Catching Up on Sunday Volume 1

I figured that since Sunday is my slowwweessttt day of the week and I try to do a little work I would update each week on everything going on, even though it's the Sabbath day, I still need to depending on how much I got done on Saturday. I tend to take pictures throughout the week so I might as well keep track of what we are doing as a family!

Brinnley Marie:

It's nice to sit at our new table and Brinnley follows me with her toys and either watches her iPad, eats, or plays with her toys and playdoh.. she loves to be around us! She is the best big sister. She asks to hold Holly all the time, puts in her binky when she cries, and is always close to her. I can't wait until they are older and can interact more!

Our little 3 year old continues to amaze us! She is so smart and at her 3 year wellness check up, the doctor was so impressed by her memory and ability to name colors and have a full on conversation. She loves to play with anything that is a figurine and I had to buy some bigger bins to store all of the ones she has! Right now, as you can see in the picture, she loves to play with her Minnie and Daisy. 

Yesterday, Aaron took her to see Zootopia. She loved it and I'm glad they were able to spend some time together. She tells me all the time all the things that have happened in the past -- she still can recollect when Charlie, Julie, and Maddox visited and how he was biting her shirt and getting it all wet! That was almost 2 months ago -- and for being 3, I love that her memory is so vivid. We are trying to make sure we include her as much as possible in as many things that we do now.

Because I was home for 10 weeks with her -- she has become quite attached to me. Whenever she gets sad, she comes immediately to me, and dropping her off for the sitter has become difficult sometimes. Part of it is because she doesn't like to be woken up so early in the morning!

Holly McKenna

Our miss Holly is becoming quite the chunker. At the moment, she has a little bit of a cough -- most likely from big sister who was sick earlier this week. We are keeping the humidifier close and doing all that we can to keep it minimal. 

Her social smiles light up our days! She loves her daddy and he is better at getting her to smile :)

She is finally giving us a good stretch of sleep at night. She does her longest stretch right when she goes to bed -- anywhere between 7:30-9:00pm and then sometimes will sleep until 12-2am. But, of course, we don't go to bed at 7:30 so the stretch of sleep we get is not as long! But, it's better than every 2 hours. She is such a cuddler, we finally gave up on the pack and play and took it down for now. Once the weather gets nicer and Brinnley's kitchen and basketball hoop can go outside, we will set it back up in the girls' room and try to transition her then. Right now, she loves sleeping in her swing and that is what works for us. She is a blessing in our house and reminds us of so much we have to be thankful for! I still am in disbelief that I have 2 little girls!

Marriage

Our marriage couldn't be any stronger at this point. It continues to grow and I love that man more now than I did the day I married him. We celebrate 4 years of marriage at the beginning of the month and Aaron surprised me with a trip back to the Anniversary Inn where we got engaged -- even in the same room! We were lucky enough to have my co-worker and friend, Tonya, watch our little girls. She has 6 kids of her own, a 9 year old I believe, to be her youngest now. When we picked up the girls, she actually thanked US for letting them have them over for the night! We are so blessed to have people who love our little girls. 

We are both turning 30 next month and although we can't do much because of my coaching schedule, we have a trip planned for June where we can be adults and have some fun together! :)

Work and Life

I was thrown into work and coaching full blown. It has been nothing short of a blast. It is exhausting to get home at 6pm every night, sometimes later, and only have a little time in the evening -- but we are making the most of each night and enjoying every moment together. 

My students missed me and I missed them. I threw out conventional teaching methods and went full blown into Personalized Learning per our school piloting it this Spring. It has actually given me MORE time in the classroom to spend with students. They have the choice to do what they want and when they want to for Reading and Language Arts (ELA). We are going to be going into our 3rd week of it and we are tweaking a few things and having a blast. I am so thankful to work at a school that lets student's have freedom to choose what they want to do and at their own pace. My students love it, are more engaged in their learning, and are taking ownership of what they are doing!! After Spring Break, each student will finally receive their personal iPads! I am so excited to use all the tools and incorporate so much more PLT in my class!

Softball has been so much fun. Being head coach brings more responsibility, but I have a great assistant who has the same views about coaching and playing that I do so it helps during practice. Despite some troubles with some choices, the girls are doing well. Our first game is on Tuesday and I am very nervous. We won't have everyone eligible to play, but we will do our best. The team we play is very beatable -- so fingers crossed the girls bring their A game!

I have decided to give up soda for awhile. I went to Target last Saturday and enjoyed my last diet coke and walked around for a bit by myself. I am happy to say that I have been soda free for 1 week now! I got some flavored sparkling water to help with my craving for something carbonated.. it has helped quite a bit!

I shared a post on instagram about my personal journey with Heavenly Father. It was scary to do that, but I loved the responses I received from family members. It is a big part of my life in so many ways -- I hope my faith continues to grow and my testimony becomes stronger!