Blakely's Birthday

Well, one week after Brady's birthday is Blakely's b-day. This year is turns thirteen. What new privleges come at our house with the big 13? Not really any beyond being a true teenager. she keeps pointing that out, but I want to remind her she has been acting the way for awhile.(you know where they are right and you are wrong. eye rolling, etc.) She knew that she wanted Cafe Rio for dinner and wanted the new Sisters Grimm book. Once again her birthday landed on Sunday, which is a hurried affair. She wanted crepes for breakfast so up early was Mom to get it done before church. She is getting harder and harder to wake up in the morning because she stays up to late reading in bed. I have started to shut off her light and 10 but that doesn't deter her. She didn't wake up very well for breakfast in bed.
We had a wonderful dinner of Cafe Rio at Grandma Peterson's house. She gets to pick out her own presents with a gift card this year. Two weeks ago she enjoyed a day off from school with her mom who also took the day off to go to orthdontist in Twin. It was a rushed day but we shopped, had lunch, and had her mom all to herself. So I count that has part of her birthday celebration, also.
Blakely has grown up into a beautiful young lady. She is about 3 inches shorter than I am and she continues to point out that she is getting taller. She loves to read, sometimes at the wrong times. She is a good friend to everyone and helps those around her. She is silly at times sometimes at the wrong times. Even though she doesn't always like the oldest child responsibility she is learning how to do it better everytime she is asked to do it. She loves music and shopping(too bad I am her mom for this one)She loves her friends and being with them. Blakely, your family loves you and are your biggest fans. Remember you can accomplish anything you set your mind too. I am so glad Heavenly Father selected me to be your mom.

Brady's Birthday

My baby is three! We have been prepping Brady for his birthday for about a month now. He loves wearing boots. Whether it was snow boots or mud boots he didn't much care, so I suggested to him cowboy boots. So the last month I will ask him what he wants for his birthday and the answer is always cowboy boots and a vroomy. The Saturday before Brady's birthday Dad, Mom, Garret, and Brady headed to Cal Ranch to find some cowboy boots. After checking out our options, chose John Deer camoflauge boots. We bought them a couple sizes big after Mom saw the price.(So they could last awhile.) He tried to leave with a cowboy hat also, but that will have to wait until another time. As soon as we got home he had to put them on and wear them. I told him that we would be wrapping them so he could have something to open the next day. Sunday morning we were up early to wrap presents and make breakfast in bed.
I had meetings that day after church and when Brady got home from church he wanted to know where is boots were. He was a little frantic about it until Shawn showed him the wrapped present, and told him Mom wrapped his boots.
We had a wonderful dinner(which hopefully was Brady's favorite), but I think it is really Dad's. He opened presents and then we left for a fireside, so the poor boy didn't even get to blow out his candles until Monday night.( Half eaten cake)
Brady has a mind of his own. In some ways he reminds me a lot of Katelyn. He is getting more and more a personality. He loves to play and loves to wrestle with his brother. He loves to copy his brother. He loves to help sometimes to the dismay of his mother. He is a packrat. He will tuck all his toys or books in something and pack them around. He is a great cleaner. He will sometimes be the best cleaner out of all the kids. He loves babies. Brady is constantly telling us we need a baby. He gets so excited when he gets to hold a baby. Just the other day, on the way home from school, he told me that he held a baby all day and we need a baby, a boy baby. I love to snuggle with him and ache when the time comes that he won't want to snuggle on the couch with me. I love to read to him and he loves to sit on my lap and listen. It has been fun to see Garret see with him and read him his library book. We love you Brady.

Skiing 2010

It is that time again, when Blakely goes skiing with the Jr. High. She loves to ski, but only gets to go with the school. I sent the camera with her but the only pictures I got were of her friends and them checking to see who has the best hat hair. Shawn did go with her on the last day of skiing. He went snowboarding and hurt for a week afterwards. Maybe next time I will get up enough courage to go. (I doubt it)She feels like she has improved from last year.

