Last Sunday was the epicly right-where-we-are-living solar eclipse!  . . . which I didn't realize was happening until Savannah mentioned it about four hours pre-event.  I really should watch the news now and then. . . Anyhoo, since we all know that you can't look at the sun during a solar eclipse or risk getting your eyes burned right out of their sockets (!!!), we made an at-home eclipse viewer.  It was pretty cool.  I learned many things about the sun.  For instance, that we really have three . . .

Of course, that may have been due to defects in workmanship.  Otherwise, isn't that kind of cool?  Actually the coolest was when our neighbors walked by with their welding helmet and let us have a look.  Very cool.  Very, very cool!

This was the last week of school for our kids, which meant many activities and great excitement!  For the junior high girls, Sarah and Megan, it meant their whole school went to Lagoon amusent park on Tuesday.

I only have pictures of  Sarah at Lagoon because Megan was with her friends in other places in the park.  I am told, though, that a great time was had by all!

Here's a picture of Megan, anyway, just because she's cute!

My elementary school kids dressed up for different themes all week.  Tuesday was "Dress like your favorite character day!"

Cheyenne dressed as Peter Pan (Peter Pan's sister, actually), Cali dressed as the Green Princess, and Mariah was Catniss from The Hunger Games.  Notice the side french-braid. Megan sent her friend, Rebekah, over to have me braid her hair, too.  I started thinking that I could make money by putting a sign out front:  "Catniss braids 50 cents!"  It was fun.


Savannah, of course, didn't need a reason to dress up. 

Her friend, Miranda, went to India this year and brought her back these stunning clothes.  Pretty, huh?  Savannah went to graduation rehearsal on Tuesday and then sang at graduation on Wednesday and after that, no one went to school anyway even though school wasn't over until Friday afternoon.  Aw, high school!

Bethany actually got in on the end-of-school action with her very own preschool graduation.  They all got certificates and then got to play in the water.  What could be better than that?

What a beautiful graduate!

Other than that, the girls did much signing of yearbooks and autograph books.  There was a kickball championship at the elementary school that also generated much excitement.

The greatest excitement of all, though, was that next week, they don't have to go to school!!

And just like that, summer vacation is here again.

We started this week with Grandpa Jim's 70th birthday!!  His brother and sister were in town for the occasion and Jim took us all out to Chuck a Rama for dinner.  It was great fun!  We left Beth and Ben at a neighbors but brought them over to Grandma and Grandpa's afterward for presents and visiting and more hilarity.  We love our Grandpa Jim and are glad that he is such a young buck for being 70 years old! 

On Tuesday, Savannah sang in her voice recital.  She sang "Reflections," from Mulan.  She thought she did horrible, but the rest of us thought she did great!

On Thursday night we got to go to the Elementary school to watch the 5th grade plays.  Mariah had a starring role as Daisy-headed Maisey.  She did really well.  She talked loudly and clearly and when she exclaimed, "No body loves me!  Nobody! Nobody!"  I was ready to charge up on stage to hug her before she started crying!  (I've kind of seen that outburst before. . .)  It was fun to watch her.  She was really funny in the "commercials" she made up with her friends, too.  It looks like here's another thing she's good at!

Thursday night was also the night of the Fine Arts Program at the high school.  Savannah's choir sang a few songs so we ran over to watch her sing again!

Friday was sports day at the elementary school.  This meant that it was very important for Mariah to be dressed in everything BYU since her fanhood is a very important part of her fifth grade identity.  Thursday I went to DI to see what I could find.  I took Megan out of school and brought her with me as fashion scout.  We had a fun day together.  She takes pride that she can keep a "conversation" going all day completely by herself!  I had fun listening to her.  She also was the one to find, almost immediately a BYU shirt sporting the number 32 which we all know means Jimmer Fredette which we all know is also a major component of Mariah's fifth grade identity.  She screamed for a long while when she saw the shirt.  It was very exciting!

As you can see, Cheyenne settled for wearing her basketball jersey, but Calianne couldn't because it would cover her Cheetah shirt.  Cheetah day trumps sports day.  She did wear her basketball hairclip, though, so all was well.

Friday was also the Author's Party at the elementary school and I got to hear my incredibly clever girls read me the things they have written this year.  They've all made great progress.  I'm so proud of all their hard work!

This cute girl had her choir concert this Wednesday.  She had so much fun!  In eighth grade the girls are in an all-girl choir for a semester.  There were about 60 girls this year and Sarah had fun with all of them!  They were all so animated and sang with super energy.  Sarah's favorite song was when they sang, "Forget about the Boy," from Thoroughly Modern Millie.  If you want to see it, Kevin posted it on Facebook.  Go watch it!  You'll love it!  We did.

