Graduation

I am really behind with blogging.  Summer is underway and having four kids in the house all the time has kept us on our toes!  I want to blog about Kaydra’s 5th grade graduation.  Kaydra will be in middle school next year!!  She has really grown up this year.  It has been fun to have her around.  It’s also been fun because I really remember my 5th grade year and I know she is making memories that she will remember forever. 

Here is Kaydra on the 1st day of school this past fall --

And here she is on graduation day!

She is turning into a wonderful young woman.  Grandpa FitzSimmons was able to come with us to her graduation and we enjoyed watching a video that her teacher had put together of the kids throughout their elementary years.  Then the kids were introduced and walked across the stage.  Sorry about the next pictures – I wasn’t very close!

Kaydra’s good friends from church were in her class this year – Kaylee and Makenna.  (not looking at me!)We loved Kaydra’s teacher this year – Katie Lovitt.  She also happened to graduate from high school with Leonard – so that was fun to have her teach Kaydra all year.

We will miss Winton Elementary for Kaydra but we are excited for her new adventures at Lakes Middle School.  Mrs. Lovitt was a bit sad to have Kaydra leaving but I told her not to worry..… We will have a kid at Winton for at least the next 11 years!!  She’ll get to see Kaydra every once in awhile!  I am sure the time will fly by, just like the last 11 years have since Kaydra was born.  Congratulations Kaydra!

Timberlyn - 10 1/2 months

I haven’t posted an update on Timberlyn as often I would have liked and it is definitely time to post again!  She is such a fun baby to have around.  She finally started crawling the last week of May.  She is still pretty slow.  Today I noticed rug burns on her knees so she is starting to crawl a little more!  Time to keep the floor MUCH cleaner!  I have also been baby proofing the house.  I used to put her on a blanket and not worry, but now – not so much!!  Along with crawling she is pulling herself up on things and starting to creep just a little bit.  When she decided it was time to move  – she didn’t waste a moment. 

She is still waking up a couple times during the night – much to her parents frustration.  She is still in our room and we are quick to respond to her because no one likes to have a crying baby in the room with them!  We get up, feed her, and she falls back to sleep.  I am pretty sure we are training her to wake up in the night so she can eat.  Oh well – I’m sure she’ll outgrow it some day! 

She has started saying “hi” and waving her hand – which is just about the cutest thing I have ever seen!  She also loves to stick out her tongue.  She loves to eat and wants to try anything that is on our table when we are eating.  She is no longer satisfied with Gerber “puffs” while we eat chicken enchiladas.  She wants whatever it is we are eating!

Yesterday I took pictures of her when we were getting ready for church.  She looks so grown up!  I can’t believe how fast time seems to go.

Seriously, look at those eyelashes!!!

The kids wanted to get in on the action too!  How did I get so blessed?

Love those kids!!

We’ve had visitors!

We have had a few visitors over the last week and I thought I would share.  Hopefully it will entice more of you to come visit us!  Markell and Mom stopped by for a night stay on their way to Idaho Falls.  They were kind enough to bring Archimedes and Aika for us to play with! 

Seriously, is that kid cute or what?!!  Markell and Andre seem to have a pretty good mold going on because Aika looks just like her brother.  Thank goodness she’s adorable as well.  She has the BEST dimples – I can’t wait until she is smiling all the time!!  The kids were in love with her and couldn’t wait to get their hands on her.

They didn’t get much time to hold her and we hope to see them again soon so we can get our fix of little Aika.  Archimedes came with us to Kaydra’s strings concert.  He is a really good boy … he is ALL BOY though!  I don’t know how Markell is going to keep up with him!  So much fun!!

She is totally thinking, “Do I have to get back in the car??!!”

The kids had a good time and even though it was a very quick trip, we were glad that Grandma was able to see our elementary school and come to Kaydra’s strings concert.  (I didn’t take any pictures but they did really well!)  Thanks for coming!!

While they were here, we had another visitor.  I sent the kids out the door to school and we were surprised by a moose and her new little baby!!

We startled them when the kids went out the door and they came out from near our house headed toward the field.  They watched us for awhile and then the mom led the baby across the field and we got a good look at them!

The baby was still so small!  It could fit under it’s mom.  Pretty exciting stuff happens here on the farm!!

