Carter's 14th Birthday

Carter's friends were SO sweet to throw him a surprise birthday party. This kid has quite the social life!

 We also celebrated that day by going out to Benihana's for lunch as a family.

I turned 41 and Carter turned 14, so this was perfect!!

Leadership Academy

Our school district does a Leadership Academy for Junior High students. This was the first year I had ever heard of it! Fifty students from Carter's school were nominated, but only 8 from each Junior High in the district were selected to participate. It was 4 days long from 8am to 4pm, no cost, and they got to do a few field trips each day. Some of the field trips included touring the hospital, a courthouse, a dam, an administration building, a high school, a community college, and on the last day they got to play at a party venue with bowling, laser tag, and arcade games. There were some activities he enjoyed more than others, but overall it was a great experience for him!

Happy Birthday!

Carter turned 13 this year! He's excited to be old enough to watch PG-13 movies, though he had permission to see a few already. Carter is such a hard worker and very independent. School comes very easily for Carter, and he makes high As in all his classes. One of his spiritual gifts is connecting with younger children; he is very patient and willing to be part of their silly playing. For example, in January we went to The Downtown Aquarium for a preschool field trip on Martin Luther King day. A single mom from our church was there with her 5 children under the age of 9. Carter took one of the rambunctious 6-year-old twins and became his best friend for the day, doing whatever rides with the boy that he wanted. It was such a service to the mom and so unselfish on Carter's part to play "babysitter" when he didn't need to. Carter still enjoys playing baseball, but has found a new love in football which he tried for the first time last fall. He also tried out for the tennis team at the beginning of March and is playing line 2. Caleb and I have each given him some lessons, and he has picked up the sport very quickly! He struggles with consistency, which is expected, but he's improving at a rapid rate. Carter is in percussion, but he's not dedicated to it like he is to sports. Cooking is an interest that may play into future high school classes. His relationship with Bryson is a little less toxic now, but still not great. Carter can be the sweetest kid and initiates saying "I love you" before he leaves for school each day or before he hangs up the phone. We are very proud of the young man he is becoming!

He got a tennis racket, a nice pillow, a can of freeze-dried strawberries (that he finished off that day!), and a water bottle. Grandma and Grandpa got him those slides pictured above that are apparently all the rage right now.

 

Taquitos was his birthday dinner request and banana cream pie for dessert!

He celebrated his birthday with friends the next night with an informal party--movie night and sundaes, no presents.

For my 40th birthday Matt arranged dinner and gaming with some close friends. I told him I did NOT want a big party. Matt made his homemade lasagna and a knock-off Carabba's bread dip, which I love. We played Wingspan and chatted until late. I tried hard to stay in my 30s, but time keeps marching on!

Carter's 11th Birthday

This boy was super hard to shop for this year as the only present he asked for was fruit, specifically freeze-dried strawberries. We went out to lunch at Crust pizza for our birthday lunch and both ordered a margherita pizza and caesar salad.

 

He requested a fruit pizza instead of a cake.

Homeschooling this year has been good for our relationship. Carter and I have butted heads in the past, but this year we both made adjustments and learned to work together well. Carter is an amazing helper--he's not afraid of any of the "dirty" jobs. He still has a natural connection with little kids, and has many 2 and 3-year-old best friends who get excited when Carter is around. He has enjoyed learning the marimba this past year and continues to thrive as a baseball player. He has a special relationship with his dad and pretty much worships the ground he walks on. I love that he is very responsible and dependable. He also has a knack of remembering details from the scriptures. We are so grateful he is a part of our family!

Family Update

Austin
Follow-up on Austin's tooth accident: we heard back from the oral surgeon that he was willing to pull out both the baby tooth with the cracked root and the extra permanent tooth. That was good news! I scheduled a consultation with the oral surgeon. When he looked at a 2D x-ray that the nurse took, he noticed that the broken piece of the root was hardly visible. He also examined Austin's mouth and observed his baby tooth with the broken root was more stable. With this new data, the oral surgeon decided that he needed a {very expensive} 3D x-ray to get a better look at the placement of the teeth and the damage done from the accident to see if the oral surgery was absolutely necessary. He said the longer we could wait on the surgery the better in terms of the anesthesia and his very small mouth. As long as there was no infection and his tooth was stable, he would want to postpone surgery. After the 3D x-ray, Austin and I left not knowing the results because the doctor needed time to analyze.

