Ryan and I went and watched a few of Matthew’s old baseball team mates playing in a college game. It was fun to see a baseball game again with a few players and parents we knew. I took a picture to send to Matt after the game.
Baseball Game
Tag: Matthew
2026
Here we go! A new year of experiences, growing, changing, learning, and memories to add to our lives.
Emilee went to Arkansas for the last part of 2025 and spent a few days with her cousin Lizzy. They had a great time and loved getting to be together. She was with them for New Year Eve and we picked her up New Year Day. We hadn’t opened presents yet so when she got home we opened some with her. Our family pajama pants this year were Dr. Pepper pants. Some of us are very big fans of Dr. Pepper. And speaking of things that people are big fans of, Emilee is also a big fan of Bluey…the cartoon for preschool kids…but there is apparently a big following of middle school kids that love it too. She got a pair of Bluey pajama pants for Christmas and she got her dad a pair for Christmas so we had to get that on camera.
A few days after the New Year it was warm enough to practice shooting her bow so we went outside and used the new target she got for Christmas.
Matthew is now in his Black Out Year. It is a term missionaries use for the year of their mission that they are gone from home for the whole 365 days of the year. The crappy part of that is the definition I just gave you. The silver lining is when it is done it will be just a few more months until he comes home. He is doing really well. His Portuguese gets better everyday and he is learning and growing a lot. We are proud of him and excited for the opportunities he is having. He is missed a lot. We went to dinner the other night at Costa Vida where he used to work. He called us while we were there and talked to some of the people he used to work with which he thought was awesome. On the way there we made this video for him so he could hear one of his favorite songs and see some of the Kansas sunset. Allison was in the car with us but didn’t want to be in the video.
Allison is working hard at wrestling. She is doing early morning practices and spends most of her weekends at meets. The most recent meet at Blue Valley North West she took 3rd place. Here is a video of her at a match in Topeka.
Emilee is still doing her weekly riding lesson. She moved to a new barn this year. She is getting pretty good and comfortable on a horse. It is fun to watch her.
Christmas and the New Year In Escada
Matthew is going to have to go through these pictures and label them with names and places when he gets home. He tells me about them when we talk on the phone but by the time I get the picture downloaded and on here, it is hard to remember all the details. These are more pictures of his time in Escada. The Bishop and his wife are really good at taking care of them it sounds like. They make sure they are fed each day. On Christmas and New Year Eve day they went to the Bishops. For Christmas Eve they went to another members house for a celebration. It looks like a beautiful area. They have Cana (I believe that is what he calls it) here. It is pure sugar water squeezed from sugar cane. Matthew-our soda addicted child- loves it and likes to stress me out by telling me it is healthy because it is ‘natural’ and even better than soda while he drinks a 24 ounce glass of it for dinner. I told him it is like getting hit by a truck or a car, it doesn’t really matter, neither is good for you.
We got to video call with him a lot on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Years Eve and Day. That was nice. I think he was a little lonely and home sick so I am glad he could spend a part of his day talking with us. Since he is three hours ahead of us we actually got to celebrate midnight with him on New Years. He watched a lot of fireworks from his apartment. They live on the third floor so they had a good view. Time zones are a weird thing. For three hours, he was not just three hours ahead of us he was in a different year than us. Isn’t that crazy?!
Matthew said there was a mini Zone Conference they went to in Recife this week. The current Mission President- President Martins and his wife will be done in July. The new President and a member of the seventy came to this meeting to introduce themselves and see some of the mission.
Matthew’s Mission Plaque
Each missionary that goes on a mission has a plaque made with their picture and scripture of their choice and their mission on it. It hangs in the church on a wall while they are gone and they get it when they get home. Matthew’s had arrived and was hanging on the wall when I checked a few weeks ago.
Matthew’s Last Pre-Mission Days
When we got back from Gulf Shores, that meant it was just a few days, eleven to be exact until Matthew started his mission. Just like the Summer they flew by way to fast.
Matthew went through the temple on August 2nd. It was a special day. He had the Terry, Jones, and Torgerson grandparents, and his aunt and uncles-Dave, Jen, Ross and Lauren come with him along with us. Bishop Sirois also came. When I went through the temple for the first time it was a little overwhelming and I wasn’t very well prepared. Matthew said he thought it was exactly what he was expecting it to be. I was very impressed and grateful for the Covenant Prep class, and Bishop Sirois’ personal temple prep class he did along with us to help Matthew be prepared and understand more about what he was committing to do before he went.
We got there a little early and took some pictures outside. They make a plaque for each missionary with their picture, a favorite scripture of theirs and where they are serving their mission. Matthew wanted his picture for his plaque to be at the temple with the Brazil flag.
When we were done, we all took a group picture together outside and then went to lunch together at a Greek restaurant called Meddi’s.
The last week was pretty busy. The girls were getting ready for school. We did some last minute shopping to make sure everyone had everything they needed for school or the mission. Nadia and a few of her brothers-Jesse and Alex- came up to spend a few days. Matt had one last night with his high school friends before most of them left for college. We just tried to cram as many ‘one last time’ things in we wanted to do with Matthew. Most of them revolved around what he wanted to eat. Ryan grilled lots of steak-specifically picanha. Our family went to a Brazilian steak house called Fogo de Chao with Grandpa Terry and Campbell. One of the favorite meats we had there was picanha, so we got some to grill on our own a few nights afterwards. We had lots of Costa Vida and K-macho’s. Matthew really loves food. One of our last Sunday dinners with the Terry’s we did a root beer tasting contest. Matthew, dad and the girls went golfing together. There was also a lot of just following Matthew around, especially from me. Probably driving him crazy but he didn’t show it. He let me sit by him, hug him and talk with him as much as I could. We went to a couple missionary welcome homes too. His buddy Bret Sawaya came home from Brazil, and Tanner Lewis came home from Saratoga Utah.
We tried to make the most of it. I know I am going to miss Matthew A LOT, we all will. He is a big piece of our family and two years is a long time. This past year, I have tried to enjoy all the memories we have made and not focus on it being ‘the last’ or focusing on the sad part of that. I wanted to enjoy the moments and remember them as happy, not crying or sad about it meaning we were getting closer to him leaving everyday. I did pretty good and we made lots of great happy memories. When it got to about a month out, it started to get a little harder to do that. The last few days in August, I was pretty weepy. I still tried to push it off the sad part until later but it broke through more than I wanted. It is a surreal thing to have a child leave. It was like a real of his life going on in my head every time I look at him. I remember the first time I saw and held him, I could not believe we just left the hospital with a baby that was ours to keep forever. I remember him rolling around like a bowling pin learning to sit, then walk, then playing hide-n-seek, and watching Mickey Mouse Club house and laughing himself to tears about Goofy’s stinky shoes. I asked him on his 6th birthday if he would stop getting older and he said with all seriousness that he would do his best but he didn’t know how. Over the next few years I would remind him to stop growing up and he gave the same answer until he finally told me he wasn’t going to be able to but he will always give me hugs and love me. Countless trips to the zoo, learning all about animals. Hundreds of baseball games, basketball, football, racing his dad each year on his birthday. Thousands of memories. Its been 18 years, almost 19 now, but it really feels like no time at all. The hardest part of his mission I think for me will be not physically being with him and able to hug him for two years. Ugg, that is such a long time. It wasn’t perfect but I think we were able to be present in the moment and enjoy Matthew and the last few days with him as much as we could.
Summer Kick Off
Memorial Day weekend usually feels like the kick off to Summer for us. This year is was cold and rainy, so it was a bit of a ‘waawaa’ kick off but it was still Summer! The first few weeks were unusually cool and lots of rain, it wasn’t really hot until almost the end of June, we still squeezed in fun stuff.
Allison started her Summer with Girl Scout Day camp. She was a youth leader again this year so they had a few sleep overs in addition to just the day camp that the younger girls do. The theme this year was the Lorax from Dr Suess and Allison kept her streak of winning the swap award for her creative swaps she makes. They recommend bring 10-20 swaps. Allison always makes about 100 and this year she came home and made more because people were seeking her out wanting her swaps and she ran out.
After GS camp, she had a wrestling camp that she did. then she was off to Florida for a few weeks to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa Jones. They love having her and she loves going.
When she got back from Florida, her and Leah had a Creative Camp for kids age 4-12 that they planned and did together. They did a really good job. They had 10 kids sign up and their crafts were pretty awesome. I was impressed with their organization and planning and carrying the whole thing out. They are both really great with kids.
Emilee has been reading, hanging out with friends and swimming as much as she can. She started the Summer by going to Arkansas and spending the week with her cousin Lizzy at her house and then a few days at Mimi’s house. They have a pool in their back yard so they love being able to swim whenever they feel like it. She has been playing softball. She did a rec team this year, and quickly decided that she would rather do a competitive team again so we signed her up for tryouts in July.
When she got back from Arkansas she had horse camp for a week. She still enjoys it but she is becoming a fair weather horse rider. If it is to hot or to cold she would rather pass. We will see how much longer she is interested in it.
Shortly after Allison got back from Florida, her and Matthew headed out and spent a week there. She loves going to Florida too. Grandma makes them all kinds of yummy foods, stays up late watching shows and movies, and takes them swimming and to fun places around Tampa. Kenny and Sherri visited for a few of the days while Matt and Emilee were in Florida so they got to see them and spend time with cousins too. Matt kicked Sherri’s butt in pickle ball a half dozen times and then she made him play her left handed and ended up beating him by a hair. She talks about beating him in pickle ball now…but doesn’t mention the first 6 games.😂😉
Matthew has been enjoying his Summer before he heads to Brazil on his mission. We have been getting all his clothes and supplies that he is supposed to bring gathered together. His friends Carter left on his mission at the end of June so they spent as much time hanging out, playing games, eating Costa Vida, and fishing as they could. He has done some odd jobs for people to earn a little money, been a huge help in getting the girls to and from their activities, and playing some baseball.
His FBC team decided to do a handful of tournaments this Summer. We didn’t think they would but enough of them were around for the Summer that it ended up working out. His competitive team is way more fun than high school, it has been fun to see them playing together and having a good time. Coach Jimmy has been his coach since 5th grade. He has spent hundreds of hours coaching and practicing. He has been an amazing coach.
He also loves going to Tampa to spend time with the grandparents. He has a fishing pole he keeps at their house and they have a lake right by them so he can literally walk out the front door and fish anytime he wants. Grandma keeps a steady supply of ice cream and other treats for him too.
June has flown by. This summer is going way to fast, and I don’t think it is going to slow down. We are trying to make the most of it and enjoy every minute together before Matt leaves.
And So It Begins
Matthew has a lot of friends that have already left on their mission or are going to leave soon. He is on the tail end of his main group of friends. They are going to be all over the world. Tanner Lewis-Utah, Adam Orme-Brazil, Brent Gillis-Sweden, Isaac Barlow- Singapore, Parker Lindman-Panama, Brett Sawaya-Brazil, Caleb Jones-Argentina. His best friend Carter left in June for the Philippines. It is pretty awesome that they are all committing two years of their lives to sharing the gospel full time with other people. It is a life changing opportunity and I am happy and proud of them for doing it. Letting go is a lot harder than I thought it would be.
Graduation Open House
Matthew thought it was ok to not have a graduation party and celebrate him, but I told him he was wrong. I kept is simple for him though. We had it at our house and combined with his buddy Ramey. We had cookies and brownies and chips and salsa and wings. Lots of Matthew’s favorite. The thing he was most excited about was the soda bar. He loves his soda. We did it a few weeks after graduation so I was a little worried about the turn out but we had lots of people come and it was a fun party. Sherri and Kenny came, Dave and Sherrie and their daughter Gen and husband Robert came from the Torgerson family. All the local Terry’s came. Then lots of friends, teachers, team mates and coaches. It was a fun time. I was busy visiting or restocking food and forgot to take pictures, luckily I got a few from other people. I learned a few things too, since this was my first graduation party, I will have improvements next time I do it for Allison.
We went to MANY graduation parties during the three weeks after graduation. Matthew went to probably twice as many and Ryan and I did. It was fun celebrating everyone. I am really glad Matthew has such good friends and team mates. They are all a good group of kids. We finished them all off with Campbells. She was the only girl party we went to actually. Great job Class of 2025!!
Matthew’s Graduation! May 17,2025
After lots of fun Senior Events, the day for graduation finally arrived. The seniors started walking in at 9:50. It was in the school gym. We got to the school at 8:45 to get a good seat. Matthew has a saved seat so he rolled out of bed at 8:45 and showed up at 9:20. Boys are a little less concerned with pictures and details like that. I tried to not be to annoying with taking all the pictures but I still wanted to get them. Sherrie and Dave and Lizzy came up from Arkansas. Grandma and Grandpa Terry and the Ross Terry family all came. There were 253 graduates. Each of the students handed their principal a bouncy ball when they shook his hand. Someone eventually got him a bucket but by the end there were bouncy balls in every pocket he had and all over the floor when they escaped his small bucket. I thought that was a pretty creative, harmless prank to play. It was a pretty quick ceremony. We were done and headed outside to take pictures at 11:15. It was a little windy but it was sunny, which was nice because we have had a lot of rain lately and it took a brief pause for graduation.
After the ceremony we took lots of pictures with family and friends. Then we all went to lunch together at Costa Vida-Matthew’s favorite. Then there were A LOT of graduation parties to go to so everyone dispersed and Ryan, Matt and I hit as many of them as we could for the rest of the weekend, and the next three weekends.
Seminary Graduation
He did it! Matthew attended seminary for four years, 80% of that was before school, and completed all the requirements to graduate from seminary. He calculated his attendance down to the day to get 75%. He did all the makeup work he missed but stressed me out by not turning it in until the last day. But he did it!
I am joking around but seriously, he did complete his 4 years and he did it with very little coaxing or pushing from me. I am proud of him for making it a priority to graduate. It is no small feat for a high school student to sacrifice sleep, time, and effort everyday and keep up on all the other things they have going on as well. He had some really great teachers along the way. They had engaging lessons and new just how to encourage them to come- with food and friendship and activities.
The mission he is going to in Brazil requires a minimum of two years of formal religious training for anyone that wants to come there to be a missionary. If he hadn’t committed to doing seminary he wouldn’t be able to go to that Brazil.
We are proud of him for his accomplishment.
Senior Events!
After Prom there were lots of events that happened and I collected many pictures from them.
College Signing Night
Matthew has lots of friends that signed to play at different schools for sports with a scholarship. Some for golf, baseball, and softball. We went to signing night to help celebrate their accomplishments.
Senior Softball Night
Campbells softball senior night. She had one for wrestling a few months ago that we went to as well but I didn’t get a picture from that one. She had a great game! She hit a home run, a double, and got lots of RBI’s. Matthew had baseball practice on the field next to hers for the first part of her game, when she hit her home run he and some of his team mates cheered for her from the baseball field.
Scholarship and Academic Assembly
This is Matthew and his friends at the scholarship recognition assembly. They area fun group of boys and very positive and supportive of each other.
Senior Baseball Night
Matthew had a Senior night for baseball too. A long story short his coach was a bit of a jerk to him this season and we are all going to be glad when it is over. It is really disappointing and frustrating and Ryan and Matt and I all wish his senior year of high school baseball could have been much better, but it is what it is. We made the most of his senior night. After the game they had each boy go up and hit a ball from someone of their choice (they all picked there dads, even though the coach suggested himself) to throw their ‘last pitch’ and then run the bases while they read a letter from their parents. Then their moms were waiting for them at first base. It was pretty cool for each of the boys. Campbell recorded it for us. Our whole family was there and Grandma and Grandpa Terry came and both of his seminary teachers came to watch him play.
Senior Sunset
At the beginning of the year they did a senior sunrise at the school. At the end of the year they did a senior sunset. I think Spring Hill did a great job of making the seniors feel special and recognizing them and doing things like the sunrise and sunset to make their year memorable. Another thing they do is for the graduation rehearsal, each student gets a card on their chair from their parents or a teacher. When they find their seat at rehearsal it is waiting on the seat.
Senior and Parent Breakfast
Senior Breakfast. Before graduation rehearsal they have a senior breakfast for parents and their senior. If parents want to they can make a poster to hang up in the gym for the breakfast. I dusted off my scrapbooking skills and made one for him.
Matthew’s Senior Prom
Matthew’s senior year really picked up the pace once April got here. There was lots of senior activities, ceremonies, and special events. There were several things almost every week which made the last few months fly by.
Prom was the first big event. He participated in a fundraiser for the after prom party the week of prom called Buff Puff. There was about 10 volleyball teams of boys that competed against each other and the girls were their coaches. His team was called the Black Aces and they actually ended up taking second.
Prom was on a Saturday. Early afternoon they went downtown to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art and took pictures. The weather was rainy all week but it was beautiful on Saturday and they got great pictures. Campbell has been planning on a yellow dress for her senior prom for years. Matthew decided on a gray tux to match her.
Here are their group photos.
After pictures they went to dinner at an Italian place called Buca di Beppo. Then it was off to the dance. This was the first year they had Prom at a different location than the school. Usually they rent a tent and have it somewhere around the school. This year it was at the Embassy Hotel in their ballroom.
They announced the prom King and Queen at the dance, and Matthew was prom King!! He told me by sending this picture to me. No words or explanation, just the picture. I loved that he thought to tell me instead of waiting until he got home.
After the dance Campbell and Matthew went to the after prom party with most of their group. A bus took everyone to a rented out space that had all kinds of activities for them to do and tons of food. There was a prize wheel that each of the Seniors got to spin and win different prizes that were at least worth $100. Matthew and Campbell each won a 41″ TV! He had a pretty exciting night! The party ended at 2. By the time the bus got them back to the school and Matthew dropped Campbell off and came home to go to bed it was about 3:30. He slept every spare second he could for the next two days.
And last but not least, I have this great picture of Matt and Campbell’s first dance together in high school- Freshman Homecoming, and their last dance together-Senior Prom.💕 They have grown up a bit!
Baseball is Upon Us
The Senior year of high school baseball it starting! They did tryout a few weeks earlier than usual this year. Matt has been working hard practicing hitting and conditioning the past several months. He is doing great with hitting right now. Matthew is a great baseball player and a good team mate- I know I am biased as his mother but I think objectively he is those things too. There are lots of politics and other annoying parts to high school sports so no matter how prepared ‘we’ feel going into try outs it is always nerve racking. But he made it!! Only 4 seniors were kept, there were a lot of surprise cuts. We are excited for him and proud of him for making it and working hard.
They had the first Jamboree during spring break and starting this week have 2-3 games almost every week until the end of the season. Here we go!
The seniors have banners made of them each year that they hand on the fences at the baseball fields. There were only for seniors that made the team this year. Once they made it they had a little photo shoot to get there banners. Matthew doesn’t like taking pictures, I told him to suck it up because the next several months are going to be filled with picture taking.
I found a few highlight reals in my phone from competitive Summer/Fall baseball. I decided to add them onto this post to lead into high school baseball. He had a pretty awesome Summer/Fall season.
Paperwork…and a Call
Matthew decided that he is going to go on a mission as soon as he graduates from high school. He started filling out the paperwork for it and submitted it this week. He has an interview next week and then within a week or two after that he should find out where he is going! We did a couple practice photos to submit with his paperwork. A lot of his friends have gotten there calls or have already left. They are going to Brazil, Sweden, Singapore, Philippines, Panama, Utah and Italy. He is really hoping to get somewhere out of the United States. He is worried that having asthma will make it so they want him to stay in the US. I think he could easily go to Europe or Australia. We shall see!
It has been a few weeks since I wrote the first part and it is time to find out where he ended up getting called to! Several people told us they usually found out on a Monday between 10-14 days after submitting their paperwork. When we were in that window we were anticipating it coming on a Monday, so I made some snacks and treats, Matthew put his friends and family on alert to come over Monday night when he opened it. Ryan was going out of town on Wednesday of that week so we were hoping it would come before he left too. Monday came and went…Tuesday came and went. The Stake president checked the status and it said it was still waiting for assignment so we figured it would be the next week on Monday. Wednesday came and went. We had the missionaries in our area over for dinner Wednesday night. They told us a way to check and see if the call was on the way. We did it and it still didn’t show us anything. Thursday evening I was sitting in Emilee’s room talking with her and Matthew called me. When I answered the phone he asked where I was because he had just gotten his call. We were all pretty surprised!
Matt decided he wanted to open his call with just his immediate family first and then read it again when he invited the rest of his family and friends over later. He said in case he was going somewhere lame he didn’t want to open it with everyone first. I think that was maybe a small part of it but I think most of it was he was nervous and wanted to be able to process it a little first. Which is just fine. The bummer part was Ryan was out of town, but he left the conference he was at for a while and found a quiet place he could face time with us.
Once we had Ryan on the phone he opened his call and found out he will be going to the Brazil Recife South Mission!! He starts online training in our home on August 11, 2025 and then will go to the Brazil Training Center on August 20th. I thought it was pretty touching that the day he starts happens to he his brother Aaron’s birthday. I like to think that Aaron will help Matt and be a companion for him throughout his mission from heaven.
After he read his call with us, we invited his friends and family over to read it later that night. We did a zoom call for friends and family that were not here in KC. Several of his baseball and school friends that aren’t members of our church came. It was really cool to see them support him and be excited for him. They all wrote their guesses on a white board before he read it. Many of them stayed for a while after he read it to start researching and finding information out about Recife.
It has been pretty exciting learning and starting to plan for his mission. The first thing we had to do was get the process started for getting his Visa. It take 4-6 months so they want you to get started right away. There were a few little hiccups but we got it done pretty quick and got the paperwork sent in. He will be speaking Portuguese while he is there so he got a few apps on his phone to help him start learning. It is 138 days until he goes from when I am writing this. We have discovered lots of people that have been to Brazil on there mission, some even the same one Matthew will be at, or have family or experience with sending a missionary to Brazil. It is comforting to have there advice and insight. I am sure Matthew will have a lot of amazing experiences and grow a lot. It will be challenging for him. It is exciting, and overwhelming and a little surreal all at the same time. There are a lot of things going on at school between now and when he graduates and the Summer is already starting to fill up. Ryan and I are trying to soak it all in and enjoy and appreciate the last few months with him before he leaves, as much as we can.
2025 Begins!
January was a typical January this year. There were a lot of social media comments and jokes about how January is a 12 years long, never ends and the most miserable month of the year. I don’t think that. February seems longer to me, ironic since it is the shortest month of the year. I get why people struggle though. It is a long cold and dreary month. I am ready for the calm boringness after several months of go go go with the holidays. We had a few things that spiced the month up though.
RJ and Dani decided we should all go to a show together at the Kaufmann Center downtown. They had never been and it had been a long time for us. We all went to Chicago together. I had seen the movie, never the play. I think the play was a lot better. It was a nice adult date night down town. Allison watched their son and dogs overnight at their house and Matthew and Emilee watched each other so we stayed downtown and used hotel points after the show. It was nice to not have to drive all the way home afterwards.
The following weekend was Ryan’s works holiday party. They rented out a speak easy under the KC Hotel downtown with a roaring twenties theme. It was pretty fun, everyone dressed up and had a good time. We were going to stay in the hotel that night too but mid week Ryan got sick and we didn’t know if we were going to be able to go or not so we canceled it just in case. Luckily he was better and we got to go. It is a pretty fun hotel but I didn’t mind coming home since we had stayed downtown the weekend before. I was talking to the new marketing person Ryan just hired and her spouse. They seemed really familiar and eventually we figured out that they come to my office for dental work, so they reason they looked familiar is because I have cleaned their whole families teeth for the past few years. LOL. Small world. There were some group pictures taken but I didn’t get any copies so I just have the pictures of Ryan and I. I thought we looked pretty good, Emilee thought we looked silly but she clearly doesn’t know how people dressed in the 20’s. Our costumes came with fake cigarettes but we decided to not carry those around all night.
The next weekend we had Grandpa Terry’s 73rd birthday to celebrate! Every year he says he just wants a very simple meal for his birthday dinner with everyone. This year he said he wanted tacos, Ross said that was boring and made chicken fajitas instead. They were very good… I think Roger enjoyed them and ended up being ok with the switch. Rhonda made him a carrot cake-she makes a very good carrot cake-and he blew out all the candles successfully. The Terry family has decided we are going to continue with the decades old tradition of blowing out the candles on a birthday cake despite COVID trying to do away with it. It is kind of gross if you think about it, but we have all survived this long. 🤷♀️🤷♀️ I do not have a clue why Allison is holding a candle up in an orange for him to blow out too-I would guess either an inside joke or she didn’t want to eat cake for wrestling reasons and was including her orange in the celebration.
And last but not least for January-for part of the kids Christmas present Ryan got tickets to the Chiefs playoff game…if they made it. Of course they made it to the playoffs. We have gone to the super bowl 6 times in the last 7 years and will probably go again this year. He had four tickets. I was fine with not going because if I watch the game I prefer to do it in the warmth of my living room. IT WAS COLD! Allison had some wrestling stuff she didn’t want to miss so she passed her ticket onto Matthew’s friend Carter. So Emilee, Carter, Matthew and Ryan braved the weather and went to the game. We won and it was a fun game. No one lost any toes or fingers to the cold. The Chiefs hold the record for loudest stadium in the NFL and Emilee said she believes it. She had a fun time with her dad and brother. Next we have to try for a three win in a row at the Super Bowl!
Shadow Nativity
For part of our church Christmas party this year the youth were asked to do some kind of performance. One of the leaders came up with a shadow nativity. They basically act out the life of Christ to a song called Halleluiah behind a screen with a bright light so you can just see their shadows. It is about a 5 minute long song, so it is short but very sweet and touching. Emilee was willing to do it since no one could actually see her and there were no speaking parts. She was actually put in charge of turning the lights on and off when they needed it and thought that was perfect. Allison is living at the school gym for wrestling right now so she didn’t have time. Matthew said, “No thanks.” The leader in charge texted me and asked if I thought Matthew would be able to participate. I told her he would love to and let Matthew know that he was voluntold to do it. They went to the first practice and when they came home I anticipated a little push back from Matthew for making him do it. Instead I got a play by play of the rehearsal as he speed acted/sang through the song and all his parts. The reason the leader had asked for him specifically is because she wanted him to play the adult Jesus because he is older and able to be more mature and reverent than other boys that were participating. Matthew ate that up and was all in. It reminded me of the time I signed him up for a summer play of The Greatest Showman. He was not happy and protested the whole way to the first practice. Then I didn’t hear much protesting after that and he said it was going pretty well. When we went to the performance he was literally swinging from the ceiling on rope ribbons while he sang his little heart out. He definitely has a drama side to him, he just doesn’t let it out very often. It was cute to see him be excited about it. Campbell caught wind of it and said she was coming to watch and she told Ramey and he came to watch. Matt did a great job and Emilee nailed the lights.
I recorded it…I must have been holding my phone upside down though because it is sideways and I can’t get it to straighten. Add it to my list of mom fails. 🤦♀️ Just turn your head to the side while you watch it.
Halloween Spooks
This year our Halloween ended up looking a little different than it has for the last 10 years. The McDonalds kids and ours all made individual plans with their friends so we didn’t get together like we usually do. We still made pizza and home made root beer for people to eat as they came and went to get ready or stop in on the way to their party. Our houses in our new neighborhood are spread out pretty far so we didn’t have any trick or treaters.
Matthew dress up as Dr Duffensmirch from Phineas and Ferb. Campbell was Harry the platypus. They went to a party with a group of their friends from school. They actually went trick or treating for a little bit too.
Allison and her friends assembled matching outfits and were gangster minions together. They went trick or treating in Grandpa Terry’s neighborhood and then spent the night at our house.
Emilee was a witch this year. She went trick or treating with Reese and a few other girls. They picked a neighborhood that is known for handing out full size candy bars and they were not disappointed. They found a few haunted houses people were doing as they trick or treated too.
Ryan rediscovered his Joe Dirt costume from almost two decades ago and proudly wore it to work. He gave himself a goatee to go with the costume.
The night of Halloween Ryan and I shuttled the girls around were they needed to go and then enjoyed a quite night at home. We did go to a Halloween party with Dani and RJ Halloween weekend. RJ is a pilot so he provided Ryan with an outfit to borrow and Dani and I got First Officer costumes to go with them. I think we were a hit. Ryan LOVED being a pilot too.
FBC Final Season Together
As I mentioned in a previous post, this was Matt’s last season with his competitive team. They started playing tournaments on the weekends right after Labor Day in September. He has been on this team since 4th grade. There have been lots of changes over the years but at the end of this season there were three boys, plus Matt, that were on the team when he started. Coach Jimmy was the head coach and there were several others that were awesome coaches. Coach Kent, Coach Uhl, Coach Robby. Ryan helped coach most of those years too. If he wasn’t actively coaching he filled in and was helping in some way. He had a hard time just sitting in the stands and watching. There were some tricky times but overall it was a great experience and I am really glad that Matthew was able to be a part of this team and make good friends. The boys and their families on the team were all good kids, good people. That makes a big difference when you are spending the whole weekend together for months at a time during Spring, Summer and Fall baseball. We traveled a few times and had good times and memories from that as well. We went to Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Gulf Shores. I have posted many pictures from his baseball over the years and that was another blessing from being on this team. There were several parents that great photography skills and they took so many pictures and shared them with everyone. I wouldn’t have very good pictures if it wasn’t for them. Matt had his arm back in top form for this last season. He had the highest batting average on the team most of the time. He hit triples and doubles pretty often and was robbed of a home run or two by inches several times. He had good plays at short stop. Watching the boys play and read each other from playing with each other for years was a lot of fun. I will miss it next Summer when it is time for baseball season to start. We all will.
At the end of the season we had one more get together at a restaurant to say good bye to everyone and give appreciation to the coaches and recognition to the boys for their hard work. It was a fun night. One of the parents made each of the boys a poster of them in their uniform for their rooms. There was a slide show of all the boys, and lots of pictures on the tables to look at while we visited and ate dinner. I am sure we will run into them and keep in touch over the years but it is an end of an era for sure. I have really come to love baseball and appreciate it. I love a quite baseball field in the morning with the sound of the team warming up and the sun shining on the grass.
