It’s crazy that summer will be wrapping up soon! Before I went through these photos, I was going to sum up summer pretty briefly, say that just played outside a bunch and didn’t do much. But after looking through these photos, we definitely had some moments worth remembering!
This was the summer of hockey cards. The boys save for them, collect them, memorize them and trade them non stop. Besides breaking up the occasional argument about it, it’s been pretty fun for them. As far as sports, Leyton played lacrosse this year, which he totally loved! It was so fun to watch him. It’s a fast sport, non stop movement and it’s competitive.. perfect for Leyton All three boys started golf this summer. It’s a great change of pace. But after one practice where Everett took his shirt off and was pouring his water bottle over his head, we’ve had to talk about golf course etiquette Everett also started hockey this summer, which he was SO excited about! He had an intro to mite team and then he just joined Finn’s Skeeters team. So between lacrosse, golf, hockey and soon to be football for Leyton, we are busy! But I honestly don’t mind. I’ve become a professional schedule juggler, but it’s fun. The boys get to hang out so much at home during the day that we don’t mind getting out a little bit in the evening.
Not surprisingly, it’s been a busy and wonderful summer so far! So crazy that we’re over halfway done! I will get to a big summer picture dump, but first, a momentous event that deserves it’s own post. A couple of weeks ago, Leyton was baptized!
We started attending Eagle Brook church about 6 months ago. One day, Leyton came out of Sunday school and said, “I want to be baptized!” I asked him why and he said “because I want everyone to know that I’m on Jesus’ team.” That’ll make a mom cry! We talked about it more just to make sure he understood the idea and he was so sure of this decision and so excited! He keeps telling everyone that he went into the water to show that his old life is gone and he has a new, clean life with Jesus. Seriously I couldn’t be more proud. Leyton’s relationship with Jesus has been growing even more recently and he has such a sincere, innocent faith. He definitely understands the idea of inviting Jesus into your heart, of letting him be the Lord of your life with the promise of living in heaven for eternity. It’s a very cool thing to watch! The day of the baptism, I told him that out of all the things he has accomplished.. the good grades, the goals in hockey, that this is what I am most proud of! This is what matters!
The afternoon of the baptism was so special. Our families were there, everyone was cheering for him, I was crying of course! I’m so so proud of you Leyton!
Summer is here!! Leyton and Finn are officially done with 2nd grade and Kindergarten and I have my crew all back together! Everett and Ivy are thrilled. Life just got even more wild and they are loving it. I haven’t decided yet. I’m a mix of.. this is wonderful/I love summer/I love the chaos/wait, it’s too much chaos/I have too many kids… So.. that’s summer for ya!
The last day of school was a little anti-climactic. It was a rainy morning when we were trying to snap these last day of school pictures. Leyton was over it, Finn wasn’t feeling very good, but off they went. Then at noon, I got a call from the school nurse saying that Finn was in her office and wanted to be picked up. Haha, I couldn’t say no to that, but when I picked him up, he was FINE. My guess is that he wasn’t feeling the best, but maybe the little buddy was just over this school thing. It’s all a bunch of hype, I get it. So, he stayed home with me and helped the neighbor parents and I get the big celebration going for when the kids got off the bus. We had signs, silly string and an ice cream sundae station. Lucky kids! But ironically, Leyton got off the bus not feeling well, complaining of a pain near his appendix. We did eventually bring him up, being the responsible parents that we are, but he was also FINE. See.. just an odd day! But, bring on SUMMER! We’re ready (ish) for ya!
Playing a little catch up on here and wrapping up the school year! First, Leyton’s 2nd grade concert from back in March. I just never got around to posting these but it was so cute! Leyton always seems to old to me, but there’s something about these sweet concerts that remind me how little they all are. The years really are flying by. I have memories of plays I did in 2nd grade.. it’s crazy that this will be in Leyton’s memories! (or maybe not haha)
And then Finn’s! Blue Heron does such a good job at this Kindergarten graduation. Finn was so excited for this concert. They worked on the songs for weeks and they did such a great job! Then then had a slideshow and they each received a little diploma from their graduation! My favorite is all their little hats that wouldn’t stay on. Finn’s constantly trying to keep his head down so it won’t fall off
Then, the Kindergarteners did a poem with volunteers reciting something for each letter of the alphabet. Finn had the letter U! I was SO proud of him for volunteering. I was a bit surprised when I got the letter in his folder saying he volunteered. Finn has been in speech class this year and has been working on his stuttering. Although it hasn’t immensely improved, I honestly couldn’t be more proud of his confidence. We had an IEP meeting in May with his teacher and his speech teacher about his progress. They all just smiled talking about how well he is doing and that he isn’t your typical stuttering student. He is confident and not ashamed in the least bit about his stuttering. Mrs. Callahan said that he is well liked by everyone and they always want to be his partner for activities. She also reported that for their standardized testing, Finn tested among the highest in the class in the fall. Then in the spring, he had the highest score in the class by quite a bit. I seriously could have cried. This is what I have been praying for! I don’t know what God’s plans are for Finn and for his speech. But I have been praying that this wouldn’t hinder him, and it definitely hasn’t. God is going to use him in big ways. I have loved watching him this year as he’s grown up into such a confident, assured boy!
