Dear Bayley

Dear Bayley,

It is hard to believe that you are already 11 years old.  It really does seem like just yesterday that your dad and I were bringing you home from the hospital.  You have been so much fun since day one.  You were a smiley baby who never met a stranger.  In fact, sometimes you treated your mom like a stranger if that meant getting something you wanted.  You were very precocious and into everything.  You definitely keep us on our toes.  You were not so excited about sharing your mom and dad with you sisters and brother, but I think you have warmed up to the idea and you are a great example to all of them.  You are extremely bright and have a great learning connection with your dad.  You and him can sit and talk about the scriptures for hours.  You are a READER in every sense of the word and love a good book.   This year you decided to give up dancing after 8 years and pursue swimming.  You have a great natural ability to swim and it is fun to watch you move so effortlessly through the water.  You still love to experiment in the kitchen and definitely have a LOVE of food.  You could eat all day long if the right food is offered and have a never-ending sweet tooth.  You have grown a TON the last 2 years, 9 inches to be exact, and are maturing into a beautiful young women.  You stand 5 feet 7 inches, weigh 105 pounds, and wear a size 9 shoe.  You decided to give band a try in school and you are playing the french horn.  You also continue to play the piano and you are looking forward to learning some classical pieces this year.  We are so proud of you and who you continue to become.  We love you and are so glad you are part of our family.

Love,
Mom

 Bayley loves cotton candy and eating at Golden Corral

 Bayley first day of school 6th grade.  Bayley is on the Math Team this year (an invitation only team).

 Bayley had another baking birthday party for her birthday this year.

 Bayley on the block!

Bayley's favorite swim stroke is the breast stroke.

 

Bayley's birthday was over a month ago, but I've decided if I don't do anything else on the blog this year I will at least highlight the kids birthdays and record a little of what they are like and doing this year. 

Trey Turns 6 years old!

So the whole summer has passed by without even one blog. Kendal's birthday was the last blogging occasion and so that Trey doesn't feel left out I had better highlight the day of his birth as well. Trey was so excited about his birthday that he asked for months when the day would finally arrive. We counted down for months, so when the day actually came he was beyond thrilled. We started his birthday out just like we did last year, with breakfast in bed (Krispy Kreme donuts and milk).

After breakfast we headed to the mall and hit his favorite spots including Build-a-Bear, Chick-fil-a, and the lego store. He was lucky enough to have his Grandma Nancy here with him for his special day. His birthday actually hit on a Friday, which made it the perfect day to hold his birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. He loves that place! He was able to have 5 boys from his primary class come and celebrate with him as well as his family. He had a great time. The next day we continued his birthday weekend by heading over to the lake to spend a day with Grandma and Grandpa "G". We played on the tubes, tried water skiing, went to the pool, ate awesome food and had more birthday cupcakes all in a fun-filled afternoon.
Here is a little bit more about who Trey is at 6 years old:
* Trey played basketball and baseball and enjoyed both this last year. He made great improvements over the year before and was this year a contributor for his teams. This fall he will be swimming on the swim team and is a little nervous but excited. He loves swimming, but is not confident in how good of a swimmer he really is.
* Trey loves to tease his little sister Adison and loves being right in the middle of what his two older sisters, Bayley and Kendal are doing. He sometimes feels like the odd man out, but for the most part just goes with the flow. He tries to be a good boy most of the time and like most boys has selective hearing at times.
* Trey is SO excited to be starting school this year. He is already reading and picks up on most concepts very quickly. We met his new teacher last week and she seems young and very sweet. He should have a great year!
* Trey still takes his hair very seriously and is excited that it is finally growing out. It is starting to lay down again after sticking straight up for the last couple of months after I buzzed it. All I have to say is that his hair looks crazy and you will find him in front of the mirror fixing it back right.
* We love our little man and it is so fun watching him grow up! Hard to believe that he is already 6 years old. Seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home to our home in Kentucky, while at the same time Kentucky seems like forever ago.

Trey master kneeboarding this summer and LOVES it!

Trey loved his time at the beach in May.

Ready to hit.

Birthday boy with Grandma Nancy at Chuck E Cheese!

Kendal's Baptism

Kendal's Family at her Baptism April 14, 2012
Kendal and Grandpa and Grandma "G"
Kendal and Grandma Nancy and Papa Rick
Kendal with Grandpa Daryl and Grandma Terri
Kendal and Daddy

I've put off blogging as long as possible, but I would be totally remiss if I didn't document Kendal's 8th birthday and baptism. Turning 8 around here is a big deal. Not only is it another birthday, but our kids reach the age of accountability. That means that have the opportunity to choose to get baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Kendal has been looking forward for months. She has talked about planning her party, her baptism and getting her ears pierced.

