Happenings at our house

Busy, busy, as usual! There have been lots of fun happenings at our house lately!

Landon Gresham was born April 11th. We are SO excited to have another baby in the family! I cannot believe my brother is Dad to two kids. Wow.  Such a blessing for all of us to be in the same area so we can be together for such special times!

 Conner and Alaina were so thrilled to hold a newborn again. I love that they get so excited. Alaina has added Landon to her nightly prayers that already include Maylin and Zane. : )

Sweet Landon Gresham

Alaina got a haircut! Alaina has been talking for some time about wanting to get her hair cut short and we have balked at it, but on a whim, I decided to appease her and cut it myself. Lesson learned. There are a few things that a professional should do and cutting a cute bob is one of them! Luckily with her wavy hair you can't see how uneven some of the layers are and she is SO excited about her cut she doesn't notice anything wrong.

 

When did they get so big?? Conner is a solid 93 lbs and Alaina a super solid 53 lbs. They are built like their Daddy (lucky!) and are tall, slender and muscular by design. Conner has enjoyed his fourth year of soccer and Alaina is in her third year of dance and acro. We are going to sign her up for soccer for this fall to explore some options outside of dance.

With the house on the market we have had to get out fo the house on a whim so the park has been our friend. We went to a park recently where Zane enjoyed his first ride down a slide with his sister. Having the house on the market has been tough but we have had many showings so we are getting used to keeping it up and know what we need to do to get it "ready to show". There are have been mixed feelings in the house regards to sellling. Some days the kids cry and say they don't want to move and other days they are excited for the showing and hope (like we do) that these buyers are "the one". We certainly can't wait to add furry siblings to the family!

Zane's view of the park. I can almost see him thinking "One day. One day I will be running down there with them!" : ) He is certainly a boy on the go and I can only imagine once he is walking that there will be no stopping him!

A certain little girl turned 6 on April 25th. Alaina was so excited for her birthday. It was truly a day she had waited all year for. : ) We decided not to have a "friend party" due to Alaina's struggle being a good friend with her family and learning how to have a good attitude. Alaina, when you read this one day, just know that we are doing everything we can to help you learn how to be a good friend and have a respectful attitude! We did have a "family party" at the park which was super fun. Again, how blessed are the kids that they  get to have both sets of grandparents, aunt and uncles in their life? Priceless!

 Alaina's birthday did fall on a school day and her Daddy was sweet enough to surprise her at lunch with a bouquet of flowers. I came at the end of the day with balloons and cookie cake. She was so excited to be the "special one" that day. I see so much how Alaina treasures being the "special" one. Oh how I hope she sees and understands that she is special to us and to God every day.

Conner's teacher excused him from class so he could join us for Alaina's little party in her room. I LOVE that he wants to be there and I LOVE that Alaina wants him there. They do have their share of arguements but they do share an open affection with each other that I pray continues!

We finished up the celebration with a strawberry cake after her birthday dinner of hotdogs, mac and cheese and peas. She got Just Dance 4, a caboodle and some drawing paper and markers for her birthday. 

 Another one of Aliana's masterpieces. A daily activity for her, starting at 6am when she wakes is writing and drawing!

As usual, I have done a poor job of documenting this boys progress. But WOW, he is on the move. He can do the fast crawl to get anywhere he wants, but more than ever, he wants to walk. he pulls up on anything and everything he can. He will scale furniture, walls, people. If it is upright, he will use it to walk. We can only imagine it is a matter of days or weeks before he is walking oh is own. 

We also recently got together for Grandpa's 74th birthday. Again, so blessed that we and the kids are able to spend such special time with family. We all gathered around while Alaina Grandpa opened  his gifts and blew out candles on his carrot cake.

Conner finished up his fourth soccer season and won the Hamilton Award for his team this season.

The Hamilton Award goes to the child who
- shows respect to you, the ref and fellow teammates
- consistently has a good attitude, win or lose
- exemplifies sportsmanship
- exhibits integrity
- promotes team unity
- is a good example to other players
Conner was honored along with the other winners at the halftime of the Railhawks game.
 Conner choice of posing:

Mom's choice of posing. Oh my, am I becoming "that Mom"? : )

Conner at halftime on the field:

It was so cool to see him waving at the crowd. I could see the pride in his eyes and when he came to the side line, there were a line of kids hanging over the railing holding their hands down for "high fives" yet no one was coming over. Well, I could see Conner eyeing them, and in an instant he sprinted over to the railing, running down the length give "five" to all the kids. He told me afterwards that he felt "kind of important". Yes, Conner, you kind of are. : )