Here are some pictures from the season.
Here are some cool action shots, thanks to our photography parents.
Turning a double play.
Running the bases, trying to catch Ramey.
Catching the pop fly.
Getting the out.
Making it look good. 🙂
Getting runs in. His speed was top notch this season too.
Beating the runner.
Crushing it.
And…stealing bases.
For one of the games we were so far ahead of the other team, the coach let everyone pick the position they wanted to try for a few innings. Matt went with pitching.
Matthew’s Senior Pictures
It was time to get Matthew’s Senior Pictures taken shortly after school started. He has to have his picture turned in by December 1st for the yearbook. I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to get them scheduled and edited before the deadline. I wanted Summer/Fall pictures too. Matt doesn’t love taking pictures but he was a good sport about it for the most part. He tolerated three outfit changes and two separate sessions taking about two hours total. He doesn’t think they are that big of a deal and would have not done them at all but his mother is a picture taker and documenter so I wanted them and wouldn’t take no for an answer. They turned out great. I was very happy with them. I have such a handsome son. 😊 Matthew’s reaction didn’t include many words but I think he was happy with how they turned out too. Here they are!
September
September is one of my favorite months, and not just because it is my birthday. Its a little bit of a chill month. And usually the weather is beautiful, cooler and still pretty. Sometimes the leaves start changing at the end but this year was pretty warm so it was almost end of October before they started. Fall is just my favorite. I really like all the seasons and maybe they are all my favorite when they start, but I think Fall is my favorite right now…since it is Fall.
Per my request, Ryan took me to a Royals game with our friends the Gudjenov’s for my birthday. It was a great game, great company, fun environment and good food. Turning 43 wasn’t bad at all. I highly recommend it.
Emilee opted to not do softball for the Fall. She stuck with horse lessons and piano. She still loves horse riding and looks forward to her lesson every week. She is pushing to quit piano right now. I am letting her take a little break and then hoping she gets back into it.
Allison took a break from extra curricular activities for the first time…ever. She wants to start doing a weight training program but we are still discussing which one to do. She is going to help with wrestling at the middle school which starts mid October and is followed immediately by HS wrestling so she will be busy again before to long.
Of course football started. Matthew and Ryan both are in a few different fantasy football leagues. They love it and look forward to it all year. This picture is his school buddies that he does a league with each year. They get together and draft their teams and eat way to many donuts and junk food.
Homecoming was in September this year, I think it is a little early but nobody asked me. Matthew went to his last Homecoming with Campbell. Ramey and Ellie doubled with them. They took pictures while the sun was still up, then they changed into casual clothes and went to dinner at Taco Bell. Then it was off to the football game. Shortly before the game ended they went to change into their dance outfits again and then went back to the school for the dance. After the dance they hung out at Ellie’s house and played games. Matthew is still growing pretty fast and starting to put on weight too. The pants he is wearing he at the end of July for senior pics with Campbell. Just two months later he barely fit into them!
While Matthew was at his last Homecoming, Allison was at her first!! She went with a couple friends and had a fun time. We had pizza at out house for dinner and pre-game hanging out. She went to the football game with her friend Olivia and met other friends at the game. They came over to our house and got ready at half time and then I took them back to the dance. After the dance she spent the night at Olivia’s. Allison looked beautiful and so did her friends. I think they had a fun time at their first official high school dance.
Each year at the high school they have FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). It is several school districts in the area that get together and do it and Spring Hill hosted this year. One of Matthew’s best friends, Ramey, spoke at it and several other people he knew participated in it. Matthew and Allison both went but this is the only picture I got from it. I am really glad Matthew has always picked good friends that have good morals and values. He has a great group of friends- boys and girls- that really support each other and are good kids.
First Day of the 2024-2025 School Year
It was a big year for the kids in school this year!
Emilee is officially a middle schooler now. She started at Forest Spring Middle School. Because of our move she is attending a new middle school that Matt or Allison didn’t attend so she gets to blaze her own path. She was a little nervous to start without really knowing people. It was hard to not be going to the middle school most of her friends were at. She was a good sport about it and crushed her first day. She even made a few friends right away because she was pretty good at opening lockers so she helped some girls around her a few times. She was most excited about her FACS class and engineering class. She catches a bus each morning which I think she likes because she is on her own schedule and doesn’t have to wait for anyone.
Allison left middle school behind and became a Freshman this year. She is planning on doing wrestling in the winter. She decided to give Spanish one more try because last year was a disaster with a new teacher that has now been fired and not a lot of Spanish was learned. She rides with Matthew and is pretty gracious with accepting that she is the Freshman and he is the Senior so she doesn’t get to pick the music or where they park. She started seminary this year and has done great at getting up and getting there on time. She likes to be in the know so she is quickly learning every person in the schools name. She has a good group of friends that seem to get along pretty good for the most part. She would love to get a job and is keeping her ears open but opportunities are a little scarce for 14 year olds.
I remember when Matthew was in kindergarten they called them the class of 2025 and I thought I had forever until then. Now it is here and it doesn’t seem like it took forever at all. He has the confidence of a senior that has high school figured out…but is in no hurry to graduate yet. He should have 9-12 college credits when he graduates and could take a few less classes his last semester but he loves weights and lifetime fitness so much he is going to take them. He has Campbell and a solid group of friends that keep him busy along with his part time job at Costa Vida. Seniors had a first day of school sunrise event that he went to the first day. We are all going to try and make the most out of his last year in HS and enjoy all the things. Starting with senior pictures which he is not as excited about but his mother has told him are very required. I know his eyes are closed in most of these pictures. These were the best our of the 20 options I took. He said, “Its ok mom, it will remind me I was to tired to even open my eyes on the first day of school.”
Matthew and Campbell and a few other friends started the first week of school off by going to a Zach Bryan concert. He is one of both of their favorites. Matthew says one of his top three favorites. They had a great time and stayed up really late on a school night, just like seniors should.
Zach Bryan Concert
The End of Summer 2024
After the float trip it was pretty much time to get ready for back to school. Since we weren’t doing our own family vacation anywhere this Summer I was a little worried it would be a boring, slow Summer. It really wasn’t though. We had lots of family come visit and between camps, sports and the kids going to visit grandparents we were pretty busy.
Sherrie and Dave (Ryan’s birth mom) came up for a visit at the beginning of Summer to watch Matthew play baseball. We had some extra time between games and were right by Liberty so we went and saw the Liberty jail visitor center with them. His half brother Dave and his family came up to visit for a weekend too. They took Allison to the zoo with them on the day Emilee had a softball tournament. Emilee went home with them for a week and spent time with her cousin Lizzy and then they stayed at our house for a week too.
We squeezed Matthew getting his wisdom teeth out between baseball seasons. He recovered pretty quickly. We were very grateful for that because a week after he had them out Campbell wanted him to take pictures with her for part of her senior pictures and we were worried he would have bruising or maybe still be swollen. He was fine, still a little hard to smile a full smile but the pictures turned out great. Campbell is a sweetheart. She is outgoing and responsible and beautiful. Her and Matthew are pretty cute together.
Allison was not in a hurry to get her learners permit once she turned 14 but I was. Kansas makes them have it a full year from when they get it before it can become a limited license and they can drive themselves to school and work. Allison is young for her grade so I need her to have that before the start of next school year so she can drive herself to school. Matthew and her go together this year- which I love- it is great sibling time for them. So…we braved the stupid DMV to get her learners permit. They tried their best to be difficult. My deep breathing exercises before and during all interactions helped me remain calm. Even though we had an appointment to get a learners permit scheduled through their system they tried to tell me they wouldn’t have time to do it before they closed. Even though their computer stopped working so they thought we wouldn’t be able to finish. Even though my valid drivers license with my current address wasn’t proof enough and I had to find an electric bill that anyone could forge to prove my legal, valid, #1 source of identification drivers license did in fact have my real address on it. Even though the employee had to work until 4:32 instead of 4:30. Even through all that made up stupid drama, we all persevered, Allison passed the test, took a beautiful picture and got her learners permit! When I took these pictures in the car she told me she had used up her one good picture for the permit so this is the best I was going to get.
Ryan had a work trip to upstate New York right as school was starting. I had never been there so I decided to tag along. It is a lot different than New York City. It is a lot like Kansas. We stayed in a VRBO with his boss and a few of the other VP’s of the company. There were some other spouses that came too. There were several nice dinners, and the main work event was a day at the Saratoga Race Track watching horse races. Neither of us had ever been to a horse race so it was a cool experience. We also wrote our names on a table at one of the places we went to mark our spot in history that we were there.🤣 We had a great long weekend. We did a ferry boat tour of one of Lake George. I am glad Ryan has found a place that he loves to work at and feels pride and happiness from it. He works hard and works with good people. I am proud of him and appreciate all he does to provide for his family.
A few years back when Ryan found is biological mom and met her and more of her side of the family, he also looked into his biological dads side. His dad passed away back in the late 90’s and the only family he really has left was a sister and a cousin. Ryan didn’t reach out to either of them because he was a little overwhelmed at the time and was working through the emotions of meeting Sherrie. His information was public on the 23 and Me website so his dads cousin saw the connection and put it together and he and his aunt-Rae-Ann reached out to Ryan to see if he would be interested in meeting them. He talked with them on the phone and a few times after that as well every few months but it never worked out to meet them in person. In August he was traveling pretty close to where Rae Ann lives and he felt ok about meeting her so he reached out and they set a meeting up for an afternoon while he was in the area. He said said it was a nice afternoon and he appreciated meeting her and getting to know her and more about that part of his history from her. He plans on keeping in touch with her and his cousin going forward. Here is a picture of there first meeting. I can see a family resemblance in them.
Matt and Carter’s Boat
A few years ago in 8th grade Matthew met his now best friend Carter. They goof around and have a lot of fun together. Carter also introduced Matthew to one of his now favorite hobbies-fishing. They love to go fishing together. Matthew told his dad he was a little disappointed “he wasn’t introduced to this amazing pass time and life saving skill years ago”. Matthew has a flare for dramatics sometimes too.
Anyway, these two have spent a lot of time fishing together and they love it. This Spring when the weather started to get nice enough to start fishing they decided to up their game. Instead of just fishing from the shore, they told me they were going to split the cost of a boat so they could boat around the lake and have access to all the fish.
So one Friday afternoon they headed off to Scheels and came back beaming from ear to ear with this lovely boat.
They went with an inflatable two person canoe. I asked Matt if they were concerned about poking a hole it when they are casting. He seemed pretty confident that neither of them would have issues but just in case they both do know how to swim. They have had some fun adventures in there canoe. One of the first times they went out Carter didn’t notice that his pole slipped off the boat and sank. He refused to give up on it so he spent the next hour or two walking around feeling with his toes until he finally found it. Matthew kept him company by fishing around him in the boat while he looked. I was also told there is a rule that all fish caught in the boat have to be documented with a picture.
Random…but Noteworthy
These are pictures I have that I like but didn’t really need a full post about them, or didn’t go with pictures taken at the same time that I put in other posts. So I thought I would just do a collection of them here.
Both of these pictures are in Utah when we were staying with DeAnna for my Grandpa’s funeral. I thought 6 people brushing their teeth in the bathroom was pretty cute. DeAnna made lots of good food while we were there too, Sherri wanted to document that ‘she can cook but chooses not to’. While we were in Utah, dad took Emilee and Matthew to their softball and baseball tournaments they had going on that weekend. They love it so much they decided to go watch a Royals game one of the nights we were gone.
I am not sure where we were coming back from…maybe the eclipse, but the girls were being a little grumpy to each other but when they fell asleep they snuggled right up to each other.
This is one of the many times we have had to rent a skid loader to do some lawn stuff. It won’t be the last either. Ryan and I take turns between freaking out about why we have so much land to take care of and someday it will be awesome.
We try and do an annual amusement park day with our cousins each year. Sometimes it ends up being in Branson and Silver Dollar City, sometimes Worlds/Oceans of Fun. It was a great time this year. Everyone is tall enough for all the rides. Jovee is the biggest adrenaline junky and finally hit the tallest minimum requirement for the rides she had been waiting to go on for years. We went on July 3rd which was begging for heat stroke, but the weather was cloudy and perfect so it was a great day.
We have had typical so hot and humid days you can barely go outside this Summer for sure but there have been a lot more than usual gorgeous beautiful weather days. This hammock is one of our favorite spots to hangout on those days.
Finishing The School Year
Allison finished up 8th grade this year! She survived middle school and is ready for her Freshman year. She did a lot during her middle school career. She tried orchestra, wrestling, weights, theater, art teachers aid, and track, all while making friends, and finding out who the good friends were and keeping up pretty good grades. She was on the honor roll each year.
Emilee finished 5th grade and elementary school this year! She will be moving to a new middle school next year that neither of her siblings went to so she will blaze her own path. She finished the year with a wax museum project and finished reading the Harry Potter books. She got a bunch of books from a friend to read over the summer and she is excited to read them. She is looking forward to taking a cooking class, and engineering class in middle school. She loves to build things and see how they work. She also decided that she is ready to get contacts for next year. She doesn’t want to do orchestra or band so she is going to stick with the piano.
Matthew finished his Junior year and will be a Senior next year! He supported his high school baseball varsity team at State and they ended up taking second place. Life and our family will have some big changes when he graduates. He wants to get as much baseball in as he can over the next year. He has tournaments every weekend in June and July and then Fall ball starts in September so he will have plenty. He got a new job at Costa Vida. He loves working there because of the free or discounted food he gets. He also gets to look forward to having his wisdom teeth removed this Summer and taking his Senior pictures. We are taking a family cruise that he is helping plan in October together too.
Ready for Spring
Once Spring started making its appearance we did a few projects on the outside of the house. We put in the flower beds, lined them and filled them with rocks. We got the front flower beds planted. We will keep working on them a each year. We have a plan but it is a few year plan before it will be all done. We got some patio furniture so we can enjoy our deck and the patio. One of my favorite things we did was hang patio lights from the ceiling and hung up a hammock. It is so relaxing. We love it! For our house warming gift Ryan’s parents gave us a blackstone grill. We have family gatherings and do cookouts with it a lot. The kids have been requesting a trampoline and we got that so there would be more to do outside. Fall and Spring will be really nice to use outside. Once it gets hot it gets a little buggy and is not so great but I love having some outdoor spaces to enjoy!
This is pictures of out patio lights and a rainbow we saw from our deck one night.
Mother’s Day this year was nice. Ryan and the kids made me dinner and spoiled me on Sunday. The day before we did a family service project for the local food pantry. It has been a while since we have done it and Ryan and I felt like we were due for some service. This time we went to one in Lawrence Kansas. The Harvester truck brought a bunch of food to a local church and unloaded it. The volunteers divided it up and got ready to disperse it, then a line of cars came through and we loaded it into each car. We all enjoyed it. We need to get back into it as a regular thing that we do. We went to lunch together after that and then the kids helped me plant another flower bed for part of their Mother’s Day to me. It is so nice having grown children to help with projects. It saves my back a lot!
Of course with Spring the kids started their Spring sports. Allison is finishing up her gymnastic season about the time school ends. She had sever meets and got a personal best on the bar 9.5. It was pretty awesome to see her! She added a few new flips to her floor routine that she learned as well. In the Fall she thought this might be her last season for gymnastics, but as it got closer to the end she decided she wasn’t quite ready to be done. She has at least one more year in her! After the last meet they did the end of the year banquet. They had Mexican food and cake for dessert. The girls all dressed up and seemed to have a fun time. She got the “Tootsie Roll” reward for being able to roll with whatever she is doing at the gym. She was also voted by her team to win the Spirit Award because she is always positive and helps keep everyone focused during practice and meets. She is pretty awesome. Allison excels and puts full effort into whatever she does. She is a great leader and her dad and I were proud of her for showing that this year in gymnastics. It made us happy that her team recognized it in her too.
Matthew played for his High School team this year during the Spring. He played for JV as the short stop, and the coaches also took him to varsity games to help and fill in where they needed him. The varsity team made it to state again this year. Matthew went with them. Last year they lost the first game but this year they made it to the final game and ended up taking second. Matt loves baseball and loves to play as much as he can. There is some school politics that make the high school season not as fun but he had a good time. He was really excited to get into the competitive season with his regular team. His arm was back to full mobility in February and he worked on the strength side of it through the last semester. He was hitting well but his strength really started coming back and he started hitting some bombs at the beginning of his competitive season. His strength isn’t 100% yet but it coming back quick. He is consistently hitting doubles and triples and even got a home run during one of his HS games. It is fun to watch your kids do something they love.
High school baseball pictures
Emilee played softball again this Spring. Her team last year split in half and some stayed rec and some tried competitive. Emilee decided to try competitive. She decided to pick the same number as Matthew and she loved doing batting practice and playing catch with him. If he was able to come to her games she always came up to say hi and was super excited he was there. She played mostly short stop, center field or 1st base. She improved a lot and had a good time. Her team ended up getting 4th in the division they played in.
Eclipse
In April of this year there was a total lunar eclipse crossing the united states. It was similar to the one that was about 7 years ago that we went up to Lincoln Nebraska to see. Sherrie and Dave Torgerson’s house in Dardenelle Arkansas was in the direct path and they were going to have totality for almost 5 full minutes. We decided to take a very quick mini-cation and drive down Sunday afternoon to see it with them on Monday and then come home Monday afternoon. There were lots of family there which meant lots of cousins to play with. The weather was great so the kids got out water balloons and played a lot of games outside.
Allison and one of her besties Allie Sluga went on a little trip together. Allie invited her to go to the Ozarks with her and her grandparents took them for a few days. They had lots of girl time and did lots of shopping together.
Allison got one of her best scores on the beam at her last gymnastic meet this year. She got a 9.5!!
Matthew had his Junior Prom this year. He went with Campbell. They both looked great! It was a little crazy helping him get measured for a tux and getting the flowers and plans ready. Time really does fly when your kids grow up. They went in a group with his friends Ramey and Nick. They took pictures at a winery before they went to dinner at an Italian restaurant. Then they stopped by our house for a few minutes before they went to the dance. When the dance was over they came home and changed then went to the after party. It was at Chicken and Pickle. It was a great place for the afterparty. Unlimited chicken fingers and pickleball to play. Matthew won a few rounds and got some of the prizes for pickle ball.
This is a side by side of their first dance together- Freshman year Homecoming dance, and Junior Prom.
Hiding, Hoops and Horses
We have been trying to have a family game night once a week or so. It is a little tricky because all of us have to much going on but we do what we can. Sometimes it is a board game or card game but one night Emilee requested we play hide-n-seek. The last time we played it took all of us almost an hour to find Matthew. He was still small enough to fit under the sink in a bathroom and none of us even thought to look. So he was our current hide-n-seek champion. Allison claimed the thrown this time though. After a few rounds, it was dads turn to find everyone. Allison, requested a little assistance to get up in her spot. She was the last to be found and it took a little clue for dad to see her. Can you see her?
Matthew kept himself busy with the Stake basketball tournament on the weekends in February. The first week we went to our new ward they announced it then were moving on because they assumed no one wanted to play since they had passed on participating the year before. Matthew looks forward to this every year though so he boldly raised his hand and said he wanted to play. The bishopric said they would find another ward or two to combine with so they could have a full team so he could play. He immediately wished he had kept his mouth shut and just played with Heritage Park Ward again. Despite combining with two other wards, when he went to the first game, there was only three of the required five minimum players needed for a team. They borrowed a few people from other teams and had a game. After that Matt just brought his own friends from school to play. They won a few games but usually lost. Ryan coached them when he was home otherwise it was just them, I was usually the only person that came to cheer them on. Not the greatest year of Stake basketball but they had fun. He likes playing basketball for fun not competitively so he has a good time. This picture is the score when they played Heritage Park. They actually held their own pretty good up to half time. Then they got smoked.
Emilee was excited the weather was warmer than usual for February because she got to start her riding lessons back up sooner. She still loves it and looks forward to her lesson every week. There is a new horse called Artemis that is a bit of a stinker to most riders but he and Emilee get along really well so she is always happy when she gets to ride him.
January 2024
If I looked back at my other posts from January I would bet that they say something to the effect that it is kind of a boring month but I love it because after the holidays I need a month of boring.
This year was not different. Relative to our usual schedule of kids activities and normal life events going on it was pretty slow. I loved it, and I needed it! There will still be some rearranging but I was able to go through each room and at least get the initial unpacking and organization done so everything is pretty functional. I did a little more decorating. Found some rugs, got a few things like and end table, bookcase and barstools. I hung up most of the pictures. I want to do another picture wall in the basement but I don’t have a solid plan in my head yet so I just keep thinking about it for now.
An usual change for me though was I got into plants. I like plants but as far as having live plants in my house I have never been interested because the few times I have been given a plant it doesn’t last to long. My sweet mom would give me starter plants after I got married and then they would die. She eventually gave up. I have just not had the desire or energy (I know it doesn’t take a ton but it requires some attention) to take care of them. Maybe now that my kids are older and a little more self sufficient I have enough band width to add some plants. So I did! I love them. They make me happy and don’t feel like a burden at all. The first one I got was a bit of an impulse buy from a store that doesn’t really have plants they just had a few randomly. I say that because so far it is the one that is struggling and I would normally think it was because I don’t really care to figure out why, but that is not the case. I think there was something in the soil or it wasn’t that healthy when I got it. I am still hopeful that it will turn around and make it but time will tell. After I got the first one I went and got a few more. Ryan took one to work and the rest I put around the house. I want to get more but I am making myself wait and not go crazy. The kids think I am a little silly but I like them. They don’t talk back or sass me either! Here are my plants I got. I repotted them and gave them all new soil and food and a nice sunny spot (or not sunny if they prefer) to grow. Three of the four are thriving and growing for sure. Crossing my fingers for the fourth but I am already way ahead of my past track record.
We had a few guests in January! Our first visitor was Sherrie. The girls stayed in Arkansas for a few days with her after New Years so she brought them back up and stayed the night with us.
A few weeks later Ryan’s best friend Mike Johnson came for a weekend. Those two are quite a pair. They love to get as much sports watching, eating, and talking in as they can whenever they get together.
It had been a bit to long since we had gotten out our Terry Family Growin’ Board and measured everyone. We got it out of storage when we moved so we measured the kids in January. Everyone had done some significant growing, Matthew hit a milestone he has been waiting on for a long time. He is the tallest in the family. He officially passed his dad in height. He is still growing so he is hoping to increase that lead by another inch or two.
Allison had two gymnastic meets in January. One at the beginning and one towards the end. The first one she had a few mess ups and wanted to just forget it. She still had some good moments but we can focus on the second one. Here are some pictures. I wish I had a parent photographer that takes amazing pictures for everyone on the team like I had for Matthew’s baseball but so far it is just my limited skills that are available. I tried to get some good action ones because we had pretty good seats at this meet.
The Race
For the past many years every year on Matthew’s birthday, he has raced his dad. Dead sprint, about 100 yards, winner gets bragging rights for the next year on being the fastest. Of course when this started Ryan smoked Matthew. In recent years Matthew is more and more convinced it will be the year he will win. Once or twice we have had a false start or some shenanigans that has resulted in a race being disqualified and having to run again. Ryan has been the clear winner each year though. This past year when Matthew turned 16 Ryan had a tweaked neck and wasn’t able to race. Then Matthew was sick, then it was winter, then something else and it was many many months after Matthew’s actual 16th birthday and they still hadn’t raced. Both trashed talked each other and said they other was scared to race because they new they would loose. Blah blah blah. They are both talkers. Finally one nice sunny day this Summer I told them both to get outside and race. I can’t remember when exactly they raced Matthew was closer to 17 than 16 (luckily it was before he broke his arm) but we are calling it the 16 year race. After being a late bloomer waiting semi-patiently for growth and puberty to catch up Matthew finally had some man muscle mixed in with his youth. Combined with his dad having old age mixed in with his man muscles and the perfect storm occurred and Matthew had his day. It was a proud moment for him.
Last Days of Summer
After celebrating Grandma and Grandpa’s 50th Anniversary we had a few days of Summer left before school started. We did school shopping and back to school nights. Aaron’s birthday this year was a pretty rainy day. We decided to go see him anyways. Our original plan was to go to the temple and do baptisms that day but Matthew had some doctor appointments and was still pretty limited to being up and about a lot so we bumped that and did it with Grandpa and a friend of Allison’s later. Ryan’s brother David and his wife Jen came up to KC one night and took us to dinner.
Our house was moving along but not ready to move into yet so we stayed at our rental and started another year of school. Matthew had surgery at the end of August on his elbow. They had to reattach some tendons and bone and he was pretty out of it for a few days. Now he is working on getting back into shape for baseball in the Spring.
My sister Sherri got a big promotion at work so DeAnna and I decided to send her a congratulation gift. We settled on a Potato Parcel. It is literally a potato that we had a picture and message printed on. Can’t get more unique than that. We think she liked it.
Then school started!!! Matthew is a Junior. Allison is in 8th grade. Emilee is in 5th grade. This is the last year with one in each school. Next year will be down to only two schools for a while. It was a bit of a rough start, the girls bus driver was new and it took a bit for her to get the girls picked up and to the right school then dropped off at the right spot after school. Matthew missed some school with surgery and Dr appointments. A few weeks in we started to get into our school grove.
Matthew’s Baseball Pictures
We have been lucky to have a few photographers on the team over the years that take pictures of all the boys on Matthew’s baseball team. Then they share them with everyone. Will Kent is the photographer for these pictures. I didn’t take any of them, I appreciate him sharing his talent. I need to get a photographer on Allison’s gymnastics team and Emilee’s horse lessons so I can have good pictures of them too.
These are all from the 2023 club season Spring baseball tournaments.
Gulf Shores-July 2023
A few days after getting back from New York we got ready for our family Summer vacation. Matthew had a baseball tournament in Gulf Shores Alabama over the fourth of July so we invited Ross and Lauren to come with us and we found a VRBO to stay at by the beach and added a few extra days to make it our Summer trip.
It was hot! We are used to humidity in Kansas but it took a step up in Alabama. Good thing we were by the beach!
We had several beach days and did some mini golf. We found some Outlet Stores that the girls (and everyone) really liked and spent several hours shopping there. In the evenings we played lots of board games. Ryan and Ross brought at least 30 options of games to play like they usually do and we play 2 of them over and over. Matthew played 7 baseball games. The team has been playing pretty good lately but Matthew personally has been having an amazing season. They took 2nd overall in the tournament for their age group 16U.
On the actual fourth of July we had a cookout on the beach and played in the water a little bit with the whole team. Then watched fireworks from the beach. It was a cool experience. None of us had ever seen fireworks from the beach. It is just a great place to relax and hang out. I think everyone had a nice week.
Last time we were there a few years ago we took pictures at an ice cream shop that we went to. They are some of my favorite pictures. We went back to the same place and took the pictures again in the same poses we did a few years ago. We got some souvenirs at the store and made it out without any new crabs or other living animals.
By the time we drove home I had driven through 14 states within 2 1/2 weeks. It was a busy few weeks for everyone. We squeezed a lot of fun and new memories in this Summer and there are still more to come.
June 2023
Three kids and building a house can keep a person pretty busy in the Summer. As I mentioned in the last post, the girls started their Summer off with a Girl Scout Camp. Matthew started his off with High Adventure in Colorado with the other boys in our church ward his age. They went to the sand dunes and hiked those, and the mountains. They were camped right in the middle of the two. They went white water rafting one day as well. This is his third year of going. He has had a great time each year.
One of Allison’s favorite things to do is shop. She has been doing a little more babysitting lately. She is a really fun babysitter. Way better than I ever was. She always comes up with fun games and scavenger hunts and the kids she watch always have a great time. She watched Emilee and her friend Ethan a lot this Summer. This is a giant gumball machine she found on one of her shopping adventures spending her hard earned money.
Ryan and I had a few adventures in June too. We went to Las Vegas with our friends Dani and RJ. We had a pool day, exploring day and ate at some fun restaurants while we visited and enjoyed our quick weekend getaway together.
Emilee’s one wish for her Summer was to go to a horse camp. She did that at the end of June. She has been doing her regular riding lesson each week still but she wanted to have a full week of riding everyday. The last day they did a horse show for the parents to show what they learned. She had a great time. She still loves horses and hopes to get her own someday.
Another activity Emilee loves and looks forward to each and every Summer is sleeping in. She loves to sleep and would sleep until noon everyday if we let her. Dad had to wake her up one morning “early” which means before 9AM and he thought it was hilarious getting her to wake up. She wanted nothing to do with it.
Matthew kept busy with work and baseball and weight lifting after he got back from High Adventure. He went to FSY towards the end of June. It was in Warrensburg MO at the college there. He was able to room with his cousin Ethan and several of his other good friends were there. He said it was a fun time and one of his favorite parts was the testimony meeting the last night they were there. That makes me happy that he went and had a good experience.
Allison went to another girls camp at the end of June with two of her friends from school that are also in her troop. It was in Tulsa Oklahoma. I picked them up and they told me all about it on the way home. They had a mean counselor, it was ridiculously hot and the food was awful but they still had a great time together. Allison wore a swim suit that had the American flag on it and got the nick name Ms America for it. She came home with an American flag cowgirl had covered in sequence do go along with her nick name. She loved it.
Here are some random other pictures I have from this month that I’ll add to the end of this post.
Moving Right Along to April
We thought this year might creep by slowly while we wait for our house to be built. Sometimes it does seem like it is taking forever but overall it does seem to be flying by. Once Spring Break was over and it is the 8 week stretch until school is out for the Summer it really seems to fly.
It was a cold Spring but there were a few nights in April we were able to light up the fire pit and make some smore’s in the back yard. Mmmmm we all love a good smore.
