Brynlee is Six!

     This year Brynlee turned Six. Where has the time gone? She sure is the best little helper. She is great at getting things ready for me and at helping her little sisters. She is a pretty fun loving girl that loves to play with and talk to people. She makes friends wherever she goes. She has grown so much. Here are some pictures so you can see how much she has grown followed by some fun facts about Brynlee.

Height: 46.56 in. (63%)
Weight: 44.8 lbs. (43%)
Favorite Color: Yellow
Favorite Show: PJ Masks
Favorite Movie: Harry Potter 5
Best Friends: Rori, Madison, Natalee, Xanti, Anna, Kyla, and Summer
Favorite Animal: A tame cat
Favorite Food: Spaghetti
Favorite Dessert: Lemon Pie
Favorite thing to do: Movie Night
Favorite Song: Gethsemane
Favorite Book: The Little White Owl and Junie B. Jones
Favorite Toy: Shopkins
Favorite Game: Hide and Go Seek
Favorite place to go: The park
What she wants to be when she grows up: A singer

     Brynlee loves watching movies and playing outside. She hates when we stay home all day and is constantly begging to have friends over and to have sleepovers. She has had a few sleepovers with cousins and had a blast. I think she stayed awake until almost 12:30 last time so she was super grouchy the next day. She hates being late anywhere so she is a little slave driver before any outing trying to hurry everyone out the door. She is good at packing the lunches and helping me get things ready so that we are on time. Many times she is ready to go hours before we need to leave. 

     Brynlee is a great big sister. Lately when Anna gets hurt she wants Brynlee to comfort her and Kyla thinks Brynlee is pretty great. Whenever Kyla needs help and I am not available, Kyla looks for Brynlee. Brynlee hates doing chores and often complains about them but does them really quickly and easily, although she likes to hide things under her bed and in her closet. 

     Brynlee has a hard time falling asleep and pretty much never falls asleep in the car or anywhere that is not her bed. Her and Kyla are often times awake in their room for hours with Brynlee singing or sneaking books that she looks at. 

     Brynlee is becoming a pretty good little reader. She knows all of her sight words from kindergarten and can sound out all of the word that can be sounded out. She loves to color, draw, cut and do crafts. We have been checking out lots of books on tape from the library and Bryn will listen to those over and over again. She listened to all of the Junie B. Jones books and the A to Z Mysteries and has now started to listen to the Magic Tree House books. 

    Brynlee is probably the pickiest eater in our house. She hates nuts, beans, and most vegetables. She still gets super whiney when she doesn't get her way and is quite bossy. She likes things done her way and she is not happy when things don't go as planned. I think that comes from being the oldest. I try not to put too much responsibilities on her young shoulders cause I know what that is like. I was the oldest in my family and I see a lot of myself in her. Brynlee loves to sing and dance around the house and she makes our home a happy exciting place to be. We sure do love this girl. 

Summer's Blessing Day

     The day after Kyla turned two we got to take little Summer to church and she was given a name and a blessing by her dad. My parents and Alesha came and my grandma and Aunt Lora were there because they are in our ward. Joel's brother Jake and his whole family came as well as his sister Joanna with all of her kids. Joel's friend Jake from work also came for the occasion as well as Joel's parents. All of Joel's family left and then went to their own ward right after.

     Summer was given a beautiful blessing. She was blessed with the ability to know good from evil and she was giving a blessing to be married in the temple and to be an example to all those around her. I didn't hear her make a sound during the whole thing but apparently she was super wiggly and Joel's brother Jake said he was afraid they were going to drop her or that she would wiggle right out of their hands. Luckily she didn't. Joel held Summer up for everyone to see and then lovingly brought her back to me. Summer ended up spitting up all over her dad right before he handed he back over to me. She got him pretty good. Haha.

     It has been a real blessing to have all of these girls in our home. Joel and I were watching our girls play this morning and Joel just looked at me and marveled at how blessed we are. I sure feel that way. I can't wait for little Summer to join her sisters in all of their adventures but for now I am just enjoying getting to snuggle with her. We all love this baby a lot.

     Summer wore the same blessing dress that all of her sister's wore so I will leave you with a picture of each of my girls on the day they were blessed.

Kyla's Birthday

     Kyla's birthday was on a Saturday this year so we celebrated with some purple cake and ice cream that same day. Every time I (or anyone else) asked Kyla what she wanted for her birthday she would get really excited and yell, "I want PURP O BIRTDAY Cake!" when I would ask her what else she wanted she would say "purpo ice cream." That was all she would tell us she wanted. My aunt tried really hard to get her to name a toy that she wanted so Kyla told her she wanted, "purpo birtday cake, ice cream, canles (candles), and a spoon." Haha, she also told us she needed bowls. She is a real planner that girl and I am pleased to report that we were able to fulfill all of her request and we made her birthday dreams come true.

