Like grains of sand through an hourglass...

...these are the days of our lives. And if I don't write it down (and post it on the internet for all to see), it didn't happen.

Back in March Keira got Student of the Month. I have some pretty fantastic girls, but that was a first for our family (I'm not even sure they had Student of the Month in past schools???).

See, some pretty fantastic girls.

In April my brother Eric got married in Salt Lake. Thanks to Ed's job, I got to fly out there for free and participate in all the family togetherness. I've missed sibling weddings before - so grateful I got to be there.

Karoline was a pretty hot commodity with some of the cousins. Too bad she was such a stinker for most of it. This was the only picture I have with Levi where she wasn't pushing his face into the ground.

At the temple - yay!

Waiting. Men and little men gathered in the shade.

The cute new family is back behind all those photographers.

When I got back we dyed easter eggs.

One of my children (ahem, Kimberlee) has been complaining that some of our fun traditions haven't been happening as much anymore. Like Easter egg hunts. So Easter morning the girls woke up to empty baskets and a note telling them to start hunting.

The eggs were color coordinated for each girl. Some were easier to find than others. We didn't find Kimberlee's last egg until the next day.

Karoline got all the orange eggs - they were full of Cheerios.

Kim with her blue haul.

Kassie got pink.

Krista and her purples.

And Keira's green. It was fun. Maybe the Easter bunny will be fun again next year.

I'm not sure where the rest of April went. Maybe on Ed's phone? I know there was a 2nd grade musical performance for Krista - probably the cutest elementary school production I've ever seen. There had to be other things too...

My middles had a mother/daughter Activity Days activity. We ate yummy food, and filled out question sheets about each other, and then we did each others' make-up. Blindfolded. It's hard to see in the picture, but I have a lot of lipgloss on my cheek, Keira has a lipgloss mustache, and Krista has blue eyeshadow on her forehead. Fun times.

Kimberlee was inducted into National Junior Honor Society. Good job girlie! That same night was Keira's talent show and science fair - she got a blue ribbon for her model of an animal cell. Woot!

Kathryn's birthday was on Mother's Day. And Ed was gone (as he probably will be for all holidays this year). And in April I was called into the Primary presidency, and that day was my first time doing Sharing Time. I mostly just had to survive the day. :) But before Ed left we "celebrated" with cheesecake (which the girls apparently hate - oops, I had to eat it all), and the girls all painted their toenails green with me in honor of Kathryn.

I had a moment that morning when I put on my mother's bracelet where I thought of where I was 3 years ago, and all the good things that have happened since then. I'm so grateful for my 6 precious girls.

Krista had a Flat Stanley project for school, so Ed took him on a trip to Florida. Unfortunately, Flat Stanley (and Ed) got hit with a laser on their landing in Tampa. That's no joke, it can do some serious damage. Ed called in sick for the rest of his trip and came home to get his eyes checked out. Thankfully he is fine, and he put together a fun and educational power point for Krista's class about how you can go to jail for shining lasers into cockpits.

Karoline decided April was a good time to start standing on her own. And then on Mother's Day she took her first couple steps.

Books are her favorite. And music. And Mommy. And screens. Mostly screens. We don't ever let her play on our devices, but if she happens to get ahold of one and you take it away...full-blown, terrible-two-like tantrums, people.

On the last day of school Keira's class had a "Yahoo/Boohoo" breakfast for their last year of elementary school. Keira and some of her besties:

And with the mascot, Howie the Hawk

And they're done! 7th, 5th and 2nd grades complete! Some are more relieved than others.

Next school year the Sass will be joining them. She's so ready for that.

Which brings us to today - Karoline is 11 months.

This month she became quite the copy cat. She says "uh oh", "bye bye", "hi", and sings "my my my my" along with the My Little Pony theme song. She also started folding her arms for prayers - cutest thing ever. But, as with most things with Karoline, she won't do it on command, it has to be her idea. She's a stubborn little thing.

She's also now a mobile little thing, which means cute 11-month pictures were a bust.

See ya!

I'm not sure how many have read this far, but there is a little more news to share. At Ed's initial training with Delta he was assigned to fly the MD-88 out of New York City. A couple months ago they opened up some planes in different locations, and he applied to go to Seattle in the 737, which he got. And then another couple weeks went by, and he applied to go to Salt Lake City in the 737...which he also got. He won't start there until December, so we've gone back and forth on when the best time to move is. Salt Lake has been our goal since he decided to get out of the active duty - 14 years living far from family has been enough, we're ready to get back. And Ed is excited about living "in domicile" - not having to commute to start his route. But house hunting is not going well so far, and it's really expensive to move, and we have to take into consideration how Ed would commute to New York for a few months, and St. Louis for Reserves. We don't want to move in the middle of a school year, not with kids in Jr High. It's a pretty big decision, and I'm not sure how it will all turn out. Maybe this summer, maybe next summer...sometime in the next year we're coming "home"! Stay tuned!