May Happenings

Boy has it been busy at the Draney house this past month and a half:) Life never seems to be dull or slow around here. That is a good thing I think. Though the end of the year is always busy, it is also fun to watch the kids in all of their activities. Here are a few of the things that have been going on.

I know that I briefly posted a little about Dylan's county fair, but these are pictures from that night. I wasn't actually able to go since I was in Indiana visiting Suzie and Rob's family. I was so proud of Dylan and how hard he worked on his county projects. I helped him a little with his float, but he did his report and brochure completely on his own. Dylan you are awesome! Also, we were able to get a DVD of the program, it was great! Grandma and Grandpa, if you want to see it, let me know and we will bring it to Idaho the next time we visit:)

Trey had his preschool graduation on May 17th and boy was it an experience. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was a good experience, but it was memorable. I have never had the kid that throws a fit at the performance or protests at a program.....until now. I can truly say that it is a good thing that Trey is the youngest, because if he had been first I would have been so embarrassed. Instead, I just took pictures of him protesting the entire graduation ceremony. I tried sitting with him to calm him down and persuade him to participate, his speech therapist tried to persuade him, and finally he was just carried across the stage to get his diploma. I am sure that the teachers were as grateful as I was to see the 30 min. program come to an end:) Trey never even thought about participating, he just looked at the rest of the preschool kids like they were crazy....thinking "why in the world would you want to sing in front of all of these people!"

It was quite an experience for me, since all of my other three children are such performers. I guess that Trey just likes to have say on what performances he will or won't participate in.

Well, we got through it and I took Trey and his friend Ben to Wal-Mart to celebrate their graduation and we got treats and a Tom and Jerry video.....no I don't see this as rewarding bad behavior, I choose to view it as re-writing history...hopefully Trey remembers it as a raging success.....and maybe I might get to were I remember it as being not so awful:)

Devin had his 1st grade program: Dinosaurs, last week. It was a great program and run very well.(Just like all of the Bluffridge Elementary programs) It was about 30-40 minutes long and was so much fun. Devin is a natural performer and was having such a great time. For their costumes, the kids made dinosaur shirts that I volunteered to help make. The first day I went and helped the kids paint on the dinosaurs with stencils, and then the second day I sent Jason to help since I flew out to Indiana. I spoke to Jason that night and asked how volunteering went. He said: "I was given the instruction to supervise the kids painting a background for their dinosaurs. I thought that meant that I let them do it themselves...after Devin was done I looked around and all of the mom volunteers were helping them paint professional scenery. After that I tried a lot harder with the other kids...pretty much I found out that I suck at painting." I chuckled and said: "I should have told you that it isn't just the kids that are graded but the parents as well." Jason has now decided that he will leave the volunteering to me from now on.

If it's spring then it's baseball!! I will try to post some baseball pics of Devin soon. But here are some of Dylan. It is so much fun to go and watch Dylan's games. This year we found out that Dylan is quite a good pitcher. His form is great and I hope to see him pitch in some games this year. He also plays third base a lot and short stop as well. Sports are so much fun to watch and be a part of. Dylan reminds me a lot of Robbie, in that he is fairly hard on himself, but he also remembers to have fun. Devin and Trey like to watch and most often they know that if they nag mom enough that she will give them money to buy a snow cone:)

This past weekend Taylor and I went to her LAST competition of the year at West High School in Salt Lake City. It was so much fun. We stayed at the Marriott Residence with her friend Alex and her mom over night. Solo night went really great for Taylor and she scored her highest score of the season and was only 1 point away from getting a diamond ranking. (Which is the highest you can get and is very hard to get. Only a 3 people in our studio got a diamond and Taylor was the highest after them) She performed her solo better than I have ever seen her do it and I was one proud mom:)
Saturday Taylor performed her group numbers and her team got first on two of them and in hip hop they got third. This was such a hard competition with soooo many amazing studios. I was so proud of her.
Also my group number that I choreographed and taught (and that Taylor was in) got 1st in its division and got over all high point out of every dance in that division. Which means that it scored the highest out of every dance (jazz, lyrical, hip hop) in its age and ability level. Pretty cool! I was very happy with how they did and they were so excited!!

So over all it has been a great May so far. Love you all:)

Spring Break

 

Over spring break our family had such a great time in St. George with my mom and dad.  We took them on some of our favorite hikes at Zions and I was so proud of how great they did!  We also did tons of swimming and lots of memory making:)

 

On our Emerald Pool hike Jason took Dylan and Devin to the highest pool and had fun with his boys.  I took mom and dad and Taylor and Trey to the lowest pool.  Trey walked the whole time I was very proud of my big boy.  He is on his way to becoming a great Draney Hiker!  

After our St. George trip, Jason had to go back to work but my kids still had a couple days off of school so I took them up to Idaho for the rest of the week.  

 

 

We always love to visit Idaho, and this weekend we had so much fun celebrating Easter with cousins.  It is fun for everyone to get together.  For the parents it really is easier because all the kids want it to be left alone to hang out and play.  It was fun to watch Sawyer and Trey play once Trey came out of his shell. 

