M&M's: Anniversary!

Wow! I can't believe it's been a year since we were crazy enough to sell everything and move our family to Nicaragua! It has been quite a year indeed. We have been fortunate and blessed to have shared so many incredible experiences. We have been challenged and stretched, but we have each been able to rise to the occasion and confront our challenges with new strengths. Our lifestyle here is so vastly different than it was in Utah and still doesn't feel altogether normal. We don't have to worry about many of the time consuming but less important tasks (think yard work and housekeeping etc) and we have much more time to dedicate to more important duties. **Not that Facebook bingeing doesn't happen, it does!** It has been really neat to wipe our slates clean so to speak and live a more simple lifestyle. We have tried to be careful to maintain the simplicity of lifestyle and focus on priorities. We all know how easy it is to find yourself bogged down "in the thick of thin things." We have also greatly enjoyed and looked forward to our weekend trips! We have been pretty consistent in taking advantage of our weekends to see the country and have family experiences. These trips have been invaluable in shaping our family culture and in broadening our perspectives on the world.

Here's a bit of a recap of the last couple of weeks.

Reid picked this hibiscus plant a few months ago when we bought house plants. He has taken good care of it and it blooms a couple of times a week! The blossoms are incredible!

Once a week the kids have a carpentry workshop class at school. Audrey made this MacBook so she can do her "work"

Here's the key board and it looks like she might be watching a movie on the screen. Creative girl!

Mitchell traveled for 9 days on a business trip at the beginning of the month. While he was gone the kids discovered that they REALLY love scavenger hunts! I set up a couple of hunts while he was away. The longest hunt had 16 clues and took be about 15 minutes to write all of the rhyming limericks and hide of the clues. It took the kids a full hour to figure them all out and they totally loved it! Here are a few pictures of them looking for clues on National Donut Day. They earned those donuts!

Redick and Reid Turned 5!!

They woke up to their traditional birthday tunnel!

How are they 5 already!?!?!!

This year Redick and Reid decided that inviting a couple of friends to the arcade sounded like the most fun plan. *Mom may have skillfully planted this idea in their minds because it is so easy, but hey they were 100% on board!

Getting ready to rush the arcade!

"Dabbing?" You know you're old when kids all do strange stuff and you have no idea where it came from!

It was a super fun afternoon! I wish I had gotten more pictures but I was trying to chase 6 kids around an arcade! Thankfully Mitchell took off from work early and surprised me in time to help!

Boy was that a great chocolate cake! Yum!

Some friends of ours invited us to go to Laguna de Apoyo with them on a Saturday morning. It was great! It's an ancient and dormant volcanic crater that is now a very deep lake. We enjoyed swimming, kayaking and jumping off of a floating dock. We also enjoyed a delicious lunch at the restaurant on the beach and good company with our friends. A great day!

Our great day ended like this. It added about 3 hours to our trip back home but everyone was in pretty good spirits anyway. It turns out the clutch completely died. One of the perks of Mitchell's job is the use of this car. It has been such a nice perk! Amazing Pia got us a rental car by the end of the day so we could get to church Sunday morning! A few days later our trusty Prado was all fixed up and ready for more adventuring.

Yeah, so this happened. I have one thrilled little 7 year old unicorn with pink and purple hair! Audrey came home from school telling me that you can make hair dye with crepe paper. She really wanted to try it and I needed some time to think it over. I did some research and found that it is a quite temporary dye and decided to let her do it. She LOVES it!

All of the kids performed in their end of the school year show. None of us have regretted the school switch we made back in February! The Nordic school has been a great fit for us all!

Looking cool!

Layne has been going to preschool 3 mornings a week since February too. It has never gotten easier for him when I have to leave but after he cries for a minute or two he loves school! His teachers Myelin and Karla have been so good with him! Neither of them speak English and Layne has learned Spanish so fast with them. He calls Karla the "Happy Teacher."

Reid and Redick with their wonderful preschool teacher Maria Jose. Wow. She has been great! R&R gave her a run for her money a few times and she has always been so loving and patient! It says a lot to me as their mom, knowing that they have struggled with behavior this school year, that they absolutely adore their teacher. They greet her with a hug each morning and a hug when it's time to go home. She is a really wonderful woman. R&R are also in a 100% Spanish speaking class. The teachers don't speak English and there is only one other child in the class who speaks English. They have adapted really well and are making huge progress with the language!

Audrey with her 1st grade teacher Ms. Paola

Now we're on Summer Break!!

The kids got these fun craft kits for their birthdays. They were fun to put together one afternoon this week.

The kids joined me in my YouTube workout one day.

Lots of reading and playing happening here!

This week Audrey got to take a sewing class! She absolutely loved it! She made a hand sewn tiny stuffed cloud, a drawstring canvas bag and a pennant banner!