Let's Start Over : Garrett

Garrett. This young man was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-Saints last June when he turned 8. He has grown up so much in the last year and a half. Right before my eyes I've seen him become more even tempered. He thinks things through. I can really say, now that I have seen it for myself, that 8 years old is the age at which young people can become accountable. Don't get me wrong he is still my wild man. Just as full of energy as ever he was! This year he has really become a football fanatic. I don't know where it came from. It wasn't his first time playing flag football, but some time from summer to now he has become an expert on the NFL (or at least a wannabe expert, he is after all still 8 years old). The only issue he seems to have is that he has too many favorite teams.

He started 3rd grade this year and has Ms. LeBeau as a teacher. I was a little worried. I mean to me 3rd grade is the year that school becomes a little harder. They really start having to learn more complex concepts. Would he still like school? Turns out I didn't need to worry about anything. He is doing just fine! Especially in math. Math has never been my best subject, but Brad on the other hand is a human calculator. While I was pregnant with Garrett I would literally pray that Garrett would get that trait from his dad. It turns out that maybe my prayers were answered! He has been able to easily learn and memorize his math facts. He is reading above grade level which is great too! His only trouble seems to come with his tendancy to become distracted. His teacher said that she loves the energy and enthusiasm he brings. Proud of this boy and all that he is learning. I'm so glad to say that he still loves school!

First Day of 3rd Grade

Grandparents Day with Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Blaine

Rain Gutter Regatta with the Cub Scouts 

Career Day at school - Garrett was a Truck Driver

Let's just start over :Starting with Brad

I'm about a year behind and I don't think I will ever catch up! Crazy how time flies by, right?

I think for now I'm just going to sum up last year beginning with the new school year and go from there. Start fresh, ya know?
I have missed this. I think that writing down our lives really makes us take a few minutes to smell the roses or watch the sun rise so to speak. Otherwise, I just go through from one activity to the next without processing it much.

Let's start with Brad. What a guy! He keeps on truckin' along. Working and taking care of our family. Still with Riverton Hospital, but no longer doing the mobile MRIs on a regular basis. Which leaves us with a little less cash, but a little more time with him. He and I will celebrate our 12th anniversary this year! (Wow! Did I already mention that time flies?) No need to say it, the pictures spell it out, but he's the "fun parent" ha!

Last year we celebrated our 11th anniversary. 

Let's face it, as adults our lives don't get too exciting on a day to day basis, it all revolves around the kids. However, Brad did have an exciting adventure during last years hunting season. He landed himself a really nice buck! Way to go honey! (His deer is the one in the back ground.)

My new adventure

I'm dabbling into freelance writing opportunities and trying to get a little practice in so that I can improve. I may randomly post practice writing samples. Feel free to give any tips.

Too Much of a Good Thing.

Brace yourself! I am about to tell you how amazingly advanced and gifted my child is! "He's always been ahead in his class.... but I really wish his teacher would challenge him more at school .... He was reading at the age of three after all!"
Many of you have heard this kind of thing. Maybe some of you have even said it. While I fully believe moms do have the right to a little bit of bragging when it comes to their beloved children, we should all remember to be considerate of others.

Whenever I have been part of this kind of a conversation I've noticed that everyone present can usually be divided into one of three groups. Group one is trying to think of what they are going to say next to one-up the current speaker. They may not even realize they're doing it. Group two is feeling a little uncomfortable but trying  to agree politely. Group three? Well, they're silently becoming a little offended.

Things we should remember when building up our kids:
1. You think your kid is the best. And there is nothing wrong with that! But remember everyone thinks their kid is the best, and there is nothing wrong with that either.

2.Share the lime light. Let them tell you something great about their kid without you having to tell them something great about yours. Plain and simple.

3. Not everyone is ahead. Their are some kids who struggle even when their parents are fully invested in helping them. Sometimes too much talk and comparison between parents can be discouraging to others. Or even just flat out annoying. We all have different strengths and weaknesses, that's part of life so please be conscious of others.

4. Teach humility. I've heard it said that kids internalize what they hear you saying to other people more than than when you say it directly to them. This can be a great tool to build their confidence! But we don't want to teach them to be boastful. "Oh yeah? Well my dog's better than your dog!" Ring a bell?