I got a call Friday afternoon that the oral surgeon felt safe postponing the surgery. The cracked piece of the root was all but dissolved due to the permanent tooth above it pushing down. As long as an abscess doesn't form, the tooth doesn't become more tender or change colors more than it has, then he said we could hold off on the surgery. This is such great news! We will continue to hope and pray that things stay stable and we can hold off on this surgery as long as possible!

Bryson
He is playing his first season of baseball. We signed him up with a different league than what we have done in the past. The league that Caleb and Carter have played for does machine pitch at Bryson's age (40+ mph speed). Bryson doesn't have the same natural athleticism and drive that Caleb and Carter have so we put him in a league that does coach pitch. So far we like the league and think it is a great fit for Bryson. He had his first game last Monday night. The very first play of the game, the batter hit a pop-up to Bryson in the pitcher position and he caught it! (In full disclosure, Bryson didn't even have to take a step. It was literally right to him. But he still had to stick his glove out and make the catch!) He had a strong first at-bat and hit a hard hit right over 2nd base. His 2nd at-bat he struck out. He played the pitcher position twice, catcher twice, and shortstop once. There are at least 4 kids better than him on the team that have played for 4 to 5 seasons, but Bryson definitely shows some potential. We didn't realize he would play catcher so Matt hadn't worked with him on that yet, therefore Bryson did not do well at stopping the ball. He did do well at throwing it back to the coach pitching, which not all kids can do. Bryson ended up getting the game ball for his first game! Great start to his season. Hopefully he continues to improve.

(sweaty baseball hair)

Carter

A lot of Carter's games have been rained out, so even though his league started much earlier than the other boys' leagues, he has only played 2 games. Matt is coaching his team again and says that Carter is his best defensive player. He never has to tell Carter what to do with the ball. Carter is "in" the game and knows where to throw the ball to make the play. The team is struggling with pitching this season. Carter isn't able to throw enough consistent strikes yet, but really wants to pitch so he's set a goal to practice regularly this season on his own in order to improve and earn a spot as a pitcher.

I also wanted to record one of the sweetest things that Carter has ever done. Caleb's birthday, August, 22nd, was a very stressful night with a back-to-school meeting at Caleb's school, plus I taught an hour of piano lessons after school. My parents had picked up Caleb after school to take him out to select a few books at Barnes and Noble for his birthday. After piano, I dished up the crockpot meal I had made for dinner, then ran out the door. Carter was in charge for a bit until my parents got back with Caleb, who was going to babysit. I thought the back-to-school night would be an hour. It was close to 2 hours! Matt had a late night at work so he wasn't home yet by the time I got home. When I got home, all the dishes were either in the dishwasher or washed up drying by the sink. I immediately texted my mom to thank her for doing my dishes--I assumed she had cleaned up when they brought Caleb back home. To my surprise, she said they were already done when she came back with Caleb. Carter had cleaned up all on his own! Not typical for a 9-year-old! It is one of Carter's gifts that he sees a need and steps in and helps. When Matt is out doing yard work, Carter is usually out there voluntarily helping him. A few weeks ago, Carter went out and mowed the backyard all by himself! (Well, he got about halfway done and then had to go to baseball practice.) Carter is also quite competent in the kitchen--cracking and scrambling himself an egg, putting things in and out of the oven, etc. I LOVE this side of Carter. He can be the sweetest kid....when he's not fighting with Bryson and when he and I are not on the piano together!

Caleb

Things are looking up for Caleb in terms of football in the sense that he is liking it more. He enjoys playing in the games and doesn't complain about practices anymore. (It also helps that practices are only Wednesday through Friday now.) His team has won 2 games and lost 1. He plays wideout on the kickoff line and also plays in the defensive line. We assumed he would be offensive because he's a fast runner and doesn't have experience tackling. He doesn't play a ton, there are about 35 kids on his team, but he does play a fair amount. I've seen him get a tackle and attempt another tackle on a kid two heads taller than him. :) I've been to one game and Matt went to another. 