Emilee was selected as the Student of the Month which they now call Leader of the Month. Luckily they awarded it on a Friday so I was able to watch her get it. They do a little intro about the person before they say who it is. They said a lot of nice things about her- she helps others, gets her work done, is kind, loves to read, is a good listener. As soon as they said this person loves horses and knows all kinds of facts about horses everyone knew the teacher was talking about Emilee.
Our church had a Prom Night. Matthew’s high school only lets upper classmen go to the prom. Or you can be invited to the prom by an upper classmen. Matthew didn’t go to the school prom. When the church said they were having a stake prom I asked him no less than 12 times if he and his friends were going to get a group together and go to the dance several months, and weeks in advance. You don’t have to dress formal but a lot of people do. He told me each of those 12 times that he was not planning on doing that. The day of the prom he texted me from school to tell me that he and a group of kids were going to go to prom and he was taking Campbell.🤦♀️ At least he had given her a few more days notice than he did me so she was able to find a dress and Matthew just wore his church clothes, no tux. They both had baseball/softball practice until 6:30 so they missed dinner and ended up just going to the dance. After the dance they had an after party were they are supposed to dress up as something together. They changed back into their baseball/softball uniforms and went together like that. I got no group pictures. They had a fun night. That is is the difference between a boy and girl. Boys are zero planning time, you have to drag details out of them and beg other moms for pictures. Girls want 12 outfit options, tell you all the tea and have pictures of every second of the night. Is it not adorable that they both were the number 14?!
Allison was busy doing track everyday after school in March and April. She decided to do the pole vault, discus and shot put. She did a lot of running and got in good shape. The coaches didn’t do much coaching for her events so it was more of a figure it out on your own thing. We were proud of her for trying something new and putting all the effort she put into her practices and meets. I tried to go running with her a few times. I am a tread mill runner IF I run- I like the AC on a fan in my face and stopping exactly where I started as soon as I am done. She kicked my but when we would run together. She loved the social part of it and overall had a good time. She ended the season not sure if she wanted to do it again. If she does she wants to drop shot put and discus and do the high jump instead. If she decides to do it again we will have to see about finding her a private coach to teach her the pole vault and high jump.
Emilee is trying her hand at softball again this Spring. So far it is going 100% better just for the fact that she has glasses now and can see the ball. She joined her bestie Reese’s team and it is a good fit for her. She has improved a lot in catching, throwing and hitting. We all try and help her practice batting and playing catch at home. Hopefully she sticks with it for a few more years.
Matthew made the JV baseball team. They had a really good season. A little more than half way through the season he was moved to practicing with the varsity team and going to all their games. He still played JV games but then he would go to all the varsity games and warm up with them and pinch run for them a few times. The Varsity team went to State he got to go with them and had a great experience. They lost their first game and were out but still had fun. He is hoping to get to go again his Junior and/or Senior year when he is a full time varsity player. He has grown a bit and has a little more strength behind his swing and throw so he is really enjoying himself when he plays now. It is fun to watch him.
Here Comes February
Like January, February seemed to stick to the tradition schedule. There is more days off of school between teacher conferences, snow days, holidays, and this year we added another day off for the Super Bowl Parade since the Chiefs won.
Emilee made her Valentines box to take to school for her Valentines Party. After this year she had one year left before there will be no more kids making Valentine’s Boxes in our house.😢 She did a great job and did everything on her own including coming up with the idea, gathering supplies and creating it. When she was all done she had an adorable Valentine’s Day Fox Box.
Matthew and Campbell went to the school dance. Matthew called it Winter Homecoming but I think that is not the right name. It is probably Sweethearts or something like that since it is in February. That is what all the other schools called it. I was in Idaho when he went to the dance but Campbell’s mom Lisa sent me some pictures. Between Matthew and Ryan they were able to pull an outfit together. They had a fun time. They went with a group of Campbell’s friends, and ate dinner at Sake Lounge before the dance. Campbell is a Sweetheart because she does not like sushi but she agreed to go there for dinner because Matthew loves it. Those are the same pants he wore to the dance in October and he has already outgrown them. He loves that he is obviously taller than her now and she can wear heals if she wants.
The day after the dance was the Super Bowl. The Kansas City Chiefs were in it so everyone was pretty excited. Ross and Lauren and Roger and Rhonda came over to our house. There was lots of yummy food and it was a really close game. It came down to a field goal the last few seconds of the game that won it for us. I was driving home from the airport at the time. I had seen some of the game on the airplane. Lots of people would cheer whenever we scored. There was tons of decorations and a balloon tunnel at the airport set up for when the players came home. I was trying to hurry home in time to catch the last few minutes but as I was getting off the freeway at my exit a bunch of red, gold, and white fireworks started going off. I knew we had won. As I pulled into my driveway about five minutes later there were still fireworks going off everywhere and people running all over cheering that the Chiefs had won. Kansas City has some good fans.
While We Were Moving
Of course while we were getting ready to sell our house and move into the rental, the rest of life continued on. Each of the kids had a busy Fall.
Matthew played Fall Ball. He had a fun season and he and his team participated in several fun tournaments and even one of placed in the finals for a few of them. Several of their tournaments were on college fields, including KU. The boys thought it was pretty cool to play on a D1 field.
As baseball was slowing down in October, Matthew filled his time with other activities. He turned 16. I am a pretty lucky momma. He is a good son. He is becoming a good man too. Things were a little chaotic on his birthday but he made the most of it. Most of his desires focused around the food he wanted to eat. He had smoothies, chic-fil-a, and sushi and for his cake- as always a Cookie Cake. He spent some time hanging out with Campbell and sometime hanging out with his buddies. He asked the family if we would go to Top Golf for his birthday. We all went and had a good time. Emilee and Matthew were pretty good golfers. Allison and I have some work to do. Anyone that asked what he wanted was told fishing stuff. He got several mystery tackle boxes and he loved it. Grandma texted him thinking it was me asking about his present. He sent me a screen shot and thought it was pretty funny. Grandma messed with him a little and gave him gummy worms and fish as a tackle box before she gave him the real one. He thought it was pretty funny.
Matthew took Campbell to Homecoming. There was a group of them going together and the day of all the other boys changed their minds. Matthew was a good sport about it. They took pictures before and then went to the football game. After the game they went to the dance and then played games at one of the girls house afterwards. I am very appreciative that Matthew finds good friends to hang out with. Campbell does too. He has found the groups that don’t want to drink and party. They have fun and enjoy each others company.
Saving the best for last. We were all hanging out in the living room one night and I noticed that Matthew kept admiring himself in the mirror and pretty pumped about his muscles. I was able to get a short video of it without him noticing.
We Have A Third Driver!
We have been keeping an eye out for a good car for Matthew to use. Right now a used car is worth a lot more than it actually is worth so it is hard to find a decent reliable car for a decent price. Kenny said he would find us one, he is a mechanic so he knows a lot more about cars than we do. He found us one and Ryan and I decided to make a weekend of it to go out to Florida and bring it home. We flew out on Labor Day weekend. We spent a few hours in Tampa and had lunch with my parents and the French’s. Then we began our trek home.
It felt like we were in college again, going on a trip and not knowing if we would make it in our 2011 well used Hyundai Sonata. About 20 minutes into our drive the check engine light came on. We called Kenny and he said if it wasn’t flashing and it seemed to be driving ok then we could keep going. So we did. The first night we stopped in Atlanta Georgia. The next day we drove a couple hours to Nashville Tennessee. Ryan had been there for work before and thought it was a fun place. I have wanted to go but never been. Once we got there we checked into a hotel right across from the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum. We spent the rest of the day exploring Nashville.
We went through the museum which was ok. I like country music but I am not a crazy fan of anyone in particular. We also went on a tour of Studio C. It is one of the original recording studios from the 1940’s. It was pretty cool. Hundreds of singers had recorded there over the years. Including Elvis Presley. The last part of the tour was in a room that he recorded a lot of his hits in. They told us about a typical recording session with him and his band. There was a broken cabinet that Elvis kicked one night and a panel came off. The piano was original too. I thought is was a cool tour. The rest of the evening we wandered around and did a little shopping. I wanted to find some cowboy boots but didn’t have any luck. It is a very friendly town. Of course at night there is endless live music to listen to. It was pretty awesome. It was all kinds of music too, not just country. There was a lot of talent.
The next morning we drove the rest of the way home. We dropped the car off at the mechanic we use to figure out why the engine light was on. I scheduled a detail for it because it was pretty gross inside and we looked forward to having a third car and driver to get people all the places we seem to need to go.
Fast forward six weeks and we found ourselves trading the Sonata in for a newer car that actually works. After getting it back from the mechanic, we found ourselves in a very frustrating and irritating cycle of getting the car from the mechanic, paying a couple hundred dollars to fix something then bringing it home to have it break again within two days and be taken in for another week to be fixed. It would randomly die sometimes. One of those times Matthew was backing out of our driveway and it died. He had no power steering or breaks and our driveway is a hill so he continued to roll when died. He rolled right into our neighbors nanny’s car. That was kind of the last straw for me. It is stressful enough to put your son who has basically no driving experience in a car and send him off on his own. To send him in a car I didn’t trust and proved many times it could create dangerous situations was nerve racking. On top of that, we were in the process of selling our house (more on that later) and by November 1st Matthew would be the girls and his ride to and from school so we had to have a working reliable safe car for him.
I decided to go through a dealership. I know I pay more money that way but if something goes crazy wrong I know where to go and have some sort of warranty and accountability with it, unlike a private seller. After some research I found a 2015 Honda Accord. They were willing to take the Sonata for more then a few other car places had offered me for it so that was nice. I did not want to sell it privately or have it sitting around reminding me how stupid it was, I didn’t have the time or patience for that. Two birds with one stone. We didn’t tell Matthew because we didn’t know if we were actually going to find a car or not. It was a nice surprise for him. He loves it and it has been so helpful for him to be able to get himself places and sometimes the girls. Game changer.
First Day of School 2022
As is always does, Summer eventually came to an end. Emilee and Allison started school on a Wednesday. Matthew started the next day.
Emilee is in 4th Grade
Allison is in 7th Grade.
Matthew is in 10th Grade.
Matthew and Allison’s Turn
A few weeks after Emilee got back it was Matthew and Allison’s turn to go to grandma and grandpa Jones’. They flew out together. Matthew is old enough that he can be her companion. This was also Matthew’s first time going. He only stayed a week because he had baseball. He had a very fun time. He told me to book him a trip to Grandma’s for next Summer when he got home.
Some of the highlights he has mentioned is how good grandma’s baking is. Her ginger snap and chocolate chip cookies were definitely a favorite. Being able to walk out the door and go fishing was a fun perk. Beating Sherri at pickle ball has been mentioned a few times. The beach, aquarium, zoo, lots of swimming, games, and movies. Grandma kept him busy. He was very happy to get out of Kansas and have a fun trip for the Summer. They also watched some home videos and Matthew sent this one to me. I remember filming this. Cute little stinker.
There was a tussle over who got the bed. It is a queen bed and could have been easily shared. Matthew suggested he have it for the week he was there and Allison have it for the week she stayed after he left. She said, “That is fair but that’s not how it’s going to go.” They shared the bed the first night, then Allison was demoted to the air mattress.
When he came back grandma was able to walk him to the shuttle then he was on his own. He found security and made it through (he did have his fishing pliers confiscated) then made it to the gate. Then it poured rain for a few hours and delayed his flight but he made it home. I picked him up in the passenger pick up area. He was pretty proud of himself for flying half way across the country all by himself.
Allison stayed to have one more week with Grandma after Matthew left. She was excited to upgrade back to the bed from the air mattress. Last Summer when she was there Grandma got her hooked on the Hallmark Mystery Channel so she was excited to catch up on that with her. She was there over her birthday this year. Grandma made her a chocolate cake. Matthew took a few gifts for her in his suitcase from us and left them for her to open. She had one to open when she got home too. They went bowling and swimming at Sherri’s for her birthday. Grandma made her a chocolate cake.
Summer 2022 Baseball
The Summer of 2022 is one of the hottest ones on record for Kansas. We spent most of the weekends sizzling in the heat, going through a ridiculous amount of sunscreen, ice, water, and sunflower seeds watching Matthew play baseball. Despite the heat, I enjoy a good baseball game.
Horses, Gymnastics, and Baseballs
We switched Emilee to a new barn for her riding lessons in March. She seems to be really liking the new place. She has been progressing a lot. For the school talent show at the end of the year she asked me to take a video of her at her riding lesson to show for the talent show.
Emilee also played volleyball again this Spring. She asked to do it and was excited to go to practices and games. For all other sports besides horse riding we have had to make her ‘just try it’ and she has been very glad when it is over. She did great this season, her last game she served the maximum times (5) and scored then they have to give the ball to the other team. She was pretty excited about that.
Allison had her AAU gymnastics meet in Manhattan Kansas. She did really well. The team ended up qualifying to go to the National AAU meet in Illinois in July. She is pretty excited about it. Ryan and I are happy for her that she enjoys gymnastics and she is doing well at it and continuing to improve.
https://youtube.com/shorts/4zZTG2EJAEI
https://youtube.com/shorts/-m4L6Av-82M
Matthew just finished up his Freshman year on the baseball team. He was a really good bat this season. He played mostly 2nd or short when he was on defense. He did a good job and his coach seemed pleased with him. There last game of the season was rained out which was a bummer. He is looking forward to his season with his club team over the Summer.
There was a YM basketball tournament for our Stake. The boys all had a great time. Matthew loved it. Our ward had two teams. The team Matthew was on ended up making it to the final game and winning the tournament. Matthew was given the MVP award for giving all out effort all the time. They even let them cut the net down which was pretty fun for them.
I have some talented children. I love watching all my kids in their activities. I am glad they are taking the opportunities to improve themselves and work hard at something they enjoy.
April Fools
We all survived Allison’s favorite day of the year without to much damage. She pulled a few pranks on everyone but Matthew seemed to be the focus of most of her pranks.
She did the usual tape over the faucets, saran wrap across doorways, and creepy pictures strategically placed around the house to startle you when you least expect it.
Matthew said he woke up to Allison sneaking around his room at 4 in the morning. He didn’t care enough to worry to much about it then. When he turned his fan on and confetti flew everywhere he thought that was it. When he got to school he turned on his laptop and found this waiting for him.
She is a funny girl. I know I am forgetting a few of her pranks too. A few days later, I was cleaning out the fridge and found one that she attempted but then forgot about. I was grateful that she at least put the stapler in a bag first before submerging it in Jello.
Firsts
In our church the year you turn twelve you graduate primary and move to the youth program. Allison started Young Women’s. Each class has a presidency to help plan and run the activities. She is the secretary for her class right now. Allison loves growing up and being in charge of things so she is loving it. Most of their activities are on Tuesday night and she has gymnastics that night, so for now she won’t be able to go to a lot of them. She is still enjoying planning and going to the ones that aren’t on Tuesday’s.
The year they turn twelve is also the year they are old enough to go to the temple and do baptisms. She was able to go for the first time last week. It is fun to see her growing up and getting more responsibilities.
Matthew is turning 16 this year so he moves up to the Priest Quorum in our church. That means one of his new responsibilities is to bless the sacrament on Sunday. He did it for the first time a few weeks ago and his dad and grandpa did it with him. It was cool to see three generations blessing the sacrament together.
Boys vs Girls Communication
While I was at work the other day on a Thursday afternoon, I got a text from Lisa, she is Matthew’s friend Campbell’s mom. She asked me if I was ok with the schedule for Saturday for pictures and hanging out before and after the dance. Apparently that weekend-in two days, there was a high school dance that Matthew and Campbell were attending with a group of her friends. I told her I was glad she had reached out because I had no idea there was a dance coming up. After her text, I texted Matthew and asked him if he was going to a dance this weekend that he hadn’t mentioned to me yet. He said, “Yep.”
I am finding that Matthew will answer my questions if I ask him very specific questions multiple times. He isn’t much on details. Luckily Lisa and Campbell are, so they fill me in and tell me what is going on. He made it to all the places he needed to be to eat, take pictures, and dance. Campbell told me the dance was more fun this time because people actually danced.
Matthew also had parent teacher conferences. His communication continued to be brief for that as well. His entire presentation had fewer words than Emilee’s or Allison’s had on one page. Between his teacher and I we were able to drag enough information to know what we needed to know. I took a few snap shots of some of his artwork. I am not sure what the stick figure one is, when I asked he said, “An assignment.” 🙂
The Annual Race
The yearly race between Matthew and Ryan usually is on Matthew’s birthday. This year was delayed a few weeks due to one or the other of them not being in the optimal health they wanted to be in to participate in the race. Finally they both had a day with no tweaked muscles, lingering coughs, enough sleep the night before, and their lucky pair of socks were clean. Their excuses were a little ridiculous.
There was a bit of an upset this year. They had the first race and Matthew won. Uncle Ross happened to be filming them at the start and after Matthew’s celebration at winning showed that Matthew had false started and the race was thrown out.
They waited a few minutes until both agreed they could expend the full amount of energy needed for a second race. With explanations of what a false start was and was not still going between them they lined up again for the race that the winner gets a full year of bragging rights as the fastest Terry.
The second race ended with a photo finish. Ryan was half a step ahead and his knee crossed the line first. Matthew was a semi- gracious loser and told him to enjoy his last year of beating him because it won’t happen again. I don’t have the video Ross had of their start, I did see it though and it was a false start.
We Have A 15 Year Old!
Matthew was able to successfully turn 15 this month. We were in Florida for his actual birthday and per his desires he went fishing in the ocean with his dad for his birthday. They were supposed to wake up at 5am to make it to the place they needed to meet their fishing guide by 7am. Ryan happened to wake up and check the time at 6:45 am. He turned his alarm off in his sleep instead of waking up. They were a little late.
Despite that, they both had a great time-even Ryan who does not like fishing. That trip was our gift to him. He also got some fishing supplies and money to buy fishing things from grandparents and siblings.
Allison literally gave him ‘his very own underwear’ which is featured in the picture above. It had his already owned underwear in it.
September 2021
Time seems to be flying by at a rapid pace again. September and October seemed to go by so fast.
Matthew had a busy month. When I was looking at the picture to add to this post I should have titled it Matthew’s busy September. Everyone was busy and had things going on. I guess we just photographed more of Matthew’s.
Matthew crammed in as much baseball as he could in September and October. The weather was pretty cooperative. He is on the same team but there were a lot of changes and the new group of boys is pretty fun to watch. They all mix well together.
Division 1 Champs 
Out! 
Firebird Baseball Cluc 
Celebrating a big win! 
Out! 
Out! 
Allison came up with another creative way to get her energy out. This is a video she sent me the other day.
We went to several High School Football games this past month too. Some at our school, some to watch other kids we know play for their school. One of those was Homecoming. Matthew and Campbell took pictures together before the game, then they changed and met their friends at the game. After the game they changed again (Matthew in the back of our car) and a group of them went to the dance together.
Next on Matthew’s list was a Temple trip and a camping trip with the Young Men in our ward. They went to a lake and did some swimming, biking, hiking, fishing, and eating smore’s. Matthew and his friend Carter are really into fishing now. They try and go at least once a week. I’m glad he has a fun hobby to do with a good buddy.
Emilee tried volleyball this year, and we are very happy to say that she loved it! She looked forward to practices, we didn’t have to drag her and she was excited enough about her games that she kept track of them herself. I am very glad we found a new talent for her to develop. Her dad is over the moon excited. She has lost two pairs of knee pads already but if she keeps enjoying it I can get her another pair.
She also loves drawing and wanted me to capture this master piece of me to share on my blog.
https://youtu.be/TbLdsjJJlZw?list=PLBwkO01uWtw9DJu2WA-l0-1CZ6EuoK5Kl
BACK TO SCHOOL 2021
Well, unlike last year school started one the original day it was supposed to. That was a plus. To make a long story short our school district said it was up to parents if their kids wore masks or not. I think that is a great idea because 1-they are my kids and I should be the one making decisions for them. 2- there is no mask mandate anywhere in our entire county right now. 3-Despite the news and politicians making it look like people are dropping dead in the streets and hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID patients, its not. One hospital (ironically Children’s Mercy) has made a public post TWICE saying they are not full and have very few COVID patients. However, the Johnson County Board of County Commissioners decided they know better (despite ZERO children’s deaths in our county and very low infection rates for children since all this started in March 2020) and made an order requiring all K-6th grade students to wear a mask. Our school board found a way around it by providing a mask exemption form for parents and/or doctors to sign but it has caused quite a tizzy. It is all kinds of crazy. The world and people are getting crazier everyday. But my kids are back in school, mine have the option to wear a mask ONLY if they want and unlike the other districts around us they did not have to define their sexuality and declare their pronouns the first day of school. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Emilee is in 3rd Grade. She has the same teacher Allison had in 3rd grade but her name is different because she got married. Mrs. Dechant. She is a great teacher and even though Emilee isn’t a huge fan of school I hope she will have a good year. I need to work on raising my expectations for her and helping her out of the “youngest child please do everything for me” funk.
Allison is in 6th grade and is ready to conquer it in a blaze of glory. There is a lot of cello players this year and they tried to persuade some kids to switch but she wouldn’t budge. She has been waiting a year to get to learn to play the cello and be an “Orch Dork”. She has a lot of classes with her friends and has organized and re-organized her locker multiple times a day since school started three days ago. Her friends and her make towel tents for each other to change in for PE and she can get seconds at lunch if she wants. Other than her mom making her ride the bus instead of personally delivering her to the front of the school each morning, she is loving life. If Allison is happy, the rest of us are even more happy. Doing the work won’t be a problem for her. Staying on top of things herself and being responsible will be her mountain to over come. She can do it!
Matthew started 9th grade this year, making it our first of many years to have a kid in each school. He got the classes he wanted but doesn’t have any close friends in any of them. He sees his besties in the hall and in a few weeks at lunch when they switch to the open hour lunch. He is a little bummed about that but his dad and I are encouraging him to meet new people. Good new people. So far he has a very good track record of picking friends that are good people and steering clear of the ones that aren’t as nice. He is starting to get some height going so that is exciting for him and he is hoping to bulk up a bit with weights as a class this year. His teenage laziness is effecting his motivation levels for school but he has always been good at staying up with assignments and managing it on his own. He told me he was looking forward to his retirement the other day. I rolled my eyes and told him to enjoy the phase he is at in life now. He takes drivers education soon and as soon as he is 15 he can drive by himself in a car to and from school if needed. He does have the slight problem of not having a car yet. They school had a gas leak 20 minutes after it started on the first day and everyone had to evacuate for an hour and a half but since then it has been pretty low key at the high school.
First day, catching the bus with neighbors Jack and Finn
Matthew
Matthew, Matthew, Matthew…what can I say about Matthew. I could say he is the spitting image of his dad is looks and personality. That would be the quickest way to describe him. Every year those two become more and more alike. Matthew tries to deny it sometimes but he can see the similarities. They are a fun pair and I love watching Ryan guide and teach a younger less mature version of himself. So do his parents.
Due to Matthew getting a little older and closer to adulthood we picked a few activities to help him develop his more mental, emotional, and spiritual side, disguised with lots of physical fun too of course. One of them was High Adventure with the boys at church, and the other was FSY (For Strength of Youth) a church camp with most of the boys from church. They were both very fun activities and very good for him. One was a little more obviously fun to him but he did enjoy both. High Adventure was boating, zip lining, and camping. He has told us no less than 5 times week since he has been home that we need to go boating, get a boat, or make friends that have boats. Along with our trip to the beach where he body surfed as much as possible he tells us we can move to a beach at any time and he will support it. Since those activities he has loved going to YM activities and a lot of the boys hang out together on the weekends.
Getting checked in at FSY.
He is almost 15 so he does have some teenage brain development going on but so far I still really enjoy him and his company. Along with the teenage stuff he also has his dad’s iron will, and it does show it self more and more often. Just. Like. Ryan. His voice takes on a certain tone, and his jaw sets and his eyes lock and there is nothing you can say or do at that point to change his mind. Ryan will look at me and say something about how ridiculous and stubborn he is being and I say, “Yes you are, I mean, yes he is.” Also like his dad when he gets like this he usually goes off somewhere and mulls over whatever the issue is privately then comes back and is more reasonable. Until then you will have more luck paddling upstream with a fork.
He really enjoys watching and playing sports. His favorites to play are basketball and baseball. He likes watching football too. Most of the time when Matthew is talking to you it is frustratingly quiet. The exception to this is when he is watching sports or playing video games. Then you can hear him anywhere.
Matthew is quiet and a little shy when you first meet him but once he feels comfortable he is a fun kid, he likes to joke and tease. We like to joke and tease him too. Being a teenager he is a little more concerned with appearance and ‘image’ than the average person. Ryan often likes to get photo evidence of him looking like a dork to pull out when its convenient. These pictures of Matthew playing with the VR glasses is a good example. He has a pleasant and witty sense of humor.
He starts 9th grade at the High School this year. He says he is excited and looking forward to it. He has always done great at school. Last year with stupid online learning and his particular math teacher (she was fine just taught differently than Matthew learns) he struggled with math. Since kindergarten I have never had to check his work and make sure he turns stuff in or even remind him to do his homework. He stays on top of it and keeps things organized. When he started middle school he came home overwhelmed about keeping track of so many different classes. I showed him what a binder and dividers are and he has continued to do great since then. He has a good singing voice but doesn’t want to do choir. Or theater. He has taken several art classes and enjoys them. He also humored me by taking a cooking class/sewing class. Right now he thinks he will go into something sports related like a trainer or physical therapist. He can’t handle even talking about blood so I wonder if he will change when he realizes how much anatomy and physiology there is.
He takes drivers education in a few weeks. It is still a while before he gets his drivers license but I am looking forward to it. Him being able to drive himself to weights, practices, seminary, and everywhere else he goes will be awesome.
A new hobby he just discovered thanks to his buddy Carter is fishing. They have gone a few times together and Matthew caught a fish within 2 minutes the first time. He hasn’t caught one since but he still really likes it. He even asked for fishing stuff for his birthday.
Wrapping Up Another School Year
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.
8th Grade Awards 
Jack and Issac 
Matthew and Ramy 
Campbell and Matthew 
Matthew and Coach Pipkin
Bixby, Oklahoma
Matthew had a baseball tournament in Oklahoma a few weeks ago. It was actually for the sister team he plays with but they needed a few extra players so Matthew went. Long story short they ended up changing the rules for the tournament in the middle of one of our games-totally ridiculous I know- and our coaches decided that we were going to withdraw instead of let them just change things to make a point. So the tournament was a bust, but we had fun going to other games and were able to get back home earlier for Mother’s Day. Matthew’s main team has several siblings that Emilee plays with, there weren’t any that came on this team so she did a good job being a trooper even though she was bored most of the time. Allison stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa Terry instead of coming for the weekend. We are really glad that they live here. We all needed a break from each other and she loves spending time at their house.
Emilee’s I’m not having fun but fake it till you make it smile. 
Emilee post cotton candy run. 
FBC Brigade Team plus a few Rangers.
Stay Calm
My son is coming up with new ways to stress me out the past few months. He has had an unofficial girlfriend (whatever that means) for a while but it is still new for me. I’d rather him not have a girlfriend at all until he is 25 but since it isn’t all my decision, I will make the best out of it. She is a sweet girl and they are really good friends. I picked up his phone and saw this as his screen saver the other day and had a combination ‘What the #@%$!’ and ‘Oh that’s sweet.’ moment. Be cool mom. Be cool.
Its Baseball Time!
Once again Ryan and Matthew feel like life makes sense and is complete again. Baseball started. Matthew was able to finish he physical therapy for his leg/ankle about two weeks before the first game. He was very glad he made it in time to play, he is still a little behind because he didn’t get to practice as hard or as much as everyone else but he is working at getting back to 100%. There is two teams that work out and practice together. For the opening season tournaments both teams ended up in the final game. Matt’s ended up coming in first officially but both teams had a great opening weekend.
Matthew and Jake walking off in the sunset. 🙂
This is another tournament they played in a few weeks later. They ended up winning the tournament for their division. Matthew has had a bit of dry spell for hitting. This tournament he got two doubles and he was pretty happy about it. We all were.
Matthew’s 2020 Basketball Season.
Since baseball ended for Fall, Matthew has been gearing up for basketball season. Ryan signed him up for a private club. He could go play pick up games whenever, there was skill clinics daily and then he was put on an eighth grade team and could play in tournaments most weekends. Matthew was hoping to get up to speed with his skills and then start improving before school basketball started. His plan was going well until this past week, I picked him up after practice and he was limping and said he hurt his ankle when he did a layup and came down and landed on someone.
We took him home, iced it, elevated it gave him a large dose of Tylenol, wrapped it and he went to bed. The next morning he was not able to move it at all without a lot of pain. Ryan took him to the doctor and they did an x-ray. He had broken two ankle bones and fractured his tibia. They put a boot on his foot for him to wear until Monday then we will go and get a permanent cast. The fracture in his tibia is close to his growth plate that is wide open so he has been given strict instructions to stay completely off of it for two weeks so he doesn’t make the fracture worse. Then he has another 8-12 weeks in a cast after that and then physical therapy. Luckily he does not need surgery. Basketball season is gone and baseball conditioning will be well underway before he is back at it though.
After getting all that information from the doctor, the main take away Matthew focused on was the doctor saying his growth plates are wide open and he is getting ready to have a big growth spurt. He is very excited about that.
Matthew vs Dad Race-Age 14
On his actual birthday this year Matthew was to cool to race his dad. He was sulking a little bit about not having grown as much as he wanted to for the past year. A week or two later he changed his mind and challenged his dad to their annual race. They actually did three races this year. Matthew won the last one by a smidge but we told him the only one that counts is the first race, and he lost. Dad gets to keep the bragging rights for another year at least.
Matthew Gets His Learners Permit…Soon
Matthew turned 14 this year! Time really does fly. We have done a few test drives and I have him signed up to take the written drivers test next week. He thinks he is going to ‘wing it’. If he fails he has to wait a bit to take it again so I am encouraging him to study. I am actually looking forward to him being able to get himself around a little bit in the next year or two. Shuttling everyone around can be a full time job.
