Abby is 8!!!!!!

 

This year Abigail turned 8!!! It feels like it is such a milestone year. She has changed so much since last year. Abby will be baptized soon which, to me, is a huge marker for time. It means that she knows right from wrong and chooses to make that commitment to follow the Savior. Despite her nerves towards getting baptized she does want to do it.

 

She got braces a few months ago which make her seem so old. Not to mention she is a tall and skinny little beauty...

 

Abby has done well in her new school this year. She seems to really like learning Chinese and Spanish. Although she doesn't really like to do the homework :)

 

She continues to take piano lessons and is getting pretty good in my opinion. Its a struggle sometimes to get her to practice but when she likes a song she will play it over and over. She also like having lessons with her teacher.

 

Abigail is smart, kind, beautiful, stubborn, curious, anxious, independent, and crazy all wrapped up in an 8 year old body. She can be such a good helper when she tries and is a pleaser by nature. She does however still struggle with her patience and temper.  She has become quite the reader this year and has taken to reading a series called puppy place.

 

Happy Birthday Abigail we sure do love you.

 

 

Since 8 is kinda a big deal we had her do a few more things than normal. She wanted to do so many things but Horse Back riding was her final choice. Her buddy Kiera takes lessons thus she has been wanting to do so for awhile. So for her birthday she got to go have one Horseback lesson and it worked out she got to do it with Kiera. Which she LOVED!!

 

 

Before they were able to get on the horse they had to groom and saddle them. Abby was riding the second biggest horse of them all!!! She was elated the entire time 

 

 Emily came to the lesson as well and was desperate to get in the arena. Too bad she is too little.

 

Abby really was natural

 

They played red light green light while on the horses which was fun. She got to walk around, learn how to have the horse turn and stop among a few other things.

 

Abigail and her horse Amigo

At the end of the lesson saying goodbye! What a cute little pair.

 

Abigail's school Pic

Birthday Interview

 

 

 1.Who is your favorite person in the whole world: Grandma

2. What is your favorite color: Purple

3. What is your favorite T.V. Show: Horseland

4. What sport do you like best: Soccer

5. What song do you love: When I am baptized

6. What is your favorite cereal: Ohs

7. Who is your best friend: Kiera and Ana

8. What do you want to be when you grow up: A horse trainer

9. What is your favorite book:  Dolphins at Daybreak

10. What are you really good at: Riding Horses

11.Where do you wish you could go on vacation: Disneyworld

12. What is your best memory: When we went to the Rodeo

13. What would you buy if you had $1000:  A horse

14. What vegetable to you hate the most:   Broccoli

15. If you could have one wish what would it be: To have 10 horses

16. What is your favorite ice cream: The green one that has mints and chocolate

17. Who is your hero: Dad

18. What do you like to do best with your friends: Ride Horses

19. What is your favorite animal: Horse

20. What do you hope you get to do before your next birthday: Take horseback riding lessons

 

 

 

 On Abigails actual birthday I went and had lunch with her at school. She absolutely loves this. It was a crazy madhouse in their cafeteria!

After school I surprised Abby and picked her up from school. (It wasn't my turn) and asked her buddy Ana's mom if I could take she and Abby to dinner. Seth was out of town for her birthday and so I wanted to try and make it a bit special. They were beyond excited.

They ate until they were stuffed. She also wanted grandma and grandpa to come and they did which she obviously enjoyed. She wanted calamari and Mac and Cheese. What a little goof.

 

We headed home to open presents and eat cake. It wasn't much but she did have some presents from us and out of state relatives.

 

She got a few books, a coloring book, a gift card, some cash, some clothes two swim suits and a rubrics cube. We then sang and had some cake. I didn't have an 8 so I improvised. I think overall it was a good birthday and she enjoyed all the attention.

 

Being 8 she is now able to attend activity days at church. The first one happened to be a mommy daughter activity which helped ease her fears. She had lots of fun and made the flower crown she is wearing.

Brighams Program

Brigham walking up to his seat


Brigham had his end of the year Spring program last week. Each class took a turn singing a song they and then they did a big group number at the end. It was really cute and Brigham did really well. He doesn't seem to have stage fright when it comes to these kinds of things which is so wonderful. He was very excited and was singing his song all week, so much so that we all knew the words to it.

 

Brigham's class number. IF you listen you can really hear his little voice stand out.

They hung this huge poster. Brigham is in the orange flower, can you see him?

 

 

The group number

 

 

 

After the performance we were invited to go to the classroom where they had some work displayed and a really cute little scrapbook made for each child. He was very proud to show it all off. Then we all headed for a treat at Dairy Queen.

FHE Trampoline Park

Emily in Action

 

We live very close to a trampoline park but only recently have gone. The kids love it. So we decided to go one night for Family Home Evening. It was a good time, despite the dent in our pocketbook.

Seth and the Kids went full throttle for an hour. They all had a blast. In fact I am not sure I have seen Seth smile and laugh that much in a long time. I think he  had the most fun.

