Florida 2016

View from my hotel room

My hotel on North Redington Beach

Awesome Sunset

Dinner with Dane and Jonah

Scary Hike

Keri and Sally

Panther paw print???

Krista and Brooke

Airboat ride with Sally and her girls

Alligator

Vera Bradley Outlet

I went to Florida for a 3-day Vestibular Rehabilitation Course in Largo, FL, which happened to be located just a few miles away from Madeira Beach, FL, the beach I grew up going to once or twice a year as a child. I decided to get a hotel right on North Redington Beach and am so glad I did. My days were busy attending my course, but my nights were spent listening to the waves crash against the shore while I slept. It was so peaceful. When I wasn't in class and wasn't sleeping, I managed to walk along the beach, shop at John's Pass, see some dolphins, and eat some yummy seafood. 

One of the bonuses of being in Florida, besides the obvious, was getting to spend the weekend with my good friend, Sally Wenzel and her family. They moved to Estero, FL about a year and a half ago from Illinois. They live about two and half hours south of Largo. On my way to visit them, I made a pit stop in Port Charlotte, FL to visit my brother, Dane; Robin and Jonah. My uncle Jon and aunt Vicky happened to be down there visiting too, so I was able to see them. It was fun seeing where Dane and his family live. Our time was brief, but we enjoyed visiting around a bonfire and sharing a meal together before I finished my journey to Sally's house. 

My weekend with Sally was fantastic! Besides the excitement of seeing each other again, we managed to have some pretty cool adventures. On Saturday, Sally and I took a scary hike through some wetlands. I say it was scary because we were on the look out for panthers, black bears, alligators and snakes. Thankfully, we didn't see any of the above, though we did see some paw prints. Following our hike, we went on an airboat ride with her girls. It was a beautiful ride through marshy waters with tropical birds flying across our path. We managed to see about 8 alligators, which was exciting. We thoroughly enjoyed our tour.

On Sunday, we spent the day at Barefoot Beach collecting seashells. The weather was on the cool side while I was in Florida, being in the 60's and 70's. Regardless of the weather, it was a relaxing day at the beach spent enjoying the beauty of God's creation. We ended the day with some Cuban food, which was new to me.

On Monday, Sally gave me a tour of her kids' school and her classroom. We spent the day shopping at the outlet mall and did some damage in the Vera Bradley store. We had a great time together. I am blessed to have such an amazing friend! I am also very blessed to have such an amazing husband, who made this trip possible by being an awesome Mr. Mom for six days! 

Valentine's Day 2016

This year for Valentine's Day, Trevor and I did a date night swap. Before you get the wrong idea, what I mean by that is that the Langfald's watched our kids on Friday night, so we could go on a date and we watched their kids on Saturday night, so they could go out. It worked out great! For our date, Trevor and I had a really nice dinner at the Lighthouse Supper Club, followed by a movie. Then the following night, we had a special Valentine's Day celebration with all the kids. The meal featured chicken wings and salad with heart-shaped cucumbers with special gourmet cupcakes for dessert. The following day the kids requested heart-shaped pigs in a blanket. It is fun getting a little heart crazy...

Isaac Newton 5th Grade Ski Trip

Kaylee and I

Lily Ford, Ruth Santel, Kaylee and Chloe Flender

I had the honor of joining Kaylee and her class on her ski trip to Sun Down Ski Mountain. The kids were all required to take ski lessons. Kaylee had a quick refresher ski lesson with her friend, Ruth Santel. Afterwards we skied the day away. Some other friends joined us as they passed their ski lessons. It was a fun day!

Roughrider Hockey Game

We sure are enjoying spending more time with our extended family. While I was off having a girls night with my sisters: Bree, Shelli and Stacie, bowling the night away; Trevor decided to join forces with the Langfalds for Star Wars night at the Roughrider game. The kids had never been to a hockey game before, so that was fun enough. However, finding out it was Star Wars night made the evening even better. It was a fun night had by all...

New School Ups and Downs

Kids with their cousin, Rylan, who has been spending a lot of time with us.

The kids started attending Isaac Newton Christian Academy right after Christmas break. They were pretty nervous and apprehensive. The first week was rough. Kaylee came home in tears her first two days of school. The first day because she had just finished basketball practice and was scared for her first game the following day. The team had been practicing together since early November and had 3 or 4 games in December that Kaylee had missed. The second day she burst into tears upon entering the car because she had just completed her first band lesson and discovered that they were four pages ahead of where she was in her book. She was frustrated and felt like she was the worst player in the band. By the end of the week, we were all a bit frustrated as we discovered that academically the kids were all behind due to the curriculum being much different than what they were accustomed to in Michigan.

Spelling is huge here and was not a big deal in Michigan. In Michigan, the kids each had about 10 words to learn each week and learned them at school. Here, Trace has 15 words each week, Kianna has 24 words and Kaylee has 35 words, 10 of which she has to know the definition of as well. The first couple of weeks were rough, as the kids adjusted to these new expectations. Now they are doing great and are scoring 100% on their tests.

