A Year and 2 Months Later.....

I keep thinking to myself "I need to get those 5,000 pics off my phone onto my computer" "I need to get back to my blog" and "I need to get my SLR camera out"...and bam...almost a whole school year has passed.   I have posted on instagram but that's about it.  I wanted to return to blogging because I love looking back at the blog and reading what the kids said in a certain moment or to see how much they change and to remember what we did on a day-to-day basis.

Like when I went downstairs the other night to check on the kids and shut their lights out before I went to bed.  When I opened the door from the boys' room to the bathroom, the door squeaked, and Avery sat up in bed, pointed at me and shouted "who is it?!!!" Then she saw me and said "ahh you scared me to death."

Or Geoff took all three kids and their friend Owen to run errands.  One stop was Albertson's to pick up ingredients I needed for a recipe.  He gave them each a couple of items to find in the store as quick as they could.  Jack was looking for hoisin sauce.  He ran right to a store clerk and said "where is the poison sauce??!!"  The clerk just looked at him and said "I think you will need to go to another store for that."

The boys are quickly approaching their 10th birthday.  TEN!!  They are doing great at school and just finished a 6-week soccer season.  They are really improving and most of the season they played the whole game (on a big field) because they didn't have enough players for subs on their team.

Avery has a few weeks left of her first year of preschool.  She goes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and isn't really fond of writing quite yet (just like her big brothers).  She likes to take her time to eat her lunch and is always the last one eating at the table with the teachers.  Her legs have stretched out recently - and her hair grows like a weed.  It is almost to her waist right now.  She played soccer too.  This was her second season but the first time she really wanted to play during the games.

Some of Jack and Wyatt's favorites now are Star Wars Clone Wars (or anything Star Wars), Star Wars Rebels and Minecraft.   They are really into chapter books and nerf guns.   They like to play "tackle tag" and tag in general.  Avery still likes Paw Patrol and she just discovered a show on Netflix called "Masha and the Bear" that makes her laugh out loud.  She wants to play with her big brothers and is so excited if they include her.  Just this morning, they were all running on the deck in their pajamas playing Star Wars with nerf guns.  Wyatt had his clone trooper mask on from Halloween.

We have hit the jackpot recently in regards to books.  I recently read "The Indian in the Cupboard" by Lynne Reid Banks and all three kids listened and loved it.  It was fun to read out loud to them because of how all the characters spoke.

There are three books in the series and we really liked them all.

We are now reading "Little Britches:  Father and I Were Ranchers" and I love how it teaches good lessons.  The boys have been asking questions throughout.  GREAT book so far.

I was surprised at how clever this book is:  

And this one has amazing photography and teaches about luminescence.  

And a fun short read I checked out for Avery and it made all of us laugh.

One of my favorites books this past year.  No question.

Speaking of books, the boys made me bookmarks for Mother's Day and I LOVE them.  I also love the cards they made and how Jack always requests something from me on my cards.

Jack's bookmark is the top one.  It is a rainbow but the teacher accidentally put the ribbon on the wrong side but I like it even upside down.  And Wyatt's says "I love you" the "you" is above the "love".
Avery made this necklace in preschool.  It is beautiful and I love how it matches the ones the boys made for me a few years ago.

I love these guys.  I took this on Mother's Day on our way to a Mother's Day picnic at the park.  Geoff was in Finland.

Katy and Bear turned 12 in January and have changed a lot.  We especially notice it when they move from laying down to standing up.  They are pretty slow and stiff.  But that didn't stop Katy from chasing after a ground squirrel the other day on a hike (she paid for that the next day)!  The kids' favorite thing to do is run around the house holding a piece of a roll while Bear runs after them wagging her tail and smiling.  They know it gets her to "chase" them and they can't stop laughing while they are doing it.  They are awesome with the kids and have such sweet personalities.

This pic?  3 of Avery's favorite things in one photo.  Bear, Burger King, and her blanket.