Tyson - May 2012 - 5 Months

As I sat down to pick pictures for this letter I had a hard time picking just a few so, yeah, we've got picture overload again this month.  Then again, I think pictures are probably better than my ramblings anyway, so I guess we're good!

You started getting pretty good at rolling over right at your 4-month mark, but it took you a few more days to master it pretty well.  In the meantime, I enjoyed watching you struggle.  

Just kidding, it is actually really hard to sit back and watch you try, but since that is how you learn I had to do it.  You've gotten pretty good at it in the month since then, and I'm not going to be too surprised if you end up rolling around the house like your brother did.  I remember losing him a few times after setting him in the middle of the floor only to come back and find him missing because he rolled away and around the side of the couch or somewhere.  

I caught you and your dad having fun the other night, and it was just too cute to not take some pictures of...

It's been such a windy spring that even when we have been brave enough to make it to the park I have kept you in your carseat, but I was finally able to get you out the other day and get you in the grass.  You weren't quite sure about the grass that tickled your feet a little bit, but I think you enjoyed yourself quite a bit.  Look at that dreamy look on your face.

...and here's a few that are just dang cute that I couldn't resist putting in.  Pretty much everyone who sees you remarks about how big and expressive your eyes are.  You do make some pretty cute faces, and I'm in love with those big brown eyes myself.

Smiles!  I love 'em!

Last month I put a picture of you in your fire shirt in your letter, but this month I was smart enough to remember to get a picture of you in your shirt and your dad in his. You've got fire in your blood (on both sides), and I don't think either me or your dad would be sad if you decided to work a few summers doing that.  

There's those eyes again!

Last month you decided you loved chewing on your hands, and this month you decided your toes are even better.  It is pretty funny to watch Logan try to do the same thing.  I guess you ought to enjoy those toes while you can still reach them.

I put you in the ExerSaucer the other day, and the first time you pretty much hated it, but you are getting more and more used to it every time.  You spent a good 5 minutes trying to get that little green and blue elephant into your mouth the other day, then cried when you finally did.  Spinning the noisy thing rolly thing on the other side is another favorite pastime of yours lately too.

The other day the big kids were at grandma and grandpa's house and dad was working late, and boy we were bored.  You were a little cranky but not quite ready for bed so we had a dance party in the kitchen instead.  You really did enjoy it, although it doesn't look like it in the picture...

I was trying to wait until 6 months to start you on solid foods because I HATE baby food.  Hate it, but lately you've been acting more and more interested in the food that the rest of us are eating, as in you nearly lunged right out of my hands the other day trying to get my toast, and because were were bored last weekend I mixed up some cereal to see how you would do.  To my surprise you actually ate all of the little bit that I mixed up for you.  Maybe this box of cereal won't go to waste like the boxes I bought for Logan and Tessa.  Then this afternoon I was eating a banana when you tried to snatch that, so I mashed some up for you, and you enjoyed that too.  So much for waiting until 6 months.  I'm pretty sure I'll regret starting this whole mess so early, but you seem to enjoy it, and maybe, JUST maybe it will help you sleep longer at night.

Another thing you have been working on is reaching for things - and not just food.  You have a few favorite toys that you are getting better at getting for yourself and keeping a hold of them for a while.  You seem like you might be close to getting a tooth here soon, but I'd be happy if you waited on that one for a while too.  I love gummy baby smiles, and I'm not quite ready to start the teething thing just yet.  It seems like once you start you don't stop until you are 2.  Besides, you still aren't sleeping any better than you were when you were a couple weeks old, and I'd hate to think that teething could make that worse.  Let's try to work on that this month.  Getting up a couple times at night is starting to make me cranky, and with a whole summer ahead of us with no city pool or lawn at home, the big kids will definitely be needing all the help they can get to keep mom from being cranky.

