We were under water in May - literally and figuratively. I've said this before and I'll say it again, May is the busiest month. It's crazier than December. My calender explodes in May and it takes me all summer to finally come up for air. May brought Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Brigham's birthday, End of Baseball Season, Beginning of Swim Team, Band Concerts, Piano Recitals, Recordings, PTO Meetings, Ward Conferences, Stake Conferences, Graduations, Parties, Programs, Awards, The End of School, Yard Work, and. . .
why not add some Flash Floods?
Nate and the kids made breakfast again on Mother's day. It is the loveliest thing. They all chip in cooking, chopping, setting the table, making cards, and decorating. While I sleep. It is my favorite breakfast of the entire year.
I bought 240 roses at Costco to give to all the ladies at church on Sunday. When I realized I bought twice as many as we needed, we started making everyone's day by passing out the extra's all over the place - including primary kids! I added my yellow rose to the arrangement Nate gave me, remiding me to "be my own kind of beautiful" (anyone else seen that mormon ad?)
In honor of my own mother I made "crustos" for Family Night Treat.
With fruit that Eliza arranged. . . of course.
The kids made cute cards and wrote such nice notes. What is not to love about Mother's Day?
When it wasn't raining, Nate rallied to troops to work in the yard. . . all. . . day. . . long. You can tell by their faces how happy they were about it.
Do you think we have enough work gloves?
Baseball championships were canceled after three rained out games and with eight wins, one loss, and one tie, the Rangers were declared 2nd place champions. Here's a quick snap of their end of season party.
The neighborhood pool opened in May which made summer feel like it had officially arrived!
Lydia is quite the fish! She is the youngest member of our neighborhood swim team this year.
Here she is lined up for time trials.
I took Clayton to a professional recording studio here in Houston to record his eight competition pieces. It was such an awesome experience. Clayton stood in awe of the sound board and all the equipment. When the guy asked him what he thought Clayton said, "Wow. . . it looks like the cockpit of an airplane. . . or like the inside of a computer. . . I've never seen anything so amazing." I don't think he could have been more excited if we'd shown him the inside of a space ship!
The sound room and the microphones fascinated him.
Here he is listening to the playback. The guy was nice to answer all Clayton's many many questions.
Clayton has his own CD! It is full of some of my favorite piano pieces of all time. I've been listening to it non-stop. He also gave copies to all his teachers at school.
The kids enjoyed some backyard wildlife in May.
A turtle washed up in to the Stephens backyard after the flood. The kids kept it for a day and then returned it to the Bayou.
We love our lizard friends. They eat all the mosquitos at our house and are entertain us with their color changing.
An oppossum escaped a dog and hid in our bush for the morning. They really can hang by their tails.
But I can't stand these ugly animals. They remind me of "the rodents of unusual size" in the fire swamp. Yikes!
The girls went to an Elsa birthday and Elsa actually came!
She dressed the girls with make-up and tiaras.
Eliza and Lydia fight with each other but for the most part they enjoy being sisters. Eliza loves playing "mommy" and "teacher" to Lydia. Here they are reading their favorite book, The Princess in Black!
Eliza is still into fancy plant art. Here she glued real leaves to the picture of a tree.
Isaac brought home some artwork from school this month too - a Chinese Junk Ship for the Chinese art exhibit.
And a rocket in motion.
Lydia came home with artwork from school too. Cutting and glueing are her two favorite loves.
Isaac's "save the planet" poem.
Clayton had to create a new species by combining two animals. He invented the "Porkypine" - a combination of a North American porcupine and a domesticated pig.
We enjoyed Clayton's band concert. And I truly mean that! I didn't think I had it in me to enjoy a band concert - especially beginning band! But these guys sounded surprisingly good and I loved the line-up of music. Everything from Copland to Bach to the Pink Panther.
While everyone was tuning and warming up, Clayton was of course studying the maze of stage lights and set equipment.
He played marimba for most of the pieces but had a chance to play Timpani on one and hopped over to wood blocks for the sound of horse hooves in a piece called "Stampede".
He was also awarded the outstanding musician award. Go Clay!
We got a lot of rain in May. We also got hit with a flash flood that flooded most of the city. School was cancelled, roads were closed, trees and homes were under water, and our street looked like a river. Here's the view of downtown from Nate's office window - and this is after some of the flooding had already gone down!
Even though most schools were open the next day, the rain was still coming. Our street was a river.
The kids were happy to stay home for a day. We stayed dry inside and made bread!
All the rain made my basil grow. Now I can enjoy my favorite sundried tomato, basil, and swiss cheese appetizer.
The kids practiced like CRAZY in May for the piano recital and the National Piano Guild Competiton. Play time and practice time often collide around here and it is not uncommon to see princesses and sea captains at the piano.
Everyone did a fabulous job at the recital. Clayton played "Gigue" by Bach and a sonata by Mozart. Isaac played a minuet by Bach. Brigham played a sonatina by Biehl and "Hunting Song" by Schumman. Eliza played "Cuckoo". And Lydia cannot wait for her turn to play!
My favorite part of the recital was when Ms. Asya announced that she had 13 students take the State Music Theory Exam and 12 of them recieved gold medals - the most she has ever had! When she passed out the medals she said, "And Isaac Smith receive. . .almost gold." the quickly passed him the only silver medal in the group. Isaac was hilarious. He made a dramatic and exaggerated groan with his fists and mouthed "Nooooo!" to the sky - in complete mock dissappointment. Then chuckled a little and smiled his amazing and confident smile. I love that kid!
Treats are the best part as usual. This year Whitni brought lemon cupcakes. My family was in heaven.
It was a gorgeous evening and all the piano students headed outside afterward. Their playing and goofing off with each other reminded us all that they are just kids. Drama king Isaac is demonstrating his theatrical skills as always.
Well done Smiths!
Eliza graduated from Pre-K. She had a wonderful year with fabulous teachers and awesome friends. She is beyond ready for Kindergarten!
Here she is with principal Rose. Never was there a more talented and dedicated principal!
Party time.
Mrs. Malmer made memory books for all the children. They are truly a labor of love. Thank you for the wonderful treasure.
I even spotted myself in Eliza's book!
Hooray for two incredible teachers! Thank you for opening Eliza's life and mind to literature, theater, and creative writing - wow! Eliza has taken off! What an incredible year.
Memorial Day ended the month. The boys celebrated with their traditional 9-day long game of Axis and Allies.
We also went to the church for the ward breakfast.
Where the kids caught tadpoles in the culvert.
played a few rounds of tug-o-war.
Watched a flyby of WWII airplanes.
Listend to a Memorial Day devotional.
Jumped rope and colored with chalk. Megan and Lydia drew mermaids.
But mostly fished for tadpoles.
Well, at least my kids did. It was hard to pull these two away from the water at all!
Happy Memorial Day and Happy May!
Bring on Summer!
