5 Month Review

We're more than 5 months into 2015 and I have only posted two blog posts.  Kind of pathetic, but with all that we've had going on, it hasn't really been a priority.

 

This little girl turned six in January AND lost her first tooth!  She has changed so much this year.  She actually talks at school this year and loves reading.  She reminds me often she will always be my baby.  I'm sure one day I will be reminding her of that.

Justin turned 16 in February.  This means 2 things:  driving and dating.  He got his license right away and has enjoyed a few dates.  Most of his dates still consist of xbox time with his friends, but he's gone on a few dates and loves the freedom of driving.  His sister Elizabeth loves his driving privileges as well.  She has her own chauffeur! 

In February we had 18 inches of snow.  That's a lot in Tennessee.  Our kids loved it the first week.  By the end of the second week it wasn't such a novelty.  The hill above was their favorite place to sled.  I don't think the picture does it justice.  It is steep and they got some serious air!

 Snowman building

Our third annual Easter Egg hunt was a lot of fun.  We had a great turnout.  It was cold, but who complains about the weather when there is candy involved?

The day after our Easter Egg hunt we escaped to sunny Florida.  Aaron was working near Ft. Lauderdale so we drove down with him for Spring Break.  While he worked, we hung out at the beach and soaked in some sun.  We even went down to the Florida Keys which was a lot of fun.

 

Our friends who used to live in Tennessee came over and spent the day with us.  It didn't take any time at all for the kids to warm up to each other.  We miss the Mower's!

Two weeks ago we had a special day.  Madelyn was baptized and Justin had his Eagle Court of Honor in back to back meetings.  We loved having family here to celebrate these special events with us and were overwhelmed with support from friends as well.

We visited the Biltmore in Asheville, NC with Amy & Kevin and Frank & Dolly.  It was beautiful and so fun to go with family.  Such great memories!

And this is the reason our lives have been so crazy the past few months.  Aaron had a job transfer the end of 2014.  In February he began working in Florida and coming home on the weekends.  The company headquarters were moved a couple of weeks ago to Georgia.  We sold our house quickly and have been scrambling to find a new house.  Our kids finish the school year on Wednesday and we are moving to Georgia on Thursday.  We have truly loved our time in Tennessee and have met the most amazing people.  Tennessee is a beautiful place and will always hold a special place in our hearts.

***National Champions***

We are so excited for our Buckeyes!  What a fun season it has been watching them.  Despite the odds after losing not one, but two starting quarterbacks, they are National Champions!  One thing I have been impressed by with this win was the happiness our friends shared with us.  We have lived outside of Ohio for over eight years.  Our friends all know we bleed scarlet and gray and many of them were happy because they knew what this meant to us.  O-H-I-O!

{It Is fall}

 

Naomi brought this little paper into me a few weeks ago that she had proudly written.  Fall is my favorite season.  We took some pictures a few weeks ago on a late Sunday afternoon.

 This is one of my favorites!

Love these train tracks, but man was it messy.  The kids had to touch the tracks and got grease all over themselves.

 We love our Buckeyes!

And some individual shots of the kids.  I can't believe how grown up they are getting!

Farewell!

Aaron's Mom and Dad came to visit us last weekend.  They will be leaving at the end of the month for their 12 month missionary service in North Dakota.  They will be serving on an Indian reservation.  We know they will do great things there and will love the people they meet.  We're excited to hear about all of their adventures!

Back to School!

I am way behind posting pictures, but I thought I would post this one from Monday first.  Hard to believe summer break is over, especially because we are technically only about halfway through the summer.  School starts early in the South.  I don't know that I'm ready for it, but I am ready to have a little more routine in our lives.

Do you see the smile on this little girl?  Saying my BABY is excited for Kindergarten is a gross understatement.  She is not only excited for kindergarten, but really, really excited to ride the school bus!  This week she is on a staggered schedule so she is only attending a couple of halfdays.  Starting next week she will have the real deal and go all day, everyday!  Not sure how I feel about this.  I'm looking forward to getting some much needed project time, but I'm sure going to miss my little buddy.  I have had kids home with me for 15+ years.  Man, the house sure feels quiet!

Last year we had kids in 4 different schools.  This year we have 2 in high school and 4 in elementary.  Here's our crazy crew...ready or not!

Surprise...A visit from Grandma and Grandpa!

My mom and dad came to visit last week.  They weren't sure until the last minute that they were going to come so we didn't say anything to the kids.  Friday night before we put them to bed we just said we had a surprise for them the next day.  Mom and Dad came in late and the kids were definitely surprised when they woke up.  Madelyn said, "I didn't think it was going to be that big of a surprise!"  

They are great about spending quality time with the kids.  They are just happy to hang out and play games, read, swim, go to lunch, watch movies, do puzzles, and make homemade Twinkies.  

 This is one of many books Grandma read to Naomi.

 Even Grandpa got sucked into doing the puzzles.

