Gwenism #16

Andrea is standing at the sink, cleaning out a paintbrush. Gwen approaches her to ask something, and Andrea starts whacking the handle of the brush against the side of the sink to get the extra water out.

Gwen: (Covers her ears.) You're making my words mess up!

Piano recital

Bekah and Ana have worked hard and progressed a lot this year in their piano lessons. We enjoyed some of the fruits of their labors at the recital on Sunday. Both girls memorized their pieces and played beautifully. Analee had a bit of a hiccup on her second song, but she started over (which is hard to do with so many people watching) and made it all the way through the second time. We're very proud of them.

Analee playing "Pumpkin Boogie" and "Sunburst Waltz."

Rebekah playing "Morning" and "Sonatina," a piece with three movements.

Spring cabin trip

We've visited Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin in the winter. We've visited Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin in the summer. We've visited Grandma and Grandpa Hendricks' cabin in the fall. But before last week, we hadn't visited in the spring.

Spring in Island Park is different than spring in Idaho Falls. There was still plenty of snow in the area, but the high temperature every day we were there was around 50 degrees. That made for icy, crusty snow in the morning and sinky (I just made that word up), wet snow in the afternoon. We took advantage of the frozen stuff in the morning to play and do some sledding.

Winnie and Miriam sliding down the snow next to the cabin. See? Plenty of snow. All the way to the roof.

Bekah and Ana headed down a nearby hill.

There was a bump after 2/3 of the way down the hill, and if you could get enough speed before hitting it, you could catch quite a bit of air.

Seth taking Miriam and Winnie off the jump. Winnie's body actually became airborne and landed back in the sled. It was the only time she went down the hill, despite being physically fine after her first time.

Seth and Ana in the air. My absolute favorite picture from the whole trip.

Seth and Bekah about to fly.

Seth and Bekah racing down the hill.

And at the end of the hill, there was an abrupt drop-off at the plowed road. It was a good idea to stop the sled before you got there.

The drop-off. I was chasing after them and yelling for Seth to stop the sled so they wouldn't kerplunk.

Once Seth opted not to stop. His vertebrae complained afterward. 

And sometimes the sled didn't cooperate by going straight down the hill.

Bekah veered off the path and fell into the hole by this tree. 

The next time, she didn't fall quite as badly.

It was warm enough that most of us ended up taking off our coats.

Winnie stomping in the crusty snow to make an indentation.

We also spent our General Conference weekend at the cabin by drinking hot chocolate; playing Spot It, Coup, Wig Out! and our Frozen memory game; sleeping; going on a walk to pet a horse in a nearby corral; watching movies and shows; coloring folder games for the Humanitarian Center; going for a drive only to find that the roads to Big Springs and Mesa Falls are still under feet and feet of snow; coloring General Conference packets and listening to General Conference.

Seth had to be quite the tech MacGyver to rig everything so we could listen, but he figured it out (I knew he would), and we heard everything clearly. This was one attempt:

Headphones taped to the window as an antenna, plugged into an mp3 player that was hooked up to a transmitter that broadcasted a signal to the radio that was stuck on one frequency.

In the end, he had the TV antenna on the house picking up the radio waves and relaying them through the transmitter to the busted radio working as the speakers. (If this is inaccurate, I hope Seth will edit it.)

We came home Sunday afternoon in time to unload the truck and get dressed for the older girls' piano recital (post to follow). It was a fun, relaxing weekend.

To see more pictures, start here.

Miriam is 6

It's not very often that your birthday falls on Easter, but Miriam's did this year. Rather than mess with everybody's holiday plans, we held her family birthday party on the Friday before her birthday.

First, we ate dinner.

Pizza, as per Miriam's choice. Also a fruit salad and a veggie tray. And these awesome straws for the kids.

Then, we smashed a piñata.

Miriam and the owl (?) piñata she made with my help and painted with Analee's help.

After everyone got a turn with a blindfold, we let each kid take another turn so we could get to the goodies.

Then Miriam opened presents.

Opening a present from Aunt Jessica. Miriam received a 30" doll, a lightsaber and a remote-controlled car from her parents; Shopkins from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis; a Mickey and Minnie umbrella from Aunt Jessica; Star Wars jammies and a Star Wars sticker book from Grandma and Grandpa Scott; a birdhouse to paint, a Lego Palace Pets kit and sidewalk chalk from Bennet; and a Lego Friends set from Cooper after her birthday because he was out of town during her party.

Miriam and her Shopkins. She was an enthusiastic present opener.

Rebekah showing Oakley the lightsaber. Either that or threatening her. Oakley looks pretty scared.

Winnie with the lightsaber. The green mustaches were in the goody bags the kids got from the piñata.

Oakley mesmerized by the spastic glowing remote-controlled car.

Then we had cake and ice cream.

Miriam chose the Barbie mermaid cake. Yet. Again. Ana baked it with supervision. Rebekah frosted it and added the blue. Miriam decorated it with fish and blue bubbles. Rebekah made the trident from toothpicks and tape.

Getting ready to blow out the candles. One of the candles nearly started the trident on fire.

Eating frosting off the mermaid.

On Miriam's actual birthday, Easter Sunday, we went to church, then went to Grandma and Grandpa Scott's house for dinner and an Easter egg hunt (see earlier post). Miriam looked beautiful in her Easter dress.

This spunky 6-year-old loves reading. She listens to Winnie the Pooh stories and Magic Treehouse books on her Kindle Fire whenever she can. Lately she's been getting Berenstain Bears and Fly Guy books from the school library and earning AR points with them.

She's been enjoying her dance class and is looking forward to her dance recital next month, although she proclaims to be a little nervous about going on stage. She is a tall girl (several inches taller than anyone else in said dance class) and immediately inherits any clothes that Analee grows out of, despite their almost 3-year age difference.

