May

Spring has been so nice. I don't know if it's true, but it seems like this spring has been even more pleasant than usual. It feels like the pleasant 70-80 degrees has lasted longer, instead of climbing super fast to the 100 degrees. Again, I could be wrong....we were gone and traveling last spring, but it has been nice.

We had lots of celebrating in May, too! First was "May Day" on the 1st, as "Lei Day" in Hawaii! Having lived there, I like to celebrate it! We had Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner and had fun!

My blondie--he looks handsome!

May 4th was "May the 4th/Force be with you"--Star Wars Day.

We all wore Star Wars shirts--Jonnie's says, "Every great father teaches his children the ways of the force" and mine says, "Jedi Master Mom, I am. Like a normal mom except way cooler."

Inspired by my shirt, Sierra wrote a message for me:

"Mom is the best Jedi ever and I am the best Jedi's daughter." :)

Sierra had "Rey hair", from Star Wars.

We had a fun Star Wars meal, with "Seven Leia Dip" and "Stormtrooper scoopers" (chips), veggies in the shape of lightsabers, and "Yoda Soda"--and we watched a Star Wars movie. Fun crew!

And then, we had "Cinco de Mayo"--to round out our holiday week! :) We had homemade enchiladas and watched "The Three Amigos". Good times!

Our sombreros made their appearance, of course.

We've had more fun with Sierra's hair!

She has some long, THICK hair--so it's fun to do new things with her hair!

Daxton took this picture of himself, intentionally with the 'Blessed' sign--I'm glad that's the way he feels!

Our niece/cousin, Becca Petty, came down to AZ with her fiancee, JP Mora. We have been really close to Becca for a long time, she and I talk and connect on many occasions. And we love JP, and he is actually now one of Jonnie's employees (working remotely). It was so fun to have them here!

We took them to the pickleball courts and had a great time!

We hung out, talked, played music and sang, made homemade pizza...it was a great time! Excited for the wedding in July.

Janson and Ryah at a multi-stake dance--with some kids from a homeschool group we know.

Fun to see them in a different element. I love that they are such good friends.

Mother's Day!! I'm so grateful I get to be a mother to these guys!

I got the special treatment--notes and gifts from kids, Ryah helped make the dessert, Jonnie spearheaded dinner....I was definitely feeling special.

Sierra wrote a song for me! And Jonnie helped her notate the music and he played the piano while she sang. It was super sweet!

And she was excited to help with the chores!

I also received a gift from Marie and Jonnie, and Ryah and Janson helped with it--they gave me an Aura digital picture frame. It's perfect! I have SO many photos that I love with my family, and there isn't enough wall space for all of them...so now, I can still have them and see them every day! I love it.

Ryah's Young Women Class had an overnight campout, and she wanted Jonnie to be one of the priesthood holders to be there. That was fun for her to have him there!

The next day, they got to go out on a boat. Most just rode the tube, but Ryah was one of the 'brave' ones to also do some kneeboarding! She had a great time!

We've been wrapping up the school year...

Sierra's butterfly-symmetry creation:

Our little reader flew through the Magic Tree House books, and is on to the Merlin Mission books. It's so fun to see her curling up with a book, and intently focus and read for a looong time. And then come and tell us what the story was all about.

She is growing so fast! She has just finished up "Kindergarten" in our homeschool, though if she was in public school, she wouldn't even be in Kindergarten until this fall, because of her September birthday. But her reading, writing, math, comprehension levels are farther ahead. She's a bright cookie, and loves to learn! There is so much she does on her own initiative.

After a Come, Follow Me discussion, I had some questions up on our board that we had discussed. Sierra went over and wrote out a response, independently, to my question. I love that she wants to share her thoughts and ideas, and feels comfortable sharing them.

(She wrote: "You know the question you asked us, it was Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah? That question. I think that if you listen to Jesus' teachings you will know that He is the Messiah. From Sierra, To: Mom.").

Another time, during school, she wrote a description of what I had done during our group time--reading history, reading Little House on the Prairie, and about what I read, of Laura sledding, etc. She has surprised me with how much she hears, comprehends, and retains. It's fun!

During a spelling lesson, I would give her a phrase to spell (like 'fox den'), and she would spell it, and then DRAW a picture of the phrase! She drew the ground, and then the den underground...

She is fun!

We did a "Me on the Map" lesson, going from house/street to city, state, country, continent, planet...

And she did her own outline of the United Staes--pretty good!!

Daxton has really become interested in cooking and baking. He has gotten recipe books from the library and wanting to try different things. It is VERY fun to see his growing interest in it, and having fun with it. He has a Star Wars cookbook, and he and Colton made these watermelon drinks.

And he and Sierra made these "chewie bars", using mochi flour. They were yummy.

And Daxton and Colton used kiwis and apples to make x-wings:

And Daxton and I worked together to make these peach pastries:

It's been very fun! He also set a goal to help with a couple of dinners each week. It's awesome.

Colton is my amazing, reliable salad-maker! He does great! And since we have salad at every dinner, it's so nice to have his willingness and his skills!

Colton also continues to do a ton of drawing. And he just gets better and better!

Tarzan:

Simba and Zazu:

Years ago, when homeschooling in Kentucky, we made this chart to learn counting by 10's (and 5's). And we had used our hands to make it.

Sierra wanted to be a part of it. And we realized that Daxton was likely only a year old when we made it, so he didn't have his handprints on it either. So, we added their handprints--and had the chart count up to 120. This has been a long-time tool! Used for all 5 of them.

We wrapped up the school year. Janson and Ryah took their final tests. And the kids made their video project about what they've learned from Middle Ages history. And they set goals for things they want to work on over the summer, while we are on break. It's been a great homeschool year--road school in the RV for the first half of the year, and the second year was here back in AZ. I really do love being able to homeschool them! It's such a great blessing for us.

Sierra has grown and she got some things out of her grow-into bins--so fun to see her in things that Ryah wore and loved when she was little.

We finished the month with Memorial Day!

I shared a touching story I had come across, which was a Memorial Day tribute, and we had a great devotional, as well.

We got Jonnie a grill for his birthday, but Memorial Day was a good time to bust it out, even though it was early, almost a week before his birthday.

The boys worked together to hold it over Jonnie's head for "heavy, heavy hangover, thy poor head, what do you wish this person?"

I did Sierra's nails in red, white, and blue, according to her request:

Sierra also wanted to do this idea from a craft book, of painting rocks for Memorial Day. She wanted each of us to make one, to give to someone else. Everyone got one! They came out really cool!

Who made each one...back row: Sierra, Colton, me, Daxton,

front row: Janson, Ryah, Jonnie