Spring Piano Recital

In January I started teaching piano lessons in Janesville.  I originally had only one student but by the end of February I had 4 students coming each week.  I have loved teaching again!  A friend of mine also teaches and suggested that we combine our studios for the Spring recital.  We held it in the cultural hall and after the students performed, Bethany and I played a duet for 2 pianos and 4 hands.  It was "Malguena" by Ernesto Lecuona. We had a small reception afterwards with treats.  I was so proud of all of my students and their growth in such a small amount of time.  

Kristin's Piano Students

Bethany's Piano Students 

Our piano cake

Jane Gets Teeth!

Have you ever seen any cuter girls?  OK, maybe your girls are just as cute too, but I just love my little girls!  They have the sweetest smiles and give the best kisses and hugs. 

And now little Jane has added teeth to her smile too!  She first cut the center bottom tooth in the beginning of May.  Since then, she has cut the neighboring bottom tooth and the top two center teeth.  If you look carefully in the picture you can see them a little....

Miriam's 1st Soccer Game

Miriam started playing soccer this Spring.  She is on the purple team.  Here she is before her first game:

Miriam is using a jedi mind trick to get the ball into the goal.... Just kidding. 

Nice kicks!

SO you may be wondering what we do while the game is going on...



Eve enjoys eating the snacks.



Luke loves to kick his soccer ball on the sidelines around.

Jane and I like to take pictures of the whole event and try to stay warm too!  It was a chilly  and breezy 50 degrees this past Saturday. 

Miriam did great.  She even scored a goal, the only goal her team scored too.  She made a new friend during the game and ran hand in hand with her down the field for several minutes.  She was so excited to tell us all about her experience and couldn't wait to tell Dad about her goal.  It may have been cold outside but seeing her so happy and proud of herself made it all worth it.  

Easter with the Fife's

Happy Easter Everyone!  This year we did the 12 days of Easter.  Each night we would open an Easter egg and find a little object that symbolized one part of the Easter story and then read a related scripture.  It really helped us as a family to remember all the events that surround the most important holiday to mankind.  On the Thursday before Easter Sunday, we continued our tradition of having a Passover dinner.  Morgan always does a great job of leading the discussion of why the Jews would have eaten the different foods and how they represented the Savior. 

We also had some fun, non-religious events too.  One night for FHE we had an egg hunt in our basement.  Here are the troops before they were unleashed:

Miriam and her basket of eggs.

Miriam and Eve off to find more eggs.  We had to give each child a limit of eggs to find.  It is a necessity in our home to have the same amount amongst all the kids.  



Here are my 3 beautiful daughters all dressed for Easter Sunday.  Grandma Shelley found all 3 dresses!  Don't they look like dolls?



Now add our handsome son to the picture and you couldn't ask for anything more!  He looks so dashing in his suit!

 After Church we let the kids find their Easter baskets filled with treats and small toys.  Jane was the first to find hers...right on Dad's lap! 

We had a nice Easter dinner with a bunny cake for dessert. 

Happy Easter!

Jane's First Bites

Hello Everyone, I am Jane.  I turned 6 months on  March 6th and as a half-day present, my mom served rice cereal.  I couldn't believe how yummy it was!  I kept wanting more and more.  Mom was so shocked.  I love eating!  Don't get me wrong, I still love milk, but solids are so tasty! 

I am now 7 1/2 months old and I still love to eat.  I really like carrots, squash and sweet potatoes.  Fruits are really sweet and I squish up my face after I take a bite.  But that doesn't stop me.  I keep eating them!  I like to grab Mom's food and taste it too.  It's so fun to be a part of meal times now. Won't you come and have dinner with us too? 

Target Practice

One Saturday when Morgan was working, the kids needed a fun indoor activity. On Pinterest I saw a target practice activity for kids and decided to try it out. We set up some cups and little people as targets in the basement and then passed out the Nerf blasters.

Luke taking his first shot.
Nice position Miriam!

Soon enough they wanted to make their own targets and blast them down.

Miriam is a fierce competitor.

Eve wasn't so much into the blasting but enjoyed playing with the Toy Story little people.

Jane was just happy to hear everyone else being happy.

Target practice eventually turned into an argument but it was super fun while it lasted. There was a disagreement about who got to shoot which character. Once we eliminated the little people, they were happy to just shoot the cups. Thank you Pinterest for a fun activity!

Miriam's Birthday Party

Miriam is 5 years old! To celebrate my girl's big day, I planned a "Pinkalicious" birthday party. For those of you not familiar with this series of books, it is about a girl who LOVES the color pink. Our guests (with the exception of Luke of course) all wore pink. When they arrived I had them make necklaces. Luke made one for Eve while she was still napping during this portion of the party.

Ivy, Kendra and Miriam

Our birthday girl

Eve was so happy to wake up to a party!

Luke was mostly a good sport about all the girls and pink in the house. He is practicing a ninja kick in this picture.

We also played: pin the cherry on the cupcake, musical chairs and pink balloon ping pong. Then we decorated a star wand cookie to take home. After snacks and cupcakes, it was presents time! Miriam's friends gave her some great gifts.

Thank you all so much for coming to our party. Miriam felt like a princess the entire time and loved being in the center of attention!