MAY

KASEN'S 9TH BIRTHDAY - The first big exciting event in May was Kasen's 9th birthday!!!  This last year went by so fast.  It seems like he was barely getting baptized.  At the last minute Kasen decided to have a birthday party and invite two friends to the movies.  He wanted to make his own invitations and drew them out.  He drew Batman and wrote: Always be yourself, unless you can be BATMAN!  It was really funny.  Only one friend could come though, but he still had fun.  We went to watch the Lego Batman movie, had cupcakes and ice cream, and movie popcorn.  Later that night, the elementary school had their first ever carnival.  The kids did not want to miss it so we went to that.  It was really bad stormy weather and poured rain for the first hour.  The kids were freezing and wet, but they would not leave. 

The next day we had birthday dinner at our house and invited the Ball family.  Ryan was here with his fiance Cheyenne so it was fun to meet her for the first time also.  Kasen wanted family favorite casserole and corn.  We made him a Broncos football cake.  Ava drew the giant Bronco mascot.  We put a candle on there for Dallin as well.  Kasen is such a good kid.  He has his moments, but for the most part is very thoughtful and kind.  He loves his siblings and takes good care of them.  Kasen is pretty sensitive and still gets nervous about speaking in public or being away from his family.  He loves football, basketball, roping, and playing with friends.  He is so dedicated at school and takes that very seriously.  He is starting to get pretty particular and wants things in his room a certain way.  He is still really great at drawing and art.  He is a happy kid and we love him!

DALLIN TURNS 1 YR OLD!! - Like I said earlier, this year has gone by so fast!  It has definitely been the fastest any of my kids have turned 1.  The kids wanted Dallin to have his own special birthday party so we didn't really celebrate him when family came over for Kasen.  We planned to on his birthday and then things kept coming up.  We didn't end up having a party for him until about 4 days after his birthday.  Poor kid - 4th child problems.  It is really amazing to think about all the changes for a baby in their first year of life.  They grow and develop so much.  Life is really such a miracle.

Dallin didn't want the party hat on and he wasn't too excited about his cupcake.  He dipped his fingers in a little bit.  I cut up his cupcake for the other kids to share so Dallin only got a little sliver.  He didn't mind - he was more interested in the wrapper anyway. 

Dallin is such a fun little guy.  He absolutely LOVES being outside.  Anytime he hears or sees the door open he goes as fast as he can towards it trying to get out.  One night I took him outside while I weeded the flower beds.  He still doesn't like the touch of grass so he wouldn't leave the blanket which is quite nice to keep him confined! He would get as close to the edge of the blanket as he could, but wouldn't go off the edge. :)  He just laughed and looked around; jabbered to the birds and cars driving by.

Dallin is pretty funny.  He loves watching his Baby Einstein videos.  I'll say, "Do you want to watch a movie?" and he will get a big smile on his face.  As soon as it turns on he will laugh.  It is really the only thing he sits still for (granted we have him strapped into his bouncer).  Kasen got the movie Old Yeller for his birthday (he loves it) and so one night as a family we were watching it.  All of a sudden Dallin was mesmerized by it.  He was a bit too close, but he couldn't keep his eyes off of the tv.  Sundays are proving to be the worst day of the week for Dallin.  9 o'clock church is super hard.  Dallin always takes his 10 am nap so he is soooo tired at church.  Of course he will not sleep because there is too much commotion so by the time we get home at 12:30 he is beyond exhausted.  One Sunday I put him in his highchair when we got home because he was acting hungry, but just a few minutes later he was out cold.

At 1 yr old, Dallin is 95% of the time happy as can be.  He is always happy when he wakes up and so excited to see whoever gets him out of his crib.  He is really fast at crawling!  He is a mess-maker!  No drawer is safe.  His hair has the cutest little curls and in the sun has a little red hue.  He is still so big for his age.  At his checkup he weighed 24 lbs 15 oz and was 32 inches long.  That is 2 lbs heavier and 2 inches longer than our biggest child (Kasen) at 1 yr old.  He has his 4 cute little teeth.  He jabbers, but loves saying dada more than anything.  He will take a few steps on his own, but is still very wobbly.  Pretty good at eating, but reminds me of a cow - he chews it a bit, then spits it out, and puts it back in and chews again.  It is pretty gross to watch actually. We love him so much even though he makes a lot of messes!

