End Of The (School Year) Update!

School is out for the girls and Cameron only has 2.5 days left! Alyssa's 8th grade year ended with a dinner and formal with a "Evening in New York" theme at school. She looked B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L in her royal blue dress, and from the second I zipped it up for her and she turned around, I started crying. I can't believe that my little boo boo bear is going to be a freshman in high school next year and is turning into such a beautiful young lady. She had a ball at school and even danced with her social studies teacher with a group of friends. They taught him (he is a whopping 24 years old) how to do the reject and how to Dougie. She came back from the dance on cloud 9 and ready for their 'senior' trip to Elitch Gardens (six flags) Monday. The entire 8th grade and all of the teachers went for the day. They didn't get back until almost 7:00 that night and bless her heart, she was exhausted! She had a lot of fun, and it was a good thing for her to do, she even got on the big roller coasters with her friends (texting her sister the whole time). It was a great weekend for her and she is still talking about it.

Mikayla wrapped up her first year in middle school with a presentation in her drama class. She did a pantomime with some of her friends in the class to demonstrate some of what she learned during the quarter. It was a really cute play, and they all did a great job. It was fun to be able to go up to her class and see what she has been learning. Drama was always one of my favorite classes, so it was a lot of fun watching her. She doesn't seem to happy about being in the 7th grade next year because she doesn't like the 'new' 8th graders. I think things will be okay, and we are excited to see what amazing teachers she will have next year.

Cameron is heading into his final stretch of school as well. Since he had a 2 week fall and spring break, he has to go to school until the 15th. However, it hasn't been all bad. He had an all day field trip to AmeriTowne in downtown Denver and they all had a great time. He also had another full day field trip at one of the gold mines here and went panning for gold and visited some caverns. He had a blast and came home with a huge rock that he is convinced has silver and gold in it. His last day is a half day so he really only has a little bit of time left. His teacher, Mrs. Williams has been out on maternity leave with her daughter, but we were expecting her to come back for the last week of school. She was able to extend her maternity leave so she will not be back until the 15th, where it is just a half day. Cameron was pretty upset about it because he completely LOVES her. He has been writing her letters and even drew a picture for the baby. His teacher, her husband and their new baby came up to the school last Friday so the kids could meet Maddie. She was born on Mikayla's birthday and the entire class had been a part of the pregnancy along with seeing the sonogram pictures, helping to come up with names, and betting on whether she was having a boy or a girl. They all loved being able to meet her in person, and we thought that was very neat that she did that.

The kids have spent almost every day swimming since school has been out. Thankfully their new swim suits have held up with all of the washings they have gone through. We have grilled and swam and the kids are so tan, so they should be set to go to Florida in July. The weather has been really nice here so it has been great for swimming by day, and sitting by the fire pit and making s'mores at night. Mom and Memaw came up to visit us for a bit so they have joined us at the pool, the grill, and all of the kid's end of the year events. We have taken them for mountain pizza at Beaujo's and will be taking them for a cricket burger as well. They have made the rounds at Caribou and I think they are on their way to having all of the drinks on the menu.

Cameron has begun taking Martial Arts classes. He has his first test at the end of July for his yellow belt, and he is doing well. He needs to make sure that he kicks with the top of his foot when he does his round house kicks, but he is doing very well. We both thought it would help with his focus, concentration, and self esteem. The school he goes to had come to do a demonstration at his elementary school. I took him up to the school for a private lesson from their owner (a 3rd degree black belt!) who worked with him and awarded him his white belt at the end of the lesson. Cameron LOVES going. He goes twice a week, and I think if I would take him up every day he would be fine with that. We might add one more class when school is over, but he just loves it. He takes it very serious, pays close attention, and practices at home. He is doing awesome! I can't believe that next year will be his last year in elementary school; but let's not talk about that because I will start crying again!

The trip to Florida has been booked and the kids are really looking forward to it. They have been looking at all of the rides online and planning what they are riding in what order on the days we are at the parks. We teased them about getting matching family shirts to go to Disney like they have on the commercials, and the funny thing was they were okay with that! We are NOT doing that, but I was surprised they were okay with the idea!

