Christmas 2019

What a Christmas! I was supposed to work the Christmas Holidays block (Christmas Eve and Christmas night) at work, but with very fortunate timing in a job change I avoided working Christmas at all. The whole holiday felt like a complete bonus and I was grateful for every cherished moment I got with these kids. They are growing up so fast and I feel like these magical Christmas mornings are numbered.
I have decided that 3 is the most magical age for Christmas. Ryan has been bursting with joy and excitement this whole Christmas season. Everything from decorating the tree, to finding the elves, to seeing Christmas lights has reached a 10 on his happiness scale. His wishes for Christmas included a camper trailer playhouse, a "wiggle car" with trailer (a little tykes cozy coop car), and most important a lollipop. I never want to forget his imaginative play all day with his toys.

Miles has been so delightful this Christmas season. He has been so excited about finding the right gift and serving others. He didn't ask for a single thing but just asked to be surprised. He was beyond thrilled to get a real drone and big kid scooter from Santa. But his headphones from Grandma Nancy proved to be his favorite gift of all.

Brynn is the absolute sweetest girl and never has it been more apparent than during the Christmas season.  She asked my mom to take her to the store so she could buy presents for Scott and me. She created and sewed a personal pillow for each of the boys - Mason an axylotyl, Miles a football, and Ryan a little llama. She was beyond surprised to get a Gabb Wireless phone from Santa. She exclaimed, "I didn't even know this was possible!!" I love seeing her so happy. She deserves it.

Oh Mason. I'm honestly not surprised at his negative reaction to finding he got a "stupid phone that doesn't do anything" instead of the iPhone 11 he wanted and the "cheap dumb drone" he got instead of the $1500 one he had his eyes on. He put a huge damper on our morning but after his initial meltdown managed to pull it together and only have small lapses in gratitude throughout the day. No matter what we do it's never enough for this one.

The biggest gift of the day was surprising the kids with a trip to Disneyland we will be taking at the end of the week. The kids are all super excited.

Halloween 2019

Happy Halloween. You might notice that a child is missing from the group picture this year. Mason decided that he has transitioned out of Halloween and didn't want to dress up or trick or treat this year. He opted to stay home and pass out candy and then watch a movie with Scott.

Ryan, on the other hand was all in for Halloween this year. This is surprising because Ryan has absolutely zero interest in costumes and has refused to dress up for any dress up days at preschool so far this year. After rejecting every costume idea I presented him with Ryan declared that he wanted to be a hot air balloon for Halloween. I took the idea and ran with it and Ryan absolutely loved the end result. He was so excited for Halloween and to wear his hot air balloon. The only downfall was that his adorable costume drew a lot attention wherever we went and Ryan was not a fan of all the people talking to him and even asking to take his picture. But he did stand in his preschool picture without me for the first time this year, so that was a win.

Miles was planning on being his inflatable dinosaur again this year, but ended up having a last minute costume change when he remembered how hard it was wearing the inflatable costume at school last year. With less than 24 hours to put together a new costume for him I recommended he be Carson Wentz because I knew we had all the pieces from Mason's costume a few years ago. Miles football loving self was thrilled and couldn't believe he hadn't thought of that before. It turned out to be the perfect costume for him.

Brynn and her friend London made plans to be twin babies months ago. In true Brynn fashion she planned and executed her costume all on her own. What a cutie!

We can't forget the rest of our trick or treating crew: Afro Dad and Baby Shark.

Hale Family Pictures

It's been 5 years since we last took Hale Family pictures. So all my mom wanted for her birthday were updated pictures. While my kids definitely win the awkward picture takers award, overall the big group picture turned out pretty good.

Back to School 2019

This school year brings with it a lot of change and new beginnings for our family. Unlike last year when I had all three school age kids at the same school on the same schedule, this year we have four kids at three different schools on three different schedules.

Mason started 7th grade at American Fork Junior High. He is very excited and ready for the increased independence and accompanying responsibility this brings. He will have 8 different classes (4 on A day and 4 on B day) to keep on top of now. His first semester schedule includes Concert Band, History, Science, Accelerated Math, College and Career Awareness, Exploring Tech, PE, and English. So far he has been doing great keeping up with everything, although he doesn't love the amount of math homework or practicing his clarinet for 30 minutes a day. I am really excited to see what this new phase of life brings for Mason.

Brynn started 5th grade at Legacy and is in Mrs. Bautista's class. On the first day of school she came home and said, "I LOVE Mrs. Bautista, she is so organized!" That definitely makes for a good school year for Brynn. Once again, not many of Brynn's friends are in her class year, but Brynn isn't worried about it at all since last year she made so many wonderful friends when she didn't know anyone at first. Her good friends London and Trevan are in her class.

