Swim Lessons

Mia & Jack started swim lessons yesterday. They both had so much fun! Mia is in Level 3 and loving it! Yesterday the teachers assessed the kids on their skills. Mia did great! Her favorite part is swimming in the deep water.


Jackie loved his lessons too. He is in Preschool 1 (beginner level). At first, he wasn't so sure about the whole thing and wanted me to sit and to get in the water with him. I assured him swimming lessons would be fun! Within a few minutes he loved his teachers and realized that I wasn't leaving, but staying to watch him and take pictures. He was in heaven and did great with his two teachers, Ms. Meagan and Ms. Sarah. He did well participating and loved to help the teachers get supplies and find treasure!

Hopefully today we will remember to bring snacks!!!

Summer update!

Hi Family & Friends,
It has been awhile since we posted! We thought y'all would like an update from The Bachtel Family. January through June was kind of a blur. Scott & I finished up our 10th year in Teaching. Wow! Kind of amazing to say that.

In January, Special Olympics really takes off. I coached Basketball, Gymnastics, & Track & Field from January through April. The athletes did great and Pflugerville also got to host the Spring Games Soccer, Track & Field competitions again this year. Our Adapted PE Team was also selected to be the "Everyday Heroes" for the district in early May, and we were the focus for an article on the website. Kind of surreal to see yourself on the homepage of your districts website! I also had the opportunity to put together a slide show for our end-of-the-year Special Olympics banquet. It was the first time I had ever done something like this, but it was really fun. The slide show had over 1300 pictures....a bigger project than I realized at first. Scott did an amazing job taking care of the kids and house while I was gone to practices, scimmages, and competitions. What an awesome husband and dad!!!! He is so excited because next year his classroom is being moved to the new wing at Connally and he has a whole wall of windows! He also has the opportunity to teach Algebra II classes.

Mia finished up her Kindergarten Year with Mrs. Jones. She is officially a 1st grader now. We are so proud of how much she has learned and grown during the past year. Mia earned three Pfire Ant Pride Awards for her responsible behavior at school. It was so nice to be able to work at her school, and have so many teachers and the principal tell me what a wonderful child she is...of course we already knew that!!! She is doing so well learning to read. Every night we tackle a new book and she is doing awesome!

Jack turned 3 years old at the end of April. That is another WOW! Feels like just yesterday that he was kicking me from the inside!!! All of a sudden he is so tall and looks so grown up. It seems like the 2nd child grows up much faster. Jackie wants to do everything big sissy does. He got a Spiderman bike and helmet for his birthday and he is already riding it around the cul-de-sac trying to keep up with Mia! Of course his bike has training wheels, but I was so surprised at how quickly he picked up moving his feet. He continues to go to Ms. Mary's during the day. We are so thankful for Ms. Mary is our lives. She is truly a God send and is amazing with the kids. Mia is also going to join him for the summer to be Ms. Mary's helper.

Scott & I are going to work the 1st session of summer school. We are both taking July off to relax and rejuvenate ourselves! We figured after 10 years we deserve it!!! We are heading to California for our semi-annual visit to see family and friends. Our plan is to be out there for the 2nd half of July. Hopefully we can catch up with y'all! Thank you for being a blessing in our lives!!!

Love,
Laura, Scott, Mia, & Jack

Special Person

Hi Family & Friends!

Happy New Year to all of you! Sorry that we have have not posted in a while. We promise to be better and keep everyone updated on the latest events here in Pflugerville, TX!

We ended 2009 well and headed out to California for a visit to Grammy & Papa's house for Christmas. We were so happy to see Auntie Lisa and her cute belly! We can hardly wait to see Baby Oliver! Mia and Jack both agree that she is having a girl. Uncle Christian shared his belly with us too!!!! We also got to see Gee Gee, Poppy, Auntie Kathy, Cousin John, Andrea, Ally, & Xande. We went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, played at Dennis the Menace Park, and took lots of walks. We even saw a humongous sea lion by the wharf!!! What a fun trip! Check out the slideshow in the previous posting for pictures.

Grandma & Grandpa B were visiting family in Ohio, so we didn't get to see them this time. We also missed seeing Uncle Ed, Tia Anna, Eddie, & Daniel this time, but look forward to seeing everyone this summer!

After our visit to California, we returned to Texas to freezing cold weather!!! We spent the next week together inside. Santa brought us a Wii, so we have been having fun learning how to play baseball, golf, and bowling. Mia is quite a quick learner and currently beats Daddy in bowling!!! Her high score was a 228!!! Very impressive!!!

We had a fun time together, celebrating the new year, and sleeping in. After a week, we were ready to return to our regular schedule though and for everyone to sleep in their own beds!

Mia was very excited to return back to school, because she got to be the Special Person in her class. The pictures above are of Mia working on her self portrait. Mrs. Jones sent home paper for us to trace Mia's body. The Special Person gets to bring in a life size portrait, pictures, and share special awards/collections with the class. Mrs. Jones, Mia's teacher decorated one of her bulletin boards with all of Mia's things.

Mia brought our collage of pictures from Andrea to share with her class. The kids really enjoyed the pictures! Thank you Andrea for the cool present. Mia also brought in her Barbie Dolls, shell from Monterey, money from the tooth fairy, and medals from The Little Gym and Chuck E Cheese. She also got to write her favorite color, food, book, and toy. She was very creative and said that her favorite food was cranberry sauce. We thought that was pretty cute!!!

Jack is doing well too. He is learning new words every day. He loves to play with his trains and cars. Papa, he talks about your train everday!!! He loves his sister and wants to do everything she does!!! Very sweet!!!

