2018

Wow, not a post since August. Guess life has gotten a little crazy. I am hoping to be better this year about documenting our children's lives.

Braden (2 1/2) is talking more every day. His favorite movie is still Newsies and his favorite food is sushi. We probably eat it at least once a week because its one thing I KNOW he will eat without fuss and its fairly healthy. He is still waking up like once in the early morning usually between 3-6am but has a bottle of milk and goes back to sleep till around 8. He loves playing with play doh and will take as much Ipad time as we allow. That boy is GLUED to his dang Ipad. He takes a nap a few days a week still and when he misses one, we all suffer. I will be sad when naps are gone for good. He is still in a crib because he as not yet climbed out and I like the security of keeping him in there as long as possible. Once you switch to a big boy bed all bets are off and naps are nonexistent. 

Pa-ovey = Puppy Lovey
Malt = Milk
sissor = Sister
boop boop beep boop = the password to get on to a device
My-yo = Milo

Yatalie = Natalie
Reecey = Lindsay
Bubba = Braden

Madison is in another year of preschool after trying to get her in to kindergarten early was a huge mess. We applied with the district in May. They allowed her to test with a teacher, registrar, fill out all paperwork and even gave us access to the parent portal. We assumed by that point if there had been an issue we would have been told. Well in the days leading up to school we couldn't see where her schedule had been posted. We finally got a hold of someone from the district and they said it had been a mistake. We tried to argue that because they approved so many things and sent us a portal, that they needed to honor that and enroll her in a class. Well the guy got pretty upset and threatened to take legal action (um ok??) so we backed down and decided to do another year of preschool. We are calling it BONUS year and having lots of fun as a family. In the fall we MAY try to test in to the first grade so she can be with her neighbor friends, but if not she will begin kindergarten in the fall.

I stopped working with Love 2 Learn Academy after the owner decided to take a step back and let someone else run the school. Rachel ran it in to the ground and it suffered greatly. She also threw me under the bus to Michelle and ultimately when Michelle decided to sell the school, they decided they "no longer needed me". Because I was not only a parent but also a teacher at the school, I was given more insight to the curriculum and noticed that Madison was unhappy and seeming to not learn as much as she had in the past. I didn't understand what was going on. I learned that they were repeating lesson plans from the year before... this made me SO angry. They lied to parents telling them there was an Advanced Red's class for their children, when in reality it was just teaching them the same crap they learned the year before. My daughter was not getting her individual teacher time and there was no record on her assessment. Being let go was the best thing to happen to us because it gave me the chance to really look in to new options for Madison and find a school to better fit her needs. We changed to Little Explorers Preschool and she has been THRILLED ever since. She can only attend 2 days a week but she is so eager to learn and her excitement for education is back!

I also became a counselor in the Primary Presidency and that has also been a trial to adjust to. Learning a whole new part of the church organization, overcoming my fear of teaching 94 kids during sharing time, and adjusting to working with several different personalities. I told them when they called me it was a mistake because I am just waaaaaay to sassy for primary.

Zach finished his Masters program and is still working for Classic. He has been offered a job as their regional education director, but the details have not yet been worked out. It is crazy for us to finally reach a point in our marriage when he only has to work one job and is able to provide for our family. It has been such a blessing. February marks ONE YEAR of being in our house. I can't believe how quickly this year has flown by, I can't believe we have been able to AFFORD living in our own house for a year. That idea seemed so scary for so long. We have had our trials with this home. The oven, garage door, fence, two outlets, and one toilet have all broken this year. We've had to purchase a fridge, washer, dryer, dresser for Braden, couch, and a huge hand full of odds and ends.

Can't wait to see