Mia's preschool graduation

Oh Mia. I love you. You wouldn't wear your hat today. You wouldn't stand and sing for any of the songs. You wouldn't even sing them. Though I'm sure you knew them all. In fact you didn't even smile for a picture. Not one. But you did crack a smile when Zaden almost sat on you during the Monster song. I absolutely adore you! You have no idea how fun it is to watch you. It was the same way at your dance recital earlier this month. And we've heard that you are why people go to those recitals ;)

You've learned so much this year! You loved Ms Bren and your class. The snacks were one of the highlights. So were your friends. Faith and Josh especially. I loved hearing about what you were learning and show and tell for each letter of the alphabet was one of my favorites with you because we'd always come up with something even for the really tricky letters! You loved bringing Marshall (Paw Patrols) for the letter M. We talked about bringing Naomi for the letter N but thought she might not like hiding in your backpack during the rest of class. And I loved doing puzzles with you before school after your sisters had gone for the day. You are so much fun! And you have the best imagination ever! My favorite thing lately (since the villain Ayer Layer and Mr Nobody) all your invisible real babies. I always have an invisible puppy hanging onto my shoulder. Or a bird or alligator. I think you even gave me a shark once! You are so sweet to share them with all of us and you take such great care of them. You're sweet to share gummy with Dad when you don't sleep through the night, but since he's real and since you earned him I sure like it when you get to keep him at night. You're amazing! I could go on and on. But I'll just say that I love how much you're learning and growing and I'm excited for your new adventures in preschool next year!

Crazy May

May is always a little bit crazy as of late. And this year it started a little bit early. The girls music recital was at the end of April. They'd worked really hard all year in Miss Chrissy's class and had a lot to show for it! This year they were turtle shells and yellow arrows. They moved on from the bells (which was the focus of last year's classes) to keyboards and have been practicing the piano at home. Lydia picked up part of the My Little Pony theme song by ear and taught it to Sophie and they both love making up their own songs! I got to go to class with them the first Monday of each month while Mia and Naenae went to Sister Sorensens. A win for all of us! And I loved it. So fun to be in the middle of it all and knowing where to focus with the girls at home. Looking forward to next year already!

Lydia and Soph were amazing!

The girls had so much fun at Felicity Dance this year! And it was especially wonderful dropping them off in our backyard neighbors' studio. Sophie literally climbed the fence for a few of her lessons. And they adore Miss Alana! The recital was so much fun.
Lydia. Grinning from ear to ear and clearly enjoying herself. Loved her shoulder pops!
Sophie. Totally into it. Dancing in circles and so flexible! Biggest smile ever! Such confidence!
Mia. Totally the star of the show! Didn't do a dang thing. Just stood there. No potty dance this time though! Festival of Trees was one for the books this year! But she was so dang cute!

Sophie is six!

Sophie is totally a princess. And we love it. As always there's been plenty of build up to her birthday. Plans for her cake which was a panda bear, incidentally. The original hope was that it have stalks of celery sticking out of it with gummy bears climbing up them to make it more authentic and give her guests another option besides cake if they so desired. This lady is thoughtful for sure! She was so excited to go shopping with Grandma and Grandpa Frazier and did a great job keeping their trip a secret. And since her birthday was on a Sunday and a Frazier Sunday this year, we celebrated her at Grandma and Grandpa Blackhurst's the week before with the other March birthdays. Maddie, Felix, Soren and Elora. Can't believe there are so many!

Starting Monday the girls went off track. And we talked about doing something special each day. Not necessarily with Sophie in mind but something we could all have fun doing together. We biked and ran at the park on Monday. On Tuesday we did a Fitness Blender with Kelli. On Wednesday Sophie woke up early and we made waffles together until her sisters joined us. She also got dolled up for her dance pictures too. Thursday was a field trip to Dibble Farms where they harvest popcorn. Apparently it's the only place in Utah that grows it. I had no idea! And Friday we had another field trip to J&J nursery for Mia's preschool too.

