Hanging out with the girls

On maxes birthday we all went to watch his little soccer gathering. I used the hour to hang out with the girls, throwing a ball and throwing the frisbee with them at the park. It was a lot of fun and very relaxing. It also turns into a mini photo shoot which I enjoyed as well. Where do I love taking pictures of my girls and my boy, especially outside and especially playing with portrait mode.

Clair struggles to show me her eyes outside, because of her sensitivity to the sun. But I still very much enjoyed this little photo series.

Ellie is always photogenic, unless she’s in a bad mood. And she’s gorgeous too! I can’t wait for her to figure that out about her self.

Max turns double digits!

This year, during the coven 19 pandemic, max turn 10. Max is my early bird. He was born at 7:30 in the morning. His birthday comes in each year with a bang. He is up and full of excitement and ready to go. He planned his celebration day at home. He knew we weren’t having a party. But we were able to have some fun with neighborhood friends in the afternoon, and he was able to go play soccer with a group of guys in the evening. I also made him a cake he was very happy with and he got a lot of presents. Finally Gramma joined us in the afternoon while he opened presents, and Granny and Miller joined virtually as well. So while we didn’t have a big party for him, we had a lot of little events throughout the day to celebrate. I even took half a day of vacation to try to make sure I could make this special for him.

 He is a handsome fellow. He is sweet and kind. He is emotional. He’s quick to anger and quicker to forgive. He’s quick to step in and try to make somebody feel better. He’s the first one to offer to help and solve a problem if he thinks he can. He loves to joke. He loves to just have a good time. He loves to snuggle and he loves all things soft. He says his prayers each night and he believes in God. He is a good friend to anyone who gives him a chance. He enjoys soccer, and enjoys hanging out with Henry. He plays so well with his sisters.

This past year was a lot for him. He had to deal with a couple surgeries as we sought to try to help sort out his digestive problems. He learn to adapt to life without like this. He learned better habits to help his digestive system. I hope he’s taking these things forward and that 10 will be the easier year for him.

Here are a couple pictures throughout the day:

Virtual year end piano recital

Through the pandemic closings, piano lessons continued. I’m thankful that children have this continuity in their life with real lessons, via zoom, continuing from Miss Nancy.

It’s amazing what Max and Clair both learned after just one year of piano, especially with half of her being removed. And, Ellie‘s progress after another year is really magnificent. She’s learning to play very complex music and is becoming very enjoyable to listen to.

The benefit of the virtual recital was that people who usually cannot attend did, like aunt Katie and uncle Danny and Granny. They all enjoyed listening to the children play. The children did a wonderful job. Ellie received 10 scale ribbons. Max received three scale ribbons. Clair received her C major scale ribbon and also braved being the first student is the whole show, with grace!. I’m very proud of them all.

Meeting Aliza

We got the pleasure of meeting Eliza when she was about 10 days old. We got to go up to the H house and meet the baby while the kids went swimming. 

Everybody enjoyed baby snuggles and Cousin playtime. Aunt Julie Got nearly 2 hours worth of precious snuggle time from this doll baby. Mama and baby are both doing great.

Aliza has so many different facial expressions. I love taking pictures of her. I especially loved a moment where Claire was holding her and singing to her. I then noticed that it sounded like Aliza was humming with Clair while Clair saying to her. It was so sweet. And I was happy I caught it on video. I must’ve watch that video 20 times.

A few pictures from the day. 

Baby cousin is born

It’s been along time since we had a new baby in the family. I think we all thought that season in life had passed. We are so blessed that Jerred and Vicki were able to have Aliza Ivory. 

Everybody was so excited for her arrival. She’s a sweet pleasant little baby girl. The H family seems to be adjusting extremely well. This little girl has so much love in her life and all her big siblings love her so much. Her big cousins love her too. And they could not wait to meet her!

Claire has been particularly interested in growing family. Being the youngest cousin, she hasn’t gotten to experience anything like this. When the other kids were younger there was nearly a new baby or two every year. This makes Aliza’s welcoming even more special to Clair and to everyone else. 

Virtual field day

The last school activity I think we did was field day. I let each kid pick two activities for us to do and we invited some neighbors over to do field day activities for an hour. I think everyone generally had a good time. The fun was cut short by a thunderstorm.

I’m going to admit that I wasn’t thrilled with the teachers dropped having to plan field day or nice parents. But in the end, being able to arrange my work schedule to take an hour off and do this with the kids turned out to be something I felt proud of.

Champion Ball

Wet wet Dry

Mosquito 

I think this was just a water gun battle eventually. 

Popsicles to end the day!