She Can Drive!

Emma finally decided she was going to take the drivers permit test over Spring Break.  She was not excited about studying the manual, but she buckled down and studied.  She was nervous about the test, but I kept reassuring her that it would be ok if she didn’t pass the first time and I told her the story of failing it my first time.  There was no need to worry.  She passed!

Needless to say she was very excited about passing and thought it warranted a Burgerville shake.  I gave in and we had shakes on our way home from the DMV.  I’m glad she passed too!

Lee was determined that she learn to drive in his car with the stick shift.  I told him that it is his job to teach her then.  I can barely drive the stick shift myself, let alone teach someone to drive it!  So the next day they went out for a lesson.  Lee’s face says it all.  Glad it was him and not me!

Her first parking try was a success.

The rest of the driving lesson had its ups and downs.  :)  I now understand the anxiety and nerves that comes with having a child driver.  It is truly terrifying!  But it’s also fun to see Emma learn new things.  I look forward to the day when she can drive herself and her siblings places, but until then, I will just have to be scared.  And how did she get this old anyway??!!

Lost Lake

We spent a day at Lost Lake with the Sunderland’s to do some ward Youth Conference reconnaissance.  We had been told that even though the lodge was closed and the resort wasn’t open for camping yet, we could still get in to park and look around.  Well, that person was wrong and we were met with gates blocking the entrance.  We were also met with lots of rain.  But we were there so we put on our rain gear, parked as close as we could, and hiked in.  It was great! 

We hiked around and Lee and the Sunderland’s got the information they needed.  (I was just along for the ride since I wasn’t involved with youth conference this year, YW Camp was taking enough of my time.)  Even in the rain, the lake was beautiful.

The only bummer was that Mt. Hood was lost behind the clouds. 

That’s ok, it was still beautiful and the company was great!

I could definitely stay lost at Lost Lake!

Lucky!!

A couple days before St. Patrick’s Day the twins and I made some lucky treats for our new neighbors.  We were feeling lucky to have such nice new neighbors. 

The kids ended up being the lucky ones because we never took the treats over!  They got to eat those yummy things.   (Don’t worry, we made something else and took it over later.)

The silly leprechauns left a mess for us and some green surprises on St. Patrick’s Day. 

They also filled the kids’ shoes with green treats and left some Lucky Charms.  The best part of St. Patrick’s Day!

Grace made her very first Leprechaun trap.  She didn’t catch a leprechaun, but they left behind some chocolate coins for her.

Breakfast was even more fun with that green milk!

I got to help in the twins’ classroom that morning, and when the class came back from recess they found glittery leprechaun tracks all over the room.

They followed those tracks to a fun treasure.  They have such a great teacher!

We carried the green theme into lunch. 

And then of course we had our green dinner that night.

We are lucky indeed!

Tall Timbers

When the Cinderella movie was over, I leaned over to Grace and told her that Emma would love this movie.  We were sad she wasn’t with us, but she was swimming in the Tall Timbers league championship meet in Newberg.  Lee went to watch her. 

She swam in the 200 yard medley relay, the 100 yard backstroke, and the 200 yard freestyle.

She went to the finals in the backstroke.

She got 6th place.

She also made it to the finals in the Freestyle.

And she placed 6th in that event too!  (Funny, her nickname is Six….)

It was a great meet, she did a good job, and she had a wonderful time with her teammates and her dad.  Cinderella would have to wait.  But I was right, she did love it once she got to see it! 

Have Courage & Be Kind

Grace worked hard to fill a jar with pom poms for good behavior (she needed some motivation in that area…).  She finally filled that jar and her reward was a date with Mom.  She was so excited that Cinderella was out in theaters so we decided to make that our date.  Even better, we got to go with some of Grace’s friends.

Alyssa and I both had Charming Charlie gift cards to burn, so we stopped in there before we went to the movie.  Of course the girls loved it.  They had fun looking at fancy jewelry and trying on what they could.

They also sprayed glitter all over themselves.  A dream come true for five and six year olds!

Then we went to the movie.  It was darling and we all loved it.  I was impressed with the message and we repeated Cinderella’s mantra of Have Courage and Be Kind many times after the movie. 

Look at these cute girls!

I love being with my Gracie Lu.  She is so fun and just loves the one on one time.

While the girls were out Isaac was having fun of his own.  Lee and Emma were at a swim meet, so Isaac got to hang out with the boys at the Jensen house.  He was thrilled to watch Star Wars. 

And have light saber fights.  Boy fun!

What a great day for all of us.