Edwards Family Reunion

Most of the Edwards crew. We were unfortunately missing Emily's husband and daughters and Lindsay's husband and daughters. Maybe next time:)

Chris's family lives all over the place. We are lucky enough to have one of his sisters here in Vegas, but his parents are in Arkansas, a sister in New York, another sister in Texas and his brother who lives in Utah is going to be moving to Rhode Island in August. That along with his parents upcoming 40th anniversary and a baby blessing seemed like a good reason to have a family reunion. We decided to rent a house in Salt Lake so we could spend actual quality time with the Edwards family. The house we had originally reserved became a case of false advertising (it was dirty, not wheelchair accessible, and previously had cats) so the rental agency was contacted and we were moved to a bigger much nicer house. It was awesome! There was a hot tub, a game room with air hockey foozeball and ping pong, 5 bedroom, 3 1/2 bath and enough space that the whole family could just hang out and not feel like we were on top of each other. There were fireworks across the street on Fri and Sat night and a parade that on the street next to the house on Sat morning. They said those were for Taylorsville days, but I'm choosing to believe it was for our family. It was fabulous to relax and visit and play together as a family. Everything worked out perfectly. Thank goodness aunt Lindsay and aunt Kim took lots of pictures, because I don't think I even took my camera out.

This picture cracks me up! It is typical Chris. These poor girls put up with a lot from their older brother.

I have a Young Woman now...

12! Kaylee is 12! It's kind of blowing my mind. When did I become the lady old enough to have a 12 year old? Alright, I know it's not about me;) This year Kaylee had a friend party and we decided to have a movie theme. I use the term "theme" loosely though because besides the invitations and cupcakes looking like popcorn, there wasn't much more movie involved. The girls had pizza, played some "Minute to Win It" games (thank goodness for that show and it's instant party games:) then we were off to the movies to watch Kung Fu Panda 2. Kaylee thought it was fun (so did I), so SUCCESS! Happy Birthday Kaylee, we LOVE YOU!

After we had played the games all the girls wanted to try "Face the cookie". They had to move a cookie from their forehead to their mouth using only their facial muscles. They decided laying down was the best technique for this challenge. It was pretty hilarious

Dalin 5.0

Yep he's 5, can you believe it! I'm still coming to terms with it myself. I think I have a hard time with every one of his birthdays because he's my baby, but five is a doozie. Five is kindergarten. Five is big. Okay, enough of that, moving on. Dalin has been counting down the days to his birthday since Christmas (168 in case you wondered). And he has been asking for a "Power Ranger Switch Head" for 120 of those days. He got his Power Ranger and enough to constitute a "good haul". He also had a Happy Meal date with his dad and there is a rumor that someone let him drive the car. What more could a five year old ask for:)

Here are some of his favorite things:

Food: Popsicles, watermelon & strawberries
Toy: Power Ranger Switch head
TV Show: Power Rangers Samurai
Movie: Kung Fu Panda 2 (or whatever the latest cartoon movie happens to be)
Color: Green
Super Hero: Spiderman
Thing to do: Play

Dalin requested this "cake". It's not very pretty, but it's made up of his two of his favorite things.

The Runaway Kid

For Christmas I made the kids pillowcases out of some super soft fabric. Kaylee, Ashton and Aiden immediately put theirs on their pillow. Dalin tried his out for a couple of days then decided it was too big for his pillow (he refuses to use a full size pillow) so it kind of got forgotten. One day he decided it would make a good blanket/toy holder so he loaded it up with his favorite things and carried it around the house. I needed to go to the mall and I let him bring it, figuring he would leave it in the car. I was wrong. The following was an effort to get him to leave his loot behind.

Me: "Dalin people are going to think you ran away from home if you bring all that stuff in"

Dalin: "They will look at you and know you are my mother. How could I be running away when my mother is right there."

"They might think I'm Santa but I don't have a hat."

"I could be a robber but I'm not wearing robber clothes either."

What other argument could I have?

Not only did he have a treasure bag, but a handy seat for the elevator ride:)

2nd Grade Spelling Bee

Aiden was able to participate in the first Jim Thorpe second grade Spelling Bee. He had three "Bee's" in his classroom and the winners of those competed against each other to determine the classroom champion. Aiden took that title and he went on to compete against the 12 other second grade champions in his school. I was really proud of the way he took the initiative to study, I never had to tell him to practice. He didn't win (they started using third and fourth grade words) but he was AWESOME!

The kid to the right of Aiden who took the prize was hilarious. He kept winking and saluting the audience after he won.

Preschool Graduation

I forgot to post about Dalin's graduation last month, probably because I am in denial. I got a little teary just watching them practice. He successfully made it through his first and only year of preschool. We were a little worried he might drop out because most school days started out with crying, bargaining, bribing and sometimes forcing him to go. I don't know why, he was always fine once he got there and he had a fun time, but sheesh! They had a very cute little graduation program where I missed his speaking part and when they called his name to get his certificate. Luckily Chris was more aware than me and he got a picture.

I didn't think we were going to get time for a picture on his graduation day so I took this picture after the practice.

Dalin is in the second row up on the left

Spring Concert

Kaylee had her spring orchestra concert was this week. I tried taking a few pictures with my phone, but they weren't turning out very well so I gave up and put it away. About half way through the second of her three songs I noticed other parents recording the songs with their phones (yes I'm that kind of genius for not thinking of it sooner) so I only got part of the second song and the last song. I could hear a great improvement from their winter concert. Kaylee will tell you it's just because the songs were better, but I will refer to my professional audience member status and agree with myself. During one of the songs Aiden said, "This song seems so familiar, I just can't remember where I've heard it before." Dalin was sure it was "Follow the Prophet". I'm more inclined to believe it had something to do with the fact that Kaylee had been practicing it for the last five months;) Kaylee has loved orchestra and her teacher asked her to be in the varsity orchestra next year!

*I have been trying to add the video for three days. Hopefully I can get it up soon

Take your child to work day

A few weeks ago (is that how long it's been who can keep track of time these day, certainly not me) after much begging and puppy dog faces, Chris relented to take the kids to work with him on "Take you child to work day". Ashton went for the first half of the day, and the boys went for the second part. Kaylee's English teacher told her they were going to do something important in class that they shouldn't miss so she went to school (they didn't do anything by the way). Chris works in the IT department for the state, there is only one other person in his office and he spends most of his day in front of a computer screen. Not a lot of glitz and glamor to show the kids. Chris being the innovative fellow he is gave them papers to shred, saved some boxes for them to throw in the crusher and let them race down the hall on a paper cart. Our kids loved it, but now they are pretty sure that is the extent of Chris's job. The next day when Chris came home Aiden asked him how many boxes he crushed that day:)