Say Al

I got to watch Damon and Tessa this week while Tiff helped in Rockwell's class.  Oh my goodness, I can't even put into words how cute this kid is.  He just makes me happy.  Here he is saying, "Al."  Of course I had to text the video to all of my family just so they know he loves me!  

Look at that smile.  I could post twenty smiling pictures of him that I took in two minutes.  He is just adorable.  He spent the first ten minutes laying on my shoulder, loved that.  After that he laughed and played until I laid him down for a nap, he didn't cry, he just laid down and went to sleep.  What an angel!

Wyatt loved playing with Damon.  He gets so excited when he makes him smile.  It was the perfect way to start my day!

Hallee and Tessa were off playing the whole time.  They are always in dress up and we have to call them different names.

Caitlyn's beanie boo is almost as big as they are!

Every Wednesday we get together with my mom, Tiff and Mel.  It is so fun.  I don't know what I would do without my family.  Wyatt loved playing Bingo with grandma while he was waiting for Rockwell to get home.  I love how much attention my mom gives my kids.

Parenting is such a roller coaster.  There are days where I wonder if my kids will ever be able to be responsible and take care of themselves without my help.  When I expressed that concern to Jonah, he said I could just call him on his mission and remind him to brush his teeth every day.  We have the constant battles of minding your own business, getting yourself ready in the morning, cleaning up after yourself, washing your hands, doing jobs without complaining, doing jobs the right way and the list goes on.  Sometimes I'm so overwhelmed with what they aren't doing that I'm sure we are way off track.   Then they will do something like this and I think, maybe they are getting it after all.  Jonah wrote this letter to Keith and I all on his own.  

He also added some of his artwork.  There are times when the kids step up and remind me what great kids they are and I realize that they will be just fine.  I need to remember those moments. 

In case I can't read this on here it says:

Dear mom and dad....

You guys have worked so hard for us and I need to tell you a few things about how we appreciate all you do.  Mom, you have amazing talent at staying home and taking care of us and cleaning and we barely do anything!  You also take us fun places and we just complain when we get home and expect to do more fun things.  I need to shape up!  Dad, you get us almost all of our money, you go to work for like 10 hours while when I get home from school and have fun without you! You also are so funny and have a great job to help us a lot and you are cool!  You both take most of your guyses day to help us and take care of us! You guys are awesome!

Jonah

PS look on the back

On the back he drew a Darth Vader mask.  This made my week.  I love to see those signs of appreciation and understanding.  This gives me hope that I won't have to call Jonah and remind him to brush his teeth on his mission!

Field Trip

Wyatt was so excited for his field trip.  It kept getting postponed because of weather, but we finally went last Thursday.  I would have preferred the cool weather, it was so hot that day!

We started off doing a scavenger hunt.  Kelen and Wyatt were in charge of the lists.  

We went to this great park near our house.  It was so pretty and so big.  The kids had fun walking through the little tulip trail/maze. 

After that they had fun playing on the play ground.

Hallee is like me and she hates to be hot so she was really whiny at first and just wanted to sit in the shade.  At first she sat under a tree and then she sat under the slide.  She finally decided she wanted to come out and play.  She would always go back to the shade though.

Wyatt waited a long time for his turn on the swing.  He has just recently started liking swings.  My older two have always loved to swing, but Hallee and Wyatt have always been afraid of swings.  Wyatt and Kelen had fun swinging together.

Next we walked over to feed the ducks.  There was a couple of groups of baby ducks and the kids were excited about that. 

After that we went and found some shade to play some games.  I was so happy to be in the shade!  Hallee loved playing games with the parachute.

Here is Wyatt with his teacher, Mrs. Fox.  We all love Mrs. Fox, she is such a great teacher.  She has really helped Wyatt come out of his shell.  She is really good at helping the kids without pushing them too much.  Wyatt is going to miss her next year.  I was glad I went to the field trip and I was really glad when I was in my air conditioned car with a soda after wards!

Spring Soccer

The boys have been having a great time in Spring Soccer for the last few weeks.

Jonah was put on a team with a lot of kids from church and school.  It has been so good for him.  Most of the team plays soccer together during recess so they are really good.  They have been working well together since day one.  They all do a great job passing and finding the open man.

Jonah's first game was awesome!  He had three goals and an amazing assist and he was on cloud nine.  He scored one of his goals on a penalty kick.  The opposing team lined up in front of the goal to make a wall and Jonah kicked it over their heads and over the goalie's head and right into the top of the net.  Everyone on the sidelines went crazy.  His coach (who is a very reserved man) ran over and gave me knuckles.  It was an amazing kick.

A lot of the boys on Jonah's team like to play forward so they all take turns playing all of the positions.  Jonah has improved a lot in defense this season.  I like to see him move around and get experience in different positions and have him see that every position is important.  I'm trying really hard to teach him that it takes the whole team to win and it is very important to be a team player.  I love that Jonah gets excited any time anyone on the team scores a goal.  Playing on this soccer team has gone a long way to make Jonah feel more at home here.  On Saturday his teacher came to his game.  She is so great.  She plays soccer with the boys at recess, Jonah always gets the young, fun teachers!

