Slideshow:
https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOYr9LJCwWj7jUFvupUR6cvwOCwU5_WWjA5emAo
Hamilton Newsletter
April 2016
FAMILY: April started out with April Fools and McKinley had fun plastic-wrapping Kezia's door and putting rubber bands on doorknobs and whatnot. Grandma Devenish stopped by that day as well and was able to go to North Elementary to see a fun assembly where McKinley was the announcer. That first April weekend was laid back and we enjoyed watching General Conference as a family. Mom made cinnamon rolls and other treats and while daddy was at Priesthood session, the girls walked to Discovery Park and had fun. For activity days, we had fun making Chia Pets and watching them grow (like faith) :) On April 8th, our sunrise girl turned 2 years old! See her section for more details. On the 9th, after Kezia's soccer game, we got ready and headed to Fredonia to see some friends, the Barons, after their son's baptism & before they left to live in Hawaii. We were there a bit early since we hadn't taken Arizona time into account, so we went to the little museum there & saw some cool arrowheads and Native American artifacts. Afterwards, we headed to the church and enjoyed seeing old friends and catching up. On the way home, we stopped at the park in Torquerville and had a lot of fun. The girls were finding all sorts of caterpillars & it was a nice evening. On the 19th, we headed to St. George for the evening. Jason took the girls to the park and then to the Kesterson's while Heidi went to the temple to do a much-needed session. On the 22nd, Heidi & Jason had a fun date going to the ballroom dance concert at SUU. 2 hours of fun dancing & choreography. It was a great time. The 23rd, we worked in the yard in the morning and in the evening we went to the family fair at SUU where they got balloons, balls, and made crafts including a glitter bottle and fish kites. Afterwards we went to Link's bench and brought him some of the pinwheels from the fair and we also saw a dog who looked similar to Tundra. Aunt Cindy, Michael & Joshua came down for the last weekend of April to support our family in the Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope. It was a cold, wet weekend, but thankfully the rain held off for the walk and we enjoyed seeing the other families & remembering our babies. After the walk, we played at home and that night we watched a movie on the projector and had pizza and popcorn. Thank you Edwards for supporting us! Another fun thing that happened this month was that our friends in the ward, the Prices, moved into the house behind us! The girls have been fun yelling back and forth and jumping over the wall to play. :)
FAMILY: April started out with April Fools and McKinley had fun plastic-wrapping Kezia's door and putting rubber bands on doorknobs and whatnot. Grandma Devenish stopped by that day as well and was able to go to North Elementary to see a fun assembly where McKinley was the announcer. That first April weekend was laid back and we enjoyed watching General Conference as a family. Mom made cinnamon rolls and other treats and while daddy was at Priesthood session, the girls walked to Discovery Park and had fun. For activity days, we had fun making Chia Pets and watching them grow (like faith) :) On April 8th, our sunrise girl turned 2 years old! See her section for more details. On the 9th, after Kezia's soccer game, we got ready and headed to Fredonia to see some friends, the Barons, after their son's baptism & before they left to live in Hawaii. We were there a bit early since we hadn't taken Arizona time into account, so we went to the little museum there & saw some cool arrowheads and Native American artifacts. Afterwards, we headed to the church and enjoyed seeing old friends and catching up. On the way home, we stopped at the park in Torquerville and had a lot of fun. The girls were finding all sorts of caterpillars & it was a nice evening. On the 19th, we headed to St. George for the evening. Jason took the girls to the park and then to the Kesterson's while Heidi went to the temple to do a much-needed session. On the 22nd, Heidi & Jason had a fun date going to the ballroom dance concert at SUU. 2 hours of fun dancing & choreography. It was a great time. The 23rd, we worked in the yard in the morning and in the evening we went to the family fair at SUU where they got balloons, balls, and made crafts including a glitter bottle and fish kites. Afterwards we went to Link's bench and brought him some of the pinwheels from the fair and we also saw a dog who looked similar to Tundra. Aunt Cindy, Michael & Joshua came down for the last weekend of April to support our family in the Share Walk for Remembrance & Hope. It was a cold, wet weekend, but thankfully the rain held off for the walk and we enjoyed seeing the other families & remembering our babies. After the walk, we played at home and that night we watched a movie on the projector and had pizza and popcorn. Thank you Edwards for supporting us! Another fun thing that happened this month was that our friends in the ward, the Prices, moved into the house behind us! The girls have been fun yelling back and forth and jumping over the wall to play. :)
JASON: Jason went to Ogden for a meeting the second week of April &
enjoyed some quiet time and going to see a movie :) He also had some meetings
in St. George this month. Towards the end of the month, Jason got pretty sick.
