School's Out!

We made it through the school year! Bringing home a winter baby to a first grade/preschool/toddler scene made a few of our school year months feel so overwhelming to me. Spring has definitely made things easier, and the boys had a great end to their year. We love their school. 

I hated the news this week, so, so much. I want my kids and all kids to be able to feel and be safe in their classrooms and my heart broke so many times this week as we learned more and more details about the tragedy in Texas. I loved school so much growing up and my babies deserve a world where they can have those experiences too. 

On Monday I took Bennett, Camden, and Asher to meet Westin and all the first graders on their field trip to the park. Westin finished up school on Wednesday and we had fun going out that night to celebrate together. Our first day of summer was smooth, we have some nice checklists set up for the boys and they did a great job at driving it themselves. We met up with some friends at the park, and the next day we did a library trip and got ready for the boys to go camping.

Michael, Westin, and Bennett went camping up. the on Friday night and they were so excited about it. I almost, almost changed my mind last second and brought the little guys along too but decided to let the big kids have their own trip. Camden and I had a really fun time together -- he is so high emotions when Michael is around because he just loves his daddy so much and can't really handle when Michael isn't doing exactly what he wants him to do. Westin used to be just like that. It's a lot of love, but kind of overwhelming :) So he was really chill with me Friday/Saturday and it was fun to have that time together. Asher slept wonderfully that night, too, which was appreciated because the next night Bennett threw up five times and we.... are tired of that. Poor guy. He feels great now though, so who knows.

We're feeling ready to head into our first full week of summer!

Westin and his crew eating lunch on his field trip

The boys loved hanging with a bunch of first graders

Bennett is working hard on his counting. I'm so proud of how hard he works.

Sweet boy looking way too big in his jacket.

Last day of first grade,
the day after tragedy in Texas. I cried after dropping him off. Sweet, sweet boy.

Out for pizza after the first day of school!

And shakes. Bennett confidently chose lime and it cracked me up.

So many boys hanging out on our street on the first day of summer.

Asher was very, very into this jar of pears that Brooklyn so patiently fed to him.

Always sticking his tongue out like a little puppy.

Just us on a Friday night while the big kids went camping with daddy!

These two were so, so excited to go camping.

We did some handprints on some thank you cards for a fundraiser happening soon.

Westin's very into shooting hoops since watching March Madness.

Almost Summer

 We're heading into the final days of school!

Bennett finished this week. He did two years of the pre-k program at our elementary school and I loved that he was in the same place as Westin. We've played with his bestie from school a couple times since then and they have fun. 

Westin finishes this Wednesday and then we are in summer mode! We're looking forward to some mini camping trips and a long Utah trip in the next couple months. 

Camden has clicked with his balance bike. He goes so fast now! I'm a little bummed this happened literally the last week of school, because we worked so hard to get him up to speed for school walks, but I'm glad it's happened. This should make for some walks this summer that are actually exercise for me now.

Michael and I have been staying up too late watching this show and then Asher has been waking up too often, so nights are a little silly right now. But on Friday I worked out before my family woke up for the first time since Asher was born. That feels like a milestone. But it still doesn't feel all the way in my control -- if he's up from 2-4:30 like last night, I'm not working out at 6 :) But if he has a good night, I loved starting the day like that. Though Michael thought I went downstairs to make a delicious breakfast, so... that was a little disappointing for him, haha. Oh man, I don't know if I can ever do all the things! But baby steps during these baby days.

Pretty low key week, heading into hopefully some low key summer days. I made the boys a checklist for things to get done each day before they ask me to watch a show and I hope that helps put our days on autopilot mode rather than mom nagging mode. But we know there will be both!

Bennett had his bestie from school over and they had a lot of fun.

Sitting up. My heart.
And now I'm posting all the variations of this picture because I love them all,
and I love this baby, and I want to freeze time except for the days when I love that time is moving :)
But mostly I want to freeze time.

Their bond.

Empanada time

Camden totally has skeeter syndrome

This cutie is a nightmare at bedtime these days. Crying and whining for 90+ minutes.
We're testing out quiet time rather than nap time, but he still falls asleep during it.

I took these boys on a walk instead of putting them to bed one night.
Summer does that to you.

