Piano Recital

Yesterday was the girls' piano recital. It's very cute to go and see all the little kids (our teacher, whose back of the head is in the videos, teaches a lot of beginning students) get up and play their 1:30 of pieces. Both Kristen and Alison did well, even if they weren't terribly happy afterward. I'm glad they have the chance to play in a recital, though.

Five Bags of Trash and a Barrel

A little while ago, Russell found out that the city (or someone) was doing a pick up trash day along the Arkansas (AR-kan-saw, not ar-KANSAS, thankyouverymuch) River. He thought it'd be a good thing to do, and he was right. It was. Caitlyn and Megan were gone (to Worlds of Fun and work, respectively) so it was just four of us. It was an incredibly windy day, and we wandered around a bit looking for a place to pick up some trash (all the obvious stuff had been picked up already), until we discovered a little eddy where trash had collected.

It took a bit of climbing to get to, but the girls were game for that.

And in the end, we picked up 5 trash bags full of trash, something the girls were quite proud of.

And the barrel.

We got a free lunch out of it as well, but I think the better thing was the feeling that we did something (even if it was small) that helped make our city more beautiful. I hope they do this again next year; we'll be sure to go.

Alison's Trip to the Zoo

Thursday, the fourth grade went to the zoo and Alison begged to take the camera. I'm glad I let her; she took some wonderful pictures!

This one is her teacher and her group. Alison's the one in the Yankee's cap, but I don't know why she's hiding.

And these are the animals she saw.

It was a fun day!

Easter Dinner

We were going to eat Easter dinner right after church, but sometimes meetings get busy when one is in the bishopbric (and the other is helping out in Primary), and the ham -- excuse me, Wild Boar (donated by our across the way neighbors) didn't get put in the oven until after church, which meant dinner was at actual dinner time. (The boar was quite yummy, by the way.)

Which gave Alison and Elinor time to put together our dessert (yummy!)

And for us to do our Resurrection eggs, which tell the story of Christ's last week. It's become enough of a tradition that the girls would miss it if we stopped. It's also a good way to remember why we celebrate Easter.

The "grown up" table. Russell found out after church that the elders didn't have a place to go for Easter dinner, and he decided that since we were already feeding a ton of people, two more wouldn't hurt. I agreed. The elders were very happy to come, though my dad said after that he kept grilling them with trivia and they didn't know the answers. (But Caitlyn did! Go Caitlyn!)

And the kid table. It looks like it's just moms and little ones, but Russell actually sat there too. You just can't see him because he was taking the picture.

It was all quite yummy, and (much like Thanksgiving) gone too soon. We were very happy to have extended family to share it with, though!

What Happens While Playing Quelf...

Sometimes people get a little carried away.

Can't Tear Them Away

My brother -- who has a knack for finding awesome games -- sent us this game called Pandemic for Christmas. We played it a few times and couldn't win it, and put it away. But, with teenage cousins in the house, Caitlyn had the brilliant to get it out and see if they would enjoy playing it.  

To say they enjoyed it is a bit of an understatement. It seemed, every time we turned around, they had a game going.

I'm glad someone likes the game, even if we can't win it yet. It's fun to try.

Easter Selfie

I missed it because I had to practice for the musical number at church, but it was way too cute not to put up.

T. J.'s Burgerhouse (or We All Ate WAY Too Much)

As per tradition, we let Kristen pick out the place to go eat after her baptism. She picked T. J. Burgerhouse, this hole-in-the-wall burger place in Delano that Russell knew of, and we went to back in December. Obviously, it made an impression on Kristen, because she's been talking for months about going to the "1950s burger place" for her baptism dinner.

We made a complete spectacle of ourselves.

But the food was yummy and we ate a LOT (and many of us entered a food coma) and we had a great time, so it was worth it. And Kristen was happy. That part was definitely worth it.

Kristen's Baptism

Yesterday, Kristen got baptized. It was a lovely afternoon. She was very excited, and maybe a bit nervous.

And she wasn't truly happy until her two best friends, Sam and Sarah showed up. Then she was happy.

It didn't hurt that her cousin, Faith, was here to share with her. (A couple of side stories. One: she popped up and hugged and thanked every single person who participated in the program. Two: she dog-paddled to the stairs of the font after she was baptized. She does love the water.)

The bishop wasn't there, but Brother Gruver was a good stand-in.

And there were requisite grandparent pictures....

And parent pictures....

And everyone pictures....

She was happy (really. You can't tell from this one but she was. Promise.) to be baptized.

