A Morales Minute

We woke up bright and early today. Lindsey had to be at the church by 6:30am. I've gone over everything Lindsey needed packed more than once. I've prayed lots of prayers for her safety and well being and that she will have a wonderful experience. I've done all I could do. The next thing I could do to send her off knowing I loved her was run to Dutch Brothers and grab her a morning smoothie, so that's exactly what I did.  My mom did an amazing job sewing Lindsey's dress and bonnet. Lindsey made the apron herself in a mutual activity with the other Beehive girls. Lindsey, Hayley, Ashley, Calumet, Maddie Aren't they just the cutest pioneers!? Ashley and Maddie are a year older than the other three. Ashley has tall parents. :) Our ward's pioneer youth, ma's and pa's, and aunts and uncles. All ready for their Pioneer Trek 2016 June 29-July 2 I am so grateful for these adults who will be there. Susi and Spencer Daw (the couple on th...

We went to DQ for some ice cream.  Aidan looks a bit more vampire-ish.  Lindsey and I hiked badger mountain Saturday morning. More prep for the pioneer trek. After the hike we went to get yummy smoothie bowls for breakfast. Tyler has started T-Ball He's wants to play "all the sports." I need to do a better job at getting him signed up for stuff. I just have a hard time wanting to drive and go here and there constantly when they're still so little. But if I don't he will be behind most other kids his age. He's the only one on the team who will run to the coach to keep practicing during water breaks. He takes quick breaks and then runs back to get to work. He has such an enthusiasm for it that I wish I was better at pushing and helping him learn more and do better. I can handle baseball better than soccer so I should be grateful he wants to do baseball and sign him up more. 

 They're ready for their last day of school! June 21st is really late into the month but due to the teacher strike at the beginning of when school should have been the year was extended to the end of June. Sometimes it felt like it wasn't going to get here. Hahaha  I bought flowers and wrapped them in paper and delivered them to Jaime's secretaries and gave some to Lindsey give her a couple of her favorite teachers. Lindsey LOVED her year at McClintock STEM Elementary. She wishes she started there rather than at Franklin. I'm glad we chose to move her even though it was a month into the school year. Her outlook on school did a complete 180. Lindsey was really sad the last day of school was here.  Mrs. Beth Gonzalez was Lindsey's 5th grade teacher at Franklin STEM elementary but when Jaime's school opened this year Beth came over to teach at McClintock. Lindsey loved seeing Mrs. Gonzales every day. She liked going to visit with her. So naturally ...

I volunteered to help out with the boys' school field day. I had a water station. Kids had to race two other kids to take a water soaked sponge and run and squeeze the water into a cup and run back for more water until they filled the cup. It was a pretty well liked activity that the line for it was always backed up with kids wanting to run it.  I made sure to get pictures of my boys when they came to my station. They were so excited to see me there at their school. I handed out papers with pictures of gold, silver, and bronze medals for the kids who raced. Each medal a kid won was stapled on their medal ribbon.  I was surprised how fast my shift came and went. This may be something I do again next year.  Tonight was Olivia's school music concert.  We went to see her sing in the choir.  She's so cute singing and doing the hand motions. 

Aidan has developed a love for reading just like Lindsey. He will read anything he can. From the cereal boxes, to the comics, to papers he sees laying on the counter, to of course the books he chooses. Right now he's reading the Box Car Children to me. Yeah I know lots of kids read well and love to read at the age of 7 but I didn't really teach Aidan much about reading. Being in the two-way dual language spanish program at school they tell you not to teach them about reading in English, so I haven't other than before kindergarten and I would help them learn the sounds of the letters in the English alphabet. Aidan learned how to read in Spanish and on his own learned how to read in English by reading the Dick and Jane book that we have. I was blown away how well he could read in English as he just started reading out loud. And now he reads like he's been reading for years. What a kid. :)

I'd like to think we do a pretty good job at having regular Family Home Evenings with our kids. Sure there are times when things will take place of it but it's not too often that happens. I recently was done with a small corner shelf and was going to take it to the Good Will when the kids decided to use it as a podium. They were excited to have Family Home Evening tonight just so they could use it. It was my turn for the lesson and even I was told to use the podium. :) I'm thinking, Hey if it gets them excited to teach a lesson or do a part in FHE, then I'll hang on to this small shelf and use it as our FHE podium! Tyler leading the music in FHE

