Accomplishments

School doesn't come easy for my sweet Ryker.  In fact, it's been a really rough road.  He's so smart, but is having a hard time in our current school environment full of tests, tests, and more tests.  And worksheets, worksheets, worksheets.  He works so hard and has come a long way though.  Something seems to have happened since our return from Spring Break.  He's been more confident, more engaged in classes, and we've seen remarkable progress at home.

He dreads his daily reading less and less all the time and is doing better and better.

He enjoyed showing off his art work at the art fair recently.  This was his self portrait. :-)

A big accomplishment happened last week when he became the first kindergartner and one of only 16 kids in the entire school to make it to the 7th and final level in Accelerated Reader quizzes.  He set this goal for himself early in the year and was determined to get there.  He does a great job on these reading comprehension quizzes and has earned some pretty great rewards as a result of his hard work. (Think a trip to the movies during a school day, trip to the Children's Museum, ice cream party, etc.)

He picked a brand new book out of the library bag and curled up with Cam before bed the other night and read it cover to cover without any help from me.  He read with relative speed, perfect accuracy, and proper inflection.  It was a sight I've prayed and prayed for and tears welled up in my eyes as I took it in.  What a joy it was to watch!

He had his latest set of reading assessments done at school today and moved up two levels from when he was tested in January!  The teacher was so happy with his progress and so are we.  Thankful for progress and praying we can continue getting him the right help and that he will someday be a successful student who doesn't despise school.  ;-)

Season Opener

It's that time of year again.  Baseball season is here!  Today was our first game.

We are the Cubs this year.  Robert and Clint are coaching again.  It should be a great season. 

Ryker chose 98 because 1 and 99 were gone.  His best friend Carson has 99 so he thought it'd be fun if they were next to each other.  He chose Flash as his nickname this season.  

Sister Bear ready to cheer on her big brother.

I love watching Robert coach him.  They both enjoy the special time together.

Both the littles were super content today and just played in the rocks.  This is our 3rd season of baseball and I'm pretty sure I was able to watch more of today's game than any previous ones.

Ryker did a great job hitting today and had a big stop at shortstop.  Our kids all did really well and played so well as a team.  It was a fun game to watch.

We celebrated at Frosty Boy afterwards.  It was great having Jay hang with us.

BonFIRE

I got a text from our neighbors and friends, the Rush's, this afternoon asking if we wanted to have a cookout and bonfire at their house.  We didn't have any major plans so we quickly agreed.  Amber and I hung out with the kids before the guys got home from work.  She stayed with the kids while I ran to Marsh to get a few more food items and we started cooking.  I love grilling season and this was a perfect night to kick it off right!

Amelia and Cam get along so well these days and love playing together.

After dinner, it was time for the bonfire.  For the past few years we've cut up their Christmas tree and burned it during our first bonfire of the season.  It is always quite a show! The kids stand way far out in yard and shout, "Bigger! Bigger! Bigger!" while we stand ready with the hose.  The men think it's the greatest thing ever and us wives shake our heads and laugh.  Boys will be boys...

I am so thankful for Amber and her friendship.  We hit the neighbor lotto with these guys.

Her kids are pretty fun too. ;-)

Tucker joined us as well.

Jay is staying with us this weekend while her dad is out of town with her brother for a baseball tournament.  The kids adore her and we seriously love having her around.  Best teenager on the planet, I swear!

Roasting 'mallows.  Yum!

Zoo with Nana

My mom had surgery the Friday before Easter.  She was told the recovery period was 4-6 weeks long.  The first week was very rough, but she started feeling much better and has bounced back so well.  In fact, she is heading back to work on Monday after only 2 weeks off!  So, we took advantage of her time off and her rapid recovery to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous weather and see the zoo.

Riella was enthralled with the animals today.  She just kept giggling at them.  It was pretty cute.

The orangutans were my favorite today.  We watched a demo of them on the computers too which is amazing to watch.

Cam loved the birds!

We love our Nana!

This gives a whole new meaning to bird brain.  lol!

Morning at School

Today was my morning to volunteer in Ryker's class.  I did several group activities with the kids.

The egg money counting activity was a favorite for all of them.

Love getting to spend time with the boy.

I told him I cut off our heads in the first pic and we needed to take another one.  He turned and kissed me at the last minute.  It was so sweet and a total surprise.

I stayed for lunch and clearly the kissing became a thing. ;-)

These boys are so sweet and fun!

This was our table today.  Such cute, sweet kids!

Easter

We got the kids up early enough to go through their Easter baskets.

Watches for the boys were a bit hit.

Riella just got a new baby doll.  She loves feeding it its bottle.

Super cool in his new watch.

My crew ready for church.

Hanging with Grandma before the service.

Home again and rocking his shades.

He is such a little model.

We hung around the house a bit before going over to Robert's aunt Wilma's house for Easter dinner and an egg hunt.

Dave and Robert had the babies of the group so they got to go first.  Let's just say children may have been dropped and left to fend for themselves while these two crazies ran around picking up eggs like madmen.

The boys were so excited to start grabbing eggs.

Riella just looked cute!

They got TONS of eggs!  We'll have candy for months!

If Cam had his sunglasses on I think this could've turned out pretty well.  That kid is allergic to the sun I swear!

Taylor and Cam

My pretty girl.  She loved her dress and all the compliments.  As long as the complimenter didn't get too close.  She has a rather large bubble and doesn't really like anyone besides her mommy to invade it.

She likes me quite a bit though. ;-)

The boys with their favorite- Jay!