Kindergarten Graduation

I was so excited to watch Tallie do her program. Her and Chloe put on a sneak preview for TJ and I in the backyard. They sang some songs and did some dance moves. It was so cute. Tallie did so great in kindergarten this year. She is such a smarty pants. She gets her work done early, never talks, super polite, and is really catching onto reading. And again I can't lie, tears were rolling. It was hard to watch her up there in her little cap and gown. I am so proud of her!

I LOVED having Mrs. Carpenter as her teacher. Since she is my neighbor and sometimes a running partner and since I do her hair, it's really easy to get extra parent teacher conferences to see how she how Tallie is doing.

Preschool Graduation

Chloe's program was the cutest thing I have ever seen!!! I got there early to have a front row seat. Her teacher and I were worried that she wouldn't go through with it and would cry the whole time. She had a hard time going to school the last 2 weeks because they would practice their program everyday. She would cry all the way to school and cling to me so I wouldn't leave her. She had such anxiety about the program that even practicing for it was too much. TJ would bribe her with things just to get her to school with no tears. Well we were pleasantly surprised when she said her part and sang all of the songs and was the LOUDEST singer up there. She even smiled. I got it on tape and she loves watching it over and over. I did get a little teary eyed watching her up there. I am so proud of her!

 She had amazing teachers; Mrs. Gaylene and Mrs. Mari.

They were sensitive to Chloe's needs and her separation anxiety issues but didn't baby her either. I will miss them.

Mother's Day

My favorite part of mother's day is watching my kids sing songs to me up on the stand in Sacrament meeting. Tallie is the only one who actually likes to go up and sing. And I always get teary eyed. I can't help it. It's at that moment that it hits me that I am a mother and that I have such wonderful sweet kids who make my life complete. I see how much they have grown and how big they have gotten. Chloe breaks down in tears when I even ask her if she is going to go up and sing...she is much too shy and has such anxiety about it. She totally gets it from me because I was that same way when I was a kid. I never went up. I sat next to my mom and cried while my sisters went up. It's ok and I still love her. 

I have a long ways to go to become the mother I want to be. It really is a life long process. My kids deserve so much and I just hope that through all of my shortcomings and mistakes they know just how much I love them. They really are my world. And I am very excited to bring another child into our family for me to love on.

I truly am blessed.

Friends....

As a mom you want the best for your kids. You want them to always be happy and feel loved and for them to enjoy life and their surroundings. But it can't always be this way and it's hard. It just breaks my heart to see my kids hurting, emotionally. And in some cases I can't just take the pain away or make everything alright. There are some things we just have to go through and learn more about our selves in the process. I hate to see Tallie fighting to keep a friendship that has been hers for so long, only to see her slowly loose it and be replaced by a new friend. It hurts me to see her confused and sad at what's happening and her wondering where is it that she fits in and who her friends are. I still struggle with it myself. I'm still trying to fit in and find who I am and find people who like me for me. It's not easy and there are times as an adult and as a mom that I go to bed sad, with tears in my eyes wondering where I fit in. And I ask myself why do I even care. But it's human nature. As people we want to feel loved and be loved and to have friends and to be able to just be ourselves. I wish it got easier when we got older, it just gets a little different. I am still learning about myself and who I am and where it is that I want to fit in. It's a life long process I guess and it sucks going through it but it sucks even more when you are watching your child go through it. It sucks to watch people change and not so much for the better. It hurts to see friends move on in life without you when you have been such a part of it for so long. I see it with TJ and Andy. And it hurts me to see their friendship change and to be different from before. I know it hurts TJ and I hurt for him and hate to see him go to work knowing that some people at his work make it hard for people to just be themselves in fear that they will be rejected. Why can't people stay the same?

Library time

I wish my kids loved to go to the library to check out books because they love to read.

No.

They love the water feature and it's the only reason I can actually get them to go.

I just want them to learn to love to read.

If I keep trying right?

I remember going to the library maybe twice growing up. I still don't know how to locate and find a book that I am actually looking for. But I did wish my mom would've taken me more often. So I am trying to be that mom.

We had a good time in the water however. That is until Tallie threw one of the big river rocks right at Lexi's head. Then it was time to go.
Tonight we cuddled in blankets and read our books outside on the couch in the backyard. I had their attention then. I even got the attention of neighbor kids and they joined us. Maybe that should be our new summer thing to do. Late night story time outside. The more the merrier. Maybe it could be a regular thing and a cool memory to look back on...it's a nice thought at least.

All tied up

THE BASEMENT

I can't believe that after living in our house for 5 years we are finally able to finish our basement!!

It is RIDICULOUSLY exciting! We have been saving and we thought from all of the quotes we had gotten that we would only be able to finish a little bit because we only had about half of what we needed. Well it turns out that Kelly, a friend of TJ's from Verizon, does construction on the side and said he would do our basement. We are in good hands because he is awesome at what he does and is saving us a TON of money and because of him we are able to finish most of the basement excluding the crawl space and the bathroom. I feel really grateful for Kelley and for all that he is doing for us. We truly lucked out.

Before we could even get started we had to first clear out the basement. I wish we had a picture of what it looked like before. It was going to be a big job. And it was. It took us 5 hours straight to clear out. Once that was done things have been going super fast. Tomorrow the dry wall goes up!!! It's finally happening!

I turned 29!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to say that I was NOT excited to turn 29. 

It only means that next year I will be 30 and it's down hill from there. No more twenties, no more youth.

Just the start of wrinkles.

BUT I did have a GREAT birthday. Early in the day while Tallie was at school, Lexi, Chloe and I went on a bike ride. We played outside and the weather was great. 

We met Tessa and her girls at a new park for lunch. We played for two hours until Chloe just could't "hold" it anymore.

 My sweet friend Becky Clayton dropped by (BECAUSE SHE IS THE DEVIL) and gave me not one but SIX Sweet Tooth Fairy Cupcakes. Ohhh and they were good!

(us looking for four leaf clovers)

Later in the day Tessa watched my girls while I went to The Cherry Lane Boutique to spend the gift card my mom gave me. A very nice treat and definitely not the kind of place to take kids of any ages.

For dinner we went to Cafe Rio.

It was a great day and the best part was that I got to spend it with my family!

When we first got back from Hawaii, I noticed that the big, huge shoe box full of the kids shoes in the basement was half dumped out and shoes were everywhere. I figured maybe grandma or the kids were looking for sizes? Anyways, the next day I read a paper that Tallie had brought home from school earlier that week about donating shoes to kids who didn't have any. The deadline had come and gone and I felt bad that I didn't know earlier so that we could actually donate some...we have quite a few that could go. Well Tallie informed me that she did in fact donate shoes.  Which explains the shoes everywhere in the basement. I asked her if Grandma helped her sort through them and she said no. She looked through the shoes on her own and took them to school. She told me about the pairs she gave (they happened to be really cute ones that were almost to fit Chloe). I was so proud of her! So happy that she thought of others and did what she had to do. What a good example to me.