For Grace's school's carnival, we spent an hour of time helping in her class' booth. Here's the cake we made for the Cake Walk- both Grace and Jeremy helped to create this. I'm told that it was the first cake won! 
We had fun walking around, playing carnival games, creating and shooting off rockets.
For Mother's Day, we went out for lunch at Wahoo's after church. It was nice to spend time with my family. On the occasion of Mother's Day, while it's meant to honor moms, I actually think of it as my day to reflect on my role as a mom. I am thankful everyday for the special privilege of being a mom, especially for having Grace and Jeremy in my life. 
Jason wasn't really looking forward to his birthday this year, mostly because it was on the first day back from Spring Break. I have been teasing him about being closer to 40! Since I was still on Spring Break this week, I was able to bring him his favorite for lunch, In N Out, and I was able to devote time to preparing him a special birthday dinner. He has requested the same thing for several years now- calamari steaks with lemon linguine, steamed artichokes, green salad, and garlic bread. It has also become somewhat of a tradition for our family now, that we go for Coldstone on our birthdays. Hope you enjoyed a great day, Babe! Happy Birthday to you! You are an amazing husband and the best daddy I could ever have hoped for for our kids. We love you so much- may this upcoming year is everything you hope it to be!
This post is mostly for my own memory's sake... Jeremy had a major meltdown/tantrum last Friday. He hasn't had one in a while, so this caught me by surprise. It lasted about a half hour and involved him stomping his feet, screaming, and crying. It was triggered when I told him that I wouldn't have enough time in our day to take him to the library!
This is the first year that Grace has played softball. We never would've considered having her try at an earlier age. Yet here we are, letting Jeremy try and he's 3! I found out from our friends, the Bergs, that the City of Fresno holds sports leagues for kids as young as 3 years old. They signed up their boys and we decided to join them. Our boys are on the same team- the Athletics. 
Their first game was this past Saturday- I have to share that I had so much fun watching my sweet Bear out on the field! I am definitely a pessimist- I wasn't expecting for it to be a good morning. Jeremy has become very reserved and shy in the last little while, so in the back of my mind, I was worried that we'd end up having to coax him to go out on the field. To my complete surprise, when the coach called for the boys to join him, Jeremy did not hesitate- he ran right out! My 3 year old, still my baby and yet a big boy! He had such a great time and it showed- he spoke about baseball for most of the day, and insisted on wearing his hat and team shirt until bedtime. Even though it was only the first day, the coaches did a wonderful job already teaching important baseball skills. Jeremy is so excited about his next game and so am I!
We admit that we don't have green thumbs... But, Jason has certainly become very invested in his "babies" in our yard! He is very determined to not let them die! This is a picture of our "fruit salad" tree. It features 2 kinds of peaches, plums, and nectarines. It was beautiful when it was blooming- there were different shades of flowers on it. I forgot to take pictures of it. The nursery we got it from said that since it's a young tree, for this first year, we are supposed to pluck off all of the fruits. This forces the tree to focus on its roots as opposed to bearing fruit. So... we actually won't know if this pays off until next year!
Grace's 3rd Quarter Awards Assembly was this past Friday. She earned 3 more awards: Perfect Attendance, Character Counts, and the Math Award. Great job, Gracie! 
Later that afternoon, Grace's coach invited the team to go watch Fresno State's softball team. We sat in the outfield- it was a great chance for the girls to watch the softball team, and it was nice to get to know some parents. It was our first time watching Fresno State softball and it was 
We haven't had to motivate her to do anything, she is excited on game days, has learned a lot about the game and is actually pretty good at it, and it's great that she quickly became friends with the other girls on her team. (It's kind of funny actually, that somehow she ended up on a team where most of the girls attend Catholic private school. She has asked us several times if she can go to their school next year. Um... Yeah, that's not happening). 
With the addition of Grace's softball to the schedule, our weekdays have become immensely hectic. Her games are every Monday and Wednesday and her league runs until the end of the school year. The busyness is worth seeing Grace do something that she genuinely loves! The next addition to our schedule? Jeremy is starting t-ball! More on that soon!
For Jason's mom's birthday gift, we got her tickets for a "Girls Date." We went to lunch at Panera (well, the boys joined us for that), and then we headed to the Fresno Memorial Auditorium for the Children's Musical Theaterworks' production of The Little Mermaid. It was our first time seeing a show by this theater group, and we really enjoyed it. After the show, the girls got to meet the actors/actresses. It was a lot of fun and since we had such a good experience, we're disappointed that we'll be in Edmonton during their next show, Cinderella. We will definitely make sure to catch their Annie show in December! 
Last Saturday, we went to a very cool birthday party. How cool is it that Levi got to have a firetruck at his birthday party?! Our close friend, Christa, did an amazing job organizing Levi's birthday, but inviting the firetruck to make an appearance made this an unforgettable event for our kids. I don't usually take pictures at other kids' birthday parties, but I did for this one because I knew how much Jeremy and Grace would love exploring this firetruck.
Happy Birthday, Levi- thanks for letting us share in your special day!