We went to Bays Mountain and saw the new baby wolf pups.  The girls were happy we missed the live feeding this time!

 Madelyn

Naomi

School's out...Hooray!

The last week and a half of school kept us (me) very busy with everyone's class picnics, fieldtrips, awards, and field day activities.  While it was fun for the kids I don't think each of them realized I was going to all of these events for everyone.

 

Elizabeth spent five days touring Washington, DC and Williamsburg, Virginia with her 8th grade class.  She had a great time.  I'm not sure which she enjoyed more - all of the educational opportunities or the shopping.  This is Elizabeth, what do you think?

 

Madelyn has loved her teacher this year!

 Madelyn showing off her award for her reading this year.  I can't believe how far she has come!

 Here are a couple of teacher gifts we made to give the teachers a "hand" for all that they did this year.

 

And we also gave them each a pan of homemade cinnamon rolls.

Perhaps the biggest tear jerker of all was this sweet girl graduating from pre-school.  At her Christmas program last year she didn't sing a word.  She did great at her graduation.  Not only was she singing, she was one of the louder ones.  Her friend, Maddie, will be going to the same elementary school next year and they are hoping to get the same teacher.

 Hugs for Daddy

 

 Elizabeth graduated from 8th grade and will be entering high school in the fall.  She was recognized for outstanding academic achievement in English and received the Presidential award for earning straight A's throughout 3 years of middle school.  Can't believe we will have 2 kids in high school next year! 

 

All smiles - school's out! 

 We went and celebrated with ice cream...

 happy kids!

 

 Happy summer, everyone!  Come join us for some fun!

Merry Christmas!

Our little elf friend, Bo came back and visited us again this Christmas season to check up on the kids and make sure they were being good.  He also pulled a few stunts while he was at our house such as wrapping the toilet in Christmas paper.  The kids loved finding what he was up to every morning when they woke up.

 Naomi's preschool had a little Christmas program.  She loved dressing up as an angel, but true to Naomi's personality, she didn't sing at all.  I was able to hear her singing the songs at home plenty she was learning, but she isn't one to participate in front of others.

 Such a sweet angel!

 Visiting Santa at the mall.  Madelyn was full of questions this year and wanted to know all about how Santa gets around to everyone.  This little girl is too smart sometimes!

 

The kids love Christmas traditions such as decorating Christmas cookies and homemade gingerbread houses.  Lots of work for me, but lots of fun for the kids!

 All of the kids on Christmas Eve in the new pajamas

We had a really nice Christmas this year.  The best part of it was the few days we had all together while Aaron was off work.  We didn't go anywhere; just lots of time to be together at home.  This doesn't happen enough.  The boys got bow and arrow sets and our family got a ping pong table.  Elizabeth got a decorating set and is going to take a cake decorating class at Michael's this month.  She is beyond excited!  The missionaries from church came over for dinner and played games with us Christmas night.     

Disney Vacation

So...our family finally made it to Florida on vacation.  We tried to go three years ago, but you may remember from this post that two days before our last planned trip to Florida, Aaron had some health problems.  Made me a bit nervous to plan this vacation, but thankfully it went off without a hitch.  Our first day at Disney was three years to the day after Aaron's heart attack.

Beautiful Orlando LDS temple

We spent four days at Disney and still didn't manage to squeeze everything in.  We were at Magic Kingdom for two days, and a day each at Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.  We split up some and the boys would go off and do boy rides while the girls and I did some of the smaller rides (Elizabeth was in between our groups, depending on what we were doing).  Madelyn was a trooper and went on all of the big roller coasters.  Naomi wasn't quite big enough and I think she was honestly okay with that.

Monday night the girls and I went to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party at Magic Kingdom.  There was a parade and trick or treating around the park.  We had fun, but after a long day at the park, the girls were wiped out!  The boys went to see the Star Wars exhibit at Hollywood Studios and the Tower of Terror while we were gone.  They liked it so much, they went again a couple days later!

Light show at the Halloween party...awesome!

Madelyn and Naomi getting their book out for the princesses to sign.

We didn't get to see all of the princesses, but we saw most of them.  I think the only ones they missed were Snow White and Rapunzel.  We also saw Pooh, Tigger, and Mickey and Minnie.  Meeting the princesses was so exciting for these girls.

Wednesday we took a break from Disney and went to Cocoa Beach.  Our kids are so deprived, this was their first visit to the beach (we weren't counting Lake Michigan).  After they got used to the salt from the ocean, they loved it.  They had so much fun playing in the waves and the sand.  We had beautiful weather the whole time we were there - high 80's and no rain.  Such a relaxing day!

Our whole gang 

 The best part of our vacation was being together as a family.  All of our family vacations are spent going to visit extended family, which we love, but we needed this time to just be together as a family.  I about cry when I think we won't have too many more years before our kids start moving out for college and missions.  I've already got some plans for next year's family vacation in the works!