MOTHER'S DAY - Jace had a basketball tournament in Boise over the weekend so we had visitors to celebrate Mother's Day with this year.  We went out to dinner and a little shopping with all these goofballs.  At the Nike store they pretended to be mannequins.  They really freaked some people walking by out. lol  Sunday we had dinner at the Balls.  The husbands made steak & chicken on the grill.  Some salads and fruit.  It was pretty good.  One of my favorite things about Mother's Day is that it gives me the opportunity to demand a nap by myself!  I heard one comedian say that the only thing parents want on Mother's/Father's day is for their kids to leave them alone!  haha  It is pretty true. :)

I do always love all the Mother's day cards and things my kids make for me.  They always make me laugh a bit.  For example on Kasen's card he wrote: My mother loves me because I'm awesome.  :) 

Being a mom is hard work and I definitely have re-realized that with starting over having Dallin.  There are days I'm so tired and feel like screaming if one more person says my name or "needs" me.  But then the next day I wake up and do it again, day after day.  Why do moms do it?  I think it's because we know there is an eternal privilege.  A sacred responsibility.  What we do with our kids not only affects them, but can have an effect on future generations as well.  I feel pretty lucky to be a mom.  It isn't easy, but it is worth it.  I will always have four little faces that love me and look to me.  Right now they need me a lot - almost more than I feel like I can give some days - but that won't last forever.  I do hope they will always love me forever though.

KIDS ACTIVITIES - May was full of end of the year events for the kids' activities!  The first one was Kinsley's "Let's Play Music" recital. 

There was a lot of singing.  Kinsley had a special part playing the autoharp for "Goodbye Old Paint" which she did a great job on.  She didn't smile once during it, but we got some good smiles after the program!

I spoke with the Bishop about Ava coming for girls camp and he said she could! So she came with me to a mutual about camp prep.  She thought the camp songs were pretty funny.  Kasen also experienced his first ever Pinewood Derby for scouts.  He and his dad waited until the night before to get his car ready (of course), but it turned out pretty good.  Kasen only lost 2 races.  His car was also voted "coolest car."  Dallin had his first ice cream treat that night too!

Kasen finished another season of flag football.  He really wanted to win the championship this time again since after all they were finally his favorite team.  Right before the playoffs, they lost a game which made him scared.  But they pulled it off again and won the championship.  Go Broncos!  Dallin really loved watching the last few games as it started getting warmer outside.  He would clap and laugh.  He was a good little fan!

Kinsley finished her first year of dance class! The dance company had a recital at the end of May.  The whole theme of the recital was Imaginary Places.  Kinsley's class performed as the Mad Hatters from Alice in Wonderland.  Kinsley was pretty nervous, but she did so great!  It was fun to watch her up on the big stage.

Earlier this month, Jed discovered while doing some yard work that the duck we had seen wandering our yard had indeed laid her nest in our tall bushes by the garage!  The kids, and especially Ava, had been vigilantly checking on them daily waiting for them to hatch.  On the day of Kinsley's dance recital Ava discovered that three little ducklings had hatched finally!  She got some cute pictures but the mama duck wouldn't let us stay around too long.  We were so excited to watch them walk around, but the next morning when the kids went out to check on them they were gone!  We walked around the subdivision looking in all the ponds to see if they made it to the water, but never saw them again.

KIDS SCHOOL - The last few weeks of school are always so busy.  I swear we were down to the school a couple of times a week the last few weeks.  Kasen had a lot of things going on that Ms. Reher invited parents to.  One day we went down to help with a painting project & another time we went down to see the finished habitat projects that his group had made.  They made a tropical rainforest with a tapir, Amazon river dolphin, anacondas, jaguar, piranhas, caiman, and electric eel.  They made it all with clay and paper machete and then painted it.  We also went down another time for his animal report on the Tasmanian Devil.  He made a power point, wrote a poem, and drew a habitat, and made a tas. devil out of clay.  Each time we went down, Dallin got mobbed by all Kasen's classmates.  They thought he was so cute.  Dallin loved all the attention.

In GT, Kasen also had a presentation on a dinosaur.  He had researched on Ichthyosaurus.  He had to present his project to all the 2nd graders, 2nd grade teachers, and parents of GT students.  He did such a good job!  He was so nervous about it and got teary during his first presentation to me but pulled it together and did great for all his peers.  He did the whole project at school besides making the Ichthyosaurus at home with clay.  He didn't want any help from me besides helping him bake it in the oven.  He then painted it at school.  He did such a good job and I'm always so proud of my kids' artistic abilities because I don't feel like that came from me or Jed!  lol   We also had the chance to go down for the May birthday party in Kasen's class.  We brought in pencils and glow sticks.

