Abby's Lion House Birthday

For Abby's 8th Birthday, she celebrated with a Birthday

party at the Lion House,
a family tradition.Abby's Friends
Front: Ella Derrick, Kaylee Anthon, Amy Black, Olivia Horne, Abby Dellenbach
Back: Bailey Hansen, Abby Derrick, Kari Mecham,
Rylee Mecham and Kate Derrick

Not pictured: Riley Nicoll (sick),
Keri Vance and Annalie Frie (out of town)

Grammy had 7 kids of her own, 4 girls, 3 boys.
She has always wanted to host the Lion House Birthday parties.
She has fulfilled that dream, and has created a fun
tradition of an 8 year old
Lion House Birthday!
Thank you Grammy (and Papa J)!

The doll.
Each Birthday girl gets to choose a porcelain doll to take home.

Abby knew she wanted the doll in the green dress.
It is beautiful!Dinner
The Birthday girl gets to ring the dinner bell.
Abby served everyone their plates,
and then the Birthday girl gets to take the first bite.
Birthday cake.
Don't look too scared Abby....it is only a stuffed lion behind your back!
LH tradition is to bake one gumball in the cake.
Whoever finds the gumball in their piece of cake, gets
good luck for a year! Abby found the gumball!


Tour of the Lion House (in pioneer bonnets).
Making taffy.
Thank you Aunt Amanda and Uncle Brian for driving, and
coming to celebrate with us!
Playing games.
Happy 8th Birthday Abigail!
You are beautiful and sweet, inside and out!

To Spectrum or Not...

We found out today that Abby has been accepted into the Spectrum accelerated program!!! Yea for Abby. She took a test in February, 4 days before Lucy was born. If she chooses to attend, she will have to switch schools, because the program is only offered at certain schools in the district. We are excited, yet unsure of what we want to do. Abby is definitely a bright, eager student. She loves to learn. However, she loves her friends and where she is at. She also dances 4 hours a week, has hour long music lessons each week plus practicing. Do we really want to pile on the homework? If you ask Kate, the answer is simple, stay at Oak Hills so they can walk home together!

Happy 8th Birthday Abby Jane

May 30, 2011

Happy 8th Birthday Abby Jane

We woke up to snow on the ground!
Abby's first "Winter" Birthday!
Abby opened her presents.
She received scriptures, a new journal, clothes,
a bouncy ball, tennis balls, basketball, volleyball and net,
and a remote control red convertible BMW!
Abby and Co. set up an obstacle course
in the basement for her new car!
Ella and Kate loved playing
"Nana nana nana" with the car!
Crazy girls!
Abby was lucky enough to have her birthday
on Memorial Day this year!
No School, all day to play!
So...we spent most of the day at
FAT CATS!

Kari, Rylee and Abby
So fun to have cousins!

Golfing, bowling, bumper cars, and games!

We ate dinner at The Pizza Factory
Thank you Grammy and Papa J!
We came home and enjoyed Abby's cake,
shaped like an 8!
Abby enjoyed eating her cake in the hammock!
By the end of the day, all of the snow had melted and the kids were running barefoot through the yard again! From the fresh snow to the gorgeous sunset,
it was a beautiful birthday for Abby Jane!

Abby's 2nd Grade Program

Abby's 2nd Grade Class

Today Abby's school class put on a wonderful program for all of the Mom's and the Dad's.
All of the songs talked about Mom's and Dad's.
It was such a sweet tribute. They did a slideshow, and had lots of speaking parts and even
art surprises (drew pictures of us, made flowers for us, wore hats and took them off to us).
At the end they served us cake!

Mrs. Thompson is an incredible teacher!!!

I have loved being the head room parent in Abby's class this year.
I helped the kids surprise Mrs. Thompson with flowers, a picture frame with all of their signatures and a picture of the class, as well as a huge Costco pack of M&M's (her favorite treat).
Abby has a sweet group of friends her age.

We love our Abby Jane!
She has LOVED 2nd Grade.
She is excited to go to school each morning,
and has really grown this year!
Her favorite memories from this year:
popcorn Friday's, being known as the Second Grader who checked out the most books from the library this year, rock unit, spelling and recess.

Lucy is 14 Weeks

Lucy Grace is 14 Weeks!

At 14 weeks, Lucy continues to sleep from 8 pm to 8 am, without waking!
She loves songs, "Sit up. Who Wants to Take a Bath?"
She always smiles when we click our tongues and knock her hands back and forth.
Instead of crying, she often talks and makes sounds!
She is a VERY happy baby!

We love you Lulu!

Good times

My Favorite pictures from this week...

My sister Emily moved last week.
We spent several days, and hours going
through boxes and helping them move.
This was our favorite treasure from the move.
Grandma Smedley's mink....fox!
It is suppose to be worn as a shall.
Ella had a lot of fun playing with it.

Love our Ella Elizabeth!
She definitely has style...grace...
and bravery!!!

I love this picture of Lucy Grace riding on the pinata!
In honor of J's mission to Mexico we always celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and break a pinata.
Unfortunately, we were all sick this year on the 5th of May and didn't celebrate Mexican style. Good thing we found another use
for the pinata!

I love that Lucy will take a bottle, and that the girls LOVE feeding her!
It is so nice for me to have a break every once in a while!

Lucy's first Manicure...
Yes, we did! We painted our 14 week old baby's finger nails!
I was painting Ella and Kate's nails, when Kate had this crazy idea that WE
should paint Lucy's nails!

Fancy baby! Look at those nails!
She must have 3 older sisters!

Good doggie's!
Roll over!

The kids gets silly when we buy Scooby snacks!

Rockin' Times...
Abby spent a lot of time collecting rocks and creating this rock collection.
Everyone in the class brought their collections to share.
She has enjoyed this unit.

Tender moments...

And lots of crazy moments!

Friends

Kate and Addie

Ella and Tommy
Abby and Ty Ty

"Friends are the most important ingredient in this recipe of life"
Dior Yamasaki.

Motherhood

Why I love being a Mom...
- I get to hold a yummy baby all day long!
We can't get enough of Lucy Grace!
- Lucy Grace sleeping all night (12 hours)! She has been sleeping 12 hours every night for the past week! What a great 13 week old baby! She wakes up smiling, and I do too!
- I get lots of hugs. How I love my hugs!
- Today it was raining. We went to the grocery store, cleaned the house, made dinner, etc. Kate said, "I love days like today!" It made me smile. One day I know I will look back at these days and long for a day like today too. It is wonderful to hang out with the little ones you love the most!

Favorite quotes of the Week...
- I asked Abby if she was ready for me to do her hair for school, she responded, "Just a minute Mom, I need to finish changing a diaper." Wow!!! Abby and Kate both, are great on diaper duty, even without being asked!

Funny Things She said...
- Ella has been getting into bed with us a few times a week, in the middle of the night. One night she had snails in her bed, another night, it was snakes. Still another....bugs in her bum! That one still makes us laugh! Ella has good dreams too. Her favorite dream to talk about is, "I dreamed about you and Daddy and you getting married in the temple, and then when Lucy Grace was a baby in your tummy." Thank you Ella! We love your sweet dreams (and your cute poises)!

Bath time

Our little monkey....

loves bath time!!!