Wyatt is enjoying soccer.  I wish we would have signed him up with his friend in the neighborhood, but I didn't think about it until it was too late.  Wyatt takes things very seriously and works very hard to follow his coaches directions. 

Wyatt was thrilled when he scored the first goal of the season, but he is just as happy when his team mates score, he just wants his team to win.  They don't keep score at this age, but Wyatt does.  He has to run by and give me the score anytime a goal is scored.

Wyatt's coach is great with the kids and helps them have fun.  I've been impressed with how well all the kids play.  Usually at this age there are only a few kids on each team that actually play, but this season most of the kids are on the field and engaged with the game.  

Wyatt always has his tongue out when he plays.  Wyatt does get distracted easily.  Sometimes he will be looking at someone and not realize that the ball is back in play.  Wyatt is continuing to improve his skills each season.  He has really good ball control skills.  I love watching him improve and seeing how much he enjoys it.

Mom, take a picture of me and Jackson

Wyatt wanted a picture with him and Jackson and Hallee wanted in on it.  Jackson gets plenty of love around here, a little too much from Wyatt!

I love when Jackson will sit still and just lay on me.  At night Jackson loves to lay on our bed and let me hold him.  Who would have thought I would turn into a dog person!

Speaking of Jackson, he got neutered last week.  Poor guy, he didn't know what to do while the cone was on.  It took him a while to figure out that he could move with it on.  He just stood there, so we tucked him in to bed.  He has done pretty well, but this morning he had a nasty accident in the house.  I was relieved to read that it is normal to have accidents so hopefully he will be back to normal soon.

Last week we watched the neighbor boys one morning.  Wyatt and Gilbert had a great time.

Hallee got sick last weekend and she was dragging all week.  She probably would have taken a nap every day, but we had a lot going on.  One afternoon we couldn't find her, we were calling out her name and I finally noticed that she was asleep in her bed.  

Ben was out of town last week so Katie and the kids came to Jonah's soccer game and then came over for dinner after.  Caitlyn was so happy to spend time with Kiara.  

It was such nice weather that night.  Keith set up some of our new patio furniture and we sat outside while the kids played.

I told Jonah to jump over the net and after a few tries we caught it on camera.  Don't you love the view?  I love the mountain view.

Will the real Gordon Hayward please stand up?

Jonah had to participate in the wax museum for school.  He was thrilled when his teacher said he could be Gordon Hayward.  He had to research him, write and memorize a speech, make a poster and dress like him on the day of the wax museum. 

They were supposed to hold still in their pose until someone pushed their button and then they had to give their speech.  The school came through the museum first so by the time it was the parents turn most of the kids were sitting on their chair instead of holding their pose.  

I love this cute boy!  He did a great job with his project and had fun learning more about Gordon Hayward.  We made sure Jonah's Hayward hair was just right that morning!

Here he is giving his speech.  He did a great job.

Hallee and Wyatt had a lot of fun walking around and pushing buttons!

Here he is copying that picture next to him.  It is hard to put Jonah into words.  He is so funny and I genuinely enjoy spending time with him.

Pinewood Derby

Last week was the Pinewood Derby.  Jonah was so excited.

Jonah wanted to use his car from last time, but he added some weights this time.  

His car didn't do as well as he hoped, but it did much better than last time.

All of the boys were so excited!  I loved seeing Jonah congratulate the winners and tell the boys that their cars looked cool.  His sportsmanship has come a long way over the past couple of years.

Wyatt was excited that Kelen was there, they had fun watching the races together.

I love that Jonah has so many boys his age!  

Around the house

We met Tiff at a boutique sale on Friday.  I couldn't pass up this cute outfit for Hallee, it was only $4 for the dress and headband!  Tessa got the same one so I'm hoping to do some pictures with the girls soon.

We had back to back soccer games on Saturday.  We all went to Wyatt's game first.  He plays so hard, I love watching him play.  The weather was great during his game, it was warm and sunny.  I left early to get Jonah to his game and it was freezing and crazy windy!  I don't mind the Spring weather changes, but that is a little dramatic for my taste!

Jonah invited his friend Kylin over after the game.  It was really good for Jonah to have him over.  Mack stopped by and stayed to play too.  It was fun to see Jonah having fun with his friends.

Tiff and the kids came to Jonah's game.  The wind made it a crazy experience, but it was so nice of them to come.  After the game Rockwell came home with us.  Wyatt loved having him over and they had a blast playing together.  Paul was gone doing real estate all day so we invited Tiff and the kids over for dinner.  After dinner they all had fun playing with Caitlyn on the trampoline.  All of the little kids were animals and Caitlyn was the owner.  It was so cute.  I love that my older two are so good with the younger kids.

Caitlyn also gave Tessa and Hallee a ride around the back yard.  Love that Caitlyn!

I cut the boys hair on Saturday and Wyatt and Jonah both wanted a Gordon Hayward haircut.  They sure are handsome boys.  

We watched first Chronicles of Narnia on Sunday.  Caitlyn cried for hours during and after the movie.  I think it gave her a new understanding of what Christ did for us.  She couldn't stop crying because they were so mean to the Lion.  Poor girl, she is so sensitive.  Luckily, Jonah distracted her for a while by suggesting that they put on a Star Wars play.  It was really cute.  I love when they all get excited about the same thing.