Birthday Celebrations

On June 17th, Rachel turned 7 and I turned 32!  She wanted a ninja turtle party and wanted to make her own invitation.  It was difficult for me, but I allowed her to have total creative control over the invitation, and I think it turned out pretty darn good!  As always, Brandon made her a rockin' cake, which I am forever grateful!  We tried to keep it simple and we had pizza and presents at the house, then took a bunch of her friends to Krazy Air, a trampoline place.  

On our actual birthday, we got free breakfast at Joe's Farm Grill and Rachel had a playdate with one of her best friends from school, Kaylee Plaisted.  Then I took her to meet dad and work and they headed to Castles n' Coasters for the evening in 109 degree weather - gross!  I think they legitimately got heat stroke, and they both came home and crashed in bed!  It had been Rachel's main request and they had a good time even with the nasty weather!  Kendall, Andrew and I went out to dinner at Oregano's to celebrate, and I had a quiet night at home.  Brandon helped me celebrate my birthday that weekend, with a lot of shopping and time to myself!  

During birthday week, I went out for a girls' night with Karli Tompkinson - my neighbor from my old house on Preston Street and Andrea Gunnell - my neighbor here on Regina Street, and get this - they are best friends from college, and now the three of us are connected and our kids are all good friends.  They are wonderful friends who I can always rely on for anything, which is especially important when we are living somewhere with no family around!   

Jessica Hawks & Brooke Johnson from my ward dropped off the most hilarious birthday "cat" cake and it made me laugh out loud!  Nancy and Val sent us a delicious Edible Creation and some birthday money, and we got cards and gifts from lots of family members and friends!  Rachel's big gift was a new bike, helmet, some art supplies, Barbies and dollhouse accessories. 

Nailed it!

Macie Schmidt, Brooklyn Bingham, Kendall Hale, Ellie Allred, Paige Crandell & Holly Kreutz

 

Rachel's birthday adventure to Castles n' Coaster in 109 degrees!

May - Andrew

Andrew had a busy May as well!  He graduated from Miss Carole Billings preschool, wrapped up his tee-ball season, and completed his swimming lessons.  

At his preschool program, Andrew really wasn't feeling well, so he wasn't quite himself but he pushed through.  His teacher said on his report card that he was ready for Kindergarten …. which is great, except that he has a whole another year before starting Kindergarten!  If his height were any indicator of being ready, then he'd be shoo-in, but he has a long ways to go and needs to start putting letter sounds together and start learning to read.  I think having a September birthday will be just right for him!

Andrew's tee-ball season was interesting.  They held two practices a week (yuck!) and I wouldn't complain if they were more effective with the practice time.  Every drill was so ineffective and so many of the boys were just standing around waiting for their turn instead of having multiple drills going on at the same time.  Very frustrating to spend two nights a week doing that, but Brandon and I switched off and it was a good lesson for all of us in being a team player.  Brandon says that Andrew had a better season than he expected!  And for the most part, he grasped the concept of the game and he was very good at running the bases!  I am proud of him for trying something new and for being a team player!  

Andrew loves Miss Allison for swimming lessons and he made pretty good progress this year.  He is now comfortable swimming without his floaties; however, he tends to go for the doggy paddle first, so I am constantly reminding him to put his eyes in the water!!  

Andrew is a good boy!  He plays well with his two sisters and is especially a sweetheart to Kendall and is always looking out for her.  He is sensitive and loves hugs and snuggles!  He eats like a horse - especially when mom is gone and he has a babysitter.  The last time we got a babysitter, they commented on how much he ate.  Then Rachel told them that he is a "stress eater" when mom is gone. What is the funniest about this is that she has no idea what a stress eater is, but just remembered me talking about it!!  He hates when he has to be patient for something and he always waits until the last minute to go potty.  He throws fits that are starting to resemble his big sister when he doesn't get his way, but after a few minutes in his room by himself, he turns himself around and is always very "sorry".  He had a good few months of sleeping a little better and even sleeping in until 6:30 or 6:45am, but he's back to waking up a couple times a night if someone is not right there and waking up at 6a.  He gets very apprehensive at night when he is sleeping by himself, so he finds his way to our floor pretty much every night. 