That is the end of the school year wrap up! So as you can see, even though things are winding down, they are not slowing down at all!

13 Days Left.......

I can't believe that we are on the last stretch to the end of the school year. Alyssa has a lot going on for the end of 8th grade. She has a dinner and dance for the end of the year. The dinner is being catered and the dance even has a theme; "An Evening In New York" . Alyssa is wearing a beautiful royal blue dress, and we even found a nail polish that matches perfectly. We are going to get her a pair of shoes dyed to match and then head over to Charming Charlie's for some accessories. She is going to look absolutely beautiful! Not that she doesn't every day, but this will be extra special.

The following Monday she has her graduation ceremony and then she and the rest of the 8th grade will head off to Elitch Gardens for the day. She is very excited about hanging out for the day with all of her friends and teachers. I still can't believe that she is going to be in High School next year. It still seems so surreal.

Mikayla has been working on a project for her science class since January. She has to give a presentation for the entire 6th grade, the deans, the teachers, parents and the principal next week. She has to dress up for this, and that is the funny part. She can't wear jeans or shorts, she has to wear a dress, so we are heading over to Hollister this Saturday to get her something to wear. Thankfully she likes the dresses there, so this won't be such a fight. Mikayla isn't really the dress wearing type. She had her first volleyball game Tuesday night and she made two points for the team. They did really well, and we have another game tomorrow. She really likes playing on the team and is doing really well.

Cameron has to go to school a little longer. Since he had a two week fall and spring break, he has to go to school until the 15th. He is okay with that though, and hasn't complained too much about it. He did really well on his science fair project and on his animal research project on the red wolf. He is doing well in school and really does have a ton of friends. The last time we were at his school with the girls Alyssa was shocked at how popular her little brother is. I don't know why she is surprised, because all of her friends LOVE him, including hugging him every time they see him and texting him often. He will love that when he gets a few years older.

Bouke just returned from a business trip to Miami and has decided we need to take the kids to Florida this summer. We did some checking around and found that we could get some good prices on tickets, so we are heading to Orlando in July for a family vacation. We will have a slight layover in Dallas, so we can drop Gracie off with her Grandmas. We are taking the kids to Disney, Busch Gardens, Sea World and the beach. It should be a lot of fun and we both are really looking forward to taking the kids on this trip. They are super excited about it too, and once the countdown for the end of school is over, I am sure the countdown to Florida will start.

Nana and Meamaw are coming up for a few weeks next month and then we are going to head down to Texas again for a few weeks. The summer will be full, but it will also be a lot of fun!

That is all that is going on in the world of The Hale's. I will post pictures of the girls in the next update

Science Fair

Tonight is Cameron's science fair at school. He did the best job on his project. He took some old baby teeth that we had saved and placed one tooth into Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew, Sprite and distilled water to see what the effects of soft drinks has on teeth. He did the whole experiment for a week and a half and the results were pretty disgusting! The teeth in the darker sodas turned black, the mountain dew tooth turned bright yellow, and the sprite tooth turned a chalky white and shriveled up. He had a lot of fun taking it into school on Monday. He said that all of his classmates were really grossed out by the experiment. He did such a good job on it and we are very proud of him. He has to explain his project to some high school students tonight, so he is a little worried about that, but he will do fine.

Mikayla finished up her project on Aztec human sacrifices and that was pretty gross as well. We learned several things about the rituals that were disturbing. She did a great job on it though and I am sure she will get an "A" on it. It was very colorful, and had a ton of facts about all of it. I never knew how many sacrifices the Aztecs performed, and to be honest, historians aren't even 100% sure of the number. It was an interesting project, however morbid it was!

Alyssa is getting ready for her 8th grade graduation/dinner/dance. We got her the most beautiful royal blue dress to wear. We have decided to dye some shoes platinum and I found some nail polish that was the exact same metallic royal blue for her nails and toes, so I am sure we will head over to the nail salon the weekend before. We will also head over to Charming Charlie to see what other 'bling' we can find to complete the outfit. She has been looking at hair ideas too. I have no doubt she will be amazingly beautiful!

