Deciding to Homeschool, Part 1: Why we refused to send him back to the public school

I haven't touched this blog for awhile.  A part of me really wants to write in it again.  I miss writing.

So, I was trying to think of what to write, and I settled on writing a little about our decision to homeschool.  Several friends and family members already know the story, but I thought I would share it here in case anyone else wants to start or is considering homeschooling their own children.

We've always been interested in homeschooling, especially when it became apparent that Evan was not  the average kid.  He struggled with speech for a long while (I joke now that I can't get him to be quiet), among a few other things, and we just weren't sure if it would be a good fit for Evan or our family.

So, he went to preschool and kinder and part of 1st grade in Ohio.  We loved the preschool and elementary school that he attended there.  Evan loved his teachers, he did so well and I think the smaller class sizes helped him a ton.

Then we moved to Las Vegas. Schools there are a huge joke. I think it's a problem with larger school districts. They become these bureaucratic monsters that are full of overworked teachers and too many students, among other things.

Anyways, the last two months of 1st grade were much different than our experience in Ohio.  Only one recess a day, an overcrowded classroom, and too long of a school day.

Then there were three experiences that changed our mind about him attending that school again.

1) The first experience was a miscommunication...of sorts.  Evan's class walked to the splash pad at the park/playground next door to the school for a field trip.  He was told that he could either wear his swimsuit and bring a towel or he could change into his swim clothes before they left or I believe when he got there. When I picked him up from school that day, he was wearing regular clothes, had completely dry hair and immediately told me that he wasn't allowed to play in the splash pad with the other kids, but instead, was told to play on the playground, away from everyone else.

Instantly, my mama bear instincts went into gear.  We had already left the school, so I waited until the next afternoon to ask his teacher why he hadn't been allowed to play in the water.  She said he didn't ask her to change into his clothes.

Okay, first of all--he has an IEP for speech!  He needed help communicating!

I get it.  She seemed like a really good teacher, but I think that there were too many kids that demanded her attention in that class and Evan tends to be quieter than the average kid.  He may have tried talking to her, like he told me he did, but she was either busy or worried about something else.

That was strike 1. I mean, it's Las Vegas in May? He couldn't have just run through the splash pad in his regular clothes? I really wouldn't have minded, but to be forced to play on the playground, away from the other kids, was a little bit much for me.

2) The second thing was pretty simple. I hated the dismissal procedures. Basically the kids were walked out by the teachers in front of the school, and then chaos happened.  Rick picked him up one day from school, and while walking in the parking lot, Evan was almost hit by a car.

Evan doesn't stray from us. I held that kids hand for as long as possible and taught him to stick to us like glue. Rick, my mild-mannered, kind and calm husband was so angry about it. It's one of the few times I've seen him mad about something.

3) This was the straw that broke the camel's back. I mentioned above that Evan had an IEP. Well, they gave me a packet of paperwork, the standard IEP paperwork, asking about our goals and filled with the parent questionnaires. Some of the paperwork asked for confidential health history as well.

I filled it out (we've been doing this type of paperwork for Evan for years as we've moved and changed school districts) and returned it to the school. I turned it into the lady at the front office and told her who it was for.

When I showed up for the IEP meeting, the teachers and psychiatrist told me that they didn't have the paperwork. That I never returned it. I was so mad. I'm not a confrontational person, but I was seething.  That was the end of it. 

First of all, where did it go?

I double and triple checked Evan's room, backpack, all over my house to make sure that I hadn't imagined that I dropped it off at the front office in the school.

So, Rick and I came to the logical conclusion that public school in Las Vegas probably wasn't the best fit for Evan. Maybe it would have been better the next year, when we were there for a full year, but my instincts were screaming for me to not send him back there.

Instead, we decided to try out homeschooling the next year, which ended up being a complete failure (at that time), but were steps that we needed to take in order to get the point where we are now.  

Good-bye, 2022. It's been real.

YO, how long has it been since I’ve done a blog post? It feels like it’s been forever. To be honest, I love writing, and I have been writing, but a lot of it has been deleted or pushed to the side for now. I have many unpublished posts and even more books that I’ve written that I haven’t quite finished, but I will get to that later.

I thought I’d take a look back at this year and write down a few things that went well, and a few things that haven’t been great. 2022 hasn’t been an easy year for a lot of people, and I’m realizing, that’s just life? I feel like there are times of prosperity and times of scarcity in each of our lives, different seasons that we have to live through. As I’m currently working through this season in my life, knee deep in raising (as well as homeschooling) a still nursing 15 month old, a toddler, 3 elementary school aged children, and a teenager, all at the same time, I’m finding myself stretched and in that pulling and stretching, I can also feel myself growing.

