Ian just finished his 3rd grade year! He is a very intelligent and easily distracted/irritated child. This year he excelled in Math and was able to study ahead in with the 4th grade students. After viewing his ITED scores, I am easing off the paranoia that he can't read. :) His teacher this year was Ms. Engel, an amazing teacher! She has the patience of a saint. 
Maren just finished her 1st grade year. She was overly obsessed with her teacher Mrs. Caviness. . .if she asks me if I can spell "Chartreuse" again, I may scream. Maren does very well with reading, is a social butterfly, and loves art like her mama. Her best friends include Emma, Abbie, Ady, and Kaydence. Emma has her tumbling and constantly standing in the "dance pose" ( I despise the"dance pose" ) Our living room and play room is constantly being used for tumbling practice. . .
Nora just wrapped up her pk4 year. She is already on to KINDERGARTEN next year. Nora is a mini version of me. She is a feisty one that loves to play house with Maren as well as on her own. I have never seen a child as content as she is with creative play. She recently collected all of the TP rolls that I had been saving up, and drew faces on them so that she could hand them out to her friends at school. . . she's funny like that. We have some work to do with her this summer, so she knows her ABC's by Fall.
All 3 kids are playing ball in the West Central Valley school district this year. It's the first year and it's an adjustment seeing them in purple instead of red. In the past, I have volunteered as their coach for the OM teams, so it is quite a change to watch someone else coach. . . not gonna lie, it's kind of nice :) (I will post Ian's picture when we get it)
After 11 years at Orient-Macksburg, I have decided to part ways. I love my job as a K-12 Art teacher, but with budget cuts and the second school that I worked at closing,(I was only at Prescott for 3 hrs a week) the school decided to cut my position to 1/2 time. I did get offered to share with Lenox but decided to just leave all together. Lenox was a good hour 15 from Dexter, I honestly didn't want to drive it, didn't want my kids to have to be down there that early in the morning, and so after deciding to pull the kids from O-M and enroll them in West Central Valley, it was a good time to leave. The kids are excited to no longer have an hour commute to school each day, as am I, and I am hoping my poor car will finally look like we don't live in it (Because we WON'T)
I don't have a job for the next school year yet. I am still looking, but if all else fails, I can Substitute teach. . . and still not have to have the commute.
This picture was taken on the last day at Prescott. 33 kids and 16 adults. . . . all painting!!!
Summer '15 brings a BIGGER pool to our house. :)
We were ending the lifespan on our other pool, and with the kids getting bigger, we (and by WE, I mean "I") found a pool that fits our yard, and our deck!! The kids are SUPER excited, and have already been in the pool a few times. The current temp of the pool is a balmy 45 degrees! I have the solar cover on, lets hope it warms that baby up!!!!
Organizing and sorting are high on my list this summer. Once we get the fence up around this pool, I want to get the yard all cleaned up. It seems like we have "stuff" everywhere. Whether it's us, the kids, or the dogs, our yard seems to always need picked up. . . kind of like the house. . . . but thats a whole different story!
