Here is a little family update for you!
Zane
With Zane now being in first grade, he was able to participate in something special our church does for kids entering first grade. They call it "Promotion Sunday". On this particular Sunday - each first grader (and parents) are asked to stand in front of everyone, on the stage. They are presented with a new Bible and the parents are given an opportunity to speak a blessing over their child (not mic'd - just between the parents and the kid). It was super sweet and Zane is so excited about his new Bible! The other day we were in the car and he was "reading" his Bible out loud (he does not read, but was flipping pages and re-telling a Bible story).
Zane is still Mr. Social! He loves to play with friends, and asks to play with friends all.the.time. He even has a new friend in our neighborhood we just discovered. Between all his friends on our street Zane is not home very often. And neither are his socks, shoes, bike, or toys (as he often leaves them somewhere in our neighborhood). Funny story, one night a neighbor was out on a walk and they dropped off Zane's bike. They said they found it in their yard (but no Zane). Haha!
Zane is signed up to play flag football again and is pumped. He had to miss his first practice this week because he was up the night before - throwing up. Poor kid. He was feeling better the next day, but was still lathargic. Don’t worry - I'll post all the cute pics of him in his jersey. And no - I'm not coaching this year! Actually, Jaxen's flag football coach will also be coaching Zane's team!
Jaxen
Jaxen is now involved in what our church calls "Dig 56". It's basically like a pre-youth group. He is still technically in Children's Sunday School and Wednesday night classes - but this Dig 56 group does some other special activities... hang out's every other month, a retreat, a missions trip.... so Jaxen is super excited to get involved in all that! His first hang out is this Friday.
Jaxen thinks fifth grade is turning out to be pretty cool (so far). He is really loving all the extra curricular activities… he will start "Safety Patrol" in the mornings next week; he will be involved in Math Club every Tuesday; Special Chorus…. and he is also is interested in the Band/Orchestra! The school spends a lot of time with the kids teaching them about instruments and helping them choose what will be best for each of them. We also attended an event at the high school where he got to talk to students and see them play the instrument, ask questions and even try some of them out. Currently - he is between picking the trumpet or cello. Stay tuned!
Jaxen has also signed up to play flag football again this year. He had a really good first practice and he is now ready for his first game - haha! The "tackle" games have already started in our neighborhood in the evenings.
Carla
Allergy season has hit me hard - with hives. Yikes! They come and go but are super annoying, painful at times, itchy always…. I am on some medication right now that seems to be helping. I sure hope they go away soon though. This is not fun.
As most of you know, I have been deep in the migration of one of our main systems at work for the past year. Well - it is officially "live" now. We made it. It was a very exhausting road though...and is still a bit bumpy and at times very stressful. However, there is light at the end of the tunnel - finally!
I will also start traveling some for work. I am taking two trips this year - one, to Portland, OR for a fundraising event and then to Nampa, ID for a Board of Director's Meeting. It has been a while since I traveled for work so I am having to get all my "travel" items and learn how to pack in just a carry on again!
Nik
Our grill/smoker has been giving us fits so Nik purchased a new one this week (on clearance!). I mentioned to him that we could learn how to live with out a grill and Nik did not agree - haha! I'm glad... because I really don't want to live in a world without grilled food! Ignore my very dirty back porch - it needs to be swept and power washed. One day. It is on the list!
This past weekend Nik dragged the family out to KC's Ethinc Entrichment Festival and it was really neat! I say “dragged” because no one else wanted to go! They had so many booths setup giving information, selling goods/food from a particular country. They also had little passports that the kids could get signed in all the different countries. They had a stage setup where people played/danced from different countries - we heard bagpipes, saw hula dancers, and few other ethnic dance groups. It was packed and the lines were long but it was still fun! Nik lived his best life eating from the Bangladesh booth (chicken 65 and butter chicken) along with drinking a mango lassi and then having a few dolmades from Greece. The boys enjoyed sno-cones and the kids music station where they could try out a few different instruments.
