Seth as "Charlie Bucket"

This year Seth was chosen to be Charlie Bucket in the Jr. Highs performance of "Willy Wonka".

He did an amazing job!

His good friend AC was Grandpa Joe and they had a grand time together.

In the Bucket shack.

 Singing and his surprise candy bar from Grandpa Joe.

 Finding the golden ticket.

 With the rest of the golden ticket winners "stuck" in the elevator.

 With Willy Wonka.

Hopefully you watched the videos but Seth did amazing! He practiced hard and we were so proud of him. Sam's parents were able to come down and watch him perform. That was so nice to have them come. We had a great time hanging out with them!

Sarah as "Matilda"

You should totally watch this video. This girl is amazing!

This girl got to be "Matilda" Charlie's friend in the 4th grade production of "Willy Wonka". Her bestest friend Makayla was an Oompa Loompa.

 This group of girls are the 6 amigas. They always play together at school and have the best time ever!

(for posterity sakes: Sarah, Makayla, Savannah, Emma, Brynlee, Taylor)

Being silly while waiting backstage.

 After her song and part she was an Oompa Loompa. 

 She did a fabulous job at that too. She kept everyone on track for their singing and their dancing. 

 She is a natural and loved doing this. We were so proud of her.

Oompa Loompa Kathryn

Kathryn started our "Willy Wonka" week off with a bang!

She was an Oompa Loompa for this year's school play.

 This girl loves to sing and is not afraid to be in the limelight. She has been practicing her songs for months and was very excited for this week to come around!

 They each got to have a sucker for the "candy man" song and she was trying to decide what flavor she should choose.

 Above she is listening to her teacher and down below she is with two of her buddies: Kenadee and Hailee.

 Several Oompa Loompa songs that she sang in.  She did a fantastic job and what a great performer she makes!

Kathryn's 9th Birthday

This girl turned 9 and she was so excited for the big day!! She knew exactly what she wanted for her birthday so we had strawberry crepes for breakfast, lasagna with cucumbers for dinner, and butterbeer cupcakes for dessert.

 She was super excited to find her birthday chair decorated when she came home froms school.

 She couldn't wait for these cupcakes. She LOVES them and asks for them quite often (and I do have to admit they are pretty tasty myself :)

 Reading cards (thanks so much Grandma and Grandma McIntyre, Grandma and Grandpa Beus, Emily and Jessica, and Aunt Jenny for calling--she loved it all :).

Looking at her life books (love this tradition--well as long as it doesn't overwhelm me!!).

 This is how much they love their cat. I thought it was super cute.

 All she wanted was new shoes so that was super easy to please her and go to the skating rink.

 She invited her friend Haylee to come along and they had lots of fun together.

 Here are 9 things we love about Kathryn:

1. She loves to help. Doesn't matter what it is but she loves to do what you ask her.

2. How diligent she is at playing the violin.

3. Looking out for people that need a friend. She is excellent at making everyone feel included.

4. She is a great organizer, mostly because she is patient and loves to make sure things are just right.

5. Her love for animals. She loves to make sure that they feel included too.

6. She is very affectionate and I love that she makes us all more that way.

7. She has developed into a great reader.  

8. Her diligence at school. Lots of times it doesn't come easy but she works hard until she gets it right.

9. That she loves to hang out with her brothers and sister. She thinks the world of them and I love it!

Easter and the Grandparent's Visit

 After we got back from our Spring Break visit we had some visitors come to town. The kids were very excited to have their grandparents come for a visit. We dragged them around town and they were quite the sports about it. We cleaned out a big garden space we are sharing with some friends and have a huge bonfire with it, we have some fun things from the store and played lots of games.

Saturday we got our eggs dyed for the Easter egg hunt and watched a fun movie that night.  While they were watching I strung string all over the house. The kids had to follow their string to their basket. 

 This little baby took me the entire movie to set up. My knees were so sore at the end of it from crawling under all the string but the kids thought it was pretty awesome.

Waiting with grandma to start. Everyone's trapped--yeah!!!

 Luke with his basket. He was sure glad to finally find it.

 Kathryn following her string and finally finding all her goodies. By the way she is showing off the new shoes she got.

 Seth with his basket and the new book he found in it.  He finished that thing in 4 hours. So crazy!!

Sarah and Sam with their baskets. Everybody was very excited about that movie!

 On Sunday we enjoyed some wonderful church meetings and a super yummy dinner. Afterwards Sam hid the eggs for all the kids and thought he was pretty funny with these two creative ways to hide them.  

 The rabbit and cat didn't really appreciate though!

 And the hunt is on.

 Boy we sure had lots of fun with our visitors and Easter was fabulous!