Sister Pat Flory has always had my parents (and us too when us kids were younger) over for a birthday dinner. This year Mom and Dad had Bill and Pat over for Pat's birthday. Elizabeth, Lori, Darin, and I and our families came as a surprise to the Flory's.  She was so surprised and delighted to see us all there.  Singing happy birthday to Pat.  After dinner and cake we had a game of getting to know the Flory's better. Bill and Pat had done this many times for mom and dad. In each inflated balloon there was a question for them to answer about themselves. It was fun to hear more about them this time. Things like where they worked, or most embarrassing moments, advice for us. Bill and Pat are such wonderful people. Pat was my visiting teacher for just a short time when Jaime and I lived there. She's always shown an interest in our family. She and Bill would bring Valentine gifts for all the kids. She still sends each one of our family a birthday card, cards...

In preparation for the stake youth Pioneer Trek the Young Women president takes the girls every Saturday to hike Badger Mountain to help the youth build strength and stamina and exercise to prepare for the trek.  After their early morning hike today they were treated with a yummy breakfast at Sister Harker's house. Lindsey has quite the bunch of girls to hang out with. They always have a good time when they get to be together. 

Before Marcus left for Chicago for another summer internship and then off to New Mexico after that for the start of his master's program he wanted to spend some time with the kids. He opted for a bounce around at Get Air. The kids loved jumping with Uncle Marcus and having him bounce them up high. After they were all worn out from jumping, flipping, and playing dodgeball we went out for dinner. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to show the kids some love Marcus. 

Ruben and Dawn Morales had their baby boy this morning at 6:16 am.  Malakai Adam Morales 8 lbs 20.5 inches long. Look at all his hair! He's so adorable. I can see both Ruben and Dawn in him. This picture of Bel and Malakai is so cute. Jaime and I went to the hospital this evening to go meet him. I adore little babes. Jaime always teases me that it'll make me baby crazy and I'll want another. You know, I've actually waited for the day when I think, "Awww I want another baby!" But it never comes. My family feels complete. I enjoy holding these little ones and watching them but at the same time I think about how I'm grateful I'm out of that phase of my life. My kids are all old enough to dress themselves, sleep through the night, feed themselves, go the bathroom themselves. I'm past all that and now I have many other things to start looking towards. I can now have meaningful conversations with my kids, play more complica...

Lindsey has had a very busy last two days. After she hiked badger this morning, she went directly to a pioneer day event. She learned pioneer dances, had pioneer breakfast foods, made pioneer toys and crafts and candles. All things to help her pass of  electives for the Forward with Faith Award that she can earn in preparation for the Pioneer Trek coming up June 29th.  At 11:30 I picked her up and when we got home my dad was already at our house there to pick up the kids to take them fishing. Lindsey was so excited to go spend time with him that you couldn't even tell she as tired from Friday's Seattle trip and all of this morning's events.  Loaded in the truck and ready to go. Liv was still inside grabbing some sunglasses. It was such a hot day. The kids were armored with sunscreen, sunglasses, and baseball caps.  They didn't catch any fish but each one of the kids told me they had fun. The heat was hard for them to handle but Grandpa helped cure th...

Lindsey woke up early this morning at 5:15 am to be at the school by 5:45 to catch her charter bus with the rest of the 6th graders for their field trip to Seattle.  She had a great time going to the Pacific Science Center, EMP museum, Space Needle and other fun shops with her classmates. The buses arrived back at the school at 9:30pm. Lindsey was exhausted and ready for bed. Walking all day wears anyone out. The poor dear was telling me her legs were so tired that she didn't think she'd go hike Badger Mountain Saturday morning with the rest of the youth in our ward to prepare for the Pioneer Trek. I told her that getting up early the next morning to walk and hike some more would be the best practice and training to help her prepare for the Pioneer trek in just over three weeks. I felt bad because I know I would want to stay home and sleep in too but I know that she will be tired after her long days of trek and have to get up the next morning to do it again. I'm hopi...

Tyler was cast as Neal the Cat in his kindergarten music program. They did the play of The Little Red Hen. He was so excited to have a part. He would sing his songs all the time at home. I memorized the songs just from hearing him sing them all the time. He definitely had his parts down.  The cow, the cat, and the pig were the lazy friends who didn't want to help the little red hen do all the work to make some bread.  Tyler said and sang his parts with no hesitation. He was so happy when it was all done, asking me if I thought he did well. I think I was beaming just as much as he was. And everyone in the house can be heard singing parts of the song throughout the day. :)