Mom's Wedding, March 20, 2010

On March 20, 2010 my mom and Mr. David got married locally. It was a pretty crazy weekend since the wedding was taking place in my town and all my sisters and other family and friends would be traveling in with their families to stay for the weekend. It took every ounce of my energy to make it through that emotional weekend. It was the following handsome and beautiful faces that got me through it all.Trying to keep Aiden still for more then 2 seconds to take a family pictures was more then one could ask for that day. He was wanting to play with all his cousins that he rarely gets to see and especially wanted to get his hands on the drum set that was still set up in the corner of the stage. My sister Grace made all the floral arrangements for the wedding. She is such a talented person! She also made the arrangements for my wedding, which I if I could dig out the pictures I would show you her amazing work on mine as well.The kids were all lined up on the front pew just waiting for their marching orders. They were trying to be so patient, but there is only so much patience you can expect out of a 2 year old who has the energy level of the energizer bunny.

Lexi with her cousin Desiree, who is almost 4 months older then her.
All the boy grandkids! They range in age from 11 down to 2.

Dale had the pleasure of walking Grandma Leader down the aisle. I made sure to remind him to smile as he walked up the aisle so he wouldn't look like the pallbearers that walked me up the aisle on my wedding day. ;) *My Grandpa L. and Grandpa W., who had the most stern looks on their faces the whole walk down the aisle.*
The grankids were all matched up by similar heights to walk down the aisle. Lexi was matched up with Eric. They all looked so cute and took their job very serious.
Aiden was the ring bearer. The minute he entered the church he tried to pass the ring pillow off to the first person he saw. That of course solicited a laugh and after they handed it back to him he jetted down the aisle to deliver the pillow to the correct person.
Next down the aisle was my mom, who was being escorted by two very handsome young men. Her eldest grandsons, Jacob and Andrew, had the honor of walking her down the aisle.

The ceremony went off without a hitch and then Andrew had the privilege of playing the wedding march as the new couple exited the church. He did an awesome job!

Of course once the ceremony is over the true 'fun' begins with all the pictures. I was not looking forward to this part because I, for one, knew Aiden would not cooperate, and two, do not like my picture to be taken at all.

Mom with all 4 daughters. From left to right: Faith, me, Mom, Charity, and Grace.

Mom and I.

The story behind this picture is hilarious! The photographer wanted to get each family set of kids together for a picture. She couldn't for the life of her get Aiden to sit still for longer then 2 seconds. She finally made the statement, "Well, we really don't need him in the picture." Excuse me! He is part of the family! It wouldn't be my family if he wasn't in it. Well, moments later he came running over to get in the picture and he had a HUGE piece of bread in his hand. The poor child was STARVING! He had had enough with the pictures and just wanted something to eat.

Once he had a few bites in his stomach he was willing to cooperate, or at least ham it up for the camera.This is one of my favorite pictures of my Grandma. She is just so stunningly beautiful!

Once again, here is Grandma trying to hold Aiden down long enough for a picture of her to be taken with the three kiddos.And Lexi was still velcroed to Grandma on wedding day. Beautiful girls (minus one tired flower girl) all blowing bubbles at the reception.

So, now there are 16 grandchildren (only 2 could not make it, my brother's children in NC) who are all under 11 years old.

Though it was a stressful, emotional weekend, it was great to be able to see and spend time with my family, and for the kids to be able to spend time with their cousins that they rarely get to see.

Redlands Symphony - Family Concert

On April 18, 2010, Andrew, Lexi, Daddy-O and I had the opportunity to go to the University of Redlands to enjoy the Redlands Symphony. Each year they put together a family friendly concert that is geared directly toward children, which is interactive and shorter then a usual concert would be.The concert included 2 narrated musical interpretations of children's stories with a twist. The kids and adults in the audience enjoyed it immensely After the concert they had all the instruments out on the lawn and allowed the children the opportunity to "pet" the instruments.

Both Lexi and Andrew both did an awesome job playing the French Horn. We were teasing Andrew that he actually made a better quality sound on the french horn then he did on the trumpet and that he might consider a change. Lexi seemed to be a natural, so maybe there is a french horn in our future.

Andrew and Lexi then tried out their skills on the violin. Andrew said it was awkward holding the instrument on his chin, but liked not having to blow into the instrument for once.Lexi was all over the place and couldn't understand the concept of keeping the bow lower on the neck. For the sake of mom's ears I am REALLY praying one of these is NOT in our future.