Again, I feel like that might be a different blog post. As for now, I just wanted to write down five things that I’m either proud of myself for doing, or I’m thankful for.

1. Duolingo–Some people may laugh, but this is my favorite accomplishment that has been 100 percent for me this year. For the last few years, I’ve had a feeling that I should brush up on my Spanish. Obviously without much use, the Spanish that I learned in high school and college has become incredibly rusty. I decided to start using Duolingo, and I’m super happy to report that today is my 361 day streak! I plan on keeping up with it, because it’s been helping me a ton. I’ve been able to converse with Rick in Spanish a lot easier (we switch to Spanish when we are talking about things that we don’t want the kids to know about, mostly presents or other fun surprises). I’ve been able to think of the vocabulary I need to use much quicker. I’m still nowhere near ready to move to a Spanish speaking country, I think, but with a few more years, I’m sure I’ll be able to pick up on it easier.

2. Reading–I set a goal to read 50 books this year. This was another thing that was 100 percent for me. I love to read, and it’s difficult finding time to read. About 90% of the time, I get to read at night in bed. Sometimes I can ignore my kids while they’re awake and read then, but most of the time I’m too distracted by their chaos and demands to focus enough to read. I’ve read some good books, and I’ve read some stinkers. But overall, I’ve had a lot of fun. This has been the year of Agatha Christie. I started with the first Poirot novel and went through and read all of them until the very last one, which I’ve been waiting to read for a little bit because I’ve heard that it’s disappointing. Reading is “me” time though and I am glad that I was able to reach my goal and go past it a bit (I read 70 books this year!)

3. Come, Follow Me and Scripture Study–This year I’ve learned that little steps are incredibly important to reach your goals. And while I love the idea of sitting with my scriptures open, with a journal, pretty pencils, and a pen to write down impressions, that’s not really the season of life that I’m in. Instead, I found two apps that I use daily. The first app is Scriptures Plus, by the people that run Book of Mormon Central. I used their reading plans for the Old Testament study. Then I use the Come Follow Me Daily App for their Book of Mormon scheduled reading and General Conference study. Again, I’m not overly fond of reading my scriptures from the phone, but it is the best way that I can ensure that I get that little dose of spiritual renewal into my life, and that is what worked for me this year!

4. DC Temple Open House and Dedication–We loved being able to take the kids to the temple for the Open House in the spring. I also loved that we could take our three older kids with us (Sadie got baptized this year!) to the temple dedication. Both of the experiences were very spiritual and I’m so glad we were able to share them with our children.

5. Soccer–I volunteered to coach Sadie’s soccer team this year! This was definitely out of my comfort zone. I initially volunteered to be an assistant coach, but then there was an email about needing a head coach instead. I had to volunteer, mostly because I do like being in charge and I didn’t want someone telling the girls that the most important thing about playing soccer is being able to run (eye roll–I actually have heard that at one point from a coach) I paid some money to take the licensing course for her age group through the US Soccer Federation. I watched YouTube videos with different drills and ideas. I wasn’t sure about coaching a bunch of 8 and 9 year old girls, but it was so much fun! There was the occasional drama, but I really loved working with the girls. My goals were for them to improve their own game and for us to start playing together as a team. Towards the end of the season, I feel like they were all friends with each other, and really started to gel as a team. We even won the end of season tournament. I was hoping to coach next season too, but may not be able to since we will most likely be moving only a few months later.

6. I got help–This could probably be its own blog post. But back in January/February of this year, I was going through a tough time. There was a lot of anxiety, crying, and overall anger at everything. I didn’t know why, but I couldn’t let Lexi cry–it was like nails on chalkboard for me. I was a complete hot mess and felt like a total failure. Why couldn’t I have all my crap together like all those other people I know who totally seem like they know what they’re doing? Towards the end of February, one night I was really upset and crying to Rick about something–about how I hated a calling in the Church that I used to love. Rick was quiet, and then he asked me, “Have you thought all of these things that you’re feeling could be Postpartum Depression?” I was a little annoyed at first. Lexi was 5 months old by this time–why would I have Postpartum Depression? But, I quickly looked it up, and it can come up several months after giving birth still. I went to the doctor, and talked to her, and was diagnosed with Postpartum Depression and Postpartum Anxiety. I got a prescription for what I like to call my “happy meds” and I’ve been doing much better. I do feel like I probably get Seasonal Depression as well. The other times that I’ve had really sad times has always seemed to be in the winter (my first winter at BYU-I, a couple of winters in Ohio), and I think it correlates with the lack of vitamin D as well. This year I have a happy lamp, and I’m consciously setting boundaries to take care of myself as well as my family. That’s even more difficult when you’re solo parenting, which I will be for a couple of months this year, but I’m confident I’ll be able to figure it out.

