Ivy Anne is 6!

Dear Ivy babes,

You are 6 years old! I'm pretty sure this is the only birthday letter I've written to you, your brother and sister that hasn't been on your actual birthday! I'm a week late, but better late than never! You are in kindergarten 2.0 this year. You're doing great and love kindergarten because of center time. You have lots of friends in your class and seem to get along with everyone. We had a slime factory party for your birthday last weekend. We invited your friends from the neighborhood and 1 friend from Forest Hills. It was fun to celebrate on your actual birthday!

You are in swimming and gymnastics right now. We are in awe at how well you are doing swimming so many laps in the pool. You probably swim 20 laps each night at practice if not more. Hopefully you continue to love it! You're in a rec gymnastics class on Tuesday nights and seem to really enjoy that as well. At home you love making books of drawings...you're daddy's favorite customer because you use so much paper! You'll keep John Deere forestry in business. You also love Piggy and Gerald books, playing with Barbie, building Lego, playing apples to apples, and making slime

Your favorite food is pepperoni pizza and your favorite drink is Sprite. When you grow up you want to be vet. Your Christmas list only contains two things...a puppy and a phone. You won't be getting either of those! You are 43.5" and 48 pounds. You wear size 6 clothes and size 11 shoes. You have lost both of your bottom teeth and are really wanting the top two to fall out before Christmas so you can sing the "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" song.

You love to sleep in the morning...every morning when I wake you up you ask for 5 more minutes! You have missed two days of school this year, both for croup cough which you call croak cough and it's so dang cute! There aren't many of those left where you say words wrong so I'm going to hold onto any that I can! You were telling me the week before your birthday that I won't be able to call you baby Ives after you're 6. Then on your birthday you woke up and told me I could until you're 9. A 3 year extension, I'll take it! You prefer me to read books and put you to bed, but in the middle of the night you always go to daddy's side of the bed.

I'm sure there's so much more that I'm forgetting! You are one of a kind...you make everybody smile when you're around them. We pray you will always be that kid! Love you lots baby Ives!

Mom and Dad

11/11/11


11/11/12


11/11/13


11/11/14



11/11/15



11/11/16

 

11/11/17

2 or 3 things about everyone!

Time for an update for everyone!

Ivy: She started kindergarten 2.0 we're calling it. She struggled leading up to it, but hasn't said a word about it being a repeat year since! She doesn't say much about her days except that she loves center time and recess the best. She talks about lots of kids and seemed very social at family fun night last week. She's exhausted at the end of the day and even worse at the end of the week. We have to be very diligent to put her to bed early every night because this all day school thing has been hard on her. One morning she was crying asking me why I signed her up for this!

She is loving the chickens at our friends the Fry's house. She was meant to grow up on a farm I think! She's the only person in our family who will freely catch them, cuddle them, etc. We watched the little chicks one weekend when they were out of town and she was in heaven. Marie bought her a chicken that she named Nicki Minaj Unfortunately Nicki did not make it...some animal must have gotten her!

Ivers is also doing some private swimming lessons right now and also playing soccer once a week. She is loving swimming lessons. She can swim front crawl and backstroke the length of the pool and even does the breathing correctly! She is going to be on the swim team this winter!

Mya

Mya has decided to take a step back from gymnastics. She had a great experience in Edmonton, but it took over her life and she didn't have any time for other sports. She is doing gymnastics once a week for an hour compared to 10.5 hours last year. She is also doing travel soccer and loving it. They practice 2x/week for an hour and a half. She has had two games and did great in both of them. This last week she started basketball too and the jury is still out on that:) I'm happy she's getting to try all of these things. Who knows...she may go back to gymnastics someday!

School is off to a great start for her. She has another male teacher this year named Mr. Pfaff. He's awesome and she loves school (except she thinks math class is too long) I'm anxious to hear more about it at conferences in a couple weeks. She seems to be enjoying reading a little more now. My friend Marie ordered her the tree house (not magic tree house but another one) series and she blew through them in a few days. Hopefully it continues!


