Preschool Graduation!

We have loved Miranda's preschool. This is a picture of her Teachers Mrs. McDowell and Mrs. Senesac with her best friend in class Jacquelin. She has loved learning with them and I am constantly amazed about all the fun art projects and crafts they do.

Miranda and Jacquelin have been best friends from the beginning. They have so much fun together and Miranda will miss her dearly.

This is her graduation ceremony when she went up to get her diploma. She felt pretty special to be graduating because we had just been to daddy's graduation the week before.

They did a little program during the graduation and she did wonderful. At the very beginning she was very nervous and would not look at anything except her feet. I asked her later about it and she told me that she was scared of all the people looking at her. She loosened up pretty quick and did a great job.

We are so proud of her and all the she has learned. She is reading and loves to learn everything. Miranda is an artist and will tell you all about all her drawings and "artisting". She wants to be a mother and an artist when she grows up. We love you Miranda you are becoming such a beautiful little lady.

The Blue Cast Band Aid!

I just had to post a few pictures of Jacob with his cast on. He has done amazing getting use to it and still getting around with it on. (he scoots everywhere) It is amazing how resilient children are.

Jacob is not suppose to put weight on it at all so we have been carrying him around a lot but now that he has had it on for over 2 weeks he has started to stand up and try to walk around on it a little.

He gets his cast off on May 1st and although it has not been to bad (or at least at bad as I thought it would be) to have a cast on his leg we are very, very excited for him to get it off.

GRADUATION!!!

This is the best picture I could get of the hooding ceremony because of the distance but it was a special moment.

When you work so long and so hard for one thing it seems that nothing could really bring it to a close and do it justice, but yesterday we tried. Steven graduated yesterday from Purdue University with his PhD. It was a very special moment for him to walk on stage and be hooded (a Professor places a special drape or "hood" over your head to symbolize that you are equal to them) It was a very nice day and a special moment.

The thing that made it most special was to have both Steven's great parents here with us as well as my own wonderful parents.

I am so very proud of him and had a few moments of tears of joy. Now we think ahead to our next adventure.

We are starting ER visits early in life! Great

Jacob broke his leg!! Yesterday Miranda and Jacob decided that it would be fun to try and slide down our stairs on a cushion. Just for your information cousins don't slide, so when Miranda pushed the cushion with Jacob on top the cushion stopped and Jacob did not. Needless to say he hit his leg very hard right in the shin and broke it.

He was a trooped through it all, I think it was scary more than anything because he didn't know what they are doing. He now has a full leg splint and we will go to the Dr. tomorrow to get a permanent cast on. He can't put weight on it so we have to carry him everywhere. It will be interesting to see how he does staying down for so long.

As you can see so far he is okay with it because he gets to sit and watch movies more then usual.

Thanks to Grandma Mills we now have a Brand new wagon which will act as Jacobs wheel chair. The kids had so much fun with it and Miranda loved to pull Jacob around. They played together for hours today while Jacob sat and Miranda got to take him where she wanted him. It worked out well.

A Little Get Away

This past weekend we went up to Kirtland Ohio to take a little getaway and go visit Aunt Sherri and Uncle Kevin. We didn't take to many pictures of the weekend but one day we went to the local festival and the kids had a blast. This was Jacobs favorite ride. He loved to feel like he was flying a little plane.

Steven took the kids on a Ferris Wheel. They were a little nervous at first but after it got going they laughed and laughed when it tickled there tummy.

Easter Fun!

Have you ever had a day that everything seemed to go well, the kids were happy, you were patient and playful, your family just had a great day. Easter was one of those days. We relaxed together and had fun together. We didn't do to many things of note but it was a great day.

Jackson is such a sweet boy and he makes life easier with his calm and happy nature. We love him!

The Future

Steven's has been hired by a small private university called Buena Vista University. It should be a wonderful place to work that really focuses on the students and the quality of education that they get. The university provides Laptops and starting this year Ipad2 to all of there students and teachers to try to implement technology and improve the classroom experience.
The university is in Storm Lake Iowa, a small town in Northwest Iowa that sits on the north side of a small lake (3200 acres). The kids are most excited about a water park that sits on the edge of the lake, but they will also experience the sail boats, canoes, pattleboats, beaches, and parks. I am excited about all the great things that I have read and seen about the school system and community. It seems to be a great place to live.
There are so many things to figure out and organize for the move but we are very excited and have little time because while he doesn't start until Aug, we are going on vacations, selling a house, buying another, preparing new courses, etc.
We know that we are so blessed and we are thrilled to be starting this new adventure. We hope that when we get settled you will feel welcome to come out and visit us.
We love you all

Storm Lake, Iowa!!!!!!