More than any of her sisters, she is a perfect 50/50 split of tom boy and girly girl. She loves princesses, Ever After High and Palace Pets, but she also loves Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Star Wars and Legos.

As evidenced by her cat dress, green mustache and lightsaber.

To see more birthday pictures, start here. 

Easter festivities

Our family doesn't do the whole Easter bunny thing. No baskets, no presents, no candy or egg hunts waiting for our girls on Easter morning. Why would we need to when we have so many other things going on?

However, we do always dye Easter eggs. This time, we did it the Tuesday before Easter during the girls' spring break.

Winnie picking out stickers for her egg while Seth helps color it with a crayon before dipping it in the dye.

Bekah mimicking the face she drew on her egg.

Finished products.

Miri and her egg smiling.

Analee with one of her creations.

Now, when I said WE don't do egg hunts, I didn't mean we don't GO to egg hunts. In fact, we participated in no fewer than three this year.

Easter Egg Hunt #1: Scott family reunion in Stone

The day before Easter, we drove down to Stone to be with family and remember Walter and Jiammia Scott. Part of the festivities included an egg hunt for the littles. The kids were divided onto teams, assigned an egg color, and instructed to take turns gathering the eggs in this relay. Genius.

The kids lined up for the egg hunt relay. Although they had the kids count off, three of our four girls ended up on the same team anyway.

Winnie, Miri, Ana and Bekah running through the field. Bekah is pointing out another yellow egg so Winnie can grab it next.

Cute Seth and cute Winnie after the hunt.

Easter Egg Hunt #2: Grandma and Grandpa Scott's house

After church on Easter, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa Scott's house for dinner and a cousin egg hunt. Each kid got to collect 22 eggs.

Bekah, Miri, Ana and Bennet pointing out an egg in a tree.

A pajama-and-slipper-clad Winnie showing off her basket.

Miri and Bennet comparing spoils after the hunt.

Easter Egg Hunt #3: Aunt Rachel's house

The day after Easter, we met at Aunt Rachel and Uncle Justin's house for yet another Easter dinner and more Easter fun.

Rebekah running through the yard, Analee checking out her basket, Miriam and Winnie showing their eggs.

The girls also received giant eggs filled with goodies from Aunt Kristen and Easter baskets from Grandma Susan and Grandpa Dennis.

And although I don't always bother with getting/making Easter dresses, this year I went ahead and got each girl a fancy new dress for church.

Winnie, Bekah, Miriam and Analee outside the church after our block of meetings.

I promised they could do a silly one if they'd all hold still and smile for a nice one. Life is all about compromises.

See? I'm not actually an Easter grinch.

To see more Easter fun pictures, start here.

Provo Temple

We originally had tickets to tour the new Provo Temple the second weekend of February (see how far behind I am in my blogging?), but with Grandpa Wirkus' passing and funeral, we canceled those tickets and got more for the next weekend. (Which ended up working out better because the girls would have missed the Friday before Valentine's Day, which meant they would have missed their class parties.)

We drove down the morning of Friday, February 19, in our Sunday best and made it to Provo in time to get some ice cream at the BYU Creamery and line up earlier than our scheduled time. The interior is exquisite. It's amazing how they were able to preserve the outside of the building after its fire and rebuild the inside into a temple.

After the tour, we took the opportunity to take some pictures:

Bekah, Ana, Seth, Miri and Winnie by the fountain.

Checking out the fountain.

The girls were instructed to not touch the water.

Cute older sisters.

Cute younger sisters.

Bekah, Miri, Andrea, Winnie and Ana by a temple door.

Cute couple, if I do say so myself.

Ana and Seth recreating the statue.

Miri, Ana and Bekah trying to make grass angels while Winnie picks grass.

Then we changed our clothes and visited the Monte L. Bean Museum at BYU. It had been a while since we last visited, and we were amazed at the changes they've made. It's like a whole new museum!

Miriam, Winnie and Analee outside the museum.

Analee the photobomber.

Miriam was terrified of quite a few of the stuffed animals, including the elephant. This was as close as she would get.

They had several of Boyd K. Packer's carvings on display. I was amazed at his talent.

Winnie was a hoot. She looked at the grizzly attacking the moose and said, "It's tickling the deer [sic] with its teeth!"

Then we went out to eat and back to the hotel to go swimming and sleep.

The next morning, we took the girls to Scheel's in Sandy. I had taken the older girls there less than a year before, but we had to introduce Seth and the younger girls to its splendor (especially since the hotel was just down the road from it).

Seth took Ana (who enthusiastically volunteered) and Bekah (who trepidatiously agreed) on the Ferris Wheel while I took the younger girls around the store. After their ride, we met back up and walked around for a while.

You can tell from the picture who enjoyed the ride (Ana and Seth) and who barely tolerated it (Bekah).

We played a shooting game where Seth got the high score.

Winnie "driving" the photo op jeep.

Analee and Bekah pretending to tackle/be tackled.

Checking out the fish aquarium/columns/arch.

Miriam sitting on Abe Lincoln's lap.

Then we drove north and checked out the Hill Aerospace Museum at the Hill Air Force Base.

Seth pretending to get chopped by the propeller. 

Winnie reaching for the bottom of the plane.

After looking at all the planes outside, we headed inside to see those exhibits. We took a much-needed break at the coloring table to use the crayons.

Winnie instructing Seth on his coloring.

On one of the boardwalks.

It's obvious we're a family of girls, because after a while they weren't impressed with the planes. "Oh, look ... another plane. Another helicopter." So we zoomed through the last several.

After a quick break at Krispy Kremes, we loaded up the van and headed home.

To see more pictures from our trip, start here.