Clabe at prom 2017

abe asked our neighbor, claire, to go to prom.  

they were about as cute as it gets.

there have been a few distanct times that i have felt of abe's greatness.  it's more than being proud of him or thinking that he is fun.  it's like i get a glimpse.  a glimpse of who he is and how great he is and how great he is meant to be.  this was one of those times.  he was happy, confident, good and kind.  he decided to be a leader in his group and get it all figured out.  i was proud of him and i a absolutely loved watching him and claire smile and laugh.  it was good and happy and contagious.

during the planning stages, a girl that abe knows that he hasn't really talked to in a long time (she asked a boy with special needs) needed a group.  when he heard, he immediately text her and invited them to be in their group.  there was no hesitation at all.  he sincerely wanted them to join.  it was a highlight to see him reach outside of himself. 

at the end of the night, he walked claire home so she could get there on time and he noticed she didn't have shoes on so he offered her his shoes.  what else can you say?  that's pretty awesome.

they went on an amazing race scavenger hunt for their day date.  another mom planned it and they had a blast.  they finished with a picnic.

highlights- 

plastic fancy cups

abe's 2017 prom mix tape- a must have for every prom date.

abe found my mom's old tape recorder and was pretty excited.

 sadie came home and took pictures for the group.  they turned out really great.

dinner was served at the tullis residence.

all the parents helped with food and it was amazing.  i really wanted it to be nice so, i figured now was a great time to get new dishes. it looked pretty and i was proud of my menus, which actually looked good....then after the dance i noticed three major typos!  uhg!!!  i always have a million things going on.  abe said they looked good and no one read them anyway, so that 

should make me feel better;)

after the dance, they combined with another group and came back to our house.  A sundae bar was set up outside and they ate ice cream around the fire pit and talked.  a movie played in the basement, but i was surprised they all squeezed around the fire pit and laughed and talked until people had to leave.  

i hope abe realized he has some really great friends, and that he can create good things for himself and those around him.

good times!!

plus... he looked so handsome!

Hosting Viv's preschool

Vivian LOVES preschool, especially when it's our week to host.

We had fun filled week, learning about the letter I.

Indoor igloos!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

Viv loved putting REAL sprinkles on our ice cream projects.

We kicked off February be filling up our preschool mailbox with nice notes:)

Painted toast!!

I love this little girl.

I'm grateful I got to be her teacher this week.

SIXTEEN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ABE!!!

Vivian's excitement about Abe's birthday was contagious!

She helped me make his cake, and when he walked in on us, she 

quickly covered up by saying, "we are doing a banana thing."

Good cover;)

Birthday table before school- bright and early!

When I asked abe what he wanted for his birthday, he sarcastically replied for someone to kiss him.

So the theme of his bday table was slaying his VL-  he got mints and chapstick, a huge chocolate XOXO, a watch so he can keep the kiss to 3 seconds (that's my rule), and some awesome shoes, because everyone needs awesome shoes. 

even though you can't tell in this pic, he laughed and viv loved it.

😚😚😚

sweet sixteen wish.

it was the last day of the term, so he had to think about school, then went straight to work.   And to top it off, a few bands asked him if he would host a concert that night at our house.  He said yes, so there was a concert that night.  His band, the Sandfish, and a few other bands played for probably about 100 kids.  Sadie came and supported his band, the crowd sang to him, and he enjoyed playing.

overall, a pretty fun night!

a few social media posts about the night:

Happy Birthday to my ABE!

I know you were meant for greatness!!!

I hope you know your mom will always be your #1 fan!

golden

Abe got asked on his first date (dance) while we were in St. George for his soccer tournament.

The dance is in February, so he will be sixteen and the girl that asked him is about as cute and awesome as they come.  Its kinda freaking me out that he will be going to a dance.

For family night, the boys answered her.

She gave him a box of goldfish and said something about out of all the fish in the sea, will you go with me.... he answered with the same theme.

 Fun times!

Abe's Tournament

The next weekend, I took Abe and two of his teammates to Mesquite for their soccer tournament.  Since Dave had to work, I invited my mom and Viv along for the ride.  

These boys were patient and squished, and had a ton of fun.

The weather was horrible and driving took us a long time, but we made it both ways safely.

Vivian is a trooper, always following her bros to games.  Vivian pretended the whole game and ran through dialogues with me, while I would try to watch the games.  

I think the highlight for her was feeding the ducks and staying in hotels.  

She loves to stay in hotels.

 One of my highlights was watching the boys walk into the temple.  

Their games on Saturday were late so they went to the St. George temple in the morning.

Abe scored and had some awesome moments.

But by far the best was watching the very last game.  The team decided to have fun, with no pressure- the coach let them play wherever they wanted.  They played like they loved it. 

 It was amazing and retty fun to watch.

Everyone needs a team!

Harry Potter Land

Kai and I have been reading Harry Potter at night for over two years.  It is my Kai time.  He is the middle child, and because of his super responsible personality, sometimes I feel like he gets less of my attention.  Reading to him at night has been my attempt to keep close and make sure his needs are being met.  Plus, I just really enjoy it.

Because we finished all the books, I gave him a trip to California for Christmas!  We invited Sadie along for the ride since she is a huge Harry Potter fan, and I felt more comfortable and another adult:)

We  LOVED Harry Potter Land!

Butterbeer was everything we had ever imagined!

 The wand sorting presentation was magical.  They pick one kid from the audience to be chosen for a wand and Kai wanted to be chosen so badly.  I even said a prayer he would be chosen and ran and bought him a shirt because he said he probably would have a better chance if he was wearing the slytherin shirt we saw....and he was chosen!  

Highlight of the whole trip.

We spent two days at universal studios, Harry Potter Land was definitely the best part. We also spent one day visiting The Getty, which is an amazing art museum, and we went to Griffith Park and Observatory.

 (rolling down the hill in the amazing gardens)

 (lots of famous artwork-amazing!)

Griffith Observatory was another highlight.  

It sits on top of the mountain and you can look out over LA.  Quite the view!! 

If you look off to one side you can see the HOLLYWOOD sign.  Sadie and Kai thought that was fun to see, but the observatory was beautiful!

I watched a movie called LA LA LAND just before we came.  The observatory and the park are in the movie, so it made it so much more fun to see.

We had a great time!  I had to navigate a lot of new places and it was really good for me.  We stayed in Dave's sisters' apartment while they were in Utah.  So nice of them to let us use their house.  It was a perfect location.  Loved spending time with these two.  Grateful for Dave, my mom and Dave's mom, who stayed with the other kids so we could come.    Lots of effort went into making this trip happen for me.  It was a great way to celebrate all our reading!!!

Now we need a new book!