Friday, June 3, 2016

No More Training Wheels!

Two weeks ago Rob spontaneously took the training wheels off of Ben's bike and he. took. off.  First try.




















I think the last video shows off his awesome listening skills!

Avery was so excited and proud of him.


He has been FLYING ever since.  He has absolutely no fear.  It's a little scary.  We have implemented a mandatory helmet rule though (we were pretty loose when he was on training wheels).  

Avery hasn't been 100% comfortable riding her bike because it's a little big but this has motivated her!  They now argue vehemently over who is going first/who is in front, etc.

We're super proud of Benny!  Kiddo is only 3 and he can't get himself dressed but he sure can ride a bike!

Last Day of 1st Grade

Before school


After school





























































Avery had a great year in 1st grade.  She made new friends and had fun learning new things.  Her reading fluency grew exponentially.  She had a great relationship with her teacher.  She only struggled in the area of "organizing self and materials," whatever that means exactly, but looking at the state of her room at home, I kind of have an idea.

I received this sweet email from her teacher on the last day of school.

I have loved having Avery!!!!  She is an amazing student!  So sweet and works so hard.  You are very blessed to have such a great daughter!  I wish I could have a class full of Avery's!  


It is honestly kind of terrifying how quickly the year flew by.  This next school year Ben will start pre-k so they'll be running the halls together.  Eeeeeeek.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

End of Soccer Season

Things ended well for team Dynamite and Mini-kickers!  I'm very pleased to say that Ben ended his season on a positive note.  The last several weeks he was very involved, engaged, and listened to the coaches.  We even got an email from one of the coaches noting his improvement.  So happy that he seemed to enjoy it and I hope that we don't have to start back at square one in the fall session.







































Avery's team had an end-of-season picnic.




Avery received the Most Improved Player award.  As the only new player on the team and the only one to never have played before, she learned a lot this season.  Her coach had some wonderful things to say about her.  Now we only need to get a little bit more aggressive.  



Silver Dollar City

We got season passes when we went during spring break, so it makes for an inexpensive weekend getaway.



















Since it was within a week of Avery's birthday she received a birthday button and quite a few birthday treats.





































One of her treats was a free ice cream cone.  We bought Ben one because if you have kids you know that wasn't going to work for him and of course the smallest cone they sell is twice the size of the free cone they give away-haha.





































Ben LOVED spraying the people going by on the water ride.  I think he could have stayed there all day.

We also got soaked on the ride.







































Waiting to get soaked on another water ride.



















Day 2 was much cooler.  Ben got a little grouchy in the afternoon.




























































































Feeling a little better after relaxing at the condo.





































Enjoying their last Kinder eggs.


















Completely exhausted on the way home!

Thursday, May 12, 2016

7







































She is:

happy

sweet

kind

thoughtful

stubborn

shy

creative

generous

persistent

silly

smart

messy

sentimental

A look back at her 6th year:

She learned to ride a bike without training wheels (although she's still unsure of it).

She took gymnastics.

She learned to play soccer and played on a team for the first time.

She went to Mexico (for the second time) and loved everything about it.

She (as of next week) completed first grade and had a very sweet teacher.  Mrs. Miles has very high standards for her kids but I think Avery excelled under those conditions.  Among other things she is learning double digit addition, currency, how to tell time, and of course reading and spelling.

She remained close with her friends from kindergarten and made a few new friends in her class.  Her closest friends are Stella, Evie, Julia, Ashelyn, and Stella (and probably a couple more I'm forgetting).

She lost two teeth.

She still adores her brother and does most anything to make him happy.  They seldom argue or fight but when they do she usually gives in to him.

She loves all animals, insects, reptiles, birds, etc.  She really wants a bird (vetoed!) and a dog (someday...).

She loves stuffed animals, Shopkins, YouTube, mermaids, makeup, fairies, arts/crafts, drawing, poop jokes/noises, and fashion design.

She loves swimming.

Her taste in food is...diverse.  She tried raw oysters for the first time and liked them.  She continues to love shrimp, crab, and any kind of fish (as long as it isn't fried) (and she will eat sardines though her dad questions whether she really likes them or not).  But bananas?  Those are gross.  She loves mac and cheese and pizza.  She loves ice cream and any kind of candy.  She loves mushrooms, green olives (recently discovered), yogurt, hot tea, most any fruit, hard boiled eggs, bread, pickles, Nutella, coconut water, ribs, steak, spaghetti o's.  Did I mention ice cream and candy or anything sweet?  Dislikes include milk, casseroles, any pepper, and zucchini.

Her favorite places to eat are Subway, Andolini's, and Chick fil A.

She is such a happy kid.  She is perfectly content to play in her room or outside but is always up for an adventure.  I can count on one hand the number of times she's ever told me she's bored.  She can find anything to amuse herself from drawing to Legos to reading.  The only downside to this is that she leaves a path of destruction in her wake.  Her messes drive me crazy.  You can't see the surface of her desk and I develop a twitch every time I walk into her room.  She has sentimental attachments to every scrap of paper and every piece of dried Play-Doh in there.   I've learned not to hand her something and ask for her to throw it away because that always results in "hey, I could use this for something..."

We love you, baby girl.  Hope year 7 is the best yet.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Mother's Day and Avery's Birthday 2016

We had a pretty laid back day.  Avery got some very nice gifts that she had been wanting.





































The kids got to swim a bit.  I got a few hugs from my favorite little boy.







































We went by the little parking lot carnival and the kids rode a few rides.
























Back at home Avery opened up a few gifts from us (books and sketch pad) and some Shopkins from Ben.

I think Ben was over watching Avery open yet another present.  






































Happy birthday to our sweet girl and happy Mother's Day to all the awesome moms in our lives!

Monday, May 9, 2016

Avery's 7th Birthday Party

Saturday.  She was so excited all week.





































She had a soccer game earlier in the day, so first we had to get through that, then it was time for the party.
Birthday hat from school






































7!





































Indoor pool at the YMCA.  The setup was pretty simple.




















There were about 15 girls-friends from school and soccer teammates.


















And of course, family too.



























Dinner was her choice: pizza and garlic knots from Andolini's.





































The Y was a great choice for the party.  All the kids seemed to have a great time swimming.  Ben loved it.

Can't believe our baby girl is 7.   Another post to come about her actual birthday (and Mother's Day)!