New School Year

School has started back up and we are getting used to new routines.  Jaxton is a big 4th grader and has moved into the Prarie House for Upper Elementary.  His class consists of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders all combined.  His teachers are Jamie, who he had a couple years ago, and Abby who is new.  This year there are three full classrooms in Upper, each with about 22 kids.  We are excited for the new beginning and look forward to all that the Upper Elementary has to offer this year!

Cooper is the top dog, a third grader in Lower Elementary.  His class consists of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders.  His best buddies are Cameron Stump and Noah Bowser.  He is a leader in his class and enjoys helping the younger students.  He has been lucky to have the same teachers for 3 years in a row, Meghan & Lori. They are wonderful!

Kaylee is a big Kindergartener.  She also is in the same class as last year, since the classrooms hold ages 3-6 year olds.  She has 1 of the same teachers, Abby, and a new teacher, Ashley, who is phenomenal.  She loves being part of the oldest group of kids and doing things that only Kindergartenders get to do.  She goes to music class and learns Spanish and gets to stay for lunch as well.  She is learning how to read so well.  She is just picking it up fast and it is so exciting to see her learn.

Dawson is starting another year of a co-op preschool group.  There are 4 kids, Keagan, Beck, Crew, and Dawson.  We rotate homes and teach the alphabet and different themes twice a week.  We have field trips too which are a lot of fun!  Dawson is enjoying the new group of friends!

Simplx Raffle

We held the annual Simplx Security Raffle with our Simplx team and friends and family.  It is always an exciting event.  The employees worked hard to earn raffle tickets for a couple of months ahead of time.  The container of tickets was jam packed full and the predictions of who would win what prize was in the air.  We did a summer Hawaiian theme party complete with Hawaiian decorations, food, and games.  The kids had a ton of fun, as did all the families.  We are so grateful for every employee that makes Simplx the team that it is.  It is exciting to have such a large Simplx group to gather!

Lake Jamison

Nate has so many wonderful Simplx customers.  One kind couple, the Furneys, invited our whole family out to their lake house on Lake Jamison.  It was such a fun time for all.  They brought their two granddaughters to play with our crew.  We took their boat out to the sandbar and joined the lake like for the day.  It's a whole different scene out on the sandbar that we never knew existed. People go there to just hang out on the weekends.  There was even a fast food restaurant boat to go grab some food and people had floating picnic tables and all kinds of fun things.  We had a giant "lily pad" to play on that floated on the water.  The kids loved that.  Kaylee, Jaxton and Cooper could all touch the ground, so they just played nonstop in the water. We had a feast of a picnic on the boat and spent most of the day out there getting in and out of the water to play, relax, and eat.  On the boat ride back to the house both Dawson and Kaylee were rocked to sleep by the boat.  But Little Nathan couldn't settle down to nap the entire day!  He finally nodded off a couple minutes after buckling him in his car seat to drive home.  

We were lovin it!  Maybe someday we'll get ourselves a lake house and lake toys 😄.

Fire Station Breakfast

M&Ms The Fire Department had a special breakfast so we took the opportunity to go get some pancakes and sausage.  The kids got to hop inside a firetruck and try out the drivers seat too.  They loved it!! Dawson was so looking forward to going to the Fire Station all morning.  He was thrilled to be able to get inside and pretend to drive.  He looks like the fireman type.  We could totally see him as a firefighter one day!

Camp Chief Little Turtle

The Stump family invited us to a memorial weekend campout. We were lucky to snatch the cabins for the weekend for our camping comfort. We all had a lot of fun. We had foil dinners over the campfire and Smore's of coarse. All day the kids rode bikes, played in the lake, ran up and down the giant Sand dune Mountain and tried out canoeing and kayaking. So much to do! The boys got to kayak by themselves for the first time. Nathan got a ride in a canoe for the first time, and he hated it. He was pretty frightened. The Sandune's were a hit for everyone. The kids played flashlight tag with flashlights and glow sticks in the dark. It was a memorable trip that we will probably do again next year.