Not a future Bass player ):

Jonnie had his last orchestra concert and by last I mean last forever. He says he no longer wants to play the Bass (though I am trying to talk him into one more year). He mostly wants to quit because he hates having to leave class twice a week for lessons and then he gets behind in the class he has to leave. I honestly understand that and wish they could figure out a better way for lessons. He also doesn't like to practice and hasn't practiced much since after Christmas break. However, he is REALLY good at playing the Bass even if he hasn't practiced! He is natural and has a musical gift, though I may be a little bias (: He now says he wants to take guitar lessons, which would be wonderful if I didn't have to buy a guitar and pay for those lessons. He also says he will be in band starting in 6th grade, but we'll see. Maybe if he waits a year he'll be willing to try again. I just hate for him to take a year off of music, though. So the mother in me has now started looking for used guitars....

Here he is playing the Bass-I love the Bass!!




To be continued....

Easter

We had a fun Easter this year! We started out the holiday dying eggs at Grandma Karen's. Normally I get together with my sister Danielle and her kiddos, but she didn't come home this year ): Here are a few pictures of the dying.











My side didn't get together this year which seemed odd, but my parents came over the day before and spent the day with us. Mom made a delicious raspberry dessert, too!

Easter morning the two oldest and I headed to church to work at the Easter brunch. We had to be there at 7:00, which is very early for me. I was surprisingly not tired and actually had a lot of fun. Sawyer and Jon met us there later that morning to eat with us before church started. During church, Alaina played her cello and sounded great!

After church we went over to my in-laws. We started out right away with the Easter egg hunt and the kids were all so excited-I love it!



My cutie pie nephew Levi.











Here's the whole gang~Levi, Sawyer, Jonnie, Alaina, Kate, Tucker, and Hunter.



My sister-in-law Melissa and I are both pregnant (obviously) and I wanted to get some pictures of us together. Here she is at 39 weeks and I am 29 weeks. We are both having girls, so it will be so cute and fun for the little ones to be so close in age!





The four youngest loving and going through their Easter baskets.



The three oldest getting their baskets..



I really wanted a family picture but for reason it always escapes my mind until it's too late, but I am glad I got at least one picture of my three. It's also nice to see Jonnie and Alaina getting along!



After we left Grandma Karen's house, we headed home and the kids were able to finally find their baskets from the Easter Bunny.

Sawyer found his under the Living room end table. This picture makes me laugh because you can tell by his eyes how tired he was (:



Alaina found hers in the movie cabinet...



Jonnie found his behind the rocking chair...



Going through their baskets...they were happy with what the Easter bunny brought them!



One tradition we have is to fly kites on Easter and we weren't very successful. It seemed windy all day until we got the kites out (:





Even though our kites didn't work out, it was still a nice day to play at the park.



It was such a beautiful day!

Spring Party

Sawyer had his Spring Party yesterday and it was sweet and adorable as usual. They started out the program re-enacting the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" book. Sawyer was a piece of pie. He was feeling a little bashful having all the parents looking at him, but he did do the motions and on occasion I would see him sing (:




I love his sweet face here (:





Here they are singing and signing a song about the colors of the rainbow.



Sawyer and Kelsey signing I Love You in one of the songs.



After the "show" we had muffins, cupcakes, and fruit with the kids. Sawyer had enough of pictures, I guess.




I tried for awhile to get a picture of Sawyer and I, but of course he wasn't cooperating... We are looking at the gift Sawyer gave me, it was a book of pictures throughout the year of him and his class and also recipes. Very sweet!




My friend Julie snuck this picture in when he wasn't looking. It's the best we could do (:



I finally got him to pose for a picture in front of their grass they are growing and their butterfly cocoons. It is so adorable hearing how excited all the kids are to see the butterflies break out of their cocoon!



It was a great little party and I do have to say once again that I LOVE Children's Corner Preschool!

Goodbye Chelsea..

Another sad day at the Swanson house in the loss of a pet. I discovered Jonnie's hamster died early this afternoon and had a heavy heart thinking of having to tell him when he got home from school. The look on his face when I told him it totally broke my heart-I hate to see him so sad. We really have no idea why she died. She wasn't sick and was so active to the point of being little crazy. I am now thinking she maybe had a heart attack or a panic attack or something. She would never really let anyone touch her, but we all did enjoy watching her roll around the house in her ball, climb upside down on her cage, or feed her different fruits and veggies. She was a good first pet for Jonnie and tonight when I tucked him in he said through tears, "It's just too quiet in here without her." She was a noisy little girl and it took a long time for the boys to get used to her when we first got her, and now it will take some to time to get used to the quiet now that she is gone...

Swimmers

This year I decided to do private lessons for the boys since Jonnie has been in level 2 for quite a few years and just can't seem to pass it due to the front crawl. He was worried he would be the oldest one in the class and that embarrassed him. This was Sawyer's first year at lessons and instead of enrolling him in level 1 where all they pretty much do is stand on the tot dock and play games, I signed him up for private lessons, as well. It was the best thing and I loved that they got all the attention. Plus, it was only half hour lessons instead of the hour lessons we had to do before when there was so many students. I was so proud of them both!

Here is the last night and I was AMAZED at how awesome they both did after only 8 lessons!

Here is Jonnie starting on his front crawl.



He did it, he did it!! He finally mastered the front crawl and passed level 2 on the last night of lessons!



Sawyer floating on his back and front. At one point she even let go and he stayed floating!



Here he is jumping off the side of the pool and going under.



Sawyer has never been as scared of water as the other two, but I was amazed at what he would do. He wore a life jacket for part of it and they would swim in the deepest water and Sawyer thought nothing of it.

Way to go boys!!

Night at the Hotel

The kids were on spring break this past week so we decided to surprise the kids to a night of swimming at a hotel. We realized the night we picked landed on April Fool's day, so we made it our April Fool's trick on them this year. It was also the boys' last day of swimming lessons, so it was a celebration of sorts, too. They were all pretty surprised that we pulled into the hotel instead of heading home. Jon and I couldn't stop grinning the whole way there (:

We had a blast just hanging out, swimming, and eating pizza and snacks. We were the only ones swimming that night and the next morning so that made it extra fun and we could just be goofy without anyone watching.






Alaina tried over and over to do a handstand so I could take a picture of it...it's hard to have a pesky dad and brothers sometimes.



She finally did it before being harassed again.



So proud of this little boy. It was so fun seeing him jump in the pool and swim around and go underwater!



Yup, I was there, too and my legs at least enjoyed the hot tub...



Alaina and Jonnie racing doing the front crawl. Alaina is still just a bit faster.



All swimmed out and ready to rest and eat snacks. Notice the matching t-shirts given to them by Grandpa Earl (:



We had a great time and it was so nice to just hang out together for the night! We went out for omelets the next morning which was equally fun.