While football may not be where he shines, he is an all-star on his soccer team. Matt is assistant coaching, and I have actually not been to any of his games yet this season. Matt says that Caleb has great ball control, speed, and touch and that he never gives up on a play. Caleb admitted that he thinks his conditioning in football has really helped him soccer. It is looking like it will be a losing season though in terms of his team. The age range for his level this year is '07 - '05 so he is playing against some very mature 9th graders. He also has some newbies on his team this year, whereas at least one of the other teams have been playing together for several seasons. Hopefully they will show improvement over the course of the season and win a game or two. 

Caleb has had some tough lessons in responsibility this year with school. He is used to relying on me to hold his hand in schoolwork--a liability I didn't mean to create. With him being the oldest and stemming from the decision to push him on to school as an August birthday instead of holding him back, I've been very involved in his schoolwork to make sure he succeeds. In my defense, I try to be involved with all my boy's schoolwork to make sure they are understanding what is being taught and supplementing at home when I need to. Caleb has been depending on me too much though so I've pulled back over the last month and told him he needs to be more independent in figuring out some things on his own. However, without me hovering, he has chosen to procrastinate his assignments, which has led to some late nights with him getting 6 or 7 hours of sleep due to waking up early for football practice. We have had many discussions about starting early on assignments or working a little each day, but it's not sinking in for some reason. He finally was grounded from his phone this past weekend because he made the choice to come home and play games on his phone for 45 minutes on Thursday, then ended up staying up till 11:30pm getting an assignment done that he had known about for almost a week! He also had a busy night with a soccer practice that night, which I wouldn't have had him attend if I had realized the extent of the assignment. Hopefully he will utilize his time better and adjust to being more responsible for his learning. 

On another note, I had plans to go do baptisms at the temple on a Friday that happened to be a day that school was cancelled due to Imelda. My friend I had previously made arrangements with took Austin + 2 more boys, and Caleb and I did baptisms together. It was a great way to start an unexpected day off of school!

Matt

Coaching baseball + assistant-coaching soccer + intense work days with helping the new-ish business be successful + seminary = a sick husband for at least the past 4 weeks with congestion and cough from not getting enough sleep and a husband that is just not himself in terms of energy, helping around the house, and yard work. I'm not going to lie. It's been tough. Year 2 of Matt teaching seminary and I now strongly think that men with long work days should NOT be called as seminary teachers or he should have a partner so he's only preparing 2 lessons a week instead of 4. The time seminary takes is hard on our marriage and hard on our family. Matt has too much on his plate. He enjoys teaching! He really does and has had some wonderful experiences with teaching/relating to the kids (freshmen again this year), but it is too much on top of his work day and the coaching that he wants to do. He loves coaching and being involved with our boys' sports and doesn't want to give that up--especially when no one else volunteers to coach. Despite his busy life, Matt has been a rock star about trying to keep up with helping with the kids at night, doing dishes, and tidying any messes. Where he has sacrificed is his sleep; he doesn't get much every night. Understandably, he falls short in getting to the bigger yard projects (mulching, re-sodding due to getting hit by cinch bug this year no matter what bug spray we used to fight it, power-washing the driveway that we've received two letters from the HOA about...all of which I'm willing to do but is dependent on using the jeep/trailer etc.). Our yard is in a sad state right now, which is something we both very much care about. 

On top of his busy schedule, Matt has also spent the last two weekends helping out for a 10-12 hour day with flood victims due to Imelda--mucking out homes and assisting people as needed. I really appreciated that the Elders Quorum president called Matt and said he could not sign up for the 2nd weekend. Instead he needed to stay home, spend time with his family, and take care of himself so he could get better. Then someone from the stake presidency called and asked Matt to be a team lead again that next weekend. So off Matt went again, making a huge difference in the lives of those who were affected by the storm.

