An Isabel Summer Beginning

They were planning it for the entire last month of school.  It was going to be the best after school party ever! Isabel found a fun group of friends in her second grade class and they were determined to start the summer of right.  

Isabel B. was bringing the treats.

Brooke was bringing the movie.

Bella was bringing the games.

My Isabel was providing the venue.

It was one exciting party! These eight year old girls know how to have fun.

The next day it was Isabel's turn for a new smile. I think she looks adorable but she's so pretty she would look good with purple dots all over her face. These pictures were taken just a few hours apart.  Is it just me or had her teeth already come together? Keep that up Isabel and maybe you'll be able to get those silver jewels off your teeth faster than planned. 

Smartie

Some people work really hard to be smart.  Some people are just born smart.  Alexandria is a natural. She was just inducted into the Poston chapter of the National Junior Honors Society.  Not only is she book smart but she's got smarts at home too.  See how she put the goggles on while cooking onions so her eyes won't water? LOL! I love this girl!

A Long Season and a Win

I love watching my boys play sports. I really think every mom should have twin boys.  Even though we don't have enough room in our house, I would totally do another set of boy twins.  They are that much fun! There is nothing like watching two of your boys be the best on the team.  These boys are natural athletes. I absolutely love watching their games, until this season. There was a major coaching issue, a coach who had no idea how to coach. And so it made it for a long losing season. Fortunately, another coach, Coach Tree, stepped in for the tournament this weekend and helped out the Cardinals.

 

Before the game I told the boys in the car, "I don't care if  you win or lose.  Just please make some great plays so I can get it on camera." Coach Tree made them all say how many touchdowns and interceptions they wanted.  DJ set a goal to get 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  High hopes for a team that probably didn't make more than 4 touchdowns a game the whole season.  But Coach Tree was inspiring and DJ went for it.

 

 

 

 

 One interception! One touchdown!

 Two interceptions! Two touchdowns!

Three touchdowns!!  Their team was finally winning a game and it was because of DJ's 3 touchdowns and two interceptions. Amazing what he can do when he decides he's going to do it.  Such a great quality that he shares with Papi.
AJ is a force on defense. No one gets by him.  The other team figured that out and threw the other way, making them ahead by 4 points.

 DJ was having a great game.  He had met his goals. With two minutes left in the game AJ was starting to get nervous that they were going to lose.  I reminded AJ they were only down by four points. "Just one good play, that's all it takes," I told him.

 

 

 Did you see that?  Look again! That's AJ catching a Hail Mary in the end zone!! He did it! He scored the winning touchdown!

 The last 30 seconds zoomed by and the Cardinals could finally know what it feels like to win a game!

 

 It was a pretty sweet feeling!

Look at those smiles!!  Am I the only one that feels my heart melt when they smile like that? I was so happy for them! Plus I was happy that they listened to their mom and made some awesome plays so I could get it on camera.  I may have to start taking my camera to all their games.  :)

Schools Out!

I can't lie.  I love summers just because we get to sleep in.

But I loved our theme for this year.

"I'll do my best so I can say no matter what I'll have a great day!"

Each one of my children repeated it to me before they left for school every morning.

And you know what?

Most of their days this year were great!

Attitude is everything!

Alexandria successfully made it through her first year of Junior High with lots of new friends and great memories.

AJ was blessed to have the best teacher on the face of the planet and doesn't want school to be over.

DJ became the heart breaker in his class.  He is a super cutie!

Separating the boys this year was a hard decision but they pulled through and developed their own talents.  Next year they are going back in the same class though. I think they miss each other.

Isabel made new friends and is having an end of the year late night party at our house tomorrow.

Stella will miss walking the kids to the bus stop every day and saying bye to her brothers and sisters.

Me? I'm already planning all the fun summer activities and nap times. ;)

Blessed

This month has been absolutely beautiful! The weather has been perfect and we've kept mostly busy with end of the school year activities.  But on those rare nights when we don't have a concert, recital, practice or game it's been wonderful to sit under the citrus and appreciate the blessings that we have.

Dance and a Testimony

Can you believe she's mine?

Neither can I.

How did I get such a gorgeous girl?

She had dance pictures today, then didn't have dance pictures.

Are all dance studios this unorganized?

And can I just freeze her at this age?

 

A few weeks ago while working on her Faith in God, a program for the children in church to help them set spiritual goals, she had to write her testimony.  She worked on it for a while then brought it in for me to read.  It was beautiful! A perfect child's testimony.  After telling her how proud I was of her she answered me, "Ya, you don't know how much you know until you write it down." So true Isabel! That is one reason why I love to journal and blog.  You are one sweet, smart girl and I hope you will always know that.  If not then write it down!

