Mom and Dad's Birthdays

Mom and Dad had birthdays, just like every year.  Dad turned 37 this year!  We ate peanut butter bars  for the cake which was so yummy.  Teagan had a soccer game that night so we didn't get to do anything too terribly exciting, luckily, we have many more years to make up for the lameness.

My birthday was also lame because we were quarantined at home for coronavirus.  I actually didn't mind it at all.  We got Texas Roadhouse takeout for dinner, Crumbl cookies for my cake and Zac got me lots of fun presents and flowers.  I got lots of calls from friends and the Heaths even came over and sang me an awesome version of "Lean on Me."  It ended up being an awesome 

Post-Poned Baptism

Eloise was so excited to get baptized!  Her birthday was on Wednesday March 11, and she was supposed to get baptized on March 14th-Pi Day!  It was all planned, pies were going to be made and we were counting down the days.  Her birthday came and went and that Thursday before her baptism,  the first presidency of the church came out with an announcement that church and all church related functions were canceled until further notice because of coronavirus.  

We were so bummed, especially Eloise, but I guess it will make it even more special when she is finally able to get baptized.  Zac and I are thinking about just setting up a pool in the backyard, but Eloise would rather wait until she can have an official baptism at the church.

Hopefully her beautiful dress will still fit by the time we are able to have her baptism.  We will just keep being patient until then.

Happy 8th Birthday Eloise!

Eloise turned 8!  She is so smart, fun and sweet.  We love having her in our family.  Eloise loves to play and has recently started getting more into tennis.  Instead of spring soccer this year she wants to take tennis lessons.  She loves gymnastics and seems very bouncy and she does her tricks and flips around the house.  

She works hard in school and we get lots of positive feedback from her teachers about her constant willingness to help and show kindness to other children in her class.  She loves everything about school, except being chased by boys at recess, but I think she likes that too.  haha. She does stay in at recess from time to time or go to the office and call me for random things to try to prolong going out to recess.  

Eloise was able to have her first ever friend birthday party and she loved every second.  First, they all came over and we had pizza and cupcakes.  

Then Eloise got to experience the magic of opening presents from her friends.  She was in heaven and loved everything that they gave her.  What a treat!  Next we headed to Elite Gymnastics Studio and they got to run around and play for a while.  It was so much fun!  The kids were all exhausted when we finally left.  We made everyone shower when we got home because coronavirus is starting to spread around this area!

Then her actually birthday came and she was so excited to get a romper (jumpsuit, one piecer??? I don't know what to call it).   She also got a swimsuit and goggles and a fun swim party lego set.  She loved getting breakfast in bed, which she ended up eating at the table during scriptures.

We didn't have any family over because they were all planning on coming a few days later for her baptism...if only we could have known that it was going to be postponed...

Random Winter Pictures

Addy learned about boxes at school and was supposed to take a box and make it into something new. She made this one into a shark which was super fun!  

She also has started to love writing and writes the cutest little notes.  This particular one was for Zac and I and it says, "I have been waiting for you all of my life."

I got to help at Eloise's class Valentines party and it was so fun.   We played cup stacking and raced each other to build and knock over the tower of love.  The second grader  were so much fun!

Adeline and Everly love their quiet playtime in the mornings after the big kids go to school and before Adeline gets on the kindergarten bus.  I always make them sandwiches for lunch but they always end up trying to steal my delicious sunflower crunch salad.  I guess there are worse things than my kids loving salad so I usually share...unless I'm feeling cranky.

Everly is....Everly.  She is very opinionated and loves to let her opinions be heard...loudly.  She knows what she wants to wear, what she wants to eat, who she wants help from and so many other things.  we are definitely in the stage where she is having to learn that wanting something doesn't equal getting something so she gets to have lots of timeouts for throwing fits.

She is definitely sassy, but also so so so funny!  We all laugh at the funny things she says and does every day.  She loves to give hugs and snuggle and especially loves to help me do anything in the kitchen.  She is a daddy's girl and always wants Zac to put her to bed.  Here she is fast asleep after a little snuggle with Dad.  She also loves this dress and wants to wear it all day every day.  And if you're wondering, potty training is still a struggle.  She figured out her #2 thank goodness, but #1 is a problem about 8 times a day.  I'm starting to wonder if something is medically going on because she is just not getting it.  One day she will read this and hopefully we have it all figured out by then.

A Visit with Great Grandma Packer

We haven't been getting chances to visit great grandma Packer as often so we decided to make a special trip to visit her one Saturday.  It was so much fun spending time with her.  The kids loved playing with all her fun, old-fashioned toys.  I had the chance to admire the amazing quilts she's been working so hard on for all of her great-grandchildren for when they graduate.  My favorite part was going downstairs and looking at all of her old records.  She has a record player and we listened to a few.  The sound quality wasn't great, but it was still so cool.  

She told me that she used to listen to records with her dad when she was younger.  Most of the music was classical, she talked about playing the violin and how they recorded a song with her orchestra (I think, I'm a little sketchy on the details).  It was just such a cool experience to listen with my grandma and imagine her listening with my great grandpa.  Music is an amazing thing.

We knew that coronavirus was coming so we went before it made its way to the United States.  We watched as China, South Korea and Italy all completely shut down and we knew that it was only a matter of time before we had to shut down too.  I'm SO glad that we were able to go visit her, we probably won't be able to again for months.

Wonderful Grandma and her Wonder Blocks

Grandma Packer came over with her wonder blocks and we all had so much fun building with them and making slow motion videos of the towers crashing down.  These toys are the best!

Vision Therapy Update

I am still in vision therapy, it's almost been a year.  I am making lots of progress and am even experiencing stereopsis from time to time in real life.  Snow, clouds, and trees have been some of favorite discoveries.

Eloise was complaining about reading and wasn't really progressing and said a few things that made me think that she might have some vision problems.  Her teacher said that she was struggling to see the board and complained about her vision.  We decided to take her into see Dr. Dan and make sure she didn't have any vision issues.  

She checked out pretty well but has one eye that isn't quite as good as the other so she ended up getting glasses with a small prescription.  We've been working extra hard on reading and she is taking off and has started reading chapter books.  Ivy and Bean have been her favorites!