Driving through high water in Vidor to go help--1st weekend

Orange County--2nd weekend

Me

Preschool is getting better day by day in terms of the behavior of one little sweet, but stubborn girl. I'm also teaching piano to 8 students this year including Carter and Bryson. 

Last Sunday was our primary program, which I had a huge part in as the primary music leader. My personal goal was for the kids to know the songs well enough that I didn't have to hold words up. The children sang 9 songs in the program: Come, Follow Me vs. 1, Baptism all 3 verses, Master the Tempest is Raging vs. 1, Did You Think to Pray? vs. 1, Gethsemane with hand signs, Did Jesus Really Live Again? all 3 verses, Stand for the Right/I Will Be Valiant Medley, The Church of Jesus Christ Medley, and finishing off with I Will Be What I Believe. The overall theme for the program was how different people in the New Testament were valiant and how the children can be valiant disciples of Christ too. I teared up while leading the last song as it's just so powerful and the youth stood up from the congregation and joined in on the Army of Helaman part. Unfortunately several youth (and adults) were missing the day of the program because they were helping with flood victims. I was really sad to have so many of the youth gone because it wasn't as strong without them, but overall the program went great! It's nice to have the 1st year in this calling under my belt. 

With Matt gone helping flood victims, these last two Sundays have been extra stressful. Here's how Sept. 22nd looked: entertaining the kids Sunday morning, getting to church early so I could play the organ, primary program during church, teaching primary music 2nd hour, running kids home, going back for special musical number practice for our upcoming Stake Conference, going back home, throwing a frozen pizza in the oven, eating dinner as a family, dropping my kids off at a sweet friend's house who lovingly volunteered to play games with my children until Matt got home from Imelda clean-up while I went to the first Noel Christmas stake choir practice, which I would have opted out of except I said yes to helping out on the piano during sectionals so they were depending on me. The next Sunday was similar (minus primary program) except Jared and Kari were so nice to feed my family dinner! We will see if there is a need this weekend for helping flood victims...

Other than teaching preschool and piano and my busy calling, I spend my time hanging out with Austin during the day and running kids around at night! 

This is definitely a busy time of life right now!

The Start of School

1st day picture: Bryson starting 1st grade and Carter starting 4th

Caleb starting 7th grade at a junior high school

Austin starting preschool

The start of school has been a breeze for Bryson and Carter. Bryson has his best friend, Dax, in his class, plus a handful of friends from his class last year, including Camdyn who is enamored with him and vice versa. I can't tell you how many entries in his writing journal were about Camdyn at the end of last year. "Who is your favorite person and why? Camdyn because she gives me hugs." Bryson is doing well in school so far. He also has matured since last year and hasn't had the meltdowns right before school about refusing to go when something sets him off in the morning like last year. (i.e. Me telling him to hurry too many times, Carter saying something that upsets him, Austin looking at him the wrong way...)

Carter has the same homeroom teacher as Caleb did when he was in 4th grade. They have simplified some things since Caleb was in 4th grade including less homework. I'm so grateful for that! One less thing to keep on top of.

Caleb has had a tougher adjustment this year. There is a stupid rule that in order to be in Athletics instead of P.E., you have to play football. We have heard that if you are in Athletics, the coaches know you better and your chances increase of making the other sports teams. Caleb plans to try out for soccer, basketball, and tennis and wanted to increase the odds of making the teams so he is doing football for the first time this year. Caleb is athletic and fast so we knew Caleb would be able to hold his own, but the experience so far has been more than Caleb bargained for. He wakes up every morning at 6:15, eats a light breakfast, and leaves for school at 6:45. I run him to school because he has a few busier intersections to go through. He changes into his football gear and has to be on the field at 7:20. They practice football for almost 2 hours and then they have 20 minutes for 150 boys to shower and change for the rest of the school day. Caleb also uses a portion of those 20 minutes to eat more breakfast that I pack him.

