Our preschool graduate

 

 

 

 

Our last day of preschool was a water field day & BBQ!

 

Maddie-girl is officially a Kindergartner now...she (as well as 11 other students) graduated from Preschool on June 5th. Not only did Maddie finish preschool but so did I...I'm stepping down from teaching and welcoming the much needed time I'll have without running a preschool in my home! Having four kids and all of their activities, being a farm wife, and the PTO President is going to keep me busy enough!

 

Maddie is so ready for school this fall. I had a meeting with our school nurses and we developed her 504 Emergency Care Plan. After going through that meeting, I had a harder time with it all than I'd anticipated...just another way that it "hits me" that she lives daily with a miraculous, little half-heart. Our life is in such a great place right now and we're so blessed Maddie's doing so well that I don't dwell on it much. I love the staff and do feel good about her starting all-day Kinder but I'm going to miss my little girl so much and I do have some anxiety about this next step for her. Not being with her 24/7 is the hardest. Trust, guidance & reliance fill my prayers when I pray over my girl. I can't help but be excited for her though...she is ecstatic about this change! Oh, to be 5 again, without a worry in the world. I'm learning so much through this sweetheart.

Let's get caught up!

Sam is now 16 months! He's starting to talk and mimic us, which is super cute and we love getting him to say "dora", "oh man", "uh-oh", "ooh ya". He catches on really quick and keeps us entertained! Sam's a great eater but a petite little guy...his nickname from Papa was "Stubby" since he has the shortest legs of any of our kids, maybe taking after his grandpa?

 Maddie just finished up Hoopster Tots...she enjoyed it but had to sit down and catch her breath a couple of times at each practice. She's satting in the upper 80's now which is ok- wished she was into the 90's, maybe she'd have a little more stamina. I'm glad she's learning to self-monitor herself and she's not afraid to tell me or the coach that she needs a break. She turns 5 on Wednesday and we're busy gearing up for her party!

Jace won 2nd place at the Scouts Pinewood Derby...thanks to Dad and our cousin Bud for helping him build a fast Hot Dog car!

We enjoyed a little get-away to Silver Mountain in Kellogg, ID in February. The kids absolutely love this place- skiing during the day and swimming in the evening! There were several families from Royal who went as well which made it such a fun trip!

 Maddie even tried out skiing one day! I wouldn't say she loved it but she's given it another go since! We'll see...I'm not super pumped but Daddy would love her to be able to ski.

Preschool is keeping us busy! This is my last year...I'll miss it but my family keeps me busy enough :) These kids are so social and a blast...lots of characters in this class!

 My mother-in-law treated me, her sister and my sister-in-law to a fun weekend trip to Las Vegas. I hadn't been there in 13 years and whoa, it's changed! We enjoyed shopping, the warm weather & seeing Carrie Underwood in concert. Lesa and I also went to Bodies...so incredible. I highly recommend it! Amazing seeing the many hearts, especially a fetus' heart- made me cry.

Have I mentioned we've taken on skiing as a new hobby? We've went more this season than I have probably skied my entire life! We've made a lot of fun memories with the boys this winter. Caden is a spectacular skiier. Really. He's a natural and now enjoys going over jumps, skiing backwards, doing 360's down the hill as he skis. He'd also like to race he tells us...

I can't keep up with these guys anymore and frequently hear them yelling, "Come on Mom!" Cautious, that's me with these three dare-devils :) Fun times!

Firsts...

First Day of School...

Cade is in Mr. Buster's 1st Grade Class (Uncle Mike) and he's super pumped about it! His best friend Bennett is in here too! 

 Jace is in Mrs. Janett's 3rd grade (Aunt Kerry) So fun having family for our kid's teachers!

 Miss Maddie started preschool. I'm teaching one class, a dozen of them and 11 will go to Kindergarten next fall together! They're a great bunch of kiddos, I'm pretty partial to this one :)

 Jace has started Grid Kids Football. He's loving it (this is his mean face) and it's extra special since his dad is one of the coaches!

And let's not forget Sammy! He's been taking his first steps!!! We find him standing alone in the middle of the room often, with nothing to pull-up on or hold onto. He's taken several steps but then chooses to sit carefully down and crawl. He's a very speedy crawler and walking is a bit too slow for the lil' guy still! Can you believe he's already 11 months old?

Mike, Lesa, Bryan and I attended the Seahawk vs. Packers game this week! This was my first Monday night game at the stadium...ear plugs would have been handy! It gets so LOUD, Seahawk fans are awesome, hilarious and entertaining for sure! Whoa refs, but hey, we'll take it! A win is a win :) It was a fun game. Go Hawks!!!

