April 2019

Here is April 2019, minus Ramona's 10th birthday:

Storytime at the library:

Skipping home from preschool (this girl skips when she's happy)

Unicorn horn + light-up unicorn rain boots

Refreshments after an orchestra meeting:

The kids got one Friday off of school that month. We used it to take a trip to a granite supplier near Denver to choose our kitchen countertop. About this time we were getting ready to demo the entire kitchen and hire a contractor to make it pretty. Here is the countertop we picked out to go with the floor and cabinets:

After making our choice at the granite place, we stopped at Chick Fil A for lunch:

Then we went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science:

Wylie got bored with the exhibits after a while, so he and I spent a long time going up and down the escalators. He LOVED that.

Neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt (on a very cold Saturday)

Ramona with her friend April Ottley:

Ramona with her friend Izzy Sheridan:

Living room recital with Myers/Palmers

Somehow, it bacame a tradition for the kids to put on a play after our recitals. This time it was "The Gingerbread Man"

Easter: Kids woke up to a Hatchimal surprise (little eggs that have toy animals inside)

Egg hunt behind the Eccles' home:

Wylie lighting up his Hatchimal with a flashlight:

preschool easter party

Miss Stacie hid wooden letters inside eggs for an egg hunt

Paula + Wylie + Elephants

Wylie and his tools

He became especially interested in tools around this time, watching the kitchen demo take place. Here he is hammering on the pantry closet that we were getting ready to swap out for a double oven surrounded with some cabinetry:

Bethke Spring Showcase--

Ramona performing a dance with her friend Ella Coy:

Ramona operating her robot for a tech club demonstration:

She was disappointed to not make the lottery for show choir that year but tried to make the most of her extra time by joining this club. Initially, all fourth and fifth graders were invited to join the choir so we signed her up, but the numbers were so big that Mrs. Adams decided to put all the fourth grade applicants in a lottery, disregarding their previous acceptance. It was very frustrating at the time, but doesn't seem like that big of deal after being plunged into a pandemic. Pretty cool that Ramona got to play with some robots as a fourth grader.

Mika and Paula in the computer lab:

April 27 cello recital

This was my student Faith's last recital as a senior. She sent me such a sweet note afterward, I still keep it in my music cabinet.

Faith's note and graduation card:

Wylie got a bloody nose on the way to church one day. It was so bad we had to go home to clean him up and were a little bit late to sacrament meeting. Isn't he a handsome mess?

Something about snow on spring flowers is so beautiful. You feel sorry for the buds that pop up, expecting sunshine, yet admire their resilience for blooming, despite the circumstances.

Paula had an ancestral flag project in preschool, and we of course had to make a flag for Japan. Tiny red origami cranes in a circle with some glitter, set inside a piece of styrofoam:

It's strange posting this on the same day I sent Wylie to preschool with HIS ancestral flag project. I guess it further emphasizes how far behind I am on blogging. 😖