Graduations!

Our family celebrated at three graduation ceremonies this year. Lexi graduated from preschool; Gavin from kindergarten; and Tyler from elementary school. That's a lot of pomp and circumstance for children simply moving from one grade to another, but I was glad for the chance to celebrate the milestones and the children achieving them!

Lexi was first. Her graduation ceremony was May 21, and it was held in our church building since all the kids are LDS and the number of attendees was more than could fit in Ms. Rachel's preschool space. Lexi was adorable in her little mortarboard and received her diploma without her usual shyness. I'm always happy when she can overcome her fear of being in front of people and enjoy what is happening around her. She will miss her little classmates but will probably continue to see a few of them.

Tyler's 5th grade "continuation" ceremony was on June 2, the night before the last day of school. Sadly, Garry was out of town for work so he missed Tyler's and Gavin's graduations. The ceremony was simplified since last year, but Tyler still thought it was really special. He has had five wonderful years at Academy Endeavour, and we are so grateful for his good experiences there! After Continuation, I took Tyler to Cheddar's for dinner (he ordered shrimp!) and gave our gift to him: a book signed by all of Tyler's teachers. He teared up a little as he read the messages. What a tender soul. We plan to have the book signed by all of his teachers as he gets older, so hopefully it will be a treasured keepsake when he graduates from high school. We are doing this for each of our kids.

Gavin graduated on the last day of school. His dimples just slay me. Isn't he the cutest?!?  Gavin has had a great year full of so much learning and growth. He absolutely loves school and has done very well. It has been fun to see his reading and writing improve so much, and to see his horizons expand as he has been exposed to art and technology and culture and higher-level thinking. Gavin is a big almost-first-grader now!

During his graduation ceremony, each student read a "When I Grow Up" page he or she had written. Gavin's was great! The school also provided a free picture of Gavin in a graduation cap. So cute.

Zach didn't have a ceremony for finishing sixth grade, but it's a milestone nonetheless. We have all survived our first year of middle school! I, for one, hope that 7th grade is smoother! But we ended on a high note: Zach got all A's except one B+. Go Zach! He came home on the last day as a human yearbook. I rolled my eyes...

Here's a photo of all of the kids on their first and last days of the 2013-2014 school year. Gavin and Zach were grumpy...I guess that's just real life! So much has changed, and yet so much has remained the same.

All of our school-aged children have been blessed with wonderful teachers this year. I have finally arrived at being glad that school is over for a while. I look forward to a more relaxed schedule and more free time. Ask me again in a few weeks, though...I might be making a paper chain for August 18th.

The kids lately

Blogging feels like a chore lately, but I can't quite let it go.  I feel an obligation to our family history. I am sure I will be glad for the effort down the road when I am reading our memory books with fondness.  Perhaps this is how I will become the grandma who is kind to mothers struggling in grocery stores and wrestling children at church.  "I remember those days...let me give you a hand." Yep, that's how I'm going to be when I grow up.

Speaking of growing up...these children of mine get bigger every day.  I'm not quite sure how that happens, but the boys' pants are too short and the girls' hair is below their shoulders, which is an obvious mark of the passage of time.  Oh, and Garry had a birthday, and mine is coming up, and those days surely affirm a fast-spinning globe, because there is no way I'm old enough to be this old.

So. Here's a little run-down on our hooligans, from first to last.

Zach is now 5'6" tall. Yep.  Four inches taller than his mother and taller than all of his friends. OK, not all of them. But seriously: tall! He recently attended the Priesthood session of LDS General Conference with Garry, and then enjoyed their now-traditional burger and shake after the meeting.  Zach is quite fashion-conscious, and recently spent a month and a half of paper route money on the perfect pair of Nike shoes (which were on clearance).  Zach has some good guy friends (one in particular), although I sure wish the silly girls at school would leave him alone! The other night Zach was struggling with a math assignment full of quadratic equations.  I sat down to help him and he explained the concepts to me. Then he realized he knew what he was doing and finished quickly. He's a smart kid but doesn't believe in himself all the time.

