Miscellaneous goings on

 Ashlyn is braving the stairs these days. Only one of them. What do you think, should I protect her from them with a gate, or let her learn how to climb them?

We went to the park during the priesthood session of conference.

Tanner had a game today, and their team has improved a lot. Tanner scored 2 goals!

 Me and 4 friends are doing a co-op preschool. It was my week this week and the theme was the letter D. We are teaching 2 and 3 year old kids. So since donkey starts with D we played pin the tail on the donkey. 

We are really enjoying preschool. We only do it once a week and then we do story time and music and movement at the library. We will be sad to leave in a few months.

Spence cousins

Mickie, my sister-in-law, and her kids came from Washington for a visit. All the Spence cousins were together so we had to get pictures. We even made matching dresses for the girls. All of us Spence wives had baby girls this last year. I love how they turned out.

 You can tell these two are siblings.

 Ashlyn loved Maylee. She didn't pick on Capri as much, but she loved to grab Maylee's head.

 

You can see the crazy excitement in Ashlyn's face when she was sat next to Maylee.

 

 These were the two good shots that I managed to get.

 

And the Spence boys: Ty, Dallin, Tanner, and Calin

 We got a little bit of this...

 And a lot of this.

 Mothers and daughters

 

All of the Spence kids together.

 Dandelion distraction.

Some practice shots on Tanner that I like.

Clements

I love taking pictures for friends. I feel comfortable working with them, and their kids don't usually fear me. 

And these kids were awesome. And Audrey is a beautiful expecting mom.

You can see more on my photography blog

Have you ever used kettlebells?

I hadn't until recently. I've been doing a kettle bell boot camp class twice a week. I love it, but they don't love me. They beat me up actually. If you've never seen kettle bells used, you swing them. I swing 20 lbs usually, so when that hits an arm or knee or whatever, it leaves a mark. The instructor said if it is hitting your arm to hard you need to up your weight. I was scared, so I just took the beating. Maybe next time.

 This was just an out of control swing. It is easy to lose proper form when you are tired. Too bad it means a wrecking ball banging whatever is in its path.

This is the exercise that bruised my arm.

Playing around

I stayed home from church with Dallin and Ashlyn today since we are all a little sick. I got kind of bored (I never stay at home ALL day long), so Ashlyn and I did a photo shoot. I am always behind the camera, so since I was kind of liking my hair today, ha ha, I thought today would be a good day to get in front of the camera. I have a remote that haven't used much so got it out and shot away. Love having one for stuff like this.

Plus I wanted to practice something I read about. The suggestion is for getting smiles, but not huge teethy grins. And what you tell your model is, “Don’t show any teeth for this one, but just think about smiling as you pose.” So I was trying to think about smiling. Silly, I know, but I may try it with people I photograph sometime.

I think Ashlyn was thinking about smiling in this one too. :)

Ok, enough thinking about it. Here is the real thing.

 Whipping the slate clean.

Pink eye and other fun stuff

Pink eye started at our house about a month ago. Tanner had it, then it was gone for a bit, then Nate got it, then Ashlyn, and now Dallin. I hope it will pass me over. Those darn drops are nearly impossible to give to a kid 4 times a day!

Tanner had another soccer game today. He is feeling discouraged. He played a team today that knew how to play soccer well; lots had played several seasons. And the Purple Panthers got whooped again. Bad. Tanner said the kids on the white team are mean. He isn't used to fighting over a ball. If he does it at home he gets in big trouble, so it is tricky. I feel bad, he is there to have fun, and some are there to win. He loves practices where they just play games to learn skills. He gets to the field all energetic and pumped, and by the end of a game defeat is written all over his face. They are 5 years olds! We should start with fun and sportsmanship in athletics. Tanner's coach is doing really great and encourages fun the entire time.

 Tanner is quite the trickster/show off on his scooter.

Do you see what Ashlyn is trying to do? I may have a walker soon. Ok, probably not actually, but this is where it all starts. I give her 2 months. 

Tanner is a faithful helmet wearer. I use scare tactics as needed, and I told him his head could crack open like an egg if he doesn't wear his helmet. If he sees someone not wearing one on their bike or motorcycle he says, "Mom, that guy is not safe/smart. If he crashes he will crack his head open." 

"Yes, Tanner, that is right."

Whatever works right? Right.

PT Class picture

I got to take the 2012 Physical Therapy Class picture this year. These are Nate's classmates who have probably seen him more than I have the last 2 years.

I actually didn't get a perfect shot, out of the 20+ pictures I took someone always had their eyes closed (Nate says it is because I didn't count before I shot. Probably true), so I learned how to swap heads in Photoshop. Can you tell whose? I bet you can't.  Gotta love Photoshop. Shhh, don't tell. :)

At that park

We had a picnic with Jordan and Michaela this evening.

Spence girls sure are cute, if you ask me. This is Capri with Ashlyn. Wish Little Miss Maylee Spence was here for the picture.

 

Soccer season begins

Tanner had his first soccer game today. It is so funny to watch 5 year olds play! I think Tanner had a hard time taking the ball from other kids; he has learned his whole life not to take things, and to share. I am happy that he gets it, but I guess we will have to teach him that in sports it is ok.  

There were 5 kids on each side playing at a time, so as you can see, this is almost all of both teams chasing the ball. They don't understand positions right now so it is a free for all.

 For kick off all of the kids get lined up in the the middle and one kid kicks it to get it going.

 The cheerleaders. Dallin found mounds of mud to play in.

 Tanner constantly had a smile on his face, he was so happy to be there playing.

 Tanner dribbled the ball pretty well when no one was there intimidating him and trying to steal it. He will get the hang of it, and I think he will like playing forward, when they learn positions.

 The kids had a hard time remembering what way to kick the ball so we constantly had to remind them. This is him pointing which way to go. Coach Christie happens to be my good friend, and is doing a great job with the team.

Game over. He wasn't really disappointed, I don't think he knew they lost--by a lot. He was tired by the end though because he played most of the game. It is a team of 8 and they rotate out, but the girls kept wanting to go out. Looks like he will get plenty of play time.

Why is growin' up so sad?

Tanner took off on the school bus today and never even looked back. I don't know what is harder your kids not looking back, or your kids crying because they don't want to leave you. I am glad we've raised a confident and independent boy, but I hope he misses me a little. He was so ready, so excited. Really, I am too, but there is something so sad about your babies getting bigger and less dependent on you, and going out in the world without your constant supervision.

We got to the bus stop and there are all these punk kids with mohawks and dirty mouths. I pulled him aside right there at the bus stop and told him that lots of kids will say mean words and do mean things, but WE don't do that. He has been gone most of the day, and I can't be there to tell him that every time someone does something that I have taught him not too. Ah! I am so nervous for him. I haven't stopped praying for him today. I just hope he remembers what we've taught him and he makes good choices and good friends.

It is very weird with only two kids at home. Going to the store was peaceful. I will definitely like that.

 Miss Ashlyn.