Birthday time!

This sweet, tender-hearted boy turned 7 this past weekend.  He was not excited to turn 7, he liked 6 a lot. But when the festivities began he realized that birthdays are fun, no matter the age.

Rainbow cupcakes.  Funny thing, he prefers them without frosting.

 We went to the Utah Museum of Natural History with Steve and had a fun time.  They had activities that the kids could do like make masks and comb sheep wool.  It was a good time.

 View of the city with some cool people.

Amazing displays of animals and dinosaurs and cool things to learn and discover.

 A few of the boy's fun presents.  Not pictured, the basketball that he has been dribbling ever since.

Another little treat. They found a baby bunny at the cabin that was fun to watch.

William is a sweet little boy.  Hates getting up in the morning and getting ready for school, hates doing homework and hates getting ready for bed at night.  Basically avoids serious, responsible stuff and just wants to play and chill.  Enjoys reading but enjoys playing the game even more.  We love this little boy, his sweet smile, fun hugs, playful side and the little notes he brings you daily.

The heart of a soccer player

Wow!  What a hard game Caleb and his team just got done playing.  It was a constant attack at Caleb and his defense for an hour.  We barely even had a chance to take a shot at goal, the other team was so tough.  By the end of the game at least 6 of our players were playing hurt and it was all they could do to finish, but they did.  This team does not quit.  I watched as Caleb went from an extremely difficult and deflating first half, to keeping the second half clean for 25 straight minutes.  I watched as the captain of his team was in tears on the field because his ankle hurt so bad, but he was not giving up; a heart of gold.  These kids are amazing at their ability to give it their all and not back down.  They are awesome!  Even though the loss was hard to take, I consider them winners, they gave it their all.

Comings and Goings, Memories and Fun

 So, Mother's Day happened.  It was fun and enjoyable to be together.  But is was also work intensive.  This was my fault.  I, Diedre, heard of this fundraising idea of selling chocolate dipped strawberries for Mother's Day.  Caleb is in need of raising funds for competition soccer and scouts.  Hence, we let our friends and family know about this gift idea for moms.  Several days later we were found dipping hundreds of strawberries and making batches of fudge for the fundraiser.  It was very helpful for Caleb, he enjoyed the process and yeah, that was the beginning of a busy Mother's Day weekend for us.  The more enjoyable part of the weekend was going swimming with the family and being happy with each other.

 Our family at Heartland Elementary has had the extreme pleasure of participating in the Spanish Immersion program for the past 6 years.  The teachers are the most wonderful and excellent you can find.  Each of our boys have learned so much. It is a fabulous thing to be a part of.  The Spanish teachers put together the most incredible cultural night that took place at the school.  Over 600 people attended and it was amazing!  Each grade did a dance or song and it was so much fun.  Above you can see some of the cutest first graders around, plus some third graders that wanted to be as cool.

 Caleb's 6th grade class performed a dance with the 1st graders.  Very fun to watch.

Two of the most fabulous teachers you will ever find.  I cannot say enough wonderful things about these people!  Señorita Robles looked beautiful, she is William's teacher.  Oh what a sweet, wonderful person she is.  Señor Meza is Caleb's teacher and he is simply awesome!

 On to other memories and fun and adventures.  After one of Caleb's choir practices we took a trip to Sugarhouse park.  We found ducklings and fed them crackers.  Such a cute little gathering of ducklings.

 Along the way each of my boys decided to wade into the slimy pond water and slip in up to their chests.  I know, I am an excellent mother.  The best has yet to come.  As these adventure seeking boys slipped and slid in the muck, Caleb found a dead rat floating in the water.  A rather large dead rat.  Well, that put a damper on things.  Immediately they got out of the water, we got in the truck and we discussed how scrubbing showers would be taken by each child upon arriving at home.  But there was one more pit-stop when we found some mock battles going on in the park by knights and other medieval people.  Yes, I am a mother who tries to subject her children to quality and educational experiences.

 Lastly, this Saturday we had a fun and wet day at the soccer fields.  Caleb's team proved yet again how fabulous they are.  We arrived at the field, warmed up and got ready to play.  Suddenly the team trots off the field and informs us that the other team forfeited!  The other team only had 7 players and the just decided that they did not want to play.  What?  So, our awesome coach (I mean it this guy is gold!) said, "lets just scrimmage."  Perfect.  We were all there already, why not play.  While this "mock-game" was going on, Peter was playing on a different field.  Made a save as goalie, he scored a goal and his team won 11-0!  Wahoo!  Later in the day William also played a game in the rain and drizzle.  Although he was a bit of a slower player, and I got after him for his lack of aggression, he also scored a goal and we went out for ice cream cones.  Good deal!

Beautiful

Last Monday our week looked CRAZY!!!  But it ended beautifully and not at all bad.  So, the week's headliners were: goalie camp, help Granny, soccer practice, pine wood derby, SAGE testing, choir practice, soccer practice, help grandparents, goalie camp, 2 choir performances and soccer games.  Lots of driving, lots of supporting, lots of hard work.  And we pulled it all off, with only a few tantrums and several late nights. 

 Peter's pine wood derby car was ready to go by Monday.  Good deal!  And he had fun racing it, he was happy when it placed 2nd several times.  We are not professional derby car builders over here, but it did not lose.  Happy people here.

 Because of our many trips downtown we stopped off at Temple Square to see the beautiful flowers that were in bloom.  There were so many colors and flowers to look at. This beautiful girl loved it all!

William did a fantastic job at his soccer game on Saturday. He was running the entire game, and if he was not stopping the ball at defense he was running ahead of the crowd as a forward. Surprised all of us!

 Seems like Caleb is always the center of something, at it is all good stuff.  He did terrific at each of his goalie camps.  And the culmination of months and months of practice came this weekend when he performed with the Salt Lake Children's Choir at the First Presbyterian Church. It was beautiful to listen to and so special to see him up there, doing his best.  So many nights he and Rob have practiced together, filling our house with high notes, some struggles, and most of all beautiful times to hear his songs.  So many days, we took him to practice and waited while he sang and sang.  Caleb has some awesome and very supportive siblings.

The church he preformed in was beautiful with the stained glass windows.  And even though Caleb had a few comical moments of the concert: like when he stepped back too far on the riser and fell, during the performance.  Or when he had to exert self-control and not sneeze after a song or ignore several itches in the middle of a song. Or that kid who was so into the music that his head bobbed the entire performance (he was very expressive) and he stood in front of Caleb for half the performance.  Or those girls who tried to get Caleb to dance along to a rather up-beat song, but Caleb did his best to ignore them.  He is such an awesome kid!  The last number brought tears to my eyes, to think about how wonderful this experience has been for him.  Do not get me wrong, many times I questioned our sanity at signing him up for it and giving him (and us) the extra work load.  But the pay-offs were sweet and rewarding.  It was beautiful and special and I am thankful for the experience.  And so is Caleb.