Maxwell

Max's school year got off to a good, but not great start. His teacher was gone the first 2 1/2 weeks as she was taking care of her sister who was very sick. They tried their best to have consistent subs, but it was still hard. He seems to be happy now that his teacher has been back a couple weeks. He has to work a little harder here than he did in Edmonton which will be good for him. His class went on a super fun field trip last week to Four Mounds team building adventure park.

He is also playing soccer on a travel team and doing well. We've had some ups and downs with kids/parents on his team, but overall he is learning a ton and getting better! He's super pumped because they just started a chess club at his school. He has been swimming a bit too and is going to try out for the swim team next week! There are a bunch of really nice boys on the team so it would be good for him to be around them.


Beth

I'm adjusting to life back in Dubuque and it often feels like we never left! My friend Chelsea from Edmonton equated it to the same feeling you get when you've just been on a really amazing vacation and within 2 days, you're back in your old routine and people don't care about your vacation anymore! I'm missing my friends in Edmonton, but I'm so thankful that I have some great friendships here so I didn't have to focus so much time on making friends.

I'm working twice a week for NICC teaching English to non-English speakers. I'm getting to use my Spanish which has been awesome. I wasn't sure if I would ever get to use it again if I didn't go back to the classroom so it has been a great experience and I love my students. Adults who are motivated to learn are so easy to teach!

I'm getting our house in order as much as I can. Somedays I feel like I accomplish nothing and other days tons! We still need to get pictures on the wall and spend a few days on our basement storage room. We have rugs coming this week, a buffet for the dining room in a few weeks and then we just need to touch up some walls and build a mud room type storage thing in the garage before the snow falls. As of now there is no place to hang ski pants and put boots! It will drive me crazy if I have to live with it for a winter so Chris has it drawn up and hopefully we can get it done in the next month or so! All in all, we are very happy with our house and welcome company anytime!

Chris

Chris is enjoying his new job. He's feeling a little like he has no home base since he travels to Davenport two days a week, but so far the drive isn't bothering him too much. He can sometimes schedule a call during the trip or else he listens to podcasts and the trip goes by quickly. There's a new road being put in that will cut down the trip by 15 mintues or so. It looks like it will be ready by 2019 which will be great!

He has been taking care of lots of stuff around the house....it's weird being a home owner again! It takes a lot of maintenance even in a fairly new home. He's liking his time on his John Deere riding lawn mower and a couple weekends ago he power washed the deck which started as a little project and turned into 6 hours of work!

Catching up on life!

You know it has been a long time since you've written a blog when you go to type in the address and the computer doesn't recognize it! I'm going to do two blogs today..one to update what we did from July 14- August 14 and the other on what we're up to now! Here goes...

We drove to the cabin from Edmonton on July 14/15. It was a sad morning pulling out of our house. We had such a great experience there and wouldn't trade it for the world. Chris and I were fighting back the tears as we drove away. The last few days were tough because it was full of goodbyes and not much else!

We made it all the way to Bismarck, ND on the first day. (13 1/2 hours) and then drove the other 6 to the cabin the next day. The kids did great in the car. Especially on the first day. It's tough to get back in the car on the 2nd day, but we managed. We had a great week at the cabin and especially loved having the new jet ski! The kids racked up the hours on it and had a blast. The adults got some skiing in too! We ate good food, rested, read, played games, played pickleball, bean bags and spent lots of time in the lake.

After the cabin we spent a couple days in Decorah. It's always fun to get everybody together after a long time apart. Max and Chris hadn't seen my family since Christmas! Tara, Tony and girls weren't there this trip, but we would see them the next time we were in Decorah.

The rest of that week we spent in Dubuque. We took care of some appointments, Mya got her glasses, we saw some friends, did a ton of swimming in the hotel pool, ate out way too much and got reacquainted with the city.

