Swim Team Banquet

 Preston with his first trophy ever!

 Porter with his well deserved trophy!

 Sophie with her all star participant medal

 Sophie with her trophy

 Sophie was the high point winner for her age group.  A whopping 59 points earned for the season.  Pretty incredible considering she gained points from two events. (They don't count relay points in the high point tallies).  She was so cute, she was absolutely shocked when they called her name. She had no idea.  She also earned a spot on the top ten point earners for the team.  That's pretty phenomenal, because that list comes from all the kids, ages 6 to 18.

Here she is with her high point trophy.

 Sophie also got a coaches award.  She got the noise maker award.  Not because she made the most noise, but because she was one of the quietest kids.  Her coach said, I never heard her say anything, she just came to practice and swam and swam and swam.

So Sophie kind of cleaned up that night.  Exciting for her, and a chance for her sweet brothers to learn how to be excited for someone else, even if they aren't receiving the same amount of attention.  Hard lessons... but good lessons.

Spectators.  Ethan should get an award for the most time spend observing swim practices.  Doug should get an award for earning almost all of our volunteer hours... I would sign us up, and he would compete the assignment.  I should get an award for the most time spent carpooling... back and forth... back and forth.

We really enjoyed this swim team. Loved the tadpole program, loved the shorter meets and smaller team feel, got to know more people, loved the Splashtown Day, and loved Spagetti Bingo nights... and least Porter and Sophie did, they both won big on the team night.  Shocking, because we didn't buy any extra cards, we just used the ones that came with the meal we purchased.  Loved the belly flop contest... at which Sophie won a frog bag for the loudest belly flop.  She was one of the first to go, she showed everyone how it was done, and really got the party started!

art class

recognize the subject of this one???

Scouty Boy!

it's my fav (her's too!)

Sophie started off the summer with an art class.  Look at all of the awesome things she painted.  This class was the real deal! I spent almost as much on art supplies as I did for tuition.  She had to have real canvas and watercolor paper.  She created some beautiful things. One of her talents is attention to detail, and it shows as she creates masterpieces!  Now we just have to figure out how to display all her creative work.

cooking class

We've been keeping busy this summer!

This is a picture of Porter with his cooking creation... enchiladas!

Porter started off strong with a cooking class given by a friend in the ward. I didn't initially sign him up for the class. I'd inquired for Sophie, but upon finding out she wasn't old enough, didn't ask for more info, not dreaming that Porter would be interested.  However, one of his good friends took the class.  This good friend's little brother was also registered, but couldn't go the first day, so the mom asked if Porter could go along in his place. 

Porter came home from the class so enthused about cooking!  He brought home a full dinner, complete with several side dishes and a desert.  I'd picked him up early from the class for a swimming lesson, much to his extreme disappointment.  I'd given him the option to cancel the swim lesson, when I reminded him of this fact, he responded by telling me that he didn't know how much fun the cooking class would be. 

 He learned knife safety and he just really enjoyed helping.  Needless to say, I called and was able to sign him up to finish the class.

The class has inspired me to have several Repasi Family Cooking Class afternoons.  Sophie loves them, Porter, not so much.  I guess it's just not as cool with mom... :)

Hula Class

 my cute, modest sophie

she was so worried about her immodest costume

we went out and bought her a downeast tee to wear under it

she set such a good example that three girls in the following class wore tees under their costumes too

I just hope that she'll maintain that sense of modesty into her teen years!

 A lady in our ward taught a Hula class.  It lasted for two weeks.  She taught the girls the hula and how to make their own flower leis (necklaces and bracelets).  They also got to eat yummy treats like coconut bread after each class.  Sophie was in heaven!  The recital was so nice with the girls dancing, as well as a performance by some local Polynesian girls.

Ethan's 9 month Stats

Height: 28 1/2 inches 60th percentile

Weight:  19 lbs 14 oz 40th percentile

Head: 18 1/2 inches 90th percentile

being healthy

I want to remember some advice given in a stake lesson...

The teacher, an older mom, advised about something she learned, after the fact. 

As she was raising her young children, she put off developing healthy habits, because of time constraints.  As her children grew and left home, she started taking better care of herself, and consequently was left with more energy. 

