End of the School Year

May seemed impossibly busy this year.  I think it has taken me this long to recover from it before I could even think about writing about it.  Between end of year programs, field trips, awards ceremonies, etc., there was plenty to keep us busy almost every day of the week. 

Shelby had a color run with her run club at school.  She has a super cute group of friends.

 

The girls had the Spring Semester Singers Company performance.  The theme this time was a 50s theme and it was really cute.  The girls have opted not to do Singers Company in the Fall and are going to do Cheerleading instead.  But we may pick it back up next Spring.  They had tons of fun doing it, and I think it really helped Joey overcome being shy in front of crowds of people.

Random picture from that night, but look how swollen Lucy gets from mosquito bites.  Pobrecita.

 

The girls teacher for Singers Company is also our ward activity days leader, and since she already had the 50s props she had the brilliant idea to have a Daddy/Daughter Sock Hop.  Shelby had lots of fun dancing with Jeremy.

The girls had their Warrior Challenge at school.  They both did great and had lots of fun, but then Joey fell of the swing at recess and I got a call from the school nurse that she might have broken her arm.  She didn't, but it was a little sore for a day or two.

 

Mother's Day was great!  Joey's teacher had the cutest breakfast for all the mom's.  They had little books about us, sang us a song, and then they each read a letter to their mom.  So cute!  And of course, Jeremy and the girls were good to me on Mother's Day.  I am one lucky mama.

 

Part of my Mother's Day gift was to go see Dave Matthews again this year.  Another year, another fantastic show.  He'll always be my fave.

We also fit in a Rangers game with a big group of friends from church.

 We had to have our roof replaced,and when we were talking to our roofer, who we used before on our old house and know pretty well now, we mentioned our desire to redo our patio.  He said he knew a guy, made a call, and within a day we were on our way to having it done.  We love the extra room we have out there now.  It really made a huge difference.

Before

During

After (Not the best since I took this from inside the house)

Shelby was selected from her class to receive this award.  I was pretty proud of her!

Kindergarten graduation.  Ahh.  I live for this cuteness.  Seriously, my cheeks were hurting from smiling so much.  On top of her diploma, Joey received an outstanding achievement award.

 

Cannot say enough great things about Ms. Kristen Cox.  She was the absolute best Kindergarten teacher.

 I loved the way the 3rd graders did their awards this year.  They made a poster about themselves from throughout the year.  Parents were invited to come and walk the room rather than sit through a long program.  It was great!  She received the citizenship award, A Honor Roll award, and the Sweetie Pie Award- for having the biggest heart around.

This made me laugh so hard.  Alejandro had a big crush on Shelby.  He handmade her a stamped leather bracelet for Christmas.   He asked his mom to take a picture of the two of them.  (Side note: another boy in class, Tommy, asked her to be his girlfriend.  She politely told him she couldn't date til she was 16 but they could be friends. Lol.)

Another great teacher!  Mrs. Grandstaff was awesome.  So, so sweet.

If you can believe it, there is still more from May to blog about, but I will save that for another post since this is already super long!

Shelby Turns 9!

Shelby takes after Jeremy in that as soon as her birthday month hits we are on the countdown to her birthday.  There are lots of hints and reminders and lists of things she wants for her birthday strategically placed around the house.  To say she gets excited about her birthday is an understatement.  So even though I told the girls no parties this year, I did my best to make her day special.  I woke up extra early that morning to get my workout in and get over to pick up her special doughnuts so that they'd be ready and waiting when she woke up (should have known she'd be up extra early that morning and was waiting on me when I got home- oops.).  We then brought the girls and one of Shelby's best friends (Landree) to Six Flags.  It was so hot, but lines weren't long, so we rode a ton and had lots of fun.  At the end we got a ginormous funnel cake and sang Happy Birthday to Shelby.  We challenged the girls to eat the whole thing...they couldn't.  Happy Birthday, Shelby! 

Crawfish Boil

The week of Joey's birthday was a bit chaotic (another reason I did not want to throw a birthday party into the mix).  My good friend, Julie, was in town staying with us. It was so fun hanging out with her and catching up.  And she was a trooper and did our family pics, which is never fun or easy.  I am convinced we are the hardest family on the planet to photograph.  We ate yummy Mexican food, stood in a ridiculous line at Emporium Pies and laughed at how dumb drunk people are...all for some mediocre pie, got yummy treats from Carlos, and had lots of laughs.  The day after Joey's birthday we had a huge crawfish boil with a bunch of friends from church.  It was our first time hosting and cooking crawfish, and I was pretty pleased with how it all turned out.  The weather was perfect and I think everyone had a great time.  We need to plan another one soon for sure!

Joey is SIX!

We told the girls this is the year of no parties.  I just kind of felt like they had begun to expect big huge parties every year, and while we love to do that and celebrate them, I don't want them to get super spoiled and bratty. :)

So Joey's birthday this year was pretty low key.  She had birthday pancakes in the morning, then got to get sprayed with silly string at school, and had Chili's (her request) for dinner.  She got the Doc McStuffins costume she has wanted forever along with some books.  All in all, it was a great day!

Joey is such a sweet girl.  She is hilarious and makes us laugh every day.  She is also very kind and sensitive, and if someone else gets in trouble or she sees them sad, she is quick to try and make them happy again.  We sure love you, Joey!

