Bo

Catch up for Bo Jan - April 2015

Bo is a little bundle of energy.  He's had a birthday and turned 10!  He loves, LOVES basketball and starting to enjoy soccer.  He goes to scouts and wants to play with friends all the time.  If he's  not with friends, he'd like to be on a computer, tablet, phone...anything that will play a video game.  Gotta watch that little buggar.  He does really well in school and cares about his grades, except book reports.  He's working on his meltdowns when things don't go his way and is getting better at brushing it off.  He has good friends and tries to do the right things.

This is Ioane (Ee-oh-aw-nee).  He's from Hawaii.  He and his mom, Pam, came to visit us.  They live in the area where Stephen is serving and just love him.  So much so that they made sure to visit us when they were here.  It was great fun to meet them!

We have Pogo Passes, a program that lets you do a lot of things for free.  Here are some of the things we have done the last couple of months with them: 

The Phoenix Rock Gym.

  Bo was really good at climbing the walls.

Laser Tag.

  We all went for FHE one night and then to DQ for ice cream, aka: dinner.  Bo did really well and even beat his mom.

 The Phoenix Zoo

.  All the little monkeys swinging on the ....bars.

 Jumpstreet.  

We all took a friend one day to play on the tramps at Jumpstreet.  They also have some climby things and a bull to ride.   

 Castles and Coasters.

  This was an unexpected treasure.  It's a very small amusement park and we weren't sure we would like it, but we were there 8 hours!  We played mini golf, climbed a rope course and rode lots of rides. The weather was beautiful and the park wasn't crowded at all.  Bo is super brave and will go on anything.

Cub Scouts. 

 When Bo had his birthday, he went from Bears to Webelos.  When you earn the Bear rank, you have to wrestle the Bear (Dad) in a tent.  Bo came out a little "bloody", but I think he won!  I have been blessed to be his leader for the last two years. I sure love this kid.  For our Blue and Gold banquet, we made a cake for the contest.   

Easter

For Easter, we tried to make these string baskets like we made when I was little.  It was a learning process and a little messy and only required a few tears,but they turned out great.  I cancelled the Easter Bunny this year, since he couldn't come on Saturdays anymore.  Bo lost it.  So many tears.  I assured him I would still fill their baskets and it would probably even be better than what the Bunny could do, but he didn't care, just wanted the Easter Bunny to come.  After some negotiating, we agreed to let me try for one year and if I sucked at it, we'd let the Easter Bunny come on Sunday, but they couldn't have their baskets till after church.  I think they were happy with what they got.

Music in the Air.

  This was a different show than we'd ever done.  We all started out doing it, but it was kind of a mess and in the end, Bo was the only one who stuck it out.  He started the whole show off with an a Capella solo!  He's so talented!!

Bo had a birthday!!

Bo is double digits!  We still haven't had his birthday party, but we celebrated at home.  He got his presents the night before, then on his bday, I took him out to lunch to Subway.  He had his first day of Webelos that day as well.  We had his favorite dinner, homemade mac and cheese then brownies for dessert.  I think he had a great day!

Random Pics

roasting marshmallows in the back yard

Bo, like all the children, loves to take selfies on my phone

Putting his favorite scripture on the wall for FHE

We love the missionaries!!

Katy

Here's my catch up post on Katy from Jan - April 2015 ( no particular order):

Katy continues to be an exceptionally sweet girl.  She has turned 8 and gotten baptized.  She was chosen as student of the month for the third year in a row.  She is kind and helpful and mostly tries to follow rules and do what is right.  She is just barely testing her free agency, but tends to come around quickly when the situation is discussed.  She is fun and adventurous and just wants to play with friends ALL the time!

We have these things called a Pogo Pass which gets you into a lot of things for free.  Obviously we love that!  So here's some of the things we've done with that:

For FHE one night we met Grandma and Chelsey as Laser Tag and played a game there.  After, we went to Dairy Queen for ice cream, AKA dinner.

There's an amusement park in Phoenix called Castles and Coasters.  We weren't really sure we were going to like it, but since it was free.... but we were there for almost 8 hours and had a blast.  We played mini golf, climbed a rope course and rode lost of rides.  Katy is getting very brave with the roller coasters.  We started the day with lunch at DQ

We love JumpStreet!  It's a trampoline place with lots of different activities.  This day, they all took a friend, Katy took Chloe.  They had tons of fun!

This is the Phoenix Rock Gym.  This was a first for all of us.  It turned out to be quite fun, even for the littler ones.  Katy made it all the way to the top!

The Phoenix Zoo.  Always my favorite (sarcasm).  But the kids had a great time and we went before it got hot!!

Katy loves to dance and do anything else girlie and fun.  Her school puts on a cheer camp twice a year where the girls go for most of the day and learn cheers and dances and have a sack lunch.  She's awesome!

Katy started a new tradition at our house.  She invited me to come to the school and eat lunch with her on her birthday.  So I bought us Subway and took it to the school.  We had a nice lunch and then played on the playground together.

I tried to convince Katy to do something big since it was her 8th bday, but she just wanted to stay at home and have her friends over.  So we did.  We planned a picnic lunch and a few games and the girls had lots of  fun.

Turning 8 also means....baptism!  Grandma Green made her dress and all the family came.  It was a beautiful day.  She had a little scrape on her head (see below), but she was just darling!

This is Elder Petty.  He served in our area for almost a year and made sure to come back for Katy's baptism. 

Speaking of missionaries, we love them!  We love having them over to our home for dinner and just to visit.  Here are just a few pics from the last couple of missionaries that have been here.  Gotta love Katy's face as we are trying to set up for a picture.  We went to Taco Bell cuz Rhett was working and they wanted to say goodbye before they were transferred.

Student of the Month!! Katy was chosen for Student of the Month for the quality of Mercy because she is always so willing to help and go to those who may be sad or in need of a friend.  She is a sweet sweet girl.

RANDOM

We saw Cinderella with her BFF Kylie

 

Do this...do this...

One of her MANY selfies

Roasting marshmallows in the backyard

Katy started going to Activity Days since she turned 8.  On one of her very first times, they were playing tag and her and Kylie bonked heads.  Unbelievable how they were both injured.

Easter 2015

It was kind of non Easter this year.  Since Easter was the same weekend as General Conference we didn't get to get in our cute new clothes or anything.  We decided to try and make these Easter Baskets from string and balloons like I used to make when I was young.  It was a learning process and a little messy, but we did it!  Also, we cancelled the Easter Bunny.  Long story, but in the end I think it turned out Ok.  I told them he couldn't come on Saturdays anymore so I would be taking over his duties.  Lots of tears and some compromise later, it all went fine.  Who knew it mattered WHO put the candy in their baskets!?