no training wheels!!!!!

 Michael's been super busy at work lately but he has today and tomorrow off and its awesome.  Today I suggested he take Stetson's training wheels off and see how he does.  We walked him to the hill at the end of our street, Michael got him started and he did it the first time just a little wobbily!! This mom was sooo excited.  I'd tried with him a couple of times on the blacktop at the elementary with other kids' bikes and it just wasn't happening.  I know this is overdue and we're not breaking any records or anything but we're still so excited!  Michael said he taught his little brothers too and one time Daniel rode right into a barbed wire fence or something.  Whoops.  

 Heading to the park for more practice! K is on the scooter.

Lemonade!

The kids and I have a list of 85 fun things to do this summer and having a lemonade stand was one of them and yesterday we crossed it off our list!  We said the lemonade was .10 but people were very generous and wouldn't take our change.  Michael told some people this was how he was paying for PA school so maybe they felt sorry for us. :)  In any event, it was the perfect day for a lemonade stand and it was awesome! :)

2nd chance

 This is kind of stressful but this is life and its good to remember all the ups and downs so I'll document whats been going on.  We made a backup offer in March on what we thought was the perfect condo for us. After months of waiting and being disappointed while things kept getting put off, the seller terminated the whole deal.  There had been foreclosure and leans and some other problems that just weren't getting sorted out. Unfortunately we'd already paid for the inspection and appraisal. Ouch.  Michael told me the news a couple weeks ago and I frantically started making phone calls and spending all my time on Craigslist and the Bilings gazette classifieds online.  We lined up about 6 or 7 rentals to go look at on Stetson's last day of school.  We spent all morning looking and were so disappointed at what we could (I guess I should say couldn't) get in our price range I literally started crying during lunch at Applebees.  Our realtor had 1 more condo for us to look at and after we walked through we said where do we sign!  It seemed like the Hilton after the dumps we'd just got done looking it.  Buying just feels so right.  Our mortage will be less than rent and we got the seller to pay closing costs and new carpet installation.  I'm honestly still scared and won't feel better until we sign and can call it ours but we're hoping for the best.

  My brother Joel and friend Jaran Baker did an inspection last week and didn't find anything major.  Its 3 bedrooms 2 baths with a gas fire place, washer dryer hookups, all the appliances we need and we are pretty happy about it and hoping everything falls into place.  The front door walks out onto a really open pretty grassy area that is a straight shot to a huge swimming pool and Rose Park which is one of the nicest parks in Billings.  Another bonus is that we'll still be in the right neighborhood for Rose park elementary school which is where I had Stetson registered for 1st grade this fall.  We know Heavenly Father looks out for us and are trusting in him.  These are just some pics I took for the inspection.

Joel trying to find the switch on the fireplace

Janelle in Stetson & Kandace's room

Stetson loses his first tooth!

Last Wednesday (June 12 2013) Stetson lost his first tooth!  It had been wiggly for a couple weeks and every day I would affectionately ask him if he wanted me to "yank it out" and he very assuredly said no no!!  He was not anxious to lose his first tooth so we just waited for it to fall out.  Well last Wed we were jumping on our neighbor's tramp and I noticed his tooth was gone!  I asked Stetson if he'd even noticed and then I started looking for it on the tramp and sure enough there it was! (pretty lucky if you ask me)  We Ooohed and Aaaahed over it in pure delight and then while the kids finished jumping on the tramp their clumsy mom dropped it in the grass. :(  I looked for like 20 mins and me and the kids even said prayers that we could find it but I guess it wasn't meant to be this time..  The very thoughtful tooth fairy made a quick stop on his way home from work and Stetson was so excited he came into our room at about 2 am to share the great news that the tooth fairy left a dollar bill and a pack of gum.  WAHOO!!

t-ball 2013

Well we made it through another t-ball season.  Stetson wasn't crazy about it and either was I.  I know bad mom.  Michael was only able to come to about 10 minutes of one game this season because his work schedule has been nuts lately.  I'm pooped.  He has tomorrow off and I am thrilled.  I think we'll go to Cabo and celebrate.

Stetson has taken an interest in my blog and wants to write captions for the posts. so here is what Stetson says: "This is me. The picture of this is when I was up.  For snack I had a scotcharoo and a capri sun."

Yesterday we moved some cows for FHE! YEEYA!  After moving cows we had dinner in gpa & gpas backyard and the weather was awesome and the food delicious. Bring on the summer awesomeness!!  We love our family and think we are so lucky.  Stetson said he liked the 4-wheeler.  He's standing right by me and wanted to make sure I put that.

Its kind of a big deal that Kandace is riding the horses again after she fell off last year.  We are happy!

Stetson and his gwamma that he loves.

a little show

Yesterday was our first day of summer vacation.  Oh my.  Kinda forgot what it was like to have 3 kids home all day.  Its going to take some getting used to.  I didn't think it'd be so bad and then Stetson and Kandace got to arguing like they do sometimes and I since then I've been drumming up schedules, chore charts, rewards, summer fun lists and things like that to get in gear and get some sort of structure.  I tried it last summer out of desperation and it worked well.  Anyway, yesterday while Janelle was napping I was trying to get the older two to be quiet so I told them they had to stay outside and they said they were bored so I said put on a play and a little bit later they did and it was so cute.  They lined up their bikes sort of like they were the curtain and K was hiding behind it when I came out for the "show."  cute cute

cute

Dad came and watched Stetson and Janelle so Kandace and I could go to a baby shower.  Janelle always acts impartial to gpa Simmons but deep down she loves him. :)  When I came home from the shower this is what I found.  Dad said Janelle had been fussing and acting like her lip was hurting her, so he gave her some milk, he said she didn't want that then she pointed to a spray bottle so he took the lid off (maybe it was already off, not sure) and she sucked on that until I got home while cuddling on his lap.).  My kids have the best grandparents in the world.  Really.

