Drew's End of the Year Party 2014

Drew brought donuts to school for his summer birthday celebration. This is one of our favorite traditions!!! David wakes up early to go get them and Drew is admired by all when he gets to school :)

 Drew's form is excellent for the limbo

 His favorite event was the "pig roll." He loved racing others and won each time. The kid apparently is coordinated using his head and crawling across the ground.

 He also man-handled this balloon. By the end, he was jumping up and down to get the most air in it for every pump. He was taking it seriously!

 What started off as a way to refresh oneself, quickly became a 'drag everything to the edge and scoop it out' event instead of retrieving it by the toes. Dilan and Drake even joined in and had some fun fishing.

 Drew and his best friend having fun posing. After going to Drew's party, the first thing he said when he walked in the house after school was "thanks for coming to my party, mom." It felt good that he appreciated that we were there supporting him. :)

 Drew got all As for the entire year! We are so proud of him and I think he is very proud of himself. He also got "best speller" in his class with a little help from me as I give him a spelling test on his words each week and he has to write them 5x if he gets them wrong - it works!!!

 Drew also performed in his Spring piano recital last weekend. He played "Minuet" and "In Summer" (Frozen movie). He did great!!!



Dilan's Pre-K graduation!

Dilan graduated from pre-school! Here she is walking in in her cap and gown :)

 Ms. Elizabeth and Ms. Lea Ann were her teachers. They called each child's name and they got to walk across the stage. Dilan said she was a little nervous but when she smiled for the picture, it was so genuine and she was so excited for this special event. :)

 Ms. Robyn was also there because she had taught Dilan mostly through the year until she took a kindergarten teaching position near her home.

 Dilan recited scripture and sang songs. My favorite was "Jesus is my Superhero"

 Family picture after the hour long ceremony. David was coming back from Austin for work and got there just in time to see Dilan graduate. They also made a CD of images of the kids when they were babies and now and I had to fight back the tears on that one. Can't believe Dilan is ready for Kindergarten!!! :)

Mother's Day 2014

Mother's Day was very special this year because we had Colleen with us. David started our day off right by making us omelets :)

 I got cards, oven mits from Drew and Dilan and flower pens from Drake. Drew also made me a book of poems and he said such sweet things up to and including how I couldn't play sometimes because I had to go to work... literally in every poem he wrote. I felt bad but didn't say anything for a few days and then I was able to talk to him about me working one night a week. We discussed the many reasons I decided it was important for me to keep my skills current and what me working that one night allows us to do (vacations, etc.) He understood a lot more as to why I do it. I know he really just misses me on that one night but when I explained he's at cub scouts and he's not really there, he really just said that he missed me reading to him on Wednesdays nights. :)

Dilan and her classmates wrote recipes for a cook book. Dilan chose to include my recipe for "mini hot dogs" and she said that I spread the bread out on a "square thingy" - that's my girl! It was so funny reading how each child came up with how their moms made some of their favorite dishes.

 We chose a theme of "favorite things" for Colleen. David's sisters helped me put the basket together with ideas and we chose a church book, Il Divo CD, Snickers candy bars, a Blu-ray movie, and Muddy Buddies because they reminded me of Buddy. Colleen had said that she had really been thinking a lot about him this week so it was perfect. We also had all the grandkids videotaped saying their favorite thing about Grandma and I made it into a cute video for her. Drew said his favorite thing was when she taught him how to play checkers on the plane, Dilan loved that Mimi let her play on her phone, Drake loved her hugs and kisses and I got Dakota playing the piano with subtitles that she loved that Mimi plays the piano. It was so cute.

 The kids picked out this fabulous balloon for me and orange roses because I like the color orange. Pretty cute

 Then, we had dinner at Fuddrucker's Sat night to celebrate US!

Soccer ends and Field Day Dilan

Dilan's first season on the Sunnybees comes to an end. We had our last game which did not end well (I think we only lost two games the whole season and this was one of them) but we had a fun party afterwards. Lots of breakfast foods, sunnybee cookies and trophies to hand out. Dilan was very happy and really enjoyed playing soccer this season. She has an awesome coach who really stuck with her and made it fun.

 Dilan had field day and had a blast. She dressed in her athletic shorts and top and put on her true athletic shoes. She had a lot of fun. Her favorite part was going on the bouncy house. She also made "goo," bowled, and had a bike race.

Field Day 2014

Drew was excited about field day this year. Green third grade shirt, FC Dallas hat, and sunscreen all on and ready to go! We went in the morning to see a bit of the competition and here's my favorite picture where Drew is getting soaked with cold water. :)

 Drew having fun

 Hula hoop around the circle, no hands!

 Drew and his best friend, Matthew

 Piggy back rides

 and the gym teacher spraying the third grade with a water hose

 time to get even wetter!

 What a happy kiddo on a very fun day of school! 

Dance Recital 2014

Dilan danced so well in her recital! She did every move and was dancing elegantly and gracefully. I had so much fun putting her makeup on and doing her hair. It took 16 bobby pins and lots of hair spray but her hair looked beautiful. We actually had to re-do her makeup a bit because she cried some of it off complaining about the bobby pins. But she ended up loving her hair and kept the bun in all day long. Dilan danced to Rapunzel's song, "I see the light."

 caught a mid-air jump

 my favorite picture during the dance

 posing at the end

 This was Dilan's pose when I asked to take a picture - love her pointed toe!

 Flowers for our dancer

 MawMille was able to come and see Dilan's dance recital. She also held Dakota the whole time so I could take pictures and record it for David. He was on his annual golf trip. But Dakota actually stopped when the dancing began and twirled her arms around like the dancers.

 Me and my girl

 MawMille and Dilan

Dance 2014

We are about to embark on Recital weekend where our little dancer will be performing. Here is a sneak peak at her costume :)

Easter 2014

Easter was such a beautiful weekend this year and one that we got to spend in Lake Jackson, TX with our extended family. This is a lovely place, one where we get to do sidewalk chalk:

 Go swimming with everyone in the pool, including Uncle Damon who throws Drake high into the air (which he loves and repeats, "Do it again!")

 where cannon balls are a must

 Easter egg coloring at its best with glitter, stripes, neon colors and paint!

 where big kids who don't like to use anything extra and only like solid colors, dye eggs too!

 where little girls drop eggs in the dye and then grab the new freshly colored egg and puts it directly in her mouth

 Where the Easter bunny stumbles across her own system of candy, a book, a movie and a toy in each basket! hooray!

Drew got the full set of Harry Potter dvds and a new lego creator set.

Dilan got a Barbie collection of books, the Barbie Pearl Princess dvd and toy

Drake got and Easter Thomas the train book, Thomas Spills and Thrills dvd and two new trains, Porter and Stafford

Dakota got a Frozen sisters book, the new pirate fairy DVD and a new toy smart phone

 Checking out the goods

 Our little Easter bunny

 Drake literally slept through coloring Easter eggs. He fell asleep from swimming all day and could not wake up for it. He slept all night and even missed out on the other kids finding their baskets. Once he woke up, he chose to dump out his bucket to figure out what he got. He loves his trains and have been carrying both of them around constantly.

 Most of the cousins are pictured here...

 and all of them here... Liam was not interested in having this group picture taken! :)

 Dakota was precious and she definitely broke some eggs in the hunting process

 Drake loved hunting the eggs and found the last one in the tricycle's trunk

 Drew's favorite find was here on top of the light

 Dilan didn't stop for me to even take a picture, she was fast!

HAPPY EASTER!