Cousends

When I was in Noah's class volunteering today I saw these two math buddies and my mind flashed back to when they were baby buddies. Eleven days apart, these two have been through it all together. Noah is so grateful that Elise is his new math buddy. He loves working with her and he appreciates that she stays on task and understands the math concepts, something he usually doesn't have in a math partner (Although, I'm very glad he gets the opportunity to work with many different students). I hope they will always stay cousends (cousin/friends--CFF). Note: Luci is just a couple desks away and he loves working with this cousend too.

Treasures

Aaron taught Noah and Mary how to mow a lawn this evening after dinner. They all commented on how hard it was to make the lines straight. I think they did a great job. Maybe one of these days Aaron can teach me, since I've never done it a day in my life (guess that's a problem/advantage of being a gardener's daughter with three brothers).

For Family Home Evening Mary gave our lesson. She had everyone gather up something we treasure in our lives and write down why it's special to us. Here were our responses:

Aaron: (wedding ring) My ring is special to me because it represents my marriage to my wonderful, beautiful, talented, hot wife. (All the kids yelled, "ewww!" when this one was read).
Allison: (my phone) My phone allows me to get information I need in a moment, it stores music, pictures and videos of all my loved ones, and allows me to communicate with others...plus, it fits in my pocket. (I didn't mention how I am addicted to the game word whizzle...it's very entertaining).
Mary: (journal) Whenever I want to say something or express something I can write it in my journal.
Noah: (Spot, his stuffed leopard) Spot is special because I bought it with my own money.
Nicole: (beanie boo) My beanie boo is special to me because it is soooooooooooooooo cute! And I like to sleep with it.
Cameron: (ipad) My iPad is special to me because when I play on it, it reminds me of getting new games to play in real life.

Then Mary read some scriptures in Matthew about the gospel being our greatest treasure. We talked about how we treat treasures and how we can treasure the gospel more than the special items we shared. This girl's mind amazes me, if only she could fit in the box.

AFV's Dorky Dad

We all got together after church for dinner and to watch the debut of our video on America's Funniest Home Videos. Unfortunately, they didn't accurately show the video. Before Lincoln is hit with the plane, he says, "I don't have a good feeling about this". This one liner is what made the video so funny. Perhaps it was hard to hear? I'm not sure why they didn't include it. Instead they called Lincoln a dorky dad! So funny!

I saw this upstairs on the chalkboard. I think Mary wrote it. I'll keep that up for a bit.

We may not have won...

BUT they are winners in my book!

What is up with my hair these days? It is getting so fluffy and poofy on the sides and top. 

We won a battle, we lost a battle, we waited a lot. It was a good experience attending the regional competition. I asked Noah if he wanted to do it again next year. He is unsure at the moment. We did a lot of last minute reading even up until last night. I'm very grateful they got to see how one works.

Nicole's last two games were this afternoon. We headed to see Beauty and the Beast afterwards and grab dinner at Sizzlers.

Proof that I was too tired to get a decent shot of her playing.

We all hit the pillow pretty hard.

Lucky

The sunrise on the way to our final before school OBOB practice was beautiful. Mary caught this picture from the passenger seat of the car. That's when I knew, it was going to be an awesome day!

Following our meeting in the library we watched Nicole's performance at the school assembly where they sang: "We're Marching into Spring". The OBOB participants and winners were also recognized at the assembly.

Following the assembly I helped kindergarteners buy items at the Ram Buck store. Despite the teacher's great organizational tricks it's kind of chaotic helping them choose what they can buy and understand what they can afford. She groups the class into four or five students so you can manage them easier, which really helps. I followed Cameron to recess afterwards where he gave me a HUGE hug. His friend standing nearby kind of giggled at his sweet affection and Cameron stated, "What Lane? It's my mom!" Like, duh! It's totally okay to hug a girl, if it's your mom! So funny.

After school we had all the little leprechauns over to play, along with a couple extras.

I'm one lucky lady.

Three Little Monkeys

Can we say abs of steel? I think I should start doing these exercises. These sweet little monkeys were hanging on forever.

We Like to Party!

OBOB end of the year pizza party. Top two teams got t-shirts (Mary's didn't get there until this afternoon):

Purple Monkeys end of the season pizza party (more pizza!):