Our Little Fish and other things...

Mikaela has finally taken to the water.  For the past two summers, she's talked herself into going down slides and dunking under the water, but when we actually arrived at the pool, the bravery vanished.  However, last night, with Daddy's coaching, she took to the water and went down the slide a dozen times.  We are proud of her!

Here are some other photos of happenings for our family:

running through the sprinklers at Graempa's

Moreland Family Water Park

 The Farmers Branch Firehouse Theater is performing Oklahoma.  Mike and I got a date out to see it on opening night.

 We had the opportunity to baby sit a precious baby girl of our dear friends from VVCC.  The kids and I had a blast!

Mikaela lost her first tooth back the first week of June.  She was super excited for a visit from the Tooth Fairy.

 Fun at the mall:

Father's Day

self-inflicted sticker mania

Making a Change

About a year ago, we started discussing the possibility of making a move. Mikaela only had one more year until Kindergarten.  We planned to enroll her in a dual language program*.  We'd either stay in our current district, where the best school for the program was 20 minutes south (in Farmers Branch), or move 5 minutes north to be in a new district, which also has a well established dual language program.  So... we decided we'd start fixing up our house a little and see what we thought.  In December, 2014, we redid our floors.  Still not convinced we were moving, we figured we'd at least enjoy the floors ourselves (and we have!). A lot of life happened Jan - April, but we finally made the decision to stay within our current district, but move south to Farmers Branch, closer to Mikaela's school, our church, my family, and many of our friends.  With this move we are also looking to downsize significantly.  We'd like less house (and more money) to travel with the kids, to entertain a less demanding career path for Donna, and just simplify our lives a little.  We know this move will be a great thing for us.  So after almost 9 years, we are closing the door on this chapter and excited to see what new adventures await.

In the past nine years we've:
*built a fence
*replaced the back windows
*replaced some blinds
*remodeled the upstairs
*remodeled the downstairs/kids bathroom
*replaced the cook top
*replaced the floor in all but the downstairs bedrooms and stairs (carpet)
*built in shelving for the under staircase pantry
*painted all rooms but the upstairs bath and master bath
*planted two trees
*replaced light fixtures
*replaced bathroom fixtures
*replaced a kitchen sink
*remodeled our closet with a wire shelving closet system
*replaced a garage door opener

And probably a few other things I'm forgetting...

We'll look back on this house with fondness for many memories made here:
*getting all 3 children in this house (yes I'm including our four legged doggie child; no, this isn't a pregnancy announcement)
*3 great vacations while living here
*two jobs (including Mike's current one)
*church change
*medical stuff (wreck; Mike's back surgery)
*30th birthdays

And probably several other things I'm forgetting...

At the moment - we are waiting for a contract on our home.  When that comes, we'll then begin the process of finding one to move into.  Temporarily if need be, we'll reside with my folks in Farmers Branch.

*dual language - Mikaela's day will consist of both Spanish and English instruction to give her an opportunity to leave elementary school as a truly bilingual student.