Spring Break Day 3

Day 3 started out with a trip back to the park and a stroll around the little pond. Chloe of course had to climb the tower again, and we took a moment to take some pictures by the Cubs training facility.

After that it was time to do a little shopping. I needed to pick up a few things for the upcoming baseball/softball season and Chloe was badly needing some clothes since she seems to have grown at least 6 inches in the past few months. Bryce had to ride this carousel that we found at one of the malls, Chloe obliged and went along with him.

 After shopping we headed to Jeff's sisters house for a little swimming. I thought the water was still a little cold, so I opted to read instead. Bryce lasted for awhile, but then he mostly just waded cause he started shivering and turning purple. Chloe would have stayed all night but we finally dragged her out after about an hour and a half.

After swimming we headed back to Grandma's house, making a little stop on the way for some yummy snow cones.

Spring Break Day 2

Today was Sunday, so we started out the day with church bright and early at 8:30.

After church we went to River View Park. They have some really cool climbing structures-including a giant caterpillar and a 50 foot high tower. They also have a splash pad. The kids had lots of fun and got some energy out-it was much needed after the 7 hour drive the day before.

 After going to the park we went on a little ride to a farm to see some animals including Watusi, which are cows with giant horns.

That night the kids had fun playing with Chief and Turbo (Grandma and Grandpa's dogs).

Spring Break in Arizona Day 1

It has been awhile since, maybe 2 years, since we have been down to Arizona to see my Mom. A couple of weeks ago I started thinking about it and decided Spring Break would be the perfect opportunity for the kids and I to go and visit. Landon and Tanner both had to work, so it would be just Chloe, Bryce and I. I was a little bit worried about the 7 hour drive and also the big city traffic, but I decided to give it a whirl and go for it. The kids were both so excited to go, in fact they got up early Saturday morning and kept hurrying me up to get out the door and on the road-which is probably why I forgot a few of my necessities-LOL.

We decided to take a little break about halfway there for some lunch and a little sight seeing along the old Route 66. We found a really fun old Café-Mr. Deez and also a cool train to explore. The kids had lots of fun and the food was good. Bryce even ate all of his-since he ordered pancakes and that is one of the top things on the list of foods he will actually eat. I actually got kind of sick just after getting back on the road-dang IBS-I have to be super careful when eating out cause I never know what might affect me. Luckily though I was able to control it without to much problem and only a couple of extra stops.

4 hours later we finally made it to Arizona and Grandma's house. We went and grabbed some food and had a nice picnic in the park just across the street from her house, and then it was time for bed-we were all pretty tired from our adventures thus far.

Maybe He's Part Bear

Seriously though...I buy blackberries whenever they are on sale, but they never last for long. Usually I buy them as a treat for Bryce and I usually buy one package just for him and one for everyone else-here's why...

I gave him this carton of blackberries to snack on while coming home from the grocery store. Imagine my surprise when I got him out of the car and the entire package was already gone. Now he usually goes through them pretty fast, but not quite that fast. The way he loves berries (blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries) you would think he was part bear. It's a miracle he didn't have a stomachache that night. #BryceEE

Gymnastics Review

Last week at preschool Bryce had a gymnastics review. I wasn't able to get off to go to it, because it was at a time during the day that is hard for me to get away from work. I was kind of sad to have to miss it, but I was glad Landon was able to work it out to be there. Bryce was so excited that Dad came. He did a good job with his handstands, forward roll, balance beam and bar. Plus Landon said he listened to his teachers really well and followed directions. 

When I got home from work he was so excited to show me the videos Landon had taken and also show me the medal he had received. We are so happy with the confidence and skills Barefoot Montessori has brought to Bryce in many many aspects of his life. #BryceEE

Tryouts and New Team

Last week I saw this flyer at work and took it home. We had one day to decide, tryouts were the next day, if Chloe was going to tryout or not or keep playing with snow canyon. Ultimately we decided that she would try out and we would kind of take it day by day on deciding if it was time to make the switch. For those of you who don't know for the past year Chloe has been playing on the Snow Canyon middle school team, because Dixie didn't really have a good program. It has been great for her. She has learned so many skills and gotten lots of great experience. However, the drive over to that side of town several times a week or more can be taxing on everyone. Back to the tryouts-she showed up, along with about 40 other girls and tried out. They ended up doing a second tryout broke down into smaller groups. They ended up making a 6/7th grade team, and an 8th grade team of about 10 players each and putting the rest of the girls on like a developmental team.

Chloe made the 7th grade team. The decision was hard, but we decided to make the switch and jump over to Dixie and say goodbye to Snow Canyon. This will definitely be a growing year for Dixie as the program develops and a lot of the girls learn the skills Chloe has already learned and developed the past year, but I hope in the end it will work out. A few of her good friends are also on the new team, so I think that will be a good thing.

They played their first game last week and I was actually surprised that they only lost by one point. Chloe made 3/4 of her foul shots and a couple other shots from the floor. She did pretty well on everything besides her passes in which she was having a hard time getting in bounds with the press the other team was putting on, but overall she had a great game. I think she played the whole game except for 54 seconds, and she was pretty tired afterwards-that is a lot of running. Here's hoping this change will bring good things if not right now hopefully in the future.
GO DIXIE!!!

