Trace is Ten!

I still don't know how 10 years have come and gone. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital. Here he is at 2 days old.

Back then I couldn't even have imagined how much he would enrich our lives and how happy he would make us. I don't think I could love our smart, handsome, talented, funny, caring, loving son more! 

Since he was going to Yellowstone with Hunee and Pop for his birthday, we figured something electronic to keep him happy in the car was the way to go. That and his love for reading meant he needed a Kindle Fire. Now I want one!

 For his party each year he wants a cookie cake from the mall. A sugar cookie cake.

 He had a few friends come over to play then Chad took them to see The Avengers and back home for a sleepover.

 Chad took the boys to see The Avengers and Kinsey tried to wait up for them to get home, but she couldn't make it. We had been watching House Hunters and she made a house to lay down in. Love her imagination.

A few months ago, a neighbor who is in Trace's grade had her birthday party. Her mom, Trace's third grade teacher, promised they would clean it up if we let them wrap our house. I didn't think they could do much damage, after all it was a bunch of 10 year old girls! Well, I wasn't thinking about her 13 year old brother knowing so much about wrapping a house! Trace has been planning revenge ever since! 

Here's what the girls did:

 So of course, I told her mom that revenge was coming that night. Turns out the 13 year old was on guard. It was an ambush and the screams and laughter were hilarious!!! It didn't help that our boys were loud enough to wake the neighborhood. 

Here's what the boys did:

Field Day

School Awards

Kinsey's school doesn't do a school-wide awards ceremony, so her teacher does one in the classroom. She handed out academic awards, but the ones the kids wanted the most were the candy awards. She had a cute saying to go with a number of different candy bars to fit the students' personalities. Kinsey got a Kit-Kat along with the "Give Me a Break!" award. This is because she is a miniature Mrs. Johnson and can always give Mrs. Johnson a break and take over when she needed a little help. So fitting for the child who was born a grown-up. I haven't been in charge in this house since she was born!

She also got a Reading Award, All A-Honor Roll Award, and a Math Award. She LOVES school! She started reading chapter books this year and has been so excited about it. I love that she likes to read.

Trace got a number of awards at his ceremony. He wanted a picture with each award. This one is the PE award. He scored the highest in his class on the fitness tests they do each spring. He ran his mile in 6 mins and 45 seconds! Incredible!!! He has been asking to go to Boot Camp with me early in the mornings but I know he would lap all of us!

 All A Honor Roll

( Please excuse the mad photography skills.) This one was a special award that was only given to one fourth grader. It was for having the greatest number of Accelerated Reader points for the whole 4th grade. That means that he read more books and took quizzes on them than anyone else. His goal was 40 points for the last 9 weeks and he met that at the end of the first week. His teacher challenged him to get 100 points in that same 9 weeks and he got 150! This kid loves to read more than any kid I have ever seen. He devours books at a ridiculous pace. I'm so thankful!

 This one is a reading award from his teacher.

This year Trace tried out for and made the UIL Number Sense team for the 4th grade. This means that he had to solve really difficult math problems without using paper. It was all mental math. He placed 3rd in our district. The team from his grade took 2nd, 3rd, and 5th.

Eleven Months Old

Kendall turned 11 months old on May 9th. It's hard to believe she's almost 1 year old!

She's taken up to 9 steps on her own and consistently takes 2 or 3 without any help. Now that she's doing this, taking still pictures of her is, well, difficult. These are ALL of the 11 month pictures I got. In all the other months, I got a close up of her face and a full body shot. Don't expect that this month! My model wasn't in the mood for all that standing still business. 

She can walk, but doesn't want to. It's almost as if she starts walking then realizes she's doing it so she sits down. She says Daddy and Katie a lot. And every dog is Katie. She is waving hello and goodbye and has gotten a lot better about letting new people hold her. YIPPEE! She still won't stay in the church nursery the full hour. The staff pages me to come get her every Sunday. She cries so hard that they're afraid she's going to make herself throw up. Definitely Mama's girl.

 She is sleeping through the night! We put her in her bed, awake, each night and she doesn't wake up until the morning. I remember when she was four months old we talked about sleep training her. Then we talked about it again at six months. Then again and again after that, but it finally happened at 11 months. When she woke up during the night, she would stand up in her bed and cry. Anytime I went in to lay her back down it would take well over an hour before I finally caved in and took her to our bed. When Chad went in, it only took about ten minutes. So after about a week of him going in to lay her back down during the night, it was done!

Ahhhh the Life...

Being 11 months old is fun! Lately I've been spending my days talking on the phone...

Unrolling toilet paper when Mom isn't looking...

And climbing in an empty kitchen cabinet.

 

I also really enjoy getting into Katie's and Macy's food and water bowls. And one of my very favorite things is trying to get up a few stairs before Mom can catch me. I can always make her run fast when I do that!

Field Trip!

The 4th grade went to the Sam Houston Folk Festival for their field trip this year. I had forgotten until we got there that Chad and I volunteered at this festival when we were in college at SHSU. The kids get to see Sam Houston's home, a glassblowing demonstration, and displays of what it was like to live when Sam Houston did. It was a boy's paradise. Guns and cannons and camping and hunting.

 

The man in the picture with Trace was cooking an animal over an open fire and swore it was a red fox. I really wish I had a picture of it now. The other mom and I sure thought it looked a lot like a pig, but he swore it was a red fox. Trace and his friend tried it. We moms declined. 

And a pooped baby sister at the end of the day.

Breathing Treatments

What do you do when it's springtime in East Texas? Breathing treatments. We love living in the Piney Woods, but we could do without all the pollen. The big kids have puffers they use when breathing gets a little tough, but poor Kendall has to use a nebulizer. 

She's not a fan.

 

For the grandparents: You will not like the next picture. But I can assure you no one was harmed in the making of this production.

 

She wiggled herself into this position by the end of the treatment. She didn't cry as much as the other kids did when they were babies, but she was definitely harder to hold onto!

 

 But we were still friends when it was all over.

True to form, our photographer couldn't resist jumping in front of the camera.

Trace's Rifle Competition

Trace tried out for and made the 4-H Rifle Team this year. They practiced for a few months for their district competition in April. Here he is getting set up and ready to shoot. He shot a .22 rifle at a target 25 yards away. We are so proud of how well he did. His team won first place!

 

 

 They painted their fingernails on their trigger fingers. They chose bright pink and they were so proud of it!

This is what baby sisters do while waiting (a long time) for results.