 

I am pretty sure because it was a Monday night there were not many people there which was great for us. They all took turns being crazy. It really was one of the best FHE's we have had.

Warming up with some tricks

Air Seth

They spent a good amount of time in this pit.

The boys taking a quick break

A lot of the time you could find Emily having her own personal dance party on her "stages"

Fat Lip

While I was in the shower the other day Abigail came into the bathroom with her face covered in blood. As she began to rinse off I got out and assessed the situation. She had a pretty good gash on her lip and her lip  was almost triple in size.  I asked her what had happened and she said she walked into the door. I continued to help her. Getting ice and pain medicine. But as I though about it, there is no way that much damage could happen by just walking into the door.

 

When I asked Abby again she replied that she had walked into the door.  I explained that I didn't think that's what happened. Then I asked if she was afraid to say what really happened and she said yes. I asked if it was because she was afraid she was going to get in trouble and again a yes. I told her she wouldn't get in trouble and she told me that she had hit her lip on the ceiling fan which was on.

 

She was on the top bunk and hit it. She has been on the top bunk for a year and she knows not to go near it. She has to sit upright and lean over the edge to get to it so I knew it wasn't exactly an accident. Then Brigham comes in and says she was trying to touch the spinning fan with her tongue. THE TRUTH AT LAST! She says it tickles. AGHHHHHHHH. This girl

 

Abby's Piano Recital

Ready to Preform

Abigail had her first ever Piano recital this month. She has been practicing her piece "Spirit of the Stallion" for about a month. Surprise surprise she chose a piece with a horse on the front. Good thing she also really liked the song. She has been playing the piano for about 18 months now and seems to enjoy it most of the time. She has come so far and we are very proud of her.

First one there

 

 

She was pretty nervous and said her tummy felt funny until she was done. But she really did a great job!


Because Abby Practices on a key board at home we took her to the church the night before to practice on the piano. You can see the hand work in this video.

Easter

The Easter Bunny came... The kids loved their baskets and movies and soccer balls. So much so they were up all night, ALL NIGHT,  trying to play and get to them. It was a bad night. Honestly they are lucky they were able to open them at all. But we tried to make the best of a bad night.

Emily loved her Sophia water bottle.

Who doesn't love chocolate covered pretzels

Abby checking out her new coloring book

MMM reeces eggs

Briggs and his stuff

HE had been asking for Planes 2 for a few months. He was happy the Bunny got it.

Emily loved the soccer ball box

 After watching Conference all morning we headed to Seths Parents to have dinner with all the family. The cousins had an easter egg hunt and ate a lot of Junk. It was a good time.

Some of the cousins (Briggs, Abby, Izzy, Ella, Hanna and Emery)

Finding eggs

Cute dude

Abby the oldest cousin there.

Another haul

The last dance

Ready to head to dance

Dance came to an end a week ago and I have to say I am relieved.  While it was perhaps one of the cutest  things I have seen it was also a battle. Emily liked the first few classes but after that she cried a lot. She wouldn't participate unless I was in the thick of it with her. She would always say she was ready and wanted to go but once we got there it was a different story.

Every child I have put into something when they were 3 years old. After each kid I have said I wont do it again because it is a battle most of the time. Yet here we are with child 3 and I did it again. I told Seth to remember when #4 hits 3 DO NOT let me sign them up for anything!

She is posing and acting so nicely because we were early and no one was there. Overall it was a good learning experience for her. But I think I will wait til she is 4 or older to sign her up for anything else.

Showing her hair

Lets go fly a Kite

Brigham

The bounce house at the party

 

I feel like I haven't posted much on Briggs lately . Maybe its because we are so busy all the time or he just wont sit still for pictures so I don't typically have many of him. But, he is getting so BIG! I cant believe it. He is already 5 and a half and wants desperately  to be older.

 

He loves to run, jump, play, be a ninja, do tricks on the trampoline, bug his sisters and anything disgusting. He is funny and has a great memory, he is excited for Kinder nest school year and loves to pretend he can speak Spanish.

Eating snacks (his buddy is the one to the left.)

I'm not one for taking my kids to Birthday parties that are not family. Mainly because there are so many its ridiculous and a lot of the time they are on Sundays. His Best buddy from school had a party he really wanted to go to. Since it was on a Saturday and I never take him I figured he could have a break.

He counted down every day until the party. We got the invite about 3 weeks in advance so you can understand how fun that was. He loved every second. He ran from adventure to adventure. He was in Heaven.

The Dino Zone

Getting ready to beat the Piñata

 Every Sunday my kids all look so cute dressed up but I don't take that many pictures because its annoying and it happens a lot. But when I climbed in the car to see Briggs had put on Seth's glasses and was sitting there like such a stud I couldn't resist.

Then there is this. I always find him sleeping funny. Here he  is in his sleeping as a frog picture. 

We sure love this little guy.

The Announcement

Its already been posted to Facebook and Instagram but just in case we missed anyone....