May 2022 Gymnastics, Dance, Mother's Day, Lily's Birthday, and Homeschool Conference

Dino time with friends.

The gymnastics show off was fun.  Lilian's class was at about 4:30.  Then we went and ate dinner at the reservoir before the twin's showoff.  Lily did a great job, then during dinner she wouldn't eat and got all sleepy.  This evening we realized she had a fever.  Had no idea she was sick, until after she finished her show off. 

Hannah during warmups

Finn doing his stretches.

Melissa decided to make a fidget mat for Grandma Clift.  She is living alone, they have lots of activities and outings, but Melissa read somewhere that this can be a good focus for her as her memory is struggling.  Helping to focus on fine motor skills and a distraction. 

Mother's day was tough this year.  Melissa ended up sick, a cold Sunday and a GI bug hit her about 2 AM Monday. She spent most of Sunday in bed then we ate dinner together.

During the night, when she was feeling awful, we decided I would take the day off work.  She spent the day in bed, trying to rest and regain strength.  We went for a hike past 600 W.  Finley found some bones, and all 3 kids made a fort by stacking fallen branches around a tree trunk.  We were gone about 90 minutes, they had lots of fun. 

May 12th was Hannah's spring recital.  She danced to a song from Little Mermaid.  She had lots of fun.  

Melissa loves being a "dance mom." This might be the end of dance.  The dance company is closing,(the lady's in charge are too busy with other jobs). Hannah is pretty sad, but Melissa is trying to figure out if one of the instructors would do small group lessons. 

May 14th was garden time.  Finley is helping me lay out the soaker hose for Melissa's garden. 

The 16th was Lilian's last day of preschool.  They had their party at the movie theatre. 

May 17th Grandma and Grandpa Aurich and Great Grandma Flick came through Blanding on their way to Moab.  We hung out and chatted for a while, then Wednesday Melissa and the kids went to Moab to swim at their timeshare and spent the whole day. 

All on their way back, plus a bonus Aunt Tracy. 

19-21 we took care of Rob and Mallory Lyman's kids, so they could have a weekend away.  Here we are drilling out a plastic container to make a new compost box. 

And Finn is adding the worms Melissa picked up at the hardware store. 

May 22nd, Lilian turned 4! 

Nana asked the grandkids to start tracking their annual info.  Here it says: I'm 4, favorite color: blue + purple, best friends: Sarah, Dawn, Traxden, favorite song: Baby Shark, Hobbies: watch shows, color, play keepy uppy, Food: Vanilla Gogurts, Movie: Moana, When I grow up I want to be: Ballerina Teacher

Lilian has fallen in love with Wonder Woman. So this is her Wonder Woman cupcake display by Melissa. Dad made breakfast for her birthday dinner (eggs, pancakes, sausage, shakshuka, and pita chips).

We had Grandma and Grandpa Workman, Rob and Mallory Lyman's family (yup, they had just gone home the afternoon before) and Mason and Kati Lyman's family. 

Ahh... friends. 

PRESENTS!

Monday the 23rd was the Blanding/Monticello homeschool end of year field day!  They did running, obstacle course, ball throwing, etc. 

Finn won the ball throw. 

Then we headed to Lindon for Melissa's homeschool conference. Pre-bed walk on Wednesday.  We found a big piece of Styrofoam, so we're taking it home to throwaway. 

I joined Melissa for a class, lunch and a snuggle... two of the days. It was held at a park in Provo canyon, very pretty area. Melissa enjoyed 3 days of learning about how others homeschool. She came home with a few ideas to use at home. She enjoyed the time that she had talking to other homeschool moms.

There was a whole family dance... which luckily didn't have much dancing.  I danced with Hannah a little and Melissa the other two.  We had about 30 seconds of a slow song together, too. 

After the Friday session, Melissa came home just in time for dinner, then invited Nana for a girls night.  They went to the new Downton Abby movie...

Grandad stayed home and watched Lion King 1 1/2 with us, then got to read some of the bedtime books. 

Saturday the kids all took a few minutes on Paulo. 

Then teaching Grandad the right way to play Blokus, before...

An early Memorial Day BBQ. They are attacking Brendan and Jonathan with tickly grass. 

Cousin traffic jam! Happy beginning of summer.