March 2016: Week 4

It's soccer season!  Matthew plays for the Hawks, Sam plays for the Dragons.  Stephen is the Head "Super Dad" coach.

Matthew and his team have shown a lot of improvement this year.  They've won most of their games and it's fun to watch them grow.

The Dragons had a good year.  Some challenges because they lost one of their best players to a club team and the league decided to stack their team full of extra players (when the rule is everyone plays equal time it makes it hard--we are pretty sure we were the largest team in the league).  But these boys are the best.  They play because they want to play together.  Many of the families have said that if the team disbanded their son wouldn't continue playing.  They don't love soccer that much, they love playing together that much.  We ended up middle of the row in the league (some of that due to the rules of playing time) but these kids play with a lot of heart.

SO excited to have both my girls attend the "General Women's Broadcast" which is officially the first session of General Conference.  This is Lindsey's FIRST one as she's now 8 years old.  We attended with some friends the Lofgrens and hit up Sonic for milkshakes afterwards.  Love that these girls came prepared with notebooks to take notes, and they did listen.  Love these girls of mine!

Easter 2016

Funny kids ready for the traditional "Bunny Run Breakfast"

(great photo of the kids, not such a good one of Stephen)

And in their Sunday best!  Happy Easter!

We enjoyed a dinner with Stephen's sister Rachel and her family.  Yummy!

Rock Climbing

THIS kid turned 6 on March 25th, and he was lucky enough to have it be "Good Friday" and a day off from school.  Dad took the day off and we went with our good friends/neighbors the Glasers and some extra friends to Lake Mineral Wells State Park to go rock climbing.  He LOVES rock climbing!

Matthew went first and KILLED it!  A group of high school kids were also climbing in the area.  They were all new to the experience of climbing.  When they saw Matthew scurry up the side of the mountain, they were way impressed and were hopeful they could be as good.  He's a natural!

Matthew....

Lindsey.  I love this shot.  Lindsey got about half way up and got scared.  She didn't want to go any further.  But Stephen climbed up to be near her, talked to her and encouraged her.  I was coaching from below, "You can do hard things Lindsey!"  and she DID IT!!  She finished and we all cheered.  Some of the people watching got emotional watching it all play out.  I love what rock climbing teaches our kids and the lessons we can tie back to it!

Then Kaitlyn also got scared, but her fear came at the top when she had to repel down.  Again, Stephen climbed up the back side to be next to her and coach her through until she felt safe enough to do it.

Sam brought his BFF Luke Hess to come with us....

Matthew turns 6

THIS KID!!!  We love him.  He's turned 6.  He is SO full of energy, so enthusiastic and happy.  He wakes up each morning with a huge smile on his face.  He's eager to be just as big as the other kids.  We took him rock climbing for his birthday and he showed everyone how it's done!

 Birthday dinner of hot dogs, sweet potato fries, and broccoli....

 and while he wanted a chocolate cake, we'd been rock climbing all day so he was sweet enough to settle for brownies and mint chocolate chip ice cream!

 And this kid can really eat!  On Friday I went and took this kid lunch at school and we had a lunch date.  I couldn't believe he was able to eat an adult sized meal with a side of fruit.  He's getting to be more and more like his daddy!

But he still has an attachment to me unlike any other.  Regularly he makes his way downstairs to sleep on the floor next to me.  This beauty was captured one evening while Stephen was out of town.  Matthew also is very fond of my special super soft blanket which when I'm not fully awake and in a weak moment, I will let him use.

Love this kid.  Can't imagine our family without him!

March 2016: Week 2

For the first time Sam has gotten into this whole "March Madness" thing and is actively filling out a bracket.  One hilarious memory was he started asking "Siri" for advice on filling out his bracket.  THIS KID!!!

So Stephen, Kaitlyn, and Sam I think filled one out and there was some healthy tracking of how each one did.  FUN!

PIE DAY!  I've always wanted to make a pie on "Pie Day", 3.14 (March 14th) and so, I did.  It was pretty good.  The problem is, none of my kids like pie so that means Stephen and I have to eat this over a few nights, just us.  Darn!

MARCH!!

Spring has sprung, and March brings our Spring Break from school!  I hate that it's so early, last year we had a snow day the week before our Spring Break!!

This years was forecast to be SUPER RAINY (Boo!), so we prepped for indoor activities....

Library for good books? Check!

Tea party for fun? Check!

Our "camp out" got moved indoors into the upstairs playroom.

The boys did coding, Kaitlyn and dad worked on family history work, and Lindsey made a box house for her new stuffed animal.

