Moments of the week.

This has been a good week. I have tried to focus on ‘the little things’ more and enjoy the moments. There have been lots of good moments.

Allison has day camp coming up for Girl Scouts. They are supposed to make little trinkets called ‘swaps’ to pin to their hats and trade with each other all week. They suggested that each girl bring 15-20 of them to have ready to trade. Alli and I did some research together and found some cute ones she wanted to make and then we went to Hobby Lobby and got all the supplies for them. We have worked on them a little bit for the past few nights. She has at least 35 now. She is pretty excited. She is counting down the days until camp. The one on the left is a cotton candy swap, the middle one is a ‘squishum’, and the right side is a slime stress ball of course. It wouldn’t be right if slime weren’t involved somehow.

Emilee and I went to the Zoo together. She has wanted to go for a while but the weather or our schedule hasn’t cooperated. Usually we go with a group but it was just the two of us so she got to sit on any statue she saw, choose where we sat on the train, tram, and skyfari, and pick all the animals she wanted to see. Today we made cookies together too. I let her measure everything herself even though I had almost the same amount of flour on the floor as the cookies did when we were done.

With Matthew I have cornered him a few times and made him talk with his mom. He tries to act like it is an inconvenience but he loves it. Once he starts talking he just keeps going and going. He is good at including all the details he can recall. He had a double header tonight. He has been working hard on hitting lately and he has decided he wants to start working on pitching too. He had some great hits tonight but his play of the game was when he was playing 2nd and the hitter hit a line drive a little to Matthew’s left. Matthew ran at it then leaped and caught it in mid air and closed the inning. It was pretty awesome. He got a standing cheering ovation from me and the rest of the parents of course but he even had parents from the other team coming over and telling him what an amazing catch it was. He was pretty happy.

 

Sixteen years!!

Ryan and I celebrated our 16th anniversary on May 4th this year. I can’t believe it has been 16 years!! We went to a movie and dinner and talked a lot about what we have done and how are lives have been since we got married. We reminiced about our first one bedroom apartment, finishing school, then our first home, our kids, jobs, life events. Some of them seem like just yesterday, some of them I didn’t even remember. Some things I wish we could do again, others I am glad they have come and gone.

I am glad that I have been through all of them with Ryan though. He is a perfect match for me. I am glad we are happy and have built a good life together. I am glad we get to have each other forever.

5th Grade Concerts and Awards

Matthew is finishing up his last year in elementary school. Our school district has a building just for the 6th graders right now, and they are building a new middle school right next to the elementary school that will be finished for him to go to 7th and 8th grade at. He will be riding the bus and going to into Springhill for school next year. He is pretty excited. He is looking forward to switching classes and having more classes. He is pretty pumped to have PE everyday too. I think elementary school is a little to slow of a pace for him sometimes. I think he has made some good buddies and it should be a good experience for him. He has decided to stop with violin and piano. He did his required (by me) year and isn’t that big of a fan of either of them. I wish he would pick one of them to stick with, he did decide to do choir though, so he will still have some music in his life. He had his choice of four electives, two each semester. He ended up choosing STEM, a full year of choir, and Art.

This past week the band and orchestra did their end of the year concerts and the whole 5th grade did their musical performance. It was a fun time. The kids were all excited to be ‘graduating’ and moving up to 6th grade. After the performances they did the end of the year awards for everyone. All the kids got a candy award from their teacher. Matthew’s was the Baby Ruth Award, because he knows all things baseball. Most kids got a Continental Math Award, he got it for participating in a specific Math competition. They had Silver, Gold and Platinum Reading awards. Matthew recieved the Platinum Reading Award, he had to read a minimum of 3600 pages this year to get it. He actually read almost 10,000 pages thanks to his love of Harry Potter and reading the entire series twice this year among all the other books he read. Each teacher also picks a Student of the Month. Matthew has already gotten his classroom, PE, and music student of the month earlier this year. For the awards night he also recieved the Orchestra Student of the Month award. To earn that one you go above and beyond to work hard and do well in class and are a good friend and kind and considerate to everyone. The last award he got only about 10 kids out of the 97 kids in the 5th grade earned. It was the Presidential Award for straight A’s. Matthew thought it was pretty cool that the Presidents signature was actually on it, and the pin he got with it is from The President as well.

