February 2023 - Meet Beau!

 

Easton finally got his driver's license the beginning of February!  It's been nice to have another driver.

We finally caved and got a puppy!

Meet Beau Cosmo!  Dyer was a bit upset that his name, Cosmo, didn't get chosen so I guess it is his middle name...

Crying!  So sad!  He probably was missing his family...

The kids knew we were getting a puppy but we got him a day earlier than we originally thought we would.  I didn't tell the kids when we found out so I filmed their reactions...

Blakely and KK

Easton

Beau loves Easton!

Blair and Dyer

So little!

Picking up the kids from school.  

We are trying to socialize him as much as we can but at the time he wasn't fully vaccinated yet so I would carry him.

Crazy hair day

January 2023

KK had to make something with 3D shapes for kindergarten.

KK got sick and missed her first week of swim.

I was driving in the car and kept hearing a slurping sound from the back.  I asked Eden what she was doing but she wouldn't answer me.  I finally parked and looked back to find her licking snow off her boot!  Gross!

I swear every week that I have to drive the middle schoolers to school (carpool) it snows!  I put off grocery pick up for a couple days because the weather had been so bad and I don't like to drive more than I have to.  Well, it was getting pretty bare at our house so I decided I would grab groceries after dropping off the kids at school.  That was a huge mistake!  The roads were super icy and tons of people were getting into wrecks.  I figured if I drove super slow and stuck to main roads I would be fine.  Nope!

I was on my way home when the traffic light turned yellow.  I was pretty far away from the intersection so I decided to stop-probably a bad idea with icy roads? However,  I'm not sure it would have been smart or safe to go through the intersection either!  I think it would have been a lose/lose situation. The road slightly goes down hill at that intersection so when I put my brakes on, the antilock brakes come on and I start sliding super slow down the hill towards the intersection...I thought for sure I was going to go right into the intersection and hit a car crossing the intersection.  Luckily I stopped just a little bit in the intersection (not far enough that I blocked any cars from passing but it was close) but the car right behind me was not so lucky.  They tried to swerve from hitting me but ended up sliding right into the back/side of my car.  The damage didn't seem that bad but once I finally got my car back from the shop it ended up costing about $4,000!!! Crazy!

 

I keep trying to get Dyer's laugh on camera because it is super contagious and it is only a matter of time before he goes through puberty and probably looses his laugh.  It's not the best laugh but I'm going to get trying...

Someone thinks they don't need to take naps anymore...however I still find her every once in a while curled up taking a nap!

Blair got to go to a choir training class for a day.  Only a certain amount of kids from each choir class was invited to go.  A bunch of schools from around the area went to Burly for the day to learn and then perform that evening.

Blakely and KK's llama room.

We ended up buying their bed because we ran out of time.  Bunk bed with trundle underneath.

Reading nook

Panorama view

Other side of the room.

I still need to make a trip to Ikea to get either buckets or shelves.

Swim

Easton, Blair and Blakely decided to do Hurricane swim team.  Easton and Blair did it back when we lived in Florida but this was new for Blakely.  KK decided to take swim lessons.  We couldn't convince Dyer to do swim.  The city pool has a huge bubble over it in the winter so that they can use it all year long.  In the summer the bubble comes off and it is an outdoor pool.  Walking into the pool reminds me of Florida- hot and humid.  It was definitely my happy place during the cold winter months.  The swim team had three time trails (Blair was sick for the 2nd time trail plus I didn't get any videos of the 2nd one).

Backstroke 50 yd:

Blakely backstroke (beginning)

Easton backstroke with Blair two lanes over

Easton and Blair backstroke (beginning)

Blakely and Blair backstroke (final)

Easton backstroke (final)

Blakely's best time 1.20.19

Blair's best time 1.00.78

Easton's best time 1.03.74

Breaststroke 50 yd:

Blakely breaststroke (beginning)

Easton and Blair breaststroke (beginning)-Easton messed up and had to retime his breaststroke at the end of class.

Blakely breaststroke (final)

Blair breaststroke (final)

Easton breaststroke (final)

Blakely's best time: 1.25.55

Blair's best time: 1.02.21

Easton's best time: 1.14.50

Butterfly (50 yd for Easton and Blair 25 yd for Blakely):

Blakely 25 yd butterfly (beginning)

Easton and Blair 50 yd butterfly (beginning)

Blakely butterfly (final)

Blair butterfly (final) She messed up and had to retime.

Easton butterfly (final)

Blakely best time: 36.21

Blair's best time: 1.00.00

Easton's best time: 1.19.28

Freestyle 50 yd:

Blakely freestyle (beginning)

Blair freestyle (beginning)-I accidently turned off the camera when I was trying to take a picture of Blair. Oops!

Easton freestyle (beginning)

Easton freestyle (final)-same video as above with Blakely doing the butterfly

Blair freestyle (final)

Blakely freestyle (final)

Blakely's best time: 1.16.89

Blair's best time: 50.27

Easton's best time: 49.93

KK Swim lessons:

KK missed the first week of swim because she got really sick.  I was a little worried that KK wouldn't like swim and that she would refuse to get in the pool (she wasn't a fan of the pool back in Florida plus she had her love/hate moments during basketball).  She ended up loving it and She wants to do swim again!

Magic Valley Madness

 Blakely was asked to join a travel team for basketball.  Her whole team was made up of 3rd graders but they were playing in a 4th grade league.  I think they ended up winning two games!  It was definitely a learning experience!  The rules were a lot different than what she was used to for community basketball so it took the girls a while to adjust and get more aggressive!

-The baskets were normal height

-Full court press

-Guard anyone (not like community where you had to guard the person with the same color band)

-Stealing allowed

-play man or zone

-Definitely not as much traveling or double dribble (kids seemed to get away with it a lot more in community ball)

Jump ball

Rebound/jump ball

Shooting free throw

Nice shot even though it didn't go in.

Fighting for the rebound

Steal at the beginning.  Not much to see with the rest of the video.

Rebound

Haha!  Such a great picture!  I had to take Eden to the bathroom so I gave my phone to Dyer and asked him to take videos while I was gone.  Of course he gave it to Nathan.  Blakely of course gets the ball, takes a shot and gets fouled.  Luckily I got back to the gym right as she was taking her first free throw.  Nathan totally didn't get it on video but instead took a picture?!?  At least I got to see her make a basket but why do my kids always seem to do things when I'm not filming?

Fighting for the rebound

Steal

Getting the rebound and going back up!  She didn't make it but I'm excited that she finally did it!

Takes a shot and gets fouled.

She makes the 2nd foul shot!

Fouled

Makes one of the free throws!

fighting for the rebound

Rebound

dribbling

Rebound and dribbling it out.

Fighting for the rebound

Dribbling and assist

Block/steal

Rebound (the ref at the end was telling the other team that they couldn't full court press because they were so far ahead of us).

Rebound

Oops!  Haha!  I think they actually called that a jump ball!?!

Fighting for the rebound

Rebound

Good job dribbling and protecting the ball.

Rebound

Rebound

Even though we didn't make a basket, I thought overall it was a really great play.

Rebound

Blakely has gotten a lot better at dribbling down the court after rebounding the ball.  Her passes have improved a lot as well (even though it was a little close in this video).

Rebound and dribbling up

Rebound and dribbling up

Blakely definitely improved as the season went on.  She gained more confidence.  She does need to work on catching the ball and shooting more.  I'm excited to see her team compete next year.