The Girls - Pmax

Where do I even begin with this third child? Peyton is an amazing combination of sweet and spicy. She's got such a huge personality and such a little body. She was born to entertain and loves to make people smile and laugh.

She is also my most snuggly and cuddly child. Even at eight years old, she will snuggle with me and ask for it! Thumb sucking is still in the picture...but to be honest, we haven't tried terribly hard to say goodbye! I probably over relate since I was 10 when I stopped!

Peyton loves to have friends and be a friend. She is extremely social! Two of her good friends at school are Eden and Eliana. Eliana has caused drama this year and has given us lots of opportunity to teach her how to handle other people and not to get manipulated. Yes, even in second grade! Eden is a sweet little friend who is also in dance with her.

Peyton absolutely loves Mrs. Boyd, and loves going to school this year because of her! It seems like Peyton has always wanted to stay home instead of go to school, but that has really improved this year. She said she loves to make silly faces at Mrs. Boyd so she will smile LOL. She also said her neighbor thing about Mrs. Boyd is that she doesn't yell!

Peyton and Eden are quite a hilarious duo.

Little poser! Peyton has strong opinions and as the third child and third girl is not afraid to share them! She holds her own quite well. But I often have to remind her older sisters that she does not need for parents!

She is obsessed with our dogs and absolutely loves them. It is so cute to see that relationship. Roxy love to curl up on Peyton's lap any chance she gets. But it's kind of annoying because of Peyton tries to move her she will actually give her a little bite and growl at her!

Peyton is a really good reader, but sometimes seems to get a little bored with the books. We are working on her comprehension. She did find a little serious with only three books in it that she loved because they were different color princesses!

We've gone to a couple Kingsburg football games and she think she is a big girl and wants to walk around the stadium finding all her friends. I think that she thinks she's too big for her britches.

Daddy got Peyton into a game on her Kindle, I think it is called Injustice? It's all of his favorite characters from the comics. Somehow she loves it and it's their little "thing ".

Peyton does not willingly do chores. I guess most kids don't! But she much prefers to stick her thumb in her mouth and give me a frown when it's time. However, when she actually puts her mind to it, she is really good.

I sure love finding selfies on my phone from my kids!

I always tell my girls how lucky they are to have sisters, especially sister so close. These three girls of course have their moments of arguing. But they are so close and enjoy each other so much, it is absolutely my favorite thing to see.

Pey had a really fun 8th birthday party. We had it at trinkets and treasures...and she invited all her dance friends.

PMax is the newest nickname...given by the dance company (mostly Roberta) and she proudly uses it! PJ, Jeannie, Pey Pey, Pey Jean...I love you so much!!  Love, Mom

The Girls - Lexi Leilani

Lexi Leilani has a big, open heart! I think she is one of the most sensitive people I know. And she seems truly comfortable with it. She is comfortable with herself and has always known what she likes and doesn't like. I guess I would say she's sweet and vulnerable, but with a foundation of confidence. It's a really good combination!

Lexi has always made friends very easily. Almost effortlessly. She doesn't try too hard, and something about that draws people to her. She transitioned over to Clay School so seamlessly, it was uncanny. Although she has not found that "one" best friend, she has lots of friends and knows the qualities that they each bring out and her. I'm not worried about the best friend thing, because that happens naturally at various phases of life. Plus, even though they may not realize it, my girls really are best friends with each other. They are together all the time, dance together, and interact at home together constantly. It is one of my most treasured blessings, to see their relationships with each other.

