Wow! What a year this has been.....

What a year this has been for my family. So much has happened and is still going to happen that it has been crazy.

We are almost at the end of another school year. This will be the end of my 7th year and Jarreds 8th year of teaching. I still enjoy doing it and love my students! I do have one student that is leaving this year who has been with me since I began and I don't know how I am going to do when I go back to school and he isn't there. I will miss him so much!

Our four kids are growing up way to fast. I wish they would stop growing. I really miss those sweet little days when Landon couldn't say his name, but I also love the days of Kenzi and Devin writing and reading. It is so hard to balance it all. Skyler is just a typcial teenager and keeps getting taller. When I go back and look at older pictures there are so many differences.

Skyler is now 14 years old and will be 15 in July. He started high school this year and has stayed pretty busy. We made him join marching band last year. Even though he didn't like it or us at the time he did a great job and kept up with it also. This summer he is excited about playing so that is a plus. During the school year he stayed busy because he took three trimesters of band and had to play in everything. He had concerts, basketball games, big broadcast, and other things he did with it. He did a great job! He also got involved in Academic Bowl, Spell Bowl, and Best Buddies. He has stayed busy himself and kept us busy. He also got his first girlfriend in October and man has that been a whirlwind for us. Teenagers are just hard to raise and understand. Sometimes I think I would rather have 6 little kids than 1 teenager. Then I think about that and realize that would be dumb because they would eventually be teenagers! LOL! Back to the girlfriend, she had been a good person for him and he really started opening up. Then he started doing stupid stuff and they are currently not together. I hope that they can both mature a little more and become better people and see where they are in a year or so. I also think that with this being his first girlfriend that their relationship was just too much too fast and they relied on each other way to much. Hopefully that will change. Even through everything at school and having a girlfriends etc. He has managed to keep up his grades and has made honor roll every trimester. What an INTELLIGENT kid! I am so PROUD of him. Love you SKYLER!!!!

Kenzi is now in the first grade and has love every minute of it. She enjoys school so much and continues to grow and become a better person. She was reading on a level O, but I think she said she can read a level S now. This is really good for a first grader! She reads everything!!! Sometimes she reads things that shouldn't be read allow like my uncles hat that he wore the other day. She has lost two teeth, but is still behind Devin with that. She doesn't think that is okay since she is older (only by 9 months mind you), but older still. She is getting pretty bossy and gets in trouble for that. She also got in trouble at school for showing someone the answer on a test. Hopefully she will learn from that mistake early. She is playing softball again this year and loves it. She has improved greatly and we are looking forward to more games. Her last three have been canceled due to the weather. This summer she was hoping to take summer school just for enrichment in science or math, but we haven't had any papers so I guess she is stuck with us!!!!

Devin started kindergarten this year and man has that been crazy. He is on ADHD medicine and sometimes it is a great thing and at other times I don't know what is going on. For the most part he has done a FABULOUS job at school. We did find that he likes to chew on things and have started giving him chewelry. This has helped at least one day so far. Devin has now started reading and spelling also. Jarred and I found this out the hard one actually. We were taking Devin and Landon to see a movie and they didn't know what we were doing. I was on the phone with my dad and he asked what we were doing and I told him "We are taking Devin and Landon to see a M-O-V-I-E since they haven't gotten to do much and the other two have." Devin then said "MOVIE, were going to see a movie." That was the only lesson I needed. I now spell things REALLY fast or I just don't spell them. Instead we sometimes have to TEXT them. Yes, we do have to talk through text sometimes because our kids are so darn smart. We are sometimes sitting right by each other also. Devin I know is ready for summer break, but first he has a field trip coming up. Another thing that happened is that he got kicked off the bus because he didn't know how to sit down in his seat. We are hoping that he has learned his lesson since riding the bus was something he LOVED to do and can't now.

Landon was in the preschool class this year as a special friend. He only went to preschool on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday but he seemed to enjoy it. Now he keeps telling us that he is ready for it to be over. He has two field trips coming up and I think he will enjoy those. Preschool has been good for him and will definitely help him for when he starts kindergarten next year. He has been diagnosed with ADD and started medicine this week. Hopefully this will help him focus in class and learn faster/more. He is going to someone else for daycare and I have loved having him there. She works with them and they get to do so much. They also just have fun! Landon was also kicked off the bus because he didn't know how to sit in his sit properly either. Instead he decided that he wanted to crawl under all of the seats while the bus was moving. He would also walk in the isle and swing his backpack at people. He even told the bus driver that "there were no rules and he didn't have to follow them" plus that the bus driver "was not his boss." I can't believe some of the things kids say now. Landon even told me one day when I had them cleaning up their mess in the back yard that I needed to go clean the yard because it was dirty. He said it in a bossy/mean way though. I was so shocked! I love him, but my goodness!

I know that families can be crazy and that good and bad things happen. Sometimes we have the best of times and sometimes I just need a day off! Overall I love my family and wouldn't change anything (okay maybe somethings, but who doesn't). Skyler is a normal teenager, Kenzi is a girly girl, Devin is a crazy six year old who knows everything, and Landon just likes to be funny and act silly. What else could Jarred and I want!

A VACATION as a FAMILY actually! We are planning one for this summer and I am excited to be going somewhere and being together. That will happen after my surgery on June 6th. I have GOT to get this GALLBLADDER out of me.......

UNTIL NEXT TIME!