Our busy May, June & July

You've been warned...this is a LONG post and so overdue! I'm backing up to May and going to catch back up to our current status. Cade and Jace finished their soccer seasons then began baseball. Watching Jace compete in his second season of soccer with this team was so fun!

Our preschool graduation program was on May 22nd. I had 20 preschoolers this year, filling two classes. I'm already looking forward to preschool this fall as I have cut back to only teaching one class...much more do-able for me & our busy life!

Maddie receiving her preschool promotion certificate! She'll have one more year with mom then Kindergarten. Sigh... She is already excited for when she can begin Kindergarten, reminding me all of the time that she doesn't need to come to mom's preschool but needs to attend Red Rock with her brothers :)

I've enjoyed having this first-school experience with my own children. It makes it so worth while and allows me to see them interact with other kids and how they learn best. I love this side-job!

We ended the year with a fun pool party for each class! I get all of these kiddos again next year plus a few more :)

In May, we also ventured over to Children's to visit three heart friends and their families-Teagan and Natalie were having heart caths while our friend Gracie was having her Fontan surgery, our friend Jesse (Luke's mom) also met up with us. It was wonderful to visit my heart mom friends!

 Maddie and Teagie

 Jen (Gracie's mom) & Jesse and Laney (Luke's mom)So fun to see you all! We were also able to see our favorite nurse, Stacey while there as she was Teagan's nurse! Also awesome that Natalie and Teagan shared a room for the night.

In June, Cade ended his Kindergarten year with a fun spring program and class graduation party. What a fun year having cousin Randi Kay in class!

 And Mrs. Stewart (Aunt Jessica) as his teacher was top-notch!!! He had an awesome year, earning the most "gold dot" awards for doing good deeds and being a great student and helper.

Celebrating with an icecream sundae with dad

Miss Maddie being silly with cousins Jill & Randi

In June, Sam joined the Stewart Aunts/Cousins for a fun night in Spokane

 Kaylee was a trooper, keeping Sam entertained while we shopped till we dropped!

 Our crew minus Elaine & Amy

Great Grandma Shirley and Sammer Jammers

We've spent most all of our Sunday afternoon's out at Pa & Grandma Allred's, many memories have been made & we're cherishing our time together.

Boosters Baseball ended the end of June. Our boys proved to be great players on their teams! Bryan helped coach Jace's team while Cade had Aunt Danyel as his coach :) 

We spent a week driving back and forth to our church in Moses Lake for Sky VBS. Maddie loved it and is still singing the songs she learned during that week of fun. Cousin Kylie joined us as well as Nany serving as Jace & Cade's leader!

Our family has enjoyed a couple of Mariner's games this season...the boys absolutely LOVE the Mariners!

Braydon & Jace at Scout Day Camp

Sam started pulling himself up on everything! Time to lower that crib mattress

The boys & I went fishing one afternoon down on the ranch

my beautiful boys!

Then came a HOT July...

4th of July at Jerry & Chriss' Pond

Swimming Lessons! The boys learned to dive...Cade even does a pretty good back dive and Maddie now jumps off of the diving board and swims without waterwings in the shallow end. Oh yes, goggles are a must for these kids :) 

Jace working in cherry harvest, keeping those cherries cool. We had some scorching hot days during harvest which also brought some rain and hail storms...damaging some of our apples was not a highlight of this summer. Lots of farmers are in the same boat though.

Jace enjoyed a free Seahawks Football Day Camp with his friend Dayne...the highlight was getting two player's autographs!

Sammer Jammers is crawling everywhere! He's a mad-man around here!!! His crawl has been so funny, it's a combo of a bear crawl/sitting down quickly every few strides/normal crawl.

Cheeto had 4 baby kittens! Maddie broke them in with plenty of loves, cuddles, and snuggles. We kept two of them, Ellie & Kyle are their names

 Our family toured the cherry plant in July, watching our cherries run and being packed. Sam rocked his hair net, don't you think?

Maddie rode "Sparky Boy" in our community days Summerfest parade. Nany did a lot of work, sparkling his hooves pink & tying bows and ribbons. Cousin Kylie rode too, on her pony Sarah Girl. Even Ba rode along...It was so much fun and Maddie loved waving to friends!

Enjoying snowcones at our 50th celebration of Royal City!

 Too cute to not share his sweet smile and widows peek- just like his daddy's

The end of July, we enjoyed the Allred Family Reunion up in Suncadia. The kids loved the hot tub, riding their bikes and playing with so many cousins.

And there you have it! Phew!