More Track Meets

We've had a busy sports season in our household. Here are a couple of pictures that I took at a recent track meet of Isaiah's. He really enjoys running and he is really self-motivated. One disappointing thing that we recently learned is that they don't let kids run the 1600m race until they are 13-years-old. That race is Isaiah's specialty. The longest race he can run is the 400M this year, and then it goes up to the 800M next year. Here he is at the starting line. The 400M race is one lap around the track.

Here he is at the last stretch of the race. He really does well. I think he got 2nd place in this particular race.

Photography Awards

This kids recently had an art contest at their school. The contest this year was photography. The theme was "A Day in the Life..." My kids had a lot of fun with this one. They just took the camera and started taking a lot of pictures. We finally had to sit down and explain that their photo needed to fit in with the theme. They all ended up being finalists. Isaiah got 2nd place in the 4th grade. Grace got 1st place in the 2nd grade and 3rd place overall in the whole school. Miles got 1st place in Kindergarten and won 2nd place overall. They did such a fabulous job! Grace and Miles were excited to learn that they got prize money for being finishers in the whole school. Grace got $10 and Miles got $15. Miles, of course, felt like Isaiah should have won a prize too and so he gave him $5 of his winnings. Here are the kids with their ribbons, certificates, and photos. This is Isaiah's new camera face. I can't tell if he is upset (which he was), or if he is trying to look cool?

Here is Isaiah's winning photo. It was titled "I Drooled on my Homework." Grace enjoyed being the model for this photo.

Grace's photo was entitled "Wake Up Baby." Her idea was that she gets her sister out of her bed every morning when she wakes up.

Here is Miles' photo. He called it "Stuck Basketball." He was really excited to do so well in the contest. He is obsessed with basketball to Nate's pure joy!

Grace the Performer

Grace has so much fun in her little performing group. She does such a great job. She shows no fear. I really like this particular group because they go to old folks homes and perform. The elderly just love to see the little girls and their cute little performances. This particular recital Grace had solos in "Yakety-Yak" and "Ole-King Cole." The other songs that the girls sang included nursery rhyme songs and Saturday Morning Cartoon songs. Grace's teacher came up to me afterwards and told me what a beautiful voice Grace has and we should definitely look for opportunities for her to share her talent. I'm not sure how I could exactly do that, but we are looking for voice lesson opportunities. If anyone knows of any, please pass along the info!

Ella's First Haircut

Ella had her first official haircut. Although she really had a little "trim" in the back and sides to even out her hair. She looks so sweet in her little "bob." I don't know where a tan toe-head came from. Her hair and skin are very different from the family, but we'll keep her anyway. Here is a look at the hair from the back. It does the curl-under naturally. Lucky girl! or better yet, Lucky Mom!

Here is our sweet heart from a front view. Look at those cheeks. I could squeeze and kiss them all day!

Hurray for Moses!

Moses has had a eventful month. As you all know Moses fractured his foot a few weeks ago. He has been so active on his cast that he had to go in a get it re casted because it started cracking on the bottom after just one week. I was able to attend BYU Women's Conference a week later and Nate stayed home with the kids! I am so grateful to him for that because I was very uplifted and rejuvenated at the conference. Anyways, while I was gone, Nate somehow enticed Moses to become interested in FINALLY going to the bathroom. When I got home I continued and after about two weeks he is accident free, even through the night!To celebrate we all went to Chuck E Cheese as a family. That is Moses' favorite place right now and we all had a good time. We are so proud of him! He has just matured so much the last few months, and he was finally ready for this big step!

Nate's Newest Painting

Here is Nate's latest painting. It was inspired by Alicia Keys. Check out more of his new work at www.natepack.com!

Isaiah's Piano Recital

This must be Isaiah's month. He has had a lot going on and May happens to be his grand finale! His night he had his end of the year piano recital. He played two numbers that he memorized and he did fantastic. The theme for the recital was Pianimals. Both of his numbers had titles that had to do with animals. He played both of his songs on an electric keyboard which allowed him to add sound effects to the songs. One of his songs was about an eagle soaring and he composed the sound effects all by himself.

Here he is playing in an ensemble. There were probably 8 different keyboards and all of the kids play one song together. They all have different parts that contribute to the finished product! They also did a Peter and the Wolf production to music. Isaiah played Peter. He has become quite the actor thanks to his experience in the school musical.

This is how we keep the children entertained during a 1-1/2 hour long piano recital. They all take turns taking pictures around the room. This is one that Grace took of the three of us. Nate was out in the hall with Ella a lot of the time because she is very loud and way to curious about everything around her.

Isaiah's First Track Meet

Isaiah has discovered a recent love and talent in running. He is required to run the mile every Friday at school and he always comes home with an update of a record time. He seems to keep improving every week. Nate and I are training for a 12-man relay called the Wasatch Back. We have been running 2-4 miles several times a week and Isaiah has joined us a few times. When he runs with me I always feel like I'm holding him back. He beats me home every time. I happen to come across a track club one day while I was signing my kids up for summer arts. We decided to sign him up even though he was already doing soccer at the time. It's been pretty crazy trying to fit it all in, but he is loving track. Here is Isaiah after his first track meet. He took 1st in his age group in the 1500 Meters, first in the 400 M, and 2nd in the 800 M. We were so lucky to have grandma and grandpa Clawson around to take him to his meet in Salt Lake County. Nate had to work that day and I had to take Miles and Grace to their soccer games. We are both looking forward to seeing him run at his next meet!

PRESENTS!

Everyone was very gracious to Isaiah for his birthday. Grace and Miles had the most fun. They spent all afternoon looking through their little treasure boxes to give Isaiah a present. They both ended up giving him $1 each along with several other little trinkets each. They also each made him a card. They were so generous and very thoughtful! No birthday of Isaiah's would be complete without a book. This years pick...Fablehaven 4. Grandma and Gramdpa Clawson know what makes Isaiah happy. Look at that smile!Grandma and Grandpa Pack gave Isaiah a watch. His old watch broke a few months ago and he has been begging for a new one. He especially likes that it is waterproof and it has a stopwatch on it. He has been excited to time himself running. He has become quite the little runner!

Because the kids were trying to find every last cent to give Isaiah for his birthday I ended up giving them $5 to buy Isaiah a present all together. The perfect gift: a blue light saber. Did I mention that my children have a slight obsession with Star Wars?

Isaiah has been asking for a camera for a while. He decided that he wanted to get a nice camera for his birthday. When I went to the store they were marking down all of the cameras as I was looking through them. This camera was heavily discounted and so I thought I would take a chance. I made a bad choice. This camera was the worst! I ended up taking it back the next day and buying the camera that I originally had budgeted for. It was a lot more money, but in this case it made a huge difference! Isaiah was very grateful for this gift. He has told me THANK-YOU a dozen times since!

Happy #10 Isaiah!

Is my little baby already 10-years-old? Isaiah wanted a little family get-together this year so that he could get a digital camera. He wants to start his own blog, so stay tuned. We had a little backyard BBQ for FHE and had grandparents and a few uncles over. We had all of his favorites for dinner. This has become a tradition. Only now the kids have extended it into lunch and dinner as well. Here is Isaiah with his birthday cake: READY!

AIM!

FIRE!!!! Nate strategically placed candles all over the cake so it took a few blows to get them all blown out. I think he really enjoyed his party.