We had one more visitor the next day.  Not as exciting as a moose --  but he came a lot closer!

A little squirrel, checking out our house right out the back door. 

So, as you can tell, our house is a pretty happenin’ place!! Come visit and you might see something exciting too!!

Dancing Timber

So, Timberlyn is 10 months old now.  She is growing so fast and is learning new things everyday.  Right now, one of her favorite things to do is dance.  Whenever she hears music, or anything with any sort of rhythm (i.e. snapping fingers, clicking tongue, clapping, etc..) she starts to dance.  It’s quite funny to watch.  But it makes her so happy!  She continues to be our happy, smiley kid.  I wanted to post this video of her.   I’ll write more about her later and all her new accomplishments.  This video gives a really good shot of what we see every day in this beautiful little girl.
(hint - This video was taken with Leonard's new phone which does HD video and if you start the video and then hover your mouse over it so you can select the settings button - looks like a flower - then you can change the quality of the video.  You can increase it to 780p but it will take awhile to load.  I watched it at 420p and 780p and they look about the same.  I LOVE his new phone!!)

10 months old

Isn’t she just awesome??!!!

Turkey Day

It’s been a while and I really should take some time to update a little bit.  I’ll start with Kaydra.  Kaydra shot a turkey this week!  Does that sound crazy to anyone else?  She and Leonard have been out hunting turkeys a couple of times in the past month and on Saturday they thought they would try again.  They were up at 5:00 am and were unsuccessful when they returned home around 6:00.  I was supposed to work that morning so they came home but I had a phone call telling me that they didn’t need me to work…So… after a quick nap they headed out again.  I was working in the yard when they came home.  I didn’t pay much attention until Kaydra came down into the yard with a TURKEY over her shoulder! 

It was a pretty big bird (almost as big as she is – and bigger than the one her dad shot this year!) and she was pretty excited. (So was her dad!)  Leonard said she made a great shot right in the head.

 

I don’t know how she does stuff like that but she sure seems to enjoy it.  Not many mothers that can brag about their 10-year-old daughter’s hunting ability!  I am glad she has a good time with her dad in the woods – and so is he!  Congrats Kaydra!

Fire pit Christening

Last Saturday we used our fire pit for the first time.  Leonard spent a lot of time working on it last fall and we finally had a chance to use it.  It was a nice evening spent with our little family and we had a great time.
Leonard moved a HUGE rock from the woods near our house with the tractor and planned the fire pit around it so we could use it as a table when we use the fire pit.  It worked perfectly!
Getting all set up …
Eating dinner of fire-cooked sausages and smores – doesn’t get better then that!!  We even had some company – can you see them in the background??!!If you saw the deer, you have “sharp eyes” – so Miranda says!  Here they are again…They didn’t seem to care that we were outside – they wanted grass from the field.I hope we get to do this a lot more this summer – I’m pretty sure the kids would agree!

For Grandpa Parry

I’m pretty sure that my Grandpa Parry is an avid reader of my blog and that he occasionally prints them out and takes them for Grandma to read as well…this post is for them because I know they will enjoy it.  I have a few brothers that will think it’s pretty cool as well!
Kanyon started Little League!
This past Saturday Kanyon had his first Little League baseball game.  It brought back many memories of my brothers playing at the substation park by our house.  Mostly, just seeing him all dressed up to play got me a little teary!
Seriously, how cute handsome is that?!!
I can’t believe I have a kid old enough for Little League.  In fact, it seems we started him a little late as far as Coeur d’Alene Little League goes.  He is one of the oldest on the team but since he has never played before – not even T-ball (I know, I was a slacker), it’s a perfect fit for him and HE LOVES IT!  I love to watch baseball in the spring time – as long as the weather is nice!  It’s fun to see the kids all dressed up in uniform and fun to watch them succeed.  He has some great coaches and they are extremely positive.  Everyone gets to bat every inning so the innings are pretty long.  In one hour on Saturday, we got through two innings!!!  Luckily, there is also a time limit of one hour for each game!   In their defense, it was their first game and I think as the kids become better hitters, the innings will go faster.  They use a pitching machine for 3-4 balls, then coach pitch for 2 balls, then a Tee if they still haven’t hit, so everyone gets a chance to actually hit the ball.  Kanyon hit off the machine both times he was up to bat.  He played shortstop (I think because he’s one of the only kids that can throw from short to 1st base!) and then catcher.
My little shortstop…Playing Catcher …  after the game he kept saying, “When I was playing umpire….!!!”  Looks like we might need a little more teaching!! It was fun to watch and most importantly, he had a great time!  So Grandpa, I wanted you to know that we thought of you while we watched him play and wished that we lived closer so you and Grandma could come watch and give him some pointers.  We love you and miss you so much!!  Yay for baseball!!

