Diva Ava

Well, as some of you may well know, Chris and I went to NYC this last week, and I plan on posting all about it, but I just don't know where to start. So instead I'm putting it off and writing small easier to manage posts... oh yea and making a playlist, which has taken me longer than just writing the dang New York post.
Anyhow, today I was deciding what I think some of my kids will be when they grow up. Maddy has already told me she will be a rock star, so no dreaming for me about her. Oh and her backup is still being a baker at Souper Salad. I decided Ava is going to be a hair dresser or cosmotologist or something along those lines... she is always bringing me nail polish to paint her nails, or lipgloss, or jewelry, or bows to put in her hair. Oh yea, she might just be a shoe designer, since shoes are her FAVORITE thing in the world. Or maybe she'll just be a rockstar, too. So Today she was in heaven brushing everyone's hair with her 2 brushes. Especially her own. After she brushed her hair, she put on this cute little had and some red lipgloss. Red carpet here we come!

Last Day of Preschool

Today was Isaac's last day of preschool. I was so sad! He has done so well and learned so much and had so much fun! Cameron and Madison were quite jealous that Isaac got to have a water party today, and they had to just have a regular old day of school. Ava was pretty upset too. She didn't understand why she couldn't get all dressed up in her swimsuit and play in Tiffany's backyard, too. But she got over it pretty quickly. She's pretty forgetful thank goodness. :) If I were a nice Mom I would have taken her in our backyard and let her play in the sprinklers. But for today, I was a tired Mom.
So Isaac's teacher Tiffany put together these yearbooks for all the kids in the class... they were little scrapbooks with pictures of all the fun things they have done this year. She put a sweet poem at the beginning about how she has grown to love each child. And then my favorite part... each one of the kids signed the back of Isaac's yearbook! It was so adorable seeing all their names scrawled in a line. Tiffany did such a good job with these boys this year (they were all boys!) Thanks Tiffany!

Cameron's Birthday

Cameron turned 9 yesterday and half his day was laid back while the other half was quite eventful. He started the day bright eyed and bushy tailed with Isaac at 5:45 a.m. And of course, being the fun Mom that I am, I let him stay home from school... and being the almost fun mom, I almost took him to lunch and quite a few other things I had planned in my mind for his day. But we ended up staying home all day while Madison was at school, and I think he quite enjoyed doing nothing (which involved wrestling and playing a lot with Isaac, destroying my room, playing computer games, watching cartoons, and eating whatever he wanted whenever he wanted). He doesn't really ever get days like that, cuz on the days he's not in school, we're either going to baseball games, going to church or doing some other family activity. He really deserved a whole day (well half anyway) of nothing. As soon as we picked Maddy up from school, they had piano lessons. After piano lessons, he had to rush home and do the homework that he hadn't done from the night before. Then we had dinner and went to his pack meeting where he got his wolf!! I was so proud of him! He has been working really hard this month, with his Dad, so that he could get his wolf by his birthday. He also earned 2 arrow points (which involves doing 10 electives for each arrow point). Good job Cameron! Grandma Jensen came over to spend the evening with us, so she got to come to Cam's pack meeting and see him get his wolf... she also brought Cameron a card with $30! Holy Cow! This is why Cameron is so rich, Grandma gives him money every year for his birthday! And he never spends it. Grandma also brought a yummy chocolate cake that we all shared... thanks Grandma! When we came home, he had to finish his homework, we had cake and ice cream, he played with his cousins for a while, we watched a video, and then went to bed at like 10! Out of habit, he wanted to stay up and read his Harry Potter book, but I made him go to sleep because he was exhausted!
Cameron and Dallin both earned awards


Pinning wolf pin on his Mommy


Proud Daddy


Grandma and Cam

Martha

We have an old friend we like to visit named Martha, I met her when Cameron was a little toddler running around in Relief Society before he was in the nursery. She became fast friends with Cameron as she would always have something to distract him with and keep me sane! Ever since then, she's been like a great grandma for my kids. She calls me often to see how the kids are doing, and whats new in their lives. Since Cameron was tiny she has adored him like he was one of her own, and when Maddy came around she was the same way... and on and on with each of my kids. Before Mia was born she decided to make me several blankets with intriacate crocheting on the edges, which each took several hours, I am sure!! I finally took Mia to meet her for the first time the other day, and I was so happy that Mia was so smiley and sweet to her that day. Every time we go see "Sister Taylor," as the kids call her, I think it will be the last time we see her as she is about 93 years old! She is one of the most beautiful, proper, and well put together women I have known. And always thinking of others. But the thing I admire about her most is her attitude. As she has gotten older, her health has deteriorated, and the slump in her back has slowly gotten more and more apparent. But she still walks her mile every day, around her house. Her wonderfully involved kids and grandkids came up with a system for her to walk around her house a certain amount of times, so many times a day, that it would be a whole mile. Her goal was to keep from being totally immobile and increase the straightness of her back. I don't know how much it has helped, she has gotten especially slumped in the last year, and now uses a walker quite often, but she never complains. In fact, she rarely even talks about her concerns about those things, but mostly just the happy things in her life. I have grown to really love her and appreciate her love for me and my children over the years. I will miss her when she is gone!

Sitting with the kids

Spending time with Mia

This was the first picture I took after she got Mia.. she was just adoring her!

Just the girls

Apples, apples, apples

Ok, so I'm finally posting something new on here, I totally missed April. I feel like it always has to be a special event, but I guess not. The other day for our family home evening activity, we had an apple tasting "party." We had been talking earlier in the week about how many different kinds of apples there are and we even looked it up on the internet and we found like 50! I only felt like buying five at the store though, so I bought: Red delicious, golden delicious, gala, granny smith and pink lady (for Maddy of course, she took a liking to them on the internet as soon as she found out there were pink apples). I tried to buy ones that had the biggest variety of color. Well, it was interesting to see the different textures, flavors, etc, and we all found out that we all like golden delicious the best!! I always thought gala was my favorite and that I hated red delicious, but I was surprised. Maddy was really surprised to find out that pink lady was not her favorite! Here were the results of our little tasting test:

Kara-
1. Golden Delicious
2. Gala
3. Red Delicious
4. Pink Lady
5. Granny smith

Cameron-
1. Golden Delicious
2. Gala
3. Pink Lady
4. Granny Smith
5. Red Delicious

Madison-
1. Golden Delicious & Red Delicious
2. Gala
3. Granny Smith & Pink Lady

Isaac-
1. Golden Delicious
2. Gala
3. Pink Lady
4. Granny Smith
5. Red Delicious

(yea, Chris was too cool to participate and Ava was already in bed)

In order of Camerons most to least favorite


Maddy taking detailed notes


Isaac's favorite part- Cinnamon rolls for dessert!