Uncle Ty's Birthday!

On May 10th not only did we celebrate Tyler's graduation from the police academy but we also celebrated his birthday which was on May 7th. We had some great food and had a nice visit with everyone. The kids went for a swim before dinner to help cool off since I think summer has officially started in the AZ desert...urgh.Ty's cake!!

Make a wish!

Ty and Shaun with Tyler's presents!!

Uncle Tyler graduates from the Police Academy!!

Uncle Tyler graduated from the police academy and we had a party for him on May 10th at Harv and Wendy's. Shaun came in for the festivities and Sue and Jim (friends of the family) came and celebrated with us as well. There was a ceremony on Friday morning and then another Friday night(which Jase was able to attend on behalf of our family) where he was presented with his badge. Harv was actually allowed to pin the badge on Tyler which Jason said was really neat!

Tyler was nice and put on his entire uniform on Saturday so that the kids could see him in his full gear. Scottsdale's colors are tan instead of the dark blue like the other departments in the Phoenix/Mesa etc areas. Hudson really had a thing for Tyler's hand cuffs and his 'beat stick'.

Hudson and Uncle Tyler

The badge!!

Tyler and the kids. Hudson you will notice is in handcuffs!!!

Our crew with the new cop!(just for the record i hate this photo, urgh)

Sue and Jim with Tyler.

3/4 of the brothers.

Harv, Wendy, Jason and Shaun with Officer Thomas!!

Hudson's Musical Presentation

Hudson's first grade class and the four other first grade classes at Boulder Creek Elementary had an Egyptian musical presentation called Temples and Tombs where they sang a bunch of songs along with actions. They each made their own costumes in their classrooms and Hudson was very proud of his. Harv and Wendy came and watched Hudson's presentation and they thought he did very well. Harv was especially impressed by how well the music teacher did in getting all of those kids to sign the songs together and what a great preformance it was. Emily said she was kind of bored since she had already seen the preformance earlier that day at school when his class had done their presentation for the lower grades.

Hudson is at the middle in the back with the red shirt. Just look for the one with the biggest head, haha!

Hudson in his costume.

Hudson and his teacher Mrs. Painter after the presentation.

Crazy hat day!

At certain times during the school year the kids have dress up days at their school. This week was a variety of days, two of those being Crazy Hat day and Hawaiian days. We had been at the party store picking up Emily's party supplies a month or so earlier and she had seen this bright mardi gras hat and had asked at the time if she could get it for crazy hat day. I had said yes, thinking she would forget about it but like most kids, they have a mind like an elephant when its something they really want. So, off we went to the party store and Emily got her hat and Hudson saw this huge sombrerro and wanted it for his hat. Seems kind of ironic since a lot of the kids in his class are Mexican, but none the less, he wanted that hat and it was cheap, another plus!! The kids made sure that i took some pictures of them in their new duds.

Hudson in his hat and his shirt with a Hawaiian decoration on the front (and in his boxers...just noticed that now. That kid loves to wear just his boxers when he gets home from school...). Emily in her Hawaiian gear and her crazy hat and or course Tori couldn't been outdone and grabbed some bunny ears and her shades to match the bigger kids.

Max with Emmy's hat!

Tori hamming it up!

The kids put the hat on Jase while he was playing a game on the X-box with Hudson. Lovely hair color don't you think? haha

Our dance diva

Both Emily and Tori have been taking dance and they both seem to love it. Tori's class is a combination of tap, ballet and gymnastics. She loves to wear the frilly foofy dance outfits. She is definately a girly girl which I seriously know absolutely nothing about. Although she does have her wild tom boy side as well so i can relate a bit with her there!!

Emily takes tap a combined tap and jazz dance class on Saturday mornings and then on Thursday nights she takes a musical theater class. The kid has a amazing voice which is great since she is 98% deaf in her right ear. The doctor told us that we shouldn't be surprised by that since she hasn't know any different since it was a herditary thing she was born with. Either way, i think she inherited her beautiful voice from Jason's mom. She has a wonderful voice!

When Emm goes to dance class she wears leggings, cut off sweat pants and comfy work out clothes, so different from the princess gear Tori wears.

They both seem to be having a great time and are both looking forward to their recital that they will have in June.

The airport!

The day that Nana and Papa were to leave the kids had school but Deb thought that it was a special enough occasion for them to get to have a 'sick day' and come with Deb to the airport to drop them off. We usually only see them twice a year so...

When we got to the airport it wasn't too busy and Hudson was looking at the suitcase weigh scale very intently so the ticket agent asked him if he wanted to be weighed. He of course said sure and luckily I had my camera to capture the moment. The other kids thought it was pretty neat except for Emm who wasn't all that sure about it!!

The kids with Nana and Papa and the pictures that they colored for them so they could put them on their fridge when they got back home.

Hudson on the airport scale...should we send him off to Canada too? (somedays the answer is a definate yes!)

Tori's turn on the scale...(five days out of seven the answer is to pack her up in a box and send her to Nana and Papa!! Terrible twos my butt...i say its terrible fours, urgh)

Little Miss Nervous, otherwise known as Emily!!

Mr. Happy...Max is generally smiling most of the time at everyone around him, including strangers!!

Easter :)

The Easter Bunny made a visit at our house and as usual the kids got spoiled.

That evening Deb and Jan made a nice Easter dinner and as usual we all ate way too much!

The loot!

Max and his eggs from his Easter egg hunt.

Deb and her girlies after dinner and with the Easter table decoration that Nana and Papa brought for the kids. It was a fiber optic table center piece that played spring time music. The kids all liked to play 'carefully' with it.

Emily and her new ear rings that Nana bought the girls for Easter. Hudson got a cool magnetic car that he plays with all the time and Max got a super soft bunny rabbit with long legs!!

Nana and Papa's Visit

Okay so i officially suck at the blog thing!! I haven't updated it in two months and we have had a lot of things happen in that time!!

Deb's parents came for a visit during the kids spring break and everyone seemed to have a good time. We played games, went to the zoo and Papa even had a chance to go and see one of Hudson's baseball practices. While they were down here we also had a chance to see Papa's uncle Dave and his wife Gwen and go out to dinner with them. The last time Deb had seen him was when she was around Emily's age. The kids got a kick out of seeing their mom called "Little Debbie".

It was a fun visit even though Max got sick and we had to lay low for a few days. The kids with Nana after their bath waiting for Papa to bbq the steaks for dinner!

Emily with Nana and Papa playing on our new air hockey table.

Jason and Max at the zoo! Yes, Jason either needs a haircut or a ball cap, haha!

The kids with Nana and Papa at the zoo!

Deb and the kids petting sting rays at Sting Ray Bay at the zoo. The kids, Papa and Jason got a real kick out of it. I wasn't too sure. They actually got to feed them pieces of shrimp and little fish out of their hands.