Ian's Basketball Season

Today was the end of Ian's 2022 basketball season.  His team consisted of all classmates and Dad as the head coach, so it was a lot of fun for us all.  Most of the season just involved learning basic skills.  Today however ended with a game on the big court.  The team played a pretty equal team as the game went to six periods and still ended in a tie, 26/26.  Loved watching him play and am excited to see him continue to grow in his love for the game.

I Love to Read Month

Today was the official ending to Legacy's Annual "I Love to Read" month.  The entire month is devoted to reading more and reading your bibles.  The kiddos love this month because there are so many extra fun activities throughout the weeks.  This week ended with three super fun days!  Wednesday, was dress-up like a teacher, yesterday was pajama day (my favorite), and today was dress-up as your favorite book character.  The kids participated all week and I failed to capture pictures minus a few today.  The closing ceremony this year involved the head of school and principal competing in fun, odd competitions and then having nasty consequences for losing.  The kids loved it.  Following the ceremony, the kids present the project they worked on all month to the parents in their classrooms.  They did a great job.

CHARACTERS AND PROJECTS:

Kallen: Big Nate and All About Dr. Seuss

Ian: Caleb with the abandoned/hurt fox, Copper from his favorite series, Animal Rescue Center and All About Charlotte's Web

Maddie: Judy Moody and All About Lizards

Now that Caleb is in the fifth grade, he didn't participate in "I Love to Read" dress-up days or competitions but instead participated in the Wax Museum as Tim Tebow.  The fifth graders spent the month reading a nonfiction story about a famous person with a faith story.  They then made projects and become alive during the museum to educate parents about their person.  As a parent, it can be a lot of work, but really fun to see the end results. 

President's Day

Since the kiddos were off of school today because of President's Day, we decided to make it a fun day before the predicted snow arrived.  We spent over three hours at Urban Air, jumping, laughing, competing, and burning energy. The craziest part is they probably would have kept jumping if it wasn't for the fact that it was around 2:00 and I was hungry.

Caleb's Basketball Season

Today officially ended Caleb's first season of playing Legacy basketball.  The team consisted of all his fifth-grade classmates.  They played so well together and supported one another more than I have seen on any team the kids have been a part of.  It was super fun watching them grow this year.  Plus today they ended their season winning the championship tournament.  Way to go Caleb and the LCA Middle School Orange team!

Top 10 of 2021

Thanks to another year of Covid-19, one would assume we did nothing exciting, but thankfully that was not our case.  2021 was a full pact year of fun memories.  Once again below (in no particular order) is our 10 favorite things that took place in 2021.

1. Family trip with Nana to Disney World
2. Visited with extended family, Papa and Nana Speckman, CA Klausers and, Grandpa and Grandma
3. Family trip to the National Parks out west for 2.5 weeks
4. Celebrated 16 years of marriage
5. Swam in the Gulf of Mexico
6. Dedicated Maddie to the Lord at church
7. Watched Elyse, Caleb, Kallen, and Ian participate in basketball with Dad being their coaches
8. Kids had in-person education all year while public schools were distance learning
9. The annual Legacy family camping trip
10. Remodeled our main floor, especially our kitchen to have an island that sits all five kids.

Some other fun things that happened this year.

• All seven of us got and survived Covid
• Mom started working at Legacy to be around the kids more
• Caleb graduated from elementary school, started middle school
• Elyse made the JV team for volleyball
• Mom went to FL with her friends while Dad stepped up big time at home with the kids
• Started the hobby of geocaching
• Watched Caleb perform in his class musical while having a part, the snake
• Caleb learned the trumpet, the first instrument played by one of the kids
• Watched all the kids participate in the MANE event, especially fun to see Ian not give up after getting hurt.
• Elyse, Caleb, and Kallen all attended Camp Lebanon, loved it, and grew in their faith
• Swam together as a family in our pool

Well, we made it through 2021 with some tears and lots of laughs, so thankfully off to 2022.

Happy New Year!

Celebrating Christmas

Yesterday we celebrated Christmas at home in the simplest way possible.  It was so relaxing, stress-free, and really enjoyable.  We woke up wearing our annual new Christmas pajamas (kids chose penguins this year), opened stocking stuffers, ate breakfast, finished opening gifts while watching, "The Disney Christmas Parade".  Following that, we ate our simple meal of potatoes, ham, bread, and jello/pretzel dessert.  The rest of the day involved enjoying our new gifts, playing family games, laughing, and thanking God for his birth.  

Merry Christmas