I haven't done a formal family update in a while so now is a great time I think. We're starting a new year, a new decade, and what feels to Dan and I like a new season. The kids are at awesome ages. The sweet spot between toddlers and teenagers. We can do things together like go out to dinner without dragging over a high chair or ride our bikes at the beach or sit on the couch and watch a movie. And we are still their world which is nice.
We totally remodeled our downstairs which obviously feels like a new start and took some new family photos for the first time in many years. I've always wanted to send out one of those Christmas letters with a family update but it's amazing if I just get a card out. So here's our January very long letter complete with our new family photos taken by our friend Lindsay Willmer in our favorite family spot, Newport Beach.
Mya Lynn is 10 years old and in 5th grade at Stanton Elementary. She has 5 teachers including P.E. and music so I think she's pretty well prepared for 6th grade in the fall. I can't believe we'll have a junior higher in 8 months. She is the smallest kid in her class and one of the youngest. She's doing well in school this year. Academics don't come easily to her but she works hard. She's on the honor roll and plays the cello quite well from what she tells me. I believe her. She doesn't practice a whole lot at home though. She has a best friend, Katie, at school and they are inseparable. I've prayed for a few years that she would have a good friend at school and she finally does this year.
She will soon be going back into gymnastics once a week which she loves. We took a break over the summer and during soccer season. She has amazing upper body strength. Dan owes her $5 because she proved him wrong and did 8 pull-ups in a row at the park yesterday.
Mya is always putting others before herself. She is naturally kind to everyone. She helps Angus with anything he asks her to and is so very patient with her spicy sisters. When Addie or Angus are upset with me, they usually go to Mya to be comforted. She's a pretty good stand in mommy.
She loves to laugh and be silly. She prefers to hang out with grownups over kids her age. She's very perceptive and catches on to things easily. She's a lot like I was at her age, easily distracted and forgetful. I'm constantly telling her to focus on what she's doing and finish the task at hand. I laugh on the inside because I'm still horrible at that.
Mya is pretty good at music. She picked up the piano, violin and cello with minimal effort. She has a great singing voice too. She's also great at figuring out how things work like my phone, the Kindle or following instructions on YouTube when creating things like origami or crafts. She loves a good challenge. I will often hand her a toy to assemble or fix and she'll figure it out. She's great with puzzles. She used to watch me use the remote control at 2 years old and pick it up and use it correctly. She's patient enough to figure something out that she doesn't know how to do at first. I think that's an awesome life skill to have. She also loves to bake and dreams of owning her own bakery when she grows up. "Mya's Monkey Muffins & More."
Mya is still very much afraid of puke or people who feel nauseated and people dressed as characters like snoopy at Knott's Berry Farm and Mickey at Disneyland. She doesn't like to be dirty and often asks if I have any hand sanitizer on me. She will not go near most bugs or animals, especially wild ones like peacocks. We often drive down Glendora where the giant birds walk around. I roll all the windows down so the kids can get a good look and Mya freaks out, rolls up her window and goes to the other side of the car. Winter likes to bring her bugs of course because she's a stinker.
Mya's favorite things to do include playing computer games with Dan or going thrift store shopping with me. She's a picky eater and would only eat bread if she had the choice. She has lots of questions and is very nosy. She will talk to anyone and ask them anything that's on her mind. She can't wait to start babysitting babies, not toddlers or kids. Babies. She practices with baby dolls. She loves anything having to do with unicorns and loves making crafts. She also loves braiding hair. She watches videos and learns how to do cool hair styles. She loves to take care of others and make them happy. She loves it when people give her complements and tell her she did a good job. She loves making cards for people.
She's also very involved at church. She has an amazing group of girlfriends there who love her for her and are always excited to see her. She always participates in everything offered like Christmas programs, camps, Tuesday night church meetings etc. She likes to participate in everything that we will let her do.
Mya is a joy to be around and a blessing to all who know her.
She LOVES animals of all kinds. Horses are her favorite but will settle for dogs usually. She loves to catch bugs and lizards. She loves taking Otter for walks and playing with the neighbor's bull dog. She loves the ocean where she can swim in the waves and chase birds and search for sand crabs. She is incredibly playful and often pushes boundaries in that department.
It has been so awesome watching Winter long to do whatever she wants and break rules but also long to be a good person and obey. She's growing up and finding her balance of living by her rules but also being kind and loving. Out of our 4 kids, she is the only one who is not a rule follower by nature, but she's learning where she can push boundaries and where she can't.
She often gets wrapped up in her own world and cannot hear anything else around her. If she's focused on something and I call her, it takes her a while to snap out of it and answer me.
