Oh my! It has been months since our last blog update for Brianne and so much has happened! Time has just gone by this year and it feels like it was only yesterday when we rang in the New Year, but no, we're in August (almost September even!).
Brianne kicked off the year with her 6th birthday. I know, I know, it is hard to believe that someone looking as young as I do, has a 6 year old! I can hardly believe it myself. I'm constantly looking back over the years wondering where they went and how they could have passed us by so quickly. This year her party theme was Minions! And boy does she make a cute minion. We want to thank everyone who gave her clothes, as she has been growing like a weed and I feel like we're getting rid of another outfit each week!
Fast forward to May and our Kindergartner was officially reading over a Level D, spelling words, doing basic addition/subtraction, and had officially completed Kindergarten. There were ups and downs, moments of tears and joy, but overall she had a wonderful time and thoroughly enjoyed her teacher. It was long after she completed her last day, she was talking how she's going to start First Grade and can't wait to meet her teacher and classmates (naming off several of her current classmates in hopes they will be with her for First Grade). I wasn't ready for that. In fact, I told her, she couldn't be in First Grade until she passed my test, which was a summer of fun. We got to relish the accomplishments made this year so far, before we start off a new school year!
So the summer began with getting the pool ready, riding bikes, playing outside with hoola hoops and soccer balls, even baseball! We visited The Wilds and took a good friend of her's (and her family) with us. Which made a really fun adventure as the girls chit chatted about the animals they got to see, while the rest of us just joked about how cute they were being and having our own conversations with Keaten and their youngest. Everyone seemed to have a good time and enjoyed the various stops including a bird sanctuary, cheetah exhibit, and so forth.
Next on the Summer of Fun, we got to celebrate the 4th of July by watching Columbus's Red, White and Boom event. Grange hosts a party on one of their garage roof tops, making a prime location to see the fireworks, but also a wonderful environment that let the kids run around, dance to music, get balloon animals, and chat with other employees and their families. Next year, I hope we can talk Brianne's closest friend and their family in coming to that too, as I think everyone will enjoy it.
It was long after the 4th of July, that we packed everyone up and drove out to Tennessee to visit Grandma and Papa and Uncle Andrew and Aunt Missy (and their dogs). We hiked, biked, swam in the river, grilled out, and Uncle Andrew, Papa, and myself helped build a new porch railing (which turned out really nice, if I may say so myself). Can you guess what her favorite part of vacationing at Tennessee was? Putt Putt! Yup, we got to go play a really nice course and the kids had an absolute blast! In fact, she even got a hole in one!
After spending time in Tennessee, we sent Brianne to go stay with her Auntie Amber and Uncle Kris (and their two boys). I really don't think Auntie Amber knew what she was getting into... as the Kindergartner stage is an interesting one. Sometimes also referred to as Captain Obvious. Where they tell you what you already know/hear. We were told, it was a weekend of "Fletcher (the youngest) is crying", "Finny is playing with that toy again", but that couldn't help us smile as she got a glimpse of her times to come. The highlight of her weekend at Auntie Amber's was losing another tooth! I quickly made mention that the tooth fairy only reimburses up to a dollar, so anything above that is their own doing (as knowing Uncle Rob, he'd try to give her more than a dollar to set a new precedent if she was at his house)!
The Summer of Fun ended with Mommy taking the kids to a working 1880s farm. I thought we were dropping them off at the farm to do work for a week, but it seems I misunderstood and they were simply visiting. Either way the kids seemed to enjoy it as they got to see farm animals, watch them bottle ketchup, and check out the equipment they use to do all of their farming.
But Summer wasn't all fun and games, Brianne had chores and homework every morning she had to complete before they would be off to a fun activity. We had to keep those Kindergartner skills fresh, as we didn't want to start First Grade by forgetting what we've already learned.
If that weren't enough for this year, Brianne has 4 new cousins! Yup, the Simon Clan has been busy this past year. Starting with Uncle Rob and Aunt Megan who had Miss Mikayla in January, then Uncle Kris and Auntie Amber who had Mr. Fletcher in March, followed by Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Tia who had Miss Brynn in June (their 1st), and finished with Uncle Nathan and Aunt Brittani who had Mr. Wyatt in August. Needless to say Brianne couldn't wait to see the new cousins (and the older ones), at each of the Simon events/festivities this year.
Brianne officially started First Grade on August 17th. She is enjoying her teacher, Ms. Meyers, and is starting to get more accustom to her new classmates. We actually just signed her up for a "cheer camp", which is a week in September where she gets to practice with the high school cheerleaders for a week and then par-take in the half time football show! She had the opportunity last year, but didn't show any interest, this year, she seems to be all for it, and so we'll see how it goes!
That is our beginning to 2016 and I hope to not wait another 8 months for the next blog post, in fact, hopefully we can get to doing it a lot more often again. Plus since Brianne is getting to a point where she can read confidently, she may start trying to read these and wonder why there is such a gap!
So until the next blog update, have a quick glance of our 2016 year thus far with the following photos!
Love,
Matt, Kami, Brianne and Keaten