Takes after Dad

This post is not for the faint of heart.  We have had children for over 10 years and have managed to fly under the radar as far as Emergency doctor visits have been concerned.  Apart from the occasional sore throat, breathing problems, and once for a pretty bad hand burn, we haven’t had to take our kids to the doctor.  Leonard, however, has managed several visits for various injuries.   Stitches a few times and once to take a fish hook out of his finger.  The number of times that Leonard has had a pretty bad cut on his hand are seriously too numerous to count.  He has gotten pretty handy with a little superglue.  I guess when you have a knife in your hand about 50% of the time you are awake (usually for gutting the most recent kill) you are bound to have quite a few cuts.  Anyway,  Kanyon has taken the steps to follow his father as we made our 1st visit for stitches on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon he asked to use his new pocket knife to cut some branches for a new “club” he had discovered.  I said, “I don’t know, buddy…”  Leonard said, “If you cut your finger off it will be pretty hard to play baseball.”  Kanyon said, “Please, I promise I’ll be careful!”  So we gave him the knife and sent him out the door. 

Only about a minute later Kanyon comes running in the door.  “I AM GUSHING BLOOD.  I AM GOING TO DIE!”  I thought he was joking because it had happened so fast.  I thought he must be teasing me.  But he, unfortunately, was not.  He had cut his left index finger and it was, indeed, bleeding quite a bit.  Don’t look at the next picture if you have a weak stomach!!

We washed it up, held pressure and I thought about trying to just bandage it but the bleeding was too much and the cut was pretty bad.  We knew that it would take a long time to heal without stitches.  I headed with him into the Urgent Care clinic in town and he won himself 7 stitches plus one underneath. 

He was pretty tough about the whole thing, and morbidly curious too.  He watched the whole time they stitched him even though it freaked him out just a little! 

He said a few funny things that I want to remember:

• He said that he would not use his pocketknife again until he was 13.
• He had cut his finger just a little bit with the pocketknife about a month ago and said, “I thought I already learned this lesson – why do I have to learn it again?!”
• “I tried to squeeze my wrist so that the bleeding would just stop!!”

All-in-all he really was a trouper and handled it well.  Hopefully we can last at least another 10 years before we have to do something like that again – although, I have a feeling that is not very likely!

Catching up

In March, Kanyon had his first cub scout meeting, his first pack meeting, which also happened to be his first Pinewood Derby!  I meant to blog about it earlier but --- I just didn’t!  Anyway, after a failed attempt to cut out the car with the wrong kind of saw Leonard went to the store and got the right blade for his dad’s jigsaw and had a bit more success.  Kanyon worked hard to sand it, paint it and decorate it to get it ready for the big night.  It was a lightweight when we got there but Leonard added a few extra touches to make it heavier.

Last minute adjustments….

Ready for check-in – with his best friend, Trevor.

The line up of the competition..

Close-up of his car

They had a little ceremony to join him to his new pack along with Brady Minzghor – another boy that turned 8 in March. 

Pretty exciting stuff… He was a happy boy.  How’d the car do?  Let’s just say that we could use some work on our derby skills but it wasn’t the slowest car there!!!  We had a good time and it was fun to do something for Kanyon!

I am a slacker mom and didn’t manage to take a picture of  my kids in Easter dress.  The previous Baptism picture (taken only a week before) will have to do.  BUT I did manage to take a picture of Timberlyn in her new Easter outfit.  It is a tradition in our house that the Easter bunny brings a new outfit for summer in the Easter baskets – gets everyone excited for the warmer weather.  Anyway, Timber looked pretty cute in her new outfit…

But she is not too sure about the new sunglasses the Easter bunny also brought her.  Hopefully she’ll get used to them.   This one’s a little better!  Hope you all had a good Easter!