Her regret?  Not feeling as good and having that energy when her kids were at home.  I was grateful to this woman for admitting a weakness and being willing to share, so that we could benefit from her mistakes.  Motivation for me to eat healthy, get enough sleep and exercise.  They're not selfish pursuits.  The whole family benefits. I've often thought, if a nap is what I need to be in good spirits when Doug comes home, then I'm sure he'd much rather I chose the nap over folding the laundry. Putting it into practice is the hard part.

end of year preschool pool party

fun preschool friends!
autumn, sabrina, chloe, ian, andrew, preston

piano recital

Sophie played her songs so well for her recital! I am proud of her love of and dedication to the piano.

The new dress was for the recital.  We were not on the hunt for a dress, and it cost a little more than I usually pay for a Sophie dress, but when she walked by this dress it was love at first sight.  I haven't bought her a dress for such a long time, and as soon as she showed it to me, I knew it would be hers... I mean, doesn't it just have Sophie written all over it?

Sadly, Porter did not participate in his recital.  It was the end of the year pack meeting pool party.  Mom, who invests so much of herself into piano assumed, of course, Porter is going to the recial.  Dad, who invests so much of himself into cub scouts as cub master assumed, or course, Porter is going to pack meeting... we let him pick... it was no surprised where his vote fell... but he was so glad he didn't miss the "funnest pack meeting of the whole entire year!"

ethan can crawl!

ethan started crawling in may... he can really get around!

in july he proved he could climb up stairs and cruize around furniture...

he gets around really well!

church has not been the same since!

Preston's 4 year stats

Height: 38 1/2 inches 14th percentile

Weight 36 lbs 55th percentile

Kindergarten Graduation

preston' s 4th birthday!

Preston knew exactly which cake he wanted... A spider-man one... chocolate!

When we bought a few things for his birthday he saw these spiderman picks, and added cupcakes to the list of birthday cake wants. It's hard to say no to such a sweet request!

I love my sweet Preston!

Can you believe he's four?!?!

I'm going to cry... time is passing too quickly...

Opening presents.  It's fun to buy him boys... because he actually plays with them

He's opening some accessories to his batman cave.

A few party games.

We had a very, very low key friend birthday party.  It was perfect, we were both happy.  Three friends (two were brothers), cake, a few games, an hour and a half.

navigating through the spider web

an obstacle course

His nose looks a little different because he fell at pre-school and scratched up his nose and upper lip.  So sad! He doesn't usually get upset, but he carried on for so long, the mom finally called me. It scabbed over, it was pretty shallow, so it shouldn't scar.  But every where we went people asked him what happened.

We rode bikes for doughnuts in the morning and came back for a little party.  Preston's birthday fell on Memorial Day, so Doug was home, that was nice. After the party we asked him if he wanted to go see a movie, or get his build-a-bear... No, all he wanted to do, all he really really wanted to do was play the wii for a while.  Such simple pleasures. It was his birthday, so we let him decide... and he was so happy!

We love our little Preston SO MUCH!

He really is such a delight to have in our home. 

I don't know what we'd do with out his sweet, good natured, pure spirit. 

 He has such a good sense of humor.

  He loves to play with his toys.  Bad guys are his favorite subjects in the games he makes up.  I always get to be the princess who needs saving. He loves scooby-doo (to watch) and batman (to play).  He likes his characters to fight, but can be convinced to have them make up and be friends and play ring-around-the rosie and london bridges and swing on the pretend swings.

He loves books, he loves to be read to and he loves to look at his favorite books and tell the story to himself. He usually wants daddy to read to him at night, but once in a while mom gets to do the honors.

 He likes to work in his pre-school book and identify the letters and trace different shapes and lines. 

He loves to play with his siblings.  He's so proud of himself that he's growing bigger like them. 

He loves to play with friends too. 

He has an unhealthy love of video games. 

He's a good helper.  He loves to help me clean bathrooms, and he'll put his toys and books away. 

He has the most amazing, melt your heart smile, that just makes you happy and want to smile yourself. 

He says such funny things in Primary. I wish I could be in there just to hear what he has to say.  Apparently, he's not shy at all.  He frequently raises his hand or just blurts out his answers.  He was recently spotlighted- u can imagine his delight when they said 'This person loves to ride his Diego bike.' And he realized he was the one being honored.  Every week when they called up birthdays, he wanted to go up, because he has a birthday too.  It's just not here yet.  Imagine the Primary President's delight when she could say, yes, Preston, you can come up, it is your birthday this week! Preston has started saying the most beautiful and detailed prayers.  Asking to please give Jesus a high five and a hug, among lots of other beautiful and sweet and some funny requests.

What a sweetheart! I love Preston sooooooo much it hurts my heart!