He decided to have a few friends spend the night for his b-day. Ryan took them all to an Escape Room. They were able to figure it out and escape with a few minutes to spare. They ate pizza and candy the rest of the night while playing video games.
We were out of wrapping paper so I just decorated the box myself. 
The past week of so I have spent a lot of time reminiscing and thinking about being his mom the past 14 years. I have been blessed with a very good son. A lot of the qualities and strengths he has I have seen in him since he was born or very young. They have become more pronounced or developed more but I’m always amazed at how much of their personalities are present and distinguishable when they are born, some even before that. Matthew has always been sweet and kind and tender hearted. He is quick to pick things up in all aspects of his life-physical, emotional, mental. He is a very good friend and likes to have meaningful friendships but his shyness can slow the process down a little for him. He is a happy person. He is hard on himself and tries to improve, he hides this so well that sometimes I forget he tends to put too much pressure on himself until it boils over sometimes. He wants to do good and be good. He internalized things far better than I ever did at his age. He has a good sense of humor and is fun to be around. He has empathy, compassion, and kindness. His sisters look up to him and love it when he gives them attention. His dad says, “The gospel rests on his shoulders well.” I agree. He listens and understand the gospel well and works on his testimony. I am glad that I get to be his mom, I am excited to see what he is going to do with his life over the next few years. He is good.
His best friend not girlfriend Campbell (she is his girlfriend) has a birthday the same week as Matthew so she came over and I took them to lunch with the family and they exchanged gifts. They each got each other candy and a sweatshirt. She is a very sweet girl and I like her. Matthew has liked her since she moved here in 4th grade. They just started talking and becoming friends at the end of last year, and over the summer have become “really good friends”. The discussions of dating, expectations, guidelines and family rules have been reviewed A LOT in our house lately. The sweet spot the Terry family has been riding the past few years of self sufficient low drama children has sprung a leak. I have heard myself saying many things to him that I know I remember rolling my eyes at when my parents said them to me when I was his age. My number one goal right now as we tip toe into learning how to guide him through relationships with the opposite sex for the next few years is keeping the lines of communication open. He knows I don’t want him to get serious and have a girl friends for several more years down the road but if he is going to do it anyways I don’t want him sneaking around doing it. I want him in my house under my supervision. His sisters are also excellent information gatherers and reporters and chaperones as well, and are very willing to help.
Firebird Baseball Club Fall 2020
Matthew started his new baseball team for Fall. I mentioned it a little before but Ryan and Jimmy joined with another coach named Robby and they combined part of three teams into two teams. For Fall they will be mixing and matching the boys up different for each tournament and then settle into more permanent teams in the Spring. It is still new but we have played several times and are getting to know each other and learning to play with each other. Matthew caught a ball with his cheek bone the other day and has a nice black eye to show for it. They have finished in the top three for several of tournaments we played which is fun and encouraging.
First Day of School
Well, it was delayed 2 weeks and then middle school and high school were changed to virtual only for an undetermined amount of time based on a ridiculous skewed made up ‘gating criteria’ but we had the first day of school this past week!
The principal kept all the walkers until after the car riders were gone so Allison sat in the class room an extra 45 minutes, got home an hour after school ended, and crossed a four lane road without a crossing guard, but after what I can only imagine was a full inbox, many phone calls, a meeting with the teachers, and even more in person conversations she decided against that and let the kids go when school was over the next day. This was a big issue several years ago but the principal in her never ending attempts to control every single thing tried it again. Four years left of this woman…four years.
Allison rode the bus the first day with Emilee so she wouldn’t be by herself and is in 5th grade. Her last year of elementary school. Her teacher is Mrs. Brown and seems to be pretty awesome so far. Back to school night was all virtual and she did a good job so you could actually hear and see what was going on. I think she will be a good fit for Allison. As I mentioned, she can ride the bus but most of the time wants to walk or ride her bike to see her friends because none of her best friends ended up in her class. We have made the deal that on days I work and dad isn’t working from home she has to ride the bus, other days she can pick. She is going to do one more year of girls scouts. She is doing cheer one last time (hopefully) and has gymnastics twice a week for 2 1/2 hours. She color coded all of her school supplies to the correct pencil box they go in. As usual she is up to date on all the school gossip and happenings, even some from the middle school, despite being with her class and her class only all day long. Lunch is in the class room, and recess is rotating to different areas with your own class. She is glad to be back in school though and see and interact with more people.
Emilee is starting 2nd grade. She will ride the bus each day. She puts her mask on and they take her temperature then she is whisked away to the school. Once she is dropped off she walks around a one way loop at the school until she arrives at her classroom. Her teacher this year is Mrs. Trimble. Allison had her for 2nd grade as well and I wasn’t impressed. I requested a change but the principal said she can’t do anything about it. For now we will keep her there and hope that it goes well. If it doesn’t I will have a meeting with the principle about it. Anyway, she is doing good so far. There are 18 kids in her class, 6 of those are girls. She seems to be pretty comfortable now since she knows most of the kids and is familiar with the school. Recess rotation on the grass with no balls and not allowed to play tag is pretty boring but she did find two frogs so that brightened her day. She is not going to do Girl Scouts this year. Hopefully activity days will be starting again before to long. We will get her on a basketball team in the winter. We are also looking into horse lessons with her bestie Reese once a week.
Matthew is in 8th grade. He started conditioning this summer with the intentions of playing football but ended up deciding against it. He has put on a grand total of 5 pounds this last year and 1 inch making him 5 feet even and 85 pounds soaking wet. He decided to focus on getting better at basketball and baseball instead of getting squished in football. He was supposed to start school full time in person, but the school switched a few days before school started to all virtual. Apparently it is safe enough to play sports…but not sit in a desk at school. So he has four classes a day for 1 1/2 hours each via zoom. That is a long time to be staring at a computer screen. We are trying to make the best of it and hopefully it will not last much longer. He is pretty social and is finding and settling in with a good group of kids it seems like. None of them are close enough to hang out after school without parent assistance in getting there but they are close enough it is pretty easy to get them together. There is one boy in particular we are glad he is buddies with. Tyson Beshore. The whole family is a great family, anytime we can get them together we are more than happy to do it. Matthew can get his learners permit for driving in October. That is pretty crazy.
So the 2020 school year if off to a start. It is going to be a different, frustrating, and hopefully end well but we will see. I hope my kids can learn and grow mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally.
Spring Baseball 2020
Spring baseball for Matthew didn’t end up starting until June, so it was more like REALLY HOT SUMMER BASEBALL but Matthew and the rest of the boys didn’t care. They just want to play and have fun. We did lots of tournaments and played League games so we were able to get plenty of games in. The girls have a good group of friends that they run around with during the games (other players younger siblings) so they love it just as much.
Matthew likes to wear silly socks to games and practices. These are the best ones. 
If they aren’t playing they are watching. 
Lots of practice in the garage.
We had a fun tournament scheduled in Branson Missouri in June. We decided to post phone until July to have more/better competition. Then to make a long story short a few lame parents were able to manipulate the head coach into canceling it all together. Instead of Branson Missouri we went to Liberty Missouri which is not the same, but we tried to make the best of it and planned some team activities to get the boys together on the days we were supposed to be in Branson. They had a sleep over with the whole team and basically stayed up all night. We went to a baseball museum and lunch at Chicken-n-Pickle were they could play pickle ball for an hour or so. We also scheduled a parent vs player whiffle ball game but that hasn’t happened yet because of weather.
Negro Baseball Hall of Fame Museum 
The boys were playing hide n seek in the hotel and we found them and told them to go to bed at 11pm. 
Recovering from the all night sleep over.
One of the highlights of this season for Matthew was his double that ended the game with a walk off. I made a little ‘news shot’ from the Game Changer recap of the game. I was the one keeping score and I know the score would actually be 4-3 since it was a walk off hit, but since he hit a double the App recorded both runners that came in. Anyway, it was an awesome hit and the boys were pretty excited to win.
Matthew just his a double and they won with a walk off. 
Team running out to celebrate. 
Yay! Matthew! 
Walking off the field.
The parent that takes all the awesome pictures for us is moving so this is probably the last season she will take picture for us. After this the quality of pictures will change drastically because I am the one taking them. I am trying to improve my photography skills though.
Another big change for baseball is that Ryan and Coach Jimmy Adams didn’t like the way the 14 year old program is run so they have decided to leave NBA (the academy Matthew has played for the past three years) and do their own team for at least the next year. They are combining teams with another coach and are planning on having two teams that will practice together and mix and match through the Fall then be divided into more permanent teams in the Spring. Matthew will now be on a team called FBC (Fire Birds Baseball Club). We played a tournament with some of the boys on his new team this past weekend. There were a few bloopers because they had never played together but they ended up winning the tournament. Matthew is pretty excited, they will be a pretty competitive higher end AAA team. Ryan likes to say, “They will be a really salty team.” Once they practice with each other and get to know each other. I think it will be good for Matthew because instead of being closer to the top of the team talent, he is more mid range so he will have to challenge himself more to get better and have more kids to learn from.
This is a tournament that his new team FBC played and won together.
Emilee and Allison have a group of friends they hang out with during the game. The younger siblings of players group. They all have a good time together. At one of the last games, the boys dugout had some weird holes in it, probably for drainage, but the girls decided to make good use of them.
The last two league games for NBA were back to back. The first game was a blow out. The final score was 18 to 3 or something like that. One of their players ended up getting hurt and they didn’t have enough so we lent them one of our just so we could keep playing. The coaches let the boys try spots they usually don’t play, one player even tried batting left handed and got a double. Matthew got a chance at pitching, which he has been begging for all season. While he was warming up the score was 17-0 us, the catcher and him were joking around that hopefully their lead was big enough Matthew didn’t blow the game. He only gave up 3 runs though.
Matthew takes the mound 
So excited he gets to pitch. 
He did a pretty good job. 
The last event of our season and time with the NBA-Adams team was a parent vs player wiffle ball game. It was a lot of fun. A lot of cheating from the parents, but a lot of fun. For example, after each hit I relocated second base to give us the advantage of them not knowing were the base was to get them out.
April Fool’s Day
This is a day that I usually prefer to pass by unnoticed and then pretend to be disappointed when someone remembers we missed it. Most of my family seems to be on the same page with my opinion, with the exception of Allison. She anticipates it for months and has almost the same giddy excitement she has for Christmas or her birthday when it gets close. With the entire Nation on stay-at-home orders I think in general most people paid more attention to it this year, simply because of lack of other things happening. Allison had a long list of tricks ready to go.
She placed a piece of card board in all the toilets. Thank goodness she hasn’t discovered other ‘options’ for this classic trick, that I will not even mention here because she does eventually read this.
She put tape across several doorways. This happened to be the day I did laundry and often was carrying things in front of me so I couldn’t see as well. So I personally ‘fell’ for this one at least 5 times and so did others. She was very pleased with herself.
I also found tape covering the faucet when I turned it on in my bathroom.
The one she did that made me chuckle the most was drawing on Emilee’s arm while she was sleeping. Emilee came in and said, “Mom, I don’t remember drawing any of this on my arm.” She still draws on herself enough that it was a total possibility she did it, but was confused she couldn’t recall it.
Allison’s pride and joy prank for the day was getting a hold of Matthew’s cell phone and changing her contact to “Campbell” who is Matthew’s crush. She then texted him like she was Campbell. Matthew figured out pretty quickly that it wasn’t Campbell but he thought it was her sister. He even told Allison about it and she was giggling while she sat right next to him and continued to text. He figured it out shortly after that. Then I helped him change it back and change the password on his phone so she couldn’t get into it anymore.
The winning prank of the day was by me though. Thanks to my neighbors. They pranked me first with the following pictures.
Once they new they got me they said they were looking it and would send me more info when they found it. A minute or so later she said here is what we found. and send me this.
Quarantine Entertainment…Day 2 of SECOND Quarantine
Emilee’s Answers (Age 7)
- If you won a million dollars, what would you buy? candy and a new bike and some stuffed animals and more candy
- How long does it take to get to the Europe? 10 hours
- What do I always say to you? I love you
- What job do you want to do when you grow up? Dolphin trainer
- What is the capital of America? The flag or the eagle
- Where do babies come from? Your mom’s belly
- What age do you become an adult? 31
- If you could change one rule your family has, what would it be? Eat candy for dinner
- If you could be a superhero, what superpower would you have? speed and magic
- What would you do to save the planet? pick up trash
- If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be? donuts
- How much does it cost to buy a house? $1000
- Why do you think we should be nice to others? Because it spreads to be kind to others
- What does love mean to you? That you love someone with your heart
- What are you scared of? The dark
- What it so important to you? My family
- What makes you angry? When someone sticks their tongue at me and calls me names.
- What is your favorite thing to do? Play with electronics and my Lego dragons.
Allison’s answers (Age 9)
- If you won a million dollars, what would you buy? Pets
- How long does it take to get to the Europe? 1 day
- What do I always say to you? Do your job.
- What job do you want to do when you grow up? Nurse
- What is the capital of America? A
- Where do babies come from? The butt
- What age do you become an adult? 18
- If you could change one rule your family has, what would it be? You can get a phone when you want, or have multiple pets.
- If you could be a superhero, what superpower would you have? Fly and invisible
- What would you do to save the planet? Get rid of plastic bags and straws
- If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be? Pizza and donuts
- How much does it cost to buy a house? $24,000
- Why do you think we should be nice to others? It is easier
- What does love mean to you? caring for others
- What are you scared of? Spiders
- What it so important to you? Peanut my guinea pig
- What makes you angry? When Emilee is annoying
- What is your favorite thing to do? Watch You Tube and eat donuts
Matthew’s Answers (Age 13)
- If you won a million dollars, what would you buy? House
- How long does it take to get to the Europe? 8 hours by plane
- What do I always say to you? Listen!
- What job do you want to do when you grow up? Play baseball or do something sports related
- What is the capital of America? Washington DC
- Where do babies come from? Women
- What age do you become an adult? 18
- If you could change one rule your family has, what would it be? No electronics on weekdays
- If you could be a superhero, what superpower would you have? reading minds
- What would you do to save the planet? Cure cancer
- If you could eat one thing for the rest of your life what would it be? Sushi
- How much does it cost to buy a house? $500,000
- Why do you think we should be nice to others? So we could get along and have a better world.
- What does love mean to you? Family
- What are you scared of? Suffocating
- What it so important to you? Sports
- What makes you angry? When Allison is rude.
- What is your favorite thing to do? baseball
Parent Teacher Conferences
As I have mentioned part of the reason for our pre-Spring Break is because it is parent teacher conference time.
I went and saw all of the kids teachers and saw how they are doing. Matthew was supposed to come with me and show me a presentation that he had made about how his year has been going. He was sick so I just went myself and his teacher showed me. He is doing great. He catches on pretty quick most of the time and things seem easy. His biggest area to grow in is challenging himself more. Not just doing the minimum and being done. Pushing himself to go above the minimum even if it is uncomfortable (because it will be) and growing more than the ‘requirement’. When I was telling him how his conference went I told him this is a nice way of his teacher saying-don’t be lazy, and I agree. He rolled his eyes and said ‘okay mom’. Then I gave him a hug and told him I am proud of his effort he does put in. I know a lot of moms that have to remind, nag, beg, threaten their kid to not just do homework but turn it in, and even admit they have it. I ask Matthew on occasion if he has done his homework but more so he doesn’t feel like I don’t care than I am worried he hasn’t done it. Since Kindergarten he has come home and done his homework on his own unless he needs help without being asked.
Allison was also supposed to come with me to her conference. She did and showed me her slide presentation she prepared for me. Then we went through some of the papers she had written the first part of the year. She is doing very well and her creativity shows just as much in her school work as it does in other areas of her life. I took a picture of a couple so share. Even her research reports are fun to read. She is a talented girl. She excels in many areas. One of her favorites right now is Math. She seems to have a good portion of her dads engineering brain. I am very proud of her and how hard she works. Her area of improvement is to slow down and take her time. It isn’t a race to finish everything. Then she gave me all the sticky notes she had collected from various teachers on the board of “items needed” for their classrooms, while she was waiting for me to finish Emilee’s conference. When I tried to explain the items are for the kids/parents to get that are actually in that teachers class and picking one was enough she was mortified at my “lack of caring for others and their needs.” When I told her I would split the cost of whatever she wanted to get for the teachers she put a few back and kept a more reasonable amount of sticky notes. 😘
Learning about geese was more entertaining then I thought possible 
All from the head of Allison.
Emilee was the only one that was not supposed to come to her conference. While I enjoy my children’s company this is the way I prefer to have a parent teacher conference-with just the people listed in the title of the event. Emilee has improved her reading a lot this year. I will admit I was a little bit nervous at the beginning of the year. It was a bit of a struggle to get her to even try to read. She has tried hard and is doing really well now. In Emilee’s life in general I feel like she has started to accept the fact that she can do a lot of stuff for herself. While she is the youngest and all of us are guilty of just doing things for her because it is easier-and quite frankly she prefers it that way- I think we have made great strides in her willingness to try doing things on her own and for herself. She has shown it in playing basketball and not taking herself out of the game because she is ‘done’, making her own peanut butter sandwich, and reading books on her own even though she might not know every word. Her teacher said she is a happy fun girl to have in class and I am proud of her too. She had a very good folktale about how guinea pigs learned to run I got to see at her conference.
Matthew’s Basketball
Matthew missed about half of the basketball tryouts because we left for Florida for Christmas. He was nervous he wouldn’t be able to make the team but he ended up getting put on the Junior Varsity team. He has been loving it. He has been getting better each week too. There team is 10-1 so they have had a good season. One of the games they were down by more than 15 points almost the whole game then they came back and won in triple overtime. He loved the excitement of the whole experience. The jersery’s are already made and the bigger the number the bigger the size of the jersey. His usual number he likes to be is 14 butthat jersey was to big so he had to settle for 11. He is very aware of his lack of height compared to almost everyone else on his team but he makes up with it with speed and effort. He is getting really good at darting around and stealing the ball from the other team.
They start each game with the National Anthem, which I love. 
They announce the starting players so they get to run out and line up. 
Family Flexibility
The range of flexibility in our family goes from Allison doing full splits and bending over backwards to Ryan and Matthew who can barely bend forward let alone touch their toes.
The past year Matthew has started having issues because he works out so much and then doesn’t stretch enough. On top of his lack of flexibility his muscles tighten up from working out and make him even less flexible and more tight. He has had to do several rounds of physical therapy. Of course Ryan and I have been nagging, harping, reminding, lecturing, begging, threatening, and anything else we can think of to get him to stretch 1-2 times a day. I’ve made him do Yoga with me. He is pretty ornery about it ,mainly because it hurts, he doesn’t like it, doesn’t get the importance of it, he is not good at it, and he is a belligerent teenager.
Our chiropractor gave us a video to use with some basic stretching. Ryan realized he needs to do it just as much as Matthew so the two of them have been doing it together at night. It is so ridiculous watching them. I switch between laughing so hard my eyes water to rolling my eyes as they moan and complain and roll around on the floor supposedly stretching but looking more like they are having a seizure or full body muscle spasm.
Kudos to them for trying though. They get an ‘A’ for effort. Well Ryan gets a ‘B’ and Matthew gets ‘C-‘
Apparently I have Twins
The day after we got home from Colorado we started the unpacking of all the suitcases. Around lunch time we decided to go out to lunch together since we hadn’t gone to the grocery store yet, and I hate to cook.
The stars aligned and all the moons were in the right place and whatever else needs to happen for a miracle so everyone was happy, speaking cheerfully, and using good manners. As we were eating a lady sitting next to us turned and pointing at Matthew and Allison said, “Your kids are so cute, are these two twins?”
I have never been asked this before so I was a little caught off guard but I was swooning in the compliment about my kids because usually one is crying, one is whining, and one is asking if we can go yet over and over. Allison didn’t hesitate a second and like she had answered the question a million times and said, “Not identical, I am awesome he his not.”
Matthew’s face after receiving a completely unexpected and completely amazing ‘burn’ from his sister was just as funny as Allison’s comment. He had a flabbergasted look on his face and said, “I’m awesome too.” The lady laughed and moved on, I don’t know if she realized they weren’t twins or not.
It was pretty funny. It was one of those moments that I still think about every now and then and get a good chuckle. Hehe, Allison and her spunky wittiness.
Things that drive me crazy now, but someday I will miss.
As summer is getting started and we are all adjusting to being around each other for most of our day. I have had the thought cross my mind a couple times one thing or another just drives me crazy. As I have thought about these things, sometimes they legitimately drive me crazy and I want to pull my hair out. Somethings that drive me crazy though I think I will miss someday so I should quit my complaining and enjoy it while it lasts.
The first thing that came to my mind was our family seating arrangements for church on Sunday. This has changed a lot over the years as the kids go through different ages, we have had assigned seating, rotating seating, and occasionally ‘you pick’ seating. Currently ‘first come, first serve’ is the way seats are chosen unless people get rowdy then Ryan and I start making them play musical chairs. The whole thing is quite ridiculous. It is just sitting and listening for 45 minutes but they act like they are making a life altering choice.
Whatever the seating arrangement is, there seems to also be some unspoken rule that says everyone has to get as close to me as possible and take up as little space on the bench as possible. Every Sunday I feel like I am being smothered during Sacrament. I have one or two people trying to sit on my lap or lay their head on my lap, hold my arm or hand, lay on my shoulder, wedge their body underneath me for warmth. Aaahhh, sometimes I just want to sit by myself and stretch out. I know someday they will sit in their own space though or not be there at all and I will miss it, so I just try to enjoy if for now.
I’ve always had a rule that my kids can come get me at night if they need me or have a bad dream but they can not sleep in my bed. They can snuggle a minute, or sleep on our couch in our room, or I will even lay by them in their bed until they fall back asleep but they are not supposed to sleep in my bed because I like to sleep without being kicked or squished or wake up with a kink in my neck because someone wedged themselves underneath me. Matthew and Allison follow this rule very well. Matthew has already outgrown needing me at night for a few years now. Allison occasionally will come poke me for a hug but not very often. Emilee has been the hardest to enforce this rule with. Partly my fault because she has always been a little cuddler from day one so if she comes for a snuggle, before you know it I’m waking up and its morning time. She has also mastered crawling into my bed without waking me up when she crawls in so I wake up in the morning with a sore back and her mouth breathing in my face. It is getting better but Emilee’s approach to disobeying has always been ignore or act like you don’t hear and smile cute when you get caught. That is really hard to combat at two in the morning when you are not conscious and want nothing more than to stay that way for the rest of the night.
2018 Quotes for the Fridge.
I have a little white board on our fridge that I decided to use to put quotes on that I read or heard somewhere. Someday I will have a quote wall or something to display a bunch of them but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet so it doesn’t look sloppy and drive me crazy.
When you really want something you’ll find a way. When you don’t really want something you’ll find an excuse.
~Girl, Wash Your Face
Whatever standard you’ve set for yourself is where you’ll end up…unless you fight through your instinct and change your pattern.
~Girl, Wash Your Face
Words have power but actions shape our lives.
~Girl, Wash Your Face
When you know better you do better.
~Maya Angelou
Life is to be enjoyed not just endured.
~Gordon B. Hinckley
If thoughts make us what we are, and we are to be like Christ, then we must think Christ like thoughts.
~Ezra Taft Benson
Forget yourself and go to work.
Be grateful, humble, smart, prayerful, involved, true, positive, and still.
~Gordon B. Hinckley
Be proud of the work you do the person you are and the difference you make!
God gave the Sabbath day for man, not man for the Sabbath day.
It’s their day too.
The will of God will never lead you where the grace of God won’t help you.
Choose the harder right, instead of the easier wrong.
~Thomas S. Monson
Wherever thou art, act thee thy part.
~David O. McKay
If you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything.
One of the most sincere forms of respect is actually listening to what someone has to say.
I am your mother, you are my child. I am your quiet place, you are my wild. I am your calm face, you are my giggle. I am your wait, you are my wiggle. I am you dinner, you are my chocolate cake. I am your bedtime, you are my wide awake. I am your lullaby, you are my peek-a-boo. I am your good night kiss, you are my I love you.
In December we decided to change it to our scripture board and we wrote scriptures on it that we wanted to memorize as a family. For a little incentive to memorize them, we let the kids pick a small reward each time they memorized one. Matthew picked a QT icee, Allison picked staying up an extra hour after her regular bedtime one night. Emilee is still deciding. They have to have them memorized to the point that I could ask them at any time and they could rattle it off without thinking.
Alma 37:35 …yea remember my son and learn wisdom in thy youth. Yea, learn in thy youth to keep the commandments of God.
Alma 38:9 …there is no other way or means whereby man can be saved only in and through Christ. Behold He is the light of the world. Behold he is the word of truth and righteousness.
Merry Christmas!!
Despite the fact that time slowed down so one day felt like 10 according to my kids Christmas Day FINALLY came! We were at Grandma and Grandpa Terry’s this year with our Bourne and Terry cousins.
Christmas Eve we had a big yummy ham dinner together. Grandpa read us the Christmas story and talked to us about using our time wisely on Sundays when we get an ‘extra hour’ at home. We sang Christmas songs and then the kids bounced off the walls and played games until bedtime. Then they continued to bounce off the walls in their beds with excitement until the last of their energy wore out and they fell asleep. Leah and Allison were the last two to fall asleep. There goal was to stay up all night. They said they made it to midnight, but I checked on them at 11:30 and they were sleeping. They woke up at 5:45 but we made a rule the night before that no one could wake anyone up until 6:30. They stayed in their room like they were supposed to and argued about who was not being quiet enough just loudly enough for the people below, next to, and across the hall to hear them.🤦♀️ At 6:30 AM sharp all the kids magically awoke if they weren’t already and let everyone know it was time to open presents.
Santa was right on with his gifts this year. Emilee loved her doll that can ride her horse she got for her birthday. Allison got a karaoke machine that she has been using non-stop. Matthew got a new bat for next season that he is very excited to use.
We spent the rest of the day playing with new toys, eating left overs, relaxing and staying in our pajamas. It was a very nice Christmas day!
The moms always go get their toes done. Alli and Leah get to come now too. Allison has been looking forward to it since last Christmas. 
Christmas Eve 
Christmas Eve 
Emilee and Allison loved to hold Baby Chloe. 
Christmas Eve 
Christmas Morning! 
Allison opening her Karaoke Machine from Santa. 
Matthew’s bat from Santa. 
Tyler and Emilee eating Pringles and watching the cars race 
Emilee’s doll from Santa 
Traditional Christmas morning family selfie.
Christmas Activities
The past few years I have tried extra hard to make it a point to enjoy the holiday season and not get to busy with things that it rushes by and I feel stressed and frustrated instead of joyful and peaceful like you should feel at Christmas. I was able to get decorations up and most of the Christmas shopping done before we left on our cruise so that when we got back we could enjoy the rest of December and do our family Christmas traditions.
We kicked off the week after we got home by setting up the card table and pulling out a bunch of puzzles to start doing. There is something about Christmas music, lights, decorations, and cold weather that makes you want to put your slippers on and do a puzzle, or ten.
A few times before Christmas we like to drive around and look at Christmas lights. We get in our PJ’s, make some hot chocolate, bring a cozy blanket, turn on our favorite Christmas music, and go check out all the neighborhood Christmas lights. There are several neighborhoods that we know will not disappoint but we try and find new ones too. When we found the house with all the blow ups we had to get out and walk through it to appreciate the 100+ blowups in their yard, including a 25 foot penguin. I bet their neighbors just love them.
The girls are sitting on top of the van to get a better view of a light display we were watching. 
I remember doing this as a little girl.
Matthew is loosing interest a little in gingerbread house decorating but the girls still love it. Sometimes we make one big one, sometimes we each make our own little one. Then as Emilee announces several times a day, “Gingerbread houses are made to be eaten.” They slowly become stripped of their candy and frosting. If there is anything left, our elf Bubbit takes them with him back to Santa on Christmas Eve to share with all the other elves.
Allison’s Gingerbread house 
Emilee’s Gingerbread house 
Matthew’s Gingerbread house
Bubbit is our elf that visits every year and keeps an eye on who is being naughty or nice for Santa. Every morning he is in a different spot, sometimes he is being a little mischievous or silly. Occasionally he gets into marshmallow fights with the barbies or super hero figures. The older he gets the more he likes to just hide in funny spots. We got him in 2013. At the time Allison had found a grasshopper and named it Bubbit so when our elf showed up she thought it was the perfect name for him too. Lots of people have elves. They show up around December 1st. Some ambitious elves show up on Thanksgiving. Bubbit is a special elf that helps Santa do some extra work so he usually doesn’t make it to our house until mid December. It is good to let the anticipation of his arrival peak before he comes.
My mom and dad gave us a story called ‘The Last Straw’ that was a tradition we did in my family growing up. We have an empty basket and we fill it up with straw by putting in a piece every time we do something kind for someone. Then on Christmas Eve the basket is full of straw from hopefully hundreds of small acts of kindness and love, and we have a little Baby Jesus to put in the basket.
We usually go to the church Christmas breakfast. It was a little low in attendance this year but it was still a fun time. Allison picked a spot in the very back corner for us to sit. I looked up while I was eating and could see everyone there eating and visiting and having a good time while Christmas music played softly in the back ground. It was a nice moment. We have a very nice and friendly ward. Santa came at the end and the girls gave him a high five and talked to him. Emilee wanted to do it but almost had a heart attack waiting in line as the anticipation of willingly walking up to a stranger and talking to him built up. She was with her two good friends so that helped her bravery and she did it. When they finished and she found out that you get a candy cane for talking to Santa, her bravery went through the roof and she went back all by herself.
Ugly Christmas Sweater Champion.