Tyler is doing a science fair project that studies people's favorite color of soda pop.  After pack meeting last week, he collected data from most of the attendees when they tasted a variety of colors of soda (all lemon-lime, dyed with food coloring). He's also excited that he is finally invited to a birthday party. We'd really love for some boys to move into the neighborhood so he'd have more friends! Tyler continues to be very sensitive and affectionate. He is also excited to start making plans for middle school. He's a little smarty pants and is happy about his math and reading placements next year.  He wants to join the band.  I'm trying to convince him to take up the piano again. This week Tyler was my date to a high school musical (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying) and we had a great time together.

Gavin is ecstatic to be running in the Landsharks running club. It's finally his turn! Having practices and meets on Monday is a real pain in the neck (Tyler has scouts and Zach has swing dance lessons on Monday afternoons, too), but it's only for a few weeks. Gavin's reading is improving, although I don't spend as much time reading with him as I should.  He is a very conscientious student and loves to please his teacher.  During General Conference we pulled out a big box of LEGO blocks that has been in storage.  He really likes building with them, so I'm glad we have held onto them. This photo says so much about Gavin: his adoration for snow boots, his desire to take stuffed animals outside, his need to snack outdoors, and his dirty face are all quintessential Gavin traits.

Miss Alexis has been very spunky lately.  Lots of attitude and drama...so she's taking naps sometimes and going to bed early sometimes...more sleep is always the answer, right?  Lexi loves playing with her friends.  Having Lucy and Kaela in the neighborhood has been so fun for her, and having Lucy sleep over while her mom had a baby was extra fun!  She continues to love school and is making progress on her reading and writing.  She loves to color, play "family" (it was called "house" when I was little), dress up her dolls, and ride her bike.  Oh, and fix her hair.  I am not allowed to do that unless it is Sunday, and even then she is very particular.  It's not a battle I fight anymore.

Kate. Oh Kate. She makes me laugh every day. Her latest adventure is wearing "unnerwears" and refusing a diaper. So far she is 100% consistent; she always pees in the potty and she always poops in her pants. So we are going through bags of M&Ms...her reward for successes and my consolation for her accidents. Also, Kate is obsessed with wearing leotards. We have four, which last about 2.5 days because she can't keep anything clean.  I only do laundry on Mondays, so when they are all dirty she asks approximately 67 times if her leotards are clean.  Last time I pulled one from the dryer, she put it on immediately, wore it the rest of the day, overnight, and all the next day until she spilled cereal on it (afternoon snack...haha). Leotard 2.0 emerged shortly thereafter. Just as a side note, leotards and unnerwears are a tricky combination, but the bike helmet she wears all the time is an awesome accessory.

There's not much to report about the grown-ups in the house.  This was Garry's super busy week at work (end of quarter). He continues to lose weight, which is why I gave him a new shirt and slacks for his birthday. And also he has spectacular bed-head.

I'm practicing accompaniment for an Easter song that a friend is singing at church. My resolve to avoid dairy is weakening since my skin hasn't improved one tiny bit in two months, except that I am losing weight, and breaking into my stash of smaller jeans is a great motivator. (Sorry, no pictures; she who holds the camera chooses the subjects.)

So there ya go: the Bartles lately.

This post is huge.

Here we are, more than a week since I last blogged.  I don't know where the time goes.  I mean, I do know where it goes...to kids and cleaning and lots of time in the car and naps (yep, I take 'em) and my calling. Occasionally my time goes to friends or projects or exercise or playing the piano or other household tasks. But mostly my time goes to kids and eating and sleeping (not enough on that last one...people always say, "Man, you're yawning a lot!  Do you ever sleep?"  The answer is "Yes, but not well, and clearly not enough.")

So I'm catching up, mostly for family history's sake, on this here blog.  I know in a few years I'll be glad for the little snapshots of our daily lives.  Although if I progress at my current rate then my posts will never make it into a book for us to enjoy....

