Jane is 5!

My sweet baby turned five this summer.  I can't believe how big she is getting!

This year she wanted a Barbie themed birthday.  Unfortunate for me, Barbie decorations are hard to come by.  So I had to improvise a little.  

We actually had 2 separate birthday parties.  One in Utah.  And one in Texas.  

The 1st birthday party was at my mom's pool on Traverse Mountain.  We rented a room and my dad cooked hot dogs.  It was really fun and easy.  I am so grateful to have family to help out and attend!

Kate used her own money to buy Jane a birthday present.  So proud of her thoughtfulness.  And Jane adores this gift.  

Happy Birthday Jane!

Her 2nd birthday party was with her best friend from school, Alise.  Barbie was the theme and we rented a giant slip 'n slide.  

Brittany made the best cake ever!  I actually froze the left overs to eat later!

Louis and Jane.  They play so well together. 

Fun in the water for all!

We love Jane.  She brings so much fun to our household.  She loves to play with Barbies.  She has two best friends- Alise and Louis.  She adores everything Kate does.  She loves to color in rainbows and sing Disney songs.  She loves dressing up and wearing lip stick- especially if we are going somewhere fancy.  She is sensitive and easily gets her feelings hurts.  Jane is very good at getting what she wants by batting her eyes and puffing out her lips.  She's also brave.  She catches lizards and bugs for the neighbor boys and did not shed a tear when she got her ears pierced.  I love having her around and squishing her cute little bum. 

Happy Birthday Janie!    

 

Northside Baptist Academy 2020-2021

We made the decision to send our girls to private school this year.  I feel very fortunate to have the means to provide this for our children.  

Jane will be starting Kindergarten with Miss Scurti.  She's very excited!

Kate will be going into 2nd grade with Miss Brinson.  She's so excited to be back in the classroom.  

So far, they love school.  Class sizes are small.  Uniforms are cute.  And they come home singing new Christian songs daily.  They are going to have a fantastic year!

 

July 2020

Our July was really fun.  We were able to visit lots of family over the 3 week trip.

We traveled up to Adam's house for the 4th of July. 

We had such a fun time with his family on the lake.  The girls are getting used to playing in the lake, rather than pool water this summer.  It can be a little uneasy as a parent, as my girls are not strong swimmers yet.  

We LOVED being pulled together as a family.  Kate didn't mind going with her cousins.  Jane preferred mom and dad by her side.

Adam always has the greatest parties.  He went over the top with fireworks this year.  

My girls loved being in his pool.

After visiting Adam, me and the girls drove to Utah for 2.5 weeks of vacation.  

Our first stop was to visit Rachel and her family before they headed back to California the next morning.  We hung out at Renae's house, swam, and played dress up with more cousins.  It was so fun to see Rachel's new baby Victoria.  My girls loved holding the baby.

After visiting the Zentz and Izu's, we traveled to grandma and grandpa Koplin's house.  The girls really enjoy getting spoiled there. 

One day we went on a hike/bike at Highland Glen Park with grandma and grandpa, Kim, Norah, and Zander. 

Ezra, McCartney, and Daphne came over to play with us a lot.  Kate and Jane even had a sleep over at Linsey's house.  

We hung out at the pool.  We loved that Utah county hardly acknowledge the pandemic!  

Jane had a birthday party at the pool with all of her cousins.  

Jane got her ears pierced. 

We went to see Frozen Jr. with grandma and grandpa Ahlborn.  It was just as cute as the one we saw in Texas. 

I was able to go mountain biking and road biking with Becky.  The weather and scenery were gorgeous!

On our trip back to Texas, we climbed Wilson's arch.  

We also visited our friends who recently moved to El Paso.  The girls met their new puppy!

Our trip was a great break from the crazy problems going on in the world.  It was nice for the girls to just enjoy time with family and friends.

 

June 2020

Finally!

We were able to leave the area.  

I took the girls to Galveston for a little fun with my friend Jennifer.

We played at the pool...

...took selfies...

...swam in the ocean...

...built sand castles in the sand...  

...and put on a dance recital.

All while Bryan built a shed in the backyard because the Army's travel restrictions.  

 

School Year 2019-2020

Before and After 

Kate

Jane

Kate and Jane

 

May 2020

"Stay at Home" orders continue until the end of May.  

Thank goodness the weather was AWESOME the entire month.  We did schoolwork in the morning and played outside all afternoon.  

I finished my BIG evidence-based research project at the end of April and graduated with my Masters in Nursing Education May 15th.  Of course, no graduation happened, so it was a little anticlimactic.  But yay! I graduated!!

Other happenings:

We made bird seed molds to hang on the trees.  Messiest project ever!

  

We were able to go to the library and checked out A LOT of books.  My kids were happy to finally be somewhere other than our house. 

We made crystals and lots of other science experiences thanks to my mom gifting us some goodies from Amazon. 

We played in the pool and had fancy drinks.  

I learned some new hair-dos. 

The kids played in my treadmills box for hours and hours. 

We put on make-up and learned to paint nails. 

We learned how to wear face masks.  

Kate had a piano recital in front of the family and teacher only.  The last two months of piano lessons were by Skype.  Which meant, I had to teach Kate or sit right beside her the entire lesson.  It really tested my patience. 

We went on a 3 mile hike at Colorado Bend State Park.

We tried on all our new dance costumes! 

It was unfortunate the girl's dance recital was cancelled.  We had previously ordered their outfits, which was not cheap.  Luckily, we were able to have a 3 separate recitals.  One for grandma and grandpa Ahlborn when they came to visit in May.  One for Jennifer and Ryan in Galveston in June.  And one for grandma and grandpa Koplin with our cousins whose recitals were cancelled as well.  

Jane's last day of Pre-K.  Her teacher was amazing throughout the virtual integration.  We had story time every morning on Zoom.  She sent out extra attachments with east, fun, and busy activities. And she wrote Jane a special letter in the mail.  

Kate's last day of 1st grade.  Unfortunately, her teacher dropped the ball over the last 2 months of virtual schooling.  The class had Zoom meetings about twice a week.  I did not feel like she was very involved.  Luckily, I was the awesome mom who made Kate read and write and complete all her school work.  Some days, we would be at the table for hours because Kate was easily distracted and wanted to do Jane's school work.  It was tough, but we made it! 

Hallelujah!   

Yay! 

Now lets go back to school in the fall please!