April 2016

Our friend, Sarah, was diagnosed with breast cancer last month. She was Levi's kindergarten teacher last year. She is embracing her new circumstance with great faith and decided to have a head shaving party when her hair began falling out. Here is Levi helping cut her hair off before the shaving. Since I am just now blogging about this in July, I want to give God the glory that she just last week finished her last round of chemo and her latest tests found NO cancer in her body. We are rejoicing in this answered prayer! 

We went to the Mother-Son adventure that Westover throws every year. We had SO MUCH FUN!! The boys said they want to go on a date with Mommy every month, which was so sweet. We canoed, hiked, rock climbed and played soccer. 

Here is Colt deciding which way to climb.

Levi spent his date time wiggling his bottom tooth that was so close to falling out. 

On our hike we found a beautiful waterfall. Unfortunately, Colt fell and got some terrible rash so we had to end our hike early, but one of the moms had some hydrocortisone cream that fixed him right up! 

Zoe is a crazy girl! 

Grandad and Grandma came to watch Tatum's soccer game and the boy's baseball games! 

They love their grandparents and would never want to hit them with sticks :)

All of the kids love running through the tunnel after the game - it's the best part! 

Our neighbors found mold in their home and had to move their child's birthday party, so we let them have it in our yard. It was a petting zoo party and they were gracious to let our kids participate, even though we didn't really even know them. 

Pretty sure my kids monopolized the petting zoo!! 

Zoe also had a birthday and turned 3!! I honestly feel like this is a big milestone that has brought some relief to my stressful mom-life. She can buckle herself in her car seat, is potty trained mostly, can make her needs known, etc. She is still spunky and mischievous, but I already feel like the busy part of parenting toddlers for the past 8 years is passing and I am shedding no tears over it! 

Tatum tested up to the next level of ballet! 

I went paddle boarding with some girls from church. We love having the young professionals in our care group! This is a special group of women- Erica, Kayla and Dannelle.

Zoe does this funny thing where she always wants to put her head on my tummy... even in public when she's tired! I think she started it a year ago, about the time I weaned her. She just really loves the skin-to-skin contact. She wants to put her head on Ty or my stomachs at nap or bedtime and will pull up my shirt in public to snuggle up when she's tired. It's pretty funny and quirky!

Colt working on his Saturn model before running off to his baseball game. 

Colt worked hard on a presentation and model of Saturn. His BFF, Matthew, is holding the model while Colt does his presentation. Colt is not a natural speaker, but diligently works at it and got a top score for this project. One of the aspects of Veritas that I love is that the kids are taught how to do public speaking/presenting from the earliest of grades which will continue until they present their Senior Thesis. 

Nana captured these baseball images when she and Bang Bang came to cheer on the kids! 

Levi was hanging out in the outfield, until he spotted Nana with her camera...

a flashed his cute little grin. 

Ty was an assistant coach this year. This particular game the pitching coach was absent so Ty got the pleasure of filling in ;)

Good looking boys!

Tatum was excited that Bang Bang and Nana could watch her soccer game too!

Tatum and her soccer team! We have a one sport at a time rule in our family and somehow we allowed Tatum to participate in ballet and soccer and swim lessons all at the same time. We have asked her to choose one sport for the fall and soccer didn't make the cut. We have loved our time with this team and getting to know these families. Coach Scott was a fun and patient coach who taught the girls so many skills - they were the best in their league! Hopefully if Tatum chooses to play again in the future, there will be a slot available on this team. 

I think the only other noteworthy part of April was that Ty played in the church basketball league. He loves playing every Saturday night and we enjoyed going to cheer him on!