Matthew has been a little bit of a scrooge this year. Allison has noticed and taken it upon herself to fix his ‘not Christmasiness’ self. She brainstormed a few ideas and I carefully helped steer her towards ones that might actually have the results she wants instead of the opposite. (Running into his room every hour tonight while he was sleeping and yelling, “Matthew be more Christmasy” until he said ‘ok’ was luckily moved off the table) Instead the girls made him a giant poster that said Merry Christmas Matthew and hung it up in his room. We will see if operation ‘Make Matthew Merry’ is a success.
Operation ‘Make Matthew Merry’
Several years ago we made chocolate pretzels to hand out as a treat to out neighbors. The kids had a lot of fun doing it and it has become our traditional treat from the Terry’s that we hand out to friends and neighbors. We have stream lined it pretty good too. It used to be an all Sunday afternoon activity, but now we can make them and hand them out in the same day. It is also pretty hard to screw up which is good for me.
Making Christmas treats 
The kids are leaving tomorrow to go to Grandma’s early with their cousins. Ryan has work he wants to get done before Christmas, and I want to see the church Christmas program Sunday morning before we go up. It has been a very nice December. It isn’t over yet, I know, I’m just relishing the greatness so far of this magical month.
Thanksgiving
Our November flew by in a flash! Everyone had lots of activities going on, I worked quite a bit, and Ryan was extra busy with work. I also like to get as much Christmas prep done as I can in November so when December comes we can have less to do and enjoy the season. So we got our decorations up mid December and most of the present shopping done too. The girls had a daddy daughter dance with their dad for Girl Scouts. It happened to be on the same night as Ross and Lauren’s annual Pie Night, so the girls decided to leave the dance a little early to make it to both activities. Ryan was very happy with their decision because he looks forward to Pie Night. Emilee found a cat while we were waiting at piano lessons. She coaxed it from the neighbors driveway to the one we were at and played with it. I had a spell of momentary weakness come over me that almost ended up with me bringing the cat home. I was able to talk myself down though. The kindergartners celebrated Thanks giving by having a little singing program for their parents. They all dressed up as an Indian or a Pilgrim. Then they had a feast together when they were all done. The Saturday before Thanksgiving we had a Friendsgiving with some families from Matthew’s baseball team. It was a fun night. We are very lucky to have a nice group of families on the team.
Girl Scout Fall Ball 
Emilee found friend. 
The kindergarten classes sang some songs and had a Thanksgiving feast. 
Emilee loves holding Linnea whenever she can. 
Ready for breakfast but not ready to wake up yet. 
On the way to Grandma and Grandpa Jones house. 
Enjoying the nice drive through a blizzard. 
After driving almost 11 hours in the snow, we got stuck in our driveway. Thank goodness for neighbors with snow blowers.
My mom had a surgery on her neck the week before Thanksgiving so we went up to South Dakota to see her and my dad for Thanksgiving. It has been a while since we have been up there. I was very happy to find my mom in very good condition considering she had a major surgery one week before. She was doing so good I had to keep reminding the kids that they had to be careful with her.
Ryan and I both worked on Wednesday so we headed up on Thanksgiving Day. We decided to celebrate on Friday instead.
My mom likes to cook but couldn’t, I could cook but don’t like to so we decided to pick the favorites we wanted from a traditional Thanksgiving dinner and nix the rest of it.
My mom, always prepared (even when having a surgery), had made rolls ahead of time, and had the options of a turkey, chicken, roast or ham to choose as the main dish. My mom and I were out voted on the turkey for a ham. We added the rolls, corn, mashed potatoes and gravy, a Sam’s Club pumpkin pie (the very best pumpkin pie you can get) and we had a great Thanksgiving feast on Friday. For the rest of our time in South Dakota everyone’s goal was to relax. I think we were very successful at it. We all went to the theater together and watch the new ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ movie. The kids discovered the 1992 Mighty Ducks movie. I remember loving it when I was younger and watching it many times. We watched the original, second and third movies of that. The boys went and saw the new Harry Potter movie too. My mom and I were able to squeeze in several Christmas Hallmark movies and the adults all watched ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ which I don’t recommend. Among all the couch potatoes watching movies there were many card games of Golf, and Baloney (BS), and various board games going on as well. It was a great long weekend.
We checked the weather several times and were debating on leaving Saturday or Sunday because KC up to Omaha was supposed to get hit with a big blizzard. We decided on leaving later on Sunday when the storm was done. When we woke up Sunday the storm was much bigger and slower so it was supposed to hit in the afternoon, so we left as early as we could to get home instead of waiting. The roads were crystal clear until we got just past Omaha. Then the freeways were closed and everything else. We tried the side roads for a bit but I got tired of that quick so we went back to the freeway and we were able to get on but we drove 30-40 miles the rest of the way home. This made the last usually 2 1/2 hour long trip take more than twice as long so by the time we got home it took us almost 11 hours instead of 6. It was a long day… the kids did great and were able to hold going to the bathroom for new record times. Ryan was pretty grumpy, and I was the driver the last 8 hours so I was tired. We were both a little irritable and we learned our lesson to be better at checking the weather. We told the kids it was a good example for them as to why we don’t drive in bad weather, and it wasn’t mom and dad’s best decision.
Kids activities-November here we come!
Allison had her 3rd grade music performance last week. They did songs about rocking through the ages. Each grade does a performance each year. Every year when parts get assigned and come home she flips out about how she got the worst part and she isn’t going to dress however she is supposed to. This year was the same. She was supposed to dress up like a nerd and she said there was no way she was going to do that. I have found it is best that I don’t say anything and by the time it comes around to the performance she is fine. That’s how it went this year too. Most of her friends ended up being nerds too so they all had a fun time planning their outfits and they did great on their performances.
Allison is in the front row, bottom left corner in the pink shirt.
Emilee sang a song with her class for the annual Veteran’s Day Performance at the school. She did a great job and liked that there was never any direct attention on her.
Matthew is done with football and started basketball practice, it is just once a week until games start after Christmas so he is also focusing on his baseball training. They aren’t supposed to throw in November so their arms get a break, so he has been hitting and doing Boost classes, which is weight and cardio training.
Matthew’s Pizza
The other night Ryan and I went out to dinner with some friends. Matthew watched the girls for us. (Awesome perk of having a 12 year old) I told them some options for dinner before I left that they could make when they were hungry. Matthew called us about half way through our dinner and we had to settle an argument about if he had to make Allison a pizza or not because ‘she won’t starve’. (Not so awesome perk about kids watching their own siblings) When we got home there was pizza stuff on the counter and cold cereal. We asked who are what for dinner and they all said cold cereal. Matthew mumbled something about the pizza not being very good. I asked him what was wrong with it and he said he didn’t know, he left it in the oven for me. I looked in and found this.
We figured out that he had set the oven to broil instead of bake and this is what a pizza looks like after it has been broiled for 14 minutes. Before we left I was reviewing standard safety rules because they said they were probably going to make a pizza. Matthew was being a little snarky and answering all my questions with the answer, “Immediately call 911 and run around screaming.” Luckily while his mouth was being sassy his brain remembered what we talked about. I didn’t specifically cover what to do in case you broil the pizza instead of bake it but when I asked him how he decided to deal with it he said, “It wasn’t on fire so I turned the oven off and left it for you to figure out. We had cold cereal so it wasn’t an emergency so I didn’t need to call you or 911.” I clarified if he meant the pizza wasn’t an emergency or eating cold cereal wasn’t an emergency, to which he said, “We still had food to eat even though we wanted pizza.” We were gone for two hours.
Sometimes I would love to see the inner dialogue and thought process of the 12 year old brain. He felt the need to call me to determine if he had to feed his sister at all, but when he opened the oven to what should have been a perfectly cooked pizza and instead found a charred melting blob he thought it best to just close the oven and leave it until I got home. 🤷♀️
I got to go out to dinner and enjoy a delicious meal with friends and my Punkin and everyone was healthy (and no one starved in the two hours we were gone) and the house was standing and no one called 911 so it was a successful evening.
Wrapping Up Baseball with the Monster Bash Tournament
The Monster Bash was our last tournament of the Fall season. This team has played in this tournament three years. This is our second year playing with this team in this tournament. Part of the tournament is a twitter contest. The team that has the most tweets over the weekend gets cash for future tournaments. Our moms have won the contest by miles for the last two years and we made it three this year. There are over 400 teams that play in this tournament so we were playing in Platte City which is a little over an hour away. It was a really nice ball field though. We played two games the first day. We squeaked into the top division in 10th place which meant we had to play at 8am the next day. When the boys won that game our next game wasn’t until 4pm. One of the coaches had family that lived near by and offered to let the team hang out at their house for a while. So we ordered some pizza’s, and watched the football game, the boys played dodge ball and baseball in the front yard, the girls played in the leaves. It was a fun few hours.
We won the 4pm game. The 6pm semi championship game went extra innings and the boys clawed their way to finally win it in the 9th inning (usually a game is 6 innings). The Championship Game started a little before 9pm and the boys did really well just came up a little short. It is a long day at the ball park when you see the sunrise and sunset on the same day. It was a great end to the season.
Halloween Festivities
For the past several years we have been ‘Booed’ by someone. I am pretty sure it is the same person every year but we can’t figure out who it is. Being ‘Booed’ is when someone leaves a treat or goody bag on your porch without you knowing it. When you get Booed you are supposed to hang the little sign on the front door that says “We’ve been booed!” and then you Boo two other people. Kind of a more fun version of a chain letter. The kids love it. Emilee likes to just leave it on the porch for them to find sometime, but Alli and Matthew like to ring the doorbell and run to test their speed and sneaky skills.
Some years I am more into Halloween than others. Either way I am ready for it to be over by the 31st. This year is kind of on the down side for being gung-ho for Halloween. Fall came really late so the hot weather made it hard to get in the mood. The kids like to help me put the decorations up. I am into more cute and silly Halloween decorations. Allison and Emilee (totally just being an Allison follower) keep begging to get more creepy scary Halloween stuff. I am not into that part of Halloween at all. Matthew and Ryan aren’t either so luckily the girls are out numbered.
Allison gets her creepy gross Halloween fix when she picks out her costume though. Last year she was a dead bride, this year she spent over an hour at the Halloween store looking for the perfect ‘disgustingly creepy’ costume. I walked a fine line between not raining on her parade and swaying her away from ones I really didn’t want. She was wanting a scary clown with blood all over it. Unfortunately (or was is?) her choices for that costume were eliminated by not being available in the right size. She settled for a jester costume that had no blood on it but has gloves with long creepy fingers and a mask that is definitely scary clown material. It didn’t take her long to test her scariness and she was not disappointed. She hid in Matthew’s bathroom and scared him to death when he came in. I told her she couldn’t do that again but he walked around paranoid waiting for her to jump out anytime he couldn’t see her for two days because he didn’t trust her. He finally decided to hide her costume until Halloween so he didn’t have to worry about it. I was glad he thought of because I didn’t trust her either. It worked for about a week, then she found it. There is now a battle of hide-n-seek with Allison’s costume going on. If you hear the sound of bells (her jester hat has bells on it) you know you are going to get scared.
Emilee walked around the store pointing out all the creepy stuff but settled on a cute little bat outfit. She told me it is the bat ‘Mavis’ the vampire turns into from Hotel Transylvania.
Matthew wasn’t with us when we got the girls costume so he is going to reuse his costume from last year-the grim reaper- but call it a dementor from Harry Potter instead.
The girls and I went to a pumpkin patch together. There are many options around here. Emilee has been really wanting to go to the Deanna Rose Farmstead. It is a fun place with lots of different farm activities and animals to pet or feed or ride. They also have a hayride out to a pumpkin patch in October so we decided to go there and do both. It was pretty fun. We have gone to the farm many many times over the years. I have to say it is a little more relaxing now that they are older to take them places. There were lots of mom’s with babies crying, toddlers rolling in the mud, or running off. I’m not complaining about them. I have been there, I get it. I help redirect a kid, and lend a hand when I can. I am just enjoying the less hands on approach I can have now. This is the first time we tried the pumpkin patch part though. It wasn’t ridiculously overpriced and the patch was pretty compact and had enough activities to keep them busy for a while. We all got to pick a pumpkin as part of admission too. Usually we go to the pumpkin patch but we will buy our pumpkins later at the store because I’m a stick in the mud and won’t spend $10-$20 PER pumpkin at the patch. Call me crazy. I call them crazy for charging that much for a pumpkin. We ended our time there by stopping at the General Store and getting a few pieces of salt water taffy. I don’t eat it very often but I like salt water taffy. They have yummy flavors too. Some of our favorites are caramel apple, root beer, cinnamon, and strawberry banana.
There is always the school trunk or treat and the church Chili-cook off (which I won last year-see my post ‘Why I Avoid Cooking’ for more details) followed by the trunk or treat, class parties and more. There is no shortage of candy by the time Halloween is over.
We usually carve our pumpkins a day or so before Halloween. This is a picture from carving pumpkins last year. I think it captures everyone’s thoughts quite well. Matthew is trying to touch it as little as possible and repeatedly saying how gross it is. Allison is completely fascinated and loves everything about it from the smell to how slimy it is. You can’t see but Emilee has a spoon and is pointing and directing every cut Ryan is making but will not touch the pumpkin herself. Ryan took one for the team and is carving the pumpkin for Emilee. I am gagging over the smell while I take the picture. Every year I try and hype up the ‘lets paint our pumpkins instead’ option, but it is fun to put a candle in them and see the carving when your done so they have powered through carving them so far. 
I actually got a carving kit this year. It was worth every penny. I had the top cut off and the entire pumpkin gutted in under two minutes. Cutting out little spiders and other things was a piece of cake too.
For the last six or seven years on Halloween dad makes home made root beer with dry ice and we have pizza for dinner. We call the root beer ‘Witches Brew’. Then we get in our costumes and go trick or treating. Most of the time the McDonald’s come over and eat and go trick or treating with us. We usually split up into a slow group and a fast group after the first few houses. I don’t know how many more years we have before the kids want to start doing their own thing instead, maybe we will keep doing it together even when the kids don’t but just stay home and play a game instead. Matthew did end up going trick or treating with a few of his buddies. He had a ridiculous amount of candy when he got home.
Wood Bat Baseball Tournament
https://www.facebook.com/MidwestSportsProductions/videos/191881291712966/
Spoiler alert, the boys won the tournament. For the Championship Game there was a Midwest Sports Production reporter that filmed it and afterwards interviewed Matthew, Derrick and his coach. They just posted the final article/video to their Facebook page today. Matthew is in it quite a bit.
It was their first wooden bat tournament. They played a game earlier in the week and used wood bats to get used to it and it was not pretty. One strike out after another. Matthew was pretty frustrated and was not looking forward to the tournament. He put in some extra batting time and Ryan got him his own wood bat that was the right weight and he was feeling much better about it. They played 5 games, won them all and only allowed 7 runs total in all 5 of those games.
The games were all good games against good teams, and our boys played well. Everyone was on top of their game. They hit well, fielded well. It was really fun to watch. A friend of Matthew’s that is on his football team played with us because we needed an extra player, his name is Xander. We are actually trying to get him to join our team so it was kind of a try out for everyone. He is a naturally athletic kid and is a great baseball player too. He played catcher a lot of the time or second and I think he and Matthew really boosted each others playing. He had some amazing throws and stops and he kept the energy up for the team.
The team as a whole was playing great but Matthew had the best weekend of baseball he has ever had. I am going to do some mom bragging for a while so get comfortable. It is so fun to watch him play, he loves it, he gets it, you can see him watching and thinking and he is good at it. He doesn’t have to wait to be told what to do by the coaches he is already doing it when they call it out. His batting average usually bounces around 400-500. It was 778 for this tournament! He was CRUSHING it! He got several doubles, and a triple. He thinks he might have gotten his first home run if he was using his regular metal bat. He and Xander scored all 5 runs for one of our games. He is our fastest runner. He loves his nickname- Cheetah (or if Allison is around she cheers for Cheeto to tease him). We missed one game because we were at church. We arrived for the last half of the second overtime inning. As soon as Matthew got there his coach put him in as a pinch runner and he scored the tying run and then the person behind him scored the winning run.
He couldn’t miss all weekend it was awesome. Pop flies, grounders, line drives, anything that came near him he got it and gunned it to whatever base to get the out. Nothing got by him. They got a couple double plays too. There were a couple runners that thought they could steal a base than ended up in a pickle. Watching him chase someone down in a pickle is awesome. You can just see him turn the speed up a notch. It is nail biting to watch but it is great how they all know their parts and execute the play and back each other up.
This video is less than 10 seconds long (Xander’s mom took it and shared it with me) but it captures one of their plays and how awesome they were working together. I am not a sports announcer as you will soon find out but I am going to explain this video anyways. Then Matthew will have proof that I knew what was going on and wasn’t just sitting there eating my peanuts. (Love you Matthew 😉)
https://www.facebook.com/jessica.meinig/videos/10155600367720957/?t=2
There was a runner on first and they new he would probably try and steal second on the next pitch so the coach signaled Xander (catcher) to catch him stealing. So Xander calls a high pitch from Frankie (pitcher) so he can start to stand up to catch it. Matthew (short stop) also gets the signal. Frankie pitches a perfect pitch straight across the plate but just above the batters head so he won’t swing. As soon as he releases the ball he steps to the side so Xander has a straight shot to Matthew. The runner on first takes of to steal second but Xander has already jumped up to his strongest throwing position when he catches the ball so he is ready to throw it immediately to Matthew who has cut across to the other side of second base and has his glove out in the path of the runner to catch Xander’s throw that hits his glove with a nice pop right before the runner slides directly into it and is called out. Bam! In 7 seconds you have a perfectly executed defensive play by some cute, talented, fun, baseball loving 12 year olds. Not to mention what all the other boys did- center and second backed up Matthew, first was ready in case he tried to come back, right backed him up etc. It is so fun to see all of them getting better, trusting, supporting, learning, and growing as a team.
Best. Weekend. Ever.
This past weekend was an amazing weekend on all accounts. It was one of those weekends where the stars aligned and everyone was happy and the right amount of busy, relaxed, and enjoying each others company and activities that were going on. It was Parent Teacher Conferences so on Wednesday there was just a half day of school and then no school again until Monday. When the kids got home we went through the backpacks and got all that stuff done and hung them up so we didn’t have to think about it again until Monday morning. I went to the conferences and they were all fine. That night Matthew had a makeup baseball game that we went to. The girls both had a friend to play with so they were off at the park having a grand time. Both teams agreed to use wood bats because the tournament we played in over the weekend was a wood bat tournament. It didn’t go well. The boys had been practicing but all of their timing was a little off and it was kind of a sad game. Matthew decided to get over it by going to his friend Jake’s (also on the team) for a sleepover that night.
Thursday Matthew was at Jake’s most of the day and the girls and I went to a pumpkin patch. We had a fun little time. We did a hay ride, tractor ride, jumped on hay bales, went down slides, saw lots of animals, did a mini cornmaze (the best kind of corn maze), played in a giant bin of corn like a sandbox, and picked out some cute pumpkins. We topped it of with a favorite treat of salt water taffy on our way home.
Friday we played some games. One of our favorites right now is Trouble. Emilee thinks she can control the dice by wishing hard enough and crossing her fingers. It’s pretty funny when she guesses the right number. Friday night the girls gymnastics place was having their monthly parents night. The girls love it, they go and eat dinner, play games, and do gymnastics from 6:30-10:30. They have a blast and are still not ready to come home at 10:30. Matthew had three of his baseball buddies come for a sleepover Friday night. It was what he wanted to do instead of a big party this year for his birthday. We ate dinner at Pie Five, his favorite pizza place and then we went and played a couple games of laser tag. After that they came home and played night games outside for a while and watched a movie. I’m pretty sure they all had a great time. They all agreed to go to bed a little earlier than usual for a sleep over because the next day we started the Wood Bat Tournament.
Everyone woke up and it was hilarious seeing four boys get ready to go to their game. Ryan made us all a yummy breakfast and we went to the games. It was chillier so we were bundled up and snuggled in with blankets. I love it. We do spend a lot of time at baseball games but it is a fun time. The girls have fun at the games too. Sometimes they sit with me and watch but most of the time they run around in a pack with the other younger siblings at the game and play at the play ground or play tag or whatever they come up with. Emilee and her friend spent the whole day making homes and feeding their stuffed animals with grass that they would collect. Allison is one of the older ones so she likes being in charge and watching the kids. She played ‘the best game of tag ever’ most of the day. Then there is the food. We bring some healthier options but the girls love getting some nachos or an icee, or pretzels. They have hot chocolate now too which we all love. The boys played AMAZING and won the entire tournament with a 5-0 win record.
Alli had a birthday party she went to at the community center pool. Best friends and swimming in her favorite pool-double win.
Sunday we made it to church on time and without fighting in the morning. That is a miracle in itself. The primary is practicing for the program for the next few weeks. It is always an exciting time to get to sit on the stand and talk and sing in the microphone. Matthew had his first class with his new deacon quorum. He was also given the Aaronic Priesthood by his dad. Uncle Ross and Brother Sawaya helped in the blessing too. That night he was able to go to his first youth fireside. He came home and was telling me all about how media can be addictive and we should be careful what we watch and limit what we watch. I tried not to look to dumb founded as he told me all this ‘new information’ he had learned. I tried even harder not to say, “Matthew I have told you that almost every day for the last half of your life.” I am glad hearing it from a third party helped it actually stick a little between the ears instead of a pass through.
We all had a really nice weekend. There was a lot of quality fun past due family time. It was hard to let it go and return back to real life on Monday morning. I won’t name names but there were more than one kiddo sad enough to start the tears that they had to go back to school. On the way back from baseball we got ice cream, Emilee was eating it but had to take a nap before she finished because she was so tired. I looked back and her hand was inside her ice cream bowl and she was sleeping.
Catching up with Matthew
Matthew turns 12 this month! It is CRAZY how fast the past twelve years have gone since he was born. He decided instead of a big party this year he wanted to do a sleepover with a few of his baseball buddies. They came over Friday night and we ate pizza and went and played a few games of laser tag. Then they ate way to much junk food and played video games. They had a baseball tournament the next day so they woke up and had crapes for breakfast then we got ready and went to the game.
His birthday was on a Monday and our schedule was pretty full in the evening of football practice and piano lessons. Grandma and Grandpa Terry were in town watching the Terry cousins so they came over and we celebrated on Sunday. He wanted a cookie cake. Allison dropped Matthew’s birthday cake two years in a row so we now have a rule that she isn’t allowed to transport his birthday cake at all. The cake safely made it to the table to have candles blown out. We opened presents. He got a few sizes of dumbbells and other things to start his weight collection he wants to have and a microphone headset to play video games with and a few other things.
We decorated his room with lots of balloons and notes about how awesome he is and we had shrimp for dinner-his favorite. I double the amount I make every year and it still isn’t enough for him to get his fill.
Every year on his birthday for the last few years Matthew challenges his dad to a race to see if he is faster yet. Every year he thinks it is his year but so far Ryan has held the win. Ryan says he will not be able to beat him until he is an old man and it is embarrassing for Matthew to say he can beat him.
He is now in Young Mens too. He will get the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday and pass the sacrament for the first time with his dad the week after that. The Deacon president and a leader came over and talked to him about stuff on Sunday. I think he is excited to go to Young Mens. He is not a big scouter. He likes the activities and camping (in good weather) but he isn’t to concerned with getting all the badges and things like that. He was excited to go to an activity tonight that wasn’t just for scouts. We are planning on doing baptisms with him at the temple soon as well. Lots of changes!
This is my last year with my tweenager, then he will officially be a teenager. He is getting a little bit of the mood swings and some attitude sometimes but he is a good kid. He is a stubborn kid just like his dad and in the same way his dad is. It is like a Ryan mini me. Good thing Ryan knows how to handle himself. 🙂 Matthew has a good head on his shoulders. I’m excited to watch him continue to grow.
He is adjusted to school for the most part. He has a little bit of a negative attitude about it though. We have been talking a lot about how to enjoy things and make the best of it even when it ‘isn’t fun’. He took an assessment that helps them think of possible career paths based on how they answer some questions. I remember doing that in high school and it told me I would be a good airline pilot. I think of it more of a fun ‘horoscope’ test, than valuable information. His answers said he would be a good, zoo keeper, vet, or professional athlete. Except for the vet part (he can not handle even thinking about blood, body parts, or needles without freaking himself out) he thought it was right on track. He tried art and choir for his electives this semester. He likes art, his choir teacher is about a bog a stick in the mud as you can get and makes everything miserable so he is going to switch to life time sports next semester. Hopefully at the new middle school next year the choir teacher will be better and actually involve some singing in the class and he will be willing to try it again.
He played a tournament with the Raised Royal Baseball team he is on a few weeks ago. It is a combination of two teams and they only play tournaments in the Fall. They did really good. In the two years they have played they have never lost so they started getting a little cocky and careless and ended up taking second in the tournament. They could have easily one if they kept their discipline. It was a good learning lesson for them though, and still fun to watch.
September Memorable Moments.
- Emilee is sitting on the floor staring at her feet. All of the sudden she gets quite concerned and says, “Mom my toes are broken and I don’t know what happened to them.” Apparently she was trying to spread her toes and she could spread the ones on her right foot but not her left, after trying many times she was concerned they were broken. I explained to her that they were not broken sometimes you just can’t spread your toes. Every now and then I ask her if she ever got her toes fixed and she usually says something along the lines of, “No. I don’t know what is going on with those toes.” She says it in a very matter of fact tone, like she has been putting a lot of thought into it on a regular basis.
- Matthew has a blanket that he fell in love with the second it touched him when he was just a few weeks old. He has slept with it since then and the think looks like it has been ‘loved’ to death. I have sewn it almost as much as I can to keep it in one piece, but it is getting pretty shredded. I went into say goodnight to him one night and was laying by him and talking for a little bit. He was twisting his blanket around in his hands and there was a lull in the conversation. Then he said, “Mom just feel this blanket, rub it with your fingers just like this, and twist it around your wrist.” I tried to do what he was showing me and he said, “Isn’t that amazing how comfortable and satisfying that feels!” He then showed me all the favorite parts of his blankets and the best way to sleep with it. I loved that he tried to explain the amazingness of his blanket to me. It made me chuckle.
- I was working in the yard and Emilee called me to see something. I walked around to where she was at, she was pointing at a tiny little hole she had found by the window and said she thought that is how all the flies were getting into our house. I told her I thought it was because of the door she left wide open behind her while she looked for little holes.
- This one isn’t even my kid but it made me laugh anyways. I went to lunch with Allison at school the other day. Towards the end of our lunch the next group of kids came in and sat down to start eating. I would guess they were second graders. As we were sitting there visiting I noticed one boy who had brought his lunch from home take the apple out of his lunch and make a ‘ewe gross’ face. Then he casually took the apple and hung it from his hand behind him as low as it would go then dropped it on the floor under the table. Allison saw it too and we both looked at each other and laughed. She knew exactly why he dropped it and thought it was hilarious. Little stinker, I should have figured out who it was and told his mom. He would have wondered how in the heck she found out. Hahaha! The mom network, that’s how! Anyway, I told Alli to just bring her food home if she wasn’t going to eat it, and we finished our lunch.
- Emilee has always been a momma’s girl. Being in my presence is great but we have a family joke (that is kind of true) she prefers to be physically touching me whenever possible. While this is sweet, it can be frustrating at times too. Like in church when it isn’t her turn to sit right next to me she holds her hand out in my direction and gives me ‘puppy dog eyes’ and silently sobs for all of sacrament. All day kindergarten has been a big adjustment for her. Once she is there she does fine and has a great day but bedtime before and the morning of can be a little rough. She has said things like this many times but one night it made me smile when she was being particularly dramatic and said, “Mom, I can’t go to school tomorrow. It is so long. I can’t go that long with out touching you!”
- Emilee is not a morning person. This was one of her funnier ways of showing us she still wanted to be in bed rather than up eating breakfast.
How many packs do you have?
So Matthew works out a lot for baseball and football and he has recently become interested in getting strong well defined muscles like his arms and his abs. The other day he was explaining his plan to turn his four pack into a six pack and then an eight pack to Ryan and I. It was a very entertaining conversation. Allison and Emilee overheard it and Allison decided she was going to get an eight pack first and then keep going until she had a twelve pack. So the past week or so we have seen a lot of sit ups and crunches and many unknown exercises that apparently strengthen your abs. The funny part is the way they talk about it, they don’t really know what they are talking about. Allison skipped up and told me that she her two pack was now a three pack after doing sit ups for thirty seconds. I play smacked Matthew in the stomach the other day when he was being a smart mouth. He quickly replied that I missed because he blocked it with one of his packs. Emilee asks us to tell her how many packs she has all the time or just picks a random number to say she has. What a bunch of goof balls.
Matthew’s Football
Matthew decided to try football this year. It is a little crazy with practice and game schedules because he is doing baseball too. He is liking it but hasn’t taken to it as easily as other things he has tried. He is a little nervous about contact but he is getting better. His last game he recovered a fumble and scored with a touch down. He was pretty excited. We happened to be playing a team that one of his baseball team mates is on, his dad is one of his baseball coaches actually. He also likes to take pictures so he took some of Matthew for us and got some of his touchdown run too. Someday I might add becoming a better photographer to my list of things to learn to do. I really appreciate all the people that take pictures for us.
Fall FINALLY arrived!
The past few years I have noticed that I really enjoy the changing of the seasons. I am ready for the change and the different activities with each one.We were at a baseball tournament and football game a few weeks ago. The temperature was 89 but with the heat index it felt like over 100. It was so humid and stagnant. Ugg! It was like that from the beginning of September to just this week. Then we had a little rain storm and it cooled down and the next morning it had that cool crisp fresh feeling in the morning. Aaahhh! I love it. We got the Fall decorations out, I put Mums in my planters, we have been having yummy soups for dinner, and going on walks to enjoy the beautiful weather.
