Cheerleading!

Ben Lomond offered their mini cheer clinic again this year and the girls were SO excited to be able to participate again.  The cheerleaders enjoyed seeing "Mr Joys" girls too, so it was kind of fun.  The girls weren't at all nervous to go out on the field and they were able to wait for half time better this year as well. 

 Their cousin Maddie joined in the fun this year

 And Emi was there again too! (And I got a picture of her smiling!)

 Kadence is right to the left of the 30 yard line, Emi is just to the right and Maddie is the second row on the very right.

 Shelby is two to the left of the cheerleader on the right

 In practice Kadence posed in the most terrible position and then at the real performance she did a great pose!

 Shelby coming off the field

 The girls with their daddy after they danced.  Love them all!

I am always in awe that at 4 and 6 the girls don't mind going on a football field without mom or dad and dancing in front of a full crowd.  What brave girls!  I am so proud of them.  Shelby gets nervous about it but will go and Kadence could care less.  I'm glad we've been able to give them opportunities that will help teach them many different skills.  

Confessional

I CONFESS....I hate riding on buses and shuttles.  It is so akward. I ride the shuttle to campus everyday because I can't ever find a parking spot on campus.  It is weird that there are social rules.  For example you don't sit by someone unless there isn't a way to leave a seat between you.  Once all the seats are full, you should start from the back to the front standing holding the bar.  I hate that I never know where to look. Then the people, oh the people offer some entertainment and at times some frustration. 

I CONFESS....I still am not sure what I want to do with my degree.  When I graduate I will be a Certified Family Life Educator.  I will be able to work in social services, adoption/foster agencies, preschools, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, headstart, parent education classes as well as some others.  I think ideally I would like to work in an adoption agency, teaching parent education classes or in a rehabilitation center.  The only problem is that none of these work directly with kids which is what I love most.  They all indirectly can benefit the well being of children, but I love kids so much that I could work with them everyday and love my job.

I CONFESS....Purple Skittles are my favorite.  I don't know what it is about them, but they are so tasty.  I am a skittle professional and have always enjoyed them.  I used to walk up a huge hill to a golf club to buy myself some skittles when I was little.  Thinking back on it I am amazed my mom let me.  It smelled of cheap cigarettes and alcohol BUT they had skittles! The flavors in the purple bag are my favorite EXCEPT the cherry.  Gross!  I think they taste like cough syrup.

Advice From Mama

Dear Kadence and Shelby,

Please give everything 100% of your effort.  You can never be ashamed of failing if you know you did your very best.  I will ALWAYS be proud of you if you give it your all, even if that means you come in last place or 'fail'. To me it's all in the effort.  Will that mean that you excel at everything?  No, but you will be able to have pride knowing that you didn't give up when it got hard, or that you only gave 75%.  If you always try your best, you will be surprised at the outcome.  You will be proud and walk away with constructive advice which will help you do better next time.  Whether it be in sports, church, school or your relationships with friends and family I can promise you will always be rewarded when you give it everything you've got.  I love you girls so much and I know that you will do great in life! 

Love you always and forever,
Your mommy

A Few Random Pictures

Shelby goes to preschool at Wee Lads and Lassies which is located in Ben Lomond.  Since David and I both went to school there we have a lot of school spirit and have passed that on to our kids.  For the 'Iron Horse' game (The rival game against Ogden High) I sent Shelby to school in a BL t-shirt with a matching bow.  She was SO excited to wear her cheer shirt. Ben Lomond lost terribly, but its always a fun atmosphere.

 Since Kadence has to just wear a tank top to school when it is hot I figured I would take a picture of her in actual clothes before school.  When it gets a little cooler at night and in the morning I put a t-shirt over.  It makes her brace barely noticeable and she looks like a normal little 6 year old.  (Although she has more energy than most 6 year olds.)

 David and I decided to have friends join us for Ben Lomonds homecoming game.  We hosted a little BBQ with some close friends and family and then headed to the game after.  We of course had to wear our BL gear so I put on my letterman jacket, David wore his Class President sweater and the girls wore their new "kilts" I bought them.  (They are just skorts, but they look similar to kilts)  Ben Lomond lost which was no surprise since the were playing Morgan, but they got in some really great plays.  It was fun for us as well as fun for the girls.  Its so nice to be able to take the girls to a sporting even and have them behave well the whole time.  I don't have to worry about it being stressful because my girls are simply amazing.  Love them!

