My Maternal Courtney

Whenever we get together with our family, Courtney heads straight for her 1 year old niece, Karlie. It's so fun watching Courtney take care of her. I sometimes think Courtney has the heart & brain of a mature young woman, but I have to remind myself that she is only 10. She is DYING to be old enough to babysit, and when she does, I know she will be in high demand because she loves little kids!!

Arrow of Light

Last Thursday, Connor was awarded the Arrow of Light award for Cub Scouts. This is the highest award a Cub Scout can earn and it is the only badge that can be transferred over to his Boy Scout uniform. He worked very hard to achieve this, and we are so proud of him. What was so cool about this is that Hugh is the Scoutmaster for our ward, so Hugh got to present the Arrow of Light to Connor. It was awesome! He starts 11 year old scouts in August, and will then start the long road to earning his Eagle Scout. Yeah Connor!!

Sisters...

I looked outside yesterday, and saw Courtney & Caitlin sitting with their feet dangling in the pool, just chatting. It was so cute. They are so lucky to have each other, and to be so close in age. It's like having a built-in Best Friend. I hope they stay close and always realize that they have each other. I wonder what they were talking about???

Earth Day 2008

Today, Courtney & Connor participated in a musical program to celebrate Earth Day. They sang all kinds of songs about recycling, conserving energy, and endangered animals. Basically, just save our planet. They had to make their own shirts for their "costumes". Here are a few pictures. One is of Courtney, Connor & Madi Kaus. Madi is Connor's "significant other". Isn't she cute? And her dad is a fireman too. And the other picture is Courtney, Connor & Jeffrey. Jeffrey is also in 4th grade, and attends the Special Needs Class. He is the sweetest boy. I went on a field trip with the 4th grade a few months ago, and I told Jeffrey that the easiest way to remember my name was to remember "Toe" and point to your toe, and remember "Knee" and point to your knee. Ever since then, whenever Jeffrey sees me, he says "HI TONI" and points to my toe and then my knee. And then I get a HUGE Jeffrey hug. It makes me melt. And my kids are so good with him. They treat him like any other kid their age, and Jeffrey's mom has told me on many occasions that she appreciates Courtney & Connor so much because they genuinely like Jeffrey, and always take the time to talk to him, or play with him at recess (although one time he got a little rough with Courtney and tackled her. Whoa!) It's nice to see that Hugh and I are doing something right as parents.

Hugh & I

I realized recently that I don't have very many pictures of Hugh & I. That's because we are usually the ones taking the pictures! So, here is one of us that Caitlin took. This is her class monkey, Tommy. She had an assignment where she had to bring Tommy home and take pictures of him doing various things around the house, and then paste the pictures in the "Tommy Journal" and then write about his experiences. So, this is Tommy with Mom & Dad.

Crazy Wendy!

Wendy just cracks me up. Watch this.

The Girls

Here is me, Wendy & JoAnna - the PTC!!

Me & Bon Jovi

Can you see him there in the background???

Rock On!

Friday night, us, The Howes & The Yoders took a trip back in time and went to the Bon Jovi concert. It was so fun! They put on a great show. They played all of the classic Bon Jovi songs from the 80's plus their more current ones. The coolest part was when Richie Sambora took over the singing for one song, and when the lights came back up, Bon Jovi had moved to right in front of our section!! The crowd that was now facing him were FREAKING OUT! It was fun to watch. Hugh was able to take a picture of me and Jon Bon Jovi (well, me with Jon in the background, but we are still in the same shot so it counts!!!) Daughtry opened up for Bon Jovi and they were awesome!! I've loved Chris Daughtry since his American Idol days, and he did not disappoint. During his set, he asked the audience to all take a picture at the same time, so he counted 1-2-3 -GO and all of these flashes went off in the crowd of 14,000. It was so cool!!! We had a great time.

Central Park!!

When Hugh and I went to NYC last year, walking through Central Park was high on our itinerary. But, the day we were supposed to go there, it was POURING. We walked through the park anyway, and we got SOAKED! This year, it was windy but very sunny and it was as beautiful as I thought it would be. We were walking through the loud city, but as soon as you get into the park, all of the honking and sirens fade away, and it was very quiet. People were ice skating in Wollman Rink and there were hundreds of others enjoying the park. One of the things I really wanted to see was "The Mall" - which is a straight stretch of the park that is seen in a lot of movies and pictures - and Bethesda Fountain. We walked all the way to the fountain, and guess what? No water. They were doing some renovating so there was no water in the fountain at all. To crush my heart even more, some parents were letting their out of control kids climb on the statue in the middle of the fountain!!! Some people....I swear. Anyway, it was still beautiful. I wish we had more time there, but we had to make it back to our hotel so we could get our bags (a lot of bags!) and head to the airport. So, the next time I'm in NYC, I will be spending much more time in the park.