Eli McGeeligh

And now for an update on our Eli.  Wrapping up third grade, his greatest love was baseball.  Like many boys his age, he wants to be a professional athlete when he grows up.

Avenues baseball has been a terrific place for him to learn and grow.




Eli was pretty proud of the medal they earned for championship day.


So many thanks to Coach Charles...

...and Coach Jason.  We feel so lucky to have this gem of a league right in our neighborhood.

Other fun moments: bonding with dad over the pinewood derby.  Because really, why wouldn't you use a blow torch?

Sleek.


But is it fast?

You betcha.

Nice work, gentleman.

While on the subject of scouts, here's Eli swimming with the webelos.

Pack meeting.

Cub Country day camp up Millcreek Canyon.  Eli's cub leaders, the Henshaws, were fantastic.  We will miss them.

Yummy U-Gurt for the perfect ending.


Even though the LDS church is ending its partnership with Boy Scouts, we hope to find a strong unit for Eli.  You can tell that he's a scout kid--must run in his veins.

Other happy Eli moments: the Emerson Arts Showcase.

I particularly loved this cubist piece.

While we may be focusing on Eli's art, Lucas's made me chuckle most.  Can you spot the Mexican flag in each of his works?  I love dual immersion.

Plus, Annika got some dolphin face painting.  It just doesn't get any better.

Unless your big sister Brooklyn works the bake sale with her former classmate.  Yup, even better.

Now for Eli's music performance with his music teacher, Ms. Musick.  (Dead serious.)

Sure wish I'd thought to get a picture of Eli with his classroom teacher, Ms. Mary-Lou Oland-Wong.  Ms. Mary-Lou is fantastically dedicated to helping each of her students progress.  Here they are editing their writing portfolios/rehearsing for their spanish theater productions.


Show time!  I especially loved watching Eli improvise as baby bear in Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

A few other random photos.  Here's Eli with his St. George bestie Chloe.  We met up with Chloe for bowling while their big sisters were competing at the U of U Science Olympiad.

And here he is biking the three miles to school with our fun neighbors Asher and Nate on Bike to School day.  Time for a bigger bike!

Feeding the white-faced whistling ducks at the Tracy Aviary.  Tickles!

Ruby and Brianna joined the aviary fun.

All in all, such excitement can leave a fella all tuckered out.  Good thing Sundays are a day of rest.  (Photo taken during stake conference in the Assembly Hall.)

Sure love you, Eli!  We hit it out of the park when you joined our family.

Annie Banannie

Ack!  I'm having a moment of sheer terror.  A co-worker texted this morning to ask if I could come help with registration this week.  She wanted me to come in today but I managed to push it off until Thursday.  Seriously, I want to cry.  I am totally unprepared for school to start.  Our travels and adventures have been great, but I need more lazy days with my children.  Days with nothing to do but catch butterflies.

Bugs are still Annika's greatest love.  She can entertain herself all afternoon searching for her "friends."

While butterflies and moths are favorites, she is also plenty happy to collect snails.  Their slow pace makes them the perfect candidates for relocation into her homemade habitats.  (Jason managed to convince her that our lawn waste bin is the perfect place for them to reside long term.)

Just so you know, she doesn't discriminate against the shell-less variety.  One April afternoon I heard Annika joyfully squeal: "A slug's in my shoe.  And he's alive!  I think he thought it was a safe habitat.  Let's make him an Easter egg."  I wonder if any other slug has ever been gifted an Easter egg.  This gal's love for creatures is astonishing.

Knowing of Annika's great affection, the Easter bunny brought her tiny caterpillars.  They grew SO quickly!  Here they are about to form their chrysalises.


After much patient waiting, our painted lady butterflies emerged.

This little guy's wings were malformed so he couldn't fly.  

He lived out the remainder of his happy butterfly life feasting on fruit in our home.

Here's Annika feeding the butterfly she made in kindergarten.  So many thanks to our favorite butterfly lady, Elaine Clark.

Time for release.  Our butterflies were surprisingly docile.  Quite content in their butterfly enclosure, they had to be coaxed away from their home and would have rested all evening on our fingers.  I'm not sure how they fared in the wild, but let's hope for the best.

Annika's infatuation with bugs is matched only by her continuing fetish with dolphins.  As you can see, she's collected quite a pod.

Most nights they take over her bed.

Here's the pod trying out our new coffee table.  Not exactly how I envisioned it getting used, but I suppose it works.

Other Annika memories: she loved spring gymnastics at the Fairmont Aquatic center.

She also really enjoyed being a Girl Scout Daisy.

Here she is with Ms. Jessica at her badge ceremony.

Such a fun little troop.

A few random moments: dressed up like a princess in front of the church.

Learning how to throw axes with the Elders' Quorum.

And now before first grade starts, a few kindergarten memories.  She was so proud of her artistic creations at the Wasatch Arts showcase.

Plus, she got to be a chicken in her Town Hall production of Click, Clack, Moo.  (My favorite part was the milk carton jokes at the end.)

For kindergarten graduation, her amazing teacher Ms. Tanner told special stories about each student.

Ms. Tanner spoke about Annie's love for animals and told funny stories about how she would stop dead in her tracks to rescue an ant, causing all of the kindergartners in line behind her to tumble like dominoes.

 Miss Annika, you are one of a kind.  Never lose that spunk.

We love you a billion bugs!