Best Friend

During one of the many times I was at school for award ceremonies, parties and field days I was walking the hall and found this outside of Carli's room.  Made me smile and a bit proud!

Teacher Gifts

We did our wordle teacher gifts again this year.  Carli and Ava each wrote a note to their teachers to include with their gifts.  Carli wrote hers, put it in an envelope and sealed it before I could snag a picture of her or the note!  Ava, who is not my sit still and create child, took a good afternoon to finish her note, but she got the job done!  And it was legible!

"Dear Mrs. Tinkle,

Thank you for teaching me about science and stuff.  Stinky feet day was the best.  I really liked to sit by you and talk to you.  I will miss you a lot.

Love, Ava"

And Mrs. Chambers wordle:

The Great America Cookie

Ava has a special place in her heart for Great American Cookies.  So when Aunt Lolli and Uncle Tone go without her and send her a picture...this is her reaction...

And when we make a special trip to the mall, they insist on taking a picture to send to Aunt Lolli and Uncle Tone!

Spectacular Summer Challenge

Well, this summer I am determined to make it more productive, fun and watch less TV.  I found this idea on Pinterest - look for the Super Summer Challenge - and decided that we could tailor it to our needs and make a go of it!  We already had our pallet board, so I just redid the bottom half to meet our needs. 

Goodies for the girls Spectacular Summer Challenge. Missing study guides for the Bible Bee Study we sign up to do this yr, plus their little Sewing machines that Grammy is gonna teach them to sew on. And we will make a trip to get library cards tomorrow!

Carli is a very visual kid. She wants to know is going on, when, where and how...so she requested her own calendar.

Revamped our board! Top jars have our summer goals/rewards (which include iJump, Splash Kingdom, Skating Rink and trip to craft store), jobs/bored jar (which Carli wrote all the jobs on) and "Gold coins."  Each Gold Coin equals $0.25.  The girls earn them by doing activities listed on the board, completing their daily chores and as we see fit to award them.  They can also lose coins when they are disrespectful or no minding.

Each girl got summer coupons (date nights, sleepovers, etc) for one time use, a list of mental, spiritual, physical and helpful activities with Gold coin values, daily chore check list and summer rules. For ever 100 Gold coins earned, they get to choose one reward.

The girls are pretty excited about earning their rewards.  Carli is more excited about the chart and process than Ava but that's their personalities at play there.  I don't really expect them to do every single coin earning activity or fill up their chore chart with stickers each week.  Rather, I expect them to learn they have to earn their rewards by accomplishing tasks instead of the reward simply being given to them.  So, here we go...

Last Day of School 2016

What a difference a year makes...

Carli is wearing the same shirt in both pictures - she's grown a bit! :)

We added a new picture to take every day on the last day of school, compliments of Aunt Carolyn.

Here's Ava on the first and last day of Kindergarten:

And in her graduation shirt:

And not to be left out - Bella took some pictures too!  :)

Ava's Kindergarten Graduation

We have another Kingergarten Graduate!  :)  Ava graduated from Kindergarten today.  She had an awesome year and thoroughly enjoyed her teacher, Mrs. Tinkle. 

They had a cute little graduation ceremony and every kid walked across the stage.

They did a cute little program for us! Carli opted to stay with her class b/c she already graduated last year and knew every single song.  Ava was on the left hand side of the stage, second row from bottom just under the first 'S' on Class.

Ava is the one with a pink bow in her hair.  The little girl on the left is her friend Gracie and the girl in black in front of her is Bella.  The little boy in plaid beside Bella is Grayson who was a bit infatuated with Ava this year.

After their ceremony, we went back to their class to gather up their things and say goodbye to all her friends and teacher.  This is her "friend" Grayson and neighbor Will Cody.

Ava and her awesome teacher, Mrs. Tinkle.

Grammy and Pa came to watch Ava graduate and cheer her on as she walked across the stage!

Ava and Bella have been begging for a play date forever - so today since the kindergarteners got to leave school at 9:30 am Bella came home with us to play!  We had to go back and get Carli at 1:30  Then we made cookies, and had a great play date til Bella's mom got off work!

Let the summer fun begin!!

Field Day

Last year Field Day was rained out, so the girls were pretty pumped about field day this year!  Drew and I went to go watch and enjoy the fun!  They had bounce houses, bubbles, sidewalk chalk and lots of games!

Grayson with Gracie, Ava and Bella

My kids and their different personalities.  Ava was Ms. Social and would occasionally come and check on Drew and I in between all her fun with friends.  Carli never strayed far from us and was content to watch everyone else play.  I had to do a lot of encouraging to get her to go play!

Carli finally did go play - here she is with a group of friends Skylar, Carli, Lilly, Kadaisha and Wylie Jo.

She even played Red Rover!

Carli with her class.

I tried to sneak off and leave the girls at school but was not successful!  :)  So, we rounded everything up and headed out after having a lot of fun!

Carli's Award Ceremony

Carli had her 1st grade award ceremony this morning. She actually let me put a bow in her hair for the occasion!

She worked hard all year on earning her AR points and was excited to be awarded the top point student in her class.  She got an award from being a "Super Reader" and a medal for being an "Independent Reader."

She also was recognized with her accomplishments in Math.  Carli thoroughly enjoyed her year with Mrs. Chambers.

Not a Picky Eater!

I really thought Drew was going to be my picky eater b/c he absolutely REFUSES to eat baby food and pretty much only enjoys his yogurt.  But turns out, he loves ice cream.  I think he'll be okay.  ;)

Happy Birthday Momma

I pray every day that I grow up to be a wife, Momma and Christian woman just like this beautiful lady. Happy birthday to the one who gave me life, to my best friend. Happy birthday to my wonderful Momma!

Skating Limbo

The girls were ecstatic to get to go to a birthday party at the skating rink today.  They skated and danced and actually did the limbo.  Carli even won!  :)

10 Years

Things sure have changed in 10 years...except our hairstyles apparently.

Since it was our 10 year anniversary we got to open the time capsule that was filled at our wedding rehearsal.  It was really neat to see everything that was put in it.  There were lots of things from college friends with memories I had forgotten and pictures I never knew were taken!  But my favorites were a ring from my Aunt Genell that she had received from her parents when she was 12 and regifted to me.  And a small piece of blue jean quilt from my Grandma and she wrote on the back, "You will always be Grandma's Darling."  Yeah, I may have cried a little.  :)

Hole in the Wall

So, when water starts leaking out of the bottom of wall, Keith does exploratory "surgery" on the wall only to discover that it was the shower head that had literally broken off in the pipe at the wall. 

So we called the professionals since it was metal pipe and involved welding.  Then called on Dionna to help us get a replacement head, which Keith was able to install himself.  But now, I have two holes in the wall.  Maybe if I could decide on a bathroom paint color we'd fix them, but until then it is summer time with fun to be had and no time to do boring responsible adult stuff!  :)