7. I got to go to California for my parent’s 50th Anniversary. The beach is my happy place, and it was so much fun seeing my family (and Rick’s family in Arizona as well).

Some things that weren’t so great this year. I like to keep things real, and not everything has been absolutely AMAZING this year. In fact, some things have been pretty crappy for us. It’s all about balance, right?

1. My computer–my lovely red, beautiful laptop broke. I know it’s a material possession, and I know that my husband can get all of my work (writing) off of the hard drive, but it’s a pain in the butt that it broke. Ah, well. It doesn’t matter that much, I think.

2. My weight–I’ve pretty much regained all but 10 pounds of weight after having Lexi. That Gestational Diabetes diet had me losing close to 40 pounds when she was born. Then I could start eating whatever I wanted again, because my Postpartum Glucose Test came back normal.

3. PPD/PPA–I put this as a positive too, but honestly having it sucks. I don’t like that my brain and hormones didn’t bounce back like they usually do after having my babies.

4. Nathan’s dental work drama–The boy has been fighting tooth and nail against us. He used to get his dental work done with nitrous oxide, but he won’t let them do it anymore. We had to go through the work of finding another dentist, one who would do IV sedation for him. Well, he could only do it once a month, and the December appointment he didn’t make it to, because he was still sick with a respiratory illness. This is after he’s had a couple of rounds of antibiotics that he’s needed so that he can fight the infection from one of the teeth in particular that’s been bothering him. Crossing our fingers that he will be healthy enough in January to get it done.

5. Fall Sickness–We were sick pretty much the entire month of November and through the beginning of December with what we believe was RSV and Influenza A (Rick was actually tested for that one). Thankfully, we’ve all recovered and are pretty healthy, even though two of the kids ended up with ear infections and Rick ended up with a Post Viral Bronchitis from the Flu.

6. Losing my friend Tara–All of the above pales in comparison to losing a dear friend in such a tragic event. I still can’t wrap my head around not being able to see her again in this life. I mourn her life, and the lives of her three living children, who were all murdered. And I struggle everyday with the anger and confusion I feel towards her husband for what he did. No other difficulties that I’ve been having can really compare after I heard that news in September. So what if I have to pay extra money for Nathan’s dental work? Or that I’ve regained a lot of the weight I lost during pregnancy? (That sounds backwards). I’m still living and my kids and husband are still here as well.

And, here’s to 2023. Hopefully, our family can continue to make lemonade from the lemons that life throws at us all.

The last year

This past year has been insane.  We've celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, and we moved to Las Vegas, Nevada.  Rick graduated with his Master's Degree and he has another four years of military service that he is committed to.  We bought our first house and although I love our house, I am seriously missing Ohio. 

What to write about the kids? 

Well, they are amazing and I am constantly in awe of how awesome my children are.  They are growing more and more each and every day.  I love how happy go lucky they are and how forgiving they seem to be.  I make so many mistakes and they love me anyways.  I wish that was something that most people kept with them as they grew older.

Evan turned 7 this last October and will be 8 here in 2017.  He always amazes me with his knowledge and skills.  Honestly, I think this kid might have a photographic memory with how he tends to learn things.  It's either that or he's just obsessed with things.  He loves learning about the human body, maps, violin and piano and is definitely in that sponge phase.

He graduated or was discharged from speech, occupational and ABA therapy this past year.  He is super smart but still has his weaknesses with social skills and writing. 

He recently joined an elementary orchestra on base and chose to learn the violin.  He is doing super well with it, and loves going.  He also does swim lessons once a week. 

With Miss Elli when he graduated from Speech therapy.

Evan loves Nathan so much.

Evan when he initially picked up his violin.

Evan and his close friend Emma.  He misses her so much.

From back in September.  He hates flowers (because of the bees that can sting him). 

