Sunday, March 31, 2013

Kids Update

Here is an update on my sweet children and what they have been up to as of late:

Adelyn:
Adelyn truly has a god given gift for making friends with anyone.  It does not matter if they are 3 years old or 12 years old, she can be a great friend to anyone.  She has an admirer named Calvin that lives here that is 4 and he has a mad crush on her.  It is so hilarious to see him interact with her, because he will do anything she asks and he is always asking if she is home from school yet.  She has many friends in school from all three of the kindergarten classes.... dare I say she is popular in her grade.  She is trying to understand how when boys tease her and chase her they actually like her.... a hard concept for even me to explain and understand still.  She is reading like a rock star. She reads anything and everything. She has such a passion for learning and asks intellegent questions.  She is still such a sponge when it comes to learning and she does not forget anything that she learns. Which means it is definately my job to be sure she is getting correct information, cause she will remember it.   She sounds out every word and is constantly writing notes to Boston, Trav, and I.  It is wonderful to see her grow so much academically.  She is also in a music class that introduces beats, rhythems, notes and their counts, and songs.  It is a class to prepare her for Piano lessons.  She really enjoys singing and definately loves to put on a show.  She does gymnastics and excells in it.  She just got promoted to a higher level class which left her with mixed feelings since her BFF's are still in the other class.  She has such a tender, big heart and feels so deeply for others.  I am constantly amazed at how in tune with others and their needs.  People are very important to her.  There have been a couple of new girls her age that have moved into the area recently and they are constantly at our door asking if she can play.   Usually on Sundays they will come to door a couple of times (I guess they think we will change our minds) or at times when we cant play.  She went to her first "night party" of a friend from the ward who had her party from 5:30 to 8:30 and I felt like Adelyn was grown up.  Wont be too long before her being gone in the evenings is a common thing.  The highlight of our day is dinner when all of us can be around the dinner table to talk about the days events.... but I know these wont happen forever.  Oh how I adore her!  She is my BFF!  What a joy it is to be her mom.

Adelyn with her ribbon of completion for Super Crickets and her evaluation showing all the skills she has succeeded in.  She will now move up to Kartwheels!

She got photo bombed by Boston, and the sweet girl she is , she just owned it.  


Boston:  
Boston is all boy.  I say that everytime I write about him, but really it sums him up.  He is in joy school with two girls, and he loves to show off his trucks and make hoops, and them how far he can throw the ball..... and they honestly dont care.  They are too busy being mommies to babies.  Something he is totally not interested in.  He knows his alphabet, is learning the sounds of the letters, knows the days of the week and is really good with the months of the year.  He pretends he is "reading" since sister is reading.  He absolutely adores Adelyn and cannot wait until she gets home from school.  The two of them play so well together and just laugh, and run, and scream throught the house (which Im sure our downstairs neighbors really enjoy).He is now potty trained.....well mostly.  He still has an accident about once a day, but I will take it over the stubborn I wont tell you EVER days we had been experiancing.  Travis took his training wheels off last weekend and Boston was riding around our parking lot like no one's business.  It made me nervous, so I had Travis put them back on. The kid is too much of a dare devil.  In fact we were at the pool a couple days ago and he has this round tube he uses to go in the water.  Well he forgot his tube and just jumped in the 3 foot off the side.  Luckily I saw him inch his way to the edge and yelled his name to not jump.  He of course ignored me, but my friend Elanor was there and grabbed him.  I am getting him in swim lessons in 2 weeks so he can learn how to swim for a little bit until I can get to him. He just has no fear at all and it makes me a nervous wreck at the pool.  He loves to play or watch any sport, loves anything with wheels (in fact he is often stealing Adelyn's two wheeled scooter and riding it instead of his three wheeled scooter) and is such a hoot to be around.  He has started pulling these funny faces, which I cannot help myself from busting up laughing at.  I wished I could remember all his funnyisms, but there are so many.  The kid has a hilarious personality.  He always has us laughing.  I am getting worried he is going to be the class clown in class, because he will do anything to make people laugh.  His best buddies right now are Seth, Hannah, Violet and Calvin.  We spend some part of each day at the gym with various kids there he interacts with and at the park with various kids there he interacts with.  He is also in a music class.  It teaches him songs and beats and rhythems.  He is being introduced to instruments such as the triangle. He really enjoys going because Seth is there and they cause mischief the whole time chasing girls down.  Some days I think, how am I going to make it with this boy.  He is into EVERYTHING and thinks it is funny!  But I would never trade any second of the adventure he gives our family.  I love him so much and he is such a joy to have in our family. 
One day he went and put on as many of his clothes as possible.  Its hard to see, but I think he has about 7 shirts, a couple shorts, a pair of levis and pajamas on.  Then I said I wanted to take his picture, and this is the face I got.  See what I mean?  "Could I BE wearing anymore clothes" (Chandler, from Friends)


March Madness

Here is some more fun we had during the month of May playing in the sun.  Love this Califor N.I.A. sun!