He’s FOUR! We had such a fun day yesterday celebrating the big boy! He was SO ready to turn 4. We kept saying he’s a 6 year old trapped in a 3 year old body! I have to remember that he’s still little because he honestly seems so big to me! When he woke up yesterday morning and we told him he was finally four, he said, “good! So now I can go to preschool by myself! And I can learn to ride a bike.” We said, “yes! And are you ready to be done with your pacifier?!” To which he said no.. haha.
We had a sports themed party for the birthday boy, because that’s about all he does! So we did what the boys around here do every day anyways.. play sports outside! We started with hockey in the driveway, took an intermission to raid the concession stand before starting a game of kickball in the backyard! We of course started by singing the National Anthem (the boys insisted), and we gave each of the “athletes” fake money to spend at the concession stand. It was so fun! Leyton especially loved being the worker, adding up how much everything costs and giving out change. Instead of cake, we sang happy birthday to him while eating ice cream treats. Such a great day celebrating our Everett boy!
Coming at you a couple days late, but I still love this little tradition! It’s fun to look back at the videos and see how life has changed! And just to warn you, this video is total chaos.. but that’s life!
I don’t even know where to start! At one point, I thought about this blog and thought, “shoot, did that blog really die?” And I don’t want it to! I’m sure someday it probably will. But I will try and keep it alive because it honestly reminds me to record more of this wonderfully busy season of life and also to keep the pictures coming! So, let’s see.. what’s life like lately..
The big boys are done with school next week and although I’m a mix of excitement to have them home and nervous for the craziness that will come with summer.. I’ve honestly enjoyed this year with just having Everett and Ivy home. It’s been a sweet relief from the chaos and a bit of an “easier” year in this mom world. Everett is still hanging onto his nap time most days, so I have this wonderful little quiet time every day that has been so nice. And in the morning, my two little buddies and I have so much fun running around, meeting friends, going to the Y. (Ivy always says “Y? Y? every morning haha!)
Everett seems to have grown out of his difficult years and is such a fun kid. He’s easier to communicate and negotiate with :).. he’s always up for an adventure and just really fun to be with. He still has two more years at home before Kindergarten so I know I’ll get lots of time with that kid. He is SO ready for school and would just on the bus tomorrow if we let him. He has one little neighbor boy that he plays with, but when Easton goes to school next year, I have a feeling Everett will be so bored. But maybe by then, Ivy will be more of playing buddy. Right now, he and Ivy get along so well.. it’s really sweet to see them form a friendship together.
Speaking of Ivy, woah.. she hit 2 and things got rough. People say it might be the girl thing (side note: Leyton and I were talking about emotions the other day and he was commenting how he thinks he’s felt all the different emotions in his life, and I said, “just imagine being a girl. We feel all the emotions in one day.”).. so yes, Ivy has emotions that she feels very loudly. But Everett’s two year old feelings are still very fresh in my mind and it was HARD. Boy or girl. So, I just have to buck up, stay the course and keep doing this two year old thing. She screams when she doesn’t get what the wants, she gets frustrated when we can’t understand her, she still wants to be held a lot and mostly just loves yelling “MOM!” all day long. Whew.. she’s a lot of work. But.. she’s still very wonderful. She is adored by her brothers, she gets so silly and giggly, she loves to make everyone laugh.. she fits right in around here.
Finn and Leyton updates I might save for a future post. You know the end of the year pictures are coming, so let’s just hope they don’t come in August.
We had a long, cold, snowy winter.. spring lasted about a minute and we’ve had some crazy heat around here. We’ve already been doing lots of water activities outside, which is so fun! This past weekend, my family came to visit and we surprised my parents with Nathan and Chrissie flying out and also a surprise 40th anniversary party! It was so fun to all be together. Luke turned 35 yesterday (birthday video coming as well! Look at me, I might be an official blogger again). Other than that, Leyton started playing lacrosse, Leyton and Finn are starting golf lessons soon, and Everett and all the boys play every sport, everyday in our wonderful neighborhood
I think that’s it for now! Now for some random but sweet pictures!
