update-kai

kai seems to be so grown up and big lately. he lost a lot of teeth and decided to get his long hair cut really short. it looks a lot different, older, and really good.

he has had a great year at school. at the beginning of the year he was very nervous about messing up or doing something wrong, he was very timid and got nervous to talk to his teacher. i am proud to say that at his parent teacher conference last week, his teacher said he has made leaps and bounds! she said he now adds to class discussions and has a lot to say. his teacher has been so positive and helpful. at the beginning of the year we set goals with kai and i would give him brave assignments. things like saying thank you to his teacher after school or saying hi to the lunch lady everyday. these were very scary to him and now they are just a normal, easy part of his day. i knew we had made major progress the other day when he was late to school and he said he didn't need me to walk him in he could go to the office and check himself in. his confidence has grown and i hope he realizes it is ok to make mistakes and be brave and say what you want and that he can ask questions and he has good things to say.

he has had a lot of positive recognition lately. the office called me yesterday to say that he was selected to be part of the principal's 200 club, which they told me they only give to the "best and brightest."

he also read the most minutes in his class so he got to make the principal into a snowman during an assembly.

his favorite accomplishment probably is marble math. his class is working on addition and subtraction facts and if they get so many in a minute, then they pass off a level. when they pass of all their levels they earn a marble bag and they get to play a tournament against the principal. kai passed off all his levels in about two weeks. his teacher moved him up to multiplication and division and he quickly passed off all the levels and is now working on passing them off again, only he has to get more in one minute to pass off a level. he loves it! he has an amazing math brain and he is so competitive, he loves racing the clock and beating it. i love watching how he thinks about math concepts. it is pretty impressive. he has waited along time for enough kids to earn their marbles so the tournament can start. it is scheduled to happen soon and he is excited to show his principle how marbles should be played:)

other kai updates: he enjoyed tennis lessons this year and now goes to soccer practice with abe. he likes to show the bigger kids that he can totally keep up and dave says he does.

everywhere we go, girls say hi to kai. he never looks at them or responds. we tease him about it because it happens ALL the time and he hates it!

kai is excited to have a baby at our house and he is the one that will randomly hug me or rub my stomach. it is really tender and i know he really cares about me and will offer to do things so i don't have to. i really love my kai!

kai- taking stats at abe's game. he loves taking stats, filling out brackets, or counting as high as he can just for fun.

update-abe

abe's birthday celebration:

abe's birthday was great. he had the traditional birthday table and then off to school. dave went early to decorate his locker and one of abe's friends had already done it. so dave made it more decorated. (i love max making an 11 with his hand in this pic)

we took donuts to his class at noon and then checked him out for the day. in fact, i checked out sadie and kai so we could spend the day together.

we played laser tag and mini bowling

then we headed to thanksgiving point to the imax theater.

abe didn't want a friend party, but kept asking if we could have a cousin party. i pretty much ignored his request and on his birthday he even asked again if maybe we could get together with family. little did he know a surprise cousin party/sleepover was waiting for him at my parent's house. i told him we had to go there to drop off some laundry but instead an "upside down" party was next on the list of celebrations. my mom had an upside down dinner where the food was upside down and they ate under the table. they played a few games and opened presents. he loved it and was totally surprised!

since all he wanted was to get together with cousins, we had a second cousin party the next day.

we played games and ate cake.

in this picture, abe is holding up two fingers to make an 11, but also because when he turned two, we have a picture of him doing the same thing.

basketball:

basketball has been keeping abe active lately. his team has improved a lot! the highlight of the season--definitely the two buzzer beater games we won. one was in double overtime and so the ref called sudden death. the next two points won the game. abe made a left handed lay-up for the win. the other was abe at the line for foul shots with 6 seconds left and we were down by one. he hit both shots and sealed the deal. he wrote a paper about buzzer beaters and how they are one of the top joys in life, along with beef jerky and a clean house:) he has one tournament game left, just in time to start soccer.

school:

abe's class does a lot of projects. here is the one we worked on when i was so sick.