Saturday, March 23, 2013

Easter 2013

We went to the wards Annual Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning and the kids had a ball.  I had invited a family with 2 young kids (one boy about Boston's age and a 11 month old baby) that we have become park buddies with to come to the Easter egg hunt with us.  They showed up and were exposed to some of the SD's best peeps around.  Their kids had a blast, and they ended up asking a lot of questions about our religion which was kinda a cool.  Boston and Adelyn were able to get way more candy eggs than they needed, but left with beaming smiles on their face which is a mothers wish.  We went swimming at our pool after the egg hunt and then that night we set out our Easter baskets the kids had picked out.  Adelyn decided the Easter bunny needed a note like Santa Clause so she wrote him this very sweet letter. The letter said:
"Dear Easter Bunny,
Here are some Easter eggs we made for you. I like the Easter eggs with flowers and hearts and stripes.  Happy Easter."
She sounded out the words and wrote her letter all by herself.  She is learning so much in school. She then drew a picture of the Easter bunny. She has such a giving, creative heart.  Easter morning the kids awoke to candy all over the floor, full Easter baskets, and of course church clothes.  But I forgot to take a picture of the kids in their church clothes.  We then had the Jenkins and the Gatewood families over for Sunday dinner.  It was a wonderful Easter.  So grateful for my Savior and for what Easter really means.  Blessed!

 









Friday, March 22, 2013

Knottsberry Farm








We debated about going up to Utah this weekend, but figured we would be going up soon enough so we decided to take the kids to Knottsberry Farm.  We were all really excited.  The kids and I had never been, and Travis had not been for years and years.  Another first for our book.  We LOVED Knottsberry Farm.  The lines were not packed so waiting was not long...unlike its competitor.  They had a ton of little kid rides that both Boston and Adelyn had such a blast on and were both tall enough to go on.  We went to a Charlie Brown show (they had Charlie Brown characters put on plays) and also rode the real life steam train.  Overall, we had such a good time and made some fun memories.



Friday, March 15, 2013

Mel's Diner

Our ward here does the most lavish ward parties I have ever seen in my life.  The ward did "Mel's Diner... a 50's party".  We had talent coming out of the woodworks with members singing classic 50's songs, everyone was dressed up, a "newspaper" was created and each couple got one, we could order a hamburger, a grilled chicken sandwich, or a hot dog served with soda or water, and the decorations were insane.  Classic 50's pictures we printed with "Mel" (a ward member) standing next to Elvis and other famous folks.  A GINORMOUS dice was created and hung from the ceiling.  The entire ward went all out and dressed up.  Nikki, Marissa and I MADE our skirts and had a blast doing it.  Marissa's daughter watched our kids at our house and her 2 were here also, so the five kids kinda had their own party which made it easier to leave.  The whole was a success as you will see from the pictures.  Dave even brought his motorcycle (Boston loves Dave cuz he gave him a ride on his Harley which Boston is in love with).   Good times, good companies, great memories!

My Heartthrob

My Daddy-O
Me, Nikki and Marissa sporting our poodle skirts we slaved away until 12:30 pm making

Monday, March 4, 2013

Jog a Thon 2013

My athletic little girl ran in the annual Jog A Thon and ended up getting a BLUE RIBBON!  She ran the most laps of any of the girls in her class.  She ran 2. 75 miles (11 laps) in under 30 minutes.  This while she had to stop twice for falling, one of which times she had to quit running and go get a band-aid!  She is so determined.  That morning she told me she was going to run 10 laps and get a blue ribbon like she did last year.  To not get her hopes up too much I told her to just try her very best and that would be enough. But man!  She was determined to get the most laps and to win the ribbon.  I am so proud of her.  I am most proud that she made a goal and did everything she possibly could to reach that goal.  She will do great things in life with her attitude. Love her so much!  Congrats Adelyn!!




Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Chase Rowleys Came to Visit

Chase and Keisha went on a cruise with Keishas family, and then after the cruise they made the trek to SD to go to Sea World. Chase and Keisha called us and we met up for dinner.  Ryker is the cutest boy ever.  I cannot believe how much he has grown.  The kids had a blast at the ghetto Souplantation we ended up eating at for dinner, and it was so great to see Chase and his family.  We love family to come visit....hint, hint.



Disneyland 2009