3 months!

This cutie at 3 months loves the song "the itsy, bitsy, spider" as it crawls up to his neck.  He'll give you a good giggle with it.  He has laughed in his sleep while I was holding him.  Cutest thing ever!  And he is drooling a ton!  He isn't getting teeth but he is sucking on his hands and pushing his tongue forward which causes all his outfits to get soaking wet with slobber.

He also loves to get kisses on the cheek and recognizes family members and smiles at them.

End of the School Year

I'm so proud of how well Kaitlyn and Abby both did this year at school.  Both were A students, top readers and excelled in math too.

Kaitlyn had a great 2nd grade and had a class full of good friends that she looked forward to seeing every day.  She loves to read and was a top reader in her class and her class voted her as "best listener."

 Abby had 2 great teachers.  4th grade had a teacher for English and Social Studies and another teacher for Math and Science.  Abby loved 4th grade and is growing up way too fast!  He class voted her as being "crafty and creative".

 I didn't hang around long for Abby's end of the year party because she really didn't care.  She's at the point where she wants to be with her friends.  As I was leaving I did spy her with a small group of friends and watched them laugh and talk.  One more year of elementary for her!  She's very much a pre-teen in her likes and dislikes.  It's been fun to see this new side of her.

EAGLE OF THE DAY:
Every day over announcements, the principal announces an eagle of the day - a student who was nominated by another student or teacher.   He'll read the nominating statement and that child is recognized over the announcements.

One day Kaitlyn came home with a paper and started writing furiously.  She wanted to nominate Abby for Eagle of the Day.  Here's what she wrote and what was read over the intercom:

She (Abby) is the best sister you can have.  She is nice.  She helps me when I'm hurt.  She is my favoirate sister.  She is responsible.  I love all her games.  She works very hard.  She helps me on my homework.  She is very creative.  She is a very good student.

May Misc

Abby's drama group performed a twisted fairy-tale.  Abby had an ensemble part with a group of witches.  It was a cute play and hopes to have a bigger part in next years play as a 5th grader.

 One beautiful afternoon Olivia and Alec sang made up songs forever sitting at the end of our driveway.  They just sang gibberish for who ever happened to be driving or walking by.  They sure were cute.

 In getting our house ready to sell, Uncle Cade had a couple weeks off from school so we hired him to do lots of work - trim our trees, bushes, paint doors, garage, aerate the lawn, help with touch ups inside.  It was money well spent and I'd rather have it go to them than a stranger.  Cade was a huge help in all of this!

 Abby had a fun field trip to the Fort Worth stockyards.  

 End of the school year carnival.  The PTA did a great job with this one!  We had dinner from In and Out burgers, they had fun carnival booths.  You could win cheap prizes or tickets to press your luck on gift baskets the grade levels put together (parents donated items).  Abby and I took all our tickets and picked two baskets to divide our tickets between and then took a few more and scattered them in a couple other baskets.  We were very surprised when we one with a basket we only put a few tickets in!  It ended up being one awesome basket too!  There were many movie gift cards, candy, and lots of popcorn.  

Throw Momma From the Train!

Before the big kids let out for summer, Laurie and some of her friends were heading to Ft. Worth to do a little train ride.  Since Alec is a huge fan of trains we joined them.  I had Devin with us also so I sat Olivia and Alec together right behind Laurie and her two kids and I sat with Devin (in his car seat) behind them.  

It was a fun little train ride that did a big loop.  Well towards the end of the journey, Alec stands up and leans out.  (There are no ropes, chain, belts or anything on the sides.  Just thinking of this right now makes my stomach turn.)  We had just passed the station and were turning around to head back and end the trip.  Maybe 100 yards or less away and just as I'm telling Alec to sit down, his feet slip and he's holding on to the side poles.  I try and grab him and bring him in but can't so I just let go and watch him roll on the grass.  Luckily he rolled away from the train.  I just get sick if I think of this too much.

As he rolls off, I just stand up and jump out after him.  The train is probably only going 5-10 mph and I'm thinking I could just land and get him.  I'm wearing sandals and slide on impact banging my head to the ground and getting all sorts of sticks and grass down my pants.  I had scratches all down my back.  I actually had more road rash than Alec!  He rolled much better than I did.  

I quickly picked Alec up and he was most upset about the train continuing on without us.  Olivia was very distraught about the whole thing - brother falling, mom jumping - that she needed more hugs and consoling than anyone.  Devin slept through the whole thing.  Needless to say, we will not be doing that again and I count my blessings we weren't hurt or hit a tree.

At the beginning of our journey.

Memorial Day

We were asked a day before Memorial weekend to go to Stephenville with our friends the Coopers.  Todd and I are usually planners but we decided we needed to be more spontaneous in things, especially when fun things like this arise, to throw plans out the window and just do different.

We decided to just make it a day trip - it wasn't too bad of a drive.  We spent the day swimming, taking turns riding a horse, shooting arrows, and just playing around.  Justin started to set up a target range for the kids to take turns shooting a gun when it started to down pour.  That ended our outdoor excursions but the kids had fun hanging out with each other.  Driving home that night was crazy because of the massive thunderstorm that passed through.  The thunder and lightening was putting on quite the show and I was glad Todd was doing the driving.  Thanks Coopers for the fun day!

Looks like Linc is trying to kiss Olivia but he's just asking for his turn to drive.  Typical man.

 Waiting for their turn

Yeehaw!

 Hot tubbing

Pre-School Graduation

Olivia has graduated pre-school!  This was such a great year for her and she grew leaps and bounds.  She had two of the sweetest and most loving teachers ever.  Olivia is excited to be starting Kindergarten this next Fall and can't wait to be with Abby and Kaitlyn.  She is ready! 

Olivia is a teacher pleaser and always strives to help and do what is right.  She loves to learn and we started doing reading lessons back in April together.  Currently she loves to read Magic Tree House books and does a great job reading on her own. 

 We love Miss Mary and Miss Janet!!!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

It was a perfect Saturday evening -It really was a fabulous spring night.  I took the kids up to the Stephens so we could play baseball- or actually try and learn how the game is played.  The younger kids, Paige, Matthew, and Alec had no interest.  The older kids however, got a small glimpse at how to play the game.  Laurie was really patient with teaching the kids where to stand and it was just fun to watch them play.  We've only done this once but we need to do this again many more times.

Devin was with us and of course as soon as we got there he needed to eat.  All these pictures are taken one handed while I'm sitting, feeding the baby.

Kaitlyn ready to field a ball

 Olivia at bat.  Every kid had two turns at bat and stayed at bat until they got a hit.

Monkey

 Connor at bat, Laurie with Paige on her hip helping

 Matthew and Paige bouncing on the fence

 Abby at bat

 Here's the pitch