Logan - May 2013

Logan, Logan, Logan.  Where to begin with you my child?  Actually, I have the perfect picture to start off your letter because every time I see it I laugh.  You have been reading your Magic Treehouse books, and the boy character in the books likes to take notes in his notebook, so you've decided that you need to take notes in a notebook.  One night I went in to turn off your light after you had fallen asleep and found your notebook in your hand.  I flipped through the pages and found this...

I about died.  It still make me laugh.  The other pages had notes about this or that, but this one was just awesome.

I finally broke down and decided to let you start testing on books that you had read at school.  It isn't required for kindergartners, and I'd decided early in the school year that I wouldn't worry about it since it would limit the books you could test on next year, etc.  When I realized that you probably wouldn't be too short on books you could read and test on, and after talking to Mrs. DeMille who said you could probably take the tests by yourself without my help, you went for it.  Each kid in the school who reaches their yearly goal for Accelerated Reader "points" gets a t-shirt.  It's a pretty big deal to get your shirt.  Well because of the size of the books you were reading and the points they each were worth you earned your shirt in 2 weeks!  I was a pretty proud mama, and you were pretty proud yourself.  I have had to fight with you to keep you from continuing to test so you can test on those books for next year.  You wanted to see how high of a percentage you could get.

This is a picture I had to hurry and get before any of you noticed!  We were in the toy room one morning before school, and I realized that all 3 of you were playing together and nicely!  You all do get along pretty well, but most of the time Tyson is stealing toys or messing up board games or Tess is screaming about something or you are taunting her.  It was a nice few minutes of harmony that morning!

For some reason you guys have discovered that pulling weird faces is entertaining, and I got to say the words that come out of every mother's mouth at some point, "your face will freeze like that!"

I happened to look in my mirror and see you asleep in the car one day.  You don't fall asleep very often anymore, and you just looked so handsome and peaceful that I had to quickly take a picture.

You are also quite a nerd.  Tyson likes to pull the office chair out of our room away from the computer desk and push it around.  Then you got in on the antics and decided to ride around on it like this.  Sometimes I feel pretty lucky we get through the day without any major accidents.

T-ball started for you this month.  Excuse me, ADVANCED t-ball started for you this month.  They changed up the way they do the t-ball teams this year, and you were on an advanced team, which means you hit off the tee the first 3 games before switching to coach slow pitch for the rest of the season.  If I ever made the mistake of calling it just plain t-ball you were VERY quick to put me in my place and clarify that it was ADVANCED or coach pitch.  Got it bud!

These are pictures Aunt Lisa took from your first game, so you are using the tee, but when you switched to coach pitch you only needed to use the tee once! (After 5 pitches they pulled the tee out again to speed up the game).

Running the bases...

You still run a bit like you are in slow motion.  Finally after one of your games I made you race me across the basement.  You were convinced you would beat me no problem and were pretty shocked to see your old mom leave you in the dust.  After that I could see you sped up a little bit while running to the bases, but you did end up getting out a time or 2.

You got to play catcher during this game.  That's the position dad played in high school, but it's not quite as exciting in the t-ball circuit.

But you made some outs at home!

You had some of your friends from school on your team, and I think you really enjoyed it and are starting to understand and develop a love of the game more and more.  Your dad loves to see this, and so do I.  We want you to do what you love, but it is always fun to see you guys enjoying the things we love too.

(Doesn't Aunt Lisa do an awesome job capturing perfect shots?)

Well your next letter will come after kindergarten ends and summer begins and you turn 6.  It seems right.  You seem old enough to be 6, but I definitely find myself thinking about how it doesn't seem that long ago you were Tyson's age and younger.  We love you bud and have loved seeing how much you have grown this last year in school and with friends and so many other ways.

Hopefully we can keep your presents a secret until then.  I think dad and I are just as excited to give them to you as you will be to get them.