The first 3 days of practice were extra hard. I can only assume that the coaches were trying to weed out the weak, and Caleb was ready to throw in the towel. It's very hot and humid still, and when the sun comes out, it is not fun to be outside exercising. (I feel bad for the 8th graders who practice after school!) The workouts were so intense that kids were throwing up their breakfast each morning. Caleb absolutely hates the mouth guard, which is too large for his mouth (and most of the boys' mouths). You can choose to have it pushed all the way in and having the ends irritate the back of your mouth or leave a portion hanging out the front of your mouth. Caleb is a germaphobe--he took all lessons about germs from school to heart. So it drives him crazy to have sweat and snot dripping into his mouth guard while he works out, not to mention the grass and dirt that get on it from the up downs. Because the morning workouts are so intense, he said he would have a headache the rest of the day and sometimes have difficulty concentrating in class. (Water is provided only by the football coaches in big huge jugs, but I'm sure a reason for the headaches is not being hydrated enough. He says the water tastes nasty so I bet he doesn't drink enough water like he should.) He definitely has not been on his game this year in terms of schoolwork. He's in all pre-AP classes this year for the core classes, and I've really had to stay on top of making sure he is keeping up with his classes. So after the first week, he didn't verbally say it, but I knew he wanted to quit. We had to talk about how 1) being labeled a quitter would do nothing to help him make the other sports teams, 2) the difficult conditioning he was doing each morning would help him be a better athlete and get in better shape, and 3) how this was an opportunity to rely on Heavenly Father to help him. 

Now that the boys are divided into 4 teams, Caleb says the practices aren't as hard as the beginning of the year. This year was a learning experience. I didn't want Caleb playing football but also wasn't strongly opposed to it if he wanted to try it out. I don't see him choosing to play again next year! He made the C team--we were warned that anyone who is a smaller 7th grade would likely make the C or D team, which I'm fine with. I don't want him going up against or getting tackled by bigger boys!

Starting preschool with Austin was a lot more difficult than I wanted to be. Austin is an angel and very smart for his age, but there are some challenges with some other students in the class. 8 days in and things are improving. Day 5 of teaching though was the hardest day of any of the 6 years I've taught preschool! A combination of one child absolutely refusing to participate in activities, having a meltdown 1st thing in the morning when she didn't get her way about something and another major meltdown for the last 20 minutes of preschool with hysterical crying, and another child throwing up all over my carpet right at the end of preschool. It was a doozy, but then it can only get better from there...I hope. 

End of School

Carter's Gifted and Talented (GT) project that he worked on with a few other classmates throughout the year. They had to create a new city and do corresponding research.

Carter won an award for running the most laps in PE in the entire school! He ran the equivalent of 28 miles throughout the school year!! Crazy impressive. When it is time to run laps in PE, most kids run/walk and socialize with friends. Not my boy. He's out there to get it done and get some exercise. He won a toy prize and a $5 gift card to Chick Fil A. 

(Caleb won in his years in elementary too. Their parents' competitive side has rubbed off on them!)

Carter also finished up the year with excellent conduct marks all year long and all As. His lowest score on his report card for his final averages was a 95!

Carter's All Star baseball season just wrapped up. 8 teams total competed in the district and their team ended up in 2nd place. Painful loss in the grand championship though. Their team was up by 3 runs in the last game, last inning, 2 outs, but two errors by one of the best players on the team (missed fly ball and error in a ground ball) cost them the game. Frustrating way to lose, but Carter enjoyed playing with some of the best players in his league. Matt did a great job coaching the All Star team; it was an honor to be selected as the coach. Carter had the highest on-base percentage and highest batting average of anyone on his team!

Grandma and Grandpa at one of his tournament games.

Papa, Matt's dad, loves coming to his baseball games and didn't miss a single one!

Carter's All Star baseball team

No pictures of Caleb, but he finished up his school year with a bang as well. He played in his school talent show again, this year accompanying a friend who did a live art display. He also received excellent conduct marks all year and all As. His lowest final average for all his classes was also a 95. Impressive! Language Arts and Writing are his weakest classes and some 9 weeks he scraped by with a low A.