Last year, we were swimming on Easter Sunday and this year, we were searching for eggs in the snow with our boots on! It’s April and we are still getting snow, like lots of it. Come on Minnesota! But whatever, it was a good Easter regardless The night before we celebrated Ivy’s birthday, so on Easter Sunday, her actual birthday, it wasn’t until around 10am that we said, “oh! And Happy birthday Ivy!” Too much going on. We went to church as a family in the morning, then headed to my parents for lunch and an indoor egg hunt. Then after Ivy’s nap, we headed to Maple Grove to join the whole Prosser clan. We tried to enjoy the outdoors a little and had the egg hunt in the snow, then had dinner together. It’s become a tradition to celebrate with both families on Easter, and we love it! It’s fun to be with everyone. Even though that day was a little busy, it was a special season to watch the older two boys, especially Leyton, soak in more of what Easter really means. He’s asked so many questions lately about eternity, about Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and can definitely say that he has invited Jesus into his heart and that he believes in Jesus. Nothing could make me more proud! It’s truly a gift to watch the faith of a child grow. It’s simple and it’s personal. We continue to pray for the hearts of all of our children to be able to understand why we have faith in Jesus Christ and to find a personal relationship with Him. S
I know you don’t want to hear me say “I can’t believe she’s two!” but.. it’s true! The jump from 1 to 2 is a big one. Our little Ivy girl is a full blown toddler and she’s just.. awesome. She has a huge personality and keeps us laughing all day long. She yaps and yaps all the time and even though I only understand about 10% of it.. I told Luke it’s already kind of exhausting (haha I know we’re in trouble). But we really can’t imagine life without our little girl.. she just fits! She’s tough and can handle her own when the boys tickle and wrestle her. She loves when daddy throws her around and let’s out her huge cackle when they get so silly. Her eyes get big and light up when she hears a song she loves playing (usually one of the boys hockey songs) and she dances! She laughs when the boys laugh, even when she doesn’t know what’s so funny. She screams when something’s taken from her and gets really frustrated when we can’t understand what she’s saying. We added a new word to the boys vocabulary when we explained the word “sassy.” Ha! She’s stubborn, strong willed, but yet completely joyful and easy going.
At age 2, Ivy sleeps like a champ and is usually the last one awake in the morning. She just sits in her bed talking until we come get her. She insists on sleeping with and carrying to breakfast her Mickey, Minnie, big bunny and little bunny (a tad high maintenance) She’s starting to have opinions on what she wears and gets pretty insistant on wearing her floral rain coat and boots. She loves to watch Elmo, Peppa Pig (she makes the pig noise to tell us what she wants to watch) and LOVES to color and draw. Our house has acquired more girly toys around here and Luke even said her birthday party was like her girly coming out party because she totally loved the new purse (with the keys, phone and lip stick), her little dollhouse and the Ariel doll that sings! But she also loves to push around superheroes in her stroller and carry hockey cards and lego guys in her purse. That’s our girl!
We had such a fun party celebrating little miss Ivy with our family, of course with all things Elmo because that’s her favorite right now! We love you Ivy girl, our little two year old!!
We have an 8 year old!! Birthday week is in full force over here and we are loving it. I always forget what a wild and crazy week this is, and it’s also Spring break week! We started all the fun on Saturday with Willa’s birthday party (cake), then on Sunday my family came over to celebrate my birthday cake), Monday was my actual birthday (coffee and cake), Tuesday was Leyton’s (cake) and Wednesday was Leyton’s birthday party! (of course cake)… so, we’ve had a lot of cake. But it’s been a fun week! We got a LOT of snow a few days ago, so of course the boys loved playing in it! We got so much snow that we had to postpone my birthday date night (maybe I’ll skip the skate).. but we’ll get to that eventually! We went to cheap skate the night of Leyton’s birthday just with our crew and for his party, we went to Bowlero in Blaine with the family. We skipped a friend party this year, because well.. everyone is just too busy these days. But it was all so much fun! I would say the fun is settling down, but tomorrow we are heading to the water park of America for a little getaway during our spring break where we’re just home doing “nothing”.. (but really, doing so so much) Are you tired just reading about our week? I am.
I could honestly say so much about my big boy and how proud of my 8 year old! I love thinking back to when he was born just 8 years ago and our whole world changed. Isn’t it so strange that they just grow and change right before our eyes and we barely notice the changes, until one day, you realize that he’s his own person.. with his own thoughts and feelings, likes and dislikes, skills and passions. He was once a wild, chaotic toddler with a strong will that could barely be controlled. Now he’s kind and compassionate and respectful. He’s hardworking, he’s a confident leader and so intelligent. I honestly feel so blessed to watch him grow up and to call myself his Mom! We love you Leyton Christian!
All three boys started golf this summer. It’s a great change of pace. But after one practice where Everett took his shirt off and was pouring his water bottle over his head, we’ve had to talk about golf course etiquette 