Last Friday Lexi had a ballet recital.  She was super nervous, and she doesn't like people--particularly unfamiliar people--to look at her.  However, we bribed her with a special ice cream treat if she got on the stage and danced to all the songs, and dance she did! I'll admit to shedding a tear or two.  I was so proud of her for overcoming her fears, and watching her do something she loves was a delight.  Her little solo performance toward the end screamed, "I'm a dancer!"  I loved that.  Professional photos and video will be delivered soon, but for now these pictures capture evening just fine.  The one with Lexi applying lip gloss before the recital is the sweetest thing!

Tyler's Pinewood Derby was also last weekend.  He conceived the shark shape, and Garry helped with shaping on the saw. Father and son worked together on details.  It was fun to watch them share a project.  Overall, Ty's car was middle-of-the-road in terms of speed, but it was a happy day.  Next year at this time we won't have a cub scout, but the year after that, Gavin will be a Wolf and we'll run through a few more derbies after that.

Lexi has learned to cross the monkey bars.  She just figured it out while we were playing at the park the other day.  It's been a real growing-up time for Lexi: riding a bike, dancing on stage, saying "r's" correctly, crossing the bars, and learning to read.  Yep, she did it: she read her first book this week.  I had no idea she was ready!  We'll keep working on her new-found skill. This video shows her first attempt at this particular book, which was only the second one she had ever tried.  After a few days, she has already improved, and her enthusiasm continues to grow. Much like potty training, I have not pushed this skill. Lexi was ready, and so it happened.

Gavin is really hard to motivate in the mornings.  He's the only kid we have who will sleep in, and he's just so s.l.o.w. to get ready for school.  No matter how much I help the process along, Tyler is always stressed out about being late because of Gavin's dawdling.  On this particular day I was extremely agitated by the time I dropped the boys at school.  I had remained calm, but I was boiling inside.  

I can never keep up with the laundry.  I don't know why I don't fold a load at a time.  Actually, I do: I'm always switching the loads between running here and there, and I just throw the dry stuff on the treadmill.  Oh, laundry...  I happened to fold that particular six-load stack (or was it eight?) in 35 minutes.  Bam.

I got a new haircut this week (with bangs, which look goofy in this photo) and colored it myself using professional product (I have sweet hook-ups).  It was initially darker than expected, but I really like it now.  Good-bye highlights!  I'm so happy with the change.

Kate has had some really rough days since the time change on Sunday.  Stubbornness and tantrums have reigned supreme.  Sunday was not a happy day, particularly at church.  She cried herself to sleep in my arms while I was sitting on the sidewalk behind the building.  I wanted to do the same thing. (Note: I think the video below is hilarious, but I think laughter has to be my coping mechanism for Kate's constant crying.  Don't watch it if you don't like screaming.  Haha.)

Garry and I had a very rare date on Saturday.  We went to a little ballet recital for one of my former Beehives.  Our admission was free (thanks, Sarah!), so we splurged on a babysitter and a Texas Roadhouse onion blossom (dairy free=healthy, right?) that evening.

Tyler's bones are healing perfectly, so he got a new short-arm cast.  Washing his arm between casts felt sooo good.  This time Tyler chose a green cast.  The cute nurse gave the girls "fake casts" that they loved.

The weather has been mostly lovely this week, so the kids and I have spent a lot of time at the park.  Sometimes we go alone and sometimes with friends.  Between some morning walks and our park trips, the fresh air and sunshine have done good things for my mood.

Garry taught an Excel class to about 100 people at work on Thursday.  He spent long hours preparing, but got great feedback from the higher-ups who attended his class.  This week he got a bonus and a raise, so we are happy that he is being recognized for his hard work and achievements. Go Garry!

You'll notice I don't have any pictures of Zach. He is reluctant to appear in photos, and honestly he's not home very much.  He goes to school at 7:00 to practice in the band room, and then stays after school until 4:30 for basketball practice. He has been playing on a YMCA basketball team, too.  That season ended on a sour note, but Zach's skills are improving, as is his love of the sport. The last two weeks have been really rough in the attitude/behavior department, so we are glad for the happy and calm days when they come.

Overall, things are going well here...busy and crazy and messy as always.  That's just family life, right?