Finally Done!

We finally have grass! Going without definitely makes you appreciate the little things. Goodbye mud!
So, as promised, here is a better picture of our lovely new house.

(Please pardon the big, green hose on the front walkway. Anyone who's ever watered sod will understand.)

The things they'll do for us...

I would never be able to do this.
Makes me soooo thankful for my courageous and loving husband!
(He's over the stairs that lead down to our basement.)

All done. Whew!

Aren't I a great wife?! He'll only have to change out those pictures once every 6 months or so...

Updates

While the adults in this family have been preoccupied with the move, the kids have continued to grow and play.
Kendall started crawling on June 11th, the day we closed on our new house. She was 7 1/2 months. She has now started to push off on her feet as she crawls, and it's only going to be a short time until she's figuring out how to pull herself up. The baby days will soon be over. (sigh)

And, Jaclyn learned how to ride a bike without training wheels shortly after we moved in. There is a 6 yr. old girl up the street (yes, out of the 4 houses near us, there's a 6 yr old girl!!), and she was riding around without training wheels. Wouldn't you know that it only took a little bit of peer pressure to make her determined enough to do it. It didn't take long, and she's now zooming around! (The picture shows her on the little bike that we started with. She has now graduated to a bike that's more her size.)

A New House and Wild Weather!

So, I've been waiting to post a picture of our new house until we got sod in, but that just may not happen for a while. We are getting so much rain that they can't do the landscaping! So, here we sit, in the mud.
And, of course, what do we get tonight? Crazy storms and tons of rain! As we speak there is a mini flood outside, on our street. Fortunately, there's no water near our house, it all drains the way it should, but there's definitely more ponds than the one that's supposed to be there!
We got a little break in the rain, and God sent us a rainbow, so I thought this would be a good time to show a picture of our new house. There are only weeds in the front yard and we still have a big moving truck in the driveway, but oh well. Maybe sometime within the next month I'll be able to show the pretty picture of the house with all the flowers and trees. But, until then, this will have to do.

And, this is my new view out my front window.

What an amazing sunset.

Moving On

We are in the midst of a transition summer around here. Our activities are winding down for the school year, and we're moving on to a new house and all the new events that are to come.
This was our last week for all of the girls' activities. This was Ashlyn's last year to be home full time with me, and so she was able to participate in a few little groups. Here she is with Austin and Alex at a playgroup at the Gym Nest (taken back in October). She had tons of fun and was able to burn off some of the abundance of energy that she has! Both she and Jaclyn will be able to take a gymnastics class this summer, and I know they'll both love that.

Ashlyn was also able to take a Kindermusic class this past year. It is such a fun class that fuels their imaginations. Jaclyn got lucky and was allowed to "help" in the class too, so that was fun for her. Here are both of the girls with their favorite teacher, Miss Becky. Oh, and yes, it was pajama day (at the request of my daughters).

And, Jaclyn had her last day of school yesterday. It was fun, but kinda sad to think about her being a big first-grader! Here are both of the Kindergarten classes at Heritage:


Jaclyn had the privilege of being the "helper" on the last day of school, and she wanted me to watch her at calendar time, so the other girls and I went to spend the last morning with her. Who wouldn't love being the helper when you get to use that cool, little pointer!

Ashlyn got to experience school a little bit too. (Can you find her in the crowd?)


And, of course, the baby was the main attraction in the Kindergarten class. The kids had fun playing with her.


And, the main event of the morning was the talent show! Jaclyn came home one day begging me to let her do a cheer for the talent show. So, I asked our friend, Shanna (who is one of the cheerleaders at Heritage), to teach the girls a cheer. The girls were very cute, and had so much fun doing it. They were able to practice in front of their whole class, and I've heard reports that a lot of the other kids in that class were practicing the cheer as well. It was all pretty cute and SUCH A BIG DEAL!
Here are the little cheerleaders: Lexi, Jaclyn and Marianna




And, Ashlyn wanted so desperately to do it with them! She knew it well, so when it came time for them to do it, Ashlyn was at the back doing it right along with them. And, she did it quite loudly, so the people sitting in front of us we're turning around and watching her. It was very funny and sweet. Here's a video of it, and you can probably hear Ashlyn better than the girls up front.

Ahhhh, good memories.

So, now that all of that is behind us, we are moving on! We close on our new house on Friday!! So, this week we'll have to hit high gear to get everything packed up and cleaned. We have a pretty good start, so hopefully things won't be too crazy.

Another transition that is ahead of us is my return to teaching. God has brought an opportunity my way that will allow me to teach two days a week and be home with Kendall and Ashlyn the remaining three. It will be a great way to ease myself back into working, so I just couldn't pass it up. So, I will be teaching pre-kindergarten on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Heritage. Jaclyn's kindergarten teacher will be my partner, and she will teach Mon, Wed, and Fri. I will be at the school where my kids are (in fact, Ashlyn will be in my class), but yet I will still be at home a lot of the time with Kendall. Hopefully it's a good fit for all of us. I'm excited about it, but anxious too, especially when I think of all I'll need to do this summer in preparation. But, God has brought me this far, so I know He'll work the rest of it out too.

So, I guess I better get to work: packing, or renewing my teaching license, or something!!

Graduation Day

Our first family graduation!
Jaclyn graduated from Kindergarten last night. It was such a sweet little ceremony and Jaclyn just beamed with excitement. I was very proud of her as they sang their songs and recited some very long passages from the Bible. They all did a great job.
One special moment for Jaclyn came at the end when she led everyone in the closing prayer. She walked up to the mic with confidence and prayed so sweetly. We had practiced at home exactly what she was going to say, but it turned out that when she started praying, she got a little off track at the beginning. Of course, I got a little nervous because I knew she was not saying what we had rehearsed, but it didn't seem to phase her. She just started ad-libbing and praying from her heart, and it was a very sweet prayer. I was very proud of her for not getting flustered.

Each student earned a special award based on different character qualities, and Jaclyn was presented with the award for Confidence.

Too Cute

Kendall is in such a cute phase right now. I just love it! She smiles at everyone, and anytime Mommy, Daddy or her sisters start to walk in her direction, she gets so excited and kicks her legs in pure joy. She thinks we're going to pick her up, so I feel terrible whenever I walk past her without stopping. She's got us all around her finger for sure.

I love this picture (below). It's hilarious when she just sits there blowing bubbles. I can remember all of the girls doing this, and I love it. So, here she is, caught in action.