids found a great field to play frisbee.  

There were loads of trails along the streams.  It was fun to explore and be out in such nice weather.

On the way home we stopped at McDonalds and used our free ice cream cone coupons.  

Holden gave his ice cream horns.

Matthew made his into a chair.

Three cheers for no school!  

Brace Face Metzger

We did it.  We bit the bullet and committed to loads of orthodontist appointments and payments.  But he is just so cute with his little wire smile.

And since one picture isn't enough, here is another.  

Joe's Desk

Joe actually has two desks at work.  His office and his desk in the credit department.  This is his credit department desk.  He sent it to me so I could appreciate his organizational skills....

Joe's Vantage Point

Here is what Joe sees every Sunday while he sits on the stand.  Of course this picture was taken before sacrament meeting actually started.  We usually have more than 4 people in church.

Alice

Anders see a wonderful therapist named Alice.  She has been so very helpful.  She is an art therapist which of course is perfect for Anders, who is so artisitc.  He made this during one of his sessions and ask Alice to take a picture so he could always remember it.   It is a face.  The holes of the scissors are the eyes, the blue play dough is the mouth, and the yellow plastic sticking out are the teeth.  His name is Doodle.

Muppet Movie and Five Guys

We loved the last Muppet Movie so much that we couldn't pass up the chance to see the new one in the theater.  We went to the very first showing on Saturday because it is only $5.  The movie was great especially the Tina Fey scenes. 

I took a picture of the screen at the end of the movie.
Is that copyright infringement?

Dark theater + crappy phone camera = bad pictures

After the movie, Joe thought it would be fun to get French Fries from Five Guys.  And guess what?  He was right.

My five guys at Five Guys.

Their French Fries are HUGE.
We only ordered one large and it was enough for all of us.

What a fun way to spend a Saturday.

Show And Tell

On Fridays,  Anders has show and tell in his kindergarten class.  Today he decided to bring the dinosaur he got from Santa.  One student asked him where he got it and he told them that the elves made it.