End of the Year Stuff (brag time)

First off I am so jealous of all those people that kid's had their last day of school this week.  We have what feels like an eternity to go.  Two weeks.  It is really only 8 days but it might as well be 80 because that is how it feels to me.  I know we will get through it and fast too, but it seems like it will never get here.  Anyway enough feeling sorry for myself!  What this is supposed to be about is how good my kids are doing in school.
Ashton just finished up his end of the year testing and I am so proud of him.  In reading he is on a 6th grade level and is on a 4th grade level in math (he's in 2nd).  His teacher is recommending him for gifted and talented next year.  He has had another great year and has absolutely loved his teacher.  She has done some of the most amazing hands on learning this year, like this spring she got permission to bring in 24 eggs and incubate them so they hatched into chicks. 22 of them did.  Ashton loved it, every day he talked about what was happening with them and the day they started hatching he was so excited to tell me all about it when he got home from school.  Well done Ms. Dressen, well done.
Abbie is finishing up a fun year in kindergarten and she has also had a great year.  She is reading small books now, she started out the year with absolutely no interest in reading so that is amazing.  She has a good teacher also.  I can't wait to see her end of the year portfolio that she will bring home on the last day of school.  When we first moved here, I wasn't so sure about the idea of having all day kindergarten but it is so good for my kids.  Especially Abbie she has learned so much more than she could have only going half days.
Lexie was nominated for student of the year in her grade.  She was one of only about 25 students nominated.  She has a 4.0 for this quarter and I am super proud of her.  She is really responsible and I never have to ask if her homework is finished because she is really good about getting it done without a reminder from me.  She has a few favorite teachers and a few not so favorite too.  But overall she has learned a lot this year and is gong to be taking all Pre AP classes next fall.  She also to a practice ACT this year and got a 21.  She is reading on a 12th grade level.
I am so blessed that I have such good kids that love to learn and try hard in school.  They are all smart and want to learn even more.  I love my kids.

Ready, Set, Run

Lexie has been in track all spring.  She runs the 100m, the 200m, and the 300 hurdles.  She is only in 8th grade but because of how the schools are here and that the 8th grade is at the high school she is on the JV track team.  Most of the meets have been combined Varsity and JV so most of the year she has been running against 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders.  She does done great.  She is usually right in the middle of all of the heats.  I don't have many pictures of her during meets because I am usually chasing Myles around during them but here are some I did mange to take.

She's in lane 7 between the two girls in red.  

Ready

Set

Go!

And here she is coming around the corner in the 300 hurdles.  

I never did get her going over a hurdle.  :/

I am so proud of her.  She has also maintained a 4.0 GPA all this quarter even running track.  

Every Home Needs A Piano

I have wanted a piano for a really long time.  Probably since we first started Lexie in piano lessons back in Utah.  It has just never been at the top of the priority list.  I have voiced my want for a piano at church a few times just in random conversations and apparently someone was listening because two Sundays ago I was approached by someone who needed to get rid of their piano because she was moving into an assisted living facility and can't take the piano with her.  She had been told that I might be interested.  Absolutely!  She didn't want anything for it, just to have us love it the way that she had.  We can definitely do that.  The only problem was getting it from her house to ours.  Well some really great men in our ward took care of that and Wednesday night it was delivered to our home.  The kids have played it everyday since.  I love it, even if it has been loud sometimes.  It is desperate need of being tuned but we can take care of that.

Myles is 18 months!

Wow how time flies!  My little guy turned 18 months on Monday.  We took some pictures of him on Wednesday and he had his check up yesterday.  At his checkup he weighed 26 pounds and was 32 and 1/4 inches tall.  The weight is approximate because he wouldn't hold still on the scale.  For some reason he was really scared and cried and cried when we put him on it.  He was fine for the rest of the appointment besides wanting to leave.  He had a great check up and is right track for everything even though he is still a man of very few words.  He is so much fun, he loves to explore and try new things and he LOVES to follow Ashton around and do whatever it is that he is doing.  They are great friends.  He is a great little helper and will help unload the dishwasher and other family chores.  He loves his mom the most though and tries everyone's patience when he will only let mom do it.  He is feisty and definitely has his own opinions about how things should be.  We love this little man and love having him in our lives.  Here are the pictures we took of him.

Balloons and Words

Myles is a man of very few words.  This fact concerns me even though it probably shouldn't.  All of my other kids were all early talkers and used lots of words already at the same age.  I am pretty sure that developmentally he is right on track, but compared (I know I shouldn't) to my other kids he seems behind.  Well he loves balloons and always wants one at the store.  I have been trying to get him to say balloon or at least something close to it every time we go to the store.  I keep telling him that if he will say balloon he can have one.  Finally!  He tried to say balloon.  So we bought him one and he loved it.  He played with it until it was basically flat.  Good thing it lasted for about two weeks!  Now if I could just get him to say it again.....

Here he is with it when it was mostly flat.  He loved it so much.

Dex the Super Dog

As part of Abbie's special week at school she got to bring home the "class pet"  a stuffed dog named Dex.  He gets to go on many an adventure with his classroom friends.  A journal comes with Dex and each kids gets to write a journal entry about their adventures.  Here is Abbie with Dex.

This is her journal page.

And this is the cover of the journal. 

My six year old

Well I am a little late on this birthday too!  Abbie turned 6 on the 1st.

She had a fun day, it just so happened that her birthday was also her kindergarten class's spring music recital.  So we got to see her at school on her birthday!

here she is with her teacher waiting to go onstage.

center stage... ready for her big part!

in between songs. 

Later that night it was also Ashton's class's turn so we did double concert duty!  After Ashton's concert we went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant (her choice) and then came home for cake and presents.  When I asked her a few days before her birthday what she wanted she said she wanted to go shopping with me like Lexie did.  We got a chance Friday night and that was fun, I am glad that I took her.

blowing out her candle.... Did you notice that both girls had the same cake.  I first made the cake for my birthday and then Lexie wanted the same thing and so did Abbie!  Dairy free chocolate cake with raspberry sauce on top!  Yummy!

Abbie with some of her presents.

Abbie is such a sweetheart.  She is quick to make friends and very social.  She is definitely my most our going child when it comes to meeting new people.  She has grown up so much in the last year.  She is a little timid when it comes to trying new things, but once she gets over the initial fear she usually finds that she can do it, and that she enjoys it!  She recently showed me at the park that she can do the monkey bars now.  She was so proud of herself.  She is my sassy girl full of spunk and I love it (well most of the time).  We had a lot of fun on our shopping trip and she told me that it was "the best day ever!"  I love this girl so much.