I was a proud momma. He is a good kid and works hard at doing a good job when he does things. The amazing part is that I really don’t have to nag him to do it either. For the most part he is responsible and takes care of his homework, school assignments, and projects and other responsibilities without me having to tell him. I have had to fight him on practicing his instruments, but he can always play his music he is supposed to, he just doesn’t go above and beyond for those. I am proud of him and his hard work. He is turning into a great young man.

This happened later in the month but I’m sticking it here with all of his other 5th grade stuff. Matthew decided to play some of his songs he learned for the talent show.

Alli our artist

These are a few of Alli’s most recent art projects she has brought home from school. Allison is our little artist. She is very creative and when she does a craft for the first time it is usually at a level it took me several tries to get to. She is good at drawing, painting, chalks, making things from clay, or anything else. The other day she raided my craft drawer and is working on making a bird house out of popsicle sticks. She has a sweet little heart and can be very thoughtful. She often makes cards for everyone in her class at school and puts them in everyone’s cubbies at school.

I was talking with my mom today and was telling her that Alli started out good but took a quick turn and had a rough morning. Allison is so passionate, there is no middle ground for her feelings, whatever they are. She has always been like that. She has a very strong personality. She is very much like my sister Sherri. In fact it is almost eerie how similar they are. It is amazing how genetics can come through from different family members. My mom made the comment that she hopes Alli will realize how special she is. I couldn’t agree more. I worry for her that she is so harsh and defensive sometimes because she is unsure of herself.  I pray everyday that I can help her develop a strong sense of self worth. She is very smart, she has a very quick wit and funny sense of humor. She can be the sweetest, most helpful little girl. She loves it when there is a little baby or toddler around so she can follow them around and help take care of them. She doesn’t have a shy bone in her, and is a natural leader. She loves trying new things. She likes knowing whats going on and being in on whatever people are talking about or doing. She tells me all the latest news from school for 2nd grade and 5th. She likes to walk home with a bunch of the girls in 5th grade with Matthew. I signed her up for a singing/acting/stunt show camp this summer. I think she will totally love it. Drama, drama, drama is what she loves. She likes to know everyone and their stories but she tends to have a few closer friends instead of a big group of friends. And when Allison decides you are her friend and she feels like she trusts you, you have her loyalty forever. She has a great memory. She is a strong determined beautiful little girl. I hope and pray she realizes and knows that. I am excited to see her grow into her potential.

KC T-Bones Sizzler Tournament Champions

The weather has not been very cooperative so far this season. We have had several games and a tournament canceled because of rain, snow, and cold. This past week we had our first enjoyable regular season game on Thursday and then the weekend was our first baseball tournament. The weather was almost perfect, the boys were in it to win it. It was an awesome weekend. I really enjoy watching Matthew play. We stuck gold with this team we are on now. It is exactly what we were looking for. The head coach is awesome with the boys, he is knowledgable, consistent, level headed, good natured, good all around person. The other coaches are great too. The boys are a great fit for Matthew. They are helping him come out of his shell a little more. They all LOVE baseball, they are all talented and work hard to get better at it, they are good natured and have fun but listen when it is time to get serious and want to be competitive. The icing on the cake is the parents and families are pretty much all on the same page supporting the team, being positive, and fun to hang around with. For the most part we are all similar in our goals for wanting the boys to have fun playing baseball while learning some important life lessons like; hard work, applying yourself, dealing with success and failure, friendship, teamwork, dedication, self discipline, having confidence in yourself, etc. All these things make spending 12+ hours at a basball field enjoyable and fun. The girls have each made friends with some of the other siblings and have their snacks, toys, other items they want with them down to a science. They watch a little but then go play at the park, or explore around the fields with their friends. I had the pleasure of Ryan’s company for Fall Ball, but he has now become one of the assistant coaches so he can be in the thick of everything more. He loves doing baseball with Matthew. I think we are making some great memories.

The pictures above were taken by one of the moms who is a photographer. She takes some great pictures of the boys during their games and then shares them with us so we can have them. It is pretty awesome.

