It has been awhile…

Well we have been busy around here with the end of school (two weeks ago). We were planning to move to another house here in Monticello and have a nice fenced yard and garage while Luke finished his Doctorate degree. After lots of praying and looking into ALL options----Luke resigned his position today. We have applied to jobs in Michigan and are waiting to see what we hear. He has also found out he can continue his education there at a couple of universities depending on the job situation. He is now looking to just get his Administration Certificate so he can be a principal instead of getting his Doctorate. That may come later but for now, after the few classes he did take towards his Phd, he has decided he would like to be a principal of a high school or middle school instead of a professor at a University. We are excited to see what is in store for us and look forward to new opportunities.

Since we had planned on moving at the end of the school year the house has been mostly packed since we had our offer accepted on the house in Mid-April. Now we are just enjoying our time of being together and enjoying the great outdoors.

 

--She is not a binkie baby but she is cutting all four molars so she doesn’t mind chewing on anything she can.

--Marley and his favorite ball.

--Micali is getting so good at riding her bike. She is a little to confident of her skills. You can can’t see the band-aid on her shin or the two on her elbow. She had started doing tricks, two feet on one pedal. After a couple falls we had to have a talk about being safe and not try tricks when she is so little.

-----Just posted several other updates!------

Random Shots of our sweet “Abs”

All ready to help mommy clean out and pack the garage.

Working on her 3rd breakfast, begging food from Grandpa.

ripping her bow out of her hair, and then “fixing” it

She loved grandpa rocking the chair for her. She would rock back and forth like crazy if he stopped.

Chewing on that bink trying so hard to get her molars in or to make them stop hurting.

Not sure how many times we are going to have to tell her to not EAT the sidewalk chalk.

Mesa Verde

While Grandma and Grandpa were here we decided to take a trip to see Mesa Verde National park. We had heard it was one of the TOP 5 things in the world to see. And since it isn’t far from us we decided we had to take advantage of crossing that off our lists of things to see.

It was REALLY cool to see all of the cliff dwellings. Our picnic was cold and windy and our hike was HOT and tiring but we all had a great time anyway.

Micali working on her book to get the junior ranger badge.

Getting sworen in as a Junior Ranger!

I love the junior ranger program at the national parks. Micali really enjoys being able to look for specific things while she goes throughout the parks.

On Sunday Morning

The next morning when Micali realized Grandma and Grandpa were really gone she had all her stuff out of her room packed so she could move to their house to see Gypsy!

Pretty Pretty Princess

Micali was so excited when Grandma and Grandpa came with Pretty Pretty Princess. Micali loves the game especially when she wins. She has a hard time controlling her emotions when she starts losing. She really enjoyed being able to play with her Daddy and Grandpa.

You better not be taking pictures of this!

Grandpa was SOOOO close to winning and Micali stole the crown right at the end to win the title of “Pretty Pretty Princess!”

Bike Riding----NO training wheels necessary

On Saturday night after a family walk and Micali riding her bike she decided it would be okay if we took one of her training wheels off. She rode back and forth on the street a few times and kept saying WHOA WHOA---I’m flying like a bird.

 

Today she asked her dad to just ride around the block. They rode around twice and she decided it would be okay to take off the training wheel. She rode around twice more with out them. She was so excited as were all the neighbor kids who were watching.

Passed out!

A New Favorite: Corn on the Cob

Just starting out!

About a half-hour later----

ALL GONE!

Daddy had a birthday!

Micali came to the grocery store with me to get a couple last minute things for the birthday party. As I passed the popsicles she let out a sigh. I asked her what was wrong and she said I think Daddy REALLY needs popsicles for his birthday! So she picked out her very favorite ones----PINK of course. She picked out his shirt and tie he is wearing too.

 

While Micali and Daddy were taking the candles out of the cake Eli just started digging in. He thought that chocolate frosting was quite tasty!

We had a fun day celebrating daddy’s birthday! We also took him lunch and had a picnic with him in his classroom. We took him cookies to share with his students----they thought that was pretty cool.

Micali and her dog

Every morning Micali gets up and goes outside to help her daddy get Marley his breakfast and to take him water. Although having a dog is a little extra work we have enjoyed all the time outside as a family taking care of him. He has brought a lot of smiles and laughs. She loves having a responsibility and will quickly help Marley with anything he needs. I love seeing her be so independent about her ability to take care of him. For example a few mornings ago she went out to help him get unwrapped from the tree. She came in and said, “Mom and Dad, I did it! I really did it, I knew I could!”