Random Pictures from Abe's Camera

Russell's brother, Abraham, and his family are stopping through on their way through to St. Louis for a robotics competition. The girls were more than excited to see their cousins. I was planning on taking pictures (honestly), but Abe is a master documenter, and did my work for me. You can check out their blog for the pictures.

Also: Betsy is awesome and wonderful and knows the coolest people. You'll find out why later. (Like, after they get home later.)

Kristen's Birthday, Part 2

Grandpa Fox came into town Thursday night for Kristen's baptism, and he brought with him a present that the girls Kristen has been looking forward to: the traditional Fox Madame Alexander Doll. Speculations have abounded as to which one Grandma Fox would send for Kristen. Opening the present was the first order of business (even though it was late, hence the pajamas.)

Out of all the dolls we guessed, no one picked Eloise.

But it ended up being the perfect choice: Kristen has fallen in love with the spunky character and is reading all the books and has watched the movie at least twice. Many thanks, Grandma!

Giving Up

It really wasn't a bad week this week. Things got done. Lots of eye appointments (for everyone except Russell). By Friday, when I had mine, I was practically on a first-name basis with the receptionists. Which, I suppose, is a good thing.

We cleaned and rearranged the basement. That's always nice. Plus, I made Art. Out of postcards and with Caitlyn's help, but still.

Megan went to prom and had a good time. She finally reappeared after 1 today.

Church was good. We got a boundary realignment a couple weeks ago, so we had new people. It's amazing the difference 25 active people will make. Sunday School was actually full, and there were more than 3 people making comments. And my friend Karen is now Relief Society president, which will be a Good Thing, I think. I really wanted to hear her lesson today, but I ended up in Primary doing music. I can't complain about that. It was fun.

Megan and Russell had a good experience at KU, not the least of which was meeting up with a former faculty member/friend from our time in Mississippi. That was fun.

Our flowers are blooming. One of my favorite things is sitting by the window and smelling the hyacinths. It makes me happy.

I worked.
Russell worked.
The kids went to school.
We had the sister missionaries over for dinner on Thursday. That's always a good thing. We really do love the pair we've got now; they're fantastic.

I think we got the program for Kristen's baptism all hammered out. The trick was finding something for all her sisters to do.

And that's about it for us.

Enjoy spring.

Prom, Take 2

The story goes like this: mid-March (or so), I get a Facebook message from Megan that said "Cole asked me to prom. I said yes." I thought, well, okay then... Cole's been a friend since 7th or 8th grade. Yeah, he's had a crush on Megan on and off over the years, which she has tried (sometimes more effectively than others) to squelch. But, I guess his mom and older sister were on his case, so he asked the one "safe" person (possibly because she was on the other side of the world). His mom and sister were over the moon. Like SERIOUSLY. They orchestrated this whole event. Down to the color of his vest and matching corsage/boutonniere (we'd bought one... but I suppose matching ones take precedence.)

Anyway, we met in the parking lot of a park to take pictures. Megan said Shayla (she's the one in the light blue) kept inviting people to show up for pictures. The downside was that Megan's other best friend, Riley, didn't show. (She was supposed to.)

It wasn't a huge group, but a fair size one. They tried to be serious.

But then Kylie and Megan started making faces.

Two of her three best friends. She's trying to be as tall as them.

Cole's sister dictating shots.

Someone's mom eventually got the bright idea to move the group onto the grass so my ugly minivan would stop being the backdrop. (If I knew these parents better, I'd have suggested it at first. But I kind of laid low.)

Ah, corsaging (that's not a word. It should be.)

Trying to be serious for Cole's mom.

It didn't work.

I found these on Facebook this morning. From dinner before:

And breakfast after:

It looks like she had a terrific time.

Time for a Change

When Megan came back, we had to find a place to put her (obviously). We tried in her old room, but Alison had a bit of a panic attack, so we figured out that what would work best was for Megan and Kristen to room together. (So far, it's worked.) The only downside was that we needed to make space in the closet, where I'd been storing all the picture books we don't really read anymore. That's what started the dominoes. After an afternoon of hitting every store in town (well, it felt like it) looking for a small bookshelf, I realized we had exactly what I needed downstairs. So, I moved that one upstairs. Which meant (unless we wanted to get rid of books, which we didn't), I needed a new bookshelf for downstairs. And that lead to, well, this:

I've dubbed it the collections room, since it has most of the things we collect in it. As for the postcards, Caitlyn helped me figure out something to do with them:

Sometimes, change is good.