So the tournament was a great time, everyone watching was full of peanuts, popcorn and icees, a little sunburned, very dusty, emotionally drained, and raspy voices from cheering so much. Matthew and Ryan could easily recount every play and at bat for the entire weekend but I will summerize by saying by the end all the coaches and players were full of sunflower seeds, bubble gum, water, a little sunburned, covered in dirt, sore from bumps and bruises, physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted and over the moon excited that they won. Matthew played 2nd base for all the games except for a few innings they switched things around and he did short stop, center field, and pitcher. He had some great pop fly and line drive catches. With the exception of one game all the boys were pretty much on point and doing great in their positions. Matthew had several double hits, of course singles, several walks, and luckily only one hit from the pitcher to advance to first. I believe his batting average was 500 at the end of the tournament. He is still dying to get a home run, he did hit one to the fence but hasn’t made it over yet. He is excellent at stealing bases, and just running in general. He loves that one of his nicknames is Cheetah. He proves he is the fastest one on the team regularly in practice. Allison added another nickname to the list by calling him Cheetoh instead of Cheetah. When other people started using it too sometimes she was very proud of herself. I have to agree it is a funny thing for a sister to do.

 

Days can be long but the years are short.

I think this time of year with Spring finally coming and things blooming and changing and getting to be outside more and summer getting close and the school year starting to wrap up I start to feel naustalgic.  We have a few months left before we officially finish up the toddler phase of our family and enter the everyone is in school all day phase of our family. It is a bitter sweet feeling. On the obvious side of the perks of having the kids at school and the time that opens up to get stuff done faster and get to things that have been put off for a long time that will be nice. It will be nice to be able to get stuff done so once they get home I can focus on just them and not have other distractions. On the other hand though I will really miss having some company during the day. For the last 12 years of my life I have had at least one of my kids with me for the majority if not all of the day. This is going to be a big change. Things just aren’t the same once they start school, everything speeds up.

I remember before Matthew started kindergarten I thought the parents that said they cried when they took their kids to school for the first time were kind of weird. I envisioned myself doing a cartwheel. Then I took Matthew to kindergarten and I wasn’t crying (ok, I cried when I got home) but it pulled at my heart strings a lot more than I expected. He had been my buddy. He is such a good kid too. He is so kind and pleasant to be around. His cute little giggle and adorable smile. He loved to play and run and do whatever I was doing. He is a thinker and is good at making people around him feel good. One of my favorite memories of Matthew is when he was about 18 months pushing his little bubble lawn mower next to his dad and wearing one of Ryan’s hats while Ryan mowed the lawn. I remember watching them and wishing I could push pause on time for a while. Contrast that to yesterday while Ryan and I were working in the yard and Matthew was riding MY bike in circles in the driveway while he talked with us. He is still an amazing kid but he is starting to get a little teenager in him and doesn’t want to hang out as much as he used to or has a lot of things going on with friends and baseball that keep him busy.

Allison was my saving grace when Matthew started kindergarten. She was still home with me to keep me company. With her little determined independent self accompanied by her cute little bouncing blond pony tails she has always been a force to be wreckened with. She has always been ready to go out and explore the world around her. I could put Matthew and Emilee on a blanket on the grass and they wouldn’t leave because they didn’t like the poky grass. Allison never paused for a second, she would immediatley take off to explore through whatever terrain surrounded her. Her being the middle child Emilee was on her way so she didn’t get as much one on one as everyone else. But we still had many fun times together at the park, or on walks, or story time at the library, playgroup, and anything else we did. She was very good to Emilee and liked to take care of her and help with what she needed. Allison was only going to be five by a couple weeks when she started kindergarten so she only did one year of preschool. She really is an independent person and wants to do everything her older brother does so she had no problem starting school and never looked back. I am more of a home body and she is the exact opposite so sometimes it is exhausting for me to keep her satified with getting out and doing things but I am glad she is that way. She is already great at making things happen instead of waiting for things to happen.

Matthew and Alli were only half day kindergarten, which I thought was perfect for them. Last year was the last year Kansas did half day kindergarten so when Emilee starts next Fall she will be gone all day. I think she will do fine with it. She will be almost six when she starts and has reached the stage where she wants more social interaction and activities going on during the day. I am the one that is going to struggle with it. Emilee is a joyful easy companion. She is fun to take pretty much wherever I go. She has done preschool a few days a week the past two years but it will be very different to have her gone all day. She is my little buddy. I will miss having her joyful little self skipping around the house. I have been feeling a little glum lately wanting to push a pause button on time again. When I got her preschool pictures back it got me thinking about it all again.

I love watching my kids and discovering the traits they were born with from day one and the things they learn and develop along the way. I know I am not done with that either, like I said it is just changing. When we left the baby phase for good, I was a little sad about that too. Our new phase has its perks too. It is pretty easy to hop in the car and go places now. Our Florida trip really was pretty nice, everyone can entertain themselves and can handle being in the car all day. The girls still need a little help but everyone can get themselves ready for things for the most part. I also like them being able to explain and talk things through more, and have a few more reasoning skills.

