Nathan went to 5th grade camp last year and worked on some merit badges for scouts. We didn't work on any more until I signed him up for a Stake Pow-wow in January. I had no idea how involved some of these merit badges were! He worked on citizenship in the community. For part of it he needed to do 8 hours of service in the two weeks he was working on the merit badge. We found a service day that BYU had set up, and did a bunch of hours with that. Nathan, Tanner, and a couple friends cleaned out the Scera theater in Orem, organized clothes at DI, and tutored younger kids at the Lehi literacy center. Here they are cleaning out the booster seats at the theater.
Nathan was required to do the science fair this year. He did NOT want to do it. Tanner, on the other hand, really wanted to do it. I was the mean mom that didn't let Tanner do a project, because we didn't have time with Nathan's. To make it even remotely interesting for Nathan, we had to do something with basketball. His project: Which free throw shooting practice helps the most? This required lots of taking kids to the church and Rec center gyms for practicing. Here we have 12 kids jammed into the van for a ride to the church.
The beginning of the year always means basketball season. Last year Tanner told me he didn't want to play. One game into the year he was mad at me for not signing him up. So this year he had his chance again. He was really good at defense.
He was really happy to get to play on a team with his friend Hayden.
Nathan ended up playing city league with a bunch of his friends. A few months later he joined another league, and lengthened his playing time for a couple months more. No complaints from him.
The boys got free BYU basketball tickets. We haven't been to many games lately. We had season tickets the year Jimmer Fredette did so well, and we've been kind of in a Jimmer withdrawl lately. The girls had a great time climbing up and down and up and down the stairs.
Anika started gymnastics and absolutely LOVES it. She comes out of class each day with the biggest smile on her face. Her favorite rotations are the beam and the bars. Dance has been put on hold for the rest of the spring, but I have a feeling it will start back up in the fall. Calla made a little friend that she looks for every time we go. They run back and forth and entertain each other, making it pretty easy to take her to class. Now that she's seen Anika in dance and gymnastics, she wants to try both too. Adding Calla's classes this fall is going to make my already hectic life even more crazy. I just need to make sure we don't turn into one of those fast food families!
This year the daddy daughter dance went with a cowboy theme instead of princess (much to daddy's relief.) Anika was in a really sassy mood that day, and I didn't envy Jon. But they had a great time. Jon and all the other dads spent the evening throwing their girls up in the air and watching them do their version of a mosh pit. Then they headed to JCW's for chocolate milkshakes with our neighbors the Stoddards. Daddy has a great time whenever a chocolate malt is involved.
Tanner made it to his green belt in Karate. He's been looking forward to this day because now he gets to start training with weapons. Then I was a mean mom and decided to pull him out of karate for the month of April, because we have so many things planned, he was going to miss half the classes. So now he has to wait an extra month to get to play with his weapons. I'm not the least bit sad. I'm not sure how I feel about him training with something that could potentially really hurt his big brother when he bugs him too much.
Tanner also had his space derby in scouts. He did such a good job doing all the sanding and painting on his own. No help from mom or dad. But then he lost his propellar and ended up having to use Nathan's old one....which never really worked in the first place. So he ended up with a really cool looking green fire rocket that just didn't go very far.
We ended up surprising the kids with a fun plan for this spring. I found a great deal for a Disney cruise to the Caribbean. We asked each kid where their dream vacation would be. Nathan said the caribbean, Tanner said to Australia, and Anika said Disneyland. Calla had no idea. We kind of ended up covering our bases with each of them. Nathan gets the caribbean. Tanner wanted Australia because of the great barrier reef. Our ports have some of the best snorkeling/reefs in the world, next to Australia. Anika gets some of the Disney she wanted. And Calla gets to spend the week with Nana and Grandpa. Everyone should be happy. So the kids have been on the computer non-stop looking up the ship we will be on, and the stops we will make. Tanner already has the ship memorized. Nathan says he will just stay with Tanner and he will be able to find whatever he wants. I think Jon and I are as excited as the kids!
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