Just a day at the beach

The other day it was so hot here we headed out the beach to cool off, but when we got there it was so cold and windy that Kimmy and I decided to stay in the car. Jared and Nate and Dana had tons of fun running up and down the sand dunes and exploring the beach. I took these pictures with the zoom on my camera from the sunroof of the car. I just couldn't venture out into the freezing wind without a bathroom nearby. I blame it on the pregnant bladder!

This is what Kimmy spent the time doing, watching Disney's Beauty and the Beast on the DVD player in the van for probably the 150th time...no exaggeration! My girls love that movie!

Dr. Dana

Ever since she could talk, Dana has said that she wants to be a doctor when she grows up so she can help fix people and make them feel better. We recently took Kimmy to our pediatrician, Dr. Green, and she has a little toy doctor kit in her exam room that the kids love to play with. I actually had my camera with me this time so I was able to take pictures of Dr. Dana in action.

Dana, the aspiring photographer

All of these pictures were taken by Dana. Do you think she has a career ahead of her in photography?

Wasn't Easter just yesterday?

I realize that it is May already, but I finally figured out why I couldn't download pictures from my memory card for the last month. Apparently the little tiny switch on the side that prevents any pictures from being erased was switched on, and that kept it from letting me download the pictures as well. But since I figured that out, and Jared and I leave for our trip to Boston and NYC in just 6 short days and will have tons of pictures from that to post when we get back, I thought I should do a little catching up.

For Easter we went to our wards annual Easter breakfast and egg hunt. It was really nice because for once Jared didn't have to go in early on a Saturday and so he was able to go with us. We are getting so many kids, I really prefer to go places with him than without because I need the extra hands.

Here's Dana with our wonderful babysitter Amee. All the kids love her and she really has no idea how much we appreciate her!
Even at her tender age of 1, Kimmy was a hit with the boys in the ward, making instant friends with Noah Harris from Nursery.

While the youth was making the final preparation of hidden eggs out on the church grounds, they stuffed all the primary kids into the hallway like sardines to wait.

Here you can see that Dana was a little less than enthused to be shoved so tightly into such a small space. Then the craziness began:

Kimmy was really excited because she got to hunt for her eggs in the baby section, and the big kids weren't allowed to look there, so the little kids could get at least some eggs.

You'll notice that I don't have any pictures of Nate hunting for eggs because by the time I got over to his area, probably 3 or 4 minutes after the hunt started, all the eggs there had already been collected and the kids were already opening them up and stuffing their faces full of the treats inside. Stinkers!

This year I took Dana with me to the fabric store to pick out fabrics and patterns for the girls' Easter dresses. To my surprise, Dana picked out really simple easy patterns and so I was able to whip up both the dresses the night before Easter Sunday.

Don't you love the sweet attitudes they have first thing in the morning?

All in all, for the meager amount of effort I put in on the dresses, I think that they turned out pretty well, and Dana was able to share that her Mommy made her dress for her Good News Minute in Primary that day. (No worries, I actually did their hair before we went to church, I just forgot to take a picture afterwards). We bought Nate a whole new outfit for Easter because the time that it takes to tailor a little boy's shirt is so not worth it, when I could buy one just as nice at Walmart for $5. He doesn't care that much about it anyway, so it all works out.

"I drink water"

So, sometimes after the kids take a bath, I will let Kimmy run around "nudie-moon" style until she is dry. I was checking something on the computer when I let her do this the other day, and the following video is what I found her doing only four minutes later.

The Jungle Book

So, for those of you who didn't know, Nathan was recently involved in a Showbiz Kids production of The Jungle Book. This was his first play ever, and he really took to it. It's the perfect outlet for him, because he gets to sing and channel his energy into his part. Surprisingly he was chosen to play the part of Amal, a young wolf in Mowgli's wolf family pack, which was a pretty significant part for a first grader who had never been in a play before. He actually had more lines than some of the 3rd graders in the play.

Here he is in make-up from the dress rehearsal:

And here he is trying to look like a fierce wolf:

When we came back for the actual play last Thursday night, they gave him a bit more make-up, which he thought definitely made him look more like a wolf. Here he is waiting for his turn in the make-up room:And here is the finished product:
The whole family went to support Nate. Next time though, Kimmy will probably stay with the babysitter. She was fussing for me and for Dad and for Nate all throughout the show, and I felt really bad for the parents who were trying to video tape the play...you can't hear the actors when there is some crazy baby screaming in the background.
Nate was in two of the three scenes. The first one was at Council Rock, where the wolf pack is discussing how Shear Kahn is back in the jungle. He is right in the center next to Mother Wolf in the white and grey costume:
Here is the opening number, our video camera is out of commission, so I taped it with my camera. The quality is not the best, but it's still great to have. Don't stop watching until you see Nate's bow at the end.

He had a hard time figuring out what arm went in front and which went it back. It was my favorite moment from the whole play.

Mowgli finally makes his appearance here:
Here is Nate delivering his first line:
More from Council Rock: He finally found where we were sitting in the audience...he's looking straight at us.
This is the pack's hunting song:


This is the end of the play, when all the characters are on stage at once. They did great sitting quietly considering there was like 30 kids participating.

When the show was over, they invited the actors to come onto the stage one by one for photos. Nate's good friend MaKenna was in the play too. Here they are afterwards:They wanted to take pictures with all Kimmy and Dana, but Dana had tried to go on stage after the show was over and was told by one of the adult leaders that only the actors could be on stage. She totally got her feelings hurt and refused to pose for anything, so Nate and MaKenna took pictures with just Kimmy:
The other awesome thing that happened after the play was that some little kid came up and asked Nate to autograph his program. It was the sweetest thing. Nate was more than happy to do it, and I got to catch it on camera. It was a really great production, and we couldn't be more proud of Nate. He memorized all his lines and delivered them right on cue. As you can see from the videos, he was also a singing star! He loved it so much he is already asking when the sign ups are for the fall production of Pinocchio.