That is all that has been happening in our world, I will post some more pictures on the next update!

Crazy, Busy, Beautiful!!

I can't believe that April is almost over and that May is just around the corner. Spring Break is over for all three kids and they are all now back in school. You would think that things would be a little quieter, but that isn't the case. Things are crazy and in full swing as we have headed into the last quarter of the year. The kids are in their last minute push for projects, tryouts and volleyball games. They have new enrichment classes this quarter, but they all seem to be enjoying them. Cameron's teacher is due to have her first baby next week, so we will miss Mrs. Williams for 6 weeks while she is welcoming her new daughter. She plans on coming back for the last few weeks of school, but we will really miss her while she is gone.

We ended up at the Cherry Cricket for hamburgers our first Friday back in Colorado from our trip. Mikayla really wanted a hamburger all week, so we honored her request with the best hamburgers ever! Speaking of Mikayla, her 12th birthday is in 10 days! I can't believe she is already that big, and I am so proud of how beautiful she is inside and out. She is gearing up for Volleyball season and I am sure she will do excellent and her team will do well too. Her basketball team was undefeated, and I am sure the same will happen with this team.

Cameron is finishing up his science fair project. He has taken real human teeth and placed them in different sodas to see the effect of the soda (and all the chemicals) has on your teeth. It is a totally gross project but it is also totally cool! We are having a lot of fun seeing what the effects are and recording the data. He also has an animal project due next month that he is doing on Red Wolves. He has to do all of the research, complete a book and do a power point presentation as well. He is doing a great job on that as well!! He also has a play based on the book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs that the entire 4th grade has written and produced. He even has a few lines. They have also written the music, so we are anxious about seeing that too!

Miss Alyssa has been doing a clinic at the high school for the Poms team. She is trying out next week, and she is excited about it. I am super nervous about her trying out, because I know how much she wants this, but I am trying to act like I'm not. I can't watch her tryout, but I will be up at the school waiting for her, as she will find out that day. So I will be at the high school nervously awaiting the results. I know she is amazing and I know she will do fine, I just don't like worrying about it. It totally sucks when they get older and you can't protect them 24/7. So please keep your fingers crossed and keep her in your prayers.

Well, that is all that is going on with The Hales this week. We will keep everyone posted as to what is happening next!

Spring Break!!

We headed down to Texas for Spring Break to see all the family and had a really good visit. We got to see everyone, and Aunt Kathy looks really good. It was 87 when we landed on Saturday, which was quite different from our weather in Colorado. But, the next several days were cool and in the 50's. Since it was overcast and drizzly, it was nice. Thankfully it wasn't to hot.

We got our mexican food and margarita fix, and Bouke had some business to tend to down in Houston, so it was just me, the kids and the grandmas for a few days. We headed to buy shoes, and then we headed to Sam Moon to get some ankle bracelets for the girls and some bows for their hair. They also got to go shopping at Hollister for their early birthday gifts, and came home and modeled all of their new outfits.

Bouke got to go see an old friend for coffee, and catch up with him, and I was able to meet an old friend for dinner and margaritas. We had a lot of fun, and I was even able to meet her two lovely boys.

All went very well, until this morning as we were getting ready to leave for the airport. Bouke got a text on his phone letting us know that our flight had been canceled. I can't believe that they sent that message 2 hours before the flight was scheduled to take off. So we had to call our rental car company and extend the car for a day, and had to scramble to get on another flight tomorrow morning. I guess the good thing is the flight tomorrow leaves early so we will be home early, but the catch is we are expecting 5 inches of snow tomorrow, and all we have is short sleeve shirts and no coats. So that does totally suck. Hopefully, it will hold off until we get home.

All in all our spring break was really good, and we will still make it back in time for the girls to get ready for school Monday. Cameron has another week off, so he will get to sleep in and enjoy some time with his friends. Thank you again Texas for a lovely time, and we will see you again this summer!

