Happy Early Valentine's Day!

     This year I have been so busy at work. New boss, difficult class, all digital classroom setting. ROUGH!! This has left me very little spare time to blog. I haven't totally given up though. I want my kids to have a place to come back to and remember memories. Life is staying busy. These two are a blast. Amber and Micah have been coming over at least once a week and the kids and I have both cherished the time we've been able to spend together. WE LOVE THEM!!! I have been busy working on making things for my booth in University Pickers. Emily and I have had such a great time and it has been an honor for people to be so interested in our store and our craft. It feels good to be liked!!! :) Track has begun. This means I am sooo busy. Not a spare moment. Now until April will be a complete blur. I am so anxious for the summer and warmer weather!  

Just the other day my little T-man decided it would be a good idea to flush a clementine. That was fun. We never got it out. He is every bit of the stinker he looks like in this picture! He will be starting soccer in March. This will be his first sport. We are going to put him on the swim team this summer too. It's the best way to learn how to swim! Kaylen has been swimming on Tuesday's and Thursday's to keep it up so she's ready for this summer. She's also still loving the violin. First grade has been a blast for her and her teacher is trying to give her hard enough work so that she can stop getting straight 100's. I am glad! I would rather her have worse grades and actually learn more!!! She loves her brother and he looks up to her so much. He is always saying how he wants to be like her. They both warm my heart and are more than I could have asked for. Coolest personalities ever!!! (but I'm probably a little bias!!!)

Here are their valentine cards. I am stapling them to a baggie of hershey kisses. Of course, I got the idea from pinterest! 

A letter to Kaylen

Dear grown-up Kaylen,

I wish you could know the 7 year old you the way I do. You honestly amaze me. We just had your birthday and we went downtown and cooked in a professional kitchen with 9 of your friends. You are a princess. You love to look cute and wear frilly things. Recently you have switched your favorite color from pink to blue. Now it is all things blue. Although you are a girlie girl with your appearance, that's as far as it goes. You only play with the boys at school. You are the co-captain of a spy club. This is a very big deal right now. You play spy games every day at school. It is you and 3 other boys. And although you play with boys you are still so very innocent and you don't know what it means to really like a boy yet. They are all just good pals. These are the best days and I am cherishing them.

You are such a pleaser. You want to impress people by how good you are. You always strive to do the right thing. You aren't perfect and sometimes you mess up but in your heart you want to do right. You are an old soul. You are just as happy with a book as you are playing with your baby dolls. And reading, that's your passion. Just yesterday you told me you wanted to be a writer and illustrator like Eric Carle. You got a 5th grade level book for your birthday (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) and read it in 4 days. And you read some other books while you were reading that one. I'll never understand how you can hop from book to book like that. I made you take an AR test to see if you comprehended it before we watched the movie. You made a 100. I was completely amazed. I have no idea how you learned to read like you did. You are competitive like your parents but in a different way. I think a better way. You are competitive more within yourself. You constantly want to beat what you did before. You don't care much for picking out your own clothes or having your own style. You're happy to let me do that and I'm so happy to do it! You started taking violin about 6 months ago. Learning is actually a challenge in this area but you enjoy it. We set the timer and you go and do it. You want to do your homework everyday. I never have to tell you to do it. You get excited about it. (I have to say, it's kinda weird to me... I was soooo not like that!!!) You have a gentle spirit and you are nice to others. Sometimes you act silly but that is as kid like as it gets with you. We are swimming twice a week at the Y. Also you love to play at the gym every day after school. Oh, and your awful at cleaning your room! No organizational skills in you at all. I'm afraid I may have passed that along to you but we can't be perfect, darling. I hope as you grow you will remember to enjoy life and not take it so seriously. You don't have to excel in everything. If athletics aren't your thing or music or a certain subject or art... that's okay. I fear that you put too much pressure on yourself to live up to a higher standard than everyone else around and I want you to always know that I love you just the way you are. Bad handwriting and all! You are my sweetest joy and I am in awe of your goodness. The things I most love about you are how you love the Lord, treat others, love and care for your brother and help the family. I pray that your daddy and I can be the parents that God has called us to be for you. I love you and am so very proud of you just the way you are!

Momma