Saturday Sophie got to go to a friend's birthday party in the morning and walked away with a gift from that friend for her! She's got the sweetest friends. And later that day while Jon made her cake she got to watch 101 Dalmatians with her sisters while eating popcorn. And then the Fun Uncles (Tophe and Nate) came over for dinner and we caravanned to Chili's for a fancy meal. She wanted pasta and she got pasta! And pineapple juice. And a salad. She told her friend's mom that she has her mom's taste buds lol. Oh I love her! Her uncles are awesome and we all had the best time shoveling in chips and salsa (Lydia was STARVING) before our orders arrived. Naomi sat in a high chair and ate her banana puffs like a champ trying desperately to reach anything near her at the table. Mia wanted to drink all the flavored lemonades and made a dent in the mac n' cheese and corn on the cob she ordered. Drawing on her menu before the food arrived was her favorite! She beat me handily at tic-tac-toe. If you saw her boards you'd know I didn't stand a chance! So. Many. O's (I was X's). And then we went home so that Soph could open a gift from Uncle Tophe. Frisbee golf. So cute and so perfect for Sophie and her sisters. We opened it and tested it out. Mia loved stacking the frisbees and we'll be enjoying playing that all summer long.

Today has been awesome. We made it through breakfast in time for Sophie to open her gifts before Stake Conference. She opened Lydia's homemade book "The Sophie book #2" (last year she made her "The Sophie book"- the originial) and a Beanie book Lydia got to go with it. The book was so cute! And filled with activity ideas that Lyds knows Sophie loves. It rhymed in places and I thought it was so sweet. She ran over to Lydia and hugged her so tight!

Then she opened Mia's gift, another beanie boo. She grinned again and hugged Mia fiercely. I love her! And loved how sweet she was with her sisters.

We finished opening presents. A card and little figurine from Grandma and Grandpa Blackhurst (one my Grandma Blackhurst had in her home that I loved looking at as a little girl), some clothes and a Bad kitty book from us as well as a mermaid journal with a lock that has reversible sequins on it! She LOVED that the second she saw it.

She made it through Stake Conference and even saw her friend Sadie on the stand with her mom who was singing in the choir. It was a wonderful meeting. Jon thought he recognized a mission companion he hadn't seen in years. Turns out he was right! It was fun to meet him and put a name and face to a crazy story Jon had told me years ago. Apparently at David Martini's wedding reception the pin in David's boutonniere poked Jon deep and he was pretty woozy. He sat down and the next thing he knew someone was saying "cancel the ambulance, he's waking up" So crazy! Anyway, after church Soph decorated the outside of her panda cake with Jon and made sure to do a pattern alternating between two gummy bears and two caramel m&ms. Mia was right in the thick of it. She knows what she's about. And if there are treats involved you better believe that that little girl will be present! We didn't have celery (Sophie actually decided to cancel those plans weeks ago) but Jon knows his girls and is all about making dreams come true so he pulled out some lettuce, wrapped it up, and stuck it by the panda with some frosting and attached a gummy bear like Sophie had imagined. And it was perfect.

Jon pulled out his tools to see how much she's grown in the past year. A solid two and a half inches! And then we played hungry hungry hippos as requested by the birthday girl. Naomi was totally into it. From a distance. It was so fun to see her watching everyone play. Dad always seemed to get the yellow marble. And Mia got more and more of them as the game went on. Definitely time well spent.

At Grandma and Grandpa Frazier's Sophie helped me make the salad. Grandma just got called as the Ward Relief Society President and was at a meeting when we got there so we were helping Grandpa. Soph was so patient all through dinner and afterward too. Uncle Isaac and Aunt Amber texted and asked if they could stop by to visit with Sophie and deliver a card. It was so fun chatting with them. And then Grandpa, Uncle Lance and Lydia left to visit Grandma Duse and walk her dog. Lydia was thrilled! But that meant more waiting for Soph. Which she did. Like a champ. When we were all back together Sophie finally got to open her presents. And she grinned the entire time! A reversible sequin backpack, jewelry kit and jelly shoes from Grandma and Grandpa! A jewelry holder for her earrings and necklaces from Aunt Stacy and Uncle Lance with musical note earrings included! And a recorder and music book from Aunt Cathy and Uncle Caleb! So much pink! And all bringing smiles to that little princess. There's no question she's loved by all of her family. My sisters sent in Marco Polos with Birthday wishes for her. She loved them all!

We talked about the day she was born at lunch. And tonight while writing an Instagram post I found myself crying. She and I struggle sometimes. I don't know if that's why I was crying. Pretty sure she knows I love her. But looking at pictures from the weekend and thinking about her growing up just brought on the tears. Gmail pops up with these then and now photos and those certainly don't help. I just want to remember her just like she was today. Beaming. And loving. And little but so grown up at the same time. She's sweet and sassy and independent too. I know she'd like to be more so if only I'd let her. But for now we'll just take it one day at a time!