Ms. Carole in the middle

Hamming it up at one of the preschool programs!  He is such a good singer/performer!

Andrew with bestie, Maddox

Ben, Fisher, Emmett & Andrew - this boy has the funnest friends!

May - Kendall

Kendall started swimming lessons with Miss Allison and although she was apprehensive at first, she adapted well and really had some great successes!  By the end of her lessons, I was confident that she'd be able to swim to the side of the pool and get out if she ever fell in.

The kids accompanied me to check out Camp LoMia a few weeks before girls camp.  What a special treat that it was only 55 degrees and even started raining, then hailing!  The kids were great sports about me thinking/eating/sleeping Girls' Camp for six weeks prior.  They played together nicely and entertained themselves for the most part.

Kendall sings her way through life - her latest favorites are "Pullin' Together" (from Saturday's Warriors), "Tight Pants" (from Jimmy Fallon), and "I Am Like A Star Shining Brightly".  Quite the assortment there!

Kendall has the best facial expressions and makes us laugh with all the things she says and sings.  She loves nursery and her leaders always comment on how much she participates and how much fun she is.  She is fantastic at playing with others (favorites include brother, Andrew and best friend, Brooklyn) but she is also great at playing independently.  She is still my pickiest eater and I cannot make her eat anything she doesn't want to or she will literally barf.  Thank goodness you will always take a smoothie, chocolate milk (lactose-free), chicken nuggets, and hot dogs / corn dogs.  Everything else is pretty much hit or miss and I never know if you will eat what I offer you!  She doesn't take regular naps anymore, but just car naps when needed.  If she does get a nap, it is hard to get her to bed on time!  She often gets her way being the baby of the family, so it is very hard to force her to do anything.  But she is pretty easy going and has a super fun personality!

Life of a mom - Kendall wasn't feeling well, but needed a nap, so I was stuck!!

May - Rachel

May was as crazy as ever getting 1st grade wrapped up for this girl and keeping track of all her different activities!

She did a great job performing in Miss Jenee's dance & singing group!!  I really enjoy watching her perform and I think she does a great job on stage.  You wouldn't have even known that we had spent most of the morning arguing with her about the fact that she had to wear black PANTS like everyone else.  Rachel hates pants more than anyone else I know!  All we heard all morning was how itchy and uncomfortable they were - have you, they were stretch, knit pants - you can't get more comfy than that!

She really wanted to buy the school elementary yearbook, which was $20, and I thought it was ridiculous for a 1st grader, but Brandon suggested we let her earn some money to help pay for it.  We let her organize a snow cone stand in the neighborhood and she invited probably 40 households!    She made one large flier and then I shrunk it down and printed off smaller copies for her to pass out.  While passing out fliers, she would personally ask them to come - great advertising technique!  Between our neighborhood and ward, we had a really great turn out and it was a lot of fun. After helping her reimburse us for the supplies and tipping her brother and sister for all their help, she was left with $33!  That meant $3.30 for tithing, then $10 towards the yearbook, $10 in savings and $10 in spending money.  Not only was it a great financial success and teaching moment, it was also a great missionary opportunity.  Many of our neighbors came out to the park to support Rachel and it was a great chance to mingle as a neighborhood and get to know each other better.  Bishop Rule said that Rachel was his best member-missionary in the ward and her snow cone stand even made it onto the PEC agenda!  :)

Papa came for a super quick overnight visit while he was on his motorcycle trip.  Rachel ate up every minute with him there and in her eyes, visitors can never stay long enough!!

Truth be told, I was MIA most of May while getting ready for camp, and Rachel really stepped up in helping with the kids and taking care of things herself.  One day, I came in from working outside and she was making herself her very own caesar salad.  She had cut the lettuce with a butter knife and proclaimed that she had accidentally used too much dressing.  I was still proud of her for being so independent!

Making her own caesar salad!

Little photo shoot taken April 2015