Winter has a giant heart and wears it on her sleeve. She cries all the time, sometimes when she's really happy, sometimes when a movie is sad and sometimes when a song is really powerful. She has big emotions and is not afraid of them.
Her outfits are the best. She loves to mix patterns and wear bold colors and sparkly things. Sequins and leopard print are her faves these days.
She has a big appetite and usually eats more than I do. She loves good food like her dad. Her favorite is rack of lamb but a good steak or sauteed shrimp are a close second. She also loves sushi. And she's my only salad eater so far.
When she grows up she wants to live somewhere where she can have horses and be a mom like me with a bunch of kids. In the pics below you will see one of Winter with her arms up completely soaked after I told the kids they could splash around in the water while the photographer continued to snap pics. Winter "fell" in then just decided to go swimming. Dan was furious but I was kind of glad we captured her wild spirit in our family photos.
She is always a favorite when talking to her teachers at school or church. You just can't help but love her.
Adelyn Marie is in Kindergarten. She is super bright. She's way ahead of the curve and I have a feeling that's where she'll stay. She's a little sponge who remembers everything and reminds me of things that happened over a year ago. She does well in school and is on her best behavior there because she wouldn't dare disobey and would be so upset if her teacher moved her to the "sad side." (The side where your name goes if you've broken a class rule)
Addie is very particular about doing things the right way and hates making mistakes. Of all our kids she is definitely the most type A. She cares what people think and would hate for anyone to tell her she wasn't doing a great job.
She has big feelings about everything. When she's excited, she's bouncing up and down squealing. When she's mad, she's fuming. When she's sad, she's sobbing.
Addie came out of my belly making lots of noise. As a baby, I couldn't really take her anywhere quiet like a nice restaurant or the library or church because I couldn't keep her from squawking and yelling. I put her in the nursery at church at 5 weeks old. People thought I was crazy but she was so loud. She was such a distraction. Even with a pacifier. It has been so funny to watch such a tiny little thing come with such a big personality. She runs everywhere and she yells everything.
She's not intimidated by anyone either. I will never forget the day she yelled at our neighbor who also happens to be our pastor for laughing at her throwing a fit in the middle of the street, crying and screaming. He couldn't help it. It was such a big commotion for someone so tiny. "IT'S NOT FUNNY MR. DAAAVE!" she yelled.
Addie loves bible stories. She knows them all, probably better than I do. She also loves the Lion King and the Lion Guard which is a show on Disney Jr. based on the Lion King. She loves jungle animals and animals at the zoo. Her favorite thing to do is play with her little animal figurines with Winter. The two of them act out animal/Barbie dramas. Those two wake up every morning around 5:30 or 6:00AM and play with their animals or barbies or both. Addie's world revolves around Winter and when they are having a disagreement Addie's world is coming to an end. They usually resolve it quickly though.
She's also a great little artist. Her teacher says she is one of the most talented she's seen, and she also cares about her drawings a great deal. So she takes her time and makes some really awesome little works of art.
Addie is a little firecracker. Most people who've met her remember her. Wherever we go, church, soccer practice, school, you will hear several kids calling her name. She has groupies. And they're all around 9-15 years old. They all love her.
Angus Michael is 4 and in Pre-K I guess you could say. He's home with me instead of going to preschool. I'm trying my best to teach him his letters and the sounds they make. I'm getting ready to kick it into high gear now that we're in January and he will be starting Kinder in August.
Angus is very mechanical. He loves to see how things work. He takes apart his toys with a screwdriver and can sometimes put them back together. The letter learning thing is slow coming however.
Angus is a lover of people. And he loves big. He loves everyone with every fiber in his being. I'm his favorite but he often hugs strangers. And sometimes he tells me he loves people we pass in Target. Usually pretty ladies that smile at him. He's extremely sensitive and will often burst into tears when being punished. He is extremely sweet and does not have a mean bone in his body.
He also gets very attached to his toys, like monster trucks and tools. If he loses one, his world is ending. He is loud. He talks and sings all day long. He says what he's thinking and has no inner voice. He laughs a lot and cries a lot. Multiple times a day. He feels his feelings. His favorite place is my bed, watching one of his favorite shows like Paw Patrol. His 2nd favorite thing to do is ride his bike around the neighborhood 5 times.
He has a big obsession with the law and wants to be a police officer when he grows up. He yells at me when I roll through stop signs. He always points out "bad guys," usually fast cars or motorcycles who pass us on the freeway. His favorite game to play outside is a police officer chasing the bad guys. That's him chasing anyone outside (usually his sisters) and putting them in jail. He loves going to Vons where he can ride in the police car cart.
He's also obsessed with construction sites and all the vehicles that come with them. He loves monster trucks too.