Logan is now 5 and loves so many things.  He is super sharp, especially when it comes to picking up on social cues.  He's very friendly and could probably talk the ear off of anything that sits around for long enough around him.  He loves books, and listening to stories.  He is also super obsessed with legos, always asking for new lego sets and talking about them.  He's constantly building things.  He is also our space, rocket and airplane lover.  And, of course, there is his Spider-man obsession. 

He is doing swim lessons once a week and is on a t-ball team for the summer.  This team is so awesome and we're so thankful to have great parents to work with the kids.  Logan's best friend is Evan, and he learns so much from Evan everyday.  They share a room and are practically connected at the hip.  I'm so thankful that they love each other so much, even with all the fighting that they do.

I call him Mr. Photogenic.

Spider-man party

With two of his sweet little friends, Sarah and Alexis right before we moved. 

Logan and his buddy.  Like Evan, he certainly loves his baby brother.

Sadie is now three and oh my, is she sassy.  She has just recently exploded in her talking.  Before her favorite word was "no" and overnight she started speaking in sentences.  She is very bossy, and doesn't mind shrieking at her brothers when they do something that annoys her.

She loves playing outside and getting dirty.  She is very adventurous on the playground, considering that she is still really tiny for her age.  She has no problem climbing up ladders or the rock climbing walls.  She loves dressing up and shopping. She sits for me after bathtime and lets me blow dry her hair so she can look "pretty".  She is very independent--she loves to do her own hair and brush her own teeth while picking out things that she wants to wear.  I love how spirited she is and I hope she always has such confidence in her abilities.

She is such a joy.  Her grin and laugh are so infectious and even though she is a "threenager" now, I just enjoy having her at home with me so much.

Sadie in the sunflowers.

This was her wearing the tea party hat  I made for her birthday party.

Kitty cat ears.  She really has such a keen fashion sense.

This was her just a month ago in the ER for a breathing treatment.  She was sounding like Darth Vader.

Picking out her own outfits is one of her favorite things to do.

Nathan is now 1!  I can't believe how quickly this past year has gone by.  I haven't really blogged about the kid before, so here goes.  He is so awesome!  Easiest baby ever.  At his two month check up we found out that he had a broken clavicle at birth that had healed over already.  Just to show how good he was, we never even knew that or had any clue that anything was wrong with him because he rarely cried (except for the usual things--food, sleep, diaper change).

He loves eating (if you couldn't tell by his chunky size) and was attached to me throughout his first nine months or so until he figured out that it might be fun to learn how to crawl.  He was also our best sleeper.  He slept in his rock n play in our bedroom for several months and I didn't even bother moving him out earlier because he started sleeping for about 6- 7 hours straight pretty early on.  He also started smiling at a super early age. 

He's just a jolly, fat baby and we've loved having him in our family.  The kids all adore him, even though now they're trying to figure out how to redirect him from their stuff gently.  They've also figured out that he likes to pull hair while he pulls himself up to stand.

He was also our earliest (or second earliest--it's between him and Evan) walker.  He really just took off this past week.  He has the brightest, most infectious smile and loves people.  He's super social, so much that he hates napping and going to sleep in his crib because he misses people and doesn't want to be alone. 

We had mustaches in Nathan's taco piñata.  He wasn't that amused.

During one of our colder afternoons last fall in Ohio.

Sweet baby

He's always stealing food from one of his older siblings.

So happy swinging.

And some more pictures of our family and friends from this past year. 

Love this sweet picture of our family.

Me and my babies on Mother's Day.

My sweet kids at Ikea.  I love this picture.

Rick and I at his AFIT graduation.

From Halloween

This picture!  We had a fun Harry Potter Murder Mystery Dinner last October with several of our favorite people from Ohio.  We miss them so much.

The kids playing with retro cameras during my sister's wedding celebration.

In the sunflowers.

Me and Sadie.

From Christmas Eve.

Rick and his boys. 

Nathan Jens Chappell

Born July 5, 20 inches long and 9 lbs even.  He was measuring big for his gestational age so he had to get some glucose testing to make sure that insulin and sugar levels were normal.  This was my hardest labor and delivery but we've been recovering quite well now.

 This labor and delivery was really rough.  I went in pretty late on the 4th of July. I hadn't started dilating at that point.  But, since I'd had three babies before they decided to induce me a week early with the gels.  We weren't sure how big Nathan was going to be, but I thought he'd be around 7-8 lbs since that was how big my other kids were (except Logan who was only 6 lbs).  I was really concerned about a huge baby.  I didn't want to end up with a c-section because of his weight.  And since he was measuring quite big for a while with the growth ultrasounds (which has been wrong with all my other kids, by the way), we decided to induce early.  Plus with Rick's school schedule, we thought it the best choice at the moment.

