It never ceases to amaze me how quickly a year can pass by. Kids are growing up, I am growing out, these are the days of our lives...
Alayna is 12 and now a 6th grader at Polly Ryon Middle School. She is learning what life is like without having Mom around to keep track of everything. There have been some learning curves along the way and a few tears, but she is getting the hang of it. She is growing into quite the young lady. For her elective this year she decided to take art. She LOVES it. We have seen her artistic ability grow in leaps and bounds. She has always enjoyed art, but is learning so much she just can't get enough of it now. We can't wait to see what she comes up with next! She has been selected to help create the set and props for the school play this year...The Lion King. It will be another way for her to showcase her talents. Here are a couple of her recent masterpieces from school.
She is still at Xtreme Danz (you can see her dance videos from this summer's recital here) and sings anything and everything. I don't think there is a song on the radio that she doesn't know. We are very proud of her and glad she has found hobbies that she can enjoy throughout her life.
Brayden is 9 and a 4th grader at Austin Elementary. After some soul searching we decided to move him to Austin this fall. He is enjoying his new school and independence as he is not with Mom anymore either. I see him on Mondays while I am there. Otherwise he is on his own. He now is at a our neighborhood school and has already had a couple of opportunities to play with some classmates in the neighborhood. He loves being outdoors, exercising (we are not sure where that comes from), and reading as much as possible. He is all about books...just like his mother.
Brayden's other big interest is baseball. He has been busy playing both spring and fall seasons, and he has improved immensely. This fall he took on a new adventure and started catching. He loves it! He tells me it is because he is always doing something...always involved. He has some work to do, but I thought he did an amazing job this fall for it being his first chance at it. We bought a mitt and are practicing as we go. We also bought a net we can use in the garage to practice hitting. He has made great strides there as well. He batted lead-off for the entire fall season and was constantly on base. He was voted one of the team's MVPs and was super excited to receive his trophy. We are back into the "off-season", so we will be working on all aspects of the game again. I keep telling him that I don't want him to play unless he is enjoying himself. He sure seems to be now.
Jen is teaching 3rd grade at Velasquez this year once again and is pursuing her masters in Library Science. She will be graduating in June and can can start looking for a job as a librarian, probably still within the school district. I can't wait to see what she does in her library once she gets there. With her love of books and use of technology I know her students will have a wonderful experience when they visit the library.
I am still plugging away as an instructional tech specialist. I visit 4 campuses each week, seeing Brayden at Austin on Monday and Jen at Velasquez on Tuesday. With the way technology changes I am constantly challenged and that is what keeps me interested and on my toes.
As a family, we are still getting out and using our camper as much as we can. Outside of our monthly camping adventures, we made two bigger trips this year. For spring break we traveled out to Big Bend National Park in west Texas. We are still in the state, so it was only a 10-11 hour drive! Grandma Judy made the trip with us. We had amazing weather and took full advantage of it. We got our hike on...seeing as much of the park as we could.
This summer we ventured out to the Black Hills with Mark and Robyn and had a wonderful week. It had been 5-6 years since we were there, so it was pretty much all new to both kids. Custer State Park was awesome, Harney Peak was conquered once again, Wind Cave was a great experience, and there is still something mystical about seeing Mount Rushmore.
Here is the link if the video does not play for you here: Happy Holidays 2015
Happy Holidays!
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