6 Months of Asher

 We feel like it's almost summer! We're getting a little slower at getting ready for school each day :)

This weekend was so summery. Kids were outside our house all day, or inside, or out back, playing with our backdoor neighbor's grandkids or friends on our cul-de-sac, or friends from school down the street. We had a barbecue with ward friends Saturday night, and dropped some cookies by Camden's sweet nursery leader and a birthday friend on Sunday. It just felt like the most social weekend we've had since Covid hit us all, so it was happy and exhausting. We have the best neighbors.

Michael needs to take up yoga -- his long cases at work aren't always easy on him later in the day. He does the Wordle and Worldle with Westin each day and Westin loves it. He still falls asleep during our shows at night, which we used to blame residency for and now I think we know that's just a habit we're hanging on to. He's enjoying young men's, and is still the absolute center of Camden's universe.

Westin did his Problem-based Learning presentation at school this week, which was about bees and researching how we can help them and why helping pollinators is a good thing. He loves activity days and is doing great at piano and swim lessons. He keeps asking me to sign him up for Flag Football, which he has never played and which I have not done yet. And he dribbles his basketball on our deck all the time since watching March Madness. He is super mad at me because I told him I wouldn't read him the second Harry Potter book until he read the first book on his own. He doesn't really read by himself much and I want him to practice that skill of reading in his head. So he's been reading at night with his head lamp more and hopefully it boosts his confidence in tackling books.

Bennett has had a couple play dates with his bestie from preschool, and can't wait to have him over to our house next week. He was so excited this week for his Spring Zing, which is like field day, and talked about it so much. He works so hard at speech, and is getting more comfortable in the water at swim. Ever single time I ask him what we should have for dinner he says pizza and salad. This was his last full week of preschool and I can't believe it! These cute boys are getting bigger.

Camden is working hard at being ok with nursery. On the way to church he just says all the phrases he's heard from his sweet leaders or from Michael and me, like, "I'm safe in nursery. Grown ups come back!" And then says, "I won't cry." Then we get in there and he cries :) But I know he's doing his best. And we leave him crying in there now and they say that he's always ok in a minute or two, and is always happy when we pick him up. He happily yells, "You came back!" Which is almost as heartbreaking as it is adorable. We took his nursery leader cookies on Sunday because she has been such a huge helper for him and he loves her.

Asher is getting better at sleeping since we took away his swaddle. We tried his first two foods this week! He spit out all the mashed avocado bites and made faces at us, but the applesauce seemed to be a little more successful. He has his 6 month check up and he is in the 22nd percentile for height, 84th percentile for weight, and 96th percentile for head size. Skinny little cutie. He regularly sleeps on his stomach, which is still so new to me and cracks me up. Still nursing regularly, which is a blessing as I feel all this stress for formula-feeding mamas right now. Such crazy effects of this world just coming one after the other it seems. Asher is such a joy and we love him.

6 months of Asher.
I can hardly believe it.

I can't help but take a picture every time I catch this cutie sleeping.
He never slows down.

Walking home with our sweet Jocie friend!

Not the most appropriate picture BUT it took us a while to get this little guy to be ok with peeing outside, and our lives are now going to be easier because of it. 
Not sure why this was a hurdle? Kids.

Washing the table off, Camden liked scrubbing it!
Time for more dinners outside!

I call him my baby bird in this little suit of his.
He flaps his arms like tiny wings and I just love him.

Bennett works SO hard at speech.
Last week he said, "My mouth is tired," when we were done,
and my heart just loves his sweet soul.

Kids are pouring over our back fence both ways these days and it's a party.
Feels like summer is here, just a few more school days!

Lunch on the curb for these cuties.

I've been walking at night now that the days are brighter longer, and I like this little trail near my house.
But I did not like sharing it with a coyote. Didn't like that at all.

Camden likes putting ants and roly-polies in his dump truck, and was thrilled when daddy put in a little millipede. 

First time rocking the wild bird wrap instead of the moby/solly situation and he loved it. We even mowed the lawn for a bit but then the battery died, so we weren't much help to Michael at all in the end.
But we tried.

Such a sweetheart. Getting chunky!

We had a barbecue at a park with some friends on Saturday night and it was near a farm.
Camden loved the horses and cows.

Hard to believe my days in the Mother's room at church are numbered.
Definitely looking forward to easier Sundays, but I'll miss this sweet baby when he's on the move.

The back of his overalls are my favorite.
That's a leaf on his bum, not poop. Felt like I needed to clarify that.