The day after school got out, Caleb participated in guild for the 4th time where he played 10 memorized pieces in front of a judge who critiqued on little details. He had a tougher judge this year, so he did not score as well as years past but still played very well. His songs were obviously more challenging than previous years, one was a memorized 7-page Sonata! Since 3 or so of his songs were lengthy, when he needed to run through them, he had a tendency to do so as fast as he could to get it done with. I told him many times that you perform the way you practice. Sure enough, most of Caleb's negative marks were due to the speed of many of his songs which led to more mistakes than he might have had if he had pulled back on the tempo some. Hopefully the judges' comments will be a good learning experience for him, and he will be more cognizant of slowing down. Despite his fast speed, he had beautiful scale runs, musicality, and other small nuances that his piano teacher taught him. His score this year was 36 Cs (special commendation) and 5 As (needs attention).

Caleb is gearing up and practicing for his All Star baseball season. We were grateful that they didn't overlap this year!

Carter's 9th Birthday

Carter opened presents first thing in the morning. We've really enjoyed the game Splendor!

With his birthday on a Saturday, we had baseball to fill the day. Unfortunately Carter's team lost their game, but the team sang 'Happy Birthday' and enjoyed cupcakes.

Birthday buddies

Matt had a brisket competition that night for an Elder's Quorum activity, so we were able to snag a few pieces of brisket for dinner, which Carter and I love. It was yummy!

I felt loved and appreciated by the friends/family who stopped by or wished me a happy birthday!

Grandma and Grandpa came over for a steak dinner on Sunday (official birthday dinner for Carter/me/Matt) and to wish Carter a happy birthday. We had the leftover cupcakes I made for the baseball team--cookie dough-filled cupcakes.

Carter is a hard worker in everything he does: school, piano, and baseball. So far Carter is a straight-A student with excellent conduct marks. At baseball practices, Carter is out there hustling the whole time. Piano is not a favorite activity, however, and Carter and I butt heads quite a bit. It takes both of us consciously being patient with each other for a piano practice to go well when I sit down with him. Piano doesn't come as easily and naturally to him as Caleb, which I think is hard for him to see his older brother so celebrated for this talent. He asks to quit often, but he knows that if he wants us paying for baseball, then he needs to keep pushing on in piano.

Carter is our best worker in the yard and cleaning bathrooms. He is not afraid to get dirty and do the "gross" jobs. If his dad is out working in the yard, Carter likes to be out there helping. We love that so much about him! Occasionally, just to be nice, Carter will come home from school and sweep the leaves in the driveway. He's not afraid to clean toilets and has also been a big help in the past if Austin had a poopy accident in his underwear.

Matt and I also love that Carter is our most adventurous eater! He will try everything and likes most everything he tries. He is starting to have a humongous appetite which gives me a glimpse of what teenage years might be like trying to keep the house stocked with 4 boys! 

In our Family Home Evenings and home church, Carter is the best listener and is always quick to give thoughtful answers to the questions we ask.

Matt's birthday was on Tuesday, April 2nd. I sneakily got up early and made one of Matt's favorite cookies--snickerdoodles--and showed up at the end of seminary so that the class and I could sing 'Happy Birthday' to him. Some students wrote notes as well, which Matt appreciated. It was a good start to his day.

Catch-up

We enjoyed the slow pace of January--playing games together and enjoying no commitments at night. The pace started picking up in February when baseball started. Baseball adds a lot of busyness, but my boys love it so much!

Matt is coaching Carter’s team and assistant coaching Caleb’s team on occasion when it doesn’t overlap with Carter’s schedule. I have yet to see either of the boys’ games though—lots of rained out games so far this season or they have had late games where I stay home and put the kids to bed since Matt is coaching. Both boys have had one win and one loss so far. Carter has also had one tied game. It’s looking like both boys’ teams will likely come in 2^nd place. We will see how the rest of the season goes. They are both playing shortstop and the outfield on occasion. Carter has pitched once; Caleb hasn’t pitched yet. I hear they are both playing well; Matt’s dad will text me updates throughout the games, which is so nice of him. I love watching them play so I hope to get to a game soon!

