church

In sacrament meeting today, Cheyanna was having a hard time being quiet.  I whispered to Cheyanna, "Try to be reverent and think about Jesus."  She whispered back, "I already did.  I'm done now."  It made me smile.  :)

Cheyanna lost a front tooth

 That front tooth was wiggly forever before Dad finally pulled it out!  Here's Cheyanna proudly holding the tooth.  The tooth fairy somehow forgot to come the night she lost the tooth, so Cheyanna wrote her a nice note explaining that she should probably leave some extra money since she was late coming.  (: 

Ice Cream Social

 Here's Cheyanna on stage at Noah Webster with her class singing at the Ice Cream Social.  Last year, she was too shy to go on stage and sing with her class, so I was glad this year that she went right up with the rest of her class.  She's a big first grader now!

Precious

Jill made these cute collages of Cheyanna's pix. 

My Girl

Here are Cheyanna's six-year-old pictures.

My friend, Jill, took these pics for me, and I LOVE them.  I think Jill captured Cheyanna's sweet personality so well. Thank you, Jill!!!

Cheyanna is sweet and shy, but she has a sassy little kick to her too.  She is tough (the result of having three older brothers), but still girly and lovable.  Her personality has blossomed so much in the past year.  Going to kindergarten has given her a lot of confidence along with more knowledge.  She is a good little reader, and loves the Biscuit books.  Cheyanna loves animals, stuffed animals, and babies.  She has a great imagination, and can play by herself for hours with her little dolls, animals and toys. 

Not a day goes by that I don't feel so thankful to have sweet Cheyanna in my life.  She is such a joy and a blessing, and she couldn't possibly be loved any more than she is!!

Cheyanna lost a tooth

Cheyanna lost her first tooth a couple of weeks after she turned six.  Her permanent tooth had already started growing in behind her baby tooth, so it was about time that baby tooth came out!  

Here she is, happily anticipating her first visit from the tooth fairy!

Cheyanna's Birthday

Here are a few more pix from Cheyanna's birthday.  I took orange creamsicles to her kindergarten class for her birthday treat.  She chose to go to Filiberto's for her birthday dinner (she loves their chips & guac), then McDonald's for an ice cream cone and to play.  She complained about half of her gifts (she didn't want earrings, and I bought her the wrong Liv doll), but she loved her gifts from Granny, Aunt Megan and Aunt Lindsey.  Here she is in the "Princess & the Frog" dress up they gave her, with a stuffed animal frog to go with it.  

I can hardly believe my baby is six!  I must say, life is good when your baby is six though.  No more diapers.  Everyone sleeps through the night.  I can sleep in on weekends (only usually I wake up early despite my best efforts to sleep in--too much to do!)  Everyone sits calmly through sacrament meeting.  I can carry a small purse.  The kids are all old enough to help with chores.  We can have real conversations involving the whole family.  Everyone can take turns reading the Book of Mormon during family scripture time.  Everyone knows how to swim.  I could go on and on.  I loved having babies and toddlers, but it was so exhausting and challenging!  ANYWAY, back to Cheyanna...she has grown up so much this past year.  She is learning so much in kindergarten.  She has become less shy and more confident.  She loves her stuffed animals, and she still plays by herself in her room with all of cute girly toys for long stretches of time.  Have I mentioned how much I love having a girl?  I am so thankful for my sweet Cheyanna.  She makes my life so happy and complete.  Happy Birthday sweet girl!

 

Cheyanna wonders

Tonight after Family Home Evening, Cheyanna asked, "Mom, so how do you get married?  Like, does your mom just drive you to the temple and there's lots of boys there, and you just pick one and get married?"  A fun discussion about dating and falling in love and marriage proposals followed.  I love having a girl.  :)

Cheyanna's New Do

Cheyanna used to have very curly hair until she turned 5.  Then all of a sudden, it was straight and stringy on the top, curly underneath, and overall messy looking no matter how often I brushed it.  So we decided to try a much shorter hairdo and see if it is more manageable with her difficult hair type.  I cut it much shorter than I intended to, but I like it this length, and she does too.  

It is easy to flip it out or curl it all over--it is much more manageable.  I'm so glad Cheyanna is so easygoing and she was happy with the haircut! It is fun to try something new, and hair always grows back out. 

