As "just" a mom, I have a front row seat to my children's growth and learning, daily little miracles, and the funny things that happen in a marriage. I feel so very blessed to be "just" a mom.
Parker is 10! This is a birthday Parker has been anxiously waiting for since Ashtyn turned this age because 10 is the age they get to do "special movie night" with Mom and Dad while their sibligns are in bed. Parker is so excited to join, we're watching Leverage with her and Ashtyn and they are loving it. Parker is such a fun part of our family, she loves to laugh and be silly. She always wants her "beauty sleep" in the morning (that's what she calls it) and is always up to face paint anyone. She loves art of all kinds. She is always drawing and making graphic novels and chooses painting for her no screens activity with Mom and Dad every time. She is very into video games, Pokemon, and reading. She also loves to swim with goggles on, catch snakes, and play with her two best friends. We love having Parker in our family!
What is your favorite thing to do?
Art, all kinds of art
What are you best at?
Art, especially pencil drawing
What is your favorite color?
Cyan, black, dark red, and dark blue
What do you love to eat?
Beans and rice, ice cream, pizza, and watermelon
Who is your best friend?
Paisley, Heather, Thomas, Declan, Caleb, Levi
What do you love to learn about?
Most everything, except for math
What is your favorite book?
The Ascendance Trilogy (it used to be the MAAA series, but not anymore) and Wings of Fire
What is the best movie or show to watch?
Leverage, definitely
What is your favorite animal?
Snakes, foxes, dolphins, and a lizard
What do you love to play with?
My friends
If you found a genie, what would you wish for?
I would wish for Grandma Leah and Grandpa Gary to come back
What do you want to be when you grow up?
A rich person
What was your favorite thing that you did while you were nine?
I am very late writing about our month of April and looking back at Leah, it seems crazy it was just a month or so ago. We loved April, from the snowy weather to the warm weather, and all the time we got to see family and friends. Not pictured, we also had a visit from Grandma Dee near Easter and the kids loved seeing her and doing fun activities with her every day, we love when she visits!
Park Day! One thing we did in April was do a field trip on Friday morning with their cousins for homeschool. One of the days, we went to the park and the kids caught four water snakes. They were so excited!
This is them telling about the snakes.
Cuties!
Oliver has really wanted to go to the park because he wanted Leah to try the swings.
Oliver was face painted as a leopard, by the way.
Leah loved swinging!
Cousins moved into their house and got a trampoline for the front yard. My kids have spent many hours on that trampoline now!
When you have older siblings and they dress you up as the cutest little witch.
Meeting the newest cousin, Baby Neal!
For our 13th anniversary, Ben and I did a day date together and Melissa watched our kids for us. I'm so grateful for all she does for me and how much Leah loves her.
We started off the day date with pickleball and then went home for treats and watching a show. We went to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Vernal and had homemade apple pie after the kids were home and in bed.
Rylee's April Fool's Joke was to put 6-7 in random places all over the house 😂
Some papers I found cleaning out the pantry.
Ben finished Parker's painting in April (he is doing one for each child, so now he is moving on to Rylee, who wants him to paint her a whale, I think).
The kids love madlibs and have been making up their own lately.
The kids love letting Leah draw on this white board 😂
For Haiku Poetry Day, the kids wrote their own Haikus. This was Rylee's:
I'm in a big trap
It is the very-est hard
of them all, at all.
Ashtyn's was based off a fantasy book she was in the middle of: Red as royal blood,
I do really like this book.
It's a mystery.
And Parker's was a witch's potion/spell:
Purple Zarver dust,
Vyz is the blackest dragon blood,
Pure evil, darkness.
Ashtyn bought some alcohol markers and was having fun with them (photo cred: Ashtyn)
Earth Day!
My kids love "dirt and mud and worms" as a treat every year.
Another fun activity we did, since we're learning about space for science right now, was to show the phases of the moon with Oreos. The kids said it was the best science day ever 😂
We also had a snow day! Instead of snow for Christmas, we got it for Easter.
The kids loved it and spent hours making these snowmen.
Most of the pictures are them taking pictures themselves.
Oliver counts down to Saturday each week because Ben doesn't work, so he can play video games with Oliver during screen time. Oliver loves it.
One morning, the kids spent all morning putting this play together haha
Rylee decided to buy a pickleball paddle that Ben had gotten on a deal (he paid $60 for it and she ended up paying him $40, I think). She loves her paddle, knows all about the company that made it, and asks Ben all the time to go in the basement to play with her now.
Parker had Leah in a laundry basket and it tipped over. Her teeth got her lip and gave her a fat lip 😔
Leah's favorite way to snuggle right now.
Leah loves water. She calls it "wa-wa" and signs it and asks for it all the time.
I had given Leah and Oliver a bath together. I got out Leah first and then was getting Oliver out and Leah crawled back in draped in her towel. It was too cute.
Leah also loves to brush her teeth.
It's almost always a tragedy when we put it away to go to bed.
She liked about 2 bites of this donut (at piano theory). I don't blame her for not finishing it 😅
The girls also had their piano concert in April.
They did such a great job. I'm proud of how hard they worked this year and it was really fun to see how much Rylee enjoyed her first year.
April was a wonderful month and we loved all the memories we got to make together.
