JoJo laughing

We tend to call him JoJo - Sam started it. For some reason he thinks it's really funny when Dani throws the ball into the air. Baby laughter is one of my favorite sounds.

The character club

At Taylor's school they focus on character traits such as honesty, integrity, cooperation, and others. Taylor decided to start up a club that focused on these traits and she has encouraged her "followers" to help and serve others by showing good character. We're proud of her for her ambitions toward a good cause at such a young age. For part of her club she attempted to put on a festival full of rides, games, and prizes, but after that idea died off she had this club celebration where she gave a speech about the club and had treats and a group photo.

Preschool Graduation

Dani had her preschool graduation this week. She really loved going, but is excited for Kindergarten in the fall. They sang a couple songs. Taylor sat reminiscing from last year and Sam sang right along - getting ready for when he can go.

No more training wheels

The girls wanted me to take off their training wheels last fall and I told them I wouldn't put them back on. A couple weeks ago, Taylor finally got it down and Dani felt beaten and gave up. She finally got determined enough to keep trying and is now herself a bike rider. Now we can actually ride bikes to school (now that school's out this week). She's still having a little trouble with the brakes, however. Now all we need is for Joseph to start sitting up so that we can put him in the bike trailer.

Pool

We've actually had one hot day so far this year and now the kids ask if they can go swimming everyday even though the weather cooled off considerably. Sam still loves his brother, which is great. The kids loved to make Joseph comfortable.

Preschool at the park

Dani's preschool class had a picnic at the park. Sam was just one of the gang. They had fun catching bubbles, kicking the ball, eating, and playing on the toys.

Graduation

Technically Mark graduated in December, but the ceremony wasn't until this past weekend. We were able to attend the baccalaureate which was a catholic mass. It wasn't what we were used to. I didn't have good seats at the graduation because I was in and out with Joseph, so I didn't get any good pictures, sorry. In the video, Mark does wave as he's walking to his seat, so you can see him. We're proud of Mark and to show what a good student he was, the school decided to name a building after him (as seen by the sign in the picture). Okay... not really, but we did think it was neat that there was a Jepson center - even spelled the same. We're not related as far as we know. It was kind of sad because for some reason Mark's name wasn't in the program and they didn't have him listed as "walking." Luckily they fit him in anyway. We know he graduated, because he already has his diploma. In the processional if you have a hard time picking him out - Mark is one of the only males wearing the yellow stole. He does wave, but so do a lot of other people.

Trip to Spokane

Mark's graduation ceremony was this past weekend. The whole family was going to drive up to Spokane, but when Mark's parents offered to watch the kids, we couldn't pass up the idea of not driving 14 hours with the kids. Instead Mark, Stacey and Joseph flew and spent a couple days enjoying this "vacation." Without the car we did quite a bit of walking, but we enjoyed the nearby park and mall. We even got to go on a gondola ride and saw Spokane Falls. We saw several Marmots on our walks and I think Joseph really enjoyed all the attention on him alone.

Cinco de Mayo

Grandma sent the children another fun package. They love these, because they are so educational as the children learn about different cultures and holidays. This time they learned how to make sombreros, strike a pinata, and eat mexican food among other things. Thanks for the memories grandma.
Aunt Kari found a way to make Joseph laugh so we caught the cute laughter on film. That is one of my favorite sounds (a baby laughing).

Day of the Family

Our church put on a nice Hispanic Event for the community. I felt a little out of place at first because I wasn't Hispanic, a non-member, or a volunteer, but I thought the kids might enjoy it. Anything written was in Spanish. However, we ended up having a good time. Everything was free including Hamburger/hot dogs, beans, salad, ice cream, brownies, cookies, french fries, cotton candy, popcorn, snow cones, horse rides, family pictures, entertainment (we saw cloggers and Latino dancers), inflatables, and lots of church handouts. Sam really enjoyed the dancing as you can see from the video - don't mind him getting tripped. It was fun. Although it had been raining all morning before we went, it was real nice out while we were there. Just as we were leaving it started to pour, but it only lasted a half hour. Taylor invited some friends to go, but we're not sure that they ever came.