Love you bud,
Mom

Tessa - May 2013

Oh Tessa girl.  I'm late on this letter, but I've about decided I'm going to quit giving myself a deadline for these letters so then I won't ever be late.  I do have pictures this month though, and t-ball started, so on with the letter eh?

You have introduced Ty to the carousel at Honey's.  Even though the last few trips to the store it has been cold or windy or rainy (or all 3), you insist on getting on the carousel.  I think this time you actually ended up wanting to get off before it was done moving.

Conference Saturday dad was sick so I loaded you and your brothers up and headed out in the car.  I wasn't sure where we were going, but we had to get OUT.  We ended up at the park in Mocassin after I'd planned to go to Pipe Springs and then changed my mind about dragging 3 kids on a tour of an old fort by myself.  We bought Frazil's at the gas station on the reservation and ate Lunchables at the park and played for a while.

I had dad help me fix the tires on my bike and the bike trailer and took you and Ty on a few rides up to the Ranchos park while Logan was at school.  The park isn't the funnest place to go with Ty lately, but you both enjoy the ride in the trailer.  Me?  Not so much.  It's better than you and Logan were a couple years ago, but it's still over 50 pounds' worth of kids I end up hauling behind me.

You are such a helper around the house, always wanting to help cook or sweep or something.  You asked if you could do the dishes one day, and I finally let you figuring it would probably keep you and Ty occupied for a while even if there did end up being a mess.

One Saturday last month dad took us all to St. George for a fun day.  We went bowling...

and just like last time you were a big fan of the air blower.  The first ball you rolled down the lane just barely made it to the end.  I laughed when the speed showed up on the screen as 1.3 mph.  It was a LONG roll!  After that me and dad took turns giving your ball a little oomph to make it down the lane in under a minute.  We also went to Jumpin' Jacks and played on the bounce houses there for a while before going to dinner at the Chinese buffet.

Another Saturday dad was off fishing, so we made the most of our day by planting the garden and going to lunch at McDonald's, and then finally to the new reservoir to try to feed the ducks.  I told you guys to stay out of the water while I walked further down the bank to see if I could find any ducks to feed, but I should have also specified to stay out of the MUD.  You and Logan were stuck in the mud and couldn't get your shoes out.  I ended up with 3 nearly naked kids in the back of the car on the way home from that trip.

Your first t-ball game was a couple weeks ago.  You are on the Cardinals team and have decided you have a buddy in Deagan who is the son of Brandon Allen who works with dad.  One of the games the two of you spent more time running around together than you did paying attention.

But you also did a good job up to bat...

and skipping home...

twirling at third base...

and even tagging a player from the other team out!!

I think you were a little overwhelmed by the whole thing.  Opening day was pretty crazy with a lot of people up at the fields, and later you did tell me that there were a LOT of people there.  I love to watch kids in their first year of t-ball though.  It's so much fun to see you all chase the same ball and twirl and play in the dirt, etc.  You ask me almost every day if you have practice or a game.  I'm not sure if it is because you are excited to go or ready to be done, but I think you have enjoyed it.

Oh girly, I can't believe though that in less than a month you are going to be 4.  Weren't you just 2?  Where did 3 go?  Your dad and I just said the other day how pleasant you are lately.  You are definitely my "bloom where you are planted" girl, and I love, LOVE that about you.  You are very forgiving of this mom who doesn't always spend enough time with you and sometimes gets cranky.  I'm so glad I get to be your mom.  Sometimes I think that we are so very different, but I think that will be good for me.  I need a Tess in my life to help me remember to be happy where I am and notice the pretty things all around us (like every rock in our driveway that you've picked up and taken inside for your rock collection!").

Love you sis,
Mom

Tyson - April 2013 - 16 Months

I'm over a week late with your letter.  Do you want to know why?  You're getting a molar, maybe 2, and you are AWFUL.  I actually got tears in my eyes yesterday when I heard you waking up on the baby monitor.  Oh no, here we go again.  On top of the teething you have a horrible nasty cold with a bad cough that also keeps you up at night.  Motrin doesn't seem to touch either, and it's overall been a pretty fun party at our house the last little while.  I guess now would be a good time to look back at better days... :)

You had your second Pollock family Easter picnic the end of last month.  I had a blast taking you around to find candy.  I kept pulling candy off the bushes and giving it to you to put in your bucket, and instead you kept putting it back on the bush like uh, mom, can't you see this is where it goes?