Matt is burning the candle from both ends. On top of working all day and coaching baseball 3 nights a week, he is teaching an early morning seminary class. (For the record, I tried to talk him out of coaching baseball.) I keep waiting for him to crack. I think I would have by now! Teaching seminary is so taxing and it takes a toll on the whole family. I’ve stepped up doing more things on my own that we used to share in an effort to support him, the kids see less of their dad, and we are doing less date nights. It’s a rough patch for our family for sure. We’ve all been looking forward to Spring Break in order to catch a breath. All that said, I think teaching seminary has been a wonderful thing for Matt.

Each of the boys is doing well in school and piano. Caleb just had to make some decisions about what electives to take next year in junior high. There are some great options. The tougher decisions were whether to continue choir or not and whether he should play football or not. (In order to be in the Athletics PE class, it's mandatory to play football.) He decided yes on both accounts. He also recently took a 3-hour 8th grade math test to try to test out of 8th grade math. (He is currently in 6th grade taking 7th grade math.) Since I taught 8th grade math, I helped him prepare for the test, but it is quite the feat to teach a whole year of math in just a few weeks. There were 65 questions on the test, and he needs to score an 80 or above to skip that math grade so we will see how he does! We discussed that passing the test and skipping a grade in math isn't necessarily the best option, but that studying hard and possibly passing the test just kept options open to make the best decision. 

Carter struggled at the beginning of the year with making friends with the other boys in his class. He just had difficulty connecting with them and felt they were too silly and immature. He begged me to eat lunch with him every day as he felt alone at lunch. (You have to sit with your homeroom class.) I would come two or three times a week and bring different card games to play with him after he finished eating. It was some great bonding time. After a fall teacher conference where I mentioned it off-handedly, one of Carter's teachers said she was okay with Carter sitting with a friend at another table. He did that for the next few months and then finally started connecting with a friend in his class. Now he sits with that friend every day.

I have to walk on eggshells with Bryson every school morning. Little things set him off and he will announce, "Fine! I'm not going to school today!" He is not a morning person and moves very slowly. I have to put positive spins on trying to get him to move at a faster pace. It is definitely improved from the beginning of the year, but he still has his stubborn moments. He always comes home from school happy and in a good mood. His kindergarten teacher does some really fun and creative things. But getting him to school on time some days...

Austin and I do 15-20 minutes of school together every day at his request. He is such an intelligent kid! I love spending time with him and having him be my buddy throughout the day. We go to a free dance fitness class two times per week where he gets to play with his cousin while his mom and Aunt do a workout. I also swap going to the temple every other Tuesday with a friend. Austin struggled at first going to her house because he is a homebody. It has taken some bribery, but he does much better now. I love going to the temple more often than I have in the past. I am also starting up tennis once a week with a friend on Thursday mornings. We have to find creative ways to entertain our boys (sidewalk chalk, bubbles, toys) and we have to stop a lot, but we're giving it a try. My nights are so busy with baseball so we decided to attempt during the day.

Piano is going well for each of the boys. I don't spend as much time with Bryson as I should--it's just exhausting by kid number 3, especially because I teach lessons to 6 piano students each week. Carter and I still have some fighting during his piano practicing. He doesn't love it and wants to quit. The deal is if you want to play baseball, you'll play piano (and thank me later). If I concentrate on complimenting him a ton, then things go better and he doesn't complain. The tricky part is when I have to correct him on something... Caleb has such a passion for piano and is so motivated. He is progressing really well in the Suzuki method and is mostly independent. He just finished learning and memorizing a difficult 7-page Sonata. 

I am serving as the children's music leader at church and am loving it! I hope I serve in this calling for a long time. It is a lot of work and some weeks go better than others, but it is a great outlet for me on this year off of preschool. It is neat to study the words and background information about the songs and come up with creative ways to teach them. 

Life keeps moving on at a steady pace. I need to do better at recording the ins and outs as an attempt to bottle up these precious moments of parenthood.

Baseball pictures courtesy of Matt's dad:
Caleb's team is the Astros this season and Carter's is the Yankees

 Caleb taking some practice swings before he bats. He bats first in his line-up.

Solid hit, safe at first

 Carter running home. He bats 2nd in his line-up.

Carter and Papa (looking more and more like Santa ;)