Spirit Week and ASU update

Cheyanna is loving school now! She has gotten the hang of everything, and it is so fun to see her come home with a new confidence when she has learned something new. Here are some pictures from Spirit Week. This first one is "crazy hair day."
This was "school colors day" (Red and Blue). I know I'm not an accomplished photographer. In all these pics, they are totally squinting into the sun! Oh well, I try.
I'll bet you can guess what this one is: crazy hat day. Cade keeps complaining that school is a waste of time because he already knows everything, and he wants to skip ahead to college. I think what he means is that school isn't as fun as playing Wii, so he'd rather stay home and play video games all day. :) I told him that the first few weeks are always a review of stuff you've already learned, so if he's patient, he'll start learning some new material soon.
This is just a picture of Cheyanna looking cute one morning before school. I got a kick out of her choice of bright pink hello kitty socks. I think one of her favorite parts of each day is when we pick out what outfit she is going to wear the next day.
Our kids have all gotten their first back-to-school sickness already. They passed around a cold this week, and all 3 boys stayed home from school one day last week feeling miserable (on different days). Everyone is feeling better today.

My school is going well. I had forgotten how much I love school, and I totally feel like a piece of me that was dormant (and I didn't realize it), has woken up, and I feel more alive because I am learning. There are 40 of us starting the MC (Master of Counseling) program this fall, and half of us have all of our classes together. So I have gotten to know a lot of the people in my group, and made lots of friends already. There are some other ladies my age, and some other moms, so I feel like I can totally do this. Taking 5 classes seems kinda crazy, but then again, we're all in the same boat, and if they can do it, I can do it. It's A LOT of work, and tons of reading, but hey--good thing I love to read, right? The good thing is that all of my classes are ones that I am super excited to be taking (except data analysis). So I am enjoying the reading, and loving what I am learning. My classes are: Data Analysis, Analysis of the Individual, Counseling Theories, Community Counseling, and Ethics. I am going to be really, really busy trying to get all my reading, papers, and projects done, but I'm loving every minute of it!!

Cheyanna is Five!

Here are Cheyanna's 5-year-old pics!

Cheyanna is our sweet little princess. She loves to play with her friends, play with her stuffed animals, and play Webkinz. She has a great imagination, and she is content to play quietly with her animals or toys for long stretches of time. She is so easy to take shopping or anywhere--she just goes with the flow no matter what we are doing. She does have a stubborn streak though that you would not believe! As sweet and good natured as she is, she can really dig in her heels and stick to her guns. Maybe that will be a good thing later on in her life. After 3 boys, I remember wishing for a girl, and I feel so blessed now to have Cheyanna. She is everything I hoped for, and I like to think of her as Heavenly Father's way of rewarding me for surviving three rowdy, rambunctious little boys. :)

Cheyanna's Birthday

Here's a few more pix from Cheyanna's Birthday! For her night out with Mom and Dad, she wanted to go to Chuck E. Cheese's, so that's where we headed. She had a fun time getting all the tokens to herself, and having both Mom and Dad's undivided attention. Cheyanna really wanted to meet Chuck E, but when she got close to him, she wasn't too sure about the huge mouse. Dad was there to help her face her fears and give the mouse a high five.

I think this looks says, "I've had too much fun today, AND stop taking my picture!"

Here is the Birthday girl opening presents. She got lots of stuffed animals (her favorite thing!), and a biking Barbie, and lots more stuffed animals. I took her to Toys R Us to pick out a gift from Grandma, and guess what she picked? A cute little dog stuffed animal that barks and walks and whines. The good news is that it doesn't need a pooper scooper, and we don't have to worry about it chewing up our furniture.

Happy 5th Birthday, Cheyanna!!

Cheyanna's Party

Cheyanna loved having her friends over for a little Birthday party on her 5th Birthday! They had fun splashing around in the hot tub, eating cupcakes and ice cream cones, playing games, and playing with Cheyanna's new toys and gifts. Here's the whole crew. Her party was on a Monday morning, so what is Cade doing there? He had a "bad stomach ache" that morning, so he didn't think he could go to school. As you can see in the picture below, he pepped up just fine once the party began, and his stomach felt good enough to eat ice cream and cake. Chuck surprised us by coming home from work for the festivities, so he dropped Cade off at school after the party on his way back to work. :)

Here's the Birthday Princess enjoying the spotlight.

The kids are chillin in the hot tub. From left, Stephen, Taegan, Cheyanna, Grace, and Savannah

Cheyanna looking oh so cool in her new shades

The kids love to turn on all the jets and the blower, and flop around and scream!

Cheyanna had a blast, and I felt really glad that 5-year-olds are pretty easy to please. She was perfectly happy only inviting four friends, so it was an easy party for me to pull off. I remember Charlie's 5th B-day party (I was due with Cade any minute), we had a huge party with a jumping castle and tons of friends and family. That was my first child. By the time I get around to my fourth child, I've scaled WAY back, and I know Cheyanna didn't feel like she missed out on anything. Simple is good.

See? She's happy as can be! Happy Birthday, Cheyanna!!!

My Portrait

Cheyanna drew this picture of me, and I don't know why I love it so much, but it just makes me smile.