Progress

The first weekend in April we went to Dallas to spend time with Ben's parents and brother's family. Since Ben's parents are leaving on a mission soon, we wanted to get in some good bonding time. :) It was a nice, relaxing visit AND we got to watch Conference, which is always a treat.

Lucas was kind enough to sleep through most of almost every session and I actually was able to watch it. Yay! I brought bottles with us to Dallas but once we were home gave him only the sippy cup. He wasn't happy about it at all but he got pretty thirsty by the end of the first day and figured out how to drink out of a sippy. Yay! He dribbled a lot and made a mess but whatever. He is off bottles! He is improving every day and it's actually not too messy anymore.

Natalie finished joy school for the year and even graduated! The other teacher taught them the last day and took pics of them in a graduation cap and printed out a certificate with their name and picture on it. She felt pretty special. :) She is a smart cookie and ready to read, so I need to just sit down and work with her a bit. She's already figured out a lot on her own and can read words that she sees often. I catch myself saying, "How did you know that?" all the time. :)

Miranda has THREE field trips in the next 10 days of school. Crazy, huh? She had one to the zoo last Fall and now this. Today is the Planetarium, Thursday is Western Heritage Days at Hardin Simmons University (which is pretty cool but I'm getting a sitter for the little ones, so I can actually enjoy it this time!). When I went with Jill's class, I was pregnant and dragging/carrying Miranda and Natalie across the huge campus in the heat. Not so fun! Next week she's going to May Farm. This sweet older lady runs this farm with horses, donkeys, sheep, rabbits, guinea pigs, etc. and she lets the kids come out and feed/pet/hold the animals and we all get a hay ride. I've been there for birthday parties and they let you ride a horse too. It's a fun time and there's not enough room to bring siblings this year, so darn! Have to get a sitter again. :) I love spending time with my kids one-on-one. They are so much more fun that way! :)

Jill is totally miffed that 2nd grade has not had ONE field trip this year! Luckily her class did a radio show, so her teacher took them to a radio station. But there was no planned field trip for all of 2nd grade. Strange, isn't it? Anyway, Jill is finishing up her ALPS program (the Gifted program) and is so sad that the school cut the budget and there will be NO Gifted next year! Isn't that crazy? ALPS has been so fun for her. She gets bussed to another school every Friday and all day learns about medieval times, knights, heraldry, composers, arts, etc. of the time. It has been an awesome experience for her. I wish the budget cuts didn't have to effect that and that class sizes weren't going from 22 to 24 next year. How are these teachers supposed to teach in a group that size!?? ANYWAY... she is excited to be finishing 2nd grade and looking forward to summertime and play time with the cousins.

Ben & I are going to see "Pirates of Penzance" on Thursday at Abilene Christian University. I haven't seen it since a date back at BYU, so that was a LONG time ago. :) I'm enjoying having actual planned date nights with Ben lately. We put those on the back burner long ago and it's nice that they're back now. :) We have a great teenage sitter who is awesome with my kids and I don't worry when they are with her! I also have a dear friend who has watched our kids here and there lately and I appreciate it SO much! I love love love my kids but a break from them is so nice too. Makes the heart grow fonder, right? ;)