Rounding Up May!

WHEW!! Anyone else just hammered from the month of May?

I swore to myself that I would never get this behind on blogging, but alas, May 2012 has finally done it to me!!

Here is our month in mostly pictures and you can see what has been keeping us so busy! What a wonderful life, full of abundant blessings!!

Miss Emma is at a "fairy birthday party" here. The cute mom made wings and tutu's for all of the guests. Emma was in heaven!

FHE night with Laura and Tom.  We learned about Noah's ark and then painted pictures.  Laura and Tom are moving next month, so we are trying to squeeze in lots of fun time with them!  Emma is going to be devastated when Laura leaves here.  She has basically been her second mother since she was born and Emma still squeels with delight every time she walks in the door.  Grant, on the other hand, seems to have a bit of a man crush on Tom.  Laura came the other day without Tom and Grant greeted her at the door, looked right past her to see if there was anyone else with her, and when realizing she was alone, slumped his little shoulders and walked away.  No Tom - and Grant was extremely disappointed.

Trying to keep Grant entertained at the dermatologist.  Was one of the many events that made for a not-so-awesome day. 

Aunt Laura gave us an annual pass to the Desert Botanical Garden, which just happens to have a super great butterfly pavilion, that Emma just LOVED.  It was really crowded, so a little challenging to stop and enjoy the butterflies to their fullest, but still pretty amazing.

A trip to the AMY (Arizona Museum for Youth), which we gratefully also have annual passes.  I just couldn't resist snapping this picture, because Grant is finally old enough to sit at the little picnic benches and was SO SO SO proud of himself.

A few weeks ago, we dropped Emma off at preschool and then spent the morning shopping at Arizona Mills for new summer clothes!  To reward Grant, I let him ride an airplane for fun!  He was in heaven and pretty frustrated when the ride ended.

Our new ward has been so welcoming and inviting!  And lucky for us, there are lots of new friends for our WHOLE family.  Here is Emma with some of the girls her age, at a luncheon.  L to R: Jane, Emma, Ella, Claire.

And YEAH!  The moment we have been waiting for!!!  JJ and Zac welcomed their little baby boy into the world!!  Little George Jack Lorenzen was born on May 11th, but JJ went into labor on her birthday, May 10th.  He is such a sweet little angel.  I just love to hold him and kiss him.

And we celebrated birthday!!  Here is Lauren  (my cousin's wife) blowing out her candles!  Lauren and Dylan moved here a year ago and live with my Aunt Sharron.  They are both in school.  Lauren just finished her first year of law school.  Poor thing!  :)  We just LOVE having them close.  Grant also has a man crush on Dylan.  When they came over for dinner, Grant was so excited to see Dylan that he was shaking!  Ha Ha.

And Kasyn turned FOUR!  We had his bday party in conjunction with our Adams Family Mothers Day celebration.  He is such a cute kid.

Emma had her dance recital.  I have just loved the dance classes in Tempe, but I am excited to try the ones in Gilbert this summer that are a little closer to our house!  All that driving was taking a toll on my pocketbook and sanity!  She learned so many "official" dance moves in this class and was so excited to come home an show them to us.  Her favorites were shase and arobesque. (sp???)

As it has hit the 100's here in Arizona, we spend a lot of time eating popsicles on our patio.  I keep trying to teach Grant to hold the stick, but he insists on grabbing the actual popsicle.  It has just got to be cold on his little hands!!

 

A preschool field trip to Bounce-U was a huge success!!  Emma had a great time with her classmates, but Grant was THRILLED to have so many fun things to stay occupied. 

Thank you pinterest for all of the great ideas and activities to keep kids entertained at home.  We had a lot of fun with these bubbles!!

Pajama day at preschool.  Emma has been looking forward to this one for a LONG TIME.  You get to wear your PJ's and bring your favorite stuffed animal to watch a movie at preschool. 

This ugly Easter bunny was her choice of stuffed animals.  Unfortunately, the bunny was forgotten at home and we didn't realize until we got to school.  Emma was SO SAD.  She had been telling random strangers about this preschool activity for a month and had chosen her animal weeks ahead of time.  Even though the school is 15 minutes away, I decided to show some mercy and get it for her.  You should have seen her face when I walked into her classroom holding the precious object.  I told my Mom that I felt stupid driving back to retrieve the bunny because I was not teaching Emma any valuable life lessons.  To which my mom said, "sure you are!  charity!". Ha.

Last Saturday, Greg and Rob and I took a road trip down to Tuscon to see our friend Tregoney in Mary Poppins.  It was on the broadway tour down there and we really enjoyed it.  Greg and I saw it on broadway about 5 years ago, but it is such a fun show, I could see it a few more times.  Even more thrilling to know someone in the cast!!  We even got a back stage tour.  A special thanks to Aunt Laura who babysat for 11 hours!!!!  What a trooper!!  See what I mean... what in the world are we going to do without them?

Here is Miss Emma waiting for her friends to come and play.  She waited for 45 minutes by the front door for them to arrive.  Sometimes social engagements can breed patience!!  Especially for this little socialite.

We had a wonderful Mother's Day around here!  We celebrated with the Adams crew on Saturday and the Krebs side on Sunday.  So grateful for the wonderful mother and mother figures I have in my life!! 

Greg got up super duper early on Sunday morning and made me breakfast and these darling signs above the table!  So thoughtful!!  He ordered some books on amazon for me from the kids, which is a perfect gift for me.  And my new iphone was also kinda wrapped up into a mother's day bundle!  Any way you look at it, I was spoiled!!

Here is sweet Emma holding the gift she made me in preschool!

Grant's latest obsession?  Pushing around Emma's strollers... which he calls "cars".  I'm certainly not going to tell him that they are strollers, because it keeps him occupied for HOURS.

And here we are at Emma's preschool performance and last day of school ceremony.  Clearly she was excited about something!

Here she is receiving her certificate. 

Her BFF's in school, Whitney and Aliyah.

And her teachers: Mary and Laura.

I'll say it again!!!  WHEW!!!!  Just doing this blog post made me tired all over again from the events of May!!

Happy Summer Break everyone!!