On Friday while Heidi's kids were in school we went up to Twin Falls to go shopping.  It was kind of a trip of misadventure.  We tried to take our dog to get groomed, only to find that I hadn't gotten her shots updated in a year, so we were turned away.  Then we went to Target to go Easter shopping, only to have a very Rude lady throw our mojo off, so we left there with none of our things.  No more business for you Target, if you have such rude customers!:)  However, we did have lots of laughs over lunch about everything.  You know even if we got nothing done, I always love hanging out with Heidi and talking about everything and nothing.

On Saturday we did the traditional Easter hunt along with the traditional candy gorge.  Light saber duels and golf matches finished off the day before I had to take reluctant kids home.

We are so grateful for our family!

Catching Up

I missed a few things at the end of the year last year, so I am trying to catch up just a little bit.
 Above are pictures of Taylor at her YW in Excellence.  Taylor displayed her flute, since she has passed off some personal progress things with performing with her band, with a solo in one of the songs.  Also Grandma Hunsaker helped Taylor make a quilt to pass of her Divine nature (I think) value project.  And finally she displayed her point shoes.  The girls were suppose to bring a pair of shoes that describe them.  Taylor choose her point shoes because among other things they signify how she likes a challenge and pointe is the most challenging kind of dance and she likes to be pushed and is proud of herself when she accomplishes hard goals.  We just love Taylor's Young Women leaders!  They are so great and positive with the girls.  Also Taylor just barely was called to be the Beehive class President.  I am excited for her to be able to get to know all the girls and serve them.  This is WAY out of Taylor's comfort zone.  She doesn't like the spotlight on herself, unless she is on a stage.  The hardest part for her about being called was the attention that was drawn to her when we came in class while she was being set apart.  I could tell that she wanted to disappear, when she is nervous her shoulders hunch over and she puts her head down.  She hates it when Jason and I tell her to stand up straight and pull her shoulders back so that she can look confident.  On that same day, Taylor had to go to BYC.  I stayed with her right up until she had to go into the room, right before she went in she said "Mom, can't you come in with me?"  It was so hard for me to send her in by herself, this is the first time that she has been involved in something that I have no participation in, as a leader or teacher.  While it is hard for me that she is growing up, this is so good for her to spread her wings on her own and really fly.  I am so proud of her and know that this will be a great experience for her to grow.


Below, Dylan participated in the Pine Wood Derby.  As usual Jason and I pretty much suck at making pine wood derby cars.  Dylan didn't win any races, but got the award for best detail.  I can't even tell you how amazing Dylan's attitude is!  He didn't get mad or sulk because of not winning the races, he just laughed it off and had a great time.  And words cannot describe what a HUGE event this was.  Our ward Cub Master is AMAZING!!  There were dance lights and music with a big screen where they showed car advertisements and clips.  Also they had a stunt tract and refreshments of popcorn and cotton candy for the kids.  Truly cool!   So we had a great time as a family watching, laughing and cheering on.  Oh and Devin kept Trey entertained with their own car racing:)



So proud of these two amazing kids!  I have so much fun watching them in their activities and am amazed at what great kids they are. 

March Happenings

Devin lost his very first tooth last month!  He was so excited, he's been waiting for this day since the middle of last year when his friends started to lose their teeth.  All of the waiting was worth it when the tooth fairy left a whole dollar under his pillow.  (Inflation is a beast)
Also Trey had school pictures in March.  I was nervous for his pictures since Trey doesn't do very well when the school day schedule is changed, so I decided to come back when they were having pictures just in case they needed my help.  Sure enough, when I got there and looked in the lunch room where they were having pictures, Trey was all the way across the room as far away from his class as he could get.  After much coaxing, Trey finally decided to get in the picture, but just barely.  They next day he had pictures for the Tues/Thurs. class that he is in with Ben Nicol.  Wow, what a difference a day makes!  Ben was just as nervous as Trey had been the day before.  I thought "Oh no, this is going to be tough".....but as soon as I told Trey that he needed to show Ben what to do cause he was nervous, Trey ran over to the chair, jumped up, and smiled angelically.  All the teachers were shocked.  We all laughed, it is so sweet the friendship that those two boys have.  You really just need one good friend to help you out in this life.
Taylor and I at the end of the month got to go to the conference center for the YW general broadcast.  I had so much fun with my sweet girl.  The talks were great, but what was really great was the Spirit that immediately entered the room when the prophet walked in.  The noise before he entered was deafening with all the chatter of excited young women, but the second that the prophet walked in the entire conference center immediately went absolutely silent with reverent respect for our prophet.
I think that had the greatest impact on Taylor.
The weekend of the YW session also happened to be the grand opening of the City Creek Center in down town Salt Lake City.  It really is an amazing place, and Taylor and I only got to see a small portion of it.  It was so packed that you had to wait in a half hour line just to get into some stores to look around.  There was live music, and Taylor and I saw the guy from the YouTube video Cello Wars playing, as well as many other artists.  However, things were so packed that after the conference we decided to head back to Layton and go to dinner at The Olive Garden.  It took us so long to get through City Creek that we didn't sit down to eat until 9:30pm.
We had a great discussion and I couldn't help but feel blessed, and grateful for my amazing daughter.