Memory Monday

I just found this in my list of "drafts" in blogger and thought, why not post it this Monday. So here you go.  Flashback to 2006 in Monterrey, Mexico when we adopted our first baby chick.  Alexandria named him David Peppers. Who knew he would start such a long line of poultry pets in our family?

A Stella Post

She's at that age where she does so many cute and silly things that you just want to document every moment of her life.  

Like when she keeps getting her sister's pointe shoes out and wearing them around the house because her big sister is teaching her to dance and she really wants to be like her big sis.

 Or how every single time we go to the gym she makes me take a picture of her on the bike rack.  I have a ton of these pictures.  I may end up having to make her a bike rack picture book.

 And the times when she falls asleep in my arms reading Bible stories before her naps.

 She's figured out how to move the stools so now she loves to "help mommy" by eating the fruit I'm chopping up, trying to wash dishes or buttering her own toast. Yes, that 1/2 inch layer on that piece of bread is butter.

 If she can't wear the pointe shoes she goes for her brother's football cleats.  She may have a small shoe obsession.

 DJ's going to hate me for adding this picture but she has the best time playing animals with him in the bathtub, all DJ's idea.

 Since all of the kids are at school during the day, Stella is figuring out how to read books on her own.

 Then yesterday it rained.  She got her own umbrella and had a blast in the water.

It truly is magical age for her.  I feel like they grow up a ton between 2 and 2 1/2. She's becoming a lot more independent even picking out her own clothes, diapers and trying to use the potty. If she's hungry she opens the fruit drawer and chows on an apple then puts it back half eaten.  That drives AJ crazy. I just use the half eaten apples in juice and smile thankful for the two year old and the ten year old that both appreciate apples.

A Resemblance

Sometimes AJ can be the sweet big brother and read to his little sister.  Stella loves being read to and will ask everyone in the family to read to her until someone finally does. I love mornings when we have enough time to enjoy the sweet moments like this.

But it must be the end of the school year because we are staying up later and sleeping in longer, leaving little time to enjoy anything at all.  We may have slept in a little too long this morning because we didn't even have time to do lunches before school.  Lucky for my kids I was planning on going to the school to pick up the Art Masterpiece prints anyway so Stella and I hand delivered their lunches to them.

It was pretty adorable when Stella saw AJ coming in his line with his class and ran to him carrying his lunchbox. Even more adorable was the hug that AJ gave her after she passed him his box full of food.  AJ came home from school telling me all about how everyone in his class kept saying how cute Stella was.  One boy even said he wanted to come play at AJ's just so he could see his baby sister again.  AJ had me laughing when he told me what he said back to the "your sister is so cute" comment.  His reply, "Ya, don't you see the resemblance?"

One Smart Girl

Around lunch time I got a text from Alexandria.

"Guess what! I just got accepted to the National Junior Honors Society."

I replied with lot of congratulations, how proud I was of her, good jobs, and awesome.

Her response?

"I don't even know what it is." Ha! I love this super smart, not street smart, just like her mother girl!

Way to go Alexandria! Even if you don't know it you are one smart chica! 

A Valentine Tradition

Here we are half way through May and I still have these Valentine's hanging on the doors of my children's bedrooms.  Everyone had their own color. Each heart had a quality that I loved about that child. I figured it's been three months we can take them down.  So while I was cleaning and the kids were at school I took the hearts down.  My kids don't notice much so I was pretty sure they wouldn't even notice.  Oops! I was wrong.  Isabel noticed as soon as she walked in her room because she said she would read them when she had a bad day and she would feel better. Looks like we have a new Valentine's tradition that I am going to love doing every year.

My Mother's Day Date

Sometimes your kids do something so sweet and thoughtful it makes you cry.  

AJ came up with this idea all on his own.

He wanted to take his mom on a date.

So he planned it all out and picked me up at 4:30 on Saturday afternoon.

We rode our bikes together to Subway.

 Where AJ treated me to a delicious, healthy chicken sandwich with his own money that he is earning from his garbage can business.

 We decided to sit outside because it was a beautiful Spring day.  AJ was a adorable with his proud smile at coming up with such a brilliant Mother's Day idea. I probably was not so adorable with my proud smile but trying to keep the happy tears from streaming down my face thinking about how sweet, thoughtful and generous my 10 year old son is.

I love you AJ!!  Thank you so much for the fun Mother's Day memories.

I hope it becomes a tradition that we can do every year.

Band Performance

I love how Alexandria loves her baby sister and lets her go with her wherever she goes, even during band concert practices. 

It's May 4th

May the forth be with you!! These guys just keep getting better and better.