Last weekend was her actual birthday. We started the morning with donuts and milk, the breakfast of choice on your birthday around here. We sent her off to school and Trey, Adison and I met her for lunch. She brought iced sugar cookies to share with her class and celebrated all day at school. Grandma "G" was on spring break and made the quick trip from Georgia to see Kendal on her birthday. After Kendal got home from school we headed out to get her ears pierced. She loves getting made up and bling is definitely her thing so she was really excited about getting holes put in her ears. She picked out rainbow earrings and as the workers pierced both ears at one time she didn't even flinch. In fact, she said is that all! SO KENDAL!!! She cracked me up as we walked out everyone she saw she made sure that they new she had just gotten her ears pierced. After getting her ears pierced we headed off to softball practice. She was sung to by the team and made sure to show off her earrings and then it was off to her party!!! Her choice again this year was Chuck E. Cheese. She loves the pizza, the games, and the ticket blaster. She had a great time and headed home beat!!!

The following day she had another busy day. She had the opening day parade for softball and a softball game. Her little softball team this year is struggling, but she is still having a great time. Their best player left the team to play baseball, so it is going to be a long year. Regardless Kendal is getting an opportunity to play some key positions like pitcher and first base and hopefully improve!

This last weekend was her baptism weekend. We have the BEST family and friends. All three sets of Kendal's grandparents made the trip down to be at her baptism. She was so thrilled and definitely enjoyed having such great support. We kept everyone busy over the weekend not only with Kendal's baptism but as a warm-up they were all troopers and sat through Trey's first T-ball game and Kendal's softball game. Fortunately it was beautiful weather and everything ended on time so that we were able to get everything done that we needed to and wanted to.

Kendal's baptism was AWESOME!! (Kendal made sure that I added the explanation points) The ward and our friends turned out to support our sweet Kendal on her big day. Jeff's boss even was kind enough to come. Grandpa "G" gave an excellent talk on baptism and Grandma "G" gave a some great analogies to help Kendal better understand the gift of the Holy Ghost. After the actual baptism we had a few refreshments (brownies, fruit, veggies, and red velvet cupcakes) and then headed home for a fun relaxing evening spending time eating pizza and visiting with the grandparents! We are so proud of Kendal and the great decision she has made to be baptized.

Today at church Kendal was confirmed a member of the church and received the Holy Ghost. Jeff did the confirmation and also had the opportunity to speak in church. He did a great job on both.

Our softball player
Trey is much improved from last year!
Jeff is helping coach Trey's team this year.
Kendal playing during her 2nd grade program this week
Kendal at the opening day softball parade
A Chuck E. Cheese birthday party!

Kendal's account of her baptism (typed by Kendal):

I was VERY NERRVOUS. I LOVED THAT I COULD HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO be baptized. I loved the refreshment I had been asking for red velvet cupcakes. I loved the pizza it was yummy. I asked for pizza at little Caesars but they got it at pizza hut because Jeff likes it that way!!!!

New Year Update!

I received this great little gift over Christmas that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. The only problem is it is not very condusive to blogging. I read blogs, but it isn't very easy to update my blog using my Kindle Fire. As such I am so behind on blogging I thought the best idea would just go through each of us individually and try to give updates of what each of us has been up to the last couple of months.

Bayley
It is hard to believe that Bayley is already half way through the 5th grade. As I look at her and think about myself in 5th grade, I realize how grown up she is becoming. She really is starting to put it all together and I really do enjoy having her around. She is still my SUPER-READER. The only thing she asked for this Christmas was a Kindle and guess what Santa delivered with a Kindle Touch. She has loved her new gift and continually bugs me for new books to read. Fortunatley our library has a pretty good selection of Kindle books available for check out so I am not going broke keeping her in books. She continues to take Ballet and is enjoying her new dance studio. I am anxious to see her recital this coming June to see how she continues to develop as a dancer. Piano continues to come along. She has a great ear for the piano...now if we could only get her to practice she could be pretty good. She has an excellent teacher who is very patient with her and helps her to find music that is interesting and challenging for her. I love hearing her master a song and hope we can keep her interested. I know she won't regret it! Bayley and I have had a couple of nice bonding activities during the last couple of months. First I had the opportunity to accompany her on an all day field trip to Montgomery, Alabama. We had a great time visiting our state's capitol and other historic sites in that area. We also are currently bonding with basketball. I am coaching her 10-under girls team this winter and so far we are weathering the storm. Basketball is definitely not her favorite activity, but I think she is having a better time than she would ever admit. Our team is doing well (we are 4-2) and Bayley and I still like each other...all that really matters! This week Bayley and Jeff are headed on a 3-day overnight field trip to Camp McDowell. Bayley has looked forward to this "get away" field trip since we first moved here a couple of years ago. Hopefully they have a great time and have great weather!

