Swimming and Splash Pads!

My kids love summer. They love being outside, and they especially love being in the water. This summer, Kylee and Tyler both did a session of swimming lessons. Kylee is becoming quite the swimmer, and has decided she wants to do indoor swimming lessons this fall/winter, and possibly join swim team next summer. It is nice to have a proficient swimmer - I know I need to still watch her, but it makes taking the kids to the pool by myself (without Matt) a little less stressful!

I loved watching Tyler in his lessons. I was proud of him for finally feeling comfortable putting his entire face in the water.

He especially loved the "horsey rides", haha.

I'm hoping to do lessons with Bradley starting next year. In the mean time, he had fun at our neighborhood pool and enjoyed going to the splash pad!

Spring Dance Recital

Kylee enjoyed a second season of hip hop this spring and really enjoyed it.

Here's a video of her dance recital:

Spring Soccer 2017

Both Kylee and Tyler played soccer again this spring - Kylee with FC Nova and Tyler with Soccer Tots. It is fun to see them enjoying this sport so much!

Tyler lucked out in having Coach Steve again. He really made learning the basics of soccer so fun for Tyler. Tyler's favorite games were "Don't Wake the Dragon" (where you had to dribble the ball to the goal, but put your foot on top of the ball when the dragon woke up) and "Stinky Diapers" (where you tried to kick all the "stinky diapers" into the parents' bedroom, but the parents kicked them right back into the kids' bedroom).

Hip Hop Performance

Instead of doing gymnastics this fall, Kylee decided to try out hip hop dance... and she fell in love with it! It was so fun to see her practice her moves at home and see how excited she was to go to class each week.

She had a winter recital a couple weeks ago where we got to see her class perform in their full makeup and costumes. I couldn't stop smiling at Kylee - she was so fun to watch! Here's the full performance:

Kylee's Baptism

Kylee turned 8 last month, and we were so excited to celebrate her baptism. She was baptized by Matt on Saturday, December 10th, and we were lucky enough to have our own baptismal service, complete with talks, prayers and a musical number, all by family members.

Kylee had really been looking forward to this day. She said she was excited to get baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. She was also looking forward to fasting, paying tithing, and going to Activity Days!

We has a little celebration at our neighborhood clubhouse for Kylee after the baptism, and it was such a fun way to cap off such a special day.

A few things about Kylee:

• Kylee is as close to perfect as any kid I've ever met. She is kind and thoughtful and smart. I feel incredibly lucky to be her mom.
• Kylee is SUCH a good big sister. Her brothers, especially Tyler, adore her. Kylee freely plays with Tyler. One of their favorite things to play together is "school" where Kylee is the teacher and Tyler is the student. She makes up a schedule that includes recess, coloring, snack time, math, reading, etc. Tyler loves this one-on-one time with his sister. Kylee is also sweet enough to let Tyler play when she has a friend over. Tyler thinks Kylee's friends are as much his friends as they are hers because he is always included.
• Kylee loves legos, beanie boos (stuffed animals), soccer, hip hop, and playing with friends.
• She is an excellent reader and continues to read quite a bit above grade level. She also does really well in all other subjects as well.

Fall!

Fall is such a fun time of the year... we have birthdays for all three kids, football season, Halloween, and fun fall family activities.

I'm not sure if we did any raking last year :-) I don't think that the leaves on our maple tree fell until like January or February! This year, they fell early enough that we needed to do some fall cleanup. The kids loved playing in the leaves!

As is typical, November is a month that we focused on what we were thankful for. Kylee loves making a "thankful tree", so we hung the tree in our entryway and then added leaves daily with what we were thankful for.

I loved seeing what the kids decided they were thankful for each day. Here is a sampling of what they were thankful for this month:

• Jesus (Tyler)
• Santa (Tyler)
• Police (Kylee)
• Mom (Tyler)
• My Watch (Kylee)
• Woody & Buzz & Superman (Tyler)
• Teachers (Kylee)
• Family (Kylee)
• Yummy Food (Kylee)
• Batman (Tyler)

Birthday Kids

It's kind of fun having Kylee's and Tyler's birthdays so close together. We have celebrated each year with a family get together. Kylee gets a "friend" party every year, alternating between us and her mom for who organizes it. I don't think we will do a party every year with Tyler... in fact, I wasn't really planning on starting friend parties this young at all! But with Tyler's obsession with superheroes and his love of playing with friends, I decided to do a little superhero play date. We made invitations and invited a couple of his neighbor friends. We only did a couple small activities (i.e. pin the web on spiderman), and then the kids just ate pizza and played. It was fun to have everyone over... Tyler has missed his friends since it's no longer "scooter weather"!