1st Day of Preschool

Shelby went to her first day of preschool today!  She went last year, but this was the first day in the 4 year old class.  She has been so excited and waited very patiently for her '1st day of school' since her sister started a week earlier.  She is in the morning and afternoon class which means she is at school from 8:30-2.  Thats pretty long considering she is just 4.  (4 and a half if you ask her)  I was a little worried she wouldn't do well and would start to get cranky but Mrs Jill said she did great.  We picked out her first day of school clothes and I asked her how she wanted her hair.  She told me she wanted it down with a little braid.  AHHH, why did I even ask?!  I can't do her hair down unless I give her a bath in the morning.  (She is a sweaty sleeper and gets bed hair that is unrepairable)  This meant that I would have to get Kadence up, ready and out the door.  Then get myself ready for school AND give Shelby a bath and get her ready.  Well, it was my fault for asking so that's what we did.  It was a little stressful, but she was so happy that it made it all worth it.  Here's the big girl all ready to go!

 

 I love this picture, you can just see how excited she is.  Love her!

I'm so blessed to have two beautiful girls! Shelby loved school and told me all about her day.  She got to play with her favorite high school helper today "The one with blonde hair" also known as Kenzie, they read a story about a duck being potty trained and they made foam visors with stickers.  Since she is in the morning and afternoon class, she does every craft twice.  She made herself a visor, but she also made one for Kadence.  She put a foam soccer ball on Kadence's becuase she knows Kadence is excited to start soccer.  How sweet is she?!  I'm happy that I still get one day of alone time with her each week because I'm going to miss that when she goes to elementary.  Overall she had one fantastic day!

Just a little random

Ok, just a little information before I start this blog.  I have started taking an introduction to literature class at the college and am actually enjoying it.  This is weird because I am extremely intimidated by writing.  I don't ever know if what I write is 'good enough' and have always called myself a bad writer.  I love the professors take on writing.  He truly wants us to write in the way we feel things and how we interpret things.  He said that just a simple headline can spark pages of writing for some and for others mean nothing.  I enjoy that he has given examples of when he interpreted things wrong and because of it had great pieces of work come from it.  He just basically wants us to WRITE.  Write about anything.  Of course we have our assigned readings and our writing assignments, but he also wants us to do some writing on our own and not just for the duration of the class, forever.  He said there is no wrong way to write, there is no wrong opinions, etc.....just write.

With that being said, this blog will kind of just be a 'writing' from a song that I have been listening to non stop all night.  I'm not doing it because I think it will be 'great work', but because writing different things is something I need to try to do.  The song is called 'The A Team' by Ed Sheeran.  It's basically about a woman who is doing drugs and who is selling herself.  I am not a visual person, I never have been.  I can read the most descriptive text and never get an image in my head.  I just literally CANT visualize what I read.  There has been one time in my whole life before now which means it can happen, but lets be honest....its beyond rare.  As I listen to this song, I can imagine the immense pain of being the parent of a girl who has chosen the path of drugs.  For the second time in my life I can actually visualize something....watching a woman struggle with addiction. For some reason the words are simple, yet I can envision the entire scenario.  I view it from a mothers perspective. Watching the constant battle of addiction would be so painful for me as a mom.  Then, my girls came and snuggled in while we listened to the song.  (Daddy was fishing)  As I sang along, Shelby had this face of pure content.  Kadence couldn't have been holding me any tighter and I just sobbed.  What if one day this was my girls?  I just got overwhelmed with emotions.  A lot of emotions.  I have people close to me who have struggled with different addictions and my heart just aches for them.  Not from a place of judgement, but a place of love.  I just can only imagine how much more difficult it would be to watch my daughters struggle like the woman I envision when listening to this song.  I recommend looking it up on youtube but here are the lyrics. 

Ed Sheeran - The A Team Lyrics

White lips, pale face
Breathing in snowflakes
Burnt lungs, sour taste
Light's gone, day's end
Struggling to pay rent
Long nights, strange men
And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since 18
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream
The worst things in life come free to us
Cos we're just under the upperhand
And go mad for a couple of grams
And she don't want to go outside tonight
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
Or sells love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
Angels to fly
Ripped gloves, raincoat
Tried to swim and stay afloat
Dry house, wet clothes
Loose change, bank notes
Weary-eyed, dry throat
Call girl, no phone
And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since 18
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
And they scream
The worst things in life come free to us
Cos we're just under the upperhand
And go mad for a couple of grams
And she don't want to go outside tonight
And in a pipe she flies to the Motherland
Or sells love to another man
It's too cold outside
For angels to fly
Angels to fly
An angel will die
Covered in white
Closed eye
And hoping for a better life
This time, we'll fade out tonight
Straight down the line
And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since 18
But lately her face seems
Slowly sinking, wasting
Crumbling like pastries
They scream
The worst things in life come free to us
And we're all under the upperhand
Go mad for a couple of grams
And we don't want to go outside tonight
And in a pipe we fly to the Motherland
Or sell love to another man
It's too cold
For angels to fly
Angels to fly
To fly, fly
Or angels to die

That Darn Puppy!