On July 28th, Chris and I flew back up to Edmonton and left the kids in Decorah for ragbrai and Nordic Fest. We had a wedding on the 29th and then the movers came on the 1st to start packing our house there. We had a good week of getting lots of organizational stuff done, seeing some friends and wrapping up our time in Edmonton.

Chris and I drove his car home on August 2-4. We drove to Lethbridge late on Wednesday night. Then Thursday we drove all the way through the state of Montana and stopped overnight in Rapid City, SD. The next morning we took in a few sights and then headed back to Decorah to pick up the kids!  We had no trouble importing his car into the USA and had a nice, quiet drive home! Chris drove the entire way so I read a book, took care of finding house and car insurance and talked Chris's ear off! Driving 24 hours twice in 3 weeks was enough for me though! The kids had a great week in Decorah..spent a lot of time with their cousins, and other family. It was so much easier saying goodbye this time than in previous summers...we knew we'd see them in a few days!

 

We then spent the next 10 days being residents of the Best Western. We made the most of it by inviting friends over, swimming a ton, but we definitely got sick of it! We also made a quick weekend trip to Decorah to see Tara's family. I went to a baby shower and was able to pick them up at the airport in Minneapolis. We had a nice couple days being with family and then headed to Dubuque to close on our house and move in!   Our move ended up being delayed two days because of Max's cat allergy and the moving truck being delayed a day. It all ended up working out, but there were definitely a couple stressful days! Big thanks to everyone who helped us move in, who fed us, housed us and took care of us in that month when we were technically homeless!

Happy Birthday Mya!

Dear Mya Pat,

Happy 9^th birthday to you! We are celebrating your birthday this year at the cabin. We drove here from Edmonton on Friday/Saturday and will be here all week. Here’s a little bit about what you are like at 9.

You just finished grade 3 at George P. Nicholson. You had a great year and loved having a “boy” teacher. You told everyone you could that your teacher loves PE and has run 6 marathons. You got straight A’s all year and seem to enjoy school although I wish you liked to read more than you do! You will cruise through a graphic novel in one day, but I can’t get you to enjoy books with no pictures. Your best buddy at school was Aiva..you two were pretty much joined at the hip all year!

You were in level 3 gymnastics this year. You trained 10.5 hours per week…we really missed you when you were at the gym so much! Your favorite is floor and your least favorite is beam and bars. You competed in 5 different competitions and did very well…the best one was 1^st place in Lethbridge. You are not sure if you’ll continue with competitive gymnastics in Dubuque. It takes so much time and doesn’t leave much for other things. You had a successful soccer season and really fell in love with the sport. You are interested in lots of things…if you watch a sport you want to play it right away. You love to win and hate to lose. We just have to work on being gracious when you lose!

Right now you are torn between three things to be when you grow up. A home mom, a coach of some sort or an interior designer. You are 47 inches and 52 pounds. You wear size 13 shoes and are all over the board with clothes. You are a really good eater…still a waffle eater in the morning, love noodles with olive oil and parmesan and for dinner you like a lot of things, but party chicken and tacos are still your favorites. You love to dress up, get your hair braided, put make up on, and paint your nails. You remind me a lot of Tara in that you like to be in your room alone...decorating, cleaning, listening to music, watching Netflix, etc. You want another dog, but are very leery of other puppies so we need to get you over that fear sometime soon! (We are hoping Lucy is the one to break you of your fear!)  You and Ivy are best buds and worst enemies. You and Max are pretty competitive with each other, but you get along well most of the time.  

When we told you we were moving back to Dubuque, you took it the hardest right away. Now you’re excited about it and looking forward to a new room, going back to Kennedy and starting some new activities. We can’t believe you’re 9 and going into 4^th grade…what an amazing little girl you are and we are so proud of you!

