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Oh man – do we love Mrs Rutter.  She was Jacob's third grade teacher, and now Caleb got the pleasure of having her too.  What a gem she is.  She gave my son a love for math!!  Woo-hoo!  He even got a mathmetician award this year (after needing tutoring at the beginning of the year).  She's moving up to fourth grade and we really hope he'll get her again next year.  As room mom, I did a special craft project with the kids.  We made an "R" out of their fingerprints.  She was tickled.  This has been a great year for Caleb.  His best buds in the class: Jack Romero and Ava Burch (they've been together since Kinder).

I felt a little sad having my baby "graduate" from preschool – especially this sweet, wonderful school.  Samuel has SO enjoyed his first and last year of preschool…attending T and Th from 9 am – 2pm.  His teachers, Ms Jennifer and Ms Holly, were so loving and fun.  He never complained or hesitated about going to school – it was such a happy place for him.  He learned a lot and I was pleased with how well he did socially.  He was still too shy to sing much during the program – but it didn't matter to me, because I had heard him singing around the house (when he didn't realize anyone was listening) for weeks…including all the words to "Lean on Me".  :) 

My favorite part of the program was when she had each "graduate" come up on stage and quickly say what they wanted to be when they grew up…so precious!  I loved this tradition!  My heart melted as some of the girls said…"doctor", "ballerina", "vet", "mommy".  And when the boys listed, "spy", "ninja", and when my Samuel said "car driver" (as in race cars).

Sunshine Kids will always have a special place in our hearts.  And look how cute this upcoming Kindergartener is!!

The week before Mother's Day this year was a hard one.  I had just experienced a miscarriage on Monday, a pregnancy we had hoped for.  We were excited to welcome a fourth Smith baby in December.  But between 7-8 weeks I had a confirmed miscarriage, which left me disappointed and sad.  I resigned to just take it easy and lay low that week (very low).  The only thing I got out for was Samuel's Mother's Day "tea" and Mother's Day itself.  I even skipped on a church family event at the temple on Saturday ("where were you?" everyone asked!). 

Being able to reflect on the sweet job I have as mother to three generous, kind and fun boys, was a great thing for me.  The sadness followed me like a cloud, but the opportunity to celebrate mothering felt like small glimpses of light poking through.  Derek is so good to me.  I am blessed to live near family and even my own sweet mother.  I have three beautiful and loving children.  What more could a girl want.

The monster truck thing cracked me up!  He's so silly and he knows it.  He's been very in to monster trucks and race cars lately.

In addition to sweet cards and sentiments from the boys, I got a new watch and a lovely corsage.

Celebrating at my moms – her hydrangeas were looking so beautiful and it was fun to gather to celebrate her and these 5 precious boys.

Once a year, the Arts departments at Caleb's school have a "showcase" night for family and friends to watch them perform.  It's so fun to see the choir, the dramatics group, the drum group, and the jump ropers do their thing.

Here's cutie, cutie Caleb doing "his" thing with the choir.  Being a part of this group with Mrs Trimble a the head was a great experience for C.  I hope he'll do it again in 4th grade.

And friends…from top left…Jack and Kennedy, Brooklen Empey and Kathryn Odom (center/right), Ava Burch (jumping) and Coach Trimble

The MS 150 is now a family tradition!  Jacob has been wanting to participate in this ride for years.  But each year they would increase the age requirement – from 8 to 10, from 10 to 12.  So finally, he had the chance to ride with the team.  Getting him to train diligently was a bit of a challenge, so we weren't sure how he would do, but he did GREAT.  He and I rode the first 48 miles to lunch with no problems.  Then the heat and the wind set in and we decided to shuttle to the last rest stop and ride the rest of the 14 miles in.  Finding shuttles in the intense heat proved to be challenging (bikers were dropping like flies).  And then when we finally got to the last pit stop our legs were cold and it was 100 degrees with a strong head wind.  No fun.  We tried, but decided to forego a big finish line triumph for the comfort of a ride back.  My Dad and Derek finished strong about an hour later.  My (at the time) pregnancy made it easy to go at Jacob's pace and stay behind when it was time for us to quit.  We enjoyed a massage and great bbq back at the RAMS team tent.  Jacob was proud and we were proud of him.  Can't wait for next year…  (Special thanks to Mimi for watching Samuel all day, for family that came to cheer us on, and for all of the friends/family who donated to the cause to fight Multiple Sclerosis).