Lexi also attempted to play the flute (or a portion of the flute. The lady didn't have it all assembled since she felt it was too long for the small kids.) She did eventually get a sound out of it but it took A LOT of work. I do like the sound of the flute and wouldn't mind of she tried this one out in her future. :)

There were MANY more instruments to "pet," but the lines were long and the kids were getting pretty hot and tired. Overall they had a wonderful time and we really enjoyed the concert. I definitely think we will be adding this to our calendar again next year. Hopefully Aiden will be old enough and calm enough to join us then.

Andrew's 5th Grade Promotion

It is so hard to believe that June 10th, 2010 marked the end of Andrew's Elementary years. He has been a very hard working student who is always well liked by both his peers and teachers through out the years. Proud Daddy-O and Andrew.

Andrew and his extremely proud Mama.

Andrew with a bunch of his buddies! The guy to his right is one of his best buds, Ben, and physically they could not be any more opposite, which always reminds of me of that movie Twins.

Andrew and Nick have been friends since they first met in Mr. Gillotti's class in Kindergarten. They are excited that they will both be going to the same Middle School next year. Where we live our Elementary school falls right on the boundary line between two different Middle schools, so the kids often get split up.At the promotion ceremony that night Andrew was awarded the Medal of Honor, which is given for those students who have overall high citizenship, academics, and essentially a well-rounded student. We were pretty disappointed because he should have also received an award for 3.5 GPA for the entire year, as well as perfect attendance that night, but the awards had been left at the school. So instead, they had to hand out those awards on a different day that I was not able to attend because I was already scheduled to substitute.
Here he is receiving his certificate of promotion from his teacher, Mrs. Pierce. The past months I have been subbing A LOT so we could save up for a VERY important promotion present. On promotion day we took Andrew to the local music store and showed him the new trumpet that we had been researching and saving for, an Accent professional trumpet.
Though he doesn't have it in his possession yet, (need one more paycheck to pay it off), he was super excited and can't wait to take it home and begin playing on it.

So come this August Andrew will be starting a new season of life, Middle School. He says he is ready for it and can't wait for school to start. I, on the other hand, just wish this summer would never end. Why do they have to grow up so fast? I tear up just thinking about it.

Music To My Ears

***I am working on getting the videos to play properly. Of course they play for me but I think that is because I created them and my computer recognizes them. Sorry no one else can enjoy them though. :(

Over the course of the past year Andrew has been working really hard in Advanced Band at school. Towards the end of the year he took part in an All District Music Festival that showcased the top Elementary, Middle, and High School Band students. It was a great performance. I was able to record one of the songs that the Elementary band played, The Marines' Hymn. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I do.

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Towards the end of the school year Andrew performed in his first ever private recital. He was pretty excited and according to what he told me he wasn't nervous at all. There were 16 performers total, all ranging in age from as young as 6 all the way up to 18. His Nana, Mr. David, Grandma Blanche, Ginny, and of course Daddy-O and I were there to cheer him on and show our support.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Though he may not hit every note perfectly right we are still very proud of his efforts and willingness to continue stretching himself. This piece was challenging for him, with new techniques and higher notes then he is usually comfortable with. As he learns, he grows and becomes a better musician along the way.

Andrew with his private instructor, Mr. Johansen. *Who ironically was one of my professors in college. He is VERY gifted himself and does an awesome job passing that love of music along to his students.

Another special guest came to listen to Andrew's performance, his school band instructor, Mr. A. This was a surprise to both Dale and I as well. He was there to pass on some very exciting news to Andrew, which of course Mr. Johansen had to give him a lecture about. :)

And the exciting news: Andrew has been one of the 12 out of 400 Elementary Band kids selected to perform in this summers Redlands Bowl production of The Music Man!! There will also be a band made up of a select group of students from the local Middle and High School Bands which he will get to join at the end to play the huge finishing piece. What an excellent honor and opportunity! Andrew, and of course his mom, dad, and extended family, are extremely excited to see him perform on the big stage on July 22, 23, and 24th. He has been practicing REALLY hard each day even though he originally thought he was going to get part of the summer off. He realizes this is a once in a lifetime opportunity and just couldn't pass it up, not even to go to church summer camp, which as he said he could do 6 more summers of his life. So, if you are in the local area, come on out and enjoy a good show with some fun music.

Andrew's 11th Birthday

On May 27, 2010 we celebrated Andrew's 11th birthday. He has grown-up into such a handsome, fun-loving son. And even though he may be a goofball at times, we are blessed beyond measure to have him as our son.For his birthday we got him a basketball hoop. He was super excited when it showed up in the front of the house one day and could not wait to try it out.Daddy and him have been getting in some pretty good one-on-one time, all while dodging Alexis and Aiden who are running around beneath them.

