Teenager!

Avery turned 13 at the beginning of March. Hard to believe my big 11 pound baby is now a teenager! We are so grateful to have Avery in our family. She is such a big helper and loves to play with her little brothers and sister. We love you Avery!

Double digits!

At the end of February, Evan turned 10 years old! For his birthday we saw the new Lego movie at the theatre and went out to eat at Red Robin. Can't believe my sweet oldest boy is now double digits! He will be a teen before I know it.

Recent reads

I love reading about different cultures and traditions and this book about North Korea was so fascinating. This book follows the lives of six "ordinary" North Koreans over fifteen years. This book was hard to put down! After reading it, I am definitely more grateful for everything in my life!

After reading Nothing to Envy, I wanted to read a memoir from a North Korean defector. This one is very suspenseful and tells a lot of the suffering that the North Koreans go through to escape. It is so eye opening and so tragic.

Pinewood Derby

The last weekend of January, Evan participated in his first Pinewood Derby. (We were out of town for last year's race.) He came in 4th place and won "Most Rock & Roll"!

cousins!

One of the best things about Christmas break was all the cousins who were in town! My kids don't get to see their Minnesota and Utah cousins very often so it was a real treat to be able to spend so much time with them over the break. They went to the zoo, multiple parks, the beach, the trampoline park and Evan had a sleepover with his cousin Colby just about every night. It was fun to have all the other Texas cousins join us for New Year's Eve celebrations and Emmett's birthday party. Here's a few photos from the park...

Regional and State Cross Country Meets

The regional cross country meet was held at the end of October. Kyla did the best she’s ever done and helped qualify her team for a spot at the State meet in Austin. They came in 2nd place at the regional meet! So proud of Kyla and her team for all their hard work. It paid off! The State meet in Austin was at the beginning of November. We stayed overnight at a hotel so we wouldn’t have to take such a long drive the day of the meet. The girls gave it their best, but sadly didn’t end up with a medal. It was tough competition! Such an awesome experience for Kyla to take part in all of this as a Freshman. There were four Freshman on the team that are all amazing. Kyla’s best friend is one of them. Excited to see what’s in store for the team next year!

here she is with the official state meet bib

Ellee turns 1!

Back in October, my cousin asked me to take a few photos of her sweet baby who just turned one. I set up my seamless paper in the garage for most of these. Our garage has great lighting during the morning hours!

Recent read

Kate Morton is one of my favorites. I love her writing style and the gothic atmosphere in all her books. The Clockmaker's Daughter is a beautifully written ghost story that interweaves between different time periods and lots of characters. You have to pay very close attention or it gets confusing. One of my favorites this year!

Halloween 2018

This year was another rainy, wet, dark Halloween. Luckily, the rain did let up for a few hours so the kids could go trick or treating. With Elayna gone to college and Kyla joining her high school friends at a party, we only had four trick or treaters this year.

Benny dressed up as Darth Vader.

Lorelei was the Little Mermaid.

Evan dressed up as a nerd. He put this whole costume together by himself!

Avery was a dalmation dog.

Sweet brothers. So happy these two have each other!