Kendal
Like her big sister, Kendal has also grown a ton this last year. She is having a great second grade year and has a perfect teacher for her. You can tell how much she likes her because she will come right home from school and round up Trey and Adison and take them to her room to play school. She has an entire routine planned for them and gives them homework and progress reports. She will someday make an excellent teacher and mother. It is definitely part of who she is. I also got to accompany Kendal on a field trip a couple of weeks ago to Golden Flake Chips factory. We had a good time watching how potato chips, cheese curls, and tortilla chips are made. It was very interesting and we got lots of yummy chips to taste and take home. She loves to have me visit her at school and I try to take advantage of her liking me as much as possible right now. Trey, Adison and I love to go and eat lunch with Kendal and her friends. Kendal is in her first year of piano and doing pretty well. She isn't sure she likes it all of the time, but we keep encouraging her to hang in there. She also is playing basketball and really enjoying it this year. She is good little player who doesn't lack in aggressiveness or hustle. She is extremely fiesty and Jeff and I compared her to Bill Lambier one game. She is our little athlete who is looking forward to her upcoming softball season once basketball ends. She would stay busy with sports year round if she could. Kendal's favorite Christmas gift was a new camera, which at this minute is missing. She is excited about planning her baptism which is only 2 months away and all of the fun things she gets to do when she turns 8 ( like get her ears pierced).


Trey
Trey has found his new favorite past time during the last couple of months....the Wii. He loves to play video games of any kind whether it be on my iphone, Kindle Fire, or his favorite the Wii. We have realized quickly how much he enjoys these things, so we have had to develop a very strict system of time limits and requirements to play video games. Otherwise I think he would spend all day every day in front of the television. He is very competitive and has been known to yell at others playing with or against him. There have been tears at time, but we consider these moments opportunities for growth. He has to clean his room, get dressed, eat breakfast and read me 2 books before he can have his 30 minutes of Wii time allotted a day. It is amazing how motivated he is to get these things done and he usually will be begging me to read with him at 7:15 am as soon as Bayley gets on the bus. He is doing excellent on reading and will be way ahead of where the girls were when they started kindergarten. He is so excited to be able to go to school this upcoming fall! Trey is also playing basketball this winter. He is one of the better players on his team, but for all the aggressiveness Kendal has, Trey is just about the exact opposite. Maybe as he figures out the game more that will develop but for now he is pretty content letting the ball come to him. He will probably play T-ball this spring and love hitting a lot more than fielding the ball. He will beg for a chance to hit whenever I am practicing with Kendal, but when we are playing catch he would rather sit that one out. I guess that comes with time. He is a great brother to his sisters, both older and younger, and we love having our little guy around!

Adison
If you ever wonder who runs this house, you don't have to look too much farther than our little Adison. She is everywhere and into everything. She is busy every waking hour and sometimes during the sleep hours. We have slowly tried to help her transition to being a "Big Girl" including taking away her pacifier, moving her from her crib to a toddler bed, and TRYING to potty train. So far she has adjusted well to life without her pacifier and most of the time she stays in bed well....we have found out she will sometime visit her brother and sisters in the middle of the night, but the potty training has been a bit of a struggle up to this point. She has NO desire to sit on the potty and would much rather do her business in her pants. I haven't been brave enough to go underwear only yet, which I think is probably the biggest problem. I need to get brave and get motivated so we can be diaperless!! Did I mention that Adison is into everything???? She can open ANYTHING, including supposedly child proof medicine bottles (fortunately this happened in front of me), nail polish bottles (Kendal's carpet tells the story), and the refrigerator (I hate having to lock myself out of the refrigerator, but there have been days). She loves to climb ANYTHING including the cabinets, my barstools, any chair, and she is good and fast. She still isn't talking very well and I am going to look into to speech therapy this week, however communicating what she wants is definitely not a problem. She gets what she gets when she throws a fit....I definitely give in a lot more than I did with the others. She is so darn cute though and we sure do love her! It would be the same around here without her great hugs, kisses, and prayers!

Jeff
Jeff keeps busy keeping up with us plus the other responsibilities he has like work and church. He is enjoying his new calling on the High Council, but we sure do miss having him at church with us. Work is going well and he is looking forward to another great year with Pfizer. He is trully blessed to have a great job that he works hard at, but that allows him to be there for us as well as fulfill his church calling. His new hobby of late has been looking at guns. He was a hunter growing up and has caught the hunting bug once again. He hasn't purchased a gun yet, but has done a lot of searching. He is getting the kids excited about it and they are looking forward to shooting in the backyard with him once he gets his "range" set-up. He is a great daddy and does a great job supporting the rest of us!

Alisha
Between basketball, dance, piano, preschool, callings and life I manage to stay plenty busy. I LOVE IT! I am enjoying a break from long distance running and have enjoyed our new membership at a brand new YMCA near our house. I have taken a couple of fun classes and quickly realized that running doesn't work all of the major muscle groups. Hopefully I am done with the soreness and can enjoy them a little more the second time around. I love my Kindle and being able to quickly check updates on my email, facebook and blogs, but it means I spend a whole lot less time at my computer. I know I will regret not having the weekly updates later so I am going to try to do better. We'll see!