Recently, we wanted to give Lexi the experience of wearing contact lenses. She loves her glasses and has never complained. In fact, they are a huge part of her identity. But I wanted to expose her to them particularly for dance. I just wanted her to know what contacts were like, as an option, as she continues to dance more and more. 90% of the time Lexi is extremely easy-going. But the small ten percent where she isn't, can seem larger than life. This happened to be one of those times! So, Tucker took her to the eye appointment when the doctor put in the contact lenses for the first time. She held it together and did not complain or cry once, even though she hated the whole experience. I got home from work right after they got home from the doctor, and she was a complete basket case. With Lexi, I have absolutely learned not to ever try to change her mind or opinion. I just went on the bed and lay by her, put my arms around her and just listened to her cry. I knew that, deep down, this has much more to do with a fear of walking into school or dance without her glasses, then it did have to do with how they felt in her eyes or whether they hurt or not. I told her she could miss dance and we would go buy some fake glasses so she could try out the lenses and not have the pressure of anyone making comments like "you look soooooo different! " (her huge fear). She liked that idea, and she definitely calmed down after that. She even put her own contact lenses in the next morning and wore them to school, with the fake glasses, so no one knew. It took her like 30 minutes and she cried a lot, but I was very proud of her that she got them in! She did NOT want to wear them again, so I made her a deal and told her all I wanted her to do his experience one dance class with lenses. She was so nervous to walk in without glasses, but she did it! And even though she usually says she won't ever wear contact lenses in her life, every once in a while she will slip and say "well maybe I will wear them sometimes".

Lexi chose, for one of her faith in God goals, to make dinner one Sunday evening. With the ingredients we had, we ended up settling on breaded chicken. With very little help, she really did pull the dinner off mostly herself! I was really proud of her, but I was more excited to see her confidence grow, and hear her say that she really likes to cook!

I don't know why I like to be a little rebellious and snap quiet pictures in church sometimes?

This picture of Lexi makes me laugh because she has a very challenging time picking out clothing for events or pictures. The night before school pictures, she spent at least an hour trying on different variations of an outfit. She was determined to wear turquoise and determined to wear a skirt. So the rest had to fall into place. Even though she wants my opinion every single second, if it doesn't settle right with her or feel like it flows to her, she will not wear it!

Lexi is a beautiful dancer. She looks a little bit like she floats on a cloud when she's dancing, and I think it's a combination of talent AND happiness. I love to watch her dance! I especially love to see her on stage with her sister, I feel like I could watch them do that forever.

This year, Lexi got to start band, and she was thrilled. Even the Jordyn plays the flute as well, Lexi debated for years which instrument she wanted to play, and it came down to the flute! At first I wondered if I should steer her in a different direction than her sister, but I didn't want to do that JUST so they would not have the same instrument! So now we have two flute players, and she learned almost the entire C scale that first weekend she had it!

Saying Lexi loves animals is an understatement. She absolutely has a connection with them, and loves our animals possibly the most out of all of us. I really hope she incorporates animals somehow into her future because I told her that it doesn't matter which way she's involved with them, but that is what is speaks to her soul and she needs to find some way to follow that passion!

I love my butterfly Lexi. I don't know if Lexi goes a solid two minutes without flipping upside down and some kind of backbend, Cartwheel, round off, or back walk over. She truly does dance through life. 

Often, I feel like Lexi has way too much homework because she will sit at the table for hours and hours and ask me for help or talk in between math problems. Sometimes I get impatient and a little irritated because I feel like her teacher gives too much homework. But deep down I think she also likes that time to connect with me and, really, I do too. I think those are the things I will miss some day. I LOVE YOU LEXI!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Girls - Jordyn Lyn

I wish I was more consistent at writing the special or funny things down that happen with the girls all the time. I just truly love watching the girls unfold and grow and just become more of who they are supposed to be. I feel very strongly about not forcing them to be anything but themselves, and when I forget that and try to fit them in a box of any kind, it never works and I always feel bad.

Jordyn Lyn. 12 years old has been a fun age. I really mean it. Although the opinions and eye rolling hasn't stopped, I feel a little more tolerant of it, because I see it as her just trying to be independent. I really like to hear her thoughts about life, friends, school, and just what she finds joy in. 

