end of the year performances and sports wrap ups

May always seems to fly by because it is packed with end of the year performances and awards ceremonies and the conclusion of sports for the season. 

Layla had her first grade Bugz Program. She had a speaking part and we were so proud of her for memorizing her part and giving it without hesitation in front of the big crowd.

Brinns was a fan of all the music and a cute little dancer.

Layla also had her music theater performance. They did a Mulan Mashup on the stage. A fun performance!

Kyler received an academic award at the freshman awards night. I’m so proud of him. He has worked so very hard this year in all of his honors classes.

Layla’s tumbling class also had a little performance. But, well, the only pictures I came away with are these two of sweet Brinna. Though a did get a video of some of Layla’s skills.

Perry’s second grade performance was “Around the World” as they shared all of the things they studied about other countries this year. We had to bribe him to wear his costume from Mexico because it was too itchy. But he wore it and sang out great!

Kyler ran the hurdles in track and field this year. It was such a great experience for him and he is excited to be part of the team again next year.






Perry finished up his baseball season. He loves playing on his team. He even tried coach pitch on the last game and hit it once!

I don’t think I ever got a chance to post Kacin’s wrestling pictures. I love watching him wrestle! He is such a strong kid. He came out 5th at the evc championship.

I’m so proud of these active, hard working kids of mine who participated beautifully in so many things this school year. 

mothers day

I was talking with a friend recently about some things I’ve been struggling with lately and I was reminded how much my kids need me and I need them. And that if I throw myself into mothering them with all my heart I will find great purpose and so much joy. 

Women who nurture, care, support, and encourage are mothering. I am grateful I get the chance to be mother to these amazing five. It brings me deep joy. And I’m grateful to all the women around me who mother me by their examples and friendship and love. 

My kids made me feel loved with all of their cards and gifts on Mother’s Day morning. And then they indulged me with a dance party in the evening. They are the best kids I could ever dream of. 

Marvel marathon

We were all a little excited for Marvel’s Endgame to come out. About two weeks before it was released Kyler and I decided it would be fun to rewatch all of the previous 21 movies in chronological order before we went to see Endgame. That would be 59 hours of movie watching. Ha!

We made the list of movies (this is it after two weeks of laying on our counter and getting spilt on and ripped) and gathered and borrowed the ones we couldn’t find on amazon prime or Netflix from friends.

Then for two weeks straight we had a Marvel movie on at our house pretty much constantly (when Kyler was home). Let me just tell you that Perry loved this! By the end of two weeks I was over having the tv on and ready to just go watch Endgame already, even though we didn’t quite make it through all of them. We got close but we skipped Guardians and a few others (like Antman and Wasp) that we had seen in the theaters most recently. I was pretty amazed that we watched 15 of them at home.

I’m not sure I’d ever want to do it again, but it was a blast to plow through them one after another. And a good reminder of all the details that led up to Endgame so I’m glad we did it.

The boys had youth conference the weekend the movie came out and Eric was out of town. But the boys and I decided to hit the movie theater Saturday at 10 o’clock at night right after I picked them up from YC. We gathered up some other teenage boys, too, and watched Endgame until 1am. We loved it!

outside in may

We have had such beautiful weather here this month. I keep expecting it to be hot and miserable, but the nights are perfect and even many of our days have been cloudy, windy and cool. So we take advantage of this as much as we can.

And sometimes that means putting on brother’s batting helmet to ride a bike in the afternoon. (Thank you, Layla)

Most mornings Brinns and I go park hopping. I run and walk with her to different parks in the neighborhood. We play for a few minutes and then run to the next one.

Kacin is back to weekly allergy shots. We always choose to sit outside in the courtyard while we wait. It’s a pretty little place. Brinna loves the rocks and Layla loves bringing snacks when she comes.

Kyler came with me this week when the girls in the back seat had music theater class.

The weather was perfect and windy and so we walked the nearby nature preserve. (Though Kyler only lasted 15 minutes with me before he begged to sit at the library to look at his yearbook. I’ll take what I can get.)

I went hiking with a friend one morning.

Layla spends much of her evenings in the backyard looking for bugs. I came across this grave she made. “No stepping on it. Caterpillar dead. From Layla. Please!”

It’s been warm enough to jump into the pool a couple of times, but I’m really just so grateful for every chance we get to still be outside before it becomes unbearable in the summer.

He went Hulk on me

I want to be careful here because Perry is an amazing, sweet, incredibly special kid and I want to make sure he knows that always. But I also want to be real and stuff like this happens every single day and requires a lot of energy, time, flexibility, dividing and conquering, and planning on our family’s part. The triggers aren’t always the same and are probably a combination of a lot of different things so life is unpredictable. Eric has been traveling a lot lately and that feels like it throws things off a bit. So Perry’s daily tantrums are a bit bigger than normal and result in me removing him to his room. At this point, the only things he has in his room are a bed, blankets, pillow, and some clothes.

I find it quite comparable to Hulk when he loses it. While his self control is developing and the tantrums aren’t as long as they used to be, when he loses it there is no reasoning with him and everything in his path is at risk. Including his shirts. Which we go through like disposable goods. 

And then just as quickly as he appeared, the Hulk leaves and Perry is the sweetest little boy ever. He gives me the best cuddles and talks about movies and friends at school. He loves to play Uno and go swimming. He has the cutest vocabulary and surprises us with new words all the time. He is happy and gentle with his baby sister.