I  tend to think my kids are pretty great, sure, but I am also aware that they are not perfect. I am also aware that I am not perfect. Unfortunately, as a mom I think it is pretty common among women, to compare ourselves to other women.  Most of the time we judge ourselves harshly as we strive to "keep up with the Jones'" of the mommy world. So lets cut ourselves and our kids a little slack. Remember that it is okay to share something great about your kid, and the people who love you and your kids won't mind and will be happy to hear it. But there is such thing as too much of a good thing!

Here comes trouble

So about a year previous to this time my kids had steadily been asking and begging for a pet. Every time I had to go and knock on someones door in the neighborhood and the kids heard a dog barking from inside they'd get so excited. Especially my little Embrie. 

I told them that they'd need to save their money because pets and all of the supplies needed to take care of them would cost money. I think I thought that they would just forget about it. But throughout the year they continued to save their money and talk about pets and the different kinds of pets out there. 

Finally it became clear that this was not something that was going away. They really wanted a pet. 

So we discussed what our options were. (And I felt my feelings for what I could handle.) 

Their first choice I believe was a dog. I have nothing against dogs. Their friendly and nice and fun. But I am the mom and being such I am the one at home that cleans up after everyone and takes care of everyone most of the time. A dog is on the higher end of the "maintenance scale". Plus we don't have much of a yard. 

We talked about hamsters. They are on the lower end of the maintenance scale. 

I wanted something easy to care for they wanted something that could be out of a cage and walking around. 

We ended up with this little guy. Pretty cute, right?! 

Just to preface this, I'd never had an indoor pet growing up except for a brief couple of years with a hamster. We decided he'd need to be an indoor cat. We live near a busy road about a block away and if he'd be an outdoor cat he'd need more shots etc. We were gonna give this a shot. 

He was/is a soft little grey furball. Upon making a list and taking a vote we named him Nimbus Cotray. Nimbus after the rain cloud and Cotray... well just because Maren made it up and it was cute and funny. He was 6 weeks old when we brought him home. And since then he has grown 3 or 4 times the size. He is about 6 months now. He is a funny little thing.  A kitten so he loves to play.... like all the time. He follows us around from room to room, so not too shy of people. He puts up with the kids mauling him fairly well, but he is capable of holding his own. He is not scared of anything. Not even water it seems. He's not too cuddly yet but I am hoping that as he gets older he'll mellow out a bit. He thinks he is a tiger. He tries to bury his food with the  floor mat. And if we've been out of town for a few days he misses us terribly and spends the next week meowing at our bedroom doors at 5:30am. We don't let him come into our rooms at night at this point because like I said he thinks its play time all the time including 2am or anytime before or after. 

He thinks that when I do laundry that its specifically for his enjoyment.

Garrett took him to pet show and tell at the end of 2nd grade.

Spring Soccer

Lovin' some sports! 

Embrie was a little shy to even go on the field when the season started. But don't you worry this momma knows how to use the right leverage to convince the kids that they must go out and try.

Once she got out there, though, she loved it! She was a top scorer. Her biggest game had her scoring 5 goals out of the 6 scored by her team. She insists that she definitely wants to play again!

Garrett had taken a years break from playing any soccer, but playing again reminded him how much he likes it. He is quite the asset to his team and works very hard. He's pretty quick too! This year as he is older they played a lot of  regular rules including specific defense and offense positions. He got to take lots of different spots out of the field except for Goalie. I'm pretty sure he was needed out on the field since he is not afraid to go after the ball. 

Easter down on the Farm

My sister-in-law, Melissa invited all the Callahan family to come down to the farm for an Easter party. This was so much fun the kids had a blast. 

Lining up for the Eater egg hunt. On farm land the eggs could be anywhere from in the bushes to under a cowpie.

once again my little animal lover found herself a friend!

And Garrett had a wish come true when dad started to teach him how to drive the 4-wheeler by himself (well not completely by himself) He was in heaven!

Grandma Peggy had the fun idea to dye Easter eggs that could be used in a throwing contest!

And on Sunday we cleaned up nicely. To celebrate the real reason for Easter. The Life and Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ.

from winter to spring

These are some random pictures documenting our little winter to spring transition. 

learning to ride a scooter

good morning sunshine!

picnic with friends Lydia & Maggie

a day at the Salon with a best bud, Bailey

Mother-Son date to see the Lego Movie (which I liked much to my surprise)

Garrett lost some teeth ...

and then some hair..... oops!