The Latest

I can't believe we've already been on summer break for a week! It has gone by fast and it has been wonderful! We have enjoyed our time at home so much... we've done some fun arts & crafts, some school work each morning for avery & tatum, played outside alot, and just enjoyed being together. It is a blessing from the Lord to have weeks like this one where there's not much on the calendar and we can pretty much go where the wind takes us.

Here's my four little blessings. I have alot of pictures of the side of Laney's head, she hasn't quite fallen in love with the camera like the older two. And notice Avery is sitting in the bumbo seat... it's so funny how you put something away then get it out again a year later and it is the most exciting thing in the world again.

We have been working hard on potty training this week. It's been very frusterating. There have been many times over the past few weeks when I just have to remind myself, "Laney is two." That's the only explanation you can give sometimes. She's old enough and smart enough to "get" potty training, but she just refuses to put it in the potty. Today we went to the resale store and bought a cute little potty chair that she can sit on. Is that gross to buy a used potty? I'm wiping it down with clorox wipes before I let her use it. Anyway, I thought maybe she is afraid to sit on our big potty with the little potty ring you put in it, maybe she will feel more comfortable with her feet on the ground and her hiney on her own little potty chair. So tomorrow we will try that.

Bed, Bath & Beyond advertised a miniature chocolate fountain in their last mail-out, and I had a great coupon so I took the plunge and got us our own chocolate fountain. It was so worth it! It was funny to watch the girls... at first they politely used the little toothpicks I gave them to dip the strawberries, bananas, marshmellows & pretzels in the chocolate. But after a few minutes Tatum just started dipping her whole hand in the chocolate and shoving it in her mouth to get all the chocolate off. Needless to say, it was a hit and I already can't wait to use it again.

Bodie's first time to sit in the bumbo... not quite ready to be left alone in it, but he did enjoy sitting in it when I supported his head.
Last week I said goodbye to my students, my teacher friends, my classroom and my career. It was emotional and exhausting, but wonderful and fulfilling at the same time. It was alot of work packing up my classroom, so I brought the crew with me and let them watch movies in my classroom while I worked. They enjoyed sitting in my big desks and watching movies on my big screen.


It was hard to say goodbye to my U.S. History team, Carol, Deb, Michelle & Joey. They have been so supportive and helpful to me over the past 7 years. Even though I was part-time and never attended the team meetings because they were in the afternoons, they never made me feel bad about it, in fact, they made my life so easy by giving me so much help with lesson plans, answer keys, advice and just being there whenever I needed them. I will miss each of them so much.

I will also miss the students that came through my door over the years. The fighters who have been given nothing for free, who have fought for every dime they have, they live only 10 minutes away from my neighborhood, but live in a whole different world. Who wear blue jeans that are 6 inches too short because they can't afford to buy new ones, who wear the same sweater almost every day because it's the only one they have, who wear stained or torn clothes, not to be cool, but because it's either that or nothing. I would've liked to buy all of them nice clothes and take care of them and show compassion to them, but it's too big of a job for just me. So I had to turn my heart off a little bit and not let myself feel that. But I have been able to listen to them, to smile at them, to ask them questions about themselves, to hopefully bring some happiness to their life by making my classroom environment a happy place for 50 minutes.

I am relieved to be leaving the thugs, the disrespectful, violent, troublemakers, who regardless of what cards they've been dealt in life, have chosen to hate, to steal and to destroy. They are the ones who make high schools scary and unsafe. They are the ones who I was afraid to deal with because I knew I needed to be firm and strict, but I was afraid they might retaliate and I have four kids I want to live to raise up, so they often got away with whatever they wanted because of my fears. I will not miss them one bit. I am relieved to be done with them at least for now.

I will miss my FCA club. I have seen many students come and go over the past five years, through times when we had 70 kids coming each week to times when we were lucky to have 12 show up. It has truly been the highlight of my career, getting to lead these leaders, trying to give them refuge in the dark place God has placed them. I have often said, "I would never let my kids to go school where I teach." However, I feel compassion on these kids... I feel like they are my kids and God has chosen them to be a light in this place, and without them, there would be no hope. I am so proud of them for standing up for Him and for truth, even when it is so unpopular. I hope and pray my children will be bold and unashamed of the Lord like these students are. I balled my eyes out saying goodbye to them. I have tears in my eyes right now just thinking about them. I feel so honored God gave me the privilege of being there for them.

I will not miss waking up at 5:00 am every morning, nursing Bodie, getting dressed and ready, pumping for Bodie, then getting to work by 6:45 am. I will not miss juggling our kids around between my mom, Brian's mom and sweet friends. I like having them home with me. I will not miss having to plan my lessons for the next day after I am already exhausted from doing the dishes and getting them in bed. I'm not complaining, I am extremely grateful for the job God gave me to do while we've begun our family. God has taught me humility, priorities, and faith. He has helped me conquer fears and trust in Him alone. I am excited to see what He has planned for this next chapter of our lives.

Right after school let out, our dear friends the Kindle's, came for a visit! It was the best thing I could've asked for after a crazy emotional week. Jennifer and I stayed up until midnight catching up on life and our kids loved getting to play together.

