Jaylyn - about 3 months old
Jaylyn - She is 5 months old already and is such a good baby! She sleeps well and smiles a lot and just started rolling over. All of the girls adore her and love to do whatever they can to make her smile. She is such a blessing in our family and her cheeks are always smothered in mommy's kisses!
Kiley - She'll be 3 in May and is such a spunky little girl! She has grown up so fast it seems like and I forget sometimes that she is only 2 years old! She loves to dance and sing and climb on everything. She also loves Dora and Diego and playing dress-up. Kiley loves to play with her older sisters and says the funniest things sometimes. She definitely keeps us laughing.
Hayden - Just turned to 5 in January! She still loves animals, so we went to the Phoenix Zoo for her birthday. She had so much fun seeing all the animals, and she told me her favorite ones were the monkeys. I have been doing preschool with Hayden at home and she has made a lot of progress this year. She is soooo excited for kindergarten next year and can't wait to go to school with Avery. Hayden is a really sweet girl and loves to give hugs to everyone she knows.
Avery - Our big 7-year-old, as of March 3rd. Avery loves 1st grade and loves her teacher. She has done really well adjusting to a new school and new group of friends. She plays kickball with all the boys at recess and loves to play (and watch) any sport. Avery just started softball practice this week and is so excited for her games to start soon. Brandon has been playing catch with her and helping her with batting, and I think he is enjoying it as much as she is. (He was a baseball pitcher in high school!) Avery is a great helper at home and is a great friend to others.
Brandon - In his 2nd semester of his master's program at ASU. He is busy, but is home a lot more this semester, which is nice for everyone! He is doing well and is enjoying (for the most part) his classes and projects. Being a student is not the funnest thing in the world, but he has a positive attitude about it and is hopeful that all the hard work (and debt:) will pay off in the future.
Me - I have been busy with taking care of 4 little girls, keeping the house clean (sort of :), and teaching piano lessons. I have 12 students and am looking forward to our spring recital in April. I have learned a lot of music theory and different teaching techniques since I started teaching at the piano studio here. I really enjoy it and am grateful to be able to make a little bit of $ for our family right now. I am hoping to have some time to scrapbook during spring break, but we'll see what happens. I have high hopes for all the things I want to get done on a daily basis, but rarely (if ever) do they all get done! I am sure no one else feels the same way!
Well, that's it for now. Hopefully there will be more pictures next time, and it won't take me 4 months to do it! Hope you all are doing well and enjoying nice spring weather :)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
Last Wednesday, August 10th, was the first day of school here in Mesa. Avery started 2nd grade and Hayden started kindergarten. They were both soooo excited to go to school - and their mom was almost as excited too!
The elementary school is just down the road from our house, so we walked to school with a group of other moms and kids from the neighborhood. Hayden practically ran the whole way!
Avery - the big 2nd grader! Her teacher's name is Mrs. Broccoletti. I decided to spare the broccoli jokes when we met her - I'm sure she has had her fill of those!! She is really nice and Avery loves her!
Right before we got to the school, I looked ahead and saw Avery and Hayden holding hands. It was so cute, and I'm glad I had my camera with me to capture the moment. I have to say though, if you haven't already noticed, that I am a horrible photographer. I wish Brandon could have been there to take the photos that day, but oh well. Better than nothing!
Happy sisters before leaving for school.
Hayden with her frog backpack. We actually bought this backpack for her last year for preschool, but she only went for two days, so it was still brand new!
Hayden's teacher for kindergarten is Mrs. Hatos. She has lots of friends in her class and loves her teacher! She got to bring a toy for show-and-tell on Friday, which she was so excited about. She took a pink unicorn - this girl loves horses, and anything like them.
Hayden's favorite color is green, so she was very excited to wear this new dress on the first day of school. And, she picked out a green water bottle to take to school too.
Avery and Hayden ready to line up for school. Avery was such a good big sister helping Hayden find where to go.
Kiley wanted to bring a backpack too when we walked with the girls to school. She and Jaylyn got to ride in the stroller.
I just have to mention that Jaylyn will be 1 in October - I can't believe it! We need to get some more photos of that girl before we turn around and she is the one in kindergarten!! She is a good baby and is crawling all over the house, but almost always with a smile :)
Jaylyn and the girls on her blessing day in December.
Jaylyn - about 3 months old
The girls right before leaving for our ward's Trunk or Treat party on Friday night (minus the 3 week-old baby, who stayed home with Daddy.) They had so much fun at the party! They got to jump in a bouncy thing, play musical chairs, eat Halloween cupcakes, and of course fill up their buckets with candy.
They got to dress up again on Saturday night to go trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. They were thrilled to dress up again and they of course loved getting more candy and some squishy frogs and spider rings across the street. 
Avery was a Snow Queen. It was funny because when people would say something about her "princess" costume, she would make sure to tell them she was actually a "queen." 
Hayden was a Tiger. She looked so cute and was so excited to wear her ears and tail. Don't be fooled by her cuteness though - she was growling and trying to scare everyone she saw at the ward party. Apparently she wanted to be a Scary Tiger! And, yes, that is her white underwear showing through her tights - oh well!
Kiley was actually wearing a butterfly outfit, but threw a huge tantrum when we tried to put the wings on her. She didn't want to have anything to do with them, so she ended up looking more like a ballerina. Although she joined in with Hayden in growling at everyone and trying to be scary, so I'm not exactly sure what she was. She loved trick-or-treating though and at least kept the rest of her costume on! And I am very happy to say that as of the last few days, she is now out of diapers!! Hooray for pottytraining - actually, I should say, "Hooray that we made it through the first week of potty training and that we are down to only one accident per day!"