I guess that is about all for now. We hope you are all doing well. We miss and love y'all!!!

Thanksgiving & Christmas 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! Mia and Jack had a busy day. We started the day getting haircuts. Afterwards, we came home, ate lunch, and took naps. We got up and headed to the Round Rock outlets for Trick-or-Treating at the stores. We thought Jack would be happier going out early. We also met Mia's friend Danissa.

Half an hour later, both kids were exhausted and hungry...so much for that plan!!! We came back home for dinner. Mia went out later on with Mommy, and our neighbors, to Trick-or-Treat around our neighborhood. It was so nice to have an extra hour of sleep this morning!!!

PES Fall Festival

This past Friday, Mia's school had their annual Fall Festival. We headed over to enjoy some hot dogs, cotton candy, popcorn, and games.

The fire truck was a very big hit for Jack. He wanted to go bye bye in it!!! The picture above is Jack sitting in the truck, and he did not want to get out. We distracted him with popcorn!!! Mia loved the jump houses. It was a fun night.

Daddy's Birthday

Happy 38th Birthday Daddy! We celebrated by making his favorite dinner- Beef Stroganoff and for dessert we had Apple Pie with vanilla icecream!

The Buddy Walk

Last Sunday, Mia and I went to the 10th Annual Buddy Walk to support the Down Syndrome Association in Texas. One of my Special Olympic athletes walks every year with her family, and she invited us to walk with her family again this year.

Mia and I went last year for the first time, and she had so much fun! We had a fun time watching the helicopters land, petting baby farm animals, get our face painted, playing games, eating lunch, and dancing to Hannah Montana! Mia and Christina had a blast singing along to the look alike Hannah!!!

After singing we walked one mile with 3,000 people!!! We also rode the paddle boats before we went home. On our way home, we saw a field of Longhorns and had to take a picture for Daddy and Jack!!!

Daddy was so sweet to let us leave him on his birthday for a little while. Afterwards, we came home and cooked him dinner and had apple pie with ice cream for dessert!

A natural Teacher...

Mia recently came home with a project that she worked on at school. She was so excited to read it to us, and wanted to read it to you too! We are continually amazed each day by how much she is learning and growing.

Marathon Kids Kick-Off

Last weekend the Family headed down to the UT Mike Meyers Soccer and Track stadium to join the Marathon Kids Kick-off in Austin. Mia was so excited to see her PE Teacher, Mrs. Swope (2nd picture), and thousands of other kids ready to run their first lap of the Marathon.

By February the kids will have run a whole marathon 26.2 miles. Pretty cool! At the end of the lap Mia got a water bottle w/the UT Swimming & Diving athletes autographs, a place mat, and bumper sticker. When she finishes her marathon she will also earn a free T-Shirt! We are so proud of her!

Proud Parents

As many of you already know, Mia received a Pfire Ant Award from school for being a responsible student in September. What you may not know is that the school Assistant Principal called our house afterwards, and left a message for us! Sorry it has taken so long to upload and post, but you know how life can be. Hope you enjoy the message as much as we did!

Mia's 6th Birthday

Mia celebrate her 6th Birthday at none other than Chuck E. Cheese! She has been celebrating there for the past three years, but that doesn't seem to matter to her. Several of her buddies from daycare came, Danissa, Reiss, & Ciera. Family friends joined her too, Eddie, Frank, Sara, Hailey, Eli, and Kirra! They all had fun playing games, dancing, and singing with Chuck E. Cheese himself!

Mia thanks y'all for her treaures! She loved the phone calls too! She had a wonderful 6th birthday and we look forward to the coming year.

Ready, set, go....Kindergarten

Mia enjoyed her first couple of weeks of Kindergarten. She loves her teacher Mrs. Jones and is getting to know her classmates. Her class goes to art on Mondays, PE on Tuesdays/Thursdays, and Art on Wednesdays. The kids are adjusting to the schedule so they take a "rest" in the afternoons for a bit.

Mia was so excited the other day after school because she started to learn about Math. Daddy was very happy about that! Every day she comes home with a new project.

This past week we got a call from the Assistant Principal, because Mia received a Pfire Any Pride Certificate from Mrs Jones, for being a good helper in class. The school mascot are the Pfire Ants (everything in Pflugerville starts with a PF!!!) in case you thought we spelled it wrong! With her certificate, she also received a coupon for a free meal to a local deli, and they announced her name on Friday during the morning announcements. She will also get to stand up at the Pops Rally (monthly assembly) in a couple of weeks to get her award. We are so proud! What a great way to start Kindergarten!

Kindergarten here I come...

On Thursday Mia received a postcard from her new Kindergarten Teacher, Mrs. Jones. Friday night we all headed to Pflugerville Elementary School for Kindergarten Orientation. Mia got to meet the Principal, PE, Music, & Art Teachers. She also got to check out her new classroom, drop off supplies, and meet some of her new classmates. There are 21 kiddos in the class. Mrs. Jones is so excited to have Mia in her class. She has been teaching for 33 years, but you would never know it with all of her enthusiasm!

Thanks to mommy working at the school we got to get an early peek at the gym. Mia thought it was really cool that she would have her own "happy dot" to sit on during P.E. Mia was ready to run and play in the gym!

Say lots of prayers Tuesday! Mia will have her first day and Daddy and I hope to be strong. We will drop Mia off to her classroom the first day and afterwards the PTO is having a Boo Hoo breakfast for the parents in the library. We thought that was pretty cool! Remember to say lots of prayers!!! More pictures to come...