Rachel and Rebekah Darrington

playing peek a boo with Rebekah
Rebekah and Katelyn

I have waited to write this post for awhile because I wanted emotions to be a little less raw for Katelyn.
When Katelyn moved to Declo last year she became friends with Rachel and Rebekah. She immedaitely loved these girls. She wanted to be with them and help take care of them. She has become attached to these special spirits and their helper Mrs. Harmon. She helped them in class.She played with them during recess. Katelyn was always concerned for their well-being. She was worried when they had to make trips to the hospital. This year was no different. They were able to be in the same class this year. Rachel and Rebekah suffer from a genetic disease called Metachromatic Leukodystrophy. They are both in wheelchairs. They cannot move or talk. Their family has a total of 6 children. 5 of the 6 have the disease. 2 of their childern have already died from the disease. The kids at school love to try and make them smile by tripping in front of them or playing peek a boo.
Rachel had ended up at Primary Children's several times, but battled back everytime. At Christmas time, Katelyn wanted to give a present to them for Christmas and after watching them at school we decided to make them lap quilts to keep them warm during the tranfers between buildings or at home. Katelyn and I worked hard to cut and tie them over the weekend and she proudly presented them to at school on Monday. She loved giving these blankets to them because of her love for them. In January, Rachel ended up in Primary Children's again and this time struggled to battle back from pneumonia. I gently told Katelyn that she could pass away because of how weak her body was becoming. She said she knew that. Rachel did come back to school for about a week and then ended up in the hospital once again. At the end of Jan., early on a Tues. morning Mrs. Harmon called me to tell us that Rachel had passed away during the night. She asked if I would tell Katelyn before school, so she would hear about it from her mom. Katelyn fell into a heap on the bedroom floor, but she did go to school. I told her that it may be good to go to school and be with her friends and talk about it. Her teacher and Mrs. Harmon did a fantastic job talking to the kids and they wrote letters that day and make a giant paper bracelet for the Darringtons. She was very strong. She was asked along with the achievement day girls(from their ward) and another good friend(from school) to sing at the funeral. The funeral and viewing was hard, but was a wonderful celebration of her life. I know my own mother would be pleased with one of her grandchildren taking these special children under their wings and loving them. She always loved these special children herself. Thank you Katelyn for your loving spirit who wants to always love those around you. Thank you to the Darringtons who let my daughter get close to their daughters. So that she learns to love and serve other children of our Heavenly Father.

Rockin the Halls with Friends

Katelyn made it to 100 points with AR by this Rock the Halls at school. She ended up taking the camera to school and taking lots and lots of pictures. When they make it to 100 points they earn a T-shirt and a run around the gym with everyone yelling and shouting and waving poms poms around the gym. It is wild! She took pictures with all her friends in her class. She got to rock the halls with Emily, Haylie, Rebekah, and Mrs. Harmon. She worked hard reading to get over 100 points.

Basketball

Katelyn and Garret played Declo Rec this year for basketball. EVery Saturday for 6 weeks. Katelyn practiced basketball skills for the first two weeks and then they played games the last four. Garret practiced basketball skills for all six. It was probably good Shawn took them to 3 out of the 6, because the first time I took Katelyn when she had a game. As I watched these girls on her team, I found myself yelling advice at Katelyn until about halftime. I then decided I better just be quiet. The other team was at the other end of the court before Katelyn's team figured out they better get down and defend their basket. There was no aggresive behavior at all. They just let the other team have the ball. Katelyn kept giving me dirty looks while I was yelling, and I am sure she wished her Dad was there instead of her mother. The last time she went, her team did so much better at being aggresive and defending their basket. Good job, Katelyn!
Garret practiced his basketball skills. They did centers. The kids had fun and enjoyed learning some skills to help them down the road. I love being able to watch them play even if it takes up more time that we don't have.

All I want for Valentine's Day is my 4 bottom teeth

On our continued journey for perfect teeth and giving all our extra money to the orthdontist/dentist we bring Katelyn into this next journey. Katelyn has no room in her mouth. She already has had 4 previous teeth pulled by the dentist. So teeth are coming in and no teeth are coming out; so off we went to the orthdonist. I did inform that I could not do anything major for 18 months.(See Blakely)He recommended 4 more teeth pulled and a linear arch put in. She then went off to the dentist to have two teeth pulled on one side. What a champ! (She didn't fall apart until later that night.) I did promise her a milkshake afterwards. We then went to commiserate with Grandpa Peterson who had his jaw wired shut that day also.
Two weeks later, we did the same thing on the other side. This time the procedure went much faster. We went over to Grandma Peterson's to visit, but this time her gums bled alot longer. We took out the gauze and they just kept bleeding. She would keep looking in the mirror and then become more and more hysterical as the blood came out. I finally got her calmed down and made her put more gauze in her mouth. She bit down on it for awhile longer. She did happen to get 10 bucks from the tooth fairy. I guess the price goes up when they lose their teeth traumtically.
One week later, we went to the orthdontist for the linear arch. Which will hold the back permentant teeth in place and help the rest of the bottom teeth come in. What we do for perfection.