Time for an Update!

Wow! Where did the month go? It was a busy one so I'm going to share a little about what we've been up to.

Passion

Passion finished up her basketball season and loved every minute of it. It was fun to finally see Passion find an activity she really loved. We've tried gymnastics, dance and soccer. She liked all of those activities well enough but not like she has loved basketball. She made several baskets during her games and really improved as the season went on. She's definitely got the height for a basketball player and she just won't stop growing! I learned that Travis likes to yell a lot at basketball games (kinda embarrassing to me sometimes) but he was always super positive and helpful toward Passion. It was a fun season and really exciting to watch Passion learn and grow.

Passion has also been taking piano lessons since the beginning of the year. She has also loved this. I rarely have to remind her to practice and when I do have to remind her, she happily marches in to practice. I love that she is learning so quickly and that she will just sit down at the piano for fun and make up her own songs. She has already finished all the primer level books and is into the level one books now. She is learning so fast and I love that she loves it!
Passion just has a few more weeks of 2nd grade. It's hard to believe that year has flown by so quickly. Passion's favorite subject (besides recess) is reading. She is reading 204 words per minute according to her most recent IRI test. I don't attribute her reading skills to anything I have done. She just gets a lot of practice. I can hardly keep enough books in the house for her to read. She's reading so often sometimes she gets in trouble for doing it when she's supposed to be doing something else like cleaning her room!
Passion is also learning a lot of Spanish at her new school. She really enjoys it and thinks she's pretty smart when she can say a Spanish word that I don't know.

Passion also lost her 4th tooth. Her smile is a little empty right now but I think she looks pretty cute! What do you think? Passion will be eight in about a month and a half (so crazy). She'll be getting baptized on June 30th. She is very excited for this step and can't wait to be eight!

Kindly

Kindly has really grown up over the last year. And thank goodness for that since I've got to send her to kindergarten in a few months. She still cries when I drop her off at primary sometimes but I think she's more ready for kindergarten than ever before. She has learned a ton in preschool this year. She knows all her colors, almost all of her shapes (rectangle and square are just so tricky), rhymes really well, can count to 50 and knows all her letters and their sounds. She is very excited to go to kindergarten but says she's going to miss hanging out with me.

Kindly is still her little brother's helper. Every chance she gets she gives him his bah (pacifier) because who wouldn't want one all the time right?! Unfortunately I'm trying to ween him off of it so it's not always "helpful".

Kindly started gymnastics in January and it turns out she's quite the little tumbler. She finishes up the season next week and is very excited to get the trophy she has earned. I think gymnastics has been good for her. She has gained confidence and learned to listen a little better.
Kindly cannot wait to loose a tooth. Each time Passion looses one, Kindly is sure that one of hers is loose. She'll be five in June but unfortunately for her, all her teeth are nice and stuck in her mouth!

Wisdom

Wisdom is no longer my little baby. He is a full grown little boy. He will be two in June and he's got the two year old thing down. The main difference between him and the girls is his strength. I've almost dropped him several times in the parking lot when he throws a fit about getting in his carseat. He is so strong he has almost thrown himself from my arms.
Wisdom loves to snuggle. Every time he gets hurt, even the tiniest bump on the head, he needs a hug from me. He'll run past Travis' open arms and come to me. This always makes me smile and feel so loved. Here he is wearing a headband and carrying a pink purse. Someday he'll hate me for posting this but doesn't he just look so cute!

One of my most favorite things about Wisdom is how tender hearted he is. If he hurts someone he is very quick to say sorry ("sar sar") and give them a hug. He is also really talking. The other day he spoke is first full sentence: "I lub momma!" Then he went on to say everyone else he loves but he said his momma first!
He's really into repeating what you ask him to say or he'll repeat what the girls say. This can be good and bad. He's learned to yell when he gets frustrated. If Kindly takes something from him lately I'll hear, "Caw caaaawww! No!"
He calls Kindly: caw caw, Passion: Pah pah, and Charlie: Cha cha. My sister's name is Nicole. Wisdom calls her "cole" and gets very confused when I tell him we're going to Kohls. I swear he's looking around every clothes rack waiting for his Aunt Nicole to pop out. Today he was eating his breakfast and I told him how we were going to Grandma Hughes' house when he was done. He smile and said, "Gamma Huse." Then he went on to say, "Ganpa Huse" and then "Blackie Huse" (Blackie is my parents dog). I really love this age and have so much fun watching Wisdom learn and grow.

Jana

Well I officially turned the big 30 last month. I really thought that my birthday would come and go without any big excitement which was just fine with me. I wasn't exactly excited about making the jump into my thirties and I wasn't ready to announce it. Well Travis took me by surprise and threw me a surprise party. I was super shocked! I seriously had no clue he had anything planned. My first thought when I walked into the house and saw everyone was, "why are all these people at my house?" It took me a few more seconds to put it all together because after all, party planning is what I do, not Travis. Travis is terrible at keeping secrets and doesn't know how to throw a surprise party. Sorry honey, but it's true, or it was true! He did an amazing job! My party was a blast and it was so fun to have so many family and friends over. It was a great way to kick off my thirties! Thank you Travis!

Travis

So Travis has introduced some changes to our near future. Last Fall he started talking about going back to school and getting his PhD in Social Work again. This was pretty typical and I didn't really think anything of it. The topic comes up every couple of years so I agreed to help him study and retake the GRE and hesitantly agreed he could apply to a few PhD programs if he got a better score. Well he scored 100 points better and started applying. It was a lot of work to apply and when all five applications were done and sent in I was starting to feel like "he better get into at least one school or that wasn't worth it." At the same time knowing that I didn't want him to actually get in since all the schools were anywhere from 6 hours to 26 hours away. Which would definitely mean a move.
Well it turns out that, as always, things happen for a reason. In February we got word that Travis' contract at the Mountain Home Air Force Base would run out on May 11th. We knew the position would not last forever and that when the funding ran out, so would his job but we thought it would at least run through this fall. So it was a bit of shock that we would be out of work in May. Well it wasn't three weeks later that we started hearing back from the schools. The first two said no. The third one, University of Texas said yes. The fourth school said no. The fifth school, Arizona State University said yes.
It was a crazy mixture of emotions as we got word from each school. Kind of a love/hate thing for me. I knew that our future wouldn't be in Caldwell but it was so hard to let go of the idea of just staying here where I was comfortable. Over the past two months, as I've adjusted to the idea of leaving and as everything has fallen into place so perfectly, I finally feel ready to spread the news. We are moving to Arizona in July!



I'm still not completely excited but I'm doing much better. And I am so proud of my husband. Both schools he was accepted to told us the received nearly 100 applications and that Travis' stood out boldly from the others. Both programs only accepted 6-7 students. It was such an honor to be considered and an even harder decision to choose which one to go to. Texas was farther from family but had a really amazing program. ASU was 10 hours closer to home. In the end the decision was made when Travis interviewed and was offered a job as Child Welfare Program Coordinator Senior at Arizona State. The pay was great, and the position came with full benefits and a full tuition waiver. There are tons of other benefits including $25 tuition for me if I want to get a second degree. Yes, you read that right, $25! Pretty sweet deal. Travis starts his job July 9th then he'll start school full time in the August. It is two years of course work, then his dissertation which will (hopefully) only take him one year. So for those of you from Caldwell reading this, we will hopefully be back in just a few years!

So there is our family updates. I told you it had been a crazy month! There are exciting times ahead. Wish us luck!