Love you Tiger,
Mom

Logan - May 2012

How is it already the middle of May?  I wonder at the age you are when you read these letters if the years are flying by for you too or if that just happens when you have kids and can measure the weeks and months and years in holidays and birthdays so anxiously awaited, school years, and summertimes?  Maybe it's because of a combination of all of those things at this time of year that makes me feel like things are flying.  Today was your very last day of preschool so a school year ends, a summertime begins (your last before you start your elementary school days), and your 5th (FIFTH!) birthday less than a month away now.  My goodness boy.

I better not get ahead of myself and start with the pictures from last month and go forward. 

This one is from an assignment you did at school.  It wasn't the assignment that caught my eye, it was the swirly-curly letters you had drawn.  You were pretty proud of them too!  I thought I had better take a picture so I could show you when you are older and get a laugh.  one of the things we are going to work on this summer is writing your "g"'s the right way instead of backwards.  It drives me crazy!

T-ball started again last month, and you have a really fun team.  Your buddy Kashton Kabonic along with Kyan Lyman and Janae and Hallie Beckstead have made it a fun team for you and for me!  You are doing so well this year, and you love to go to practice and to games.  Your favorite thing to do when we play at home is to have me or dad pitch to you instead of hit off the tee.  You do pretty well that way too!  Catching, throwing, and perfecting your stance are what you work on these days instead of which way to run when you hit the ball.  It is easy to see that you have grown since last year.  Your dad bought you some cleats, and we think they might be the reason you are a little on the slower side when you run to first base, but if you think we can talk you out of wearing them for the sake of speeding you up - well we'd all be wrong!

Love, love, love that baseball-pants butt!

We went to a fundraiser dinner in Fredonia a couple weeks back, and you and Tessa were able to go for a pony ride.  You were pretty excited and kept talking to me about the baby horses.  I explained that they were actually ponies and not just baby horses, but I think you and Tessa both like the baby horses idea better.

It's garden time again, and you and Tess came out to help me plant.  You both begged and begged to be the ones to take the plants out of their containers and put them in the ground, then of course when you saw the water turn on you came running over again.  I thought this was a pretty cute moment that I caught of the 2 of you sneaking a drink.

The other night as I was getting ready for bed I walked toward your room to turn off your light and saw this outside your door....

When I got closer and picked up the pages you had slipped under the door I got kind of teary eyed...

 Have I ever mentioned what a sweet, SWEET kid you are?  Every night you stay up in your room after we've said prayers and read books, and you color or draw.  You told me the other day that you stay up "working."  Well I love it.  You drew some pictures of grandma and grandpa and one of Aunt Lisa too.  I love to take that walk down the hall at the end of my day and see if you've left me a piece of art.

Yesterday at school was your end of the year Safari program.  You did such a good job being a Safari guide and got to do eensy weensy spider with Kashton, and you were "Jack" in Jack and Jill.  Your dad and I were talking last night about how grateful we were that you were able to get into Ms. April's class.  You have loved every minute of it and have learned SO much.  I am excited for you to start kindergarten, but when I walked into your class today and saw all the tables and toys and things put away and the walls undecorated, I was so sad!

And here you are today in front of the door on your last day.  I did a quick comparison with your first day of school picture that we took here, and you are a bit taller now than you were, but where you have really grown is in that brain of yours.  I can't believe how well you read.  You go around sounding out words everywhere you see them!

The next time I write a letter you will be 5 years old.  That makes me feel old!  I'm so excited to see what happens when you turn 5, since you knew everything suddenly when you turned 4!

Love you buddy,
Mom

Tessa - May 2012

April, April was quite a month Tessa girl.  First we started off with our conference weekend/Easter celebration with Grandma and Grandpa Hillier.  Grandma is the one who finally talked me into cutting your bangs.  I had been thinking about it for quite a while, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it because I know what a pain it is to grow bangs out.  I had talked to my friend Kasidee about it after I saw the bangs she and her daughter Bentlee had, and she said I could totally do it on my own.  Well I got brave, sat you down on grandma's coffee table, grabbed some scissors and water, and cut you some bangs.  I ended up cutting them a bit shorter than I wanted (they shrunk up more than I expected), but all in all I think I did a pretty decent job for someone who doesn't even style their hair let alone cut hair!