Dance Dance Dance

(above is Taylor on solo night. Trey came back stage and was so excited to be with Taylor:) Taylor's friend Alex is in white, they have been practicing together all year preparing for their solos. And then all the soloist from the studio. I also threw in the random ballet picture since I didn't post about her ballet class preview in december...she did great! Can't believe how far all of the girls have come on pointe...there teacher Angel is awesome)

I love competition season! Although it is crazy busy and emotions run high, it is also a time where I get to spend some really great times with my Taylor. I love watching her dance, it is so fun to see how all of her hard work pays off, and I love seeing my shy girl blossom on stage. This extremely quiet girl gets on stage and is able to morphe into whatever character she is portraying and for those 3 minutes she is a true performer. And then right as she gets off stage she is back to my shy, reserved Taylor. It is a great outlet for her creativity and I love seeing her make friendships with the girls she dances with. Everyone on her team is so supportive of each other and they cheer each other on with genuine excitement for each other.

This month Taylor had a dance competition at Viewmont High School where she competed her solo and her four team dances. I was so proud of her!!! She looked amazing and I am amazed at how she has matured into such a talented dancer. Her solo was great and this is just the first competition of the season:) Her team dances also did well, I will video them next time and try to post them so that you all can see.

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Better Late than Never

So the last little while has been soooo busy. I am finally trying to get caught up. Right like that will happen, but hey I can try.
In November my sweet Trey turned 4 years old. Happy Birthday to Trey! Hey I'm only four months late:)
I can't believe how time flies. Trey is in preschool at Ellison Park Elementary and I can't say enough about how good this year has been for his development. I have been very impressed with his teachers. They have really supported him and gone to bat for him. It is because of his wonderful teachers that he was approved to go to preschool four days a week, which really has been a huge reason for his amazing growth this year.
I am seeing less anxiety about entering the classroom, and he is getting over some of his sensory issues. He is even washing his hands without fighting me on it:) Also he now comes to me in the morning and asks me to do his hair for school. He still won't let me brush it, but baby steps right? For now I am happy with him letting me pat down all of the hair that sticks straight out and slapping on a little gel.
Everybody needs a friend to thrive, and it seems that one of the keys to unlocking all of Trey's potential was in that very principle. That is why little Ben Nicol is our angel. In this picture you can't see Ben, but this is an amazing sight to see Trey playing WITH other kids instead of sitting on the sidelines observing them.
Ben is our neighbor and he has been coming over for play dates with Trey and he goes to the same preschool as Trey on Tues. and Thurs. Since Trey has had Ben as a friend he is excited to go to school and he has a vast amount more spontaneous speech. His little personality is really starting to emerge both at school and at home.

I know, I know, feed that kid right? I apologize for the rib shot, but I thought it was so fun that Trey was showing off his muscles with his brothers. On the eating front, Trey is beginning to gain weight and we are slowly introducing gluten back into his diet and.......he seems to be doing well with it. He isn't getting a rash and his speech continues to improve daily. Thank Heavens for this miracle in our lives.



I am so grateful for this little guy. I have seen such changes not only in him, but in all of my children and in myself. We recognize the little victories each day and experience joy from simple things like Trey showing of his muscles. We celebrate each and every word and my children have learned and continue to learn compassion like they never would have if Trey was not part of our lives.
Trey loves being part of the Three Amigos and our house is host to many light saber duels each day. Of course Trey is like The Emperor in that he sets the rules and the rules are subject to change without notice. Devin and Dylan are amazing at watching out for their little brother and are a key part of his speech therapy. Trey has had to learn that he has to use his voice so that he can be heard and so that we know what he wants. Dylan and Devin make sure that he uses that voice every day, Trey is learning to say "Knock it off" and "STOP that!" We love it!!
Trey I love you so much! I feel blessed that the Lord has entrusted one of his strong and special spirits into my care. You are so strong and have come such a long way. I know that we have a long way to go, but I never thought that you would progress this fast. I am humbled by your determination and by the amazing Light of Christ that you have.

Adventures in potty training

Since I haven't blogged for a while I was looking through my old photos and couldn't pass up the chance to share these. I waited a loooong time to potty train Trey. I just couldn't face tackling it while I was tackling his diet, speech, sensory issues. So finally we he hit 4yrs old in November I figured that I had waited long enough. Although my sister Heidi said "Don't worry as long as your not packing diapers in his backpack as you send him off to Kindergarten you're fine, and even then I'm sure it would be o.k." I can always count on Heidi to cheer me up and make me feel that I'm doing everything "right".
Trey was surprisingly easy to potty train even with the speech barrier that we have. For a couple days he would bring out his little potty into the family room and sit all day on his potty and play the wii. My kids would come home from school to find Trey with his underwear around his ankles sitting on the potty playing the wii and would say "Mom gross, he's in the family room, what if my friends came over", I thought that it was so cute that all I could do was laugh.