Fun Day

 For Stetson's last day of school they had an obstacle course, relays, tug of war, swimming, lunch, then a movie at the Hyart in the afternoon.  The obstacle course is put on by Ella Mayes every year and she does awesome.  I looked over at Stetson to see him do it and he was walking during it but later he told me it was because he wanted to be nice and let the other kids win.  Hmmm...
These pics were taken by another mom so I could help with the relays.  Shawntay McArthur and I did relay races this year and it was a learning experience for sure.  Kinda crazy but I hope the kids had fun anyway.  I thought it was neat that the classes cheered for each other with so much enthusiasm without being prompted by us or any of the teachers.  I've loved LES and am sad to walk away but we're hoping for a great experience in Billings.  As we've looked at different places to live, we've taken into huge consideration what school Stetson would be at looking at ratings, asking around, looking at school websites, and its emotionally exhausting for this mom.  Michael keeps trying to reassure me that the greatest factor on a child's education is their parents and how involved they are so I'm going to try my hardest.

my boy's last day as a kindergartener

 I honestly do not know where the time went but my boy is done with kindergarten.  If this is how fast the rest of his school years are going to go for me I better really stop to smell the roses because I wasn't prepared for how fast this year would go by.  I love my little man more than words can say.  Stetson is an outstanding reader and excels in all the other areas as well.  He did see the speech therapist each week for help with his R sound but she seems to think he'll correct it himself as time goes on so we're exiting him from his IEP for now in hopes that he'll naturally get it.  Stetson had lots of days where he didn't want to go to school.  That was super hard on me but I definitely had a few tricks up my sleeve by the end of the school year.  Stetson is  a get up and eat breakfast right away type of guy (Like his mom) so I would wake him up by saying "What do you want for breakfast?!"  In that happiest, cheesiest mom voice ever.  He'd usually perk up and then we could get the ball rolling from there.  He definitely takes his time so we learned to plan ahead.  He can do the first step of shoe tying, maybe this summer we can make some progress there.  By the end of the school year Stetson was riding his scooter to and from school.  Its funny because at the beginning of the year I never thought he'd be old/mature enough to walk to school alone but a couple months ago we gave it a go and he had a couple bad days with that where he didn't want to or would forget to use the cross walk but he was good to go by the end.  The first day he walked to school by himself I almost cried.  I watched him walk the entire way from my front yard even though he was just a spec by the time he got there.      At 3:20ish I went outside to watch him come home and when he came into sight my heart just about jumped out of my chest I was so proud of him.  Amazing what little milestones can do to a mother.

I got to sub a at LES a few times this year, once in his classroom even and I loved it.  I might have spied on him from the classroom window during recess to see who he played with and what he did.  Stetson definitely likes to march to the beat of his own drum and do his own thing.  He is super silly.  Stetson loved to re-create school things at home, for instance at school they have centers, so he would create centers at home and have Kandace and I go through them and do the same activities they do in his class.  He is kind of a nerd and instead of sports and super heroes, he loves workbooks, writing, reading of course but I think its great.  We're in tball now and he's not loving it but I know there's more to life for him than tball. :)

I had great intentions of doing something super cute for his teacher off pinterest or something but surprise that didn't pan out but I think a thank-you note is sufficient and Stetson loved writing it.  Teachers truly need to be thanked and recognized.  They work so hard.  Stetson's class had such a variety of personalities and learning levels, it truly is a juggling act. I don't know how teachers do it.  And then have to watch their class leave just when you've fallen in love with them.

Stetson wrote 

"Dear Mrs. Ferguson (which he is so proud he can spell Ferguson by himself)

I loved your snacks and your books.  Thank you for being my teacher.  I love Mrs. Ferguson.  From Stetson to Mrs. Ferguson."

Stetson cried tonight when he talked about her and how he was going to miss her and that he wanted her to be his "Next" teacher.  I want to cry too that we're leaving that great school and won't get to see his friends and teachers for a while.  

Beartooth Nature Center

Last week Stetson man had a kindergarten field trip to Red Lodge to see the Beartooth nature center and the candy store.  I knew they needed 4 teachers to help but wasn't sure what I'd do with the girls.  I made sure they had all the help they needed before deciding not to go but then Serena Hessenthaler said we could ride up with them and meet the kiddos up there and I thought why not!?  It was fun chatting with Serena, the girls loved getting to go somewhere fun and Stetson was excited to see us up there.  Serena has a little girl in Stetson's class who I think is so super cute, and she has a boy Jett and a girl Janelle like us!  They are such a cute family.  After the nature center we went to the candy store which has quite the reputation in Red Lodge.  Its actually located at an old movie theatre they've transformed into a unique candy shopped and its pretty cute.  Each kinder had $3 they could spend so they picked out their loot from the incredible variety of candy choices they had there and took it to the register to be weighed and it took FOR.ever.  I wasn't sure if I'd make it out alive.  If the kid's candy was under weight then they could pick out a few more until it was the right weight and you can imagine how time consuming with that many kids but they loved it and I'm glad they had fun.  After that we had lunch at the park with the kiddos and they played at the park.

Kandace & Janelle H. at the candy store picking out their treats!  Kandace always has time to stop and pose  for the camera.