Oklahoooooma...

You may have noticed I have been eluding to a transition. In fact, we are right in the middle of a major transition. Kyle took a new job as a defensive coordinator at Southern Nazarene University in Oklahoma. The last 2 months have been a whirlwind, but I'll give you a cliff notes version

Timeline:

December 8th: Kyle was offered the new job

December 14th: Kyle's resignation was announced and he told the team

December 17th: We met with the realtor to list our home

December 18th: Kyle's last day at Malone

Kyle's going away reception for the team…and Nora with her best friend, Eric

December 19th-January 1st: Traveled to CO for the holidays

December 22nd: House pictures were taken

I took this picture as we walked out the door for the airport…it was the cleanest our house had ever been ;) We spent a lot of time cleaning and doing house projects that week

December 23rd: House officially listed

January 1st: Received an offer on the house, Returned from CO

My boys sipping together during Daddy's final meal in OH.

January 2nd: Kyle left for OK, after some negotiations house offer accepted

January 7th: House inspection
January 23rd: Moving day

The last few weeks have been incredibly crazy as we try to sell a house, say our good-byes and find a new home, but we are so thankful for this new opportunity and all the many blessings we have received along the way!

Our church family has been so incredibly supportive and helpful! Just to give you an example…the first week Kyle was gone so many people offered their help. In the span of 4 hours one morning I received texts offering to deliver boxes, an invitation to dinner, an offer to watch the kids and help with the house projects from the inspection. That was just 1 morning! There were so many offers to watch the kids, bring boxes or help in whatever way we needed. It made leaving so much more difficult ;) We will so miss the church and the friendships we have built.

Christmas Ornaments {2015}

Each year the kids get a new Christmas ornament. Thus far I've made them each year…though that may not always be the case ;)

I try to make ornaments that represent their interests for the year. Past years have included a Toy Story theme, Doc McStuffins, etc.

This year we've got balls and Batman!

Nora loves being Batgirl

Sawyer really enjoyed all things super hero during the past year

Kolter adores balls, but his favorite is a football

A boy & his ball

1st semester {Preschool}

Nora adores school! She loves her teachers, Miss Judy and Miss Erica!

Her favorite activity is painting!

She always comes home with several creations!

This is one of her masterpieces

Nora made the tree and turkey for Thanksgiving

 These are the dresses she likes to create (and wants me to sew ;)

Her adorable turkey attempt

 And some more paintings!

I spent a little time in her classroom and she gave me a full tour of the art station and the dress up area.

She also made several friends. Her best friends name is Brynn and they are so cute together!

1st Semester {Pre-K}

Sawyer loves Weaver, his teachers and his friends! We are so blessed to have him at Weaver!

Here's a sampling of his work from the 1st semester:

He has finally shown some interest in writing. He especially likes to make lists. This was the first list he made at school and it lists all the animal powers he would like ;)

paragraph explaining the above picture

Translation: I see a orange pumpkin

Sawyer is also enjoying learning to read. At the beginning of the semester he learned his color words.

I love this picture! Sawyer drew himself and added crazy hair because he "had crazy hair" that day (i.e. he needed a hair cut ;) Then his classmates wrote things about him.

Some holiday crafts

Thanksgiving is…Jesus dying on the cross, picking cranberries

What would you take on the Mayflower…sun, daddy, pillow, moon, Earth, bed, spider wall, snake, Elmo and fire

This was Sawyer's first letter. Technically he wrote it at home, but it was for his teacher. Translation: I miss you Mrs. Delap. I love beans, my mom and dad. I like Buckeye guys. I love Kolter.

This is Sawyer's first make at home project. They were studying rural/urban/suburban communities and each student was assigned a different community building/place. Sawyer was assigned a suburban fire station. He and Daddy designed and created the fire station. Daddy did most of the construction and Sawyer painted it and added the details (like the fire bell and the fire pole).

Sawyer making a kindness chain at school

I had the pleasure of serving in Sawyer's class several times. They had a couple of theme days and I helped with the crafts. Sawyer loved visiting Mommy's station!

Sawyer's Birthday

Someone in our house turned 6 last week!

We had a fun day of celebration including: balloons and a banner when he woke up, his favorite breakfast (scrambled eggs), school with fun treats, a party at Chuck E. Cheese and lots of fun gifts!

This is his typical pose…enjoying his eggs

His treats for school were rice krispie Lego's…two of his favorite things. He and Nora even helped make them.

Sawyer wanted TMNT cookies, but when we got to the bakery and he saw all the cakes he changed his mind. He got to choose the cake of his dreams ;) and the bakery did a wonderful job! Ironically, he is not much of a sweets eater, so he probably only had 2 bites of the whole thing.

He's been anticipating a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party for well over 6 months, so needless to say he was a little excited ;)

He loved every minute of the games, food, gifts and the ticket blaster!

Playing a game with his friend, Grady

the whole gang

blowing out his candle

He had a lot of fun with the ticket blaster

Honestly, he didn't really care about the tickets. His favorite part was playing games with his friends!

After a few hours of games, pizza, cake and cotton candy…it was time to call it a day. I think it was a successful party. This was our first outside of the house, pay-someone-else-to-do-it party. We went that route due to some transition in our own life and I'm so glad we did! It was low key and exactly what Sawyer wanted!

Sawyer's 6 year post is going to be very tardy since I don't even have his well child appointment scheduled, but it will be coming someday ;)