Happy 15 Birthday Abby

Happy 15th Birthday, Abby!

You are the definition of beautiful, inside and out. You have such a sweet nature, and you definitely know how to use it, especially when it comes to Dad! You keep your friend group small, but you're a loyal and wonderful friend to the girls who are lucky enough to be in your circle.

In the past year, you've grown taller and taller, and soon enough, you'll be taller than me! You love having long hair, usually wearing it straight, but you’ll curl it for special occasions. Over the last year, inspired by TikTok, you’ve started exploring makeup and taking skincare seriously—honestly, your collection is more impressive than mine!

You’re also in the final stretch with your braces. You now have "InLine" braces, which are placed on the back of your teeth so they’re not visible, a perfect thing for beauty conscious teenagers.

As you've gotten older, you’ve started enjoying the solace of your room. I think it’s because being in there means I will probably ask you to help less! That said, we still encourage you to spend more time with us. You love organizing and making your room nice, though keeping it clean day-to-day is another story—I can’t fault you there, I do the same thing!

You’re a perfectionist when it comes to grades, always working hard and studying to ensure you get all A's. Your teachers always describe you as sweet and hardworking. This year, you decided to try tennis, taking lessons at the Genesis courts and practicing at the court in Holland. I’m excited to watch you grow in this new sport!

You've also taken on more babysitting jobs and absolutely love working with kids. Everyone who hires you as a sitter can’t wait to have you back. Your patience with children is really special.

The other kids like to joke that you're the “favorite child,” but for the record, we don’t have a favorite. You’re just the easiest child because of your laid-back and sweet personality. You avoid conflict and always try to keep everyone happy.

I can't wait to see what Year 15 has in store for you. We love you so much!

We ate at Chick Fil A your very favorite place. You could eat here everyday if we let you.

 

Scrappy Emmy

Emmy is playing basketball with the NYBA through school this year, which is the first time we’ve done the NYBA league instead of the YMCA league. This league involves more practices, both in-town and out-of-town games, and tournaments. Robb is coaching Emmy’s team, and she’s lucky to have three of her best friends on her team. The team is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of skill level, which definitely makes it a challenge.

We describe Emmy as having Bryce’s skills and Caleb’s scrappiness. She’ll tackle someone to the ground to get the ball, and you can see that same look in her eyes as Caleb used to have—pure revenge—if someone steals the ball from her. While Robb has had to help her understand that appropriate defense doesn’t involve tackling, he appreciates her aggressiveness. Many girls lack that kind of intensity in the game, so it can actually be a positive trait.

There are a couple of girls on the team who are hard to coach, and no matter how much they practice, it seems like they just don’t get it. Thankfully, Robb is incredibly patient and continues to work with them. It’s been a tough season, especially learning to play on the regular hoops and at a higher level, but even though they didn’t win many games, that doesn’t mean they didn’t put in the effort.

 

Johnston Show Choir

Every other year, the show choir travels to Johnston, IA, for a competition. For this event, they stayed two nights since it starts so early in the morning and goes late into the night. The kids always enjoy the hotel stay part of the trip. Stacey, Kristi, and I all have kids in the show choir, so we decided to drive together, share a hotel room, and make a weekend of it.

The school that hosts this competition is amazing! It’s new, huge, and almost feels more like a community college than a high school. When we arrived, we ate at the Cheesecake Factory—delicious! I was the nice mom and picked up a cheesecake to bring to Bryce when I went to visit him at the hotel. They were living it up, all in their swimming trunks. Bryce even ran out to the car to grab a case of pop I had picked up for him. I feel like there is not going to be much sleeping going on in their room tonight.

This year’s theme was rain, and I really enjoyed their performance. The girls didn’t love their yellow raincoats and red umbrellas, but they looked so cool on stage. Show choir is one of my favorite things to watch. These kids have so much talent! I’m so thrilled that Bryce and Bree are performing again this year.

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The moms can have fun too! While we watched a lot of show choir, we also shared plenty of good stories and laughs throughout the weekend. There aren’t many moms I feel I can truly be myself around, but with these two, I can. We work together, our girls are friends, and we have so much in common. It’s always a great time when we’re together.

 

Greatest Salesman

Caleb has really proven himself to be a great salesman. Recently, he’s developed an interest in high-end golf clubs and looks for deals where he can buy low and sell high. The kid has built quite the little business for himself. He’s also listed golf clubs for many of his friends and sells them for a cut of the profit. He cleans them up really well and even regrips them if needed to increase the selling price. Caleb is always buying new clubs to try out and then selling them later. I learned early on that I really don’t want to know the price of some of these clubs, because golf is an expensive hobby!

 

Playing in the Snow

We had some of the first snow of the year that actually amounted to enough for the girls to go out and play in. They’re always the first to bundle up and brave the snow and wind to have some fun. Lucy loves to chase after them as they sled down the hill, her herding instincts still going strong at times. Scout, on the other hand, just loves playing in the snow and eating it. She has to wear her coat since she gets too cold, but she still enjoys it for a little while.

I work with Andrea Novell, who lives nearby. The girls babysit her two daughters all the time, and now she’s expecting her third! They planned to do a gender reveal with the girls. Andrea’s idea was to make snow people and have the girls pour either pink or blue water on the baby snowmen. Since Andrea is very pregnant, she asked the girls to come over and help make the snowmen, and they were more than happy to lend a hand.