     I made Kyla a simple homemade cake and Joel made some homemade vanilla ice cream and added purple food coloring so it would be purple. She was the most excited about blowing out those candles, they were purple, and she did a great job. Before the party Joel made several ballon animals and hats for the girls. They had a lot of fun with that.

     For Kyla's present we bought her a little set of three little dolls that are similar to the dolls Annalyn got for her birthday from a friend. Anna calls the doll Baby PD and it's Kyla favorite doll, she is constanlty trying to take and play with baby PD. Kyla was so excited to get her own baby PDs. I couldn't find a time to go to the store without Kyla so I tried to just hide the doll from her. Bryn and Annalyn kept talking about "Kyla's baby PDs" so I think Kyla knew what she was getting. I wrapped her present and left it in my room and the day before her party and Kyla went in there and found them and opened them. I heard the paper ripping and ran in there to discover Kyla excitedly holding those dolls. She pointed to the doll with the purple shirt and said, "I want dat one. Will you open it for me mom?" Needless to say she loved her present. She got some clothes and some candy from other family members and she had fun opening them. It was a fun day and I am glad we got to celebrate our sweet little two year old.

Kyla Mae is 2

     Little Kyla Mae is officially two years old. She has been super excited about her birthday coming up for months; mainly because she wanted some purple birthday cake. Kyla sure has grown a lot these past two years and she is a joy to have around. She talks all the time and is constantly amazing people with what she can say and how well she talks. She used to never talk to people when I would take her out but lately she has started to talk to everyone. She is super cuddly and my little buddy. Lately she is getting more and more independent and she wants to do everything her big sisters do. We sure do love her a lot. Here is a pictures showing how much she has grown followed by a few fun facts about our sweet little two year old. 

Weight - 28 lbs. (68%)

Height - 18.88 in. (71%)
Shoe Size - 5 Clothes are size 3T
Favorite Color - Purple or sometimes Orange
Favorite Foods - Hot Dogs, Mac and Cheese, and anything sweet. She likes fruit. She loves ranch and will eat it on almost anything. For the most part she is still a good little eater.
Favorite Things to do - Play outside. She loves to play in the sandbox, jump on the trampoline, and swing. She loves playing with her sisters and going for rides in the stroller or for walks outside. She likes baby dolls and stuffed animals. Kyla likes to paint or play with markers or crayons. We have to hide all writing utensils from her or she will use them to draw on the walls. 
Favorite Songs - "Mary Lamb" and "Cows Song" (Hey Diddle Diddle) She is not a big singer.
Favorite Game - Duck Duck Goose  
Things She's Scared of - Dogs, Horses, and most other animals. 

     Kyla is just now starting to show interest in the TV and will watch a few short shows with her sisters. She loves to take my phone and watch videos of herself and she is constantly trying to play on my Ipad. She still loves books but hates having to share my lap with her sisters when I read to everyone. She has even hit Anna a few times when Annalyn has sat on my lap and told her "dat is my ap!" She likes getting her hair fixed and gets mad that I can't curl it or do braids yet. 

     Lately Kyla had been pretending she is a baby or she will pretend to be a baby puppy or a kitty cat. Kyla wants to buckle her own seat in the car and put on her own shoes. She asks to go potty every time anyone else needs to go, she threw a real fit at church last week crying that she wanted to go potty. She likes sitting on the toilet and washing her hands but has yet to actually use the potty. 

     Kyla is getting really tan now that summer has started and is darker than any of the other girls in our family. Her hair is also getting lighter. Kyla is really one of the sweetest girls I know. She will not let you push her around and gets mad at her sisters when they try to take stuff from her. She is also starting to get things or ask for the pink bowl just because she knows it will make Anna mad but whenever they ask her nicely for something Kyla almost always says yes and will share with them. When they are sad she will give them what they want and try to cheer them up. 

     Kyla is still extremely observant and asks all kinds of questions. She still asks "why" all the time. She will also ask me things like "mom, you know what?" For a while she kept saying "mom, guess what?" over and over again and it never led to anything. Sometimes she would tell me something like that she was hungry but most of the time she would just tell me to guess what over and over again. 

     Kyla is still struggling with this whole sleeping business. She still needs a nap and will sometimes fall asleep in the middle of the living room floor or in the car if she doesn't get one but every time she takes a nap she is awake until 9 or 10 at night. She used to be asleep by 7 or 8 at the very latest. Sometimes I still let her take a nap but there are other times when I keep her awake. She sometimes gets pretty whiney when she doesn't get a nap but usually she does fine. 

