Wrapping Up 3rd Grade

Hannah's 3rd grade year ending with some fun and hopefully happy memories.   As usual, May, was one of the busiest of the year and by the end of it all, I was ready for summer!

I had a blast chaperoning the field trip to the Dallas Arboretum.  Here is my group of girls ready to explore and be silly!   They were such a happy bunch of 8 and 9 year olds - loving life!

Hannah, Mikayla, Hannah and Lily

Mrs. Mistretta's class (plus some)

Snapshots of our day

To celebrate the last day of school, I surprised the kids with a few goodies to enjoy over the summer.   A good way to wake up?! 

An ice cream treat with Ani and Morgan after the last day of school...

Silly string after school.

End of the year swim party at Ford Pool

  

I organized a very simple, End-of-Season party for the Angel's at Scotty P's.  We had some fun recapping the soccer season and discussing the future!  Silly faces...

Receiving her trophy!

Oops!  Ryan was on the kitchen island and crawled over the cake box.  What a mess!  Ugh!

The boys in time out.  Too wild and crazy in the restaurant!

Hannah's Piano Recital

Hannah completed her 2nd year of piano and had a recital at Steinway Hall in Plano this past May.  Some days it felt like pulling teeth to get her to practice, but she worked really hard on her performance piece, "Tiny Tiger".  She changed teachers this past year and she really enjoys her weekly lessons with Mrs. Keiser.  She's going to continue lessons in the Fall and we will see how it goes after that, but very proud of her for continuing although it's "not her favorite".  :)  We hope she will thank us for it later.

 All performers

Great job, Hannah!  Proud of you!

With Mrs. Kieser

Hannah's Got Talent

Hannah wanted to participate in the Marion Talent Show this past year.  This would be her 3rd gymnastics performance and she didn't disappoint.  ;-)   Her courage and confidence never ceases to amaze me - I was always the nervous and over-thinking type.  Proud of my girl for giving it her all and having some fun at school!

The posed pictures...

Another Soccer Season in the Books

Trying to play a little catch up on the kid's end-of-the-2012-2013-year activities.  Both Hannah and Luke enjoyed playing soccer again.

Luke played on the Hawks with most of the same boys from the fall season.  He enjoyed having his Dad help coach and going out to our neighborhood park to practice each week.  This season he learned to use more of his footwork and continued to make goals for the team.  Not as many wins for the Hawks this time around - we only had 7 players and our rescheduled mid-week games made it difficult for everyone to attend.  No subs is no fun when it's a hot day!  All in all, this was still a great developmental team and he had so much fun!!

End of the Season Party at Yogurtville!  Silly boys!

Hannah played with the Angels for the 7th season.  Her team played in both ASA Recreational and PSA Academy.  We had some CRAZY Saturdays between 3 soccer games and 1 t-ball game, not sure how we did it - we split up a lot and tried to make sure Ryan had his nap, but he was a handful to contain when we was with us.  Hannah had the opportunity to play left forward where she loved running the ball up the sideline.  She had some exciting runs and a few goals!  She continued to work on her passing and skills, and was beginning to figure out the give-and-go technique moves the ball up the field faster.  Gotta love her aggressiveness out there.  I have learned how to ignore the comments from the opponents' parents - many aren't quite sure what to make of her style.  She does not back down.  In the Academy games, she played defense often since they needed her back there to make the stops with the tougher teams.  She found it challenging to switch from defense to offense as they were all still learning the different positions and spacing.  The girls were runner-up for the ASA league.  Unfortunately, the championship game was rescheduled on a school night, our coach was out of town and the girls just didn't play their best. Tough loss for sure.  Funny thing, though, the parents took the loss harder than the players.  Such happy Angel girls they are!  PSA was a great experience and a stepping stone for the team before they enter into the SDL league.   Congrats Angels on a great final season!

All smiles and giggles after loosing the Championship game.

Mother's Day with my Loves

The family made me feel super appreciated this past Mother's Day.  It is so nice to have a day to enjoy all of my favorites and feel surround love.

Enjoying a relaxing lunch date with my sister

Loved all the handmade cards and greeting cards from the family.  Hannah made me a cool duct tape wallet complete with a $1 bill.  Luke made me one of his famous paper airplanes.  Julianna gave me a Vera Bradley coin purse which I use for jewelry.  Michael picked out a soccer ball Pandora charm and iphone arm band.  Sweet gifts.

Best part of the day was not having to cook or prepare any food - Petra tacos and a margarita for dinner.

Cheesecake treat for after dinner.  Doesn't get any better.

Luke the Preschool Graduate

I can not believe Luke is finished with preschool!  It was just yesterday that he was 2 and walking into Ms. Pam and Ms. Mary's room at Custer Road Christian Day School.  The end of the year program and graduation at GEM was precious and very special.  Such a great way to wrap up this little phase of his life. I will miss these years for sure, but excited for him to grow up...just not too fast!  :)

All dressed up and ready for his big day

Ryan gives a little moral support

His class (loudly) sang "this is the gift of God" with LOTS of energy... brought me to tears.  Loved seeing God's love shine thru the children.  Very say he will have no more preschool performances....

His sweet graduation cap and gown.  And this is the look I got when getting his attention while walking up on stage.  Silly boy!

All smiles

It's official

Proud

Luke enjoyed the luncheon after graduation.  

Cake with his future wife, Evelyn.  These two have their whole lives figured out!  Luke is going to teach her how to play the wii, take long walks and cook her dinner.  But he is going to live at my house because he won't have enough money to buy his own house.  Evelyn says they are going to have grandchildren together?!?!?  Too funny!

Randomness at Home

As my kids have gotten older, the to-do lists have gotten longer, the sibling bickering and chaos has increased and the picking up/laundry/feeding can feel non-stop.  It's so easy to loose sight of the joy, to miss those little moments that really are important and although they don't feel like it, more than make up for the times of stress.  I am crazy about taking pictures - it's annoying really, but I enjoy it.  I love capturing random moments at home where smiles are genuine and hearts are happy.    Here are some of those moments fromthis past Spring...

Luke earned a new Lego set

Pigtails

Superhero day at school

What it's really all about

Luke's school drawing on the frig "silly mom" and "silly dad".  Where are my arms and mouth?

Boz is a great snuggle buddy

Nana and Gramps being there for Luke's game

Celebrating my mom's birthday.  She loved my lemon cake

A peaceful morning - thanks to the trains - something they can play together

Indoor soccer - drills and skills from U-Tube

Sharing my iPad

Sidewalk chalk at Grandma and Grandpa's house

A ride on the golf cart at Grandma and Grandpa's

Park play date

A new digger toy

Forts

 Last day of preschool

Boz isn't so sure but Ryan had a blast

Waving goodbye to a random "man" he saw in parking lot.  Desperately trying to get his attention.

 So proud of the cabin we built out of playstix

Playing games at bedtime

First crop from our garden