June

Little Gracie turned 19 months old at the beginning of June. Here's what she was doing:

• Still climbing like crazy. Thinks it's funny to climb on top of the table even though she knows she's not supposed to do that.
• Started using a spoon to eat her morning hot cereal. 
• More picky with food. Throws what she doesn't want on the floor.
• Loves jumping on the trampoline.
• Sleeping really well at night since we put a night light in her closet bedroom. Duh!
• Starting to have a hard time napping sometimes so maybe getting close to switching to one nap a day.
• Saying "momma" and "dadda" when prompted.
• Went to the dentist for the first time.
• Will sometimes give hugs and pat me on the back. It's so sweet!

Not a great shot of Alan but I rarely take pictures of just him so I thought I'd include it. 

4th graders in our school district learn to play the recorder in music and the dreaded day for Mason to bring his home from school arrived. Haha! He actually wasn't really annoying with it at all. 

Spencer's certificates from track this season. It was another great season for Spencer! Alan went to the awards night while I stayed home with Mason and Grace because it's always really long. 

Mason began equine therapy at the beginning of June. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy hadn't been very successful to this point so when my Dad suggested equine therapy, we thought it was definitely worth a try. Mason had really loved interacting with my parent's neighbor's horses last Christmas and was excited and nervous to try this new therapy. Unfortunately, Mason felt very rejected by one of the horses on the first day and hasn't wanted to interact with them again. The farm has lots of other animals and Mason has made some connections with a couple of them though so we are still going. I'll write more about this in other months. 

Mason received the character award for courage at school! It certainly wasn't easy facing his anxieties to return to school and every one on Mason's team (school counselor, teacher, principal, assistant principal, therapist, psychologist, and Alan and I) was so proud of him!

Spencer played in the band for HS graduation. We didn't go but my friend sent me this picture of Spencer with her girls. I baby sat those two cute girls when they were so little and now one of them is graduated and the other is a senior like Spencer. 

I got this water table from the Facebook Buy Nothing group and Grace had a lot of fun with it all summer. That group has been amazing for us since Grace came! Between it, our church family, and our next door neighbors, we've received A LOT of free fun things that we wouldn't have purchased for ourselves. One perk of living in an affluent city like Sherwood is that many people are willing to give away a lot of things once they're finished with them. 

I wanted to go on a family picnic for my birthday this year so we got sandwiches and went up to Snyder Park. It was a really nice evening and Grace loved playing in the water feature but a certain 10 year old was super grumpy about it for some reason and we didn't stay long. Sigh.

I treated myself to a pizza salad from Mod on my actual birthday and ate it in the backyard while Grace played.

The boy's last day of Junior year and 4th grade was on June 10th! Spencer had a very heavy academic year in addition to running cross country and track, playing in Wind Ensemble and the pit orchestra and participating in two big piano festivals. He was tired by the time the year was over and was really ready for a break!

Mason's 4th grade year was incredibly challenging but he ended on a high note by mostly happily attending school for the last month. I was sad that the year ended for him just as he was turning a corner. Also, I had to include the full body shot picture to remember Mason's awesome sense of style in 4th grade! Haha!

Our new ward held a ward campout the weekend after school got out. I volunteered to stay home with Grace because none of us wanted to camp with her. Mason had a great time riding bikes and playing with other kids in the forest, Alan enjoyed connecting with some of the elders in the ward, and Spencer had fun playing disc golf. I enjoyed a full night's sleep in my own bed. ;)

Gracie showed way more interest in coloring that either Spencer or Mason did as a toddler. It was (and still is) great entertainment for her!

Mason finally got his own library card! We had just been using Spencer's this whole time but Spencer doesn't check out many books in print anymore and Mason thought it would be cool to have his own card. Yay for readers!

Father's Day 2025: The boys were good to help me make dinner. I have no idea what we made with those potatoes but I do know we ate the frozen half of Alan's birthday cake for dessert. :) We are all so blessed to have such a supportive and playful dad in our lives!

Spencer opted to teach piano lessons again this summer instead of finding a more traditional job. He was going to be gone for about four weeks of the summer and didn't know how to make a regular job work. He wound up with eight students and taught them each six lessons and that worked out well. 

First time playing with play dough! She loved it and didn't try to eat it too many times. :)

Mason enjoys baking and decided to create his own cookie recipe. I helped him tweak it a bit and he made his "Cinnachocks" two or three times over the summer. Good work buddy!

I adored the sweet curls Gracie's hair was finally long enough to have in the back!

Mason spent a lot of time outside with our neighbor and church friends Colt and Uriah. They mostly road bikes and played in the forest at the park. They made this cool fort one day.

Mason also really wanted to learn how to mow the lawn this summer. He needed some help getting the mower started and going around the edges but did a good job with the middle. I'm glad I'll have someone to take over this job when Spencer leaves home!

Another fun score from facebook!