Tailbone Trouble

Chloe has been having lots of problems with her tailbone. We aren't really sure what happened. She did have a bad fall on the ice a few months ago, but it didn't seem to hurt her to bad right then. However the last month she has pretty much been in constant pain. We have tried everything heat, ice, a couple trips to the hyperbaric chambers, x-rays, a donut seat-you know the ones you use after having a baby LOL (which she was even taking to her classes at school), and lots and lots of ibuprofen, but nothing seemed to be really helping. Finally, I decided to take her to the chiropractor. The Chiropractor said it was way compressed in the tailbone area and he had a hard time working it out, also one of her legs was actually shorter than the other because her hips were out. She felt pretty sore after the visit, but within a few days she said she was actually feeling better. She will have a couple of follow up appointments, but hopefully this will fix her up and she can be back to normal.

Breakfast at The Crepery

Last Friday Chloe had a sleepover with some friends. The next morning she wanted me to take them for breakfast. Only problem-I didn't have enough seats in my car-haha. One of the girls Mom's came to and drove as well so they could go. Of course Bryce didn't want to be left out and joined us. We went to The Crepery and it was delicious! The girls had fun taking pictures of all the fun and unique décor and hanging out in the swing chairs and other fun seats.

I told Bryce I didn't think he could eat a whole crepe cause they are huge, but he surprised us all and wolfed one down. Crepes are one of his very favorite foods. We will definitely be going back.

Big Brother is a Good Babysitter

Big Brother is a Good Babysitter...he even makes sure Bryce goes down for a nap.

It's kind of sad cause I don't really get to use him to tend to much anymore, cause he is always busy working, but Bryce and I are both happy when he is available.

Smashed Finger

The other morning we were rushing to get out the door and get everyone to school and work on time. Bryce is at an independent stage so he really likes to do things on his own, which includes opening and shutting his own car door. Well he was getting in and I heard the door shut and then heard him screaming I jumped out and he was standing there with his finger shut in his door, he hadn't been able to pull it all the way open and it had shut on his middle finger. I quickly opened the door and looked at his finger. Honestly, I didn't know if I should take him to the ER, or maybe wait a bit until the Insta-Care opened and take him there. I eventually ended up deciding to give him some ibuprofen and put a band-aid on it and hope for the best. I told his teacher and babysitter so if it continued to hurt him they could call me. By that evening he seemed to be doing much better, and was happy to show it off (ignore the obscene gesture-lol-he doesn't know any better, but brother and sister sure thought it was funny). It seems to have healed up without any problems although he still insists on wearing a band-aid on it everyday.

This made me recall this sort of thing happening to Tanner at this age only that time his finger was actually cut off and a trip in the ambulance occurred. I am so glad that wasn't the case with Bryce. #BryceEE #countyourblessings

Truck Problems and Repairs

Over the past few weeks there has been some major fixing upping going on with Landon's truck. Most of it out of necessity and some of it stuff that has been needing to be done for a long time now.

It started out with the A/C system which pretty much had to completely be replaced (condenser, compressor, dryer, expansion) along with the replacement of the a/c we found that the radiator was also going to have to be replace so $2000 and several days later that was taken care of.

Next up was the upper and lower ball joints, inner and outer tie rods, coil springs and struts. Most of this at least Landon was able to do on his own, but it was very time intensive and he actually ended up taking a day off work to finish it.

We finally thought we had it all taken care of and in tip top shape and then his truck started dying. UGH!!! He took the battery in to be tested at Auto Zone and they told him it was fine, but they thought it was the starter so he replace that. Then the next day it started not starting again. This time he took it to a different auto parts store and they tested the battery and sure enough that's what it was, so he bought and installed a new battery.

It has taken a lot of time and a lot of money, but we think it should finally be running in tip top shape and hopefully not have to have anything more than an oil change done to it for at least a few years. #fingerscrossed

The Baseball Decision

I have been trying to write this post for a few months now, but just couldn't seem to put into words what I wanted to express. I guess knowing that baseball tryouts happened this week helped me to bite the bullet and write it. Here is goes-

TANNER IS NOT PLAYING BASEBALL THIS YEAR.

It is hard for people to comprehend. They ask if he's playing just expecting the automatic yes, and when I tell them he decided no to they don't know what to say. Here's the thing Landon and I have always have had the theory that if ever our kids decide they don't want to do something anymore (like baseball, swim team, gym, karate) even if they are good at it we are not going to force them. We are going to let it ultimately be their decision. Tanner told us a few months ago he wasn't going to play baseball this year. I can't say either of us was super shocked we knew he had been debating it for awhile. We asked if he was sure that's what he really wanted and then got behind him in the decision. The thing is I just don't think his heart was in it anymore. He has been playing since he was 7 years old and I think maybe he was just ready to move on and focus on other things. I would be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss it at all-I think maybe just a little bit, but it isn't like some of the other decisions my kids have made that have made me shed a few tears. Honestly it's almost a little bit of a relief I can't explain it, it just is.

Here is a look back on this journey...

2007-little league-the beginning 

2008-little league-another year

2009-little league

2010-little league

2011-little league and the beginning of comp ball (Rebels and then later Gators)

2012-little league year one with the Mariners

2013-little league another year with the Mariners and a championship win for the Gators

2014-little league and all stars also started playing with Dixie

2015-freshmen year (sophomore team)

2016-sophomore year (sophomore team)

It has been fun and we will always remember the memories that were made. Love you Buddy