Last day of School

Well last Wednesday was the last day of Kindergarten for Leyton and 3rd grade for Nia.  They both had a great year and learned so much. 

This is before they left that morning.

Nia has become an amazing reader.  She read The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and The Secret Garden just to name a couple.  This was also the first year for state assessment testing and she did awesome.  She received some of the highest scores in her class.  In math she was #3!!  We are so proud of her academic accomplishments!  She works really hard on everything she sets her mind to :)

She loved her teacher this year!  This is a pic of her and Mrs. Lowden. 

Leyton also had a great year!  He has come so far from the kid who when I would try and get him to color after scribbling a couple lines he would say "Mom, I am done can you finish this for me?"  He brings home his letter pages colored with such detail and precision (for a 5 yr old :)  His report card was awesome.  Of all the testing, he only missed 4 sight words!  He is definitely ready for 1st grade!

This a pic of him and Mrs. Ackerman :)

I always do a pic of this kids on the first and last day of school on the bench in front of the school.  Nia was not very excited about it this year, as you can tell.  Is was kinda cold and windy :)

They are both such good kids.  I can not believe how God has blessed us with such wonderful children.  I can't imagine a life without them :)

Breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa

A couple weeks ago, my mom and dad came up to eat breakfast with us and go garage saleing.  We really had a great time!  I really love that my mom and dad spend so much time with our kids.  They are truly heaven sent.  I don't think I would be a very good parent without them. It is so calming to know that if Monte and I need a break all we have to do is call and they will be here to babysit even for just an evening so we can go to the movies.

Here are some pics of breakfast. 

Wordless Thursday :)

State Gymnastics

Saturday April 30th was Nia's state gymnastics meet.  Monte took the boys to the farm on Friday evening to stay with my Dad (my Mom was out of town)  We got up about 7:00 Saturday morning and were on our way to the meet (2 1/2 hours away) at 7:30.  We stopped on the way for a good breakfast since the meet was from 11:00 - 1:00.  So Nia wouldn't get too hungry and everything was great.  One of Nia's teammates was competing at 8:00 am that morning and we got a call that she had got 1st on one of her events and 3rd overall, which was a personal best for her and we were really excited for her.

We got to the meet and Nia started warming up and then it started.  Her first event was vault and on her 1st vault she didn't even do her handstand before she kind of wobbled and had to start over.  So that was one chance out the window.  She did well on her second vault 9.6, which is a pretty good score for her.  Then she was onto bars where her practices went really well, then on her dismount her hand slipped off the bar and she landed and put her hands down so she didn't fall, which is a .5 deduction. 8.9.  So I was thinking, okay, this in not going so well, but she has her best two events coming up and she can bring her score up with those.  On beam she did a flawless routine (in my eyes anyway) and she scored a 9.55. What???  She has never scored lower than a 9.7 on the beam since her first meet back in December.  I was getting mad, but decided to just simmer down and she would pull it out on floor.  She was the very last person to compete on floor, which is always the last event so there were people getting up and talking and leaving to get a seat in the auditorium for the awards ceremony.  I was about to scream at them all for being so loud and distracting, but I thought that would probably been even more distracting so I controlled myself. (It wasn't easy)  She started her floor routine and I looked away for one second and thought I had missed her little back bend she does in the first part, but the rest was awesome.  Then her score came up..... 9.1.  What??? I was so confused, again the lowest score she had ever received.  What is going on.  Then she comes over and says "I forgot my back bend"  Oh, I thought I had just missed it.  That counts for a missed skill and they can take up to 1 point  deduction.  So we went to the awards ceremony pretty numb.

Following are the pics.  She got 2nd on beam, 5th on floor, 7th on bars, 5th on vault and 7th overall.

I can't figure out how to rotate them so I guess you will have to tilt your head today :)

Nia was pretty disappointed with her outcomes, but I tried to tell her that it just wasn't her day and there will be more meets next season, and no matter what we will always be proud of her!  She got over it pretty fast. She was a gymnastics on Monday and now they are working on skills for Level 4 and she is pretty excited about getting to skip level 3.  

It's been a great couple weeks.

We have been really busy the last couple weeks.  We started by working in the garden last weekend and then worked all day this Friday and Saturday painting the kid's rooms and rearranging furniture so that Leyton now has the bunk bed in his room and Nia got her new loft bed that Monte built.  Then we went to see Monte's family for Easter Sunday and went to church with them and ate way too much.

Here are some pics of Kye "helping" Daddy in the garden :)

I had to throw this pic in because it shows how big Kye is getting! 

He was eating his breakfast on a stool at the counter with the "big" kids :)

Where have I been? 2011

January 2011 - Nia has her second gymnastics meet and wins 1st All-Around. I am so proud of her!!

A little fuzzy, but you can tell she is on top of the podium :)

February 2011 - Leyton turns 6 with a Star Wars party at the bowling alley. He enjoys basketball so much. He spends almost every nice day in the driveway shooting baskets. Maybe he has found his "thing"??

March 2011 - Nia has another meet and wins 1st All-Around again! Wow, this is so much fun. I am officially a "Gymnastics Mom" :) I spend the entire meet tracking scores and feeling like I am about to vomit because I am so nervous. Nia is calm and collected. (She gets that from her Daddy) :)

Nia has her 9th birthday party at a local jewelry/bead store making necklaces and bracelets.

April 2011 - Go to see my brother to celebrate his 30th birthday. We find out he and his wife are moving to the west coast this summer. It makes me sad that they will be so far away, but I know it is the right thing for his family.

Where have I been? 2010

February 2010 - Leyton turns 5. We have a Monster Trust themed party at our local inflatables place.

March 2010 - My grandpa passes away after a long battle with Louie Body Disease and dementia. I thought I was prepared for it and didn't even get that upset at the time. It would be almost 6 months later when it hit me hard. I guess it had been so long since I lost someone close to me that I forgot how final death is.

April 2010 - Nia turns 8. How can my baby be 8???? It seems like she was born just the other day. This is the first year we don't have a party with all of the extended family. Just her friends at the skating rink. Another sign she is growing up!

May 2010 - Kye comes down with his 4th ear infection in 3 months. A lot of long nights spent bouncing him to sleep only to have him wake up screaming a few minutes later. His ears hurt!!!

June 2010 - Kye has ear tubes put in. By far the best decision we ever made. He is a different baby! He sleeps through the night every night!

July 2010 - Me, Monte, Nia, Leyton, MIL, FIL, SIL, SIL, and Monte's aunt take a trip to Maine for 7 days. My mom keeps Kye with a broken knee. I still can't believe I left him with her with a broken knee! But she did great, my dad and grandma were a big help.

August 2010 - Nia starts 3rd grade and Leyton starts kindergarten. KINDERGARTEN!! He is growing up way too fast! Nia joins the gymnastics team at our local gymnastics academy. She really seems to enjoy it!

October 2010 - Kye turns 1. Probably the fastest year of my life! Monte says they just keep getting faster. He is so wise.

December 2010 - Nia has her first gymnastics meet. Leyton starts basketball camp. Can we say too many activities and not enough time?? :)

Monte, Nia, Leyton and I go to Crested Butte to go skiing. First time for me in almost 2 years. My mom keeps Kye. I love her. She is such a blessing to me and my kids. We would be lost without her!

Making snow angels white snowmobiling.