All the 5th graders participated in a school science fair.  They all came up with a science experiment that answered a question.  Ava decided to conduct an experiment on which potato (russet vs sweet potato) would grow the longest roots when half of it was placed in a glass jar submerged in water and placed in the sun.  We got the idea from Kasen's scout book.  In true Ava fashion she wrote so much in her report for the process that we had to make tabs on her poster to fit it all in!  She also had to present to the whole school, teachers, and parents.  She did a great job. And the sweet potato grew much longer roots in case you were wondering.

Ava has been a library aide this year.  She had to get a letter recommendation from a teacher and the librarian's approval to do it.  She has spent one recess a day helping in the library - restocking shelves, organizing, etc.  She absolutely loved it.  Ms. PJ (the librarian) rewarded the aides with a pizza lunch.  We spied through the window after leaving from Kasen's class at the party. :)

BUBBLE RUN -The Saturday before Memorial day some Erickson family came to town for Tyler's graduation and house warming party.  We had decided to run a 5k Bubble Run Saturday morning before graduation.  Ava, Kasen, & Kinsley were so excited!  None of us had done a bubble run before so we had no idea what to expect.  The course was down in Garden City at the expo center.  The 5k went around through the parking lot and grassy area and then at various spots there were 4 big bubble machines you ran through.  The bubble stations were BIG and the bubbles were often over our heads.  I packed Kinsley through most of them because honestly a child could get lost in there and suffocate.  I'm not really sure how safe it was honestly!

At the end there were bubble cannons that would shoot out massive amounts of bubbles.  It was pretty cool!

The race was really fun for everyone except me.  Beforehand I had tried to explain to my kids that it wasn't actually a race, but more of a fun experience.  Kasen could not comprehend it.  He just kept saying he wanted to win.  I told him he had to stay with the group, but when we started he just sprinted away.  There were so many people there that I didn't want him going alone.  I yelled and yelled, but he would not listen.  So I had to sprint for 3.2 miles to try and catch him.  I was not happy.  He missed out on the whole point of the experience and having fun and because I sprinted for 3.2 miles on concrete (not prepared physically to do that) I totally hurt my foot and my plantar fasciitis came back full blown after being fine for 5 years.  Oh I was not happy and I was in pain.  I surprised myself and didn't yell or freak out at Kasen.  I explained all the consequences that happened because he chose to only think of himself.  He seemed pretty disappointed in himself so I didn't dwell on it.

We had fun hanging out with cousins the rest of the weekend!  Tyler's graduation went well (our family didn't go down).  Tyler and some of the other special needs kids got to walk across the stage first and then everybody left.  His party was fun and everyone was excited to see his new house. 

MEMORIAL DAY - Tyler's party was Saturday night so most everyone went home on Sunday.  That left us with Memorial Day to celebrate on our own.  It was a nice, hot day.  Jed decided to rope that morning so I took the kids to this field of flags in Eagle. 

I always thought Memorial Day was about going to the cemeteries to visit family member's graves.  I never knew it was specifically for paying respects to the servicemen/women who have fought for our country.  So I like to make that point with my kids.  It is actually pretty easy because we have never lived near any of our family member's grave sites.  The kids played at the park nearby for awhile which was a great park.  After lunch I really wanted to do something outdoors.  After a lot of whining & complaining (mostly from Jed) we decided to hike along the Boise River.  The river has been so flooded we weren't really sure what to expect.  We wanted to go to a Bird refuge place but that trail was closed so we went to a spot on Eagle road to get on the trail.  As we were walking along Ava spotted a duck family.  There were 3 baby ducklings and a mom/dad.  Our kids just knew it was our duck family!  We watched them for about 10 minutes playing and catching food.  The kids were so excited and happy to know that the ducklings made it to water.  Jed and I just went with it because it was a lot more fun to just believe it was our duck family after all.

Stopping for a little picture by the very high river.  Ava was trying to be so elegant for a solo picture, but got the giggles and couldn't stop laughing.

Kinsley had to stop a lot on the hike to draw pictures and write.  She has watched her brother & sister do this for so long I guess finally it was her turn.  She was sketching everything. 

We hiked for about 4 miles down and back.  Then we stopped for ice cream cones and made a stop at the grocery store.  Jed and I went out to dinner that evening.  It was a great day.  I wish we could do stuff like this more often.  Jobs & working are annoying.

BIG CHANGES - Jed and I have been constantly thinking about when is the right time to try to buy land and where ever since we moved here.  I'm not really sure what spurred it, but towards the end of March we started looking at places on Zillow.  Well correction, I started looking at places.  Jed has been looking for 2.5 yrs.  I was pretty set on not making a move for another 1.5 - 2 yrs.  There were a few things that started us getting more serious in our looking: the housing market, interest rates, our kids' ages, and looking back now I think the Spirit was prompting us although we didn't recognize it at the time.  To make a long story short, we looked at quite a lot of houses on Zillow and went to see 4 houses with a realtor.  We found an amazing place on our own on April 9th.  Then after we got in contact with a realtor we went back a few more times.  Everything about it was fantastic for the most part.  There were a few things that we wanted to change and of course it was wrapping our heads around the cost.  I remember coming home after the 1st time we saw the house and praying that if it was God's will that things would fall into place and it would work out.  And that is exactly what happened.  Everything kept falling into place.  The things we wanted to fix were taken care of by the seller without them even knowing that was what we wanted.  Finally about a month later we made an offer contingent on our house selling w/i 30 days.  It was accepted and two days later on May 17th we put our house on the market.  Selling a house is so exciting and awful at the same time.  We did not have a lot of interest right away which worried me so much because the market was such that houses were under contract within a few hours after going live here.  We had an open house - no offers.  The next week we had a little more traffic but no offers.  Memorial Day weekend we had quite a few showings and finally on Memorial Day we got two offers!  It was only 12 days after we listed it which doesn't seem long at all now in hindsight, but going through it it felt like an eternity!!!  We were offered $5000 over our asking price (which was high).  Things just kept working out.  It was such an exciting day when the courier put the "Sale Pending" sticker on our for sale sign! Closing date for both houses is July 12th.

GRADUATIONS - It was so nice to get our house under contract because the last week of school was sooooo busy and it would have been hard for me to keep the house in show-ready condition.  Both girls had graduations at school.  Kinsley had her kindergarten graduation and Ava had her elementary promotion ceremony.  They both had singing programs.  In Kinsley's program everyone got to say what they wanted to be when they grew up.  She said a singer & dancer.  When I asked her about it later she said, "Mom I just panicked in the moment you know and picked something!"  haha  Kinsley got an award for Explorer of the Year.  It is like being student of the month but for the whole year.  It is a pretty big deal at Willow Creek and she was so excited!

Ava had a speaking part in her program reciting a part of the poem "Oh the Places You'll Go" by Dr Suess.  She also received awards.  She got Explorer of the Year for Library and for 5th grade.  She also got a national award for academic excellence based on her test scores.  In her classroom she got the "Queen of Questions" award.  She is such an amazing girl.  Mr. Spenner said when Ava becomes a famous author he is expecting a car!  The librarian started crying when she hugged Ava and said she wants a 1st edition autographed book.  This year has been such a great one for Ava to finish elementary school on.  She loves learning and her teachers this year have been so positive to keep that fire burning.

We were so proud of these beautiful, smart, and talented daughters of ours.  Jed was able to take time off of work to come to both programs which the girls were so excited about! I can't believe they will be members of the class of 2024 & 2029.  Wow I'm getting old. :{

After their programs they had the choice to stay at school or get checked out early.  Without even a thought they both chose to stay for the rest of the school day.  There were only about 5 kids in both of their classes that stayed.  Kinsley was the only girl besides her friend Abi that chose to stay.  Abi is a special needs girl that Kinsley loves to help.  She says it is easy to help Abi because she already has had practice with Tyler. 

FUN - After quite a cool spring for this area the weather was finally starting to get nice by the end of the month.  We started taking more walks which is good for the kids to walk Gigi.  Our little puppy is getting big!  She is also a little bit naughty.  She chewed up every single one of my cushions in the backyard on the swing & chairs.  Then she chewed up the swing!  She is hyper and playful.  In a weird way she reminds me so much of Dallin! hahaha  One night we rented the movie "A Dog's Purpose".  It was a good movie with plenty of sad parts.  Ava & Kasen bawled through most of it.  After that movie they have both been better at taking care of Gigi and playing with her.

Along with walks came stops at the playground.  Dallin loved the swings!  Kinsley and Dallin also spent time each morning on the trampoline while it was shady.  It is always fun watching kids be kids.