Allison has decided that her new gymnastics place is better than she thought. She is progressing quickly. I felt like she was on the cusp of being able to do a lot of things for a while at the last place we went for gymnastics. I switched her to a new place I thought would be a little more aggressive in getting them to progress. I started Emilee in a class too. Allison was pretty upset at first and said it was awful and they didn’t know what they were doing. I told her to give it 6 months before she ‘insisted on switching back’. She has been there almost two months now and a few weeks ago she admitted its pretty fun. Her and Emilee both look forward to it every week. Now I am trying to get her to do the same thing for her new piano teacher.
Matthew and his friends like to play night games sometimes. Another fun Fall activity is having an evening fire pit with the neighbors and roasting some marshmallows.
We usually take turns eating dinner with Ross and Lauren at one of our houses on Fast Sunday. This month we went to their house. When we were cleaning up dishes I was wiping off a counter and when I looked up this little guy was hanging on the rim of the cabinet. He is probably only about an inch tall. Ross got him at a white elephant party. He is a drink marker, he hangs on the edge of your cup. The one he happened to get at the party had Ryan’s name on it. I thought it was pretty funny.
I volunteered for a few things since school started. I am enjoying it trying some new things. I volunteered to do dental screenings at elementary schools. I go and evaluate the kids teeth and let their parents know if they need to see a dentist. I am going to be a co-leader for Emilee’s girl scout troop. That one makes me a little nervous. I think it will be fun but it is a pretty big troop-17 girls. I hope I don’t go crazy. I am helping two of the kindergarten teachers once a week with prep work stuff too-copying, laminating, whatever they need. I have a goal of helping at Harvesters Food Bank once a month too if I can. That with all my regular stuff keeps me pretty busy. I like it.
September Happenings.
Wow! The last few weeks have flown by. School and activities and other things are in full swing now. There is always something going on.
We finished the last weekend in August off by going to The Great Wolf Lodge for Aaron’s birthday. We had a great time! We tried all the slides, all the pools, and tried almost every kind of ice cream by the time we were done. Matthew was done around 3 after a full day of swimming. We had to drag the girls away at 4 to get back in time for baseball practice. Six hours of swimming wasn’t enough.
Allison and Matthew seem to have adjusted to school and handle their schedules pretty well. Emilee is still struggling a little bit. She seems to have a little bit of separation anxiety. She was nervous but doing okay, until last Friday I left her crying on the curb at school and thought she was going to follow me home. A teacher helped her make it to class but her teacher said it was a rough start to the day. Monday I walked her into class. The rest of this week I told her if she was a brave girl and got out of the car everyday this week and walked in like a big girl, I would come eat lunch with her on Friday. That worked pretty good. I think that will be our deal for the next couple weeks. Once she gets there and going she does great and has a good day. It is just hard to wake up and go in the mornings. We invited a friend Laney over today that she met in class. They are pretty good buddies and she lives just around the corner so that will be nice to have a friend close by.
Emilee went to a birthday party last week and was so excited to tell me that she got to fight Darth Vader with a purple sword when she got home. I love it when kids get so excited over fun simple things like that.
Last week was really rainy so football and baseball were canceled and moved to this week. That makes this week extra busy, but Matthew had his first football game last night. His coach has been talking with him about needing to be more aggressive and commit to his tackles more. He has been struggling with that and getting pretty frustrated. Last night at his game he was not going to play to much because his coach wanted him to get a little better at tackling first. Another player broke his arm at school so Matthew took his place. He is still a little timid but he did better than he has ever done at tackling. He took a couple people down and evaded a couple tackles. He was pretty proud of himself, so were we and so was his coach. His coach told him he figured out Matthew was a little surprise he wasn’t expecting.
I was going through some papers the other day and I found this little note that Matthew wrote for his dad. Every year on Matthew’s birthday they have a race because Matthew thinks he is faster than Ryan and Ryan has to prove he isn’t. Matthew wrote this for Ryan to intimidate him before their next race. Hahaha!
My birthday was nice. Ryan gave me an Apple Watch, it is pretty handy. He said I have no excuse for not answering or texting him back quickly now. I spent the day reading and relaxing and watching chick flicks. I went to lunch with some friends and we went to dinner as a family. The kids cleaned my car really well for my present. It was at my request and it is still a work in progress but they said they would get it done by this weekend. I watched a movie called, ‘All About Steve’ as part of my relaxing. It has Sandra Bullock in it, who I really like. The reviews were not good but I decided to watch it anyway and it was hilarious. It was supposed to be more ridiculous humor, and it must have been right up my alley because I was laughing a lot. It was a nice day. I did notice that most people asked me how young I was, instead of how old I am. I’ll take that as a sign that I am starting to head more towards the ‘older’ category instead of the ‘younger’ category.
I started the next phase of repainting my house. I picked the colors when we bought it and I still like them but the builders painted with flat paint. So I have been gradually repainting everything with a better paint when the wall gets so dirty that I can’t stand it anymore. I really hate painting, but I love a freshly painted wall. Especially one that I can wash when it get dirty. I also put most of my Fall decorations up. Not my Halloween yet, just Fall. I love Fall. I love being able to sit out on the porch and relax and enjoy the weather. I love that the Holidays are getting ready to start too.
Allison is really liking gymnastics. I switched where she was taking classes because she had stalled in her progression for a while. She wasn’t happy about it but I told her she had to give it a few months and she would notice lots of improvement. She has been there for about a month now, she is not complaining when I pick her up any more and she has gotten better in several areas. She is excited about it again and work on it at home a lot more. She is often doing sit-ups or arm exercises to help herself get stronger.
Genetics are strong.
Many years ago my two sisters came upon some stink bombs that they were very excited to put to good use. I was not living at home anymore but they filled me in later. I can’t remember what they did with all of them but I know one ended up in the 18 hole at a mini putt putt golf course and could be smelled from the parking lot, where they observed from afar and laughed their heads off. Another one ended up in my brothers room and I have been told many times since that was probably the maddest they had ever seen him. They still laughed their heads off, just at a safe distance.
Fast forward a decade or so and…
Allison wanted to do a little shopping with some of her money that she had recently acquired. It usually starts burning a hole in her pocket the second she gets it so she wanted to go to 5 Below and see what treasures she could find (5 Below is a step or two above a dollar store, but everything is $5 or less) She meandered around and eventually found the prank aisle and thought she had enough money to get a whoopee cushion, fake little pieces of poop, and a small aerosol can of ‘fart smell’. (Insert emoji slapping its forehead) Luckily, she did not have enough to get all of those things, but despite my efforts to find something not in the poop category to spend her money on she put back the whoopee cushion and took the other two up to the front to pay.
When she checked out she actually only had enough money for one. I again told her we could go find something else but she agonized for what I am sure the people behind us in line felt like was forever over her decision until finally deciding to just buy the stinky spray (insert emoji with fallen disappointed face) After making her purchase she then skipped out to the car pleased as punch with herself.
On the way home she decided to test it. I should have seen this coming but didn’t think through needing possible rules for the stinky spray before we even got home. She sprayed it in the car and immediately started complaining that it didn’t even stink and she was going to email the company and tell them ‘their fart spray stinks because it doesn’t stink.’ Mean while, I am driving the van and was unfortunately sitting in a location in front of the direction she sprayed the stuff. It did stink! It was foul and disgusting and unlike a ‘real fart’ it didn’t dissipate after a few seconds (actually got stronger), or by rolling the windows down. It was disgusting and of course Allison thought it was hilarious. I immediately laid down some ‘stinky spray rules’ (never saw that coming before I became a mom) and told her no more spraying it in the car or other enclosed spaces.
Allison is the worlds best negotiator though and she baked up some story to spray a little in Matthew’s room as a joke on him because he pulls little pranks on her all the time. I could tell this was the entire grand plan behind getting the stuff in the first place so I told her she could do it one time. Matthew does pull lots of pranks on her.
Allison decided to sneak in his room when he went down for breakfast on Sunday morning before church. She sprayed some stench in his room them came down to eat. Matthew went upstairs to shower. Alli was bouncing with excitement waiting to hear his yell, or gagging sound or something. Nothing. He showered and got dressed then came out. I figured he tried the ‘just ignore it’ tactic to make Allison mad. I forgot about it and finished getting ready in my room. Allison was not ready to just move on though. She went in his room and sprayed some more. She made up some excuse to have Matthew come upstairs to his room, which he did…nothing. Didn’t react in anyway. He went back downstairs. Allison was not to be deterred though. She sprayed more, a lot more. So much more that it came out of Matthew’s room and down the hall and Ryan started to smell it from his closet. (Side note, Ryan was not happy I ‘let’ her buy the stink spray. He said it was a ‘bad choice’ and he ‘wished I wouldn’t have let her do that’ (insert emoji rolling eyes)) He came out to see what was going on and was ‘assaulted’ by the horrible smell now filling the hall and floating down the stairs. I don’t know what reaction she wanted from Matthew but she got one from Ryan. All previous stinky spray rules were erased and a new one was put in place.
NO stinky smell sprays are allowed to be used, stored, or even brought into the house or they will be thrown away and destroyed immediately with no compensation to the owner.
Apparently bad smells make Ryan pretty grumpy. That isn’t a big surprise, he is always telling the kids, ‘Don’t be the stinky kid.’ By this time everyone was getting annoyed and gagging at the smell, except for Matthew who was down stairs with his nose in a book oblivious to everything. While I was opening windows and getting some Febreeze I asked Matthew if his book was so good he couldn’t smell the stench overtaking the house. He said, “No, but my allergies are so bad that I can’t smell anything.” I told Allison why her prank didn’t work and she was pretty annoyed. HAHAHA!
So we finished getting ready for church and headed out the door. When we got to church Matthew came and sat between Ryan and I. I kept catching whiffs of the smell. I guess there was some that settled on his clothes when he was in his room and hadn’t had enough time to go away yet. Alli sprayed A LOT of it. I was making a game plan to get some smelly lotion or oils from someone to help cover the smell but by the time sacrament was over the luckily the smell was gone. By the time we got home the smell was gone from the house too. I did one more round of Febreeze in Matthew’s room so that he was safe from being the stinky kid after sleeping in his room all night. Allison’s remaining spray may or may not have been misplaced. All in all though I think she felt like it was a great purchase.
Then vs now-Kindergarten
I think for a post every now and then I am going to pick an event that everyone (or most) of our family has done and compare them or write what we remember about those times. The first one I am going to do it kindergarten.
I’ll go first. I think these memories I have are from kindergarten…but they could be mixed with other memories and I don’t realize it. That’s the product of age plus memories I guess. Like the time when I was telling my mom about our trip to Nauvoo when I was younger and she told me I had never been to Nauvoo. I told her all about the trip and she showed me a picture book with pictures of the events that I had described. Apparently at some point I looked through the pictures and it became a memory of something I did instead of pictures I had seen. Anyway, I digress. Back to kindergarten.
I lived in Loa Utah, in a white house that I believe was on the corner of the street that was a straight shot down to the school. It would have been 1987. I want to say my teachers name was Mrs. Taft but I would have to look that up in a picture book to be sure and I am to lazy to do that right now. I remember learning our letters and she had a little blow up alphabet character for each letter and we could take turns bringing them home sometimes. I remember swinging on the swings and being ‘married’ to someone if we were swinging exactly together. I think we had a nap time. We did have snack time and it was chocolate or regular milk with something to eat. You were not allowed to blow bubbles in your milk or they would take your milk away. I remember blowing bubbles one day without really being aware of it and they took my milk away. I wondered how they even knew I was doing it. I remember wondering how adults knew a lot of things growing up. It makes me chuckle now when I can tell my kids are thinking the same thing. It is usually pretty obvious but in a kids mind you think you are being so sly. I remember our neighbor Clayton that was my age. He had a rabbit and I remember him explaining how to tell if it was a boy or girl and I had no idea what he was talking about because all I could see was fur. I remember telling my mom that I was sick one day when I wasn’t and I thought I was pretty slick because she let me stay home and lay on the couch. I was highly disappointed when everyone got home from school and I felt better and felt good enough to go play with everyone. my mom said I should probably stay on the couch for the rest of the day to make sure I didn’t get sick again. The only other thing I remember about kindergarten in that my dog followed me to school one day and was barking at people. I was worried they were going to take him to the pound but my mom came and got him and took him home.
Ryan lived in Manhattan Kansas. He would have started kindergarten in 1984. He remembers racing out to the jungle gym for recess because everyone tried to race and get the spot on top. His teachers name was Ms Crane. His mom took him to school and he doesn’t really remember anything about in the class and learning. He remembers recesses and looking forward to them. He met his friend Jake Sumners in kindergarten and they are still friends to this day. The only other thing he remembers is how to get to his class room when he got to school.
Matthew went to Scarborough Elementary in Olathe Kansas and had afternoon kindergarten with Mrs Herl in 2012. He says some of his memories are also PE and recess related. He learned how to play color tag and found out that he was a pretty fast runner. His favorite things to do were PE with Mr Simpson. Toilet tag was another favorite that he taught them to play. It is basically freeze tag but when you get tagged you have to put one knee on the ground and hold your hand out. If someone runs by you and ‘flushes’ your hand you can unfreeze and start running again. The first fire drill scared him because he didn’t understand what a drill was. He remembers cutting his knee open when he slid on the rocks at recess and thought he was so tough because he didn’t even know it and it didn’t hurt. There were only 11 kids in his class and of those 11 only 3 were boys. They had two recesses. They had a Halloween costume parade and he was Optimus Prime. When they had career day and were supposed to dress up as what they wanted to be when they grew up he dressed up as a zoo keeper. One of his favorite things when he was in kindergarten was animals. He loved to watch the Nat Geo Wild Channel and his favorite TV show was Wild Kratz. All the parents sent in a couple boxes of something for snacks and if anyone was allergic to any foods they had to bring their own snack.
Allison went to half day morning kindergarten with Ms Ryder in 2015 at Prairie Creek Elementary. For her first Halloween at school she was a Spanish dancer, mostly because she liked the dress, not because she liked dancing. They had one 15 minute recess. I have asked several times what other things she liked about kindergarten and she has repeatedly told me nothing…so this is a short paragraph.
Emilee started full day kindergarten in 2018 with Mrs Pahl also at Prairie Creek. Half day kindergarten is no longer an option. I had to sign a waiver saying any snacks I send to school for Emilee will only be eaten by her and not contain any nuts or be made in a place that has nuts. She has a morning and afternoon recess for 15 minutes each. She is making friends and enjoys it once she gets there but is still a little nervous about going in the morning.
First child vs last child. Pregnancy.
Sometimes I laugh with my friends about how parenting changes from kid to kid. I’m not talking about the differences caused by each kid because they are a different kid. I’m talking about the things that you wouldn’t see a reason for doing different from kid to kid but there seems to be a pretty steady pattern anyway, I will leave it for the reader to figure that pattern out. The reasons for the pattern as you read on are numerous and debatable. Some of the more ‘popular’ or ‘obvious’ I have come up with are; experience, inexperience, perseverance, attrition, hind sight, fortitude, wisdom, time, sanity, lack of sanity, and the amount of sleep to required effort ratio. In no way do the patterns imply or mean that one kid was loved more or less. I love all my kids and they were all cared for and loved and the day I finally got to meet them and bring them home were some of the happiest days of my life. Mostly this is just for my kids to laugh at and compare the ‘unfair’ and ‘unjust’ discrepancies in their childhoods.
Pregnancy.
- Matthew- I bought ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’ and read one chapter ahead each week so I would know ‘what to expect’ then read the chapter several times during the week to make sure I remember and new it all.
- Allison- got the book out in case I wanted to reference it, but ended up using it as a coaster on my nightstand instead.
- Emilee- donated the book before I was even pregnant with her because I needed the space for Harry Potter on my shelf.
Birthing Class.
- Matthew- I researched different options, got opinions from others, call or email several different instructors for their credentials. Reserved my spot for a one hour six week class months in advance in case it filled up.
- Allison- laugh that I went to one the first go around.
- Emilee- Are they still doing that?
Birth plan.
- Matthew- The above mentioned class tells me to make a written birth plan to give to my doctor so we are all on the same page when it is time to deliver on ‘how I want the birth to go’. I ask my doctor when she wants me to get that to her and she says- she doesn’t. I’m relieved because it sounds like homework and I didn’t want to do it anyway. My plan is to go to the hospital and let them take it from there.
- Allison- Silently judge people (mostly silently) that actually do this…plan all you want the baby is coming how and when they want. Go to the hospital and let them take it from there.
- Emilee- Get this baby out of me as fast and painless as possible.
Pain Management.
- Matthew- Learn everything about getting an epideral and possible side effects for me and the baby. Want an epideral but feel a little guilty that I’m not ‘tough’ enough or ‘am willing to risk’ a fore mentioned risks involved. Decide I am a fan of modern medicine and have nothing to prove or be a hero about and get an epideral.
- Allison- Request an epideral immediately after checking into the hospital.
- Emilee- tell the front desk to get the epideral on the way before I am even checked into the hospital.
Packing bag.
- Matthew- Bring way to much crap to prepare for any possible scenario to the hospital including living there for 6 months and twelve different options for a first outfit picture.
- Allison-Have one small bag packed and ready, Ryan can get anything I don’t have.
- Emilee- if the hospital doesn’t have it I’ll go without for 36 hours.
Going to the hospital.
- Matthew- Call the doctor, nurse, and hospital tell them everything that is going on and refer to book every five minutes until deciding it is really time to go to the hospital.
- Allison- Schedule and induction date leave Matthew with grandma and check in and out of the hospital on schedule.
- Emilee- Get a haircut and a pedicure when I start having regular contractions two weeks early so my toes are cute while I’m in the hospital. Call Ross and Lauren last minute to drop the kids off on the way to the hospital because I was planning on having grandma watch the kids for another induction date in two weeks and had made no back up plan. Show up at the hospital without calling them or my doctor.
Husband during labor.
Matthew- Eat Chipotle in front of me while I am in labor, starving and only allowed ice chips. Have to go sit down with his head between his knees and breathe in a bag when I get an epideral.
Allison- Sneak me a bite of his Chipotle while I am in labor, starving and only allowed ice chips because he feels guilty for eating in front of me last time, I throw it up. Have to go sit down with his head between his knees and breathe in a bag when I get an epideral.
Emilee- Eat Chipotle in front of me while I am in labor, starving and only allowed ice chips, refuse to share with me when I ask because last time I threw up and ‘that was gross’. Have to go sit down with his head between his knees and breathe in a bag when I get an epideral.
Babies first night in hospital.
- Matthew- Refuse the offers to take him out of my room for any reason because the book said there are creepers standing outside my door waiting to swap my baby or sneak them past the hospitals security protocols and I am his mother and can take care of him myself without any help even though this is the first 5 minutes I have been responsible for another human beings complete safety and well being and I am exhausted. Ryan sleeps on the sofa so I am not alone and complains its the worst night sleep in his life.
- Allison- I agree to let them take her to the nursery so I can rest. Call and make the nurse come back immediately because in my exhausted state I didn’t feel I looked close enough at her credentials before she took Alli. Her credentials look legit so I let them take her and get a nap. It is glorious. Ryan settles in for the second worst nights sleep of his life on the hospital couch.
- Emilee- She doesn’t cry AT ALL in the hospital, she stays with us during the day but off to the nursery at night so I can sleep. I try to convince Ryan to follow them to the nursery, he says I am paranoid. Ryan tries to suggest he sleeps at home but I tell him to get comfy in case I need something.
First outing.
- Matthew- Pack EVERYTHING I might possibly need in case we never come home again in my diaper bag, back-up diaper bag, and the back-up back-up diaper bag. Arrive an hour late because I had to change him and me twice when he pooped on us, threw up on us, and then had to go back because I forgot the back-up diaper bag. Upon arrival, look down and realize instead of shoes I am wearing fuzzy neon blue slippers.
- Allison- Chuck the back-up diaper bags, decide to carry one bag to be my purse and diaper bag. Keep a pair of flip flops in my car for when I forget to change my slippers. Arrive only a few minutes late but look completely disheveled.
- Emilee- If you need me, you can find me at my house wearing my fuzzy blue slippers, until I feel like taking three kids somewhere. I get a cute really big purse keep wipes, diaper, and a plastic bag inside for outings. Emilee wears nothing but a diaper for the rest of church several times after she has a blow out.
Bottle/Nursing Starting Solids
- Matthew- Have a strict rotation schedule alternating bottle and nursing so he doesn’t get ‘nipple confusion’ start introducing solids at the earliest possible time. Spend hours coaxing him to eat, measuring what he eats, and introduce foods every two weeks.
- Allison- Try nursing for two weeks, then switch to pumping and bottle only because it is not working. Wait as long as possible to start solids, introduce a new food every 3-4 days.
- Emilee- She gets her tongue clipped in the hospital so she can nurse without killing me. Takes a bottle or nurses with no issue. Start solids as late as possible. Mostly fed by Allison because that entertains them both.
Toys for baby.
- Matthew- Pre-wash ALL toys before Matthew is allowed to play with them. If any other kid touches or plays with a toy it has to be washed again. Otherwise, all toys will be washed on a monthly basis. All toys have all parts, fresh batteries and are in perfect working order. Buy way to many toys that he doesn’t even care about.
- Allison- Throw out washing toys unless there is visible body fluids, its good for their immune system. Buy a few pink toys so she has ‘girl toys’ and take batteries our of any noise making toys. Giveaway half the toys because we have to many.
- Emilee- She can play with whatever is around the house as long as it isn’t toxic, sharp, or hot. If a toy hasn’t been touched for a month I’m giving it away because I’m tired of stepping on it. No batteries aloud.
Adjusting
The kids have been in school a little over a week now. Everyone is still adjusting and getting used to the new schedules.
Emilee. It is a big change for her to go to all day kindergarten. The thing she keeps telling me the most is, “It is sooooooo looooong!” She is mentally and physically tired when she gets home. The first few days she came home and immediately laid on the couch and didn’t move for a show or two. Then she started coming home and having to play with her toys right away. I think it is her way of unwinding and processing her new environment. She has always been pretty good playing but it is a very pressing need for her when she comes home. She gets a little anxious at night when she is going to sleep on on the way to school in the morning about going but once she is there she does great. I ate lunch with her last week and she seems to be making friends and having a fun time. Several of her classmates said hi to her and waved when they walked past. She likes taking lunch and getting school lunch. She is growing up. I think I hold on to her a little more than I did the others because she is my last. She seems so young to me still but she is the same age Matthew was and a year older than Allison was when she started kindergarten.
Allison. She seems to have jumped into everything the easiest. This is her fourth year with the same group of kids so she is getting to know them pretty good. She has a young new teacher, which for some reason she has always wanted. Her best friend Carlee is at the new elementary school this year and I was a little worried about that. I asked her who she was playing with at recess and if she had made any friends. In true Alli fashion she told me she had enough friends and played with them at recess when she wanted to. She has been a little more tired than usual but otherwise seems to be doing great. I think this year will be a little more challenging for her which is good. She is smart and I don’t feel like she hasn’t been challenged as much as she could so far in her school. She is in a hurry to grow up so when she feels like she is getting more responsibility she usually does well with that. Having more homework will be more of a challenge for both of us though. She tends to take all evening doing it a little bit at a time which drives me crazy. I need to let her figure it out on her own but it is hard for me to step back sometimes, especially when there isn’t really a consequence at school for it. I think this year will be different.
Matthew. He started 6th grade which is middle school. He changes classes, has a locker, dresses out for PE, and rides the bus. He seemed to be doing fine, and reported that everything was fine, but after about the third day it was pretty evident that he was a little more stressed out then he was letting on. It takes him about 15 minutes to get ready for school in the morning. The bus picks him up in front of our house at 7:07. He was getting up at 6:15, I told him after the first day or two that he could probably sleep in 15 or 20 more minutes if he wanted and he lost it that he would miss the bus. We have been eating breakfast at 6:45 and reading scriptures and he starts panicking that he is going to miss the bus if we aren’t done by 6:55. He has had many meltdowns about…anything and everything. He finally said that he felt really unorganized and didn’t know how to keep track of everything. Once we got that figured out he seemed a little better. He is playing football and baseball on top of school, home, and youth night too. I have told him that we are never doing two sports again because it is to much. I think he will be fine with that though. Football is not as great as he thought it would be (thank goodness!!) he isn’t as aggressive as he needs to be for it. I think in another week or two he will be settled in and have the hang of everything.
First Day of School!
Summer ended and we have started a new school year!
Matthew is starting his first year of middle school in 6th grade. We went and walked his schedule and practiced opening his locker. The bus picks him up our front at 7:07 am. He wakes up at 6:15 and is ready by 6:30 then stresses that he is going to miss the bus if I don’t let him go out to the bus stop before 7. Then he gets home from school at 4:15. They added a last minute PE class as an option for an elective. He wanted to drop art and take the PE class instead but we talked him into sticking with art because he already has a PE class and he plays plenty of sports.He thought he would be the only boy in art class but was pleasantly surprised to find more boys than girls in art. He figured out how dressing out for PE works and seems to be settling in pretty good. The school gives everyone a computer that is theirs for the school year. He thinks its pretty cool to have his own computer.
Allison is in 3rd grade this year. They have new chairs that don’t look like chairs at all and spin, she thought that was great. Her teacher is very young and this might be her first year teaching but Allison seems to like her. She was ready to go to school and sits by a few people that she already knew. Her best friend Carlee is going to the new elementary school that was just built so I was a little worried she would struggle with finding some new friends but she has seemed to do great. She likes being the one in charge walking home since she is the oldest now. It has only been a few days but she has been doing a good job at being kind and watching out for Emilee. Her lunch is one of the earliest at 11 am, last year it was at noon and she was always starving to death so she was excited to have an earlier lunch this year. She wanted me to walk her to class and then leave. No need for staying around or dragging anything out.
Emilee started kindergarten! She was really excited when we got her a new backpack and shoes and picked out her new outfit for the first day. When we went back to school night and realized that I would not be going to school with her she back peddled a little and said she no longer wanted to go to school. She was pretty shy when we got there the first day and hid her face behind her hair, but has been doing great. She likes deciding if she should eat a school lunch or take her own. She is still adjusting to how long it is and when it is bedtime says she doesn’t want to go to school but is always up and ready in the morning. The girls wake up at 6:45 for breakfast, prayers, and scriptures. That was a big concern for Emilee, she is not an early riser but she seems to be doing ok with it so far.
I am adjusting to my new normal, with no kids home during the day. It is exciting and I look forward to having the day to get my stuff done and then be able to focus just on my kids when they get home. I had a little more of the panic, nervous, anxious feelings though then I expected. Sending all three of my kids off to school all day for someone else to take care of, influence them and make sure they are safe makes my anxiety go up.
Summer happenings.
I have some ‘random’ pictures on my phone from this summer that I thought I would put in my blog.
These first ones are a double rainbow. We have had lots of rainbows this summer! Big beautiful full ones and at least two double ones that I can remember. Pictures don’t do it justice of course but it helps you remember.
Then we have Joaquin, Matthew, and Jake in that order. These buddies play on the same baseball team and they clicked immediately when they met. They have a lot of fun together and work hard at baseball together. Joaquin and Matthew play short stop and second and they are fun to watch. They are both little speed demons and are athletic and make some great plays. Joaquin’s family is going to be living in the Philippines for the next three years. They will come home for a 6-8 weeks in the summer and Joaquin will play with us when he is here but it is sad to see him go. They had one last sleep over together before he left. They stayed up late, played way to much video games, had pillow fights, talked baseball, and stayed fueled with pop tarts. An incredible night in Matthew’s words. 🙂
Emilee and dad were taking silly pictures on his phone together the other night and he ended up with this one of her and him among the silly ones. He told me he loves this picture and I need to do something with it. I think that means he wants a physical copy of it. He has a picture of Matthew about a week old that he keeps in his wallet, and a favorite of Alli and him making silly faces at work. Isn’t that so sweet!?! Ryan says he isn’t the sentimental type but he is. Pictures and t-shirts, he can’t get rid of either of them. 🙂
Emilee usually sleeps with the clothes she is wearing the next day under her pajamas-for time saving purposes obviously. When she wakes up in the morning she takes her pajamas off then usually comes and crawls in bed with me. I woke up the other morning and she wasn’t laying next to me so I went to see who was awake and who was still sleeping. Sometimes Alli likes to sleep in her bean bag instead of her bed and when Emilee woke up she decided to snuggle Alli in her bean bag and dozed off. I sat there and watched them like a creepy person and enjoyed their positive sister interaction. We are past the mid point of summer, happy sister moments are fewer and farther between the constant fighting and picking at each other. I will take it when I can get it, even if they are not conscious.
We finally made it to the Penguin Park. We invited several people to go with us but it never worked out with schedules so we decided to just go ourselves one morning. It was a 40 minute drive. The kids thought it was cool but it just isn’t as fun to not have a bunch of people to play with at the park (heaven forbid you make friends with someone already there) so after 30 minutes the last kiddo (Emilee) came and said she was done playing. I think I have decided to not do park destinations for a while.
I tried to start some creative summer fun the other day to get the kids doing something different and stop begging me to play or watch electronics. I was hoping they would take off with it and do it on their own but instead they humored me and I kind of made them do it. Allison got mad before we started filming and wouldn’t participate anymore, but she was invited. Thanks for being good sports boys!
We tried to do some service related activities this summer. One of our favorites is the Harvesters Food Service facility. Most of the time the youngest you can be in 8 to help so Emilee wasn’t able to go with us yet but Matthew and Allison love it. We were able to go three times. The first time it was just the three of us. Then after that we tried to take friends with us. This last time we went we had a full car. Five boys, two girls and one me. I felt a little out numbered with that many kids. It was a little hard to keep some of them on task the whole time but it was still fun. It is good service, way better than video games and boredom. We grabbed some lunch afterwards and took everyone home. We also found a fun project that we can do at our house whenever we have time and that everyone can do together. We decorate book marks, place mats, and lunch sacks for the Meals on Wheels program. When we have a bunch decorated we drop them off at the office and they use them for the meals. Emilee can help us do that one too so it is perfect for Sundays, FHE, or times when they are bored.