I'm so thankful she always wants to show me her dance moves. I love watching her dance. She is particularly proud right now because she has really quickly grasped some of the moves in her solo routine. She was just telling me the other day how surprised she was that when Jessie shows her a move, she can just do it! Specifically things that she struggled with just the end of last dance season. So she really is feeling the fruits of her labor. Lots of hard work pays off! I just love to see how much she loves it. She always wishes her solo practice was way, way longer than it is.I truly never hear complaints about dance. Even weeks where they spent 15 hours dancing! I feel grateful to have helped her find something that she truly loves. And I genuinely feel like she chose this, and I did not push her into it, but guided her as she showed a love and a desire for it. Jordyn has her best friend, Nataly. They are two peas in a pod for sure. Jordyn seems like the kind of person who has lots of friends, but feels most comfortable with one or two really close friends who she truly opens up to and it's really herself with. 

And I am completely fine with that! Nataly is a great friend, and a joy to be around. They are so funny, and I love that they let me in on some of their inside jokes. Like Debbie. One of the yard duty teachers at school, Mrs Lopez, has been one of their inside jokes for a couple years now. It is so hilarious to see them do impersonations of her. I can't even explain it, it's just something you have to see. "Girlssss". 

It's also been interesting to help her navigate through the world of social media. 

She has an Instagram account, and has asked for a Snapchat. A lot of her friends have Twitter, Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram and all that. But I explained to her that we are starting slow so she can learn how to navigate and manage the big responsibility that it is to have yourself out there on social media.I told her that I completely trust her, and saying no to a Snapchat, for example, has nothing to do with how much I trust her. Just last week, we had an interesting example of what I have been trying to teach her. Somebody created a anonymous Facebook Instagram page called "Clay hate page ". They posted some extremely, extremely mean,degrading and bullying things about some of the girls in 7th grade. The principal found out and took care of it and the page has been deleted. But the words that this person wrote cannot be deleted from anyone's minds. Especially the girls who were hurt by the words. I was grateful Jordyn got to learn something from that without being a target of that painful experience. Social media can be scary and is much bigger than a 12-year-old can fully comprehend.

(this picture below might be too hard to explain, but the look she is giving me is what I wanted to show!)

 Jordyn is a very creative, smart, and responsible girl. I love when she wants to teach a family home evening or gets in a mood to play store or something like that with her sisters. Occasionally, when I have left her home with Peyton for a short period of time, I will come home and have Peytons hair fixed, or her homework done, or a snack made for her. It's fun to see Jo be able to initiate things like that! 

She is also obsessed with babies and really wants to babysit. I think she has finally given up on anyone in our family having more babies! 

I love this picture of Jordyn and Peyton sitting my my parents at church. I am so thankful that Jordyn gets to have such a close relationship with my parents. They are both positive and important role models in her life. Jo gets to be wild and crazy and loud with her grandma, and gets to be teased and tease back with grandpa. Also gets to figure out really long and sometimes annoying math problems (like how many grandchildren could the Duggers have if each kid had 20 kids).

I can let myself get sad when I think of only having 5 1/2 more years until she is 18 and able to be on her own. Only because I won't get to see her every single day and be as integrated in her life as I am now. I truly enjoyed her, and have learned a lot about myself through our relationship. I mostly just hope she always knows how much I love her and will support her and anything she wants in life! I LOVE YOU JO JO!!!!!!!!!

Saturday

Another busy Saturday! I daydream about laying around...but even if I had the chance, I bet I'd create things to do!

Laundry!! Kids initially resist, but I just tell them I'll donate every piece not put away to our local good will (KCAPS). And I'm dead serious.

Notice Rusty has to be part of the action.

So tired by 8:30.

I spent like 8 hours preparing watch me draw stuff for our new session starting this week.

Love making healthy muffins for my mom and I to eat!

Tucker did a 50 mile ride today! Next Saturday is the 75 mile race. He said he doesn't feel as prepared as he wanted to, but he'll be fine.