He went into the instacare and they were worried about pnuemonia. He got a shot
and ordered to rest. It ended up being the flu and it really took him down :(
For a good 3 days, he didn't hardly get out of bed and then a few more days to
feel normal again. Praying it doesn't spread to anyone else!
HEIDI: Heidi finally felt a little more energy in April and was able to get
more into walking & has done pretty well at getting her 10,000 steps a day.
She enjoys walking in the mornings with McKinley or Ireland or with a friend
and especially seeing the temple progress. On the 8th, Heidi had carpal tunnel
surgery on her right wrist. It was on Noelle's birthday, so thank goodness she
was too young to be too sad about taking over her birthday a bit. The surgery
went well - the only hard thing was that they told her to fast and she almost
passed out during the surgery because she got light-headed & nauseous from
not eating. The pain wasn't too bad, though, and she was thankfully able to do
pretty much everything because Jason was out of town the week after her
surgery. Her tingles at night haven't completely gone away, but they are much
better! Heidi also signed up to be the team parent for Kezia's soccer team
& it's been fun to get to know the parents more and arrange treats, etc.
McKINLEY:
-McKinley has enjoyed the leadership team and has done a great job. For an assembly for the whole school, she was the announcer and did a great job being the MC :)
-McKinley continues to excel with piano & voice. Her teacher, Jan, got her a book of fun songs including Splish Splash and the Looney Tunes theme. It's fun to hear her play them and also fun to have McKinley play songs to sing for FHE.
-McKinley had a fun time at Emma Beacham's birthday party this month!
-McKinley got to sing with 2 other girls in front of the whole church for a choir performance and she did a great job!
-She got to go to Bulloch Drug with her primary class & get ice cream to reward them for all the great scripture reading they've been doing. She loves Brother & Sister Fletcher!
-McKinley has enjoyed the leadership team and has done a great job. For an assembly for the whole school, she was the announcer and did a great job being the MC :)
-McKinley continues to excel with piano & voice. Her teacher, Jan, got her a book of fun songs including Splish Splash and the Looney Tunes theme. It's fun to hear her play them and also fun to have McKinley play songs to sing for FHE.
-McKinley had a fun time at Emma Beacham's birthday party this month!
-McKinley got to sing with 2 other girls in front of the whole church for a choir performance and she did a great job!
-She got to go to Bulloch Drug with her primary class & get ice cream to reward them for all the great scripture reading they've been doing. She loves Brother & Sister Fletcher!
IRELAND:
-Ireland finished gymnastics at the end of April & passed off all her elements with flying colors! She is excited to move on to the next level in the fall.
- Ireland made a new friend in school - her name is Kim!
-Ireland was so happy that Joshua came to play at the end of this month!
-She lost a book at gymnastics & had to end up paying for a new one :(
-Ireland has been very creative this month & has made many signs, posters, and even a light saber holder out of tape.