Savannah sang again this week, too, although I didn't get to see it.  They did so well at festival that they went back to compete again.  Fun times!  She had to work that afternoon once she got back, and she was pretty tired, but she made it!  I was working in the garden when she breezed back home, changed into her choir dress, then breezed back to school.  Have I mentioned that I love living so close to all the schools?

Benjamin's new thing is not only to play with his toy cars, but also to play with real cars.  He likes to play inside the cars!  Whenever he accidentally hits the car horn, he looks up and waves excitedly -- and I take a picture.  It is very cute.  Way cuter than when we drag him out kicking and screaming and he doesn't stop until we put him in his crib to "calm down."

 On Thursday this week, Ben went and got his dad in order to drag him out to the shed and point meaningfully at the lawn mower.  His dad obediently acquiesced.  Then Ben followed him around while he mowed.  It was very funny (to me!).

It was a beautiful week and we were able to be outside for most of it.  One day I couldn't find Bethany.  That doesn't usually happen since she is a bit like a second shadow.  ("I want to be with you, Mommy!")  I found her in the back yard sitting in the hammock chair blowing bubbles.  What a lovely way to pass the time!  She is a girl after my own heart.

We had Mother's Day today.  Kevin spoke in sacrament meeting!  He did great!  The whole meeting was wonderful.  Afterward, we had barbecue in the backyard with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was way fun!  The day was beautiful.  What a great way to spend mother's day!

Savannah's end-of-year choir concert was on Wednesday this week.  It was wonderful.  I love going to her choir concerts.  They are always so good!  They sang alot of their song from Tour and since they mostly sang at churches on their tour, a lot of their songs were religious.  They were really beautiful songs!  It was wonderful to see her be a part of such a good thing.  She makes us happy.

Megan had orchestra festival on Wednesday during the day at UVU.  We didn't get to see that, but I know she played well!  She would rather have been with the rest of the seventh graders at school, she doesn't much like being the odd one out -- being a seventh grader in an eigth grade orchestra I am told by a very knowledgeable source, is not fun.  I don't know why I did all those lessons. Poor girl!  She looked beautiful, though, and if I had been on the ball, I would have even taken a picture.  I got this one the next day, though, and she's still beautiful!!!

Sarah had choir festival on Friday during the day.  She had great fun! Being with girls her own age seems to be all the difference!  She loved not being at school and singing.  If I had been on the ball, I would have taken her picture, too!  Here's her picture from 2 weeks ago again so you can remember what she looks like in her choir dress.  :)

 

We had a big uproar with Mariah this week.  Her dad and I thought she should be on a club basketball team since she likes playing basketball so much and shows great skill.  We even found a team that practices right down the street and the cost was unbelievably low and the coach was way nice and liked Mariah.  Mariah, however, did not like the idea nor the team, nor . . . the pressure.  She would not be swayed and she screamed and yelled at us alot whenever we tried.  I guess that is that.

You know . . . parenting seems very straightforward when you start out.  But it's really not.

Cheyenne and I spent a little time together this week making no-bake cookies! It must have been Thursday since she is wearing her zebra shirt, and Thursdays are Zebra days!

Calianne and I finally got around to making that Cheetah shirt, too.  Just so you know . . . Fridays are Cheetah days.

This Friday was an especially happy Cheetah Day because we got a visit from my sister, Maggie, and her family!  Yay!!  Cousins galore!!  Megan even made a banner that said, "Welcome Gillespies!" and made a cake and frappe and strung Christmas lights in the backyard.  That girl loves a party!  Here are the Gillespies proudly modeling their banner!

We had a nice visit Friday night.  Saturday morning Elizabeth had her dance competition.  Sarah and Mariah went along to watch.  I am told that she did great!

That afternoon, Sarah, Mariah, Cheyenne, and Calianne had a piano recital!  They played so well!  We are so proud of the work they are doing to gain this skill!  Recordings of their performances can be sent to you by request.

When we got back, Maggie and I escaped the fracas for a brief hour at the pool.  Yes, you read that correctly -- we went to the pool with no kids!!  I learned a lot about swimming and a lot more about Maggie.  It was great to have some advice from an expert.  Some parts of triathlon training are fun.  :)

We had a barbecue in our backyard after that.  Finally, since no visit from the Gillespie clan is quite complete without a short play, we also got to see "Sleeping Beauty in Modern Times," performed in our very own backyard by very familiar-looking actresses!  We love a good play!  This performance also can be sent to you by request.

Bethany and Benjamin are doing well, too. . .

. . . as long as you let Bethany do a dance
and take a picture of her, too!



. . . and as long as you let Ben have the entire bag of chips to himself.

Yes, then all is well.