I've only been induced with pitocin before and not gels.  Those gels hurt very badly.  I remember it being around 12:00 AM and I put on the Age of Ultron (they have a great streaming video service at the hospital I delivered at) to distract me because of how bad the cramping was.  The second dose of the stuff made my body react even more intensely, and so they had me get up to get it out of me.

I had only dilated to about 2 cm by the time morning came around, and I was feeling a bit bummed out, wondering if we had made the right decision with what was essentially an elective induction.  I was actually pretty weepy.  I remember asking Rick if we should just cut our losses and leave before I was strapped down with the pitocin.  We put on "Ant-man" then to distract me once again, and then I got up to use the restroom and my water spontaneously broke.  So, the decision was already made for us.  I felt so much better about having the baby after that.

I asked for an epidural after that because my contractions got really intense.  Of course it took forever to get it since they had to flush my body with fluids on the IV.  I asked the L&D nurse for a catheter while I was getting the epidural and she said that they don't give them at this hospital.  I wouldn't feel my bladder anyways, because of the epidural.

I remember being annoyed with the answer but I didn't fight it at all.  I wish I would have looking back because I think that and a late and neglected diagnosis of a UTI really messed with my body right after delivery.  After the epidural, the dr checked me and said I was at a 4.  After an hour, the nurse came in, I was a 10.  But the baby hadn't descended yet so they gave me another hour or so, to see if my body would do it on it's own.

After the hour, the nurse came in and started me pushing to get him to descend.  Ugh.  Talk about horrible.  I had started to shake like crazy and I was so cold.  My whole body was trembling and I could barely talk.

Anyways, after about twenty minutes, Nathan was born.  I don't remember a lot of what happened though except being super cold and shaking like nobody's business.  Rick thinks I went into shock from the loss of blood.  I spike a fever as well and while I was getting stitched up, the nurses called the doctor about me because of the heavier bleeding.  She told them to give me a shot that would help with clotting and then they decided to finally hook me up to an IV of antibiotics to help with the UTI. 

After an hour or two I started to feel better and my poor Rick was finally not looking at me so frightened. Anyways, I was glad that everything worked out, I didn't have to be wheeled back for surgery. 

I was only super annoyed that the stupid nurses or lab didn't catch the fact that I had a UTI to begin with.  I should have been hooked up to the antibiotics to begin with. 

These three meeting their baby brother.

I love his chunky little arm.

Everyone looks nice except me in my hospital gown.  Ha ha.

My super cute family. 

Playing Catch Up

We've had a busy few months since I last updated this thing.  First, we had a grand time the rest of March with a quick trip to DC to see our sisters when Rick's mom came out to visit.  It was a really quick turnaround trip.  We went to the zoo, and enjoyed Easter with Sarah and Maria and Scott.

During Logan's well check I expressed my concern over his snoring at night.  For the last year, he would wake up randomly, screaming and crying and then go back to sleep.  His pediatrician said that his tonsils were huge, so she referred us to the base ENT who very quickly got us into an appointment and informed us that the tonsils and adenoids would need to come out.  Just a week or so after that we discovered a nasty infected boil on Logan's finger that had to be lanced in the ER and he had to have a round of antibiotics to take care of the infection.  Well, after that trip to the ER, the next week Rick and I took him to the hospital where he had his surgery.  The base did such a great job of taking care of him.  We were there all day.  The two week recovery was not fun, but he bounced back so quickly.  It's amazing how much he's changed since he's had his tonsils taken out.  He has had no issues with potty training now, you can understand him a lot clearer and no more sleeping issues.

In April, Evan had the cutest kindergarten performance.  They sung about bugs and had the cutest little dances.  May was a pretty busy month as well.  Evan ended up in the ER this time because he fell on the kitchen floor, smacking his glasses against his eyebrow line pretty hard.  He had to get stitches, which he was not happy about of course.  The rest of the school year passed by quickly.  I can't believe how much he's grown and how good he is at school stuff.  He does so well with math and reading, and his natural curiosity is just growing more everyday.

