March Update

It's been awhile since I've done an update so there's lots to update on!

We are nearing the finish line of Kindergarten and it's been a roller coaster of a year. Even though they are both the same age I'm teaching two VERY different kiddos! McKinley is a sponge that loves to soak up new information and learn new things. She loves our school time and picks up on things and progresses very quickly. Grant is.....a boy. He loves action and movement and sitting down for school cuts into that! We had some battles during the middle of the school year but I'm happy to say that we are ending the school year on a VERY happy note! I tweaked some things with the schedule and with how I teach him and we've finally found a way that makes everyone very happy and gets us through our school day without tears or battles. Despite the roller coaster of a year I still love homeschooling them. I love the extra time I get to spend with them and it's awesome getting to witness them learn new things and develop new skills. Our school days are done with very quickly which is the benefit of homeschooling which leaves us plenty of time to do fun stuff! They did a homeschool coop this spring semester where they took different classes from 930am-230pm one day a week and they loved it.

They are also nearing the end of AWANA which is a bible study of sorts for kids. We go on Wednesday nights and they do game time, have a large group time and then recite their verses they memorized over the week. I volunteered every other week and it was fun for all of us! It cracks me up to watch how very different they are. Grant during game time is the one that's waving at everyone as he runs by and high fiving the other team if they win without a care in the world whether he wins or not. McKinley on the other hand is super competitive and has fire in her eyes during races and competitions. Wonder where she got that?? ;) Chad and I decided to put them in the Kindergarten class at both AWANA and church even though they are on the young end but decided that if we're expecting Kindergarten work out of them at home and Kindergarten behavior then they should be with other Kindergartners. Socially and academically they are right up with the other kindergartners but boy are they small!! It's kind of funny looking at them standing beside some of these other kids that look like giants!

I think the biggest news in our life is that we decided to take the plunge and start TRAVEL NURSING!! We will take 3 month assignments at locations of our choosing and the travel company will put us up in furnished housing. Chad took his first assignment locally in Wichita, KS and has been commuting back and forth on his days off. The kids and I have gone with him when we can and now that coop and AWANA are done we will go down to Hutchinson to live in my brother Scott's RV while Chad works in Wichita. It's been very nerve wracking and scary to sell off all our furniture and belongings and get down to the bare necessities but it's also been an eye opener. We as Americans live with alot of "stuff" that we think we NEED. It's been nice to get down to what it is we really NEED in our life and that's shelter, food, family and most of all God. I'm looking forward to this adventure in front of us.

Fondue picnic night!

Chad was just fascinated with the vacuum coffee pot at an Ethiopian restaurant we went to!

Cousins Halie and Heidi

Cheering on Uncle Trevor

Science class at coop

popcorn factory tour

Making Amish friendship bread

the free mechanical horse at hyvee. Life is good

This is what happens when Chad does playdough with them. They get an aquarium

We found this awesome church that during the week has a huge gym that they let public come and use so kids can ride bikes, scooters and run around even when the weather is bad. They have a coffeehouse there that is delicious and then an indoor playground area as well. This was the outdoor park area. Between the gym, playground, park and coffee house we spent several hours!