Today was Shelby's 8th birthday! We had her party yesterday at ASI and had a great time. We are so thankful that so many of her friends were able to come out and help her celebrate. Sometimes it is hard having a summer birthday- especially around the 4th of July, since a lot of people are on vacation.
Lucy was being a grumpy gus. Took her a while to warm up to the crowd.
These cookies don't look the best, but I was pretty proud of them. Seriously like the first time I have ever made sugar cookies and they retained their shape. Also my first time using royal icing.
Birthday pancakes this morning.
Part of our present to Shelby was her new room. Joey and Lucy are now sharing and Shelby gets her own. I think Joey's feelings were hurt at first, but it's getting better.
Another year older, another tooth gone.
Happy 8th Birthday, Shelby! We love you so much and are so proud of you. You are such a smart, beautiful, and kind girl. You are a great big sister and we are so glad you made us parents 8 years ago!
The past few days have been busy, full of end-of-year programs. Thursday was Shelby's awards ceremony in her class. Not gonna lie- this year has been a struggle for me, as it was for several of the other parents in her class. Their teacher was known for being the hardest in 2nd grade. It was very hard as parents to bite our tongues. It was especially hard for me in the beginning of the year when I was worried about Shelby adjusting to a new school. I am very proud of Shelby and her positive attitude during the entire time. She easily made friends and persevered through the tough subjects. She got All A Honor Roll for the entire year, perfect attendance, the Art Achievement award, and the Gummy Bear Award- for always being sweet to others.
Shelby and Ms. Sipriano
Then on Friday we had Joey's class performance of "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and then her awards. It was soooo cute. Joey froze up a little in front of everyone. She sang all the words but didn't want to do all of the motions. She got her pre-k certificate, the award for "Stellar Storyteller", and she also got perfect attendance. At Joey's school they got medals for perfect attendance. She was SO excited to get a medal. She brought it home and was shining it with a baby wipe. Later she saw something on tv and asked Jeremy if she could have it and said, "And don't say no. I'm the attendance girl. I've got a medal." More on this later.
Joey and Ms. Lynch
Joey and Ms. Bankston
(I had to double click the video to open it to full screen to get it to play correctly.)
Later that afternoon, Jeremy took Shelby and Joey swimming while I worked and Lucy napped. They were there for a good three hours before Lucy and I made it over to join them. When I got in the pool with Joey I asked if she wanted to try swimming without her floaties. (Much like Shelby was at 5 yrs old, Joey has been deathly afraid of taking off her floaties, even if I am holding her. With them on, she's a fish, all over the place. But she won't take them off.) She looked at me like I was crazy and I said, "Remember? You won a medal. That means you are brave and courageous." She looked at me and said, "OK!", then took her floaties off and proceeded to swim under water, without me holding her. It was really quite comical how quickly it all happened. That's all she needed- a medal! Now we have to be super careful though. She thinks because she swam on her own for a little bit one afternoon that she can swim all over the pool without one of us standing there.
On Saturday, Joey had her mini gymnastics meet, where she got another medal. When you are five years old, there is nothing better than getting a medal...except for getting another medal the very next day.
I tell you what, those medals have done some amazing things. On the way home from church today she asked if they could ride bikes after lunch. I told her we'd have to see and she said, "Good! Cause I want to take the training wheels off my bike." Well, we didn't ride bikes today, but it's definitely on the agenda this week!
Last week we watched my niece while my sister and brother-in-law were in Cabo with my parents. Claire is about 7 months older than Shelby, so it was almost like having an older set of twins. We had planned a bunch of fun things for the week, but didn't get to do half of them because of all the crazy rain. We did try to make the best of it though.
Friday night: caramel popcorn and a Tinkerbell movie
Saturday: Mexican food!
After one of the MANY rainstorms, I let the girls put their suits on and jump in puddles.
Sunday: Holding hands at church!
After church we made bead crafts.
For dinner we all made our own pizzas.
Monday: Six Flags! After we left they had to shut the park down due to flooding. Crazy!
Wednesday: In between rain storms I took the girls to the splash pad.
Thursday: Urban Air
Friday: Slumber party. We did our nails!
The girls all had so much fun with Claire. I wish the weather had been better so that we could have done more fun things outside, but we tried to make the most of it. The girls can't wait til Claire comes back later this month!
