Ally had a great fourth birthday and a super fun party. The day of her birthday we actually had some really crazy wind that brought down a lot of trees and signs outdoors- so much that I had school cancelled for the day! We sent Ally to school anyway though because she was bringing Krispy Kreme donuts to share with her class for her birthday treat. That evening we went to McDonald's for her birthday dinner- mostly to play in the play place.
Ally's party was the next day. My parents and brother and his family came in Friday night. The next day Ally's brothers and cousins and a few friends from church went to a local skate center where they have a large indoor play place. They got to play a long time, ate pizza and birthday brownies. She and everyone there had a great time and all my kids slept REALLY well that night!
Ally got to do swim lessons again at school. She LOVES the water and would always give me a glowing report about what she did at lessons ("I went all the way under water Mommy!"). We are looking forward to swim lessons again this summer for all 3 kids.
The boys started baseball again a few weeks ago. Ally was a bit distraught that she was not on a t-ball team too- she has been going to ball games since she was a baby so she's ready to get in on the fun. While she actually could have played this season we decided that it would be best to wait until next year to start t-ball. Ben started at her age and he would get very impatient and didn't really seem to enjoy it all the time. She also told me in the car the other day on the way home from school that she wanted to do dance, so we will be looking into that for the fall too.
Ally finished her first year at Cubbies! She had a great year and learned a lot of verses and Bible stories. She finished her book and got her book award. We are so proud of her and she was excited to get her award- but sad that Cubbies is over for the summer.
Besides swimming lessons, we have lots of fun things planned for the summer. We will be spending a week at the beach with my family and a long weekend at the beach with Russell's family. We will also spend a week at my parent's home when my grandmother comes up to visit from Florida. While we are at home we will be visiting the pool, playgrounds and creeks, and having playdates with friends. We are all excited for another lazy, fun-filled summer.
We are excited to announce the biggest change, which affects Ally and I the most. I have finally, after many attempts, gotten a job in the school district where we live! Instead of traveling 30ish minutes one way, it will be somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes! Since I will no longer be at my current school, not only do I have to say goodbye to my friends at work, Ally will have to say goodbye to her friends and teachers at her school. We have loved the Land of Wonder and we are sorry she can't finish out preschool there, but Ally is excited to attend a new school next year- which will be the boys' elementary school, where she will attend Kindergarten in the fall of 2019! They hold pre-k spots for children of teachers in the district, and thankfully their school still had openings this late! She will get to ride the bus with the boys and we will all be on the same schedule. This is truly God's timing; everything has really come together with the the school I will be teaching in being one of the closest to home (our district has 5 high schools) but not the one our kids will attend (not sure if I want to teach in the school they will be going to at the same time), the schedule changing to one very similar to my old district (Ally and I get a normal summer- the boys get a shortened summer) and having a spot in pre-k for Ally with the boys. God has truly blessed us and we are so SO grateful for his provision.
May is another Dandy-Walker Awareness month- so wear some gray for our Ally girl this month! Ally does not have to have an MRI this summer (yay!) so just a check-up at neurosurgery in July and she is getting larger inserts for her shoes to replace the ones she is quickly outgrowing. We'll update again at the end of the summer with all the fun times and any news we find.
