Chase Patrick: NINE

 NINE whole years!!! I cannot believe it! And I know I say that every single year but I am truly astounded at how fast each year passes by. It's always harder with you being the oldest. I truly love watching you grow. Seeing your interests change from year to year, seeing you physically grow, and seeing your individual personality develop. 

The growth in your confidence this past year has been remarkable. You are becoming so sure of who you are. You know what you like, what makes you uncomfortable and how to deal with those situations. Your humor is incredibly dry and you crack jokes all day long. You especially love to tease Daddy. 

You are beyond amazing with your brother and sister. You always step up to help them out, be patient with them, entertain them and sometimes keep them in line. I'm so glad they have you to look up to, you make an incredible role model for Asher and Hayley, they really do think you are one of the best things in their lives. 

You are doing great with homeschooling. After dealing with your anxiety that affected your whole health, Daddy and I thought it would be what's best for you, so far it is proving right. You are incredible smart, even though sometimes your try me on doing your work. I love to teach you, to see how proud you are once you figure something out. You prefer English over math, but your absolute favorite is art. You are a great artist and love to see what you are going to come up with. 

You started playing soccer again this fall and are loving it. You have always been so timid and would never really get in the middle of a soccer game in the past. This year you are in there tackling. You love playing goalie but you are doing so good out on the field. I love to watch you play, make friends and just have so much fun. You are still riding, the current horse you are riding is Gunsmoke. I am eagerly awaiting for you to come off the lunge line. One of your favorite places to go is Ryerss, and see your favorite horse Diablo. The two of you really do get each other. It's sweet watching you both interact. 

I love spending my days with you, whether it be doing school, playing soccer, sharing cuddles, watching movies, building Legos, playing outside. I love doing it all with you. 

New Beginnings

 Well kids, it's new beginnings all around. Not only did we move house, again, I know! But, it's a new school year, and not just any school year but we are HOMESCHOOLING!!! I am so excited to not have to say bye to your boys first thing in the morning and not see you until almost summer time. Will everyday be easy? No, but I think it will be worth it for all of us. 

Chase, since you have been home from school with all the Covid stuff, your anxiety/eating has done a 180 and it makes me so happy to see you happy and healthy. We will be able to travel the country and the world. You will learn so much from that alone! 

Hayley, you are off to preschool for the first time!! With Covid last year you had to miss your first year. I can't believe you are in Prek, time please so down. I think you are going to have an amazing year at Bethel Christian. 

Here is to a fantastic school year for all of you! PreK, 1st & 3rd here we come!!

Life in a Nutshell

 Oh man kids, this past year has just really gotten away from me writing on here. I'll try and give you guys an update on our life, though I'm not quite sure any of us will forget this time in our lives. 

So currently Covid is getting better, all of us adults are vaccinated, yay! I can't tell you what a relief it is to feel safer in this crazy world. It never seemed to affect kids too badly so we do feel better about going out and about in the world again, still safely of course. But to be around family and friends again, is just the best! 

It's been tough on all of us really, staying away from family and friends. It's been two years since we've seen Grandma and Grandad Redfern and Granny. We are hoping to see them next summer, at that point it will be 3 years since they've seen you. They miss you so so much! Thank goodness we can at least video chat with them and they can see you grow. It's been especially hard on me, not seeing that side of my family, especially after loosing Grandma Oo-oo. 

I am so thankful I've had you 3 around every day this past year. I don't think you will ever understand how you have kept my head up on tough days, how you made me laugh when I felt like crying. I love you all more than you will ever understand. 

You boys did school virtually for the entire year and I'm so proud of you both. You took a tough situation and rocked it! We had some rough days, sure, but overall it was a great experience and getting to ear lunch together every day, have recess together, has been so fun. I will never turn down more time with you all. In fact we are considering homeschooling...

Hayley, you were my first attempt at homeschooling and not only were we successful but we had more fun than I could have imagined. Teaching you was such a joy little girl! 

I promise I'm going to get back to keeping this up more again as I want you to have this to always looks back on to remember our lives! 

So here are your school photos from this year, you guys need to stop growing!

Mothers Day

Absolutely the oddest Mothers day yet. Normally we head to the beach ofr the day or a lake; always a day out. This year we were still on full lockdown so that limited us greatly as to what we could do. 