Math has been another big adjustment. The expectations are much higher here. Trace got here early enough that he is doing fine, but the girls are behind, especially Kianna. In Michigan, Kianna was learning her multiplication table. Here they are doing four digit multiplication to a single digit on the bottom. They also are doing long division with remainders, which she hadn't gotten to yet. The biggest surprise of all though is the pre-algebra they are doing in 3rd grade. They are also big on measurements and conversions here, which they hadn't talked about in Michigan. The girls are working hard and are getting caught up.

Language Arts is the thing the girls are still struggling with. Learning when to use the proper tense of a word, punctuation, capitalization, writing and penmanship are all huge focuses here. The girls are blessed to have caring teachers that have been taking them aside to help them catch up. Kaylee's teacher has requested to meet with her twice a week for about 15-30 minutes, so she can help her catch up.

The higher expectations will be great in the long run. We just had no idea that the schools would be so different. Thankfully the kids are all doing great socially. They are making friends and fitting in well. Kaylee has been invited to two birthday parties and one sleepover since moving here. Kaylee ended up loving basketball and was so happy she went out. Her team ended the season 10-0 and Kaylee worked herself into being one of the first of the bench. She caught up in band after one private lesson with her band teacher, so no worries there. The kids are doing great and are enjoying their new school!

Trace's 7th Birthday

Our Crazy 7 year old

Orange Leaf

Star Wars Theme

Family Selfie

Balloon Jetpack

New Birthday Haircut

Trace decided to celebrate his birthday this year by having Bryker over for a sleepover and then a cousin party at The Playstation. We invited: Bryker, Bruxen, Rylan, Alyssa, Cameron and Abigail to join us. The kids had a blast running around. We ordered some pizza, opened gifts and ended with some frozen yogurt.

We celebrated the following day with just our family. Trace wanted to go out for pizza, so we went to The Pizza Ranch. It happened to be kids night, so a clown was there making balloon toys for an added bonus. We ended up back at home to open gifts, play his new game "Pie Face", and eat dessert. He requested Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Cake with peanut butter frosting this year. It has become a family favorite.

It is hard to believe that our baby is 7 year old! We are very proud of the young man he is becoming. Here are a few more facts about our little guy:

• Trace is a bundle of energy and he loves playing sports. He is playing basketball right now and loves to shoot and dribble. His game high is 10 or 12 points. He is a great athlete. He gives 110% at whatever he plays. He also enjoys baseball, soccer and flag football. 
• School- Trace really likes math. Recess, gym and lunch are still up there as his favorite subjects, but math has been added to the list this year. 
• Reading- Trace is quickly becoming a good reader. It isn't his favorite thing to do, but he can now read Easy Reader books independently. He enjoys reading Pokemon books, Super Hero books, Star Wars books, etc.,
• Cousins- Trace is really enjoying spending time with his cousins, especially Bryker. He also recently discovered Cameron, "the boy cousin I didn't know I had". Pretty funny, how kids identify people. He also enjoys playing with Bruxen and Rylan. 
• Legos- Trace still enjoys playing legos. He is independent with building things and still loves the lego guys.
• Nerf guns- He loves his weapons and shooting this sisters...
• Clothes- Everyday after he school he comes home and changes into sweatpants immediately. He loves to be comfy. He also loves short-sleeved shirts. No matter the temperature outside, he can be often found in a short-sleeved shirt.
• Hair- Trace has recently become very interested in his hair. He asked for styling gel for Christmas and recently got his hair cut to be like his cousin, Bryker's, which is long on the top and short on the side. He is excited to be able to flip his hair to the side like Bryker does. 
• He has a gentle spirit and a sensitive heart. He loves Jesus and wants to please Him. He gets his feelings hurt when reprimanded and wants to be good at everything. Thankfully he is a hard worker and motivated to do well. 
• Daddy's boy- He loves his Daddy and wants to be just like him. Thankfully, he will still cuddle with his Mommy when necessary. 
• Siblings- He and Kianna have a special relationship. They are good buddies, the best of friends, until they aren't. It can change instantaneously. They like to play make believe, where Trace is a dog and he crawls around on the floor. Kianna loves to create plays and Trace will do a dance routine. He does his own hip hop floor routine. They climb trees together. They are two peas in a pod, until they aren't...
• Electronics- Trace loves playing with his iPad. He really likes the game Minecraft. He and his sisters like to join each other and the game together. 

We are so blessed to have Trace in our lives. He is a fun-loving little guy, who loves to make people laugh. He enjoys playing practical jokes on people. I have found his fake snake under my pillow more than once...

Iowa Basketball Game

Our Christmas present from my dad and Sue was tickets to the Iowa vs Michigan State Men's Basketball Game. It was the perfect gift for our family. We went down early and had a nice meal at The Brown Bottle restaurant and then finished off the evening with the game.

The kids loved seeing all the black and gold. They got lots of free Hawkeye memorabilia
 such as posters, magnets, and basketball cards with the players information on them. The latter was a huge hit! The Hawks came away with the "W", making the evening even better...