Love you tons,

Mom and Dad

July 18, 2008


July 18, 2009


July 18, 2010


July 18, 2011

 

July 18, 2012

July 18, 2013


July 18, 2014


July 18, 2015


July 18, 2016

July 18, 2017

10 things on a Monday

These "update" posts and 10 things posts are about the only thing I can manage right now with the blog! Things are a bit crazy in our life these days, but I really want to document some of what we've been up to the past couple weeks! Here goes...

1. Deere Days were June 24! Chris and his crew worked hard to make this event awesome! They brought in tons of equipment for people to see, had activities for kids, the most amazing balloon artist, reptiles, a bluegrass band, bbq lunch and more! It was a gorgeous day and we had a great time. They combined it with Canada 150 which was a great idea and made it very festive!

2. After Deere Days we were supposed to go to a soccer appreciation party for the coaches in the community. We were all pretty tired after Deere days, but we knew we had to go to the party to say goodbye to our very good friend Sandra and her boys before they left for holidays. We walked up to the building and opened the door to find out it wasn't a soccer party, but instead a surprise going away party for us! It was amazing and I'm honestly still shocked a few weeks later. My friends Jamie, Laura and Sandra put on quite a party...complete with a photographer, catered meal, beer pong, and lots of dancing. It was such an awesome night that we will never forget. The people here have meant so much to us. It took me a few months when we moved to jump in, but I'm so glad I did. I now have lifelong friendships here in Edmonton.

3. School got out June 29! With school starting in Dubuque August 22, this will officially be the shortest summer ever for my kids! What a sad day to say goodbye to our GPN (George P. Nicholson) school friends that were really more like family! This school is amazing...so welcoming for parents, such great teachers and administrators, more field trips than you can imagine, extracurricular activities galore, etc. etc. I could go on and on. It was so nice having all of the kids in the same building this year! next year they will all be together again, but that will be it! We were blessed with some amazing teachers again this year. We will certainly miss this school so much!

4. One of the things on our list to do here in Edmonton was going to an Edmonton Eskimos game! Luckily, there was one game before we left so we went with our friends and had a wonderful time! I'm so glad we snuck this in. Other than the 1 hour train ride home, it was the best time! Even got to see some fireworks after the game!

5. We celebrated our 4th Canada Day here! We had a low key day just hanging out at home and then went to some neighbors for a BBQ that night. The kids have changed so much since we moved here. We will always celebrate July 1st!

6. Maxwell got his braces off on July 5th! He started this whole Ortho journey in September of 2014. He was so excited to get everything out and eat whatever he wanted. He looks so much older now. You can see the before and after photos below...his mouth changed so much. They pulled his bottom jaw forward and then expanded the top to make room for all of his teeth. Money well spent...

7. Our church goes to family camp every summer at Alberta Beach. The kids and I drove out there a couple days last week to spend some time with our friends! It was super fun for them and hopefully family camp is something we can do in the coming years.

8. The goodbyes have started and are so so hard! Last night we had our amazing babysitter Morgan and her fiance over for dinner. She's going away this week so we had to say goodbye last night. We are so thankful for her! Chris and I never would have gotten a date night without her! And we love her dog Pippin...she may be the dog that turns out family into small dog lovers!

9. Our friends Laura, Megan and Ty invited us out to Gull lake last Friday! It is a lake about an hour from here and we had the best time. Wish I would have known about it before last week. Great beach, shallow, warm lake, a park, and ice cream! We got a lot of sun and were exhausted but it was totally worth it.

10. Last, but not least...we bought a house in Dubuque! It was not an easy task, but we are thrilled with what we found. We have decided it's harder to move back to somewhere you've already lived. Now I'm picky whereas when I move to a new place, I just find a house and deal with everything else later! The kids will get to go to the same school they went to for kindergarten (Mya) and kindergarten/1st grade (Max) The house is in Asbury...out toward Sundown ski hill. We don't close until August 14th so we have awhile until we are settled, but we are glad we found a place to live!