he is a good student and got all A's on his report card. he is determined to get good grades in his class so he can stay in the GATE program for next year because the teacher next year doesn't believe in homework. i enjoy our drive home from school each day because i find out so much about his day. recently he has been telling me about recess basketball and how his team does each day. they seemed to always lose, but not by too much. i started asking questions and found out he was always on the team with kids that are not very sporty. i asked him how he always ended up on that team and found out he was the team captain everyday and he always picks the kids that never get picked. typical abe.

he finished up being class president and decided to run again and made vice president. he is now done with his term... happy and jobless.

science fair:

i was super not excited about science fair this year since we had so many other things going on. dave helped abe do an experiment with different hooks that hang in the wall to determine which ones hold the most weight and are the best price with the least amount of damage to the wall. after the experiment was done, i let him do the entire display, research, and everything. we didn't even go to the awards night because we had something else going on and i was just happy he finished and it was turned in and we were done. the next day when i picked him up he was carrying his project. i asked him how he did. he said ok, then he pulled out of his backpack a big trophy and said he got picked to go to BYU. he was excited to spend the day at byu and his cousin ended up being his judge...what are the chances?! honestly, i never even checked on-line to see if he won an award, he had such a great day riding the bus, at the science fair, and participating in all the activities. it was a great experience for him.

cello:

abe started playing the cello at school this year. he likes it and his teacher told me he needs to be a cellist.

update-Sadie

sadie is enjoying 8th grade. we signed her up for next year's classes and i can't believe she is going to be in high school. it was tough deciding what classes to take. we decided on debate, spanish, mostly honors core classes and dance. she really loved her tv/broadcasting class and her teacher is trying to pull some strings to get her in the program even though they never take freshman. we will see. her teacher also just won the districts "teacher of the year" and is supposed to have one student introduce her at the state level. she asked sadie. i thought that was a huge compliment. she just got her report card and has worked so hard to get a 4.0 each semester (she did an amazing job keeping up with school through all our transitions and not having internet/printers set up). she ran for student government freshman rep, but lost to her really good friend. it was disappointing, but she felt ok about it and i was very proud of her for being brave enough to put herself out there, especially because she has only been here for a year. she had to get a letter of recommendation and her history teacher wrote it for her. it was worth the whole campaign. it was the nicest, most complimentary letter anyone could ever imagine. she is a great girl.

these are pictures of her 'informance' during her dance class. it was beautifully done.

she plays the violin beautifully and has started working out with my brother and dad to see if she likes basketball.

she continues to be an awesome big sister. she did a preschool with her FACS class and she was so excited to have max come and hang out with her at school.

other than that, she loves hanging out with the great friends she has made here.

and an update on sadie....

would not be complete without adding some of the surprise self-photos i always find on my phone and computer:) love them!

star light star bright

kai's "starry night" was picked to be hung up by the office. he was pretty excited about it. notice the bird that showed up in his night sky. i find bird drawings everywhere these days. he loves to draw them.

the store

max went on a field trip to the grocery store. i was so happy that he wanted me to tag along. a little old man stopped me and asked if all of the kids in his preschool were mine. thank heavens no.....i told him just the boy in the red shirt was mine. he looked at max and said, "he is by far the cutest." he was a happy man... max got a free donut which made him a happy (little) man too.

time out

we have been so distracted with house stuff lately that max and i took a time out. we dropped everything and spent a relaxing day at the library. it was a needed time together. he has handled all these changes and transitions like a champ. he is such a great kid! he is my forever optimist. today on the way to school he told me how great it is that we have the hotel to live in and we don't have to live outside....in a tent...like that one guy (he was talking about lehi)

outlet

dave was excited to start church ball this year. i think he needed an outlet from house stress and work and it is the one night a week that he can get some sort of exercise. kai hopes and completely thinks he is capable of filling in if the team needs an extra player. in this picture he is walking off the court, disappointed they won't let him play. he is the best little stat keeper ever! i have a stat app on my phone and he sits for the whole game and takes stats. i'm sure dave is the only church ball player that gets a full report on how he did after the game.

before each game they have to stand in front of this picture of Christ and recited something about being good sports. it is pretty funny. dave had to ref and one guy was getting out of hand. we were laughing that he should make the guy stand in front of the sign until he was ready to rejoin the game....you have to love church ball.