Week Twenty-Two

The big event from this week is that Zaya had her 4th birthday! I can not even believe that Zaya is already four. She has such a sweet, special spirit. Below, is a letter to her on her 4th birthday.

Dear Zaya,

You are my sweet, spunky, always happy, little girl. Like with you is such a joy. You rarely complain, are always up for anything, and you LOVE to help out around the house. I love that you love to be near me, even if it means helping make dinner or folding laundry. I have to admit, in the beginning of the school year, I was worried to have you home without Hurley. This year has been such a blessing for me, however. I feel like we have developed a strong bond; I can't imagine not spending my days with you.

At four, you have the strongest imagination. You love to play by yourself and you can easily create an afternoon of fun out of toys and simple materials around the house. Often, during my piano lessons, you choose to play instead of watch tv. I hear you creating a store of a picnic, or a party and it makes my heart want to burst.

Your favorite tv show is "Peppa the Pig". Your second choice would probably be "Paw Patrol." Your favorite activities are playing with friends and gymnastics (you are always on your head). You also like roller skating, bike riding, and baseball. You love to help me cook, and you are always thrilled to play with your big sister.

Your best friend is Jack. You and Jack could spend all day, every day together and not get sick of each other. I feel like you two are "kindred spirits;" you like to call him your "boyfriend." You also love to play with Nev, Kate and Amelia, and Sienna. You also love your big neighbor friend, Jenna. You are definitely a social little girl. You crave spending time with friends.

Your favorite foods are red bell peppers, tomatoes, pizza, and peanut butter and nutella sandwiches. You always want cereal for breakfast. You are a healthy eater, but you never want to eat much when dinner time comes around.

Zaya, I can already tell that you are going to be something great someday. You are very bright and so loving. I am so proud to call you my daughter and I can't wait to savor another year at home with you!

Love, Mom

We had a family party for Zaya on her actual birthday. She wanted a homemade chocolate cake. We invited the Nymans over to enjoy cake with us. On Friday, she had her friend party. It was really low key. We had 6 friends over and they played outside. I fed them lunch and we had Minnie Mouse cupcakes and opened presents.

Today, as we were on a family walk, I said to Zaya, "Brooklen is going to start hockey in a few months." She said, "Duh!" haha

Later, I said, "Hurry, Brooklen is going to beat us home." She said, "oh dear!" What a funny girl!!!! 

On another note, today was Stake Conference.  Our ward choir had to sing. I was nervous to lead the music in front of everyone. We sang, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing." We had performed it before and it is a beautiful arrangement. Of course, my ward is so talented and the choir sounded amazing. I was so proud to lead them.

Week Twenty-One

This week, I took some more photos of the girls for the Shelterhouse resale shop. We took these one afternoon in the empty lot next to our house. I was so happy to have some candid photos of Zaya for my collection!

I also took some cute photos of Zaya and Kaiton after their baths one night. These two are going to be great friends!

Week Twenty

The weeks are just flying by this year.  We've got less than four weeks left of school and I kind of feel like a chicken with my head cut off running around to get everything done before the kids are home all day.

This was another one of those weeks that flew by and as I write this I can't remember much more than the fact that we were SUPER busy.  So, again, I'll write a bit about each of the kids.

Brooklen: Brooklen was evaluated at hockey this week.  We were so excited to find out that the Hockey director thinks he is ready enough to play on a team in the fall.  This will be his last fall in the 8 and under category, so we think it is really good time to start.  We hope he'll practice getting ready this summer by rollerblading a lot.  Brooklen also scored his first run of the season in baseball.  He is playing really well this year.  I can see such a difference in his ability from last year.  Plus, he is working really hard and that makes a big difference.

Hurley:  Hurley had an accident at school this week.  She ran in to a pole at recess and got a pretty wide cut above her eye.  I happened to be on my way to the school when it happened.  It was pretty wide, so I opted to take her to the ER and have it looked at, since it was on her face.  The used some glue to pull it together.  Hurley is so funny and really brave.  She didn't even cry!

Zaya: Zaya is such a happy, independent girl.  She has been really obsessed with being a little mother to Kaiton lately.  She constantly wants to be picking him up.  Oh, and have I mentioned that she is always on her head?  That girl and her headstands!!!

Kaiton: Kaiton is really obsessed with the Nyman's dog, Laney.   He is constantly barking like a dog, in an effort to request that we take him outside to play with her.  He is super brave around Laney and is actually pretty gentle with her.  He has started saying a few words.  He says, "ball," "ruff-ruff," "milky," and keek-a-dah" (peek-a-boo).

Week Nineteen

On Monday, Brooklen had another baseball game.  The weather was amazing and the girls just played in the sand and on the swings at Sturgeon Field. Brooklen had to skip hockey because of the game, but I will admit, I was glad to be outside on such a gorgeous day.  The boys lost their game, but they played really well.  Their coach is awesome and they have a lot of talented dads that contribute (including Rob) so they are learning a lot.  Jill and I were talking at the game on Monday and I mentioned that it is so funny how in baseball, EVERY single one of the dads hangs out in the dugout.  They are all SO in to the game and so many of them show up at practice.  It is really great.

On Tuesday, Zaya's preschool was at our house.  I had also planned to watch Ellie Jones because Nicol was going to go help out on the Habitat for Humanity build.  That morning, Danielle VanWagoner also called and asked if I could watch her baby while she ran to a dentist appointment.  So, the morning was filled with lots of kids.  We didn't do any "work" at school, but the kids had a great time and all of the babies were so awesome.  None of them cried and they just played together downstairs.