Spring Break and Other Items

We are headed into the last few weeks of school before Spring Break. The girls have a week off and Cameron has two weeks off. We are headed to Texas for a week to see the Grandmas and the rest of the family. The kids (and Gracie) are excited about the trip and we are too. We haven't seen everyone since Thanksgiving, so it should be a nice visit.

The girls decided to get their ears pierced again a few weeks ago, so now they have an extra hole in their head. We took them to the mall and waited FOREVER for them to get it done. Apparently it was "let's get our ears pierced" day in Colorado, because we waited in line for close to 2 hours. It was so busy there that there were wall to wall people, plus there were some girls who looked to be about 5th grade doing a scavenger hunt in the mall, so they kept running in and out taking pictures on their phones. Poor Cameron and Daddy had a lesson in patience to learn. Once it was finally done though, the girls were happy and they looked good.

Cameron is now 10 years old! We celebrated his birthday at the Lego store and took him to Pei Wei for dinner. He also requested Cold Stone Creamery for desert, so he got a birthday milkshake. This is the only kid I know that doesn't like cake except the gluten-free chocolate cake I make, so we ended up with ice cream. As long as he was happy, that is all that mattered. He is up to his eyeballs in legos now, and has had a lot of fun building with them.

Alyssa has decided to try out for the dance team at the high school for next year. She is currently involved in a 6-week clinic to learn what they will be expected to do at the tryouts. She doesn't have the actual tryout until the end of next month, so keep your fingers crossed that she makes it. She is such an amazing kid, that I can't imagine her not being offered a spot, but I also know the competition is pretty fierce. They are a championship Pom's team so they can be pretty selective, but she is amazing!

Both girls are gearing up for Volleyball season after Spring Break. Alyssa plays first then Mikayla has her games, so we aren't running the risk of having to have each of them have a game on the same day. I am still trying to find a league for Cameron to play baseball in, but it is harder than I thought it would be, but I haven't given up yet!

Well it looks like spring is around the corner, our weather here has been beautiful, but I also know it can change in the blink of an eye here. We are supposed to be hitting 70* by the middle of next week, but I also know that can change and we can be looking at a foot of snow instead, so I guess we need to enjoy the nice weather while it lasts.

That is all that is happening with The Hale Family here in the beautiful state of Colorado! My next update will be from The Lone Star State!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

I hope that everyone reading this had a great Valentine's Day! Cameron came home yesterday after his class party with a very special Valentine that a little girl from another class gave him. She is convince that they are 'made for each other' ! I pulled it out of his backpack and read it out loud (with his permission) to his Dad and sisters. I don't think he had read it yet, because bless his heart, his face turned as read as his shirt! He ran into the other room saying "oh my gosh! I am SO embarrassed!" I did have to grab it from Mikayla who wanted to call this little girl, because she had given Cameron her phone number. Now, I know my son is very handsome, but he is 9 and I am NOT ready for this yet!! I was happy though because they were allowed to make a Valentine at their party for someone special, and I am happy to say that that Valentine went to me, so for now, I am still on top!! The girls came home with candy from their friends, but if they got anything from any boys, we don't know about it. Overall, I think they had a good day.

The girls were gone a lot this weekend. They had birthday parties to go to, and they found out that two of their good friends are moving at the end of the week. They were pretty upset about it, so they spent the night at another friend's house so they could hang out and spend some time together. I know they will miss them a lot, and they won't even get to see them at school, because they are going to a completely different district, so it will be hard. I am not sure what this weekend holds, but if the weather is as beautiful as it has been the last few days, I know they will be outside with their friends all weekend. It has been in the low 60's here, with bright blue skies and some wind, absolutely perfect! If they don't have parties or plans, we may have to take a drive up to the mountains, it is just too pretty to stay inside!

That is about all that is happening here. We are planning our trip to Texas for Spring Break still. It is a little strange, this time last year, we were planning our trip to Colorado looking to move here! What a difference a year makes!