This last picture is Allison and her friend Michael Dunn. These two are two peas in a pod. They get each other that is for sure. They have known each other since they were born and they tell their parents all the time that they are going to get married someday. Our families went swimming together for one of our last days of summer. We were there all afternoon, the first little bit was a little rough for these two. They had to work their grumpiness out and get along with people. Not each other, they were both having issues with other people. This is both of them in time out taking a break until they can be nice. About two minutes after this picture was taken they went back and played just fine for three more hours.
Dear Matthew
Every year at Christmas I write each of my kids a letter from me that I put in their stocking for them. Sometimes they read them but most of the time it is quickly forgotten in the excitement of Christmas. I keep them for them each year and when they are older they can have them. I came across an article the other day that was about starting middle school. It got me thinking and I decided that I wanted to write Matthew and Allison a letter for starting school this year. I left it on their pillows for them but I decided to put it here for when they are older. It is my proof that I told them these things at some point too. Don’t worry Emilee, I will make you a fun picture or something with a note. You can’t read yet anyway. 🙂
Dear Matthew,
I’ve been thinking about you starting middle school next week a lot. I am excited for you. When I look back at any time in my life and what I was doing, most of the time there are a few “I wish I had known…” or “I wish I had done…” thoughts mixed in with all the memories and experiences. A little perspective it always helpful but ironically when you are in the middle of something it is sometimes the hardest point to get perspective from. It is hard to remember every specific thing you are taught but the hope is that eventually with enough reminders and repetition things will start to sink in and help you grow and develop your character, habits, and traits into a happy successful person. So, here are a few things I want you to remember as you start your middle school adventure.
Pick good friends. Friends are important. Friends feel like everything sometimes between now and through college, but if you don’t choose wisely, you can easily end up where you don’t want to be. Pick friends that have high standards. That think learning is cool, and that make you feel good about yourself. Pick friends that aren’t into being petty, and controlling you, and putting others down. Pick friends that want to do good, and value being kind, even when someone isn’t kind back.
Be yourself-confidence looks good on you. Middle school is a time to figure out who you want to be. You are trying to fit in, and that’s totally normal, but don’t blur who you really are with who you think you should be. Just because all your friends want to do something, doesn’t mean you have to. When they question you, don’t be afraid to just tell them that you’re not that interested. True friends will admire your confidence in being true to yourself. Confidence will always be a good look on you. I have seen your confidence growing the past year. I love it. I know you are more on the shy side and that is hard to overcome. Your dad and I both had that too, we know how you feel. When we push you we are trying to help you realize that the uncomfortableness is okay to push through so you don’t hold yourself back. Challenge yourself to continue to overcome that and develop your confidence.
Take care of your body. Wear deodorant, and take pride in how you look. That doesn’t mean having the trendiest clothes or the coolest shoes. It means that you should take the time to look presentable, put together, and ready for whatever life throws at you. No need to impress anyone with your clothes, but instead focus on treating your body as a gift. It is one. Feed it good healthy food, hydrate it, and trim your toe nails. J You know dads saying, ‘don’t be the stinky kid’. You are pretty good at this but as you get another year or two older it might feel like more of a struggle to do. You are gifted with a pretty good athletic ability Matthew. Use your talent to have fun, learn, and grow. Remember to take care of your body physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. All are very important.
School is important. You will have a lot more social activities, but school work is actually good. I am very impressed with your self-motivation and responsibility since you were in kindergarten to come home and do your school work and stay on top of all your assignments with very little if any reminding or help from me. Remember to enjoy learning and really learn stuff. Not just learn it enough to pass the test then forget it. I wish I had taken more time to enjoy things I was learning and process and internalize it more. It is hard to imagine now but when you are older and done with school, you will miss it sometimes. Having no responsibilities other than learning doesn’t happen as much the older you get, if ever. Enjoy that opportunity now.
Have fun. You’re going to be adjusting to a lot of new experiences in middle school, and it’s important to have fun. Try not to worry about being perfect, and relax into everything that gets thrown your way. You only get to be this age once– you don’t need to grow up too fast.
Talk to us. If you’ll talk to me, I promise I’ll try to be understanding. I’ve been there. I was awkward. Friends hurt my feelings. I hurt my friends’ feelings. I made mistakes. I also know you’ll hear and see a lot of things that might make you scared, or worried, or just plain confused. Talk to your dad and I about them, and I promise, you’ll feel better. Friends are a great resource, but your dad and I love you like no one else does, and we have a pretty decent perspective since we already went through middle school.
Don’t get wrapped up in girl drama. Middle school girls are full of hormones and drama. It’s a given. Be kind and honest with them, don’t make fun of or tease them for their feelings. Don’t play games with people’s emotions and feelings, or let them play games with yours. Respect them, and expect respect back. They are a person just like you, talk and act like yourself around them.
Electronics are not required. Your dad and I have talked to you about this often and a lot, and we will keep doing it. There are relationships to work on, books to read, and life to live. Don’t get sucked into what is happening on social media, the older you get the more you will feel the pressure for this. Social media is not required or necessary for having a happy social life. Video games are not required for a happy successful life. Go outside and live life, do something good for someone, create a memory, develop your talents.
Be the example. It’s hard being the example, and sometimes it sucks. But, people will look up to you for standing out, making good choices, and being kind even when you feel awkward or uncool. Kids can be mean. But, you’re not. So, stand up to the bullies, speak out against things you know are wrong, and don’t be afraid to be different. Even when it sucks. Sure, you might miss out on things, but I promise it’s not the end of the world, even though it feels like it. Be the example when you can, because you are brave, and strong.
Remember that we love you. I may not always know exactly how you feel, but you are never alone. You have a family that loves you, and we’ll always try to be a soft landing place for you when you fall. No mistake you make will ever make us feel different. YOU WILL ALWAYS BE LOVED. No matter what. Your Heavenly Father loves you too. No matter what situation or where you are, you are never alone. Heavenly Father is always there and will here and answer your prayers. I know this Matthew. I promise you this. There have been many times in my life when He has comforted me, helped me, protected me, guided me, and reminded me that I am never alone and He loves me. Learn to listen and follow the promptings you receive from the Holy Ghost. You get them daily. You will never regret it.
As you start middle school, remember that you’ve got this. You’re ready. You’ve got parents at home that always have your back. You are a very good person Matthew. I truly enjoy watching you grow and become the person you are. You have a good, kind, gentle, generous, loving heart. You came that way straight from Heaven the day you were born. I am blessed to be your mom. I love you!
The Greatest Showman Showcase
Matthew and Alli did a theater camp last week. It was a day camp and they learned the songs and some choreography to several songs from “The Greatest Showman”. They practiced 9-3 everyday Monday thru Friday and then on Friday they put on their showcase.
They both had a friend to do it with. I think I have decided that when I have my kids try something new in the future I will have them do it without a friend. When they try something new with a friend sometimes the influence from the friend affects their opinions before they make their own mind up if they like it or not. Or they are so distracted talking with their friend they don’t pay attention as much. I think if they decide they like something they will make new friends with the same interests while they are doing it.
Matthew was a little skeptical about doing it. He was not interested at all on Monday because there was a birthday party he wanted to be at instead. I split the difference with him and he went to the party late and left camp early. After that though he really enjoyed it. Allison volunteered him to try out for a solo and he got one. I think he sang it a thousand times the rest of the week before he did it. He was also one of the oldest boys there and he is coordinated and has a little muscle to him so when they practiced some tricks on the silks, he was picked to do it for the show. He explained to me several times how one slip would flip him upside down and crack his head wide open. I assured him I was confident in his abilities which he agreed would not be an issue. 🙂
Allison needed a little reminding after the first day that her job was to participate and listen not hang out in the bathroom with her friend and chat all day. She learned her parts and new the songs and dances really well but she has no interest in impressing anyone or putting in a little extra work so she just didn’t care to go the extra mile. She did know all the ‘drama’ that went on with everyone and everything. I don’t know how she does it.
My part was dressing them both up which I had a great time with. Matthew wore whatever I bought him and looked great. Alli requested a few changes with what I originally picked out for her but was all about dressing up and having her makeup done. They were both good sports about it and looked great. Matthew nailed his solo and he and Alli didn’t miss a beat on their dancing.
When it was all said and done they said they had a fun week. Allison is the one I was hoping would love it and want to keep doing it. I have always thought that she would like to be involved in theater. She said she wants to do one with less singing. This one was all singing so I might try another one with her and see if she likes it. The have several theater classes you can take to learn and try different things. I need to look into it more. Matthew asked me on his own if I would look and see what other shows they did and depending on what they are he might be interested. He is working on being a well rounded kid. He is one of those people that is good at whatever they do. So far at least he stays humble with it and has his genuine kind personality.
Matthew is the second soloist in the video above.
That’s a wrap!
Baseball has come to a close for the season. Have no fear the brief intermission before Fall baseball starts will be full of conditioning and try-outs so there will still be plenty of baseball but the official Spring season is done. The boys had a good season, they had a lot of fun as 11 year old boys have no problem doing. They started out strong, then a little downward slide a little more than half way through the season (as a team) that continued until almost the very end. There are a few players changing so hopefully we will be able to start strong and stay strong for Fall. Matthew did great individually. Most of the season he was leading in the stats, if not he was 2nd or 3rd at the most. He worked hard, I am proud of him. He loves it and you can tell. I love watching him play. I like watching him and Ryan doing it together too. It is a good relationship building experience. He is going to do football and baseball in the Fall. He did a football camp yesterday to start working on some skills. I could live without him playing football but he was pretty insistent on trying it so Ryan found him a team. Matthew promised me he would be fast enough to not get hurt. 🙂 I hope that is true. For the end of the year party and a send off for Joaquin who will be moving to the Philippines, we had a pizza party and then went to the drive-in and watched Ant Man and Wasp.
One of the moms on the teams takes pictures for us and then lets us have whatever ones we want so 99% of these pictures are from her. These are some of my favorite baseball pictures from this year.
Worlds of Fun!
The day after the girls and I got back from Florida, the kids and I were going to go with Lauren and her kids to Nauvoo IL for a two day trip. That night we were both talking on the phone and it just wasn’t working out that great for either of our schedules so we decided to bag it and reschedule for another time and do something closer to home. We decided to try the water and theme park in KC. Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun.
We got there when it opened that morning and did the theme park first. It’s the first big theme park any of our kids have gone too. It was pretty fun. We had varying degrees of adventurousness but everyone tried something. Jovee was willing but to short for some rides. In another year or two she will probably be the most adventurous of all of them. All of my kids were for whatever rides they could go on. We started with some smaller rides more like carnival rides, then we got to a real roller coaster called the Cork Screw. It goes through some loops and then stops and comes back the way it came but backwards. Emilee went on it with Aunt Lauren. When the ride was over she had a look of ‘oh my gosh, what just happened to me’ on her face, then she looked and me and got the biggest grin and gave me a thumbs up. She thought it was pretty awesome. We went on a water ride and then my three wanted to go on the biggest ride in the park called the Mamba. Emilee was tall enough and really wanted to, I was a little hesitant to let her but she was insistent that she would be fine and had loved the other ones. So she did it. She had the same look on her face as the first one when she got back but when I asked her how it went she started crying and had a little break down. It was a little to intense for her. Mom fail. I think she would have been better if I had gone with her but I was watching Leah and Ethan and I didn’t want to go on it myself either. I am not a big roller coaster fan. She said she didn’t want to go on anymore rides but we found a nice easy spiny, floaty feeling one and she went on it with me. She kept saying, ‘This is so nice, I like this, this is fun.’ I think it started out trying to convince herself but by the end of the ride she meant it.
It was pretty stinking hot and we were all melting and about at our wits end from the heat so after a few hours we went to the car and ate our lunch then headed over to Oceans of Fun to cool off and get in the water. It is a pretty nice water park. We let the older boys and girls go off and try different slides and areas and Lauren and I stayed with the Littles. We did slides, the wave pool, obstacles, play areas, it was a nice afternoon. We stayed pretty much until it closed. The kids loved it. It was a successful fun new summer adventure! They all slept like a rock that night. Emilee usually sleeps in but she reached a new record of 11 am the next morning. Matthew and Alli weren’t up before nine either.
I remember…
There was a youth fireside in Independence tonight with John Bytheway as the speaker. Matthew is a few months shy of being 12 but we had him go anyways. He said it was really good and he was glad he went. As I was driving home after I dropped him off I was thinking about the fact that I just dropped my oldest child off at a YM activity. Which got me thinking about other moments in his life. Time really does fly by. He is such an amazing kid. I am so glad that I get to be his mom. He has a good head on his shoulders and a kind heart in his chest.
I remember the day we brought him home from the hospital. I kept thinking, “I can’t believe they are just letting me take him home, I’m a mom now.” It felt so weird to be driving with a baby in the back seat. Ryan has never driven so slow and I probably looked back and checked him a million times. He was my little buddy from day one. I loved singing him to sleep, snuggling him, and just looking at him. He never really cared for a pacifier but he has a blue blanket that became ‘the blanket’ the second he touched it. He still has it today and is showing no signs of being done with it. He also loved his nightly bottle before getting ready for bed. It was a total relaxing enjoyable experience for him.
He was a happy slightly pudgy little toddler. He has had a kind little tender heart from day one. He is shy but makes friends easily and is friends with everybody. He is good at including others and making them feel welcome and is kind to everyone. I remember taking him to nursery. This wasn’t to hard for me at the time because I was the Primary President so I was in there a lot and got to see him, it wasn’t to much of a ‘my baby boy is growing up way to fast moment’. Sunbeams was much harder. I remember my little boy walking right in to class wearing his little man suit and hoping up on his chair ready to go. I remember his first primary program. He stood tall and sang every word of the songs loudly, but when he went up to say his part he took one look at the audience and said, “Nope!” and turned right around and went back to his seat.
I remember his first little t-ball lessons when he was four years old where he chased the ball wherever it went and then a few years later crushing a home run in coach pitch. Then doing lots of other sports to pass the time until he can get back into baseball to joining the academy so he can be involved in baseball almost year round. I remember his first day of preschool. He was never a huge fan. He would have rather stayed home and been with his sister. He loved her
from day one. If he couldn’t be by her, he left his dinosaurs around her to watch her until he returned. His shyness was a big struggle for him in preschool. We practiced how to introduce yourself and make friends a lot.
I remember the first day of kindergarten, and each grade after. I thought I would be the mom doing cartwheels to send the kids to school. Instead I was the mom having a hard time leaving the class room and peaking back in several times to make sure he was ok before going home to sit around and wonder what I was going to do without him. Matthew has always been easy company and fun to have around. There is more than one mom of his friends that have told me they like having Matthew over and he is a really good friend to their son and I
can send him over anytime. Last year when we took the kids to school on the first day, I remember a little twinge in my chest realizing that it would be the last time I got to walk him to class on the first day. Next year is middle school and you get to just get dropped off. I remember another twinge in my heart when I told him that and he said I could still walk him to class if I wanted but no kiss goodbye, a hug would probably be fine though.
I remember his baptism. There was standing room only in the font room because so many friends and family came to support and see him get baptized. I remember feeling so blessed to have such a sweet, caring, loving, special boy. The gospel rests naturally with him. You can feel that he understood and knew it well before he came to earth. I remember the first time my shy little boy mustered up the courage to go up and bear his testimony. I was so proud of him and wish he would do it every month.
I remember thousands of small special little memories that I hope I will never forget. I love watching Matthew grow and develop into an even more amazing person. He is going to accomplish some great things. I wish it would just slow down. I love how he almost always has a little slight grin on his face and he is quick to turn it into a full grin when he sees someone. I love that he still snuggles me while he reads a book. I love that he randomly comes up to me and wants a hug. Sometimes it drives me crazy but I still love when he shows his affection with poking, and nudging, and teasing. I love when he laughs and plays with his sisters, and gives them a piggy back ride, or teaches them how to throw a ball, or plays tag, or hide and seek with them. I love his sense of humor and how he cracks himself up. I love that he writes in his journal then leaves it on my pillow for me to read. I love when he tells me about his day and it takes almost as
long as the day took because he includes every single detail. I love how he decides he wants to learn something and figures it out and works at it. I love that he tries to set a good example and reflects on how to improve. I love his company, I love him. I am a blessed momma. He is growing up so fast. Today I drop him off at a fireside, before I know it he will be driving, dating, graduating, and going on a mission. I am glad I get a front row seat at watching him grow.
Warning…content may engage gag reflex.
This post is keeping it real. I think I have seen it all sometimes and then I wake up in the morning and find this. BLAHHH!!!
So I thought someone (easy to figure Matthew since the seat was left up) had just not flushed the toilet…which is usually my girls issues not Matthew’s. But as I got closer I saw that indeed he had not flushed the toilet but was very relieved that he hadn’t because sitting at the bottom of the toilet was his T4K. What is a T4K? A T4K is a special ortho appliance that Matthew wears in his mouth every night to help correct his bite. Why was this (expensive) mouth appliance in the toilet? I called Matthew to the scene of the event to find out. He came and looked and thought I had put it in there. WHAT?!? After explaining to him that under no circumstances would I find it necessary, appropriate, funny, or any other possible reason be ok to put his T4K in the toilet full of pee. He seemed just as confused as I was as to why it was there. We fished it out with some very long BBQ tongs and while we were sterilizing the tongs, the T4K, our hands and the sink, Matthew had a partial recollection of a fuzzy memory of using the restroom early that morning and having something in his mouth that was bugging him so he spit it out. This makes a lot of sense because Matthew has had a handful of incidents over the years where he does something weird while sleep walking. So the best we can figure is that he wasn’t fully awake and spit it out while he was using the restroom. Still gross. Thank goodness he didn’t flush it!! We would have never have even guessed where it disappeared to.
Summer fun
So far I would say our summer has been going great!
Our theme for the summer ‘Work Hard then Play Hard’ has been going pretty well. We have to jump start it again when we are gone out of town for a few days or even if I work it gets thrown off. I guess it might be more accurate to say that if I insist on it, they are cooperating for the most part, and it is working. The overall quality of their efforts and work is improving too, which was one of my biggest grievences. The electronic chore chart seemed to be the key for them and me.
Along with working on improving our work ethics we have done a lot of fun too. We are chipping away at our bucket list of things we want to do this summer.
Swimming, has been going successfully. We have gone as often as we can. I love having three swimmers now too. Last summer I hired a lady in our neighborhood to do private lessons for the kids and she had Emilee swimming after a few lessons. My kids are not scared of the water and I have found for them that if I want them to learn to swim 5-6 private lessons is better than years of summer group swim lessons. At least here in Olathe Kansas. I usually have a brief 1-2 lessons to refresh everyones swimming skills or work on better technique if they are more advanced. I didn’t get around to it this summer though and Emilee keeps asking to take swimming lessons because she ‘can’t remember how’ so I did sign up her and Alli up for a few private swim lesson through the YMCA but still haven’t heard back from them. They have been getting better on their own just going to the pool a lot so I might end up not worrying about it.
We went to a pottery painting place a few weeks ago. We have done it before but we found a new place to try. Everyone picks out their own piece of pottery and then can paint it however they want. When we are all done painting we leave it there and they fire and glaze it for us and we pick it up when its done. Everyone likes it and has a fun time but Matthew could take it or leave it and Emilee suprisingly gets bored with it pretty quick. Alli and I spend a lot more time and detail so it takes us a lot longer. We were annoyed and feeling rushed by the end because Matthew and Emilee were done and not very patient waiting for us. We decided we would save that for a Alli and me day out next time we did it and leave the other two home.
Matthew had a busy week earlier this month. He wanted to sign up for a baseball camp and it happened to be the same time as the Vacation Bible Camp (VBC) he went to with his friend Finn that invited him. He spent the morning at baseball camp and then he ate lunch in the car on the way to VBC when I picked him up. He liked basball camp even though it was really hot. They had some new tips and drills for him that he learned. His favorite part of VBC camp is the food packing drive they do for Harvesters. They get to assemble bags of food for people that need them. They also have a shaving cream fight and fire truck hose everyone off on the last day that is fun.
Alli has been working hard on her gymnastics. The gym offers 2 hour camps throughout the summer to focus on more specific skills so she likes to go to the tumbling ones. She has her front and back hand springs down pretty good. She can do them on the trampoline, she just needs to be a little braver to do them on the floor. She does them great with a spotter too.
We go to the library a little more often in the summer than we usually do. They have a statue of a bull dog that they hide somewhere in the library on Fridays. That is the day they like to go because if you find him you get to pick out a prize.
Emilee went to Target with me the other day and was dying to have me record her doing one of her ‘most favorite things ever’ so here it is for your enjoyment…Emilee slides on a red cement ball!!
Jovee had her birthday party at Chuck E Cheese this year. She gets to pick a friend to go in the ticket booth and try and get as many tickets as they can in a minute or something. I thought it was pretty cute when I heard she had picked Matthew to help her. Clever girl.
Christmas was worth the wait.
You might have picked up on it by now that Matthew and Ryan share the love of baseball. They spend as much time as possible playing, watching, practicing and enjoying it together. They have had some pretty awesome experiences together too-all their own baseball stuff they do together playing and coaching and practicing and then the Royals Wild Card game, Royals Spring Training, and family Royals games we go to. Matthew’s Christmas present last Christmas was Crown Seat Tickets to a Royals game, which are the 4 rows directly behind home plate. Front and center, best seats in the house to watch the game. So close you can keep the Ump honest. The tickets for the game he got were for a game this month so Matthew and Ryan went last Saturday. Watching the game, seeing the players up close, sometimes getting an autograph (Matthew almost got Salvador Perez’s autograph but wasn’t quite bold enough) is pretty fun. They also have a private all you can eat buffet available to them throughout the game. This isn’t hot dogs and nachos either. They have that if you want but it is real restaurant food, like all kinds of meats, appetizers, and treats. Matthew stuffed himself on shrimp, shirley temples, ice cream bars, his own personal ice cream sundae, which according to him, “had so many toppings on it I forgot there was ice cream on the bottom!” The seats are in the line of the TV camera’s too so everytime they showed the batter you could see Matthew and Ryan. We recorded the game at home so they could see themselves on TV afterwards. We texted them and told them we could see them and to have Matthew wave at us. Luckily the camera was on the batter when he waved so we saw him. The girls thought it was pretty awesome that someone had just waved at them on TV. They had a pretty fun time. Matthew said it was worth the wait, even though the Royals are not very good right now (almost the worst team in MLB) and didn’t win. Still lots of great memories.
He got a bonus game too. Not crown seats again, but the Monday night after the game Ryan took a client from work to the Royals game and her grandson happens to be a friend of Matthew’s from his previous school so he took Matthew and her grandson too. They lost again but Matthew had fun seeing his buddy.
Sarah returns!
A few weeks ago Ryan and Matthew had something going on and it was a gorgeous night so we went to a park to play. I was pushing the girls in the swings and realized that I knew the person standing next to us. Her name was Nikki and her younger sister Sarah was my kids first babysitter. She used to watch them when I worked in the summer and then through out the school year for dates and stuff. The kids LOVE her. She was their main babysitter for about 4 years until she moved to California. They still talk about her and remember all the amazing times they had with Sarah. She is graduated now and actually just got back from a mission about a month ago. Her parents are still in California but she came to visit her sister for a few days and happened to be on her way to meet Nikki at the park. My kids were over the moon excited when she showed up. They were running and playing tag with her within 5 minutes and so excited to see her.
When the girls told Matthew about it later that night he was pretty disappointed he didn’t get to see her. She ended up stopping by later that week for a few minutes to see Matthew too. I thought he might be ‘to cool’ but he was just as happy as the girls and had perma grin the whole time she was there. Emilee couldn’t get close enough to her and Allison was trying to tell and show her everything about her life in ten minutes. It was pretty cute. I love that they have those fun memories of her babysitting them. I think Matthew was 6 the last time she watched them. Emilee was only 1-2 so she doesn’t even have any actual memories of her but the older two have built her up so much she loves her by association. I am glad we ran into her. She was only here for a week then headed home for a bit before going to school, so it was good timing.
5th Grade slide show
This is the slide show that was put together for the 5th graders. Matthew started going to this school in 3rd grade so he isn’t in it until then, but there are a lot of his friends in it.
Summer begins!
Well yesterday was Matthew and Allison’s last day of school, and today was Emilee’s so we are officially in summer mode!
Emilee and I went to the elementary school for the last hour or so to watch the 5th grade slide show with Matthew and eat treats with him while they signed t-shirts and year books. Then we went to Alli’s class and ate popsicles and danced and took silly pictures with her. Then the whole school lined up in the halls and all the 5th graders walked through the school for their ‘final walk’ while everyone cheered and gave them a high five. It was a fun time.
Emi had a fun time today for her last day and got her little preschool diploma and gave Ms. Cristi a big hug. She will see her a few times over the summer when I work, but once kindergarten starts next year we probably won’t see Ms. Cristi to often anymore. She is an awesome teacher. Allison and Emilee love her to death. They love her so much that Matthew holds a grudge against me for not having him go to her for preschool. (It was her first year and I already had him enrolled in another one when I found out she was going to do it). Apparently his preschool experience was hardly bearable.
Switching topics a little, a few years ago we started working with a therapist with Allison to help her deal with her emotions a little better. One of the things he wanted us to start implementing right away was a ticket system that basically for doing things we want her to do she earns tickets and then can use those tickets to do things she wants to do. It is supposed to help her learn cause/effect, choice/consequence, need/wants, etc. We started out all gung-ho and did good and then have been off and on after the first little while with it. I won’t bore you with all the details as to why but it has become a pain in my butt. Everytime we go see him I know he is going to ask me if we are doing it, and I always go in with the intentions of telling him where he can stick his stupid ticket system, and then I always leave telling him we will rally and try again. He is a good therapist…or at least good at getting you to agree with him to do something. So we go home try it again and start the cycle over again. Again, I won’t bore you with details as to why it falls apart and all the different things we have tried, but two years later we haven’t figured out how to make it maintainable…until now…I think…I hope.
I found an app the other day called Chore Monster. Basically it is the same thing her therapist has been wanting us to do. The app tells them their chores for the day and when they do it they get points and they can use the points for rewards. Same thing. Being electronic for some reason makes a huge difference for me. There is a parent app that goes with it called Mothershp. So I had to basically plug in the ‘master chore chart’ and the rewards and then the kids can get on any of our phones or ipads and find their chart. I can totally cater it to each kid and make it more specific for one and general for another. It is easy to change if something isn’t working (without certain kids even realizing it and throwing a fit), I don’t have to redo a whole chart or carry stupid tickets everywhere with me, or remember to get or give tickets because I didn’t have them on me. They don’t get lost, they can’t be torn up, scribbled on, or leave me mean notes. The parents are the only one with access to changing things. All the kids have to do it click ‘done’ or ‘claim’. I can even set it up for Matthew that he can just basically use it as a reference so he knows what his jobs are because he doesn’t need to be monitored as much, except for his electronic usage which this will do too. For the girls I get a notification when they complete a chore so I can approve it or not, which is awesome because I can check it right then to make sure it was done right or not. Which leads into another thing we are working on this summer.
Each summer we make a bucket list of fun activities we want to do. Each summer I also have to adjust and let go of my house being as clean as I like it all the time, which is something I like and want but I don’t want it to be more important than other things to me. I do feel like the kids should help contribute to keeping the house clean though since we all live in it and they should learn to care for their surroundings. So, last night Ryan and I told the kids that along with our regular bucket list we were going to have a summer theme too. We had a mini family meeting to tell them that the theme we picked for this summer is ‘Work hard and play hard’. We even made a poster to hang up to remind everyone of the theme everyday. Then we talked about using our time wisely and doing our jobs we are supposed to do, to the best of our ability and try our hardest the first time. We talked about how learning to work is good thing and helps them become responsible capable people. All things that Ryan and I have been wanting to improve and work on lately. Then we showed them the app and how it works.
Of course there was some skeptisism and baching but today was our first day and it went pretty good. They like that it is an app too so they get to use the phone or ipad to see their jobs and use an electronic. The app also gives them a ticket everytime they complete or cash in their points. Just a fun little side thing the app does is there is a little wheel they can spin with each ticket and win a ‘prize’. It is totally silly, the prizes are another spin if they get a smiley face, if they get a sad face it is a bag of hammers, or a dirty sock, or Matthew got a bag of farts last night. The wheel is just a little bonus. They don’t actually get anything from spinning but they think it is hilarious to see what is in the bag.
Today was our first day of implementing it. The kids got up and got their jobs done and then started using their points to play. It worked pretty good, they all did their jobs, they all have plenty of points, they all had fun doing things. It was a good day. Crossing my fingers that it keeps working.
We also started crossing a few things off our Summer Bucket List too. We went to lunch with dad. We got new books to ready at the library (first of many times this summer). We went swimming (also first of many times). AND we always have a night or two that we go fire fly hunting. A friend of ours told us about a really cool place she found that has tons of fire flies so the girls and I went to check it out tonight. It was amazing, there were thousands of them, we will have to take dad and Matthew with us another time (they were at a baseball thing). I took some pictures and videos but they don’t do it justice.
Hawaiian Hitfest Baseball Tournament
This past weekend was the Hawaiian Hitfest Baseball Tournament. It is the biggest baseball tournament in the US, at least according to Twitter that is what they say. They have over 700 teams competing in the tournament. It was a pretty rainy weekend so the original game schedule was moved around ten times working around the rain, it finally got sunny enough to get the final rounds in though.
First game we won 12-2. Second game was probably our worst game ever. Ever. We lost 9-1. We were run ruled and only one of our ten batters batted more than once. It was rough. Our next game was canceled for rain, and we thought we were out of the tournament. We squeaked in the final games, we were lucky to get the very last spot. After that it was single elimination and we played until we lost the second to the last game and took 3rd place in our division. They had to play hard and work their way back up to the top after the big loss. The first game back in the finals the boys were on fire! Everyone was hitting awesome and our defense was unstoppable. Derrick on our team is a really powerful hitter, he has been really close to a home run for a while, he finally got not one but two homeruns back to back. It was pretty exciting good baseball!
