To help you remember, last year Allison brought me the plan for her birthday party she wanted to have when she turned 10 a few weeks before so I had plenty of time to prepare. Her original party spanned several days and two nights with several outings planned each day. After some negotiating we chiseled it down to a full 24 hour party with two outings, and just one night of sleeping over.
Usually we do a bigger party every other year and then keep it to a little smaller family party in between with a little bigger present. Allison came to me with her birthday brainstorming before getting to into her planning to determine what I considered a ‘big party’ to be. I believe she clarified by saying, “What is the number of days difference to you for a big party or a small party?” She is a funny girl. I told to keep it small and she would get some cash for her present. Nothing motivates Allison more than cash money.
She was happy to oblige and she helped me plan a pool party with a few friends. They ate pizza, opened presents, had a silly string fight, swam while listening to music, then everyone went home. Except for Leah, she spent the night. I think it was a very successful birthday for her. The next day we went to a few stores to release some of the heat from Allison’s pockets because she had money burning a hole in them. She added to her pop it and fidget collection that is getting pretty large.
Avery, Allie, Allison, Hailey, Leah
We had a family dinner with local Terry’s on Sunday as well, which she loved. She is now 11. Going to be starting 6th grade and ready to take on the next year of her life. Happy Birthday Allison!
This girl keeps our life from being dull. Allison just started 6th grade this year and she is loving it. She is one step closer to being an adult which she has been looking forward to since she was 2 years old. Allison sees the world differently then the rest of us. She is creative and smart and keeps us on our toes.
At the end of last year we had her tested and moved to a more advanced Math class. Her brain loves math and she incorporates it into anything she does from planning her day to doing the dishes. She is learning the cello this year in orchestra. She is still doing gymnastics and moved up to level six this summer.
She can be one of the wittiest and funniest people I know, or one of the grumpiest. Whatever emotion she is feeling is level 10. There is no lower gear for her. For a while it seemed like her and I just butted heads constantly but I see more and more of Allison’s pleasant and reasonable side lately.
Allison loves a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. She is my only kiddo that will eat a fruit or vegetable without any prompting-just because she likes them. She is amazing at making cookies and brownies. She usually keeps our house stocked with them, which is awesome. She has a tough outer shell but her inside is sweet and caring and very thoughtful. When we are driving around if we see any cat or dog without a leash on-even if it is most likely in it’s own yard-she wants to stop the car immediately and save it from whatever it needs to be ‘rescued’ from. She is very responsible when she wants to be. She takes care of Peanut her guinea pig everyday without any reminding. When we go out of town she arranges for someone to take care of him and leaves them copious amounts of notes on the proper way to feed him.
Crafting is another thing Allison enjoys doing. She is often decorating or creating some art for her room (or Emilee’s if it doesn’t meet her standards when she is done 😂) If I have something I need to make or get ready for Primary she is always willing to help and does a great job at it.
It is a treat to watch her grow up. Allison will be a mountain mover in whatever she decides to invest her time and energy in.
Our 2021 Summer has officially begun. This will definitely be remembered as one of the weirdest school years ever I am sure. Of the three big school districts around our area, I am glad our kids were in the district we were in. They handled COVID the best as far as keeping kids in school as much as possible and getting things back to normal as quickly as possible. There was a lot of frustrations. Matthew was doing school virtually from home almost half the year and his grades and psyche struggled a lot because of it. The girls principal was ridiculous before COVID and used this as an opportunity to control and regulate EVERYTHING she could possibly think of. Compared to other districts I am glad I was in the one we were in though. I hope next year we can put all this behind us and have a good year.
Emilee finished 2nd grade this year. She had Mrs. Trimble. Allison also had this teacher and I specifically requested Emilee NOT have her. As I mentioned earlier though they have a special principal and her and I are not…fans of each other. Anyway, despite having a teacher that doesn’t seem to like kids or teaching, Emilee made it through the year without her anxiety getting to out of control. We were able to help curb her stress in the morning before going to school with a straight up bribe. A dollar each day she was able to not panic and cry about going to school the day night or morning before school. Best dollars I ever spent. The last week of school I went to a nail appointment and guess who I ran into?! Mrs. Trimble getting her nails done in the middle of a school day because she “just had to take a break from it all.” She didn’t see me, I just overheard her talking to the person doing her nails. I digress though. Emilee is done with second grade and is looking forward to 3rd!
Award day.
Field Day
Last day of school.
Allison finished 5th grade this year and is moving onto middle school next year! The dollar bribe worked so well with Emilee I bribed Allison a dollar each day that she got up in the morning and ready and made it to the bus on time without blowing up on anyone. We had a 50/50 percent success rate but I will still count it as a win. As per usual Allison had a love/hate relationship with her teacher, Mrs. Brown. I liked her though and thought she understood Allison pretty well. She also helped us realize that Allison was literally ‘gating’ her performance instead of performing at her top potential. She talked with us about this and we ended up getting her tested and she is now in the gifted program for math, science, and reading which I think will improve Allison’s attitude toward school a lot as she will not be bored out of her mind anymore. We had several meetings and talks with teachers and counselors (oddly never the principal) and were able to get her evaluated without her knowing-and purposefully sabotaging herself. After the fact, when we were discussing all of this with Allison and trying to explain what the phrase ‘shooting ones self in the foot’ means, I would say we didn’t get a full representation of her capabilities but enough that she is now on the school radar and we can challenge her better. I am hoping she will thrive in middle school with a little more freedom and more variety to her day. She is looking forward to it a lot.
