What is that little song Dora sings at the end of every episode? “We did it. We did it.” That is what I feel like singing when I think about John-Isaac graduating from Kindergarten! And I definitely say, “We” because it was a joint effort! He did such a great job and we are so proud of him!! He finished Kindergarten knowing 98% of all the things he needed to know to go to first grade, and we give God all the glory for it!! He is such a smart and bright little boy and we are so proud to call him our son:) He could not wait to get to go across the stage and get his diploma! He was one happy boy!!
John-Isaac and his friend Ethan. Every one always got them mixed up!
John-Isaac and his teacher Mrs. Oxford
John-Isaac and his aide Mrs. Meeks. She is our Mary Poppins!!:)
Later that night we had a little party to celebrate John-Isaac’s big day. We had cookie cake and he got a few presents.
John-Isaac loves those cards that play music. This one played “Pomp and Circumstance”. He LOVED it!
Please pray for John-Isaac as we make the transition to first grade in August! A new school, new routine, and new rules can be a little overwhelming to him. Please pray that he will be able to have the same aide. It will help him in his transition if he has someone with him that already knows him so well.
Linley played with this ball all day!!
O’Neal played ice hockey all through high school and is still a huge fan, so his groom’s cake was a replica of the Stanley Cup.
We had such a good time at O’Neal and Sara’s wedding rehearsal. We were able to visit with our good friends the Strickland’s and Pastor Rex Holt, who all came in from out of town to help with the ceremony. The kids all did a great job, and I am so happy that even Linley walked down the aisle all by herself!! Of course, we decided to bribe her! Brian knelt down at the front with her blanky and a cup of milk! It worked like a charm!! After the rehearsal we had a wonderful Mexican fiesta at The Station. I still can’t believe my baby brother is old enough to get married!! 
Layne getting placed where he is going to stand.
Layne and Grace.
Congratulations to my brother O’Neal for graduating ASU with a degree in biology! He worked so hard for four years and we are so proud of him!!
We really wanted John-Isaac to have his own team this year for the Autism Walk. Our wonderful children’s pastor came up with the name – WWJID (What Would John-Isaac Do?) Which is a perfect name for his team because you never know what John-Isaac is going to do!! We were hoping for 50 people and ended up with 100 shirts sold and 60 people walked on our team!! I am truly humbled by how many people care so much for my precious John-Isaac!! It rained that day so we didn’t get to have the walk outside. We really didn’t even get to walk, but it was still a wonderful time. We had a great silent auction, a wonderful band, and inflatables everywhere for the kids! We all had a blast! I want to send out a very special shout out to SERVEPRO and SENSATIONAL KIDS for their sponsorship of the shirts. We could not have done it without you all!! Thanks to everyone who came out and supported our wonderful little boy!! We love you all:)
Layne and John-Isaac getting to hit each other without getting in trouble!!
Since John-Isaac’s birthday is May 1st, we usually have his party the last weekend of April. We just do family because John-Isaac is a little overwhelmed by the whole birthday party scenario. This year we thought he might enjoy it a little more if we didn’t have a party and went on a little trip instead. For those of you who follow my blog, you know that John-Isaac is obsessed with Snoopy. Well, we found out that Kansas City has a theme park and the kiddy portion of it is called Camp Snoopy. We didn’t tell either of the boys that we were going to take a trip. We just got them up and acted like we were getting ready for school. We put them in the car and headed out. It took them a few minutes to figure out that we weren’t really going to school but somewhere else. We still didn’t tell them the BIG surprisebut that we were taking a little trip and we were going to do some really fun things. That night we found a really cool place to eat called T-Rex Cafe. It was just like Rain Forrest Cafe except with dinosaurs. They loved it. The next morning we got up and went to the 70th anniversary exhibit of the Wizard of Oz and met Dorothy and all of her friends. And then John-Isaac and Layne wanted to have lunch at the Crayola Cafe. After that we went back to the hotel and we gave John-Isaac a card to open. Inside was a letter that told him he was going to get to go to Camp Snoopy. He was so excited. There were not many people in the park and we found the Camp Snoopy portion fairly quickly. As we came around the corner Snoopy, Charlie Brown, and Sally were all standing there withno one around them. It was like they were just waiting on John-Isaac!! He took off running to them. Of course, he ran straight to Snoopy first! We took a few pictures and then went inside where they were getting ready to do a little show. They all came out and invited all the kids up on the stage and sang camp songs with them. It was very cute. John-Isaac got lots of birthday hugs from all the characters. He was in heaven!! We had a great afternoon riding rides and having lots of fun. The next morning the boys begged to go back to the T-Rex Cafe so we let them eat lunch there before heading home. I think they had even more fun the second time!!
After dinner the boys got to dig for fossils.
Linley has always loved Layne’s Build A Bear Max, so with the birthday money that she still had we thought she might like a Build A Bear of her own. We showed her different ones and this is the one that she picked out. Layne helped her stuff, bathe and dress her bear while John-Isaac played with all of the different sounds they have for your new little friends. Layne named her Mimi and said that she could be Max’s sister just like Linley was his sister. I think Layne thought this would probably get Linley to leave Max alone, but that didn’t exactly happen. Now, she just wants to carry them both around!!
We love Easter at our house! I really do believe it is the most special day of the year. We love dying and hunting the eggs and getting all dressed up in new clothes, but it is the heart of Easter that we hold so closely to our hearts! That the dreadful grave could not hold our precious Jesus!!! That on the third day He rose again!! I love that:) 