Monday morning David and the girls joined some of our friends on a hike up Waterfall Canyon.  Since I am not allowed to go because the Dr doesn't really want me to exercise, I stayed behind.  I had a great friend ask me if I would take a few quick pictures of her and her son.  I put Copper inside so that he wasn't in the way or distracting since he can be a little naughty.  We have a gate that keeps him in the kitchen and he's basically potty trained so I figured it would be fine.  I was wrong.  When I came in to get him, he was on the other side of the gate.  I'm guessing I didn't shut it all the way and he managed to get it opened.  He came running to the gate as happy as could be.  I inspected the upstairs looking for chewed up toys or something to clean up and couldn't find anything.  I was completely shocked.  Later I came into the living room and saw my pen on the couch with the lid chewed up.  I immediately thought "WHY would David chew on the end of MY pen?!"  I have specific pens that I like to do my homework with and he knows they are mine. 

 

 As I looked closer, I noticed that there was drawing on the couch near the pen.  I quickly realized it was that darn puppy!  He got my pen, bit the end and drew on the couch!  What a stinker!  I now put my homework away when I am done with it, lesson learned.

Confessional

I CONFESS....I really enjoy stupid humor.  I mean I did marry David after all.  I don't know what it is, but it can brighten any bad day.  Movies like Dumb and Dumber, Billy Madison, BioDome, etc just make me laugh.

I CONFESS....I hate that my girls are getting older, but absolutely love it at the same time.  I hate leaving all the different 'baby' and 'toddler' stages, but the new stages we enter are amazing.  I love being able to leave at a moments notice and not have to worry about diaper changes, diaper bags and nap schedules.  I love that we can go anywhere without a stroller because the girls can walk just fine.  I love that they are starting to have different interests because they are old enough to know they have options.  I even love the sassy, naughty attitudes they get.....just not until afterwards.  :)

I CONFESS....I always feel like I smell like BO.  I mean I wear deodorant and take showers, but for some reason I am always paranoid that I smell like a sweaty pig.  I even make David smell me every so often because I feel like I smell terrible.  Theres only been one or two times in the 7 years of marriage that hes said I do indeed smell but I constantly am paranoid about it. 

I CONFESS....I would rather be cold than hot.  I love being in the cold and snuggling under a bunch of blankets.  When I'm hot I just get cranky and mean.  I think everyone would rather I was cold vs hot.  At least in Utah we experience all 4 seasons so theres only a few months where I have to worry about being too hot.  I've conditioned myself to be a little better about it for my kids sake.  I mean I don't want them to have a terrible summer because mom would rather stay inside with air conditioning.

First Day of 1st Grade!

Kadence was VERY excited to start 1st grade!  Her teachers name is Mrs. Nix and she's really nice. This year we had to start a 504 plan for Kadence making it so that she can wear a tank top and have a water bottle.  In didn't really matter in Kindergarten because kids just don't notice but as they get older they start noticing.  This is a way to keep our bases covered.  Wearing a tank top, the brace and a shirt over her brace is just too hot in a non air conditioned room in 90+ degree weather. Kadence picked out her clothes the night before and wanted a purple shirt so that her "shirt and brace would match her Toms" (Toms are shoes)  We had been practicing how to go to bed early and wake up and get ready for school so it went pretty smoothly....except I forgot that I'd need time to snap a few pictures.  It was also my first day of school up on campus so I was a tad bit stressed.

 

 She picked her backpack and I don't think it will last too long.  It's cheaply made but she loves it!

 Love them!

 Shelby had to go to grandmas house to play while we were at school because preschool starts a week after.  She still got to pack her lunch and was very excited!  She's more excited to start preschool and spend the whole day with Mrs Jill though. 

After school I asked Kadence what she did and she said "I don't know"  That is almost always her response which is funny.  Shelby tells me every detail and Kadence rarely does.  I love that they are so different.  She did eventually tell me that "she had a lot of fun and Mrs Nix is a GREAT teacher."  She's been coming home happy which is what matters the most.  Mrs Nix has the 'card' system for discipline.  So you start on green and if you get a card pulled you go to yellow, then to orange, then to red.  We know that she will get in trouble at some point because she is just a little chatter box, but so far she's stayed on green!  We'll see how long it lasts.  :)  She's such a smart girl and LOVES learning.  She is like her daddy.  She loves accomplishing new tasks and mastering new concepts.  She is a great reader, pretty good at math and loves making new friends.  We love her and are constantly amazed at the way she's been able to beat the odds.  I mean this gal was potentially going to be a vegetable.....I just look at her and am in awe of how blessed we are.