Miles started 2nd grade at Legacy in the Spanish Immersion Program again. He seems to be really enjoying school and I am amazed at how quickly his Spanish skills are improving this year. He doesn't have near the amount of anxiety about his Spanish portion of the day as he did last year, so that is a relief.

Last, but not least, Ryan started Preschool this year! Six months ago when registration opened for all the preschools I wasn't even sure if Ryan would be ready to go to preschool by this fall (his separation anxiety was horrible). By the time Spring rolled around I started to feel more confident that he could be successful at preschool and that it would, in fact, be very beneficial for him socially. Unfortunately, by that point all the preschools I had my eye on were already full. I got on their waiting lists and crossed my fingers we'd get in to one of them. Right before the end of school I learned that a lady I have worked with in the PTA at Legacy does a preschool and I just knew she would be the perfect fit for Ryan. The stars aligned and she had one more spot open in her 3-year-old class and I can't help but feel like it was all supposed to work out this way.  Ryan talked a big game all summer about how excited he was to start preschool, but I was curious to see how he really felt about it when the time came. The week before his first day Miss Jaimie had a preschool playdate where the kids could all come explore and play in the preschool and meet their friends with their parent by their side. This was EXACTLY what Ryan needed since new environments are really really hard for him. He had so much fun at his preschool playdate and was super excited for preschool to start. All that changed when he woke up on Tuesday morning and we announced that today was the day he would start preschool. Now that the time had actually arrived he was feeling pretty nervous and wasn't sure this was such a good idea. He hesitantly rode over in the bike trailer muttering, "I nervous, I nervous.." over and over. He refused to take his first day of preschool picture for Miss Jaimie without me in it (yikes). When the time came to say goodbye and go in with his class he screamed and fought like a lamb being taken to slaughter. Miss Jaimie is an angel and just scooped him up and carried him in and then sent me a text 10 minutes later saying he was playing happily. She won him over pretty quick because he came running out happy as can be at the end. Today was day two and he didn't even bat an eye about going. He wanted to ride his scooter over and then just hopped off and said, "Bye mom!" While running in. I am so excited for the year of learning and growth ahead of him. Four hours to myself each week doesn't sound too shabby, either.

Flying Fish 2019

It's hard to believe this is our third summer swimming with Flying Fish. It was another fantastic year!! I know I may be a little biased, but all three of these kids are awesome swimmers!!

Mason's 5th year of summer swim team.
Brynn's 4th year of summer swim team.
Miles' 2nd year of summer swim team.

Meet 1
Miles (7-year-old boys) - 25 Back 32.18 PR (5th), 25 Fly 38.01 PR (1st), 25 Free 28.48 PR (5th)
Brynn (9-year-old girls) - 50 Back 47.18 PR (1st), 50 Free 44.66 PR (2nd), 50 Breast 1:04.78 (2nd)
Mason (12-year-old boys) - 50 Back 54.31 PR (1st), 50 Fly 52.13 PR (1st), 50 Free 38.18 PR (1st)

Meet 2
Miles (7-year-old boys) - 25 Back 29.57 PR (5th), 25 Fly 40.77 (1st), 25 Free 24.26 PR (1st)
Brynn (10-year-old girls) - 50 Back 47.04 PR (1st), 50 Free 44.22 PR (9th), 50 Breast 56.97 PR (3rd)
Mason (12-year-old boys) - 100 IM 1:59.71 PR (1st), 50 Fly 57.92 (1st), 50 Free 39.69 (2nd)

Meet 3
Miles (7-year-old boys) - 25 Back 29.84 (6th), 25 Fly 33.13 PR (1st), 25 Free 24.72 (2nd)
Brynn (9-year-old girls) - 50 Back 45.68 PR (1st), 50 Free 42.77 PR (2nd), 50 Breast 57.15 (2nd)
Mason (12-year-old boys) - 100 IM 1:55.69 PR (1st), 50 Fly 55.91 (1st), 50 Free 38.28 (1st)

Meet 4
Miles (7-year-old boys) - 25 back 30.97 (4th), 25 Fly 38.06 (1st), 25 Free 26.73 (4th)
Brynn (10-year-old girls) - 50 Back 45.66 PR (1st), 50 Free 41.12 PR (4th), 50 Breast 55.27 PR (4th)
Mason (12-year-old boys) - 100 IM 1:49.22 PR (3rd), 50 Fly 52.30 (1st), 50 Free 36.95 PR (1st)

Overall Awards
Miles 2nd place in 7-year-old boys
Brynn 4th place in 10-year-old girls
Mason 1st place in 12-year-old boys