Here's Brett & Parker meeting Bodie

Here's the Kindle's & Kratky's after a fun morning on the waterslide:
Kate, Laney, Avery, Brett, Parker, Bodie, Tatum & Crew

We always look forward to our yearly visits with the Kindle's. Jennifer & I always seem to pick up right where we left off and she always leaves me feeling encouraged, happy and challenged. I love her friendship so much. She has three boys and one girl, we have three girls and one boy... there's got to be a marriage in the works somewhere in that mix!!!



So we went to the mall in hopes of getting a picture of all four of the kids and an individual one of Bodie, since he is 10 weeks now. It was a disaster to say the least. We learned some valuable lessons, though, which I am still too frusterated to explain right now. So after the disastrous photo session, we put the kids on a bench in the mall and here's what we got:

This was in the photo session. The photographer left us right in the middle of the shoot for a five minute phone call. Seriously? With four young children and a baby on the lap of a 6 year old? Really? Yeah, so I pulled out my own camera and decided to take advantage of the cute pose. Nothing to frame, but it does show their personalities.

In these pics, you can see Tatum's new bangs really well. Last week she came to me in the kitchen to tell me something and I was taken aback by the short hair in the front of her head. I grabbed her and started examining it and wondering what on earth I was going to do to salvage it. I asked her why she cut her hair and her answer was perfect: "It was hanging in my face so I cut it off." Makes perfect sense, huh? So after a little trimming, I got her bangs semi-even. I actually think she looks pretty cute with bangs. My brother Martin cut my hair when I was about her age and it is bringing back memories of the pictures I've seen of me after that tragedy.

I did end up buying a couple, so it wasn't a complete loss. Next time, we plan to make a trip to San Antonio so my sister-in-law Dominique can take some pictures of them.

So a few other updates: Brian got a new job! He will be an Assistant Principal at a middle school that is very close to where Avery will be going to school next year. It is awesome to see God's hand in it all. He is also working as an AP for summer school starting next week, so he is excited to get an idea of what it will be like.

We also celebrated our 10 year anniversary on June 2! I am so grateful for all the many ways God has blessed our marriage over the years. We have both changed so much and sharpened each other. We enjoy our life together, we enjoy putting our heads together and getting done all the things that raising four kids require, we enjoy sitting in the backyard and watching our girls run around and play, we enjoy walking through each day knowing that we're in this together. This is the life God has given us and we love it. I am excited and thankful to picture my future next to him, going through the ups and downs and knowing that he is my partner and we will both try our hardest not to let each other down. I pray that when I wake up each morning, my goal will be to do him good and not harm all the days of his life.

Sweet 4 year old

Brian made this sweet card and hung it above Tatum's chair before breakfast on her birthday. One of the many reasons I love my man is because he does stuff like this for our girls. He is such a sweet daddy.
Tatum turned 4 on May 16. She has been looking forward to this day for so long. All our kids birthdays are within 5 months of each other and Tatum's is the last of the birthdays, so she has to be very patient to wait for her big day.

We took her to Build-A-Bear and she got to make and dress her own puppy,"Sophia." We've never been there before, but I thought it would be fun to try it with Tatum, and we had so much fun! We will definitely be back for more outfits and more cute stuffed animals.

Then we went to Tatum's favorite restaurant, Casa Ole! She loves it because her kids meal comes with a bowl of chocolate pudding. I reminded her that Chuy's has push pops for dessert, but she wasn't swayed, so Casa Ole it was. Here's our Tate being honored with the Chimichanga birthday song and a big bowl of sopapilla ice cream!

And her second present... her first bike!

I mentioned in a previous post... for Avery's kindergarten graduation, we got her a T.Bear just like the one her class had all year. I had it in the car when I picked her up on the last day of school. She was so excited! It was a great surprise! I thought she might want to come up with an original name, but she has decided it will be called T. Bear just like her class bear.

We also had Tatum's first dance recital this weekend. She did a tap dance to "Three little fishies" and danced ballet to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." All the tiny little dancers in her class stole the show! It was so cute!

After the show, we gave our dancer some pretty daisies.

Dance was extra fun this season because Tatum got to dance with her friend Brooke, whose parents are our good friends, Brian & Erica. Their older daughter Brea and Avery had so much fun playing and running around together. Here's our two families together after the recital. My Brian and Brian & Erica all went to high school together, so they are friends that go way back!

Here's Brian and Brian with their beautiful dancing daughters!

I caught my two men watching SportsCenter together and it was just too cute not to photograph.

Our Bodie was two months old yesterday! Here's his two month old photo shoot.

Gig 'Em Aggies

Laughing at mama

Trying to hold his head up all by himself

This smile melts me into mush

Sweet little Bo, we have enjoyed every minute of these two months with you. You are so easy going and happy. You smile all the time now. You have even laughed a couple times. You are never more happy then when you are right in the middle of all of us talking and laughing with each other. You are a reward from God and a dream come true in my life. I am so thankful God let me be your mama!

kindergarten, birthdays and smiles

Bodie and his two cousins are already becoming good pals. I'm so happy for Bo that he will have these two boys to play with as he grows up.