     We honestly could not imagine life without this little girl in our lives. She makes life fun and teaches us how to be loving and compassionate. She loves going places and is usually up for an adventure. Really she is just content to come along for the ride and do whatever we want to do. She makes going places easy because she doesn't mind sitting and observing what everyone else is doing. She is pretty easy to please most of the time. We sure do love her a lot. 

May Happenings

     We all enjoyed getting to know little Summer better this month. She sure is growing and we have mostly adjusted to having her in our family. We were able to get out and go on a few trips to the park, we went to the last music class at the library, and we all went to church. We were blessed with so much help this time around. Joel didn't get very many days off of work so my mom took a day off and helped me out. She helped fold laundry, vacuumed my carpets, and helped me look after my girls. I had several people bring me dinners and cute outfits for baby Summer and many others offered to watch my older girls and let them play while I got things done around the house. It made the transition to four kids so much easier. It is humbling to be the recipient of so much help and service and we were so grateful for all of it. The girls can't get enough of holding Summer and they are constantly begging to hold her. 

     The first sunday after Summer was born Joel took all of the kids for an hour drive go to his sister's ward so he could see Janeen's baby Jackie be blessed. I hear it was a little crazy but they all came home in one piece. Joel built the girls a playset with a slide for outside in the sand pit and they love it. Kyla goes so fast down that slide.

     Joel went to work a little later on the days when Brynlee had school so he could take her to the bus stop for me. Brynlee only had a few days of school left this month. Now she has officially graduated from Kindergarten and she will really miss school. She has been pretty whiney lately so I am going to miss her going to school too. Brynlee was made student of the month last month so I got to see her get her award at the assembly and on her last day of school she was given an award for having perfect attendance. She had an end of the year little graduation ceremony with her class where they sang some songs. At the graduation ceremony each of the kids got to give themselves an award and they got to tell everyone what their award was for.  Bryn said, "I learned about ducks and butterflies, and how to curl my hair. I am very glad I could do it. Brynlee." Her teacher this year was great and we will miss her. Now summer has officially began and we are all ready for some summertime adventures.

     The night before Brynlee's graduation ceremony she took a shower and asked me to braid her hair. I braided Anna's first and Brynlee was making some craft thing with paper and toilet paper rolls. She had the glue and scissors out and then went to the bathroom. After I braided Bryn's hair, I looked at her bangs, she was trying to just push them to one side and not let me see them and I noticed that she had cut them. She cut off quite a bit and they are a little crooked but she wasn't worried. She has just clipped them back every morning and we will straighten them out when they grow a little more. Just when I thought I could trust her with the scissors again. I had already planned on getting my hair cut so I spent an evening at the end of the month with my sister and Summer while she cut my hair. It feels much lighter now and I don't have to worry about getting spit up in it all the time.

     The kids ate as many popsicles as they could and for this first time an ice cream truck drove past our house and the kids got to get a popsicle. They were so excited. The neighbor boy has come over several times, the girls have had fun playing with him. This is the first time we have had neighbors with kids that live close.

 

     We went to the doctor's a lot this month. I thought I wouldn't have to go as much after I had this baby. The month started with a newborn check-up for Summer and then the next week Kyla got a nursemaid's elbow so we had to take her in and the next day Summer had her two week check-up. I had my last check-up at the end of the week so at least we are done with those for a while. Next week Summer ended up with a cold, it started with Kyla, so I took her to the doctor twice that week. Last week was doctor free and I am hoping we won't have to visit so much again.

     Joel helped grandma get her garden in and the kids and I helped her plant some things. We went over for family night and helped her thin some of her fruit trees and pick strawberries. My dad got several cows that he is keeping over at my grandma's house and they keep getting out of their pin. My grandpa died this month, my dad's dad so he went to Washington for the funeral and stayed to take care of the house for a week. I am really glad my kids got to see him last summer because we were not able to make it to the funeral. While my dad was gone those cows got out several times and two or them are bulls. One of the bulls got out one day and Joel ended up going over to help get it back in. As soon as my dad came back one of the other cows had a baby. They had a hard time getting it to eat at first but it seems to be doing well now. Those cows have been a lot of work for everyone but they are fun to watch.

     Joel bought another truck on memorial day so he can fix the suburban we have and he bought a piece of granite to make us a new table. We had some hot dogs and hamburgers at grandma's house and we roasted some marshmallows to make s'mores. Now we can't wait to enjoy our summer break. The kids have already spent lots of time riding on their scooters, jumping on the trampoline, and enjoying the warm weather.