Stow Aways: March 2015, part 2

Harriet had her first piano recital. Even though she's been taking lessons for 3 years, this was the first time her teacher had enough students to hold a recital. The recital was at our church. She played "White Horse" by Taylor Swift and did a fantastic job. We are so proud of her for choosing the piano on her own and being excited about playing it. We are also grateful for the gift of this piano from my Grandma Pearlie. She sent it to Harriet. It is the piano that my dad learned to play on when he was a kid. My Grandpa San bought it sometime near 1960.

Harriet with fellow piano students and teacher, Carrie, on the right.

Then, Grace went to the State Geography Bee! This was a cool experience for her and for us. We are amazed at the knowledge of the kids who made it to the finals and won. Grace did not win, but she learned a lot and had a ton of fun doing it. It was pretty intense!

Grace performed with a bunch of schools at a huge orchestra concert:

Harriet performed with her cheer squad at "The Pit" at UNM. She was super excited because this was her first time to get to be a "flyer" in the routine.

The whole squad on the back steps of the school with coaches, Monica, Kristen, and Gracen.

I have mentioned the close friends Harriet has made this year. She has never had sweet and loyal girlfriends like these before. This was her friend, Ellie's, birthday party at a little art place. They all got to paint a canvas together.

Grace got a special cape for Stryder for her birthday from Aunt Em. He has another one from his Denver cousins too. Totally a Ute fan.

Kitty and Hattie continue to be best buds.

Albuquerque continues to be gorgeous. This spring was the nicest we've ever had. The wind wasn't very bad this year, so we could actually enjoy the nice weather and it even rained a bunch! My flowers really liked that part.

Harriet outgrew her bike (again), and so she got to choose her own bike for the first time instead of getting a hand-me-down from Grace. She picked the pretty purple one, of course.

Then, to finish out March, Aunt Emily, Aunt Jessica, Sloan, and Lyla came for a visit! Emily hadn't ever been to our house in ABQ and Jessica hadn't been in a long time, so it was extra special to have them here. Harriet had been having a fit ever since no one came to see us at Christmas (and we didn't go see anyone either,) and she was especially upset that everyone else in the family was getting to spend time with Lyla while she was a baby. So, everyone did what they could to get Lyla to our house for our spring break. Whew!

Emily took the girls on a big bike ride.

Harriet held Lyla, night and day, as much as Lyla would let her.

Hattie passed on some cheer moves to little cousin.

Sloan tried his best to learn to say "Albuquerque" but decided it sounds better to say "Apple Turkey."

Traditional cousin shot in front of the coral reef at the aquarium.

Lyla loved the glass tunnel where she could see the fish above her.

Other traditional shark tank photo.

Somehow we found time to run to the zoo too.

I can't believe all we got out and did with the little tykes.

Traditional tile chair at the zoo photo!

The cool thing about the timing of their trip was that Easter Sunday was just in a few days. They didn't stay for Easter and we had a trip to White Sands planned for Easter weekend, so the Easter Bunny took the grand opportunity to come a little early and let the cousins hunt eggs together. (S)he left some cool baskets for everyone. It was a pretty unexpected surprise!

Lyla had to get Hattie out of bed.

Grace (still!) gets excited over Easter baskets. Well, who doesn't? I want a big bucket of Cadbury Eggs too!

Harriet found Shopkins in her basket. Lucky girl.

Sloan is at the age where he doesn't understand the hunting part. He just gets the "pick up an egg and eat what's inside right now" part.

Lyla got a pretty soft bunny in her basket. Of course, she ate it.

Their last (sad) day here was Wednesday, April 1st. We decided to take the kids hiking up the volcanoes. It seemed like that was a hit with everyone, and we even found some nice strangers at the top to take our photo.

Harriet was dying to pull off a great April Fool's prank, so I helped her the night before to prepare a pan of brown "E's" (a brownie pan filled with brown paper cut-outs of the letter E.) At the end of the hike, we got everyone excited to go home and eat a brownie. Even Jessica fell for it. She was so excited to get a brownie and so mad that there was only paper E's in the pan. Hattie was thrilled for her successful joke. Then, we made some real brownies, of course, because by then we were ALL dying for one.

Saying good-bye to baby Lyla is never easy.