In keeping with the whole basketball theme of the birthday I attempted to make him a basketball birthday cake. I wish that it could have been more ball like in shape and have since learned how I could have achieved that look. Overall I was pretty pleased with how it turned out, though it was certainly a labor of love. Thankfully our teeth were not stained orange and black too bad.

Happy BirthdayAndrew!! May you have many more birthdays! Thank you for being such an awesome, compassionate, helpful, hilarious, tenderhearted son. I love you more!

Ken Aiden and Barbie; Single Mom Tuesdays

Aiden has a thing for Alexis' Barbie cars. It has gotten to the point that Alexis doesn't even try to claim them as her's anymore and has just resigned to the fact that they live in his room now. He loves to race them up and down the hall and crash them into each other. But his favorite thing to do is..... climb in and try to 'drive' the car around, of course all while looking so cool with his sunglasses on upside down.

And then there is this look when he finally realizes that I am taking his picture.... "CHEESE!"

Of course Andrew plays so nicely with his brother and was only doing this because it was keeping Aiden happy to have a playmate, not because he too is a silly guy.

When Andrew's not trying to fit all 65lbs of his 10 1/2 yr old body into a Barbie car he can usually be found curled up on the couch or in his bed reading a book. Oh the good 'ol days of being able to sit around and read for hours on end and finish novel after novel. To be young again.

Of course no post would be complete without a cute picture of my Little Miss. Recently whenever I get the camera she wants to pose for the camera. I keep asking her if her neck is broken because this is what she comes up with: neck totally cocked to the left practically touching her shoulder. I shouldn't complain, at least she is looking at the camera and not some shifty eyes off to the side somewhere.

And my boys, minus their Barbie cars, are sharing a moment on the couch. Only Aiden can steal Andrew's hat without serious consequences. Anyone else would have their hand chopped off if they tried to touch his hat. That $1.00 Christmas gift has not left his head longer then one laundry cycle when I couldn't handle looking at it on his head anymore. Sometimes I question whether Andrew has blue hair or black hair anymore.

He does take it off to shower, and when he did take it off Sunday night to take a shower, he left it laying on the counter. I had specifically warned him about picking up after himself (something we have been working on), so I was not pleased to find his things still litering the bathroom floor an hour later. I promptly cleaned the place up and found a "home" for the hat. He was lost without his hat come Monday morning and didn't know what to do. Dale and I agreed that it would be returned to him later that afternoon. I think the message hit home because there has been no more liter left laying around. I wouldn't be surprised if he tried to shower with his hat on tonight so I couldn't get my hands on it.

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Tuesdays are tough for me. That is the day that Dale normally has to work late duty, which means he goes into work from 10-7, leaving at 8:45 and doesn't get home til 8. I feel like a single mom on those days. I still get up at the normal time (6:15) to get the kids ready for school, all the while letting Dale sleep in as long as possible since I know he only gets this day and one other day to do so each week. He usually gets up 15 mins. before the kids head out to school to spend some time with them and then him and I (and Aiden) get about 45 mins. together before he is out the door for his late duty. The morning goes as normal with Aiden, pick up of Alexis at 11:15 is normal, but then it all falls apart from there. Normally Andrew comes home at 2, but on Tuesdays he also has 'late duty,' or after-school band, so he doesn't get home till after 4:00. Having Andrew's extra two entertaining/helping hands at 2:00 are greatly missed when he is not there those two hours. So, to add that to Daddy' late duty day just sends me into a tailspin of tears by the end of the night. Dale usually gets home at 4 and can spend time with the kids while I start/finish up dinner. He is also there to help with after dinner clean-up, bathtime, bedtime routine and everything else that makes a household tick. On Tuesdays he usually pulls into the driveway in just enough time to kiss the kids goodnight before they close their eyes. I know this one late duty a week is unavoidable, and Tuesdays is the only time it works for his department, and I need to stop whining because at least he has a job! blah blah blah... but it sucks feeling like a single mom and I just needed to lovingly close slam some cupboard doors closed as I put away dishes and cry it all out last night when he got home (which I am sure he loved coming home to after a long day at work). He and I work so well together with our routine that this one day a week just throws such a monkey wrench in it all. Anyone have any coping strategies on what I can do when I am going it alone? It gets so overwhelming at times and I don't handle it very well.