Here's one of your first pictures with the new 'do after you finished gathering up the eggs Aunt Lisa and Uncle Joe hid for you and Logan at grandma's house Sunday afternoon.  Grandma also found an old Hurricane Elementary School Cougars shirt of mine, and you and Logan both thought it was funny that it fit you guys and not me.

The next night we had family home evening, and our tradition is to have our lesson and then go get ice cream at Junction afterwards.  Most of the time you guys get the regular vanilla soft serve baby cones, but this time the girl asked if you guys wanted the chocolate frozen yogurt in your cones instead.  I said yes, but when I got home I realized that was probably a bad idea.  As I was pulling into our driveway Logan said, "Uh, mom, Tessa made a HUGE mess."  Yep, you sure did.  It was like you had held the ice cream in your hands and licked it out of them or something.  Your hands and face were covered.  It did make for a really good cute picture though.  I sent it to your dad who was in New Mexico at the time, and he was still having a hard time believing you were the same girl.  Those bangs make you look so much different.

The weekend we went out to Kodachrome with the Pollock side of the family for the Easter lunch and candy hunt.  You and Logan have got this figured out pretty well by now, and of course you came home with your buckets full of candy.  Every year I finally give in about a week later and just let you eat whatever is left because I get so sick of hearing, "Mom, can we have a piece of candy?"  It is fun to watch you 2 barter over the candy that you like though.  "Hey Tessa, I'll give you some Tootsie Rolls for your M&M's..."

The weather was just about perfect.  In the years I have been married to your dad it has rained, snowed, or been so hot or windy that it isn't always as nice as it was this year.  You guys played and played, sliding down the yellow hill and getting sand in your pants and shoes.

Other than the Easter celebrations, we pretty much just hung out at home and did our usual routine.  It's funny to watch you and Ty as he gets bigger.  One morning you asked to hold him and it had been a while since you had last held him, and I laughed pretty good to see how you struggled to hold on to him.  He's half your size all of a sudden!  You better watch out or he's going to pass you up sooner than later.

You can be a little bit of a diva at times, dear daughter, and I think it has something to do with the fact that everywhere you go people call you a princess.  The other day in the car you weren't minding, and I turned around and told you that you were NOT a princess and you needed to listen.  Your dad looked a little shocked that I would tell you something like that, but goodness girl, as much as I love you - you AREN'T a princess.  You sure act like one any time someone asks you to help pick up or do something else you don't want to do.  Just the other Sunday I asked you to finish your dinner before you could have a popsicle. You wouldn't do it, and things escalated from there.  Pretty soon I put you in your room and told you that you couldn't come out the rest of the night.  Sure enough when I went to check on you 10 minutes later, you were sound asleep and DID stay in your room the rest of the night.  Whether it is that stubbornness or just plain faking being tired or sick so you don't have to help Logan pick up the toy room, it looks like I've got a long road ahead of me to convince you may not be the princess that everyone thinks you are!

I love when I get a chance to sit down and play with you one on one or happen to walk by a room where you are playing by yourself and listen to your imagination as you play.  I am hoping to get you into Logan's preschool next year because of how much interest you have shown in school after we stopped going to Ms. Teresa's and also because I think the teachers there are AWESOME, and doing 2 years there would only do you good.  At the same time though it makes me feel like I am rushing you too fast.  The absolute LAST thing I want is for you to start to compare yourself to others and change who you are.  I see it in Logan here and there, and I know it is a natural thing humans do when we interact with others, but oh how I would do anything to keep you from changing who you are.

We love you so much sweet girl, even when you refuse to help pick up and especially when you tell us "ab-so-woot-wee."

Love you Sis,
Momma