Monday was Megan's turn for the Hershey Track Meet. She ran the 100 meter and did the long jump and softball throw. She placed fifth in the long jump. Go Megan!! It was a nice day and she had a fun time.
Thursday was Sarah's day at the Hershey Track Meet! She ran the 100 meter and the 400 meter and did the softball throw. This picture shows her passing a whole bunch of people in the last stretch of the 400 (which is one time all the way around). Go Sarah!
On top of track meets, this was also the first week of softball games. We were supposed to have games Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights. (Yikes!) But, the games were cancelled due to rain and wet fields on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thus, Thursday ended up being our grand first day out at the softball park. Sarah and Megan played on the East field and Mariah and Kevin (as assistant coach) played on the West field. I stood in between and watched it all! I know I sometimes make a stink about how much softball we do the first part of the summer, but I must be getting used to it, because it was nice to be back. I also realized, standing there, that this was a gift Kevin has given to our girls -- the chance to love a game and look forward to it. It's cool.

Unfortunately, Mariah also had a school program on Thursday night. It was a little later than her softball game, but I still had to take her out early. She was not a happy camper!! It was a great program, though, where they presented what they had learned about America and sang oodles of patriotic songs. Dad and company even managed to make it back from the field in time to see the whole thing!My favorite part, though, was when they all played their ukuleles which has been part of the 3rd grade curiculum this year. (Free music lessons. Love it!) I had Mariah play the song for me again at home. Here is my future star on the ukulele:



Friday was the last day of Kindergarten. I can not believe that my little twins are done with this big milestone. They've had so much fun this year. I know they will miss it! I know another thing that they will miss. Ever since they were born, they've been going to their Grandma Gazdik's house one day a week every week so that I can run errands and get other things done. I don't know what I would do without her! Cheyenne and Calianne love going to her house and she loves to have them. They will just have to find other times to go to Grandma's when school starts next fall and they go ALL DAY. Good thing Grandma will still have Bethany -- and now Benjamin, too!

Saturday was another busy day for us. We got curbing put in our yard around the flower beds and we bought sod to fill in the back corner of our yard that we have been trying to coax into carpet-like life for the last umpteen years. Now it is finally carpet-like!! We are pleading with it to last (please don't die! please don't die!) It looks so nice and Kevin worked so hard! For my part, I drove up to SLC and picked up our new tent. We are ready for summer adventuring!

I get a lot of questions about how Beth is reacting to Benjamin. There are times when she wants to be held and can't be because I have Ben, but usually she doesn't let this stop her and she just climbs into my arms next to Benjin -- which is what she calls him. (Calianne saw me holding both of them one day and she laughed! "Hey! You're holding TWO babies!" Yeah, I wonder when I've done that before?!) She is very attentive and loves to tell me if "Benjin is cryin'!" Once when I was getting him dressed, she went to her own clothes and gave me a "dancing girl" dress "for Benjin" which is all she'll wear! Also, whenever she plays with dolls now, their name is always "Benjin." She gives them lots of kisses. For your viewing enjoyment, here is one last video of Bethany with Ben:

Hi All! Look at those chubby cheeks! He really is growing this little guy. Sometimes when I pick him up after a nap he looks bigger than when I laid him down! He is still a sweet little guy and he's doing great. When he's hungry, though, watch out! He sure can scream! Then everybody can't hand him off to me fast enough. Heh, heh. That's okay, though. I like being his only savior.

We had some more exciting events this week. Not the least of which were the 5th grade plays on Thursday night. The fifth graders acted out plays (with commercials) from three popular story books. The first one was Stephanie's Ponytail and the part of Stephanie was played by our very own MEGAN SKINNER! (Thunderous applause!)


She did really super and really hammed it up, which isn't too surprising since being silly is one of her specialities. She keeps us all laughing around here! Thanks to the miracle of modern technology, you can even watch Megan in her play. I have included it and even cut out the commercials for your viewing pleasure! (She is especially funny near the end when the ponytail is in front of her face and she keeps running into things!)



On Friday, we took the kids up to Salt Lake. We are looking into buying a new tent and wanted to look at the really expensive, highly recommended ones that they sell at Kirkham's (in SLC). So we took the fam and made an adventure of it. Since no adventure is complete without ancient Indian temples, waterfalls, and Mexican food, we stopped at the Mayan on our way up! I love how being there makes me feel like I am in a different world. Apparently, though, it gives Cheyenne -- and Savannah -- nightmares. Heavy sigh. I guess you can't make everybody happy all of the time. It's a good thing dinner came with french fries!

Kevin didn't beat himself quite as much into the ground as he did last Saturday, but he still managed to go for his run, take three of the girls to the church for grounds clean-up, practice softball with the girls, mow the lawn, and fix the swing set (thanks sweetie!).

That night, Savannah's children's choir performed at "The Big Red Barn" in Mapleton. She did fabulous, as usual and we got to see that beautiful face wreathed in smiles and excitement as she sang!