March-ing into Spring

It is crazy to think it is already April!  Jan/Feb/March flew by, but we are loving the longer hours of daylight and warmer temps.  A few things I wanted to document from March:

• Jeremy's 34th Birthday!  Man we are getting old.  Jeremy loves birthdays and loves to celebrate them.  Totally opposite of me.  So I felt bad that no only was his birthday on a Tuesday this year, but it fell on the same day as Enrichment,where we were having the Relief Society birthday dinner.  So I couldn't miss that.  The weekend before was busy with other activities, and the weekend after we were leaving for CA for Spring Break.  So we put his birthday on hold and celebrated on the 19th.  I got a big group of friends together and we ate at Torchy's and then played WhirlyBall.  I think everyone was a bit skeptical, but it ended up being tons of fun.  I think it was a success!

• Activity Days/FHE - One of my goals this year is to have FHE more regularly.  I am excited to say that we have done really well with this.  There may be times when we are in the car having a lesson while running errands, but we are trying.  One thing that has really helped is giving the reins to Shelby to plan lessons.  I will give her a topic and she will use the scriptures and other church books to create lessons.  She enjoys the responsibility and I am thankful for the help.  It also helps that in doing this she is able to pass off some stuff for Faith in God.  The week before Easter the Activity Day girls made Resurrection eggs, so for FHE Shelby gave a wonderful lesson about the last week of Christ's life, then had an Easter egg hunt for Joey and Lucy.  After they found the eggs they opened each one in order and she explained to them the meaning of each thing.  We then had bird nest treats (provided by Grandma).  

• We were really looking forward to the HOA Easter party this year.  Our HOA does a great job on holiday activities and the Easter one is probably the best.  The morning of the party, I had gotten up early and gone to the gym, came home and mowed the lawn, then got all the girls bathed and dressed and to four different stores while Jeremy was helping a family move.  I was feeling so good about the day.  Then, as we were walking out the door to go the party, Joey threw up all over the floor.  Thankfully Jeremy was home at that point and grabbed Joey and put her in the bathtub while I raced to clean up the mess.  I then threw Shelby and Lucy in the car and raced down to the park, but as we were driving up I could see all the kids lined up and the Easter bunny with his arms in the air ready to release them and begin the hunt.  I tried to let Shelby out and have her race over there, but by the time she got there there weren't any more eggs.  She was disappointed, Lucy was disappointed, Joey was disappointed...and very quickly the day that I was feeling so good about started to go downhill.  So I told Shelby to come back to the car and we went to Walgreens and got some eggs and came home to have our own hunt in the backyard.  Thankfully that was enough to cheer the girls up. It was also a good lesson to them that A) remember that Easter isn't about the Easter bunny and eggs and candy, and B) don't let a few hiccups ruin your day.

• Easter weekend was busy and fun as usual.  We drove down to New Orleans on Thursday night and I worked in our office there on Friday.  Jeremy took the girls to see the Easter Bunny while I was there, and then they had lunch and a playdate with friends.

          That afternoon we drove to Hattiesburg so that I could attend the Gore Girls dinner that night.  The next day was the annual Gore Family Reunion.  Jeremy's grandfather is now the last remaining of the 10 children in his family, and it seems that less and less people are coming every year.  I guess when the matriarch/patriarch of your family passes away, the bond that ties you to your extended family weakens.  I hope that the numbers strengthen next year.  My extended family has never been great about keeping in touch, but I always thought it was great that Jeremy's family stays close.  Regardless of all that, it was a great reunion.  All of the kids had a great time catching lizards and playing.

  
Sadly, Easter morning we drove to the nursing home in Bastop to visit Jeremy's other grandmother, and we found her very sick.  We only stayed for 5 minutes, but I hope the flowers and card were a bright spot for her otherwise not-so-fun day.  As we were walking back to the car, I was goofing off with Lucy and swung her around.  She yelled for me to stop because her tummy hurt.  The second I put her in the car she threw up everywhere.  We had to take her to Walgreens and give her a bath in the sink.  Poor Goose.  At least it didn't happen in the nursing home, though.

• New Room!  To give a bit of backstory, last year when Shelby got her own room, Joey started sleeping in the crib with Lucy.  She did not like being in the bed by herself, and Lucy didn't like sleeping in Joey's bed. So, each night, they both happily climb into the crib and snuggle each other.  Shelby then lost her room for a while for having a bad attitude and yelling at the girls for going in there and "bothering her."  So she was sleeping in Joey's bed.  About a month ago, Lucy started waking up and climbing out of the crib and coming to our bed.  Joey would soon follow, because she didn't want to sleep alone.  I started to wonder if they were waking each other up because they are such wild sleepers and space was getting cramped.  So, we decided to go ahead and convert the crib and re-do their room.  Lucy is super excited about it being purple, since that is her favorite color right now.  The funniest part is that Shelby has gotten so used to sleeping with them, she won't go sleep in her room.  She insists on all three of them sleeping in the same bed.  I guess I should be thankful for that while it lasts.

• And finally, the bluebonnets.  In the eight years we have been here we have never done traditional bluebonnet pictures, but my mom and dad wanted to do some so we tried to get some pictures as well.  Based on how things went I am dreading family pics in a few weeks.