Student of the Semester

Mrs. Bina & Berkeley

Berkeley was chosen as Student of the Semester again this year!  She stood up with the other kids and waited for the Principal to call her name and then she stood in front of the auditorium while he read what her teacher wrote about her, shook his hand and  then stood on the risers for a picture.

She had a great year this year with Mrs. Bina.  It is so fun to see her learning and growing and coming out of her shell more and more each year.  On her Student of the Semester certificate, Mrs. Bina wrote:

 

"Berkeley is one of the hardest working students I have ever known.  She is a super listener and quietly goes about doing her work without needing any assistance.  Berkeley always tries her best to do quality work.  An additional bonus is her gentle spirit and kindness toward others.  She is a calming influence in our class."

We are so very proud of you Berkeley Sinclaire!  You are an awesome student, an awesome friend and an awesome daughter.  We love you so much!

Finley Prayers

Finley loves to pray.  She prays at bed time and her prayers are always the same: "Dear Jesus, please help my boo boos, sissie's boo boos, Olyer's (Oliver's) boo boos, daddy's boo boos, mommy's boo boos, Untle's (Uncle's) boo boos, Papa's boo boos, Gramma's boo boos, Jake's boo boos, Ridwee's (Ridley's) boo boos and Terling's (Sterling's) boo boos. Amen.  Sometimes she says "The End" instead of Amen, which always cracks us all up.

She also loves to pray before dinner: "Dear Jesus, thank you for mommy's food, and daddy's food, and my food, and sissie's food and Olyer's food and Ridwee's food, and Jake's food, and Terling's food.  Amen.

I think the sweetest one was last week when we were outside sitting in the sun.  Oliver had asked me a question about if he would still go to heaven if he said the word "butt" instead of "bottom".  I told him that if he has Jesus in his heart and he asks for fogiveness when he messes up and tries to do better and lives for him he will go to heaven.  He said "Well, how do I know if he is in my heart?"  So, I explained that he needed to pray and ask Jesus to come into his heart.  He squeezed his eye shut and folded his hands and said "Dear Jesus, please come into my heart.  Amen."  

Then Berkeley asked me if Jesus was in her heart.  I asked her if she had ever prayed and asked him to come into her heart and she said no.  I asked her if she wanted to pray and ask Him, but she got kind of embarrassed and said no.  About 2 minutes later she said "Mom, I prayed and asked Jesus into my heart."  I told her that was awesome and that I was proud of her.  

So Finley was sitting there listening to all of this and said, "Mom, I pray, I pray."  I said "Ok, Fin, go ahead."  She squeezed her eyes shut and folded her hands and said "Dear Jesus, please come in my heart, and sissie's heart and Olyer's heart, and mommy's heart and daddy's heart and puppies heart.  The End." 

It was so cute and so sweet and so precious to witness all 3 of my kids ask Jesus into their hearts.  It was extra special to hear a teeny tiny innocent 3 yr old in her little sing song voice do it.  That is definitely one I never want to forget!

Arizona 2013

Lots of sun and swimming makes a little 3 yr old very tired!

Popcorn & movie after a day in the sun!

S'mores are good even in AZ!

 

 

In April after tax season we went to Arizona to get some much needed sun and relaxation.  The boys golfed every day while Diane and  the kids & I played in the pool all day.  I was amazed at how much different our trip was from a year ago.  Last time we went, the kids wore their life jackets the whole time and had rashes under their arms from their wet skin rubbing on the life vest all day.  It was really painful, so this year I packed extra t-shirts to have them wear under their vests so they wouldn't have the same problem.  I think they ended up wearing their vests for about 20 min before taking them off and playing in the shallow end of the pool all week long.  They practiced swimming back and forth from wall to wall and doing cannon balls and funny/crazy jumps from up on the hot tub down into the pool.  We played bad minton in the water and attempted a couple of games of volleyball.  The highlight was seeing a rattle snake just outside of the fence of Mr. Curtis' yard.  It was pretty creepy, but kind of cool too, since there was a fence separating us from it.

We had dinner with Tom's grandparents and the kids took a ride in the golf cart with Grandma Marilyn.  They thought she "was so awesome" and had no idea just how cool she was in her "fast" golf cart!

Scott & Diane left a few days before we did so they could drive a few hours to spend a couple of days with Scott's parents whom they haven't seen in a few years.  The kids were crushed when they left.  They just love them.  Even now, when Finley sees pictures from AZ, she gasps and says "Miss Diane!!!  I love her.  She's so nice!"  We feel the same way and loved our vacation with them.  The kids once again pleasantly surprised us with how well they do on airplanes.  After some nice comments from fellow passengers, we decided to let them pick out a little something special from the store when we got home.  All in all it was a successful trip.  Anxious to do it again soon!

Berkeley's 2nd Horse Show

Berkeley had her 2nd horse show on April 13th.  She got to ride her instructor's personal horse, Cajun, who turned out to be the largest horse in the competition for her age group so she thought she was pretty hot stuff!  She was thrilled and did really well.  Cajun got spooked and jumped when a portion of  the fence got moved, but Berkeley held on tight and seemed completely unfazed by it.  When we asked her afterwards if it scared her a little bit, she insisted that she wasn't - not one bit.  They all got blue ribbons and she proudly hung hers on her wall as soon as we got home.  It's fun to see her come alive when she's around horses.  She loses a bit of her timidness and seems to be in her element.  Great job Berk!