Junior cheerleaders

Halee had a chance to do a junior cheer camp last week. It was from Tuesday to Thursday, and then they perform at the high school basketball game at half time. I was amazed at how quickly these girls caught on to the dance. The song was so fast, and they for the most part, stayed with it. How cute it was to see little kindergarten girls do their little routine, then Halee's group. They do a lot of fun things here at these schools.It was a fundraiser for the high school cheerleaders, and she loved it! They got a tshirt and pom poms out of it. She did great and caught on quickly. The timing was great because there was a lot of family at the house for the weekend that all came to see her perform. Even the two aunts that don't get out much came! Chereon, the older sister and her family and brother Marc and his family from Utah were there. I think we filled up a whole side of the bleachers!! We are having fun being around a lot of family to share in these fun little things that the kids get to do. (She is in the middle of the screen in a hot pink shirt and a ponytail. In between another hot pink shirt and a green one.)

Jeffrey's Honors Day

This isn't the best picture, because my camera died at just the wrong moment!! But, finally Jeffrey had read enough books to get 100 points and earn his "honors" where he walks the plank in front of everyone. This is a hard thing to accomplish as each book he read was worth 1/2 point. So, I guess that makes 200 books he read to get here. Wow, how far he has come since being here. He is now reading chapter books, doing whatever math is presented him, and loving science. He's a great kid, and I love seeing him with a much better feeling about himself. Way to go Jeff!!!

Puppet show

This is what I like to see!! Last week was Spring Break, and I hate to see a day go to waste by the X-box or tv or Wii. I unplugged them all one day and told them to use their creative minds. They came up with a puppet show, a carnival and even made a little movie complete with dress ups. They made these sock puppet dinosaurs, with a little supervision, but they came up with a story on the fly while I recorded it on film. They loved it, and watched their "movie" over and over again, and laughed every time. They still talk about it, and I have decided to drastically reduce the amount of time they have in front of the tv and video games. They were already limited, but now that the weather is finally getting nice ( with the exception of today, it snowed again), I can send them outside more. I love to see their little brain working and creating.

who's driving?

Here's Dallin. He is following in the footsteps of his big brothers. They love to be eye level with their train or car whatever they happen to be pushing at the time. This made me chuckle to walk in and see who he had driving the car. First, a tree from the train table. Then, the emperor and Darth Maul were taking a spin. How funny that boys come programmed to like building and pretending, and girls are born with the desire to mother. How fun!!

Sadness or Gladness?

We have been so excited this week. The kids have had spring break, although there wasn't anywhere we could go with the snow still around. But, at the end of the week, my parents were going to make the trip up here. We were going to meet them in Salt Lake,and play for the weekend. My mom is turning 70 on Sunday. I can't even believe that, because I still think of her as young. But, due to the American Airline cancellations, they won't make it. So, sad because our plans have been wiped away, I'm still trying to explain it to the sad kids that think it's not fair. But, I am glad that the airline is taking such precautions and checking every plane for electrical landing gear problems. I wouldn't want anything horrible to have happened. So, after being glued to the internet, and having an automated call phone every 15 minutes with updates about the flight, I've given up, and comes to terms that it would be better in May anyway. Then, the snow would be melted, the mud dried up and a much more beautiful country to show them. Blah, I don't like when things have to change some times..

New friends!

Grandpa Johnson ordered some new furry friends! Baby chicks came in the mail in a shoe box sized carton. That was amazing. There was 1 fatality when the box was opened. They are so cute and furry. The kids have been so excited watching them. There are lots and lots of peeps and scratching. It makes me think of when I was a kid we always had chickens. I had a good friend whose grandparents had a farm, and we would get baby chicks, baby ducks and rabbits from them. I grew up around lots of kid of animals, and want our kids to have the same experience. They couldn't help but be city kids up until now, so this has been very good for them to be outside and in the country.