Learning and Growth

Today was the Last Day of School. I picked our kids up from School and as I was thanking their teachers, I started feeling tears form, a little embarrassed, I hurried through my Thank-you's but I am so thankful for all of these great people. All of them went the extra mile to help our kids learn and grow. I don't know how we got so lucky with Good, Happy Teachers.

Benson has learned SO much this year. He can read and spell! This spelling test was his first one of the year.  I am not going to lie, Beetle and I were really concerned. His teacher kept telling us not to worry, that once he catches on to reading, we will see a huge improvement in his spelling. 

 She was right! This was his last spelling test of the year.  Can you even believe the difference?

This is Benson's cute teacher Mrs. Brock, she is as sweet as she looks. She taught Benson how to read and also Math, which is now his favorite subject.

Annabelle learned cursive this year! She also learned to love writing stories and is getting very good.This is her teacher Mrs. Kennedy, Annabelle loved her. She was very kind and was always so good to compliment Annabelle on her school work.

Miss Camalee!  All of our kids have loved her, and so did Maxwell. Now that we are settled in our home we found a preschool closer to us for next year. It was a hard decision, because she is so Awesome and so are her cookies!

Last but for sure not least is Maxwell's speech teacher Mrs. Nelson. Maxwell loves her, and so do I. I can't say enough good about her. Maxwell and I have visited with her 20 min. a week -every week for 2 years now. It's amazing how much his speech has improved, and it's because of her. She has made learning so much fun for Maxwell and has also taught me how to teach Max. He will be reevaluated in the fall but she really thinks he may not need speech anymore, and we thought he would need it up until Kindergarten!

Memorial Weekend

 You have to love a three day Memorial weekend.  We visited most of our grandparents graves on Sunday and Monday. Beetle and I really enjoyed it, it was nice to remember what great people our Grandparents were. Our kids also enjoyed it, when the sun wasn't in their eyes.

  Somehow Simon made it to the cemetery with some leftover corn on the cob. Man, he makes us laugh. And just when I think he can't get any cuter...he does.

We also used our "pass of all passes" for the first time.

We thought the kids would love the Go Karts the best, but what they really enjoyed was miniature golf.

Simon was loving having free reign over everyone's golf balls. Good thing no one was worried about keeping score.

Brigham's Blessing

Beetle blessed Brigham on Sunday, it was a beautiful blessing and Brigham knew it. His sweet spirit was shining through his smile all day. Doesn't he look so much like his Daddy?

If I look like I had it somewhat together in this photo- I didn't, I showed up to Brigham's blessing in brown Nike flip-flops! I didn't even notice until the sacrament was being passed. I whispered to Beetle, "look at my feet." We both couldn't stop laughing, I was laughing/crying. I slipped out to nurse Brigham and/or to drive down the street to pick up some heels. Beetle was mad, he wanted me to wear them for the rest of the meeting and pictures.

Have I mentioned before how much I love having a home with a yard? It was so fun to have everyone over after the blessing. I really don't miss our condo AT ALL!

We have been so blessed the past six months, Brigham being the best blessing of all. It is a testimony to me that prayers are answered, and sometimes even better than you could ever hope for. 

I was Blessed today.

Smiling

"My Mommy tried to make me sit all by myself today."

"I'm not quite ready for that yet."

 "However, I am ready to SMILE."

"Sometimes, I just do my DIMPLE SMILE."

                                    "Other times, I do a SMILE SO BIG my face turns red."

 "No matter what SMILE I choose to use, I get a positive reaction every time so I'm going to try and SMILE as often as my diaper, feeding, and sleeping schedule allow me to."

Annabelle's First Dog(s)

 On Sunday we told the kids we were going on a family drive up to Salt Lake. We had a surprise in store for  Anna, we were picking up her first new puppy. She had no clue, they were loving the drive up to Salt Lake.

 Beetle put the puppy in his shirt and got in the car. He placed the puppy on the center console, it didn't take Annabelle long to notice her. She was so surprised and had her first tears of joy experience. She immediately named her puppy "Pippy Ruby".

Annabelle in front of Beetles flourishing garden

 Annabelle has always begged for a Dog but we always said "when we sale the condo and get a house." She has waited so long! Beetle bought the "I love my puppy" shirt two years ago in anticipation for the day Anna got her puppy (it was a bit snug).

 This is where it gets sad : ( We bought Pippy knowing she was the runt of the litter,but what we didn't know is that she was sick, with Parvo. When she wasn't eating or drinking we called the breeder and she said she wouldn't give us our money back unless we could prove she was sick. Luckily Uncle Ryan had a connection with a Vet and she tested the puppy for Parvo , it came back positive. Beetle and Annabelle waited for 3hrs. while Pippy had fluid getting pumped in to her through i.v.'s. It was a late night and poor Annabelle was in tears. Luckily we were able to return Pippy the next day and the lady gave us our money back.

 Pippy was SO tiny, Maxwell and Simon loved holding her. Benson pet her once and that was good enough for him.






This is where it gets happy : )
I searched all day on KSL for a puppy while Annabelle was at school and found this HEALTHY miniature Dachshund.  We picked him up yesterday. Can you believe him and Pippy are ONE day apart?

                                                                 
                                                                      Meet Ruben Regan :)

 Annabelle is loving him. She came home from school and was playing "school" with him in her bedroom. Beetle found them taking a nap together, all that teaching and learning wore them out ! I am proud of how she handled everything, I know she will be a very responsible pet owner.

Eight Weeks

 Our little Brigham will be eight weeks on Saturday! I am always wanting to take pictures because he is literally growing overnight, every night! Brigham is our eating night owl, he is still waking up every 3hrs to eat-every once in a while we get lucky and he will sleep 5hrs at the beginning of the night. Man I love those nights! The awesome thing about Brigham is that instead of crying to tell me he is hungry in the middle of the night, he grunts--a machine gun grunt. It's really cute and makes it a lot easier to be happy about waking up.

I love his dimple. I also love that he is getting a cute belly. It makes me feel like all those feedings at night are good for something (besides nourishment and comfort).

A 0-6 month hat that is too big--if you can believe it.

                                                    We love our baby Brigham!