To sum up, I am happy and gratful I get to be a mom, and I get to be a mom that gets to stay home with her kids. The sleepless nights, blow-outs, being thrown up on, crying, tantrums, fits, sickness, messes, diaper changes, days without a shower, no adult interaction, reading the same book 50 times in a row, singing the ABC’s ‘one more time’, and all the other exhausting sometimes mind numbing activities that aren’t the easiest part of being a mom are completely worth every hug, smile, kiss, giggle, snuggle, laugh, joyful discovery, dried tear, fixed ouchie, silly, funny, happy, once in a lifetime moments that come along with it.

Here is some of my favorite moments from the past few years.

 

 

FAT Adventures LLC is born.

A few years back we were on vacation in Island Park, Idaho. For part of it we went camping with Kenny and Sherri in Yellowstone National Park. While we were there Ryan noticed how many RV’s were around and started making a business plan with Kenny. At the time the French’s were living in Idaho so we were trying to get logistics worked out for having our own RV Rental business. There were some hitches in how we wanted things to work, and then the French’s moved to Florida. RV Renting fell to the wayside for a few years. We still talked about it and Ryan was ready to do it if it was ever possible. When we went to Florida in March he and Kenny were joking about finally starting the RV business when we came to visit. One night we went to dinner without the kiddos and started talking about it. We quickly started thinking that we had a pretty ideal set up to start it. Kenny and Sherri have a big lot they could keep it on and Kenny could service and turn them over. So we decided to do it. When we got home we all started working on different things to get the business underway. A week later we had our LLC submitted and approved and an RV bought and listed to rent with supplies on the way to get her ready for renters, and the month of April completely booked with more bookings coming in almost daily. It has been a pretty crazy process. I am glad there are four of us to split the work load. I am focusing on our website/social media/accounting stuff.  Our first one was booking so well that we decided to get two more right away.  So a little into our second week we had three RV’s, a website, Facebook Page, logo, and software for booking and accounting rolling out.  It has been pretty exciting to work on too. Every time things start to settle it seems like we think of more things that need to be done or we want to do. I am going to flat out pat myself on the back for the website.  I impressed myself that I managed to get a fully functional pretty decent website up and running! That is not my wheel house at all. Ryan and Kenny are now talking about how to get this growing even more.

We named our little business FAT Adventures. Which has a few thoughts behind it. One is a play on words that we want to help people have a FAT adventure using the slang meaning of the word Phat. Another is the acronym with French and Terry. We also wanted a name that wasn’t specifically for RV’s because eventually we hope to expand and have homes and storage facilities for rent too.

So, as I mentioned it is pretty exciting. I have learned a ton already. I am excited this is something I can work on from home too. Even though all my kids will be in school next year all day, I still want to be home when they come home and get to be with them during that time. So far this seems to have the potential to grow and really take off. We are all crossing our fingers it will be a success. We also named our RV’s so it is easier to keep track of them the picture below is our first one. We call it Cowboy, we have a slightly smaller one we call Li’l Sebastian, and a big one we call Moose.

 

Pottery Making…try one.

I have always wanted to try pottery making with a wheel. I have thought about taking a class on the community college once the kids are in school. I decided to look into any businesses that offer it around here and found one! The lady that does it offers a weekly month long class, or she has a ‘try it’ night, once or twice a month. So I asked some friends to go with me and last night Lauren and Alysa Wada went to a class and had our first try at making pottery.  I loved it! I was okay at it, I think I could be pretty good at it with practice. The instructor taught us to make a vase, a bowl, and a plate. My vase was looking pretty good and then the top flew off because it got to thin and twisted. I would have preferred starting over but instead the instructor salvaged what was left…I think it ended up looking more like an ash tray than a vase. My bowl ended up looking very similar to my ash tray vase but a better version. My plate was pretty good but when next to the others looked like a squashed ash tray. So I was a little frustrated with my end products but I loved doing it and would want to do it again. Her weekly classes are not at a very convenient time for me right now, but hopefully someday I will be able to take one of her month long classes.  We weren’t able to trim them last night either because of time constraints, so the instructor will do the trimming, put it in the kiln, and then stain it for us with the color we picked. Then we go pick them back up in a few weeks. She said once they are trimmed they will look a lot less like an ash tray. It was a fun night. I have always wanted to try it, and now I want to try it again!