A quick update on Tyler:

• It is rare that we have a day where he doesn't wear some type of superhero costume. He insists on wearing them to the store, to the doctor's office, to grandma's house, etc. He knows every superhero by name and we have made up a little superhero song about any superhero imaginable.
• Tyler still has a hard time sharing with his little brother, but then at times he is so sweet, offering hugs and kisses freely. Tyler still throws fits (usually when we leave somewhere that he doesn't want to leave), but they aren't as frequent and don't last as long.
• He has the BEST imagination of any toddler you'll ever meet.
• Tyler is one smart kid. He knows all his shapes and colors and can name any vegetable or animal or anything else you ask. He does VERY well with staying in the lines when he is coloring. He has started to recognize some of his letters and can tell you a couple of their sounds. We will be working more on letters this next year.
• He wishes he could ride his scooter year round, even if it's raining or freezing cold outside. He also LOVES friends and adores his big sister.

Kylee's First Day of Second Grade

Kylee is LOVING second grade. I was sad that the summer seemed to go by so quickly, but Kylee was anxious to get back to school and see her friends every day! Her teacher, Mrs. Prow, is great and Kylee is excelling. She is still an excellent reader, reading way above her grade level, and is doing a great job of memorizing all her math facts :-)

Summer Break 2016 - Week 7

Week 7 of our summer was relatively uneventful :-) The highlight was when Kylee and I went to watch the BFG. In anticipation of the movie coming out, we read the book together this spring. We read every day, but only a few pages at a time, so it took us a while to get through the book. Kylee loved the book, and I have been so excited to take her to the movie. I was a little disappointed when she got invited to see the movie at her friend Katie's birthday party before I could take her to see it... but since I'm good friends with Katie's mom (Sally), I invited myself to come along to the movie portion of the party! I had such a good time sitting next to Kylee and listening to her laugh throughout the movie. Treasured memories!

Summer Break 2016 - Week 3

Here are this week's highlights.

We had our first of two weeks of swimming lessons! Kylee has done awesome and is already getting so much better. Tyler and I are doing mommy and me and I have been so proud of him and how brave he has been.

Tuesday
We had another Passport to Boise stop at Boise at its Best Flowers. Talk about fun! We got a tour of the flower shop, got to learn about some of the different kinds of flowers, and Kylee even got to make her very own "ice cream sundae" arrangement!

Thursday

Beki and I spent the morning picking raspberries! A friend of mine was out of town so invited me to pick berries and I was SO grateful. Beki and I had a lovely time.

Friday

I made the MOST delicious jam - raspberry peach. I seriously think this is my new favorite.

Saturday

Believe it or not, we had a garage sale! I have always said I didn't want to do garage sales because they are SO much work, but after reading the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and going through and purging stuff out of my house, I decided it was worth it. My mom and dad, Matt's mom and dad, Beki, and Mandi all brought stuff over to contribute, so we had a pretty good setup! Matt and I made close to $400, so it was definitely worth the time!

Summer Break 2016 - Week 2

We are loving our summer! Here are this week's highlights.

Tuesday

We had our first Passport to Boise stop - The Egyptian Theater! We learned all about the history of the theater (it opened its doors in 1927!), got to watch a silent black and white film, and got to tour the theater. Kylee's favorite part was all the gold leafing.

Wednesday

Our second Passport to Boise stop was at the ReUseum. Kylee and I got to make little "bristle bots" out of old cell phone vibrators, toothbrushes, and a little battery :-) SO fun!

We also went to the Library where the kiddos and I made no-sew t-shirt bags out of old t-shirts.

Saturday

We met up with the Hudsons for a family reunion... lunch in the park and roasting smores at Matt's parents house in the evening. It was nice seeing and catching up with grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins, etc.