Dear Evie Girl

Dearest Everly,

Right now you are watching "Leap" for the millionth time today. You love watching dancing and getting out there and dancing yourself. I love your spirit. I love your love for life. I love your laugh. I love your smile. I love you.

With my whole heart.

I know sometimes parents say that and you think but how can you love me with your whole heart when you have sister and brother and daddy and grandma.... I just can. There is plenty of room and when you were born my heart made an entire new heart for Everly Mae. 

When Addi was born I didn't get to hold her much. She was sick and mommy was sick and it just was difficult. When you were born I squeezed on you so much I'm sure you thought 'mom settle down'. Nothing has changed 3 years later. I can't get enough Evie cuddles and squeezes. You are my sweet little girl Evie and the older and older you get it will never change. Just as the last 3 years have not changed. 

This year Everly you began preschool. It was a little rough on mommy. My sweet little Evie with the softest heart in the world leaving me for a few hours each week is heartbreaking. I know this will be such a wonderful year for you and that you will learn and grow so much. I knew that was something I could never hold you back from, even though I wish I could squeeze you all day long instead. Your first day of school you were so nervous and quiet but so excited. You had been anxious for it the whole week prior, since seeing Addi off to her first day of school. That first day you were ready. Mommy was not. I was sad. I cried. I felt I was a horrible mom. I was scared and nervous for you. I was also very excited for you and ultimately my desire for you to be happy is stronger than my desire to keep you with me forever. No surprise, you had a wonderful day! You loved singing. You loved art time. You loved Miss Jacquie. You loved being in class with Kate Valentine and Jonah Cichon, your best friends. You loved play time. You loved learning. I hope you always remember that you love to learn. There is something so wonderful about being able to learn and never stop learning. I have that desire to always learn, to always grow, to always be my best version and I hope you have that desire in you always as well. 

Today you are not in school and you are playing with your little brother. I love seeing that. I love seeing how you become the older sister when Addi is not around. You help Lennon, like getting a stool for him so he can reach things, whenever he needs it. In your Father's Blessing before school started Daddy said that you would be an example to others. As I watched you sit so still with your eyes closed for your blessing I knew the Lord knew your potential. I knew you would be that shining example to others because you are to your little brother. You are to all of us. You will be such a wonderful friend and influence in others lives and while I am seeing that already I know it will grow exponentially as you get older. 

I love you so much Evie. Have a great school year and always remember who you are. 

Love, Mom

3's never a crowd

Here I am 4 years later writing about how we casually (yeah right) had 2 more children that I have written nothing about. Of course it is never a lack of care or time, it is simply the times have changed and I along with it. It is the time of facebook and instagram and the ease of counting that as a way to connect with family, share memories and journal all at the same time. At least that is the case for me. 

Blogging though still feels like a great way to journal in the truest sense. 

Meaning, feelings, concerns, struggles, real life. 

So... Here I am 4 years later being the stereotypical mom blogger who is catching up everyone (mostly myself for the future) on our lives. 

- What we already know about our family but wouldn't hurt to remember -

September 21, 2007

Sam and Piper are married in the Mesa, AZ temple

May 15, 2012

Addison Marie Wang is born in the American Fork, UT hospital

July 2012

The Wangs move to Gilbert, AZ

August 20, 2012

Sam begins his adventure called Law School

- Now for the juicy catch up -

March 2, 2015

Everly Mae Wang is born in the Gilbert, AZ hospital

May 1, 2016

The Wangs move to a larger home in Gilbert, AZ

Making room for baby boy

July 21, 2016

Lennon Paul Wang is born in the Gilbert, AZ hospital

This past month Lennon turned 2 years old. 

Addison is 6 years old and has started 1st grade. 

Everly is 3 and has started preschool.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it."

I may not be the best blogger/journal keeper (I of course want to be better) but I try to stop and look around as much as I can. The memories are engraved in my mind.

....................................................................

If only chatbooks could print my brain into a book ;)

Family Pictures

Family Pictures are supposed to capture the closeness of your family and the moments that you want to treasure forever. Right?! That should be the case at least and that is why we get family pictures done regularly, they are so special to us. I recently decided it was time to get pictures done and while I am a photographer, I am terrible at getting my own family pictures done. It is always such a process for me! I always need to find the perfect outfits and colors and the perfect location, which can be a lot of work. Well, I finally found outfits for us all. I got myself and Addi ready the day of. (Luckily Sam is able to get himself ready these days. ;) ) I found a location I wanted to go to to take them at and got my brother to come and take them for us since he is a super pro already at the age of 16. We got to the location, everything was working great, we were on time for the time frame I wanted to take them during, and immediately as Sawyer starts snapping, something clicked in Addi and she became Mr. Hyde! I have never seen my little girl be so upset and misbehaved. As people were walking by, they would ooh and aww, and then they SAW the reality of the situation and would awkwardly walk away as quickly as they could to avoid having to think of something to say. I laughed out loud but secretly cried inside feeling that after all this work, I had nothing. Sawyer was so patient and great even though his allergies were kicking his butt after attending a practice for the temple celebration just the day before. I felt so horrible for wasting his time, and felt so frustrated that it either meant I had to deal with having nothing or do this all over again when she was in a better mood. At one point I pleaded with Addi to be good and smile for even just one picture, but as most 1 year olds might do, she did not understand and immediately started crying. After 20 minutes of struggling to not get the picture I had created in my mind I decided to call it quits and try again another time. We returned home a short while later and I immediately went to my computer to view what we had. After going through the pictures and just laughing at some of the ones we captured I realized that this session was GOLD! Sawyer had captured some great pictures of our family and some really funny ones as well! While I still admit it was a frustrating situation having to just let Addi do her thing instead of getting the pictures I wanted, I am so grateful for my little family and for our little Addi Marie. She makes me so incredibly happy! Here are a few of the pictures from our adventure on Sunday: