Aaron Learns to Ride!

Our family has started bike riding together in the last several weeks.  Aaron, who rides in a trailer when we're riding as a family, told us that he wanted to try riding his own bike without training wheels.  We thought we'd humor the idea and that he'd then request we put them back on.  He has totally suprised us by just taking off and doing so well!  The first few tries he tried to steer by leaning instead of using his handle bars...and that made us all a little nervous.  But he's really figuring it out.  You can tell by his smile he's a pretty proud boy!

Monkey See...Monkey Do...

Aaron is so about following the example of others it's breathtaking!  He's started brushing his teeth in the morning after breakfast because "he wants to be like Josh".  He's spent his own money to get a tiny notebook so he can have a "bird notebook" like Daddy to record all the birds he sees in.  He sits with us for scriptures and carefully marks his pages (often with the book upside down) through the whole thing.

Every Sunday afternoon Greg and I "calendar" for the week.  We both pull out our phones and binders and talk through next week...and month(s) to make sure we're on the same page.  Sunday morning we found Aaron in his room working on his "calendar".  He had stickers for Christmas on one page, little notes of things that needed to be done, and a few newly created holiday or two.  He let us know that he'd like to be invited to our meeting.  And you can see him in the picture above, fully participating.  

What a smartie!  Keeps us all on our toes and our best behavior (we can hope)!

Piano Recital

Nathan and Joshua had their end of year piano recital this week.  They both did such a great job!  Joshua played "The Night Horseman" (on he'd heard Nathan play a few years ago and loved) and we played a duet from "Lord of the Rings" together.  Nathan played three movements of a Sonatina by Faber.  (Which he also played this week at the 6th Grade talent show.)  Fun to watch their talents grow.

Janae Rosado (in our ward) is their piano teacher.  She did two recitals, so this is half of her students. 

Elizabeth

Nathan's 6th Grade Graduation

Hard to believe we're moving from being a family fully in the "elementary school" stage of life to having a boy in middle school! So proud of Nathan for all he's accomplished and what a truly good person he is!!

Aaron's Preschool Graduation

I hope to get some other pictures to add from another mom.  But want to hold a place with this one and remember Aaron's preschool graduation from the mom-taught preschool we've done this year together.

Joshua's 4th Grade Program

The 4th Grade did a program about the state of Utah including singing, dancing, and speaking parts!  Joshua had a speaking part and was also a dancer in the square dancing song.

Can you just tell he's charming!  He's got such a fun sparkle about him at times like this!

You can see there were Native Americans, Mountain Men, Pioneers, etc. It's another time when I feel like we're pretty lucky to be in a place that still does things like this.  Josh is still singing these songs around the house.  I think it's a great way to learn and remember.

Nathan's 6th Grade Spring Fling

A tradition at our elementary school is that each year the 6th Grade has a "Spring Fling".  The teachers spend several weeks teaching the kids how to do several line dances and basic partner dances.  And, just some moves for "free-style" dancing.  Nathan's teacher is the coach for the high school drill team, so I think it's great because she can totally get away with this and the kids just think it's cool.  I think it's great preparation for middle school and high school, and it's been a fun way for Nathan to get to feel like an "expert" by already knowing several of the dances through ballroom.

Partner dancing with a cute, smart girl named Beth that has been a good friend this year.

I thought they did a fun job on decorations and wanted to remember them.  Each 6th grader got to make their own Hollywood Star in advance and they were hung around the parking lot.

Helpers in the Garden

This year we got some things into our garden on the early end and have already enjoyed a harvest of spinach and now currently lettuce.  You can see behind the boys we've got peas coming in and behind that our berry bushes are taking off!  This is Aaron and his cute friend, Noah.