One thing we DID get done before the rains hit was go to this "sand park" near our house.  We received  sad news that it's being demolished in order for them to put up a hotel.  We are so sad!  We've loved this park and the volleyball nets.  But glad we were able to get over there before the rains came.  Here's Kaitlyn with her buddy Sophie.

February 2016--week 4

Basketball season is over!  This kid played a double header and they ended up in second place fighting hard against a very very good team.  We are so proud of this boy and how much he's improved this year!

Stephen and I helped at the open house for a new chapel in our stake.  This church is actually less than a mile from our house but due to boundary issues we're not assigned to attend there.  I've explained that to many many of my neighbors and friends.

And we have to document this boy earning his "WOLF" in cubscouts.  And you wouldn't know that at this meeting, he mentioned to me that he was itchy.  Oh boy.  The previous weekend, Stephen had taken the boys out to Connemara to help with one of the Huang boys' Eagle Scout project.  Almost immediately Stephen broke out in poison ivy and we hoped he'd be the only one.  He wasn't.

Apparently first time exposure can take up to 10 days to become symptomatic.  Sam was miserable.  Then just as Sam's got calmed down, Matthew got it too.  Which was awful because he has a hard time keeping his hands off stuff like this.

February 2016--week 3

On Valentines Day I had an early morning church meeting.  It lasted a lot longer than I anticipated and I barely made it to church.  While in my meeting, my sweet husband sends me this picture.  He was making pancakes for the kids and he was "DAD OF THE CENTURY" and even colored the pancakes pink!  Super great!

Then for dinner we made personal pizzas, some of them were even heart shaped.  I love making holidays special at home.  Most of the time it's with food.  I hope my children have good memories of things like this.

February 2016--week 2

A good dad makes all the difference.  Stephen has been making it a point to improve his relationship with Kaitlyn.  It has improved her confidence, decreased her anxiety, and she's become more affectionate.  This photo speaks volumes to me and makes my heart happy.

Sam was so excited to make his FAVORITE cookies this week on Sunday!

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And kind of a "BIG" thing happened.  My dad got married.  He's been incredibly lonely since mom died, and he decided to get married.  Samantha Stevens and he met online and after a whirlwind courtship they were married in the Dallas Temple on February 12th.

My favorite thing about the weekend was that my brothers came into town for the occasion as did my dad's sisters, my favorite aunts.  We enjoyed spending time together!

February 2016--Week 1

(This format for catching up seems to work well, so I will stick with it since it's mid May...)

It's February.  The month of LOVE and all things gushy and sappy.  Good think I love my little family!  One of the things I LOVE to do is to leave LOVE notes for my kiddos on their door.  I try to do this each day.  I usually start out the month with gusto and then get busy.  But it's touching to me that they leave them up for a long while (months) and from time to time their siblings start doing it too.  Yay!

I think I had a little buddy home with me for a day because he wasn't feeling well.  He found these funny glasses and was just too cute not to take a picture of.  He's growing up so fast!

January 2016--week 4

Sam's second pinewood derby and car were a success.  He came in second place and was so pleased.  Of course he stuck with his Aggie theme for the paint job.  I love the time that he and Stephen spend together getting the car just right.  It is pretty serious business.

We have a pretty awesome Home Teacher--Chase Atkinson.  When he and Brother Tim Colman asked what they could do for the McKneelys at their recent visit, it was suggested that Chase come and shoot some hoops with Sam for practice--and Sam bugged me practically every day to text him and see if he'd come over.  Well, he did.  And it was awesome!

January 25th was a holiday from school, and it was pretty chilly outside, so that necessitated hot cocoa in our new mugs painted by Aunt Sarah and Uncle Alex for this past Christmas.  I love days off from school with my children!

January 29th is my mom's birthday.  She would have been 61.  We wrote messages on balloons and took her flowers and let the balloons send our messages heavenward.  I love her and miss her everyday.

Also on January 29th, I posted this on my Facebook page:

My mom got THE best birthday present yesterday. No coincidence that the parole board reviewing the case of the man who killed her called me YESTERDAY to get a final statement from the family before deciding. Got an email this morning that parole was DENIED! Praise God! Thank you to those who wrote letters on our behalf. Convinced moms workin it from heaven!

Kaitlyn had to do a special project for school that showed the layers of the earth.  Most students were either cutting a section out of a Styrofoam ball, or a jar of colored sand or wax.  But Kaitlyn went over and beyond and sewed something using scraps of fabric.  She worked so hard and was very honored when her teacher, who for storage reasons, doesn't ask to keep the projects of her students, but Mrs. Fraiser did ask to keep Kaitlyn's, and she let her.  She has reason to be so proud of herself.