Beautiful, Baking Brynn

Our beautiful, baking Brynn turned 10. Her one desire for a birthday party was to have some type of baking competition like one of the reality shows like Sugar Rush, Chopped, Nailed it, etc. We decided to do our own version of Cupcake Wars for her party. This turned out to be quite the production, especially since I was 100% on my own with Scott and my mom both out of town. But somehow we managed to pull it off and it was a HUGE success. I daresay it was the funnest birthday party we've ever done.
We set up 3 stations for the pink, blue, and green teams with all of the kitchen appliances and tools they would need. Then we had a big supply table with all the ingredients and supplies they would need. We had the girls all randomly draw out colors to form the teams without anyone getting left out or getting their feelings hurt. After they were in their teams I revealed the challenge for each team to decorate 3 different kinds of cupcakes that went with the theme of Summer. With that, each team was given 10 minutes to brainstorm with some cupcake cookbooks and iPads with Pinterest to look at for inspiration. Once the planning phase was over then they dove in baking and decorating their cupcakes. I have to admit I was completely blown away by the creativity and ability of the girls as they created their masterpieces.
Mason, Miles and our neighbor Bryce did an excellent job judging the final results.

10 year old Brynn

• Reading Machine. Currently enjoying the Land of Stories series.
• Loves school and dreams of being a teacher one day.
• Still the best big sister who loves taking care of her little brothers.
• Loves singing and is exceptionally quick to learn the lyrics to any song she hears.
• Enjoys playing soccer, volleyball, basketball, softball, and swimming.
• Has turned into quite the social butterfly. She is very good at making and keeping friends. Her friendships are very important to her.
• After years of keeping her hair short she is growing it out long, long, long right now. Although she still doesn't like styling it in any way.
• Is a big time rule follower. 
• I love watching her confidence grow as she tries new, challenging things.
• Not the greatest speller, but that doesn't stop her from writing writing writing.
• Still not a fan of the dark or being alone. She loves having her room upstairs close by everyone else now. 
• Is excited to be getting braces on this summer and straightening out her smile.
• Loves to bake, sew, and craft. 
• Still loves anything soft, squishy, and cuddly (i.e. squish mallows, beanie boos, anything made of minky material.)

3 year old Ryan

For Ryan's birthday party this year we had a Trains, Planes, and Cars playdate with cousins. Brynn made his cake - including "flat tires" per Ryan's request - and it turned out DARLING. One of my favorite cakes we've ever made.

I made some trains out of boxes for the kids to play with, but before I had even started making the trains, Ryan found the boxes and immediately lined them up to make his own train. He then told me, "My train needs a whistle" and the next time I came in the room I noticed he had put spools of thread on the boxes to be his train whistles. I just love this little boy's imagination.

We gave Ryan a hot wheels track for his birthday and set it up along with the car mat for kids to play with cars.

We had a bubble machine going in the backyard and Ryan loved running around in the bubbles. 

It turned out to the be the perfect birthday celebration for Ryan.

I keep thinking that Ryan has reached my favorite age, but then he gets a little older and I love the stage he's in even more. 3-year-old Ryan is my favorite version of Ryan so far. He is bursting with happiness and personality. He talks non stop from the moment he wakes up until the moment he goes to sleep and keeps us all rolling in laughter at the funny things he says and does. His confidence and independence is growing each day and he has become quite the social butterfly.
It is impossible for me to capture all the things we love about 3-year-old Ryan, but here are a few things I always want to remember:

• He will randomly fake sneeze throughout the day. A fake sneeze is guaranteed if he sees a feather.
• Loves Hot Air Balloons
• Obsessed with flat tires and balls that need to be pumped up.
• Does NOT like it when a "Storm is rolling in". Is scared of wind and thunder.
• Would swing all day, every day, if someone would push him that long.
• He loves to sing nursery rhymes. Five little monkeys, The Wheels on the Bus, and Baa Baa Black sheep are his favorite.
• Loves Trains. He will line up anything in a line to make tracks so he can Chugga Choo Choo his trains around. His favorite part about trains is hooking them together.
• Favorite show is Paw Patrol. He loves to do the pup pup boogey.
• He is my best eater and wants to try any food he sees, especially if it's on someone else's plate. 
• Loves to lock all the doors in our house with fake keys, only he really does lock them.
• Boycotts sleep any chance he gets. No naps, late bedtimes, ands early rising. I have no idea where he gets his endless energy from.
• Is very opinionated about what clothes he wears and changes approximately 17 times a day.
• It is very possible that Ryan is legitimately color blind as he still has not learned all of his colors and doesn't seem like he will any time soon.
• Of the colors he does know, Brown is his favorite with Orange a close second.
• Ryan is very directionally aware. He always knows where we are, recognizes landmarks as we drive, and will even give me directions to where we are going.
• Asks "Why" insatiably.