What's the bucket for?

You eventually did figure it out and got some candy in your bucket.  Don't mind the scrapes on your face, it wouldn't be an Easter picnic if my baby didn't have a scratched up face for the whole family to see.

You had a pretty good time hanging out all day with family and getting to play in the dirt and eat candy.

Our family pulled the trailer out to camp this year, and you thought it was great to sit in the dirt and throw handfuls on your head.  You should have seen the bathtub after I got you out that night.

You've discovered the carousel at Honey's, and are a FAN.  You are ticked when it stops, and I have to pry your fingers off the handles with you screaming in my ear to get you in the car.

We have a tradition of going to Junction after FHE each week and getting an ice cream cone.  You obviously haven't been part of this tradition up until now when we decided we better start letting you try a baby cone.  It's an absolute mess, but it's better than hearing you whine while the rest of us eat our ice cream.

One night early this month you were unusually happy.  The big kids were in their rooms reading or playing before bed, and you were being as pleasant as can be going from room to room to hang out with everyone in the family.  You were in Tessa's room when we heard a loud noise followed by screaming.  Your dad and I ran in to see blood and pretty quickly figured out that you had cut your nose and near your eye.  When I dabbed your nose with a tissue to see how the bleeding looked one part of it moved while the other part didn't, and I knew we'd be taking a trip to the ER.  You actually calmed down in the car on the way there and even started bouncing to the music playing, but you looked pretty rough.

Four stitches, an hour or so of screaming, and a lot of waiting later, and you were all fixed up and ready to go home.  We waited so long to be discharged that you fell asleep after your traumatic night.

You had your stitches in for a week, and then we had the traumatic experience of getting them OUT.  I think that was even worse than getting them in!  I had this thought as I had your head pinned down between my arms and my leg that this probably won't be the last time we'll go through this experience, you and me.  Your dad and I aren't surprised that you are our first kid to end up with stitches, and only 15 months in!

Now when I see you do things like this I cringe.  I just wonder what it's going to be next.

We spent a day in St. George with dad a few weeks ago and went bowling.  One of your new favorite words is "bah" (ball), and you were in heaving looking around and pointing at all the balls.

We also went to Jumpin' Jacks, and you LOVED this slide and even talked dad into going down it with you.

We went out to the new reservoir in Kanab one day to see if we could find some ducks to feed.  I tried to keep you guys out of the water, but that wasn't happening.  I knew this look was coming as soon as you got close enough to touch the water.  I see it a lot whenever you know you're doing something I'm not going to want you to do.

You can tell you're not feeling good when you fall asleep on dad...

You sure love your binky, your blanky, and your shoes, so I had to make sure I got this picture the other day.  I didn't know how I was ever going to get you to give up the binky, but when you started getting this molar in you decided it wasn't doing much for you anymore, and you haven't used one since.  There have been times when I've been tempted to give it back to you just to keep you quiet though!  You still love shoes, and we have all noticed recently that we can usually only find one shoe at a time because you've carried the other one off somewhere.

You've really started to grown and become a little boy lately.  You can say daddy, puppy, shoe, ball, binky (which works for binky and blanky), Toby, Tessa, Logi, Mompy (mommy), and no (nose).  You can point to your belly, head, ears, eyes, nose, teeth, belly, bum, toes, and stick out your tongue.  You've got 8 going on 9 (maybe 10) teeth.  You LOVE to be outside and LOVE Toby.  You make t-ball games and going ot the park pretty tough because you are always on the go.  Even if you are cranky and miserable a lot of the time lately we still love you.  It's a dang good thing you're cute.

Love ya,
Mompy.