Cheersport

Cheersport was Haylee's last cheer competition of the season.  It was at the University of Phoenix Stadium and it was so fun!

 Of course a post isn't complete without a few cute photos of our sweet baby boy.  He is days shy of 4 months old here.

 And they rock!!!

Cheerleading has been such a fun new experience for Haylee.  She chose not to do another season which brought a little bittersweet emotions for both of us, but it was a fun opportunity and exposure for her.  She has since chosen to follow her musical interest and we will see where that takes us.  But I was thankful for this one last "big event" for the end of her season.  I loved watching her and the team grow over the 10 months.

Nursery/ FHE/ Award Ceremony

 I was just sitting here thinking how Blogger has improved the user friendly nature of their posts and site all together.  I have been blogging since 2007 on here, so I have seen a lot of changes.  And just when I was thinking how much I love blogger, I couldn't get my words in the spot on the post that I wanted!  So... sorry for that.  Above is a picture of Trent (in the black jacket 3rd from the left) getting an award for Honor Roll.  This was for the 3rd semester of 3rd grade (yes way back in March).  I was so proud of him.  He has a lot of struggles in school and it took much work on his part of finally be able to earn honor roll.  He is such a trooper and has really stepped up to trying hard with the challenges he faces.  

Below are pictures of the finished nursery.  So we had a "computer nook" in the house that we converted to a "nursery".  It doesn't fit any more than his crib and changing table, but it is right outside of our room and I just love it!  I wasn't able to get everything finished before he was born, but I figure that 3 months late is better than not at all.

 Here is William all set for church at almost 3 months old.

 In other happenings in March, the children got the CTR book from church.  The purpose is to have a family home evening on Choosing the Right (CTR) and then practice what you learned.  My sister brought her children over and we took this fun CTR picture.  Don't you love the point of the "!" Ha Ha

 My nieces and nephews can't stand when they are near William but don't get to hold him.  So here is Bryce (8) and Brielle (5) holding William (3 months).

 And this is just a fun one.  I wore William in the Moby Wrap a lot while he was younger so this is one of my favorite and fondest points of view of my sweet baby.

In other happenings, it was recently brought to my attention that I need to do better at journal writing.  I was a bit discouraged by this council because even with Dave being home now, life has been crazy and the minutes to jot down thoughts are few.  However, I decided that I will attempt a better effort given that I am missing important documentation of these still crazy times in our lives  I hope that Blogger can continue to be a great way for my children to one day see how our lives have progressed.  On day, if i have extra money ever, I would love to put the blog into a book for their own keepsakes, but we shall see.  Off for now!

Laughs

When William was about 2.5 months, he started laughing.  I love it!

Home Improvement

 Alright, so after the baby was born, it was time to start in on a few new projects.  Above is my first attempt at dehydrating.  Dave found this dehydrator while he was home on leave and I was so excited to finally find some time to use it.  I have since been super blessed to get an upgraded version for our anniversary that has opened a whole new world of whole foods at home!

 The above pictures is the wall in our hall.  I liked it, but I saw something on pinterest that I wanted to try out instead.  Below I have an empty soap spot on the sink.  My sister in law was replacing her faucets and her new faucet set came with a soap dispenser... so I took hers and installed it into our sink!  I love it!!

 Below is my progression of the hallway wall.  Here is the frame I built myself.

 I traded out the photo frames.

 Painted the big frame.  Added some fabric I had just lying around and here is the finished project!

I am SO not a crafty person so I was super excited by the end result.  This isn't exactly how I pictured it in my head, but this turned out so beautiful and I love it!

2.5 Months

 Here is William at 2.5 Months.  He is so cute and fun!  He was smiling so much then!

Such a cute Haylee with William again.  I can't believe looking back on these pictures how much he has grown now!

Weather Changes

 March is just one of those months here in AZ.  March 14th, I took the kids swimming with cousins.  March 19th, I took the kids about 40 minutes up the road with a friend to play in the snow.  This was William's first time seeing snow and swimming!

 Can you believe how beautiful Haylee is growing up to be?

It was great fun to get out and enjoy some swimming and snow!

What Doesnt Kill ya Makes ya Stronger!

Yeah I know, lame, but Kelly Clarkson's song really gets to me these days.  Again, I am MONTHS behind on blogging and so much has changed over the last few months.  So I will give you a quick rundown and hope that I can eventually catch up on blogging... one day.  My computer crashed, making blogging very difficult.  

 

So here is the latest...Dave made it home!  We both got our NASM personal training license and we opened a personal training company.  In addition, we are going back to school... again.  On the plus side, I love school so this works for me!  William is keeping us busy.  7.5 months going on 18 months!  I swear this boy has hit every milestone MONTHS before our previous "fast" child.  He is still a horrible sleeper, so most days are spend exhausted, but he is the best baby ever.  Our other 4 children have all started school this year.  Haylee is starting orchestra and playing the cello.  She also started piano lessons.  Trent started sparring recently and is testing for his blue belt in karate in a few weeks.  Logan recently started flag football and just loves being a guys guy.  And Laycee is not participating in any activities right now but she LOVES to decorate our house with her never ending art creations.  So... thats the quick rundown, more details to come!

Rennaisance Festival

So in February, The Rennaisance Festival comes around.  Here are some of the highlights from that trip.  My mom rented these cute outfits for the girls.  My boys were so not wanting to join in on that great fun!  Just to say, I LOVE this cute little hat on baby William.

Wicked

Several months ago, Wicked was in town and I really wanted to take the big kids to see it.  So, we dressed up and off we went.  It was such a neat show!  Haylee and Trent both stayed engaged in it the whole time.  Trent loves theater, but usually the 730 curtain call makes the show run too late and he falls asleep.  But this time, he was a champion and he stayed awake the whole time!  They loved it.  It was also fun to get out with just the two of them because they were in some serious need of some mom time since the baby has come.  It was a great night out and I cannot wait for it to come to town again!

2 Months

Ok so here are just some random pictures of William at 2 months. 

 Ready for church!

 Smiles for my mom

 Trying out sitting... not really working so well

 Chillin' with the sister and brother

He's so cute.  I know I say that every time but that's because he is!  More pictures to come since now he is almost 5 months.

Produce

As you can imagine by our previous post about the smoothies, we go through a lot of produce.  So, we decided to try our hand at gardening.  I only wanted a 2x2 sq ft garden this year because I really don't have the time to care for it.  Thankfully, Trent has taken on the garden as a project for scouts.  Also, I have always dreamed of having a citrus tree, so a few months ago we planted an orange tree.  Dave had dug a hole while he was on leave, but when he went to buy the tree, the nursery said it was too early because of the frost unless I would dilligently cover it.  Knowing me well, he decided that would be an added responsibility so he left a huge hole there for me to add the tree when the danger of frost had passed.  I am so excited!  I can't wait to see how this growing stuff goes!!

Seussical The Musical

A few months ago, the 3rd grade put in Seussical the Musical.  Trent was so excited because he got a speaking part.  Trent has had some troubles in school this year.  He was diagnosed with Dyslexia and Dysgraphia however, at this point he is "excelling" enough to be passing at school so the school didn't want to help.  When I met with them though, I explained that he needs to be able to feel successful but bringing home failing grades on spelling and composition everyday is not success.  So his teacher felt like this would be a good opportunity to help Trent feel successful and he LOVED it.  He really enjoyed learning the lines and practicing them.  It was only 3 lines but it was still good for him to get up there and be the spotlight.  I was thankful that his teacher was so sensitive to him and offered him this opportunity.