Other April happs.....

Mathew is obsessed with building forts.  He wants me to build one almost every day.  He is very persistent.  But every time I take the time to build one, once it's built, he doesn't want anything to do with it and doesn't use it.  This was the same, but it made him happy for a moment....

Matthew also had preschool open house with a song performance.  He really has a special situation in his pre-school.  The way it's worked out he only has 5 kids in his class.  One girl, Lauren, who will be at Marion in the Fall, and 3 other boys.  With a class so small, the teacher can do a lot with the kids.  She says it's like having a play date each day at school.  His teacher (Ms. Jessica) says that even when his class has recess with the other 4-5 year old class, these 5 kids gravitate toward each other.  They've grown very close.





Mom was able to go on a fieldtrip with Lindsey to an exotic animal farm called Sharkarosa.  It was anti-climatic.  We were able to see a kangaroo and some cool lemurs before lunch.  The weather leading up to this day had been warm-ish.  The forecast was for a slight chance of rain, not in the area we were going, and more of the same pleasant weather.  Well, I wish I was a weather person in Texas because I don't have to be right and I still get paid.  It was in fact quite cool up in Aubrey, and just after lunch it opened up and poured on us.  Due to the warmer weather, hardly any of our kids had coats or even sweatshirts.  None of us adult chaperons had umbrellas.  It was miserable.  We tried to do the better half of the tour complete with a tram to go out and see more animals but the teachers decided to just go home early.  We had a super sweet bus driver who got the heater on full blast on the bus, he pulled out all his umbrellas and even took off his coat and put it on a couple kids until their teeth stopped chattering.  We're hoping for a do-over this summer.

Sam's Birthday/Sarah goes to the temple

It is birthday season at the McKneely home.  Sam turned 9 on April 12th.  That weekend we were actually in Houston spending time with the McKneelys.

Aunt Sarah has gotten engaged and was having a bridal shower and going through the temple to receive her endowments in Houston.  It was a very tight schedule to get all this done on the same day!

The shower was wonderful.  Hosted by long time family friend Laura Nixon.  It was fun to have the big girls there too.

Going to the temple with Sarah was wonderful, especially to be in the temple with most of the McKneelys.  But it was a bit stressful....Susan had delegated to Stephen to call a particular restaurant and reserve their semi-private room for a dinner after the temple.  He delegated to me, or rather asked me to help him remember.  Getting the children all settled at Laura's house (all 9 of them with only 1 sitter) was a bit of a swirl and when we all gathered in the temple, Laura confirmed that we'd indeed called the restaurant.....but we'd forgotten.  Stephen and I worried and stressed through the whole ceremony in the temple and as soon as we could we excused ourselves to hurry out and make the reservation.  It all worked out but it was really stressful.

Sam turned 9 that Sunday.  He was a good sport allowing us to put off celebrating.  Stephen was watch dog at school the next day.  We're so grateful for this kid.  He's a rule follower, loves to learn and is a good and loyal friend.  Happy Birthday buddy!

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General Conference

We look forward to General Conference at our house.  It's a semi-annual conference our church has that is broadcasted online and we sit at home and listen and learn.  We make it a big deal with special snacks, games, and family time.....

This year's conference actually fell on Easter Sunday which was special.  And it rained--not surprising, we're having a crazy wet spring, and, so we had our Easter Egg hunt inside and wouldn't you know, I didn't take ANY Easter pictures this year.......I can't believe it!

Kaitlyn turns 11

I cannot believe how grown up this girl is getting.  She is truly blossoming....and she turned 11 on April 1st.  She got a much needed new backpack and a cute new outfit.

And in lieu of a birthday party, we went on a family outing with a friend of her choice, our neighbor Katie Glaser.  We went ice skating, which is always fun.

Happy Birthday to my Kaitlyn girl!

And since she's 11, there was a special stake activity for those girls who will go to girls camp the following summer, it was an outdoor campfire eating "walking tacos" and making S;mores.  It was fun to be with her, she's growing into such a wonderful person.

Matthew turns 5

This guy turned 5 on March 25th.  He's such a joy.  Happy 99% of the time, always down for fun, full of energy, and I can't imagine my family without him in it.

Grandpa Lewis took him for Donuts at Max's Donuts.  This was somber for me because this is what my parents used to do together.  I somehow heard the theme song from my mom's favorite musical "Fiddler on the Roof", "Traditions!" and I thought about her and cried for her as I went for a good run.  I miss her so much.





Later I met him at school to have lunch with him.  He's been all about the Legos so he wanted brownies to be made to look like legos.....In fact a few weeks later, he had a friend birthday party based on the lego theme.  We had pin the tail on the lego man, we built cars and raced them down the slide outside (thankful for fabulous weather), and he had a wonderful time!

That Easter Morn

The girls and I participated in the Spring Millennial Choirs and Orchestra's concert.  It was heavenly.

The music of "That Eastern Morn" was especially poignant for me as the songs were all about the Resurrection.  As this is the first Easter without my mom, preparing for this concert has been incredibly healing, testimony building, and emotional.

I'm so proud!!  I'd just gotten home from the grocery store and realized I'd forgotten to buy cilantro.  Kaitlyn piped up that she'd ride on her bike to the store to buy some for me. She and Sam enthusiastically decided to go.  Armed with my cell phone they rode their bikes there, bought the cilantro (yes, I also allowed them to get a bag of mini marshmallows for some blasters they'd built) and rode home, calling me to check in all along the way.  They were so proud of themselves and offered to go in the future whenever I wanted!