The last few picture are Alli and Emilee playing around. They spend their time at the playground, climbing trees, riding scooters, playing in the dirt, eating junk food, and any other games they can think of with all their baseball buddies. All the siblings have fun playing together.
Sweet Baby James
Ryan is a big James Taylor fan. He has been since high school. When we were dating I was ‘tested’ to see if I was cool enough to appreciate a little JT music. I knew a few of his songs and liked them but wouldn’t call myself an avid fan or anything. Later on when our kids were born Ryan and I both sang them several different lullaby’s. I stuck with mostly a variety of primary songs. Ryan’s favorites to sing them were the Spanish ‘Aye, Aye, Aye, Aye’ song (which is actually a Spanish drinking song but the way he sings it sounds like a sweet lullaby and none of us understand what he is saying) and ‘Sweet Baby James’ by James Taylor. He is still one of our family favorites to sing to on our spontaneous road trip karaoke break outs.
A couple years ago, James Taylor did a one night concert at the Star Light Theater… we totally missed it, and didn’t even know about it until about a week after it happened. Ryan was more than a little disappointed. Chances of another opportunity seem pretty slim. Well, a few weeks ago when the girls and I went to the Sprint Center for Disney on Ice, I was looking at their upcoming events and noticed there was a one night concert for James Taylor in May! Yeah!! We got tickets and are going next week. Ryan is pretty excited. James Taylor probably won’t be doing concerts to much longer so he is glad we got another chance to see him. He is even missing Matthew’s baseball game to go, which is a very rare occurrence (Matthew isn’t missing it 🙂 ).
Sticking with the James Taylor theme I am going to post a video I have had on my phone for years. A little blast from the past. It is pretty stinking cute. We had to drop one of our cars off to get something fixed so the kids and I took Ryan to work. We were about halfway home and ‘Sweet Baby James’ came on and Matthew and Alli were singing it pretty good, so I pulled over in a parking lot and started it over to get a video of them. Matthew is about 7, Allison is 3, and Emilee who unfortunately is never shown in this video (I was focused on my singers and she wasn’t singing) is sitting next to Matthew is 1.u
After the concert…
We saw James Taylor last night. We had a great time, it was a good concert. I recorded him when he talked and then sang ‘Sweet Baby James’
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.
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.
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.
Easter Weekend
The last few weeks have been flying by! I’ll start with Easter and work backwards. This past weekend was Easter and also General Conference for church. It was also April Fool’s day much to Alli’s delight, and we got to have Grandma and Grandpa Jones come visit us for the weekend.
Friday night started with the girls and I going to Disney on Ice with Aliya, Cambrie and Lori McDonald. They had a special offer through the girl scouts and Lori’s daughters are in girl scouts too so we all went together. It was really good! Disney always does a good job. Everyone had a fun time and got to sing along to fun songs. Emilee was over the moon excited that Moana was part of it. Allison sang her little heart out for the Frozen songs. After the show they had a special behind the scenes for the girl scouts. We went down and sat right by the ice rink and they showed us different things that make the show work and told us fun stuff about the show, and we watched some skating of course. We were so close we got sprayed with the ice when they went by. We were all hungry afterwards so we went to Freddy’s for some hamburgers and ice cream. It was a really fun girls night.
Saturday we watched conference and played games with Grandma and Grandpa. I have been teaching Allison a few card games, so she wanted everyone to play Wacky Six together. All of us can play except Emilee but she just sat at the table with us and colored and got to tell us when to start the round. My parents and I also went to Spring Hill and looked around at some houses there. Hopefully they will be moving by one of their kids soon so I wanted to tempt them with some possibilities here if they end up in Kansas.
Sunday was a relaxed morning, the kids went through their baskets and found all the eggs. Aaron’s Easter basket has a little Easter lesson in it that we do every year. We usually do it for FHE the week before but we hadn’t done it yet so we did that too. We watched the rest of Conference Sunday. It was a really nice Conference, they changed several programs and ways that things are organized. They talked a lot about ministering to those around us and taking care of others. We set out snacks like we usually do with a word that is said often in conference by each snack. When the kids hear the word they can pick a snack out of the bowl. It helps them pay attention a little better and they look forward to having fun snacks. We like to have ham and cheesy potatoes for Easter so we did that for dinner. My parents didn’t have to leave until Monday so we finished up the evening with more games. It is always fun to have grandparents come to visit.
Allison has been counting the days down to April Fool’s day for almost a month. She was giddy about it. She doesn’t quite get what you are supposed to do though, so she used it as a day to be ridiculously silly more than pranks-which is fine with me. At one point she was wearing her clothes inside out, my bra on top of that, her hair in a pony under her chin so it looked hairy, and every body part she could reach labeled with a sticky note. I helped her do a few things like hide a few extra eggs with peas and carrots in them, and putting food coloring in the bottom of everyone’s cup so the milk changed colors. She has some pre-April Fool’s jokes throughout the month while she anticipated the actual day. All of us had our turn of going to get dressed one morning and finding instead of our own underwear, someone elses.
Emilee had a momentous occasion this past week. She lost her first tooth. It has been wiggly forever. She is going to be one of those kids that hangs onto her teeth until they fall out completely on their own. She could have wiggled it out days before it finally fell out. It was exciting for her though. Before we know it our youngest isn’t going to be so young anymore.
The weekend before Easter Grandma and Grandpa Terry came down for the weekend. They stayed at Ross and Lauren’s so we spent most of the weekend over at their house. Roger is getting ready to retire this summer so we talked with them about moving down here by us sooner rather than later. It was a pretty busy weekend with baseball, soccer, cleaning the church, a baptism, and other things so we didn’t get to see them as much as we would like but we are always glad when they come for a visit.
Earlier this month I was working on a Monday and left for work about 7am. When I work Ryan drops the kids off at school and then heads to work around 7:45. Earlier that weekend I had driven Ryan’s car for some reason. His car has a key you don’t have to put in the ignition. It just has to be on your person somewhere, and we only have one of them. I usually try to just not drive his car because I always forget to take the key out of my purse afterwards and there have been far to many times where I leave with his key and have to bring it back to him. It is very frustrating for all involved. So as you can probably guess, I forgot again and was 35 minutes away working in a dental office when Ryan called to see if I had his key. Grrrr. It gets better though. I found someone to pick Emilee up and take her to preschool and Ryan said he would walk the other two to school, and actually he had been planning on working from home so he was set. Now it gets worse. When it was time to walk to school it is not just sprinkling or drizzling rain. It is a solid steady down pour of rain. Allison was not swayed at and she grabbed her stuff and was out the door. Matthew was not so cooperative. Stubborn little stinker. If he gets hit with a 50 mph baseball he shakes it off like nothing happened, but if you tell him he has to get wet or cold against his will and he will have none of it. He refused to walk in the rain. Refused. Ryan asked, told, demanded, threatened loss of electronics (this usually works 99% of the time for Matthew), actually took away electronics, bribed , begged, and demanded again, Matthew would not go. So he started doing the list of chores that would take him all day long to do instead of going to school. About this time Emilee’s ride came to pick her up and Matthew asked her to drop him off at school on the way. Like I said- Stinker.
Baseball season has started…but no one told the weather. Our first few scrimmages, outdoor practices and game or two have been canceled because of cold, rain, and snow. We have a game tonight that was rescheduled from a week ago. Matthew has been checking the weather every five minutes hoping it will cooperate. So far so good. He will be excited to have the first game under his belt and really get into baseball season.
Matthew plays…Futsal?!
About the same time that winter baseball conditioning got started, Joaquin, one of the boys on Matthew’s team asked the kids if they wanted to play on an indoor soccer team- or actually it is called Futsal. He has played for a while and is pretty good. The head coach (Jimmie) of our baseball team and a friend of his said they would coach any of the boys that wanted to play. Jimmie thought it would be some good extra conditioning for the boys. It wouldn’t be to much of a time commitment. They have a practice and a game every other week. The kicker is that the practices are usually Friday nights and the games start between 6-8 on Saturday morning. Barf! But of course as soon as Matthew heard it could help his baseball conditioning he was all in.
About five of the boys said they would play and then a few younger siblings that play soccer joined giving them a team of about 8-9. They had there first game before they had any practices just because of how the schedule worked out. So the coaches and Joaquin were literally telling them what they were supposed to do as they were getting ready to head onto the field. This is where it got entertaining. As I mentioned, only one player on the team has ever played soccer on any regular basis. The younger siblings have played but they are 1-2 years younger than everyone else. All the other boys from our baseball team have never played soccer (Matthew played for six weeks when he was four). They are all athletic kids obviously, but their soccer knowledge and skills are pretty limited. All of this was pretty obvious between the two teams in the three minute warm up time they have before the game starts.
There are seven players on the field at a time so we only have 1-2 subs and once they start the clock it doesn’t stop for 45 minutes except for a 3 minute half time time in the middle. No time outs, no breaks. If you want to switch a player you have to do it really quick while the ball is somewhere else, including the goalie position. We got smoked the first game and the boys were red in the face, gasping for breath, wiped out. Since then though we actually have won a couple games. There is marked improvement each game. The cheering from the parents is pretty funny. We don’t really know how to cheer for soccer. We don’t know the names of the positions and the exact rules (especially since it is Futsal, not soccer). We keep it pretty generic and laugh at ourselves when we goof up. The boys try their hardest and do a great job. It is a little ridiculous sometimes when they get a little out matched. Some of them take a few minutes to warm up and not be intimidated by the ball. Joaquin is a machine and plays the whole time with enough energy for two players and helps his less Futsal savvy baseball buddies the best he can.
The main reason I wanted to write this post is to remember this particular event in one game. It was hilarious, it has been a few weeks now and every now and then it pops into my head and I start laughing again just as hard. One game, a boy named Frankee was goalie and was really struggling. No matter how many times his dad ‘encouraged’ him to use his hands because he was the goalie-he wouldn’t. I think from the gestures he was making at his dad he was concerned about getting kicked in the face. Before you start thinking I am making fun of a 12 year old kid. I’m not. Frankee is one of our best players on our baseball team. He is a great catcher, and third base, and a pretty decent hitter. He has a little flare of drama and humor to him too. Anyway, we started getting pretty behind on points which further frustrated him and he asked, then begged, then insisted that someone replace him. “Coach! Can’t you see I suck?! Take me out!” The problem is we don’t have extra players so there isn’t a lot of wiggle room for moving people around, or time. Eventually he got switched and was a forward ( I think). While all this was taking place his dad (who Frankee gets his humor from) had been getting frustrated with his performance from the stands as well and was keeping us laughing with his own comments and suggestions. His first play with the ball after Frankee switched positions he was running at the ball and went to kick it and totally missed and caught his foot on the ground and fell on top of himself and a few other kids on his own team, leaving the ball in the middle of three players from the other team to take off with. Oh man, it was so funny!! I wish I had it on video because I would send it to AFV. His dads reaction of shock and shaking his head and putting his head in his hands while muttering something about “I thought we had walking mastered” made it even funnier. Probably more of a had to be there moment to appreciate the full hilariousness of the scene, but like I said, weeks later I still start laughing out loud when I think of it….yep, still makes me laugh.
Fast forward a few weeks and Frankee was goalie again for today’s game and did a great job. Matthew scored two goals today and is getting some pretty nice footwork skills going. Kudos to all of them for not only trying something new and hanging in there, but doing their best and showing improvement each game, AND doing it at 6am! Blah!! They are a fun group of kids and parents. I am excited for baseball season to start.
Goodbye February! Part two.
Since I’m talking about being sick I will give a little summary of sickness tolerance of our family. I don’t like my kids to be sick obviously but I do have a little extra nurturing mom side that comes out when they are sick. I love that I can take care of them and I know all of the little things to make them feel better. When Ryan reads the last few sentences he is going to…react…so I will start with the reason for that and get it cleared up.
Ryan and I didn’t really have to many big adjustments to each other when we got married but being sick and the expectations of the other person was one of them that we bumped through a few times. So here are our pre-marriage expectations.
Me 2002- Life needs to continue whether you are sick or not so suck it up and keep going. Colds don’t even count as being sick, they are just a nuisance. If you are sick you are a wimp. Take care of yourself if you are sick.
Ryan 2002- When you are sick, you get in bed and rest and get over it. You don’t go to work, or church or anything because no one wants to be around you anyways and get sick. Your wife takes care of you and sympathizes with your sickness.
With those expectations in mind…
Many, many, many years ago Ryan was sick. At the time I think I was working every Monday at an office. We had someone that watched Matthew for us. I came down the stairs to go to work and Ryan was on the couch and said he didn’t feel good so he was going to stay home from work. Unbeknownst to me, not only was he sick but he had been throwing up or coughing all night or something so he was extremely tired on top of his illness. I asked him if he was going to keep Matthew home with him or if he still wanted me to take him to the sitter. He said, “No, I’m sick” I said, “Ok” and for the next ten plus years I have been labeled as the ‘cold, unsympathetic, heartless wife’ that was ‘disgusted that her poor sick husband wouldn’t watch their son when he was sick’ basically almost dying. That is Ryan’s version. My version is,the first time I had to work when Ryan had a man cold I asked if he was still taking Matthew or not so I could let our sitter know. He said he was still taking him and I went to work.
Ryan, right about now I sense your desire to come tell me your version of the story AGAIN. Keep reading.
Fast forward a few years of practice and you now have our adjusted expectations. These are of course ideal situations and sometimes adjustments have to be made but this is the general idea.
Ryan 2018- When Ryan is sick he wants to be left alone to sleep or play a video game, but he likes to be checked in on occasionally so see if he needs company or a refill or medicine. The longer he is sick the more he likes to be checked on because he gets lonely. He likes to be in his room with the door closed so it is quiet and the blinds closed so it is dark. He likes ice water with a little ice, and lemon lime Gatorade. If he has an appetite he prefers some kind of chicken soup. He will not be doing any other tasks until he is feeling better. After years of proving my nursing abilities I have almost redeemed myself from my original blunder.
Me 2018- When I am sick, I get to be sick. Many times Ryan has stayed home from work to take care of the kids so I can rest. I get to have the door closed and be in my bed and sleep. He will check on me and see if I need anything. It is almost like a little vacation-except I feel like crap. I will still probably go to work if I am scheduled but I do realize that people don’t want to be exposed to whatever I have when I am sick so I am getting better at staying home. Colds still don’t count as being sick (for adults), however, they are a reasonable excuse to go to bed early if you’re a wimp. 🙂
Where our kids are concerned we also made a lifetime arrangement due to each others stronger than usual aversion to vomit or poop. When possible and reasonable Ryan is in charge of clean up and assisting in areas of vomiting. I have the same agreement when poop is involved. I think I got a pretty good deal because vomit has the potential to appear for years to come, hopefully poop doesn’t.
Ok, I veered a little off topic. I may sound like I am joking describing some of our sick traits, and it can be overwhelming sometimes, especially when there are multiple people sick but I love my family and I love nursing them back to health when they are sick. As long as they don’t throw up on me.
Emilee- She stays true to her typical snuggly, mommy loving self but kicks it up a notch. When Emilee is sick she feels best when I am physically touching her and devoting all my attention to watching her be sick. Sitting by her reading a book, or watching a show, or doing anything else is not good enough. She wants me to make her a sick bed on the couch with her fridge cold water in a sippy cup so I can help her drink it without her having to lift her head. Then lay next to her and look at her and say that I am sorry she is sick while stroking her hair. She will take medicine if it is bubble gum flavored.
Matthew- He is changing to more of the sit in front of the tv/play video games until he is better but he has some things he likes too. Matthew likes to be waited on hand and foot when he is sick. He likes to be checked on regularly and have the option of having a sick bed on the couch or staying in his room. He wants a sprite and water to drink. He also loves orange jello that is stirred just before it is all the way set so it is like a soup not a solid jello. He is the best at taking medicines (even if they are disgusting) and will ask for medicines for specific things-like a throat spray or cough or headache. He used to have night terrors at random times when he was little. Now they are just when he is sick, and his asthma always gets worse towards the end of his sickness, which means he usually takes the longest to get better.
Allison- Alli is our lock it down don’t mess with me sick person. She is by far sick the least amount of anyone. She has only had to take antibiotics twice in her life. The first time was Penicillin and we discovered she was allergic to it. She has never even had an ear infection. She is usually sick the shortest amount of time too. When she is sick she wants a sick bed on the couch with her blanket. She wants a throw up bowl and ice water within arms reach. Then she pretty much lays there and sleeps until she is better. She will get up and go to the bathroom when she needs and she likes to be carried up to her bed at night and then carried back down in the morning but otherwise she wants to be left alone. She will not take any medicine. She is just now starting to occasionally take Tylenol but most of the time she will have nothing to do with it-not even a cough drop.
Pre-Spring Break Break.
Today was the third day in a row I have received a call before six in the morning saying school is canceled due to inclement weather. This is a picture of the ‘inclement weather.’ When did we get so wimpy Kansas! It is cold, and we have had some ice, but the roads are dandy. My kids have been out of school for a week now (parent teacher conferences…President Day…three snow days). My kids have been loving the bonus spring break. Ryan and I have both worked this week so it has been a little tricky figuring out who can watch our kids last minute. Luckily we have awesome Aunt Lauren to help us out in a pinch. It is looking like there should be no reason to cancel tomorrow but I thought that the last two days. Fingers crossed!
Last weekend was the final basketball tournament games for Matthew’s season. We wanted to keep him busy through the off season for baseball so we just signed him up through the city of Olathe sports. His friend Finn ended up on the same team. The first practice looked a little rough but they had a great coach and they did really good. Their end of season record was 7-1. They were the winners for their division, and were bumped up to the next division for the tournament. The trophies they are holding are for winning their division. They won the first game but lost the second game of the tournament. Matthew played pretty good. He is great at the steal and break away for a layup because he is so fast. He made a few threes too. He needs to work on his dribbling so he is more comfortable with his left dribble but he had a good, fun season.
Emilee is finished with her three basketball practices and has had her first two games. The first game she would run down and shoot the ball if she got it on offense, but when it was time for defense her and Reese went and SAT against the wall until it was time to run down the court again. Game two was better. She stayed on the court and held her hands up wherever she was whether she was standing by someone or not. We have been working on dribbling this week for her last game. I love watching little kids play sports. It is so ridiculous if you sit back and take in the whole scene but it is a lot of fun for them. She is so proud of herself when she is done.
A few years ago Ryan had Allison come to his work and take some pictures for some brochures they were making and other advertising stuff. They just redid some of it and added a video on their Facebook page. The last part ends with this picture. We showed Alli the video and I said, “Look Alli, you’re famous!” to which she replied in her best ‘mom you just don’t get it voice’, “Ya, I’ve been famous for years.” I hope she holds on to that confidence.
Ryan and I went on a group date with some of our friends to an Escape Room this last weekend. We have done it once before a while ago. It is a fun time. The room had a 34% pass pass rate and we were able to figure it out before our time ran out. That made us all feel smart. Then we all went to KC Joe’s BBQ and had some delicious BBQ. I am becoming a BBQ snob, which is easy to do in a city known for its BBQ. It is probably my favorite type of food too now.
Conferences and the violin play off.
Last week was parent teacher conference time again. I met with each of the kids teachers and their music teacher.
Alli’s teacher is on maternity leave so she has had a long term sub for the last six weeks with three more to go. Her regular teacher is nice but Alli seems to click with her substitute a little more. Her name is Mrs Hathaway but she goes by Mrs Happy. She is a boisterous person with a large personality which fits Alli well. The first thing she said to me is when I walked in was, “Hi Sugar! Your Alli is a little spit fire, she doesn’t take any guff from anyone, and I love her for it. She is a future leader.” I was expecting a bear hug the way she was approaching me but instead got a hand shake and a hand on the shoulder. We talked for about 40 minutes and I am glad Alli has the opportunity to have her for a few more weeks. She is kind of like Alli’s own Mary Poppins. Mrs Happy has noticed and seems more aware of Alli’s traits and strengths and weaknesses more than any other teacher she has ever had, and she has been actively focusing on her to help her improve. Alli is doing well in school. The two biggest areas she struggles is her spelling tests and the comprehension portions of her reading tests. Mostly for lack of effort and rushing. Mrs. Happy has made an effort to call Alli out and give her strategies and processes to improve in those areas. After some eye rolls from Alli (sigh) and some of Mrs. Happy’s own ‘no guff policy’, Alli has improved steadily in both areas the past few weeks. She seems to be more willing to do her homework too. Mrs, Happy also pointed out she loves Alli’s friendship with her new best friend this year named Carly. She described them as serious, no drama, solid foundation, riding the same wave length friends. They are quite a pair, and they seem to get each other. I am proud of how hard Alli works at school and the effort she puts into her work. I agree with her teacher. She is a born leader and she is a force to be reckoned with. She has amazing potential, Ryan and I just hope and pray we can help her channel it in the right direction.
Matthew’s teacher said he is doing really well too. Matthew really spoils me when it comes to school. He has always been good at getting his homework done and turned in without being asked. He is pretty self sufficient with everything and responsible. I’m crossing my fingers that his organization and self motivation will continue and be a permanent trait. Math is one of his best subjects, he says he doesn’t like it but I think he does. He is getting a little streak of the beginnings of a teenage boy silliness and cockiness but he is a good kid. I can count on one hand the number of times he has forgotten an assignment since he started kindergarten and he has never just not done it. Than remains true for this year too, until orchestra.
This year HE decided that he wanted to be in the orchestra and picked the violin to play. He has orchestra twice a week for a half hour. This makes the progression through lessons fairly slow. The first semester was a little ridiculous, over the course of four months they learned six notes and were supposed to pluck them (they don’t learn the bow until after Christmas) for 100 minutes a week. ‘Mind numbing boringness’ is what Matthew called it, and I couldn’t blame him. As a result he became pretty lax with his practicing and I let him. After Christmas they started learning the bow and a few more notes and playing more songs. After some reminding, nagging, prodding, incentivizing and more nagging his practicing habits stayed pretty much the same as first semester. So by the time conferences came around last week he had a nice F for his music grade.
When he told me about his F he said it with the attitude of that was just how it was and it was out of his hands. I asked him how much he had been practicing and he said, “A lot its just to hard .” The ‘just bad at it’ excuse. I told him he was full of crap and all he needed to do was practice consistently and he would get better. His grade was a result of his lack of practice not his inability. Then to prove my point I challenged him to a violin play off. Basically I spent about half an hour learning how to play ‘Twinkle Little Star’ on the violin, then we went in another room where no one could see us and each of us played it without telling those who were listening who was playing. The results… Ryan, Alli, Emilee, and his friend Carson could not tell who was who. Matthew was a little embarrassed to be bested or at least matched by his mom who until thirty minutes before had never touched a violin and decided he would put more effort into practicing. He now has a B in orchestra.
Valentine’s is coming…
Aaahhh Valentine’s Day… I have mixed emotions about this holiday. Sometimes I get into it and it is fun, other years it is more of a hassle. This year I have been a little more into it.
For the kids I usually get them a little stuffed animal or something. My kids LOVE stuffed animals. They are going to take over our house someday. It really is something all three of them like though so it works well.
This year I am doing something fun that they have really liked. Each day I leave a little note with a treat or gift for them to find in the morning. I started on the 1st and the last one will be the 14th. Some of the favorites have been a balloon that says pop me on it with a note inside, or ones that have a cheesy note, like ‘I love you smartie pants’ with some Smarties.
This is the last weekend before Valentine’s Day so it has been full of Valentine festivities for the kids getting ready for the party coming up this week for school. They can make a box for their valentine cards and bring it if they want and then of course making the Valentine’s for each person. It made me chuckle how each kiddo did their stuff.
Emilee got an appropriate size bag to color and decorate with stickers and had fun sticking the candy on each card for her preschool friends. Took about half an hour.
Alli made a robot that opens it mouth to receive her cards. It is made from 
three cereal boxes, four 2 liter bottles, all covered with tin foil then colored to look like different colors of slime because it says “I love slime” all over it. She has been working on it for three days and still has some finishing touches. She also spent a few hours making her valentines and organizing them and checking and rechecking her list.
Matthew asked to have little individual bags of Skittles which he wrote ‘from Matthew’ on each one then put them in a plastic grocery sack which he said can also be his ‘box’. Took him a total of maybe five minutes.
Side note. In fifth grade I remember spending lots of time wondering and thinking about the perfect card for each boy. I stressed about the ‘meaning behind’ each one and wanted it to be very clear that I didn’t like them, or if I did like them then I had to make it obvious but not to obvious. Then after everyone handed them out at school I would come home and poor over the Valentine’s from the boys and try and figure out which ones were sending me a hidden message that they liked me. Haha! I now know that these boys (if they were anything like my boy) spent about two seconds doing their cards and had no idea that this was serious business and I would be agonizing over them wondering what they meant by giving me the one that said “you are the best!’ on it.
Ryan and I usually keep it simple and plan a date somewhere close to the 14th and have a nice evening together. The last few years I have also given him a homemade thoughtful, sweet, but slightly cheesy gift. For example one year I made a little book with a picture of us from each year we had been married and decorated it over the top with hearts and glitter and flowers. One year I hooked a deck of cards together with an o-ring and mod podged a different reason I love him on each card. Another year I made a picture collage with pictures from the last 15 years we have been married. He is getting a nice little collection for his dresser. 🙂 Ryan always makes sure I get a yummy supply of dark chocolate too, which I am already looking forward to.
The house…
This afternoon I was sitting on the couch and Matthew came up and asked if he could sit in my house. It made me smile.
When Matthew was little I was laying on the couch and he came up and sat in the little space behind my legs made from pulling my knees up and started looking at a book. I said it was kind of like a little house for him and from then on he would ask to sit it my house. When his sisters came along he told them about the house and now they all ask to sit in my house. It is a reading spot or snuggling spot for them, and I usually get to take a nap too.
January came and went…
I plan on writing more than I have this past month. Once I got my blog started I somehow locked myself out and it took awhile to figure it out. I went and visited my sister DeAnna and her husband John helped me get things figured out so I should be good to go now! Woohoo! There is a post that I wrote that I can’t seem to find but forward from here.
So January is always a bit of a let down for me to be honest. It is hard to follow the fun and excitement and Spirit of Christmas. New Years is exciting and I always feel a bit refreshed and ready to head into the year…but then it is just cold and gloomy and back to the same old routines- and stays that way for far to many weeks.
With my kids getting a little older and their schedules getting busier that does help the month go by faster.
Emilee is 5 and when you ask her if she wants to learn to do or play anything she always says, “Yes! But not until I’m older.” So we told her she was older now and she can try basketball. Her and one of her besties, Reece, are trying YMCA Bitty Basketball together. 
She seems to really like it. Ryan is hoping she will like it and they can share the love of basketball together for years to come. She has the height-she is estimated to be 5′ 9″, and she seems to have a bit of natural coordination which Ryan hopes will translate to athleticism. It is hard to say, a good 25% of practice is still spent practicing her cartwheels, but that is way better that the 75% of soccer practice she spent doing somersaults last Fall. Emilee is giving her first talk in Primary this Sunday too. She is excited about it but has a little shy side to her so hopefully she will actually say it when the time comes.
Allison is our social butterfly. She keeps us up to date on all the happenings in the 2nd grade and 5th grade (they sit across from each other at lunch, much to her delight). She has been playing the piano for about a year and a half now. Before Christmas she was struggling and not really loving it and begging to quit. Over the break her teacher gave her and Matthew a duet to learn. It was the first “real” song she ever learned and it was a break through for her. She realized she can pick out songs she likes and learn them and it is fun, and she is good at it. She practices on her own or with little reminding now. I hope it lasts! She is still doing gymnastics too. She started with a general gymnastics class, they rotate through the floor, bars, beam and a few other things. She was not feeling challenged enough with that and getting bored. She seems to have a knack for gymnastics too. I talked to her coach and he suggested she take another class that does floor work only. She loves it! She is getting close to being able to do a back hand spring on her own. She achieved the flexibility to do the splits completely this month too which she is quite proud of. She joined Girl Scouts this year too. This month she and her dad made a pine wood derby car to compete with.
She did a good job and almost placed in the top three for speed but not quite. Alli has an artistic side and she had fun painting and blinging out her car with glitter. January is cookie season for Girl Scouts. Selling door to door is one of the last things I want to do but Alli (being the polar opposites we are) is all for it. She dragged Ryan out with her a few times (I was always busy…) and 85 boxes later she was not even close to done but Ryan was. They have cookie booths that the whole troop will sell cookies at too so she can look forward to selling more that way.
Matthew has not shortage of activities to keep him busy either. I told him he had to play the piano for one school year minimum. He also decided that he wanted to join Orchestra and play the violin too. He is currently looking 
forward to dropping the piano as soon as I will let him, but plans on continuing with the violin. He is in a year round baseball academy. Ryan and him share a LOVE for baseball. When Fall Ball was over the coaches told everyone to rest their arms and not even play catch until after Christmas. In the mean time the academy has a strength and agility class called Boost they want him doing as much as possible. He has been doing that a few times a week and working on his hitting. I’m excited to see him hit this coming season. He has improved a lot. I love that he is working out on a regular basis too, hopefully that will instill a habit in him to continue in the future. While he was waiting for regular practices with his team to start again-which they did this month- he played basketball with an Olathe Rec team. Matthew is naturally athletic so any sport he tries at he will be at least decent. He has not been practicing basketball very much though so he has lost a lot of his dribbling skills…and shooting skills…but he has been enjoying it, even though he says he just tolerates it until he can play baseball again. His baseball team has several kids that play indoor soccer together too so he is trying that out. It isn’t very time consuming, not even a practice and game every week, but it is one more thing to keep him distracted from video games and stupid You Tube.
Well, I will pause for now. I still have lots to say! My next post will be about the awesome trip to see my sister in Utah that I just got back from.