He also loves playing ball of any kind. Soccer, baseball, basketball, it's all fun. He's pretty coordinated too. It will be fun to see which sport he gets into. So far he's only played soccer but we play t-ball out front and he's really good at it.
He's a pretty picky eater and won't try anything that looks gross to him. He requests a peanut butter and honey sandwich every day for lunch. He loves warm milk in the morning (gross) and would eat mac and cheese everyday for dinner if I let him. His favorite fruit is blueberries probably because his favorite color is blue. And his favorite number is 8. Not sure why.
Angus is the most affectionate and loving of all the kids. He's also the biggest home body of the bunch. He doesn't like being away from home for too long. He's actually a lot like Dan in so very many ways. It's interesting to see 100 of Dan's traits in a 4 year old. He is so very cute. I think he was a good kid to end with.
Dan refused to take a solo pic so here's one of us both. Daniel Martin is 44 and is coming up on 19 years at San Marino Fire Dept. He's been an engineer for about 3 years which means he drives the fire engine and controls all the buttons and levers that control the water pressure and hoses and stuff. He just went back to work recently after being home for a few months after injuring his shoulder on a fire.
Dan LOVES being at home. He's the biggest home body I've every known. His idea of the perfect day would be doing absolutely nothing. But he very much appreciates a productive day when everyone helps him clean the house. He works hard and rests hard. Most days at home, Dan works on projects and sits on the couch to rest every hour or so.
He loves eating good food which means he often cooks so that he doesn't have to eat what I make which is usually just heating up stuff from Trader Joe's. He loves spending time with his best friend Bill who now lives in Palm Springs but they still try to see each other once a month. He also likes taking a dip in the Jacuzzi. Ideally he would do more camping and fishing and hunting if life allowed him to and plans on doing a lot of that in the future with the kids.
He has a very high standard for most things in life including tidiness, punctuality, general order and efficiency. The kids are learning all about that whether they want to or not.
Something I've recently noticed is how loud he is. He talks loud, laughs loud, sneezes loud and makes a lot of noise in the kitchen when he's cooking or putting away dishes.
He's not very social and would rather stay home than go to any type of gathering. He does love going to church though.
Dan is good at everything he does. He's so handy. He built our kitchen cabinets and they look amazing. He can fix anything around the house. If he doesn't know how, he'll look it up on YouTube. He's good at getting things done quickly. He can get 10 times as much done in one hour as I can and he'll do it the most efficient way.
He loves being a dad and husband. He tells the kids and I 20 times a day that he loves us. He loves me more than I ever thought was possible. He has a tender heart and cries easily. He is loyal and honest and such a good man. He is always looking for ways to better himself, both as a Christian and in his health. He is affectionate and will take a hug any time of the day.
I'm so thankful I married him. I had no idea what an awesome husband and father he would be. I had a hunch.
And finally me, Amie Lynn. I'm 38 and have been a stay-at-home mom for over 10 years now. I've been attending the university of being a mom for the last decade so I feel like I'm working on my Masters degree in momming littles at this point. I have learned a TON about parenting since Mya was an infant and have much more to learn. It's ever changing and requires pretty much all of my energy.
I've learned quite a bit about myself over the last 10 years as well. I'm changing and growing along with my kids. I've really accepted my strengths and weaknesses and am thankful for the things I'm good at and not too hard on myself when I fail at things I'm not great at. Recently I've tried to be intentional about not getting overwhelmed which means saying no to a lot of things I'd like to do but take up too much of my time and energy. I make time for my favorite things and favorite people. Everything else has to wait for a less busy season.
My days are full. I'm usually doing laundry, driving kids around, loading the dishwasher, helping with homework, answering one million questions the kids throw at me, helping people find things, running to Costco, Trader Joes, Vons or Target and occasionally squeezing in a yoga class at the gym or a long walk with the dog and a kid or two. I'm becoming more content being at home than I used to be but I would still much rather be outside than inside.
I'm pretty social. I belong to a mom's group, a book study group and a Sunday school class. I love being around other people and I feel like I come alive at most gatherings. These days I don't have a whole lot of hobbies besides this blog and thrift store shopping. I plan on learning how to play the guitar with Winter this summer. She's been begging me. The idea of strumming a guitar and singing to nobody sounds absolutely divine. I love to sing and I love to dance. If I had more time I would hike and paddle board more.
I think I'm pretty good at helping with homework and solving the kids problems both social and practical. Both Dan and I are really intentional about molding them into respectful and kind little people. It's tricky letting them be who God has created them to be and at the same time correcting the not so good tendencies they have.
This parenting gig is so much harder than I had expected, but it is definitely what God created me for and I am thankful for the privilege of raising these four people with my amazing husband. I'm excited about the next 10 years!
