Saturday, July 2, 2016

Mikayla Finishes Kindergarten

I can't believe how much Mikayla has grown this year.  When I think back at how terrible the year started I am so grateful we switched schools and that she blossomed over the school year.  I am pretty sure she is smarter than I am now.  She can tell you all about different composers and artists, tell time, do tons of addition and subtraction, read like a maniac, recite long poems perfectly, say some phrases and songs in Spanish, and a whole list of other skills, but most importantly-she loves to learn now and is confident in her abilities to learn hard things.  It's been a great year!  
Mrs. Robins
Mrs. Kirk, her class aide and recess storytelling buddy. I'm scared of all the things Mrs. Kirk must know about us.
Her teacher had a little end of the year celebration where the kids got to show some of the things they learned.  Mikayla was chosen to read to all the parents and was stoked.  
The kids got to do show and tell the last week of school and of course Bear Bear was who she chose to take.  She reminds me often that she loves me as much as Bear Bear.  I'm honored to be right up there with Bear Bear!
Last day of school and a party at the park!
Mrs. Robins took pictures of all the kids for their parents and these are the gems of a smile that Mikayla graced us with.
On to first grade!


Wednesday, May 4, 2016

April

Moving and craziness for us meant Nana and Grandad to the rescue with lots of trips to the Marm with Grandad for the kids.
We closed on our house April 15!  We had been in the house for almost 5 years and made lots of memories there as our family grew from one kiddo to three! Here are some pictures from when we moved in (June 2011) and moved out (April 2016).
The kids said goodbye to their rooms and barely batted an eye about leaving the house.  It's kind of crazy how when something is right everything falls into place and everyone feels at peace about it.  This move was one of those times.  I know it's because we followed the "random" promptings we had to list our house and move to St. David (without any clue how we were going to make it all work) is the reason it all worked out so well!  We spoke with a realtor about listing our house and a few days later we found out my Mom's aunt was looking for someone to stay in their house for 18 months while they served a mission.  Our house went on the market and right before it closed we found out Dustin got a job in Willcox, a much closer commute for him than Tucson would have been.  I really believe that none of those answers would have come had we not taken a step into the dark and list our house without any sort of plan, we just did it because we knew it was right.  Adventures!
Adventures staying at Nana and Grandad's house for a few weeks until school is out for the summer.
Nana teaching Mikayla how to play Great Grandma Kartchner's violin.
Maylee has found her sense of style and is quite creative!  I would've never thought we would turn into a girly girl on us, but she has!
Bet ya can't tell who Evelyn's babysitters were!
Dax oh Dax you need a brother so badly!
Dads make everything better.
Daxton steals his sisters' play office set ups any chance he gets.
Life is nuts, but oh so good!


March

Our blog and scrapbooks have been neglected big while we packed, moved, and have been camping out at my parent's house for a few weeks and I don't want it to get too much more behind so here's a couple monthly posts to catch up a little bit.  I don't have the internet on our computer so here's a phone photo update...

A camp fire.
When getting dirty is what you do best, you might as well do it often.
Maylee's cutting obsession continued in full force...when there wasn't paper to be found goldfish crackers had to suffice.  Taping things to the sliding glass door with painter's tape was added to her list of talents.
Cousin time!
I got to go on a lunch date with my awesome Mom and we stopped by to see the Tucson Temple site.
Dustin and I both celebrated our birthdays!
Easter at Mammy and Pappy's house with the Tracey cousins.
Matching hair!
Mikayla made me a stellar cookbook.
Moving is exhausting.
These kids have been such troopers through all the changes going on lately!