-One day Ireland got dressed for school and mom asked her to change because she had already worn that outfit a couple days earlier. She had a really hard time and mom got her on video saying that she will NEVER make her kids change their clothes - even if they wear the exact same outfit every single day. She said I was "TORTURING" her for making her change :)
KEZIA:
-One day Kezia said "Mom, you must love having all these babies." Mom started to talk about yes, how much she loved all her children, but Kezia interrupted & said "because then you can get all these choice chores done by all your kids." Very perspective, sweet child. That is precisely the reason we have children :)
-Kezia was busy with soccer this month. Her team is called Purple Power & they have done really well! Kezia has mad anywhere from 2 to 7 goals in a game & is a great player! She has a couple more weeks before she's done, but it's been fun to cheer her and her team on to victory. So far, they haven't lost a game! She also got to have a practice with Becky Hogan, the coach for the SUU girls soccer team (and someone mom went to high school with)!
-Kezia was so cute for Noelle's birthday - she had daddy take her to the store and she bought Noelle a monkey bath toy and a truck and some candy. She's so thoughtful!
-Kezia finished her session with the SUU student teacher for reading. She had fun reading a Junie B. Jones book - though she still says Magic Treehouse books are her favorite.
-One day Kezi announced she was going to make an indoor picnic - so she did :) Sydney tried to join in a few times, but other than that, it was really fun!
LINK:
We loved wearing new Link shirts for the Share Walk of Remembrance this month - and putting up your poster and hearing your beautiful name read. You have been sending love notes lately - including 3 days in a row of rainbows (!), heart-shaped drips and other things, and mom even got to have a dream about you & got to kiss your sweet cheeks. One night, mom & dad were looking at family search and mom got tired & headed to bed. She specifically prayed that you would help daddy find how to open his dad's side and mom to open her dad's mom's side. About 30 minutes later, dad came into the room and woke mom up. He was excited because he had found a document that had a mistake in the indexing of the name Louis Quitman. It was listed as Louise and it was marked as female. Anyway, it was an exciting find & we are hoping it will be the key to unlocking more names. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP! Thank you for your love notes, sweet son. We miss you always. We love you.
NOELLE:
Happy 2nd Birthday to our beautiful sunrise girl! The whole family was so excited to celebrate Noelle's special day!! She brings so much joy into our family and we are so thankful for her!! She got gifts from grandmas, sisters, and mom and dad. Mom and dad got her a Dora backpack, complete with the map, binoculars, camera, and Swiper keychain. She also got a Dora plate and bowl and a yellow straw cup that matches her sisters. Dad also couldn't resist getting her a big pack of Matchbox cars. And Grandma Devenish got her more cars and a cute outfit. She had fun finding and opening her presents and blowing out her candles. For her breakfast, we made German pancakes, for lunch Macaroni & Cheeze and for dinner we had hot dogs. Happy birthday Noelle-my-belle!
-Noelle has started to care about what she wears. Mom will pick a shirt, but she will go pick a different one to wear and insist on wearing it! She especially likes her fishy shirt that's from Hawaii.
-She definitely has also embraced the "terrible twos" and can scream and whine and she has added "don't want it" and "right NOW!" to her toddler vernacular. She has also been hitting more and pulling hair on purpose. As a result, she has been spending more time in her room and in time-out.
-The 2nd week of April, Noelle woke up in the middle of the night puking, then she had a fever for another few days. Thankfully, she seemed back to herself after a few days, but it was sad to see her so sick :(
-Noelle's favorite show now is probably Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood - and it shows. When she gets upset, she'll say "Grrrr. I'm mad." and sometimes she'll even count down from four. She also says Ugga Mugga and will rub your nose, which is SO SO cute!
-Another trick lately has been when mom and dad go to leave after putting her in her crib, she will said "Wait mom! Hugs!" and "Wait dad! Kisses!" We LOVE her hugs and kisses but also realize she could do that for 30 minutes straight :)
-Another too-cute thing is when Noelle's excited, she'll say "Okaaaaay!!"
-She also loves to point out things in the car. As we drive, she'll say "I see... trees! I see... cars! I see... clouds!"