On Wednesday, I spent the morning running errands and then I worked on painting our dining chairs outside.  I borrowed a Critter spray gun from my friend, Nicol, and it definitely made the job a lot easier.  I don't think I'll ever brush paint anything again.  I've gotta get one of those!  There was, however, a bit of a learning curve to using it and because I am painting six chairs, it took a lot longer than I thought it would.  I still have to do a second coat this week.  I'm excited to get that project done.

On Thursday we had preschool at our house again.  It was beautiful and sunny outside and so we spent about half of the time outside playing.  It was so nice to get those kids outside running around! We talked about the number 6.  They colored a picture of the number 6 and then we did an activity where they were given a sheet of paper with 6 bowls printed on it.  They had to put 1 goldfish in the bowl with a "1" on it and so on . . .

On Friday night, I had my spring piano recital.  I had 9 of my students play, as well as my three oldest kids.  Everyone played so well!  I am so proud to teach piano to all of these kids.  I really love helping them learn to understand and love music.   I teamed up with Kathy Holden, a lady in my ward, to hold our recitals together.  We held it at the Center for the Arts.  The small lecture room there is perfect for small recitals like ours. Brooklen play "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Kites in the Sky" from Faber level 1 books.  Hurley played "Sailing in the Sun" and "Ferris Wheel" from the Faber level 1 books and Zaya played "Hot Cross Buns" (she sang it too; so cute).

On Saturday morning, we went to the Civic Arena for Brooklen's hockey skills class. On the way home we stopped at Target so that we could pick up a gift for a birthday party that Brooklen was invited to. Later that afternoon, Brooklen went to Jordyn's birthday party at Northern Lanes.  While he was gone, I took the other kids to Meijer to do some grocery shopping.  Rob stayed at home an worked on some shelves for our basement.

Today was Mother's Day.  I accompanied the primary children and a little girl in Sacrament meeting.  We had a nice quiet afternoon at home.  Zaya made me a card.  Hurley made me a tile trivet and a little story.  One of the things that stuck out to me in the story was that she said that she loves going shopping with me.  She drew a picture of us at the grocery store.  I felt so bad because yesterday it was so overwhelming to take all three of the younger kids to Meijer alone.  At the end of the trip, I told them that I couldn't take them again.  I felt really bad this afternoon after I read how much she loves it.  It was a simple reminder that sometimes we should do things because they are right or because they make someone else happy, not necessarily because they are the easiest or most enjoyable things for us to do.

Brooklen made me a cute little clay ladybug in art class.  It was really sweet.  I love my family so much!

Week Eighteen

On Monday morning, Rob left to go to Austin, Texas for a work conference.  I flew solo with the kids for three days.  On Monday, Brooklen had baseball pictures in the evening, so we all went out to the fields for that.  He looks so cute in his little uniform.  When we came back, we had an easy dinner of sandwiches.

On Tuesday, we had to take Brooklen to baseball practice (busy, busy, busy). Rob has been taking him to practices, so this was that first time that I was actually able to go.  The girls and Kaiton played with Jenna at the park, while Jill and I watched.  Brooklen had such an awesome practice.  He couldn't stop talking about how great he had done.  He asked me if I would start coming to all of his practices because he thought maybe I was good luck!  On the way home from baseball, we stopped at McDonalds to get some ice cream and then we took a walk/bike ride around the neighborhood before bed.  Like always, I stayed up WAY too late when Rob was out of town.  I get so wrapped up working on projects that I lose track of time.

On Wednesday, I didn't have piano lessons, so I was able to take Hurley to gymnastics.  We left for a bit to get Brooklen's hair cut, and then we came back and watched Hurley.  On the way home, I stopped and picked up a take out order of wings from Buffalo Wild Wings.  We went home and ate those.  the kids had never been there, and we rarely eat out, so they were pretty excited.

Rob was supposed to come home late on Wednesday night, but his flight was delayed so he didn't get back until Thursday morning.

Thursday evening, Brooklen had baseball practice again.  Friday we had NOTHING going on.  It was a miracle!  And, on top of that, it was beautiful weather.

On Saturday morning, Brooklen had opening day of baseball.  He had to miss hockey twice this week because of baseball commitments.  Hurley had a rescheduled gymnastics session, so I took Zaya and Kaiton with me.  We dropped Hurley off, ran to Meijer, and then we came back to watch her.  After gymnastics, we went to the baseball fields to watch Brooklen's first game.  At the end of the game, he was up to bat and the bases were loaded.  I could tell he was so nervous.  He had struck out his first two times to bat.  He got four balls and the coach got to pitch to him and  . . . he HIT it.  The first baseman fumbled and he made it to first.  He was soooooo happy and everyone was cheering for him.  I felt so proud and relieved for him.  Of course, his team scored five runs at that point and instead of playing more, it was the end of the game.  They lost 7-8, but they played great!

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to Bay City so that I could take the Kepler's pictures.  After that, we took some photos for the Shelterhouse resale shop.  That was very stressful, and I'm definitely not good at that kind of stuff!  We took the kids to a candy store in Bay City after pictures and they all picked something out.  Rob convinced Hurley to get fizzy candy and I HAD to take some photos of her eating it!  So funny!

We got home at about 8:30pm.  Rob left right away to go with Eric Jaime and John Hill to watch a big fight.  He got home at about 1:30 in then morning.  I am so glad that he was able to go have a guy's night.  I really wish he would do it more.

We had a nice Sunday.  The weather was nice.  This evening we went on a walk and then Rob and the kids planted some of the garden while I played with Kaiton.