We decided to head to Evans Elementary school to ride bikes and take a walk. Daddy had ordered steaks and cooked us an amazing meal on the grill. It was laid back, quiet, but perfect. 

It was a tough Mothers Day as it was the first Mothers Day without Grandma Oo-Oo. She was so much like a mother to me and so it was very hard for me to not be able to call her to say Happy Mother's Day, plus my heart was heavy for Grandad and how he must have been feeling not having his Mum.

I love you three beyond words and getting to be your Mum is THE greatest thing I will ever do on this Earth. I know some days we are cranky, or yell, or just have a rough day together but I want you all to know that everything I do and am is for the 3 of you. 

Schools Out

 The end of the school year could not come soon enough, given the last two months of school were at home; with a mix of work from your teachers and me supplementing. Both of your boys rolled with it and finished out just as strong as you started. 

Chase, I am so proud of how confident you became this school year. Mrs Snyder was the perfect match for you. She came along side you and knew when to push and when to let you be. You made an amazing group of friends, some from Kindergarten and others were new this year. I couldn't have been more proud of you and how you handled this school year. To be honest I think you were quite happy to finish school in the comfort of your home and with me by your side. 

Asher, I cannot believe you are graduating Prek! How are you off to big boy school already? I am so so excited for you to experience all that Kindergarten brings but part of me wants to hold you close just a little bit longer. It broke my heart that you didn't get to finish out your preschool years in the building with your friends and Mrs Newmiller. I know it broke your teachers heart too. You just thrived at that school and your really came out of your shell this year. You are more than ready for Kindergarten!!

Coronavirus/Covid19/Coronacation

 Well I don't think any of us thought we would ever live through a pandemic but we can check that off of our list! 

Back at the beginning of the year a virus started spreading through the Asian countries, then it reached Eurpoe and before we knew it, by the middle of March it was in our area. I couldn't believe it. Schools closed immediately. All work places had to shut down. Travel halted. We weren't allowed to see anybody outside of our home. Groceries and supplies became extremely hard to find; especially toilet paper and cleaning products. 

In the beginning Daddy and I were very nervous about this virus. I wore gloves and a mask to go grocery shopping and I didn't let anybody in a store besides myself. As soon as I'd get home I was strip and shower. To even get into a grocery store I would wake up at 6am to be there for 7am so I could beat the crowds. We stayed away from friends, even Grandma and Grandad would visit form a distance. 

Unfortunately we were impacted directly by this virus when Grandma Oo-Oo came down sick 3 days after Easter. Within two days she was in hospital and diagnosed with Covid19. Three days after that she passed away. It will quite possibly be one of the hardest days of my life as she was more like a Mum to me and my best friend too. It's crazy to think our family was affected this way, that we are part of the numbers of Covid. She is a huge part of why I am the way I am, and in turn the way your are. She thought you 3 were the greatest things ever. She called you her children and loved to hear updates on you all during our weekly chats. I so wish you could have gotten to spend more time with her. 

As time has passed, Covid19 is still around, not to such a high degree but we are still being careful. We have our own little bubble of people that we hangout with but our hangouts are outside. With the exception of Grandparents, we need normalcy with them. Infact it wasn't until the middle of the summer that we started hugging grandparents again, it felt wonderful. 

We spent a lot of time at home this summer. Thank goodness we have a pool. I'm not sure how we would have survived without it. Besides the pool, we went to Ryerss once a week once the lockdown was lifted (for about 11 weeks, nothing besides grocery stores were open). It felt so good back being with our horsey friends. 

While it has been a tough few months, and we missed out on a lot of things, it has really given us some quality time together. Daddy worked from home exclusively so it gave you kids more time with him. Life slowed down ,we weren't rushing here there and everywhere, we just enjoyed each other, and our backyard. 

Kids Being Kids

Since we have been at home 100% of the time because of the Coronavirus we have been getting outside every and any chance we get. You guys bagged about 20 bags of leaves for Spring clean up and helped spread 10 yards of mulch. I'm so proud of all 3 of you for the way in which you helped. Our yard looks amazing because of your hard work!

We have also spent a lot of time outside playing; sidewalk chalk, riding bikes and scooters, making obstacle courses and taking Cisco on many, many walks.