-She continues to love the Babylit books and can now "read" the entire Secret Garden book, including "Canterbury Bells" and " Snapdragon." Mom was able to get some of it on video. So cute!
-Noelle still LOVES when her sisters' friends come over & knows most of their names. Most of the time, her sisters' friends adore her and let her come play with them, which she LOVES.
-Noelle has been scared to go down the stairs by herself lately for some reason, but we've been trying to help her & she's done better. She will stand at the top and say to herself "you can do it!" over and over until she reaches the bottom.
-When Noelle was sick, mom let her have her binki and doggie a lot, and afterwards, it's been hard for her to give up. She asks constantly for doggie and binki. Mom was putting it up on top of the changing table, but she has started to climb up there & get it so we have to find a higher place!
-Unfortunately, Noelle is still not safe with any writing utinsil. She continues to color on herself, her clothes, the furniture & the walls :( Thankful for magic erasers, rubbing alchohol and Goo Gone!
Happy 2nd Birthday to our beautiful sunrise girl! The whole family was so excited to celebrate Noelle's special day!! She brings so much joy into our family and we are so thankful for her!! She got gifts from grandmas, sisters, and mom and dad. Mom and dad got her a Dora backpack, complete with the map, binoculars, camera, and Swiper keychain. She also got a Dora plate and bowl and a yellow straw cup that matches her sisters. Dad also couldn't resist getting her a big pack of Matchbox cars. And Grandma Devenish got her more cars and a cute outfit. She had fun finding and opening her presents and blowing out her candles. For her breakfast, we made German pancakes, for lunch Macaroni & Cheeze and for dinner we had hot dogs. Happy birthday Noelle-my-belle!
-Noelle has started to care about what she wears. Mom will pick a shirt, but she will go pick a different one to wear and insist on wearing it! She especially likes her fishy shirt that's from Hawaii.
-She definitely has also embraced the "terrible twos" and can scream and whine and she has added "don't want it" and "right NOW!" to her toddler vernacular. She has also been hitting more and pulling hair on purpose. As a result, she has been spending more time in her room and in time-out.
-The 2nd week of April, Noelle woke up in the middle of the night puking, then she had a fever for another few days. Thankfully, she seemed back to herself after a few days, but it was sad to see her so sick :(
-Noelle's favorite show now is probably Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood - and it shows. When she gets upset, she'll say "Grrrr. I'm mad." and sometimes she'll even count down from four. She also says Ugga Mugga and will rub your nose, which is SO SO cute!
-Another trick lately has been when mom and dad go to leave after putting her in her crib, she will said "Wait mom! Hugs!" and "Wait dad! Kisses!" We LOVE her hugs and kisses but also realize she could do that for 30 minutes straight :)
-Another too-cute thing is when Noelle's excited, she'll say "Okaaaaay!!"
-She also loves to point out things in the car. As we drive, she'll say "I see... trees! I see... cars! I see... clouds!"
-She continues to love the Babylit books and can now "read" the entire Secret Garden book, including "Canterbury Bells" and " Snapdragon." Mom was able to get some of it on video. So cute!
-Noelle still LOVES when her sisters' friends come over & knows most of their names. Most of the time, her sisters' friends adore her and let her come play with them, which she LOVES.
-Noelle has been scared to go down the stairs by herself lately for some reason, but we've been trying to help her & she's done better. She will stand at the top and say to herself "you can do it!" over and over until she reaches the bottom.
-When Noelle was sick, mom let her have her binki and doggie a lot, and afterwards, it's been hard for her to give up. She asks constantly for doggie and binki. Mom was putting it up on top of the changing table, but she has started to climb up there & get it so we have to find a higher place!
-Unfortunately, Noelle is still not safe with any writing utinsil. She continues to color on herself, her clothes, the furniture & the walls :( Thankful for magic erasers, rubbing alchohol and Goo Gone!