We really lucked out on finding the Art House in McKinney.  They offer homeschool art classes, and Jacob loves art, so we gave them a try.  It's not a huge program (the homeschool aspect anyway) which made it kind of nice. Sona Knox owns this old historic home in downtown McKinney and turned it into an art studio/school.  She's so fun – exactly what you think of for an art teacher – feather in her hair, tie-dye shirts, turquoise jewelry, no make-up, clay on her hands, paint on her jeans, etc.  She was so nice and loved Jacob.  He went every Tuesday afternoon for 2 hours and threw on the clay wheel, sketched and painted.  He absolutely LOVED it.  It became his favorite thing of the week, I think.  She really let him "go" and try new things.  There was other adults who were there working and they all loved his good manners and great attitude. 

 Sona with Jacob

Turns out the home that Sona bought used to be owned by Margaret Crow's grandparents (Trammel Crow's wife).  She recently came to see the house and tour the studio and invited all of Sona's students to visit her Asian Art Museum in downtown Dallas (across from the Dallas Museum of Art).  Jacob and I took a field trip down there and fell in love with this small but beautiful museum.  We had the BEST time.  I highly recommend.  We got a tour and sketch books to sketch (I'm not a sketcher, so I just held mine!), and got to practice origami.  What fun.  I love that Jacob loves art and I loved spending this time with him.  We will remember this experience with fond, fond memories.

Now that we have a membership, you might see lots of Dallas Zoo posts. :)  The kids had a day off on Monday, April 30.  Jacob spent the day at Lance's for an Air Soft war.  So I took Caleb, his friend Jax, and Samuel to the zoo.  It was a lovely day – overcast with a breeze, and not too crowded.  All the animals were out and friendly!  It was fun…we were able to see the whole zoo this time in 4 hours…but our favorite thing was feeding those beautiful lorikeets!

Caleb's baseball this team is a little like the Bad News Bears – but cuter.  They have a super supportive and enthusiastic coach who signed up only because no one else would.  And he's coaching his other son, and travels for work.  And several of the kids have never played before.  Caleb had yet to have a hit for the season.  He's been walking or striking out. 

But then yesterday - it was the end of the game.  Bases loaded…2 outs…and Caleb's up to bat.  I could feel that he was feeling the pressure.  And he LAUNCHED a pop fly into the outfield (which thankfully they didn't catch), and got a double with 2 RBI's.  We were so excited for him!  They ended up scoring 5 runs that inning, but still losing by 3.  Caleb didn't care though - he was on cloud 9!

Today we got to attend the baptism for my nephew, Graham, at Preston Hollow Presbyterian.  It was a special event and we were honored guests.  Afterwards Anne hosted a lovely luncheon for the families.  It's always fun to be with the Doak family – they're always welcoming of us Robinson's.  And Graham was such a trooper – in great spirits.  He even gave a little grin when the minister was baptizing him.  So cute.

Sidenote: My brother, Mark, is on crutches because he was gouged in the foot with a piece of wood from his porch yesterday.  Deep enough for stitches, but they worry about remaining wood and infection.  Poor guy!

On Saturday night, we took Jacob for a very special evening out to attend the temple for the first time.  We did baptisms for the dead.  It was great to be with him in such a sacred and special place.  And he loved it.

Afterwards, we took him to our favorite post-temple restaurant – a greek place called Ziziki's.  He was brave and got a lamb souvlaki (which he loved!).  I had the mousaka.  LOVE their food!  Maybe I'm part Greek. 😉

Then we headed to a wedding reception for one of my former YW, Celeste Roberts and her new husband, Dave…hard to believe they're old enough to get married.  But Celeste made a beautiful bride and it was a lovely reception.  What a cute and happy couple!  So fun.