Spring Break

It was unseasonably cold for it being Spring Break, wish it was warm enough to play in the water, or wear shorts.  We were going to go camping, and I was so looking forward to it, but Stephen had a business trip come up and we couldn't go.

We got a new roof put on, which was loud, so we headed to the Perot Museum to play with some friends, we built blanket forts and watched movies.

We did spend one day with our friends the Torpy's where we discovered the magic of pearler beads and literally spent HOURS scouring Pinterest for ideas.  We also went in their heated pool.  It's fun to have good friends.

Worst mom day ever....

Kaitlyn is a special kid.  At school, each month teachers recognize a boy student and a girl student at a morning assembly as the "Marvelous Maverick".  For whatever reason, Kaitlyn hadn't been recognized since the 1st grade, and she's in 5th.  She never talked to me about it, but her siblings each got it each year, and I knew she noticed.  I silently prayed for a teacher in 5th grade who saw the special that she had in her.  5th grade has been different.  She has a teacher who pegged her as a book lover like him from the beginning of the year.  I love Mr. Gebhardt.

I didn't tell Mr. Gebhardt about my concern of her not being a Marvelous Maverick, I wasn't going to be one of "THOSE" moms.  But silently I hoped and prayed that she'd be recognized in this way, I knew it would be so good for her.  So I was thrilled when I got the email that she would be recognized at the morning assembly.  But I blew it, really really blew it.

With being sick, really really sick, I wasn't functioning at my normal level.  Stephen had been out of town that week and I'd been trying to be both mom and dad, at any rate.  The day of the assembly came and I forgot to come.  I wasn't there.  I realized my mistake when a friend texted me some photos of her at the assembly and I screamed and literally threw my phone across the room.  I was crushed.  I'd prayed and fretted over this experience for her and then when it came I missed it.

I called Stephen, dosed up on medication, and took her Chick-fil-a at lunch as a surprise.  She cried a bit when she saw me, she was hurt I wasn't there as well.  But repentance is real, and God puts us in families to help us practice principles of repentance and forgiveness.  I know I'm not perfect.  It breaks my heart that I let her down.  I do the best I can, and I guess that's all I can do.

Bonus Snow Day!

It snowed again!  Ridiculous that it's early March and next week is Spring Break, but we'll take it.

I was super super sick.  A cold morphed into a double ear infection which ruptured my ear drum!  I was really bummed because I wanted to be out enjoying the snow with my children but I couldn't be out there.  A bunch of the neighborhood gathered at the park and I am thankful for friends who took some photos for me.  Sometimes it takes a village.

Sam is busy

February 2015, Sam achieved his "Bear" rank in cub scouts.

And he learned all about Robert E Lee and participated in a "Wax Museum" project at school where he had to dress like Robert E Lee and share some fun facts in the first person.  The costume was a bit last minute, but I'm pleased with how it turned out.....he loved this assignment.

Too Many Toys

Matthew is still home with me.  He does go to preschool 3 days a week but he's so busy, and so social, he has a hard time with being satisfied.  He loves doing special things with me, and we were quite proud of this one.

He and I had been enjoying this book called "Too Many Toys" by David Shannon.  It talks about a boy that has way too many toys.  His mother asks him to pair it down by putting what he is ready to give up in a box.  It turns out the box is the best toy ever.

Matthew and I got a box and made it to look like the one in the book, then he got into the box just like the boy in the book.  SO FUN!

SNOW!!

Snow is a BIG DEAL in Texas.  We usually get one snow storm a year, often it's an ice storm which shuts everything down because it doesn't happen often enough to justify the investment of our cities to have the equipment to clear roads etc.

We had some snow this year and as always, it was magical!  I was especially grateful to Sam's 3rd grade teacher who took the opportunity to let her children spontaneously play in it when it happened--letting children be children. LOVE IT!



And then when school is cancelled my children spend ALL DAY outside.  The dryer is running constantly drying off gloves, socks, fleece pants, and other clothing as they come in to change out for dry ones.  We drink a gallon of hot cocoa and its one of my favorite times being a mom.  I'm so glad I am blessed to stay home with them so when these days come, we can enjoy them.  Here is how my children appreciate snow days....

And....

Sam is a home-body.  He preferred to lay around in his pajamas and read, he would do that ALL THE TIME if I'd let him.

We even convinced Dad to stay home too....

Pinewood Derby

When Stephen and I began having a family, we never really cared what gender our children were, we just wanted them to be happy and healthy.  When we had a girl, then a boy, most people assumed we were "done" because we had one of each.  They didn't understand that we wanted a family, not just to continue the human species.  When we had Kaitlyn, then Sam, then Lindsey and knew there was a 4th one yet to come.  Stephen really wanted a boy.  He specifically mentioned that he loved the scouting stuff and would be sad if he only got to do that once with a boy, so we hoped for a boy and got it when Matthew was born.

Well, this was Sam's FIRST pinewood derby and Stephen and Sam together worked so very hard on this car.  It was pretty sweet.  I found this blog that was all about how to have THE FASTEST car on the track, how to position the wheels, how to tilt the axles, where to place the weight in the car, how to sand down the axles to make them smooth, etc.  They spent HOURS working on this car.  They painted it Texas A&M maroon and it looked pretty sweet.

True to expectations, it was one of the fastest cars out there.  We still contend it was THE fastest out there but due to some funky way the standings went in the races, Sam came in second, but that was good enough for him.  What a fun memory.