We recorded one of the songs for posterity. Savannah is the gorgeous one on the second row, second in from the right:

Hey Ben! This is a bird's eye view of Benjamin, or how he looks to me when I am holding him. It's a "mom's eye view."

Ben has a blanket that says, "Thank heaven for little boys." Mariah read it to Calianne, but she didn't hear it quite right. She said, "Oh! Thank Kevin for little boys." Something like that . . .

We've been struggling with pink eye this week. Bethany got it first (and still has it) then Cheyenne got it although hers cleared up within a couple of days. As it was just begininng, Calianne heard us talking and said, "Bethany and Cheyenne are lucky because they get to have pink eyes!" Well! I think that is taking the love of pink a little too far! Calianne agrees with me now that she has the same thing. :(

I got a call this week from a woman who works for Springville City. She told me that my daughter, Sarah, had been chosen by her teachers as a student who was making a positive difference in her community and would be recognized at the next city council meeting with an award from the mayor. She wanted to know if I could come. Could I!! How exciting! Kevin and I went to the meeting and Sarah, along with students chosen from each of the other elementary schools in Springville, were given a certificate and a goodie bag and got a picture with the mayor. Isn't that cool? I just looked at that sweet girl up there and marveled at how much she had grown up and wondered how many more exciting things I would get to watch her do in her life. I already know Sarah is a marvel of a soul, but it is neat when other people see it and want to recognize her for it!
On Friday, I had the good fortune to be able to attend the kindergarten Mother's Tea starring Cheyenne and Calianne Skinner! (Or at least it seemed so to me!) It was very precious. They sang songs and recited poems and we learned about what they are learning. It was so cute!

Here, for your enjoyment, is one of the songs they sang for us:

Savannah has started taking pictures of clouds. These are the cool clouds she spotted this week:

I think they are much better than the pictures of rain clouds that she took a couple of weeks ago, but she would disagree. On our way back to the car after Sarah's concert that week, it was raining. Savannah spread her arms, spun around and said, "Isn't this weather GREAT???" I had to laugh. She was absolutely serious! She was so thrilled with being rained on. Anyway, I digress. Friday was Savannah's district and final track meet. I couldn't be there to take pictures, so the picture of the clouds is here in her honor, instead! She flew around the track -- like the wind she so loves -- in a new personal record time of 6:24 -- for the mile. Isn't she cool? She borrowed a phone and called me right away to celebrate. Go Savannah!!

On Saturday, Kevin woke up at 6am to run 5 3/4 miles with a friend of his from work. Then he went and played football with some men from church. Back at home, he installed two new lights for me, mowed the lawn, helped clean the carport, played softball with the girls, went to the store, made dinner, and vacuumed the house. I might've left something out . . . Anyhow, Sarah and I replanted the garden! We weren't quite as tired at the end of the day as Kevin, though. Imagine that!

Today was Mother's Day, but I don't think Kevin had to work quite as hard as he did yesterday. Still, he made me breakfast and helped with the meal we had at his mom's house. He also grabbed the camera and got one of the few pictures of me with my son! He is a great man and I love him and I couldn't be a mother without him

-- and I love being a mother!

Ahh, Father and son. That's a newborn, size 0-3 month sleeper that Ben is wearing. That size finally fits him! Yeah! And he is three weeks old! It took him a long time to fit into a size that my other babies have mostly skipped altogether. Also, when I put on the size 1 diapers, the tabs don't overlap anymore! There is a little space between the tabs. C'mon! These are milestones! He is still sweet and peaceful and we love him to pieces.

Well, the weather was nice last weekend and Kevin got the garden all ready to go, so for family home evening we started planting. Not everything, just tomatoes and zucchini. Fun, huh?

I would post a picture of the garden as it looks now, but it is too cold to go out there . . . and it is covered in SNOW!! Ah spring, you cruel, cruel thing! It wasn't even snow that falls and then melts within the next few hours. No, no, no! The snow has been on the ground for the last FOUR DAYS!! That is going too far and I really must protest. I've noticed, though, that my protestations never do any good. I'm just kicking against the pricks. That's okay. We will just have more pictures of us in the garden later -- when we replant!

On Wednesday night, Cheyenne and Calianne had their recital for their Let's Play Music class. Don't they look pretty? They each played a song. They've learned a lot and practiced hard. I'm really pleased with all they've done!

Here is Cheyenne playing, "Love Somebody." My picture of Calianne didn't turn out, so you will just have to imagine it. She looked really cute, too!

Here are our two budding musicians!

Otherwise, we mostly stayed inside this week and tried to hide from the rain and the snow. All the softball practices my family would have gone to were even canceled. Bethany still wanted to go outside eveyday when her sisters got home from school, so she wasn't very happy with us most afternoons.

It will be very nice when it gets warm again. Which I hope it will. Very soon.