Fun stuff in May

This month I got to chaperone Kyle's class on their field trim to the Musical Instrument Museum.  This place was HUGE and had every instrument from all over the world - thousands of instruments.  Really neat!   

 Before the Phoenix summer set in full bore, we decided to hit the zoo, just me, Colton, and Kyle (Morgan and Bryan are not as into the zoo anymore as they used to be when they were younger - which is fine because it gave me more individual time with these two!).  I love that my kids still like to pose for pictures - they actually ask me to take them.  Makes it easy to document our family!

Colton is working so hard in Boy Scouts.  As an 11-year-old Scout, he is well on his way to earning his Eagle.  His goal is to get it before he's 14, and I'm pretty sure he'll do it!

I always love watching my kids in their school musical programs each year.  They're just so darn cute, and they practice so hard to show off for their parents!  My cutie Kyle is on the top row, 4th from the left...

For Mother's Day, Kyle surprised me by pulling me out to the backyard where he had created a little sign out of blue painters tape, and he sang and played an original song for me he had composed...love him!  He also gave me the CUTEST homemade card!

I was the photographer for Colton's football team.  This was a great team, full of Colton's best friends from our ward, and coached by our Stake President and Scoutmaster!  How perfect is that!  They all had such a blast together!

One of the things I love about Kyle is he is extremely creative.  On this weekend, he grabbed a cardboard box and started cutting out pieces and putting them together to create a table.  He spent HOURS, nonstop, working on it.  He was so focused and it was so fun to see him measuring and reinforcing his table to make sure it would stay standing, even with weight on it.  

A table so good that he could actually eat a bowl of cereal at it, with a gallon of milk and the cereal box sitting on it too!  Can you tell how proud he is?  Almost as proud as his mom...almost.

I happened to look out my office window one day and saw Morgan like this...still fully clothed, sucking on her Circle K drink, staying cool.

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!  WOO HOO!  This was a day full of games and treats.  Kyle had the most magnificent teacher this year.  She was so fun!  We love, love, love Ms. Richie!!!

Kyle's Field Trip to the ARIZONA SCIENCE CENTER

I had the opportunity to chaperone Kyle's class field trip to the Arizona Science Center.  I had been there before with his class last year and we had a blast!  We were both looking forward to going again.

This was the outdoor area with all kinds of gadgets to play with water and balls.  They could have stayed out there for hours...but there was a ton more to see!

This machine let the kids have a tug-o-war using pulleys (one side consistently beat the other).  I love the intense look on Kyle's face here.

This lady was teaching the kids about how water and oil make different things happen to a clear rod when placed inside.  In one of them, it looks like the rod completely disappears.  The kids were amazed! (me too!)

This race car was built entirely out of Legos!  The kids thought that was awesome.

 There were so many other things we got to see and do.  That place is so much fun for kids and adults alike!!  I especially enjoyed going because I got to spend the day with my Kyle!!

Kyle's "Nutcracker" Field Trip

Kyle's class had the opportunity to attend Broadway Palm's Dinner Theater production of "The Nutcracker".  I got to chaperone!  

This production was so perfect for kids.  First they got to go through a buffet totally geared to their age.  There was all you can eat spaghetti, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, salad bar (more for the adults I'm sure), with pudding, jello, and cake for dessert.  When they had all eaten their fill the production began...

 This was not a ballet, but a play completely geared towards the kids.  It was so funny and the actors were so cute with the kids.  Afterwards the kids could ask them questions about the production.  This was Kyle's favorite character...

I had so much fun sharing this experience with Kyle.  He is such a fun, happy go lucky kid.  I love that he wanted me there with him.  I love you Kyle!

Colton's Field Trip to the Halle Heart Children's Museum

This was a fun day I got to spend with Colton and his class learning about the amazing heart!  These kids learned so much about hearts.  It was really fun.  


Here they played games on the computers about the human body.  Colton put all the organs in the body in their proper place in the picture.

Next, he and his friends went shopping in a store with play food to see if they could get the right amounts of food from the different food groups to make healthy meals.

Then the kids were able to see the difference in heart sizes between different animals.  They could also hear recordings of how fast those hearts beat.  Colton is showing me an elephant and it's heart.

Here Colton was putting a golf ball through a long tube (the intestines) to try and make a hole-in-one.

Next the kids learned about healthy foods and eating.

Here they were running and jumping in place to get their heart rates up...

...then they had a stethoscope put over their heart.  The balls in front of Colton "jumped" in time to his thumping heart!

I really loved being able to spend this time with Colton.  It is so fun to see him learning and enjoying it!

Kyle's Field Trip to the Arizona Science Center

I LOVE chaperoning my kid's field trips.  It is fun to kind of be a fly on the wall and see how they are with their friends and teachers.  This was a really fun one.  The Arizona Science Center is an amazing place with a never ending wealth of fun things to learn and do.  We loved every minute!

This was an exhibit made to look like the the human gastrointestinal tract.  Kyle went down a slide inside the intestine to get "pooped out" at the bottom...

This was probably Kyle's favorite exhibit.  It was a huge, slanted enclosure full of sand.  Water would come out every few minutes from the pipes towards the top, and drain down toward the other end.  The kids could use the dirt to build streams and lakes - illustrating how water erodes things and travels.  He had so much fun!