1st day of 5th grade
Graduation Day!
Graduation Day
Award Day
80’s Day
Hawaiian Day
Matthew finished 8th grade this year and will be starting his first year of high school next year! Between mask requirements for school sports, and breaking his leg Matthew didn’t play any school sports this year- which is very unusual for him. Luckily he still had baseball and basketball outside of school (before he broke his leg) but he is excited to be able to be more involved next year. Despite COVID changes and no matter how ridiculous they got at times, he was able to finish the year on a positive note. I am nervous and excited for him to start high school. He is a good boy. If I can help guide him through the next 4 years of his life without huge mistakes or permanent scars and a strong testimony of Christ I will be a happy momma.
Peanut took a trip to the vet this week. Allison was concerned with his foot and thought his belly was bothering him so I appeased her by taking him in for a checkup. He is doing about as great as can be expected for a guinea pig. The Doctor (who ironically is extremly allergic to guinea pigs) said she is doing a great job at taking care of him. They trimmed his nails while we were there to which I appreciated as Peanuts current nail trimmer.
She rewarded him with a new enclosure in his cage to burrow in. The old one was made of plastic. The new one is made of wood so he can snuggle in it and chew on it. He is a well loved Guinea Pig.
Allison had her first of three meets this past weekend. Each gymnast is only allowed to bring two people so she invited me and Grandpa. It was in Blue Springs which is about 50 minutes away and it was snowing so it was an exciting drive to and from. Grandpa wanted to drive but I insisted so his blood pressure was a little high while we were in the car but we all survived. It was nice to have his company while we watched Allison do her events.
She took 10th in the whole meet overall, 6th on the floor routine. She did really good on the Vault and Uneven bars as well. The beam was a bit of a struggle for her this time, she fell off twice but she has another meet in a few weeks and is looking forward to getting a better score on that.
We went to dinner afterwards at Culver’s and Grandpa got us all a yummy bacon cheeseburger.
We got back Allison’s team gymnastic pictures. She has the prints hanging up in her room, but I took a picture of the pictures to have in the family blog.
She set a goal to work on her back flip, tuck, and handspring this year. Last week on the trampoline she got it down. She has had the skills for a while, she has been working on the nerves to trust herself and do it. She has a couple nasty trampoline burns on her face but she is confident enough to do them well on the trampoline now. Next step is applying it to land.
Allison struggled with knowing what she wanted to ask for for Christmas this year. Ryan and I decided that she would like to have an experience and make some memories instead of a physical gift. We came up with an indoor sky diving experience. Luckily we were right, and she was thrilled.
Shortly after the new year we scheduled her sky diving experience. It was for her and one other person so she asked me to go with her.
It was a lot of fun, it was a lot harder then we thought it would be, we were exhausted when we were done and sore the next day. It was loud and cold. But it was worth it and we had a good time. We haven’t told the rest of the family yet but we got a good deal on a family skydiving package when we were done so we got that and will take everyone sometime soon. We are waiting for Matthew’s leg to heal.
I was making dinner and cooking something on the stove. I looked up and saw a little message for me on the microwave. Allison left it for me. Sweet girl. It made my day.
Allison started gymnastic when she was about 4 years old for fun. A few years ago she decided that she wanted to get a little more serious with it and start competing. We switched to a different gym and she had to get to a certain level before she could compete in meets. She worked for almost a year and made the team to start competing. The week before she started her team practices she broke her arm and wasn’t able to compete that season. When she was cleared she was a little behind again and had to do some catch up again. She was almost caught up and then COVID put a hold on everything for a few months. Even though she couldn’t go to class for a few months she worked at home to stay limber and work on getting better at her stuff. Once they started back again she made Team 4, she worked really hard again and in August right before school started they asked her if she would be interested in competing and moving up to Team 5. She was pretty excited and she has worked really hard and gotten a lot better. After 2 1/2 years of setting her goal to start competing in meets with a team, she had her first meet this past weekend! She did a great job and it was fun to watch her. Dad and I were the only ones aloud to go in person and watch because COVID is still raining on everyone’s fun, but I was able to record it and we watched it with the family when we got home and sent it to grandparents and other people. Dad and I are both proud of her for working hard and accomplishing her goal. She thought it was pretty fun and wants to keep doing more and getting better.
Church is still not back to normal yet. Each Stake is doing things a little different depending on how it best works for them. Our ward has been having very small groups of people attend church each week. This past week they have changed it a bit and now the ward is split in half so you will go every other week and then do your own at home every other week. In the past, every year in October the Primary Children do a sacrament program to share what they have been learning in Primary. They sing songs and have little speaking parts they share. It is one of my favorite sacrament meetings of the year.
This year I am the Primary President so it is my job to put the program together with my presidency. Most wards have canceled it due to COVID, some have done a virtual program. We decided to put together a virtual program for those kids that wanted to participate. I will plan on attaching it to this post when it is complete. The girls did their part for it today. They each wrote an answer to a question. Emilee’s was, how can I keep my baptismal covenants? Allison’s was, how can I teach others about Christ?