No more training wheels.

When Matthew was 5 he asked us to take his training wheels off and we helped him get started once and he was good to go. I was shocked at how fast he got it. Allison was almost 5 and we were in Utah visiting Aunt DeAnna and her family. We would ride bikes out front several times a day. They had one of those balancing bikes with no peddles. Alli had been trying it for a few days and then tried a regular bike and took off. We like to go on family bike rides, and last summer I sold our bike trailor to someone because it was getting to hard to drag Emilee behind us. The next bike ride we went on Emilee rode her bike along with us with her training wheels. As we all know it takes a lot more work to ride a bike with training wheels than without them. At the beginning of the ride she was singing and loving it, about halfway through she was wailing and crying at how stupid bike rides where and saying she never ever wanted to go on another bike ride. We made it home and told her it was time to start working on no training wheels. She practiced through the Fall until it got to cold to ride a bike. She could do it but then started thinking to much and over correcting and eventually crashed. We tried again a few weeks ago and she was doing much better but couldn’t get started on her own and still got nervous with turning sometimes. Last weekend Alli spent a little time working with her and it finally clicked. She can start, stop, turn around and do anything else she needs. Of course she loves it. I remember how exciting it felt when I was learning to ride my bike and it finally clicked and all of the sudden I could just do it.  It is fun remembering and seeing these little milestones as they grow up. Between Emilee learning to ride her bike and loosing her first tooth, I am a little overwhelmed lately with how fast time flies and before you know it your babies aren’t babies and your toddlers aren’t toddlers and your son is almost a young man. So crazy.

 

Another example of time going to fast is Emilee had her Kindergarten Round Up, last week. The school has all the incoming Kindergartners come to the school and see the class rooms and meet the teachers and see the library and lunch room. They have several activities for them to do too while the parents fill out all of the paper work. I was actually at a dental conference so Ryan took her. She is pretty shy in new situations but went to the activities and did what everyone else was doing when it was time. Matthew and Alli were in half day Kindergarten. They have changed things around since then and there isn’t really a half day option anymore, so Emilee will be going full day. She will be almost 6 when she starts in the Fall and has done a few years of preschool so I think she will be just fine but I feel like I am getting shorted out of my time of having her at home with me.

Sunday afternoons.

This year our church starts at 8 a.m. I will not lie, this is not out favorite time of the week. We try to have everyone shower and lay clothes out and get as much ready the night before but it doesn’t always happen. We have occasionally made it and gotten sat down right before the person conducting starts the meeting, but more often than not we are a few minutes late. Once we actually get to church though, I am liking the 8 a.m. time. The kids are fresh and more alert and usually have eaten enough breakfast that they are fine until we get home to go without a snack. Then we get home and have the rest of the day to enjoy our sabbath day of rest. As the kids are getting older and our schedules are getting more hectic I am really starting to appreciate even more having Sunday as our day to step back, relax from the daily grind and enjoy our church and family time.

We have gotten into the routine of coming home and making a breakfast meal for lunch. Then anyone that wants to can take a little nap, usually its just Ryan and I but  occasionally one of the others will decide to nap. The non-nappers read or play quietly together. Unless we do a family movie or AFV episode together, we have decided to not have any electronics on Sunday. This is probably a little bit of a ‘haha!’ moment for my parents. When I was in about 3rd grade I remember them telling us there would be no more TV on Sundays. I remember saying and thinking many times that it was a dumb idea and I would never do that when I was older. Of course my kids whine and try and think of every possible reason or excuse to make just watching TV like normal a good family building experience. That is some of their best bonding and playing together time of the week though. I love hearing them decide what game to play together and spending some quality time with each other.

After naps we all play games together, read books together, make a dessert together, things like that. Sometimes we make a treat and then invite another family or two to come over that evening and help us eat it. One of our favorite treats is to help Ryan make his Grandma Groom’s cinnamon rolls. Ryan is the one who likes to cook of the two of us so he usually cooks a nice dinner for us on Sundays too. After dinner and dishes if we don’t have someone come over we watch America’s Funniest Videos together while we eat popcorn (preferably air popped). If our Monday night is busy the next day sometimes we have FHE on Sunday night too. We try and get a little one on one time with the kids on Sunday also.

Its just a nice day. I am grateful for Heavenly Father’s wisdom in giving us the Sabbath day to rest from the daily grind and chaos of the other six days of the week and recharge. I love having the whole day to focus on the Savior and family.