June was a busy month as well.  I've been doing pretty well with my pregnancy, but wanted to do a bunch of stuff with the kids to try and keep them busy since we were going to be stuck inside for a few weeks after I gave birth.  We went to splash pads and parks with friends, and enjoyed our time outside as much as possible.  We also are doing swim lessons this summer to try and keep the kids occupied.  I'm also thinking of signing the boys up for soccer this fall, if I feel brave.  Of course, Rick will be knee deep in his research and thesis work at that time, so who knows if I will feel like doing that or not.

In June, Evan had to get his eyes dilated to see if there were any potential issues.  Poor boy's right eye is so much weaker than the left eye.   Doctor told us that we needed to patch his left eye to give the right exercise to become stronger.  He said that most kids eyes stop developing by the time that they are 7 or 8 which kind of freaked me out since he's 7 in just a few months.  So far we can tell that he's doing pretty well.  His right eye seems to straighten a lot easier than it used to.  He's been staying busy this summer with his ABA therapy, swim and Speech/OT.

I started measuring big this pregnancy at about 28 weeks, so they wanted an ultrasound at 30 weeks.  At 30 weeks he was apparently over 4 lbs already, and he just kept getting bigger.  I was a little alarmed because I've only had babies 7 lbs 3 oz or smaller.  One of the doctors took pity on me and suggested that I get induced on July 5, when I was 39 weeks pregnant.  I agreed, even though I had some reservations.  I definitely prefer to keep them in as long as possible and try to get them to come out on their own.  So, we had a quiet Fourth of July since I went into the hospital late that night to get started on my induction.

Sadie's 2nd Birthday!

Having two birthdays in the family within three days of each other is totally exhausting.  At the moment, with the two being so young, I want to make sure that each of their birthdays is separate from the other.

So, I made Sadie's cake on Saturday night, and we wrapped presents that night and it felt like dejavu because we had just done that only a few days earlier for Logan.  It was totally worth it though.  It's kind of nice to also get two of the kids birthdays done within the same week.  I love them both so much.

It's hard to think of my current baby as already being two years old.  It seems that the more kids I have the faster time seems to speed up.  I am also so weepy (I'm going to blame it on my pregnancy hormones) because I seriously cry every time I think of her hitting her 2 year mark.

She's such a great addition to our family.  I love her so much, and she is so much fun.  She loves to play dress up and with girly, princess things.  Her favorite movies are the Care Bear movies from the 80s.  She also likes to just watch what the boys watch.  It's also kind of fun, because she likes to try and play with legos as well, enjoys getting dirty outside with the boys, and zooming cars across the carpet, just like her two big brothers.  She enjoys books and loves to snuggle in our laps as we watch movies or read together or pray together.  She loves nursery at church.  As soon as that closing prayer is said in Sacrament meeting, she tries to bolt past Rick like nobody's business.

I love how much she enjoys shopping, and wearing hats.  She likes to spend time with our family, and loves other kids her age.  It's amazing how social she is compared to the two boys.  They're getting better, but Evan and Logan are totally cool with just each other to play with.  She loves them, but she also just likes kids in general.  She's starting to get her words, even if it is coming a little slower than it did with Logan. Some of her favorite words are:  "Hi", "Ball", "No", "Daddy", "I (her possessive for toys instead of "my"), "nana", "bye", "oh no", and "uh oh".  She is so smart. She knows exactly what I am saying and follows directions so well (at least right now).  And she's super short--apparently 0% for height but somewhat average for weight.  Her BMI is in the 80th percentile (rolling my eyes at a BMI chart for two year olds!)

I love how much the boys try and take care of her.  They're getting so good at sharing with her and she loves all the attention that she gets from them.

Anyways, some pictures from her birthday.

The birthday girl right after church.  She left a shoe in the car!

Daddy and brothers helping her open gifts.

What is it?

Maybe, starting to get the hang of it.

She loved the shopping cart.

Trying on her fairy crown.

She got the bike from my parents, and that cute little fairy wing, tutu and crown set (also came with a wand and headband) from Rick's parents. 

Sadie's cake.  I love how feminine and sweet it turned out.  Those are sweet tarts as the polka dots.  The dressing is actually a buttercream that I love that had raspberries added into it.  It was so good. 

She kept trying to blow out the candles here before we sang to her.

Ignore the drawing on the wall in the background.  That was probably Logan.

I told Evan to keep his eyes open for this one and he sure did.  Wow.  Logan didn't get the memo though.  Also, he needs pants. 

Her cake layers were pink and purple and the kids LOVED it.  Such simple, small things that make them happy.