April Happenings

 April was a month! We had lots of fun times! And nice spring weather, unlike March which was HOT.

Megan and Me saw this mom and her ducklings while Megan driving. It was very exciting!

Megan and Matthew with their Easter baskets.

Matthew's first time shaving.

U, Matthew, Me and Megan playing Life.

Megan and Matthew helped out at AZCEND on their late start day.

And they got to bring home some stuffed animals that were leftover Easter donations.

So much Easter stuff at AZCEND!

Artemis turned 4!!!

Investigating her new bed.

Yeah, this'll work....

U, Me, Megan and Matthew enjoying our Italy Yum Box.

Me, Megan and Matthew on mac and cheese tasting night.

The 6 types.

Our rankings.

The kids had their end of year band concerts.

Megan playing during the concert band concert.

Matthew during the concert band concert. (Someone was taking pictures from the mezzanine which is how he could be seen at all.)

At the jazz concert the next night.

Matthew playing jazz.

Matthew's 15th Birthday

 Matthew turned 15!

Getting ready to open his gifts.

With Legos and his balloon. He also got money which he used to buy more Legos.

Couple fun shots of Matthew

Showing his pumpkin crisp with "XV" in candles.

Yum!

We love you Matthew and are glad you are part of our family!!!

Happy Birthday U!

 U had a birthday! We celebrated with games, Legos and pie. U and Me ate lunch at The Perfect Pear.

Opening gifts.

U with his gifts.

Happy birthday to U!

Delicious cranberry orange pie!

Happy Birthday Mom!

 Me had a birthday, shout hooray!

The birthday girl!

She chose to have one of her favorites for dessert, blueberry-lemon crisp with vanilla ice cream.  

She got some presents.

On Monday, U and Me continued the celebration by going on a hike on nearby South Mountain.

Me going through "Fat Man's Pass". It was a tight fit...

... but she made it through!

U almost made it through!

We saw a wild goat!

We then went to Snooze for a late brunch.  U got a flight of pancakes.  Left to right: Cinnamon Roll, Pineapple Upside Down Cake and Strawberry Shortcake.  The waitress also brought out a Sticky Toffee pancake as a freebie which was very nice.

Me got the breakfast tacos which were also very tasty.  Of course they were all shared equally.

It was fun to celebrate with her.

Megan's 15th Birthday

 Megan turned 15!!!

Grandma and Grandpa M stopped by for a visit.

Megan getting ready to open gifts.

Yeah! Dragons!

Megan with her gifts.

Megan with her delicious ice cream cake.

Blowing out the candles one by one. She was proud of this feat and said that marching band has definitely helped her lung capacity.

Megan has a party with a few friends. They ate dinner, watched Hotel Transylvania 2 and played some games.

Ayasha, Megan, Grace, Adam and Matthew

We love you Megan and are so thankful you are part of our family!!!

July Happenings

 July was a busy month with Megan and Matthew starting high school!

Celebrating the 4th of July in downtown Chandler.

Fireworks!

Matthew sporting a mullet partway through his haircut.

We went to Tucson to celebrate Lionheart's 1st birthday! (His actual birthday is June 29th; we celebrated the first weekend in July.) Here he is opening his gifts.

Playing with his new popper.

Megan helping Lionheart walk.

Megan, Lionheart and U

Grandpa and Lionheart with his cake.

Grandma holding Lionheart while he practices his piano skills.

Matthew loved playing with all the nerf guns.

Lionheart and Grandpa

Champion, Sarah, Lionheart, Me, U, Megan and Matthew

Megan shows off her braiding skills.

Bumblebee! (The Transformer)

Megan and Matthew had marching band camp the week before school started. It was long 10 hour days where they met a lot of friends and learned lots about marching band. This picture is from the performance they did for the parents at the end of the week.

We went to Feed My Starving Children with some friends.

Megan, Matthew, Vanessa and Jacob worked in the warehouse (hence the red hairnets).

Megan, Jacob, Colton and Matthew with the session stats.

Megan on her 1st day of 9th grade.

Matthew on his 1st day of 9th grade.

Megan and Matthew with the Marching Huskies sign that the band put in our yard.

We were able to watch them practice marching one evening. Here are a couple of pictures of Megan. She is marching the clarinet and also plays clarinet in symphonic band.

Here are some pictures of Matthew. He is playing the baritone for marching band as they do not march trombones. He is playing the trombone in jazz maroon. And, yes, he is wearing a jacket in 100+ degree weather. We even got him a white one since he is supposed to wear a white top.

We did a new magic puzzle. Here's the initial completed puzzle.

And here's the puzzle (and Matthew's hand) after the magic.

We did the Colombia Yum Box.