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!
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!