These pictures were a couple weeks ago... Matthew at 4 months, Bodie at 5 weeks and Tyson at 2 weeks old. Matt, Bo & Ty will have all kinds of fun together and probably get into a little trouble too. Such a cute little trio of boys, which is kinda fun and refreshing after all the girls before them!

We went to a free KSBJ brown bag concert at Chick-Fil-A with our friends, the Spenn's, a couple weeks ago. We heard Laura Story sing her song "Blessings" ("what if His blessings come through raindrops, what if His healing comes through tears, what if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near...") Such a good song. Here's Bethany and her boys, Noah & Carson, holding Bodie. That was such a fun event, I love that KSBJ and Chick-Fil-A team up to offer such fun family events that are FREE!

Tatum got to celebrate her birthday at school a little early since her birthday is the same day as the super summer send-off. Here she is wearing her birthday crown, birthday medal and big sister medal she got at chapel that day.

Avery turned 6 on April 29 and all she wanted for her birthday was a real Jessie costume, the one in the Disney store. So here she is in all her glory. It's cute that she looks up to Jessie so much, and I think Jessie is a pretty noble character, but I must admit, I will be really excited when she moves on to another hero. I'm a little tired of the Toy Story gang.

Laney had her splash day at school last week. They had some very creative water activities set up for these little ones. Her favorite thing was using a paintbrush and water to paint the side of the church.
Oops, this picture was supposed to be with the other concert picture. Rylin wanted a turn to hold Bodie too, since her brothers got to hold him, so here's Rylin, Avery's BFF, holding Bo.
And the birthday party. It was such a fun day. Beautiful weather, lots of sweet friends, wonderful helpful family, wet little kids squealing everywhere you looked.



They wanted a cookie cake this year instead of a regular cake, which was fine with me! They wanted it to have the Toy Story characters, of course, but since they cookie place can't do copyrighted characters, we decided on a cowboy hat & boot. I can't believe these two are six and four years old! Happy Birthday Avery & Tatum!

I love that Martin & Dominique are Texans again! They have been in Michigan for 10 years, so we haven't gotten to have them be a part of our little parties and gatherings... until now! They drove in from San Antonio with my parents for the party and took over the photography job for the party, and did a way better job than I ever would have done, by the way. I love these two!

So we thought this would be Brian's last baseball game ever, but it looks like God has other plans. The AP job he was promised, fell through, so it looks like he will be back for another year of baseball! We don't see the big picture like God does, but we trust that He will provide for us and put Brian right where He wants him. That is the truth and we believe it. Anyway, here's Brian taking a quick break between innings to give the girls some love.





We do enjoy these baseball games, even though the season is long and exhausting for all of us. Part of me is glad we will be back next year for some more Eagle baseball. Hopefully we will get a few more "W"'s next season!

Avery officially graduated from Kindergarten yesterday. I can't believe her name and 1st grade are in the same sentence now. It seems like this year has flown by so fast. Here she is with her class singing "I am a promise." She is front and center.

She loved all her teachers, but Mrs. Joiner definitely had a special place in Avery's heart. She brought out the best in Avery and took a special interest in her and it meant the world to us.

Cake and punch after graduation

Blurry picture, but here is Avery with her Kindergarten diploma, along with Mrs. Young, the lead Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Kunz, her computer teacher and Mrs. Joiner, her math teacher.

And it pays to be last sometimes. Avery was the last in line, when Mrs. Young told the kids to all turn around and walk the other way, which made Avery first in line! Which meant she got to hold T. Bear, the very special class bear and lead her class out of the sanctuary.

Tatum holding the gigantic "4" balloon from their party.

I love this little smile. When I put him on his changing table and lean over him and talk to him, he just smiles and coos and tries to talk to me. We just moved him up to size 2 diapers. His 0-3 month clothes are getting too tight, so he is already wearing a few of his 3-6 month clothes. He has a tiny bit of peach fuzz on the top of his head and some light brown hair on the back of his head. His eyes are still blue. He is about to outgrow his swaddlers and I'm not ready to un-swaddle him at night, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that one. I guess I need to buy the next size up. He goes to bed about 10 pm and wakes up about 5 am. He loves his paci. In two days, he will be 8 weeks old. I still almost have to pinch myself when I dress him in all his blue sportsy stuff. We are all so smitten with him.

We had award night at Awana last week and Avery finished her first Hang Glider handbook so she got a book award and ribbon. I'm so proud of all she has learned in Sparks this year. Next year she will still be in Sparks, Tatum will get to start Cubbies and Laney will be in Puggles!

I started back to work about two weeks ago. God has been so good to give me strength and grace to cover all the bases during this last crazy month before school is out. My mom is driving in every week to keep the kids for two days, my mother-in-law keeps them for two days and I have a couple sweet friends who are keeping Bodie one day a week while I'm at work. It has been exhausting, for all of them and for me, but I am so thankful for our moms and friends who love us enough to help us make it through these challenging times.

Two and a half weeks left!