Field Day

Due to massive thunderstorms that were rolling through the area, the kids' Field Day at school was moved inside. I don't think the kids cared about location but it did make it harder for me to get good pictures since the parents were relegated to the stage.
 It was a lot of fun to watch the kids participate in the various races.

Little Miss Athlete!

Hanging with buddies, enjoying some freezie pops!

Here I am, Mom, in case you didn't see me!

Don't drop it, No!

Always fun to have something a little different to look forward to at school.

Go O's!

Grandma and Grandpa Pierce arrived for a 3 week visit which had us all excited and thinking of fun things we could do together. Lucky for them, hee hee, they were able to attend Savannah's spring concert and then our piano recital but we decided that it would be even more exciting and fun to take them to an O's game. Grandma wasn't too interested but Grandpa was all too willing to join us as we cheered on our favorite baseball team!

Our good friends the Maxwells also joined us. We always have a fabulous time with Libby and Brinley!

Enjoying time with Grandpa.

Unfortunately the O's lost the game, blowing their lead at the very end, but it was still a great evening out with friends and family.

Muscial Concerts and Recitals

For two nights in a row our family attended musical events, the first being Savannah's Spring Concert for school. Savannah's skill on the violin has improved so much this past year!

We were also privileged to listen to the Eagle Time Chorus sing the songs they sung at the competition in Hershey that they won. They did a marvelous job and it was easy to see how they took first place. (Please excuse the "Children of the Corn" eyes.)

Savannah with one of her favorite teachers, Mr. Flottemesch, who happened to be there at the recital, supporting the students.  He has been Savannah's gym teacher all the years she has been in elementary school and will be retiring at the end of this year.

The next night was a nerve-racking event for me - my first piano recital in over 20 years. I have been taking piano lessons since last September and somehow got away with not participating in the Christmas recital. I didn't get so lucky this time around; despite my begging and pleading, my teacher said I MUST play.
  The theme of the recital was Music Through the Ages and was a nice showcase of many different composers throughout history. The green ribbon that Savannah and I wore represented the time period of our composers, the Classical Period.

Here's a perfect example of why I take the pictures. David didn't want to get out of his seat to take a picture of Savannah announcing her pieces, thus the "head" picture. At least he got a nice shot of Catherine Washburn and the piano!
Savannah played two pieces, Plaisir d'Amour and Divertimento in D by Martini. She did a great job!

My piece was Ballade by Burgmuller. I don't really remember playing other than at the very beginning my nervous energy came out strong and I made a mistake right at the get go. The only other tough moment came about midway through when my fingers started to shake really bad due to my nervousness. Thank goodness I was able to calm myself down, concentrate, and finish!

All the recital players!

I am so glad that Savannah and I could be in this together.

Visiting DC

On a beautiful spring day Savannah joined the other 5th graders at her school and headed down to DC. First picture of the day shows the White House way, way behind them.

Next stop was the Lincoln Memorial.

After that Savannah's group headed to the Museum of American History. Savannah was extremely bummed that they didn't spend more time here because it turned out to be her favorite spot of the day. Unfortunately the other kids quickly grew bored and wanted to move on.

A much needed lunch break, especially after all the walking they did.

Last stop of the day was the Air and Space Museum.

I continue to be grateful to live so close to all these wonderful places!

Mother's Day

I'm so bummed that I didn't take a single picture of me with my kids on Mother's Day but I did spend a lot of the day sleeping due to some serious back pain so the perfect photo op just wasn't there. The day started off well with David and the kids serving me breakfast in bed and then we headed to church where I loved hearing my kids, along with the rest of the Primary children, sing to all the mothers. I headed home after sacrament meeting and got well rested to receive all the fun songs, cards, and gifts my kids had in store for me that evening. Starting with Noah - I got lots of great drawings and a fun questionnaire about myself. According to Noah I am 24 years old, my hair is brown and my eyes are green (close, buddy), I love to eat mac and cheese (that's one of his favorites), his favorite thing about me is that I bought him a knight coloring book, and his favorite thing to do with me is watch TV (I guess he's talking about watching sports because other than that we don't watch TV).
The cutest gift from Noah was one he made at school. All the kids in his class told the teacher, Ms. Machovec, how his or her mom makes a favorite recipe. It was pretty hilarious! Noah drew a picture of me and him in the kitchen, complete with chef hats, and the recipe was of the pancakes I make.  Definitely an interesting choice since that is one thing I never cook in our house; pancakes are David's department. Anyway, here is the recipe according to Noah -
Ingredients: 7 milks, 3 powders, 5 syrups, 1 jam, 8 blueberries, 9 strawberries, and 6 honey. First she puts the milk on the pan. She puts the powder in the milk. She puts the strawberries and blueberries on top of the milk. She flips the pancakes after it's cooked for 3 minutes. Then she cuts it and then we eat it. I like it because of the strawberries and blueberries.

Xander gave me a huge stack of all these animals he has drawn as well as the questionnaire he filled out. Xander got my age right as well as my hair and eye color. Xander said I cook the best bacon sandwiches and I am smart because I know everything! My favorite thing to do is cuddle with him and I am happy when he kisses me. He said that if he could give me anything it would be a big kiss and he does give me plenty of those! Xander was most excited about giving me a yo yo, something he had saved up all his ABBYs from the past month at school to get.

And my Savannah...she painted me a lovely picture of a flower, made me a card, and also filled out a questionnaire.  In her answers she also mentioned something about bacon; I truly do not know why these kids think I love bacon so much (although it IS pretty tasty). Savannah said that I always say, "Be nice to your brothers!" and that she loves when I snuggle with her. Savannah's final gift to me was a jar of Hershey's chocolates. When I opened it, I noticed that it was only half full. She said that she just couldn't resist the dark chocolate so she had eaten some! Too funny!

Flower Time

Each year I am so ready for spring and all the beautiful trees and flowers that finally make their appearance after a long, long winter. I was so eager to get flowers in and beautify our front yard that we rounded up the kids for some Family Home Evening fun to get it done!
Noah was just as eager as I was to get those flowers planted! My eagerness, however, is more about others digging in the dirt while I take pictures.

Savannah put in a couple minutes...

and so did Xander.

But Noah was definitely the most dedicated to the job!

I probably should have taken a picture of the end result - lots of beautiful daisies! They're my favorite!

Chorus

At the beginning of the school year Savannah tried out for and made the special Eagle Time Chorus at her school. Throughout the year we have been treated to several different performances by this chorus group and all I can say is Wow! These kids know how to sing!  In May Savannah's chorus group traveled up to Hershey, Pennsylvania to compete against other elementary, middle, and high school choruses.

Leaving her school at 6am, the kids traveled up to Hershey and had the competition first thing in the morning. A group shot just after finishing their performance.

Savannah and one of her best friends, Kate.

The good thing about the competition being in Hershey was that as soon as competition was done, the kids headed to Hershey Park for the day. Savannah had a blast!

In the evening the kids headed back to the concert hall to find out how they had done in the competition. They were awarded Superior Rating 1st place AND 1st place Overall Chorus!!!! We couldn't be more proud of these kids!

This picture is a tad unfortunate...I swear they aren't saluting any crazy dictator. It's their "We are #1!" photo!

Savannah and Kate with one of their trophies.

Being a part of this chorus has been such a wonderful opportunity for Savannah. Recently they auditioned to sing The Star Spangled Banner at one of the Orioles baseball games this summer. Hopefully they make it!