Last Day of School

We made it though another year of grade school!  Lauren is officially a 5th grader and Addison is a 2nd grader!

I love taking the last day of school off!  The girls get to ride the bus to and from school.  I cook them a nice big breakfast, and after school we always go out for ice cream.  

Last day of school pictures are a must!  I love Lauren's new outfit. Her tanned legs are awesome!  You can see where she wears her soccer socks! She is so ready to hit the pool this weekend! 

Addison has an amazing sense of style.  I don't know where she gets it, but she always looks adorable.  

Thank you girls for posing for several pictures for me! 

Here is Addison on the first day of 1st grade!  She had an amazing year and is ready to conquer 2nd grade.  

Here is Lauren on the first day of 4th grade.  I can't even believe she is going into 5th grade.  Wow!  

Both girls loved their teachers this year, especially Lauren.  4th grade was an awesome year!  Addison loved 1st grade...especially math!  Lauren loves to read, Addison does not.  They both love school, but definitely love different subjects and are completely different girls! Lauren is a soccer player, gymnast, and Girl Scout.  Addison is a gymnast and a Girl Scout as well!  Both girls completed another year of religious education.  It was a busy year!  We are all so ready for summer and hitting the pool all summer long!  

Several of us Mom's tried to get pictures of the kids at the school bus Monday morning and this was the best I got! 

When they got home from school they dumped their backpacks and showed me several art projects and papers.  We headed out for ice cream, grabbed a red box movies, and lounged on the couch all afternoon.  It was a wonderful last day of school! 

A Trip to the Weston Red Barn

Last week I was able to be a chaperon on Addison's first grade field trip to the Red Barn.  She loved it.  I loved it.  It was a beautiful day!  

Addison has several friends in 1st grade, but since there are 4 1st grade classes, she is not in the same class as all her friends!  Addison and Adriana met in dance class when they were 3 and they are the best of friends now.  Addison seems to always have all the energy in the world and loves to pose for the camera! 

The kids learned about the garden on the farm and even got to plant their own bean.  We are not sure what will grow, but if we water it and take care of it, we will find out. 

Addison and Madison have a secret handshake....these 2 are the best of friends as well! 

We enjoyed a hay ride around the farm!  It was a sunny gorgeous day! 

This baby calf had just been born!  

This is Addison's 1st grade class.  All of first grade was on the field trip, but we were all broken up into class/groups, so we stayed with her class all day.  

They had a blast!  

After lunch they played duck, duck, goose while the other kids finished lunch.  

Then Addison found Jenna...her true BFF.  I adore these two and their friendship together.

I had a great day off and loved spending it with Addison and her class.  School is almost out and we are all ready for Summer!  

Crazy Time of Year

6 more days of school.  6 more days!  There is so much happening in our lives right now, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.  Things are starting to slow down.  We are so ready to enjoy Summer!  

I chaperoned Addison's field trip yesterday!  More on that...it was a blast!  

Ginger is amazing.  We adore her.  She is 4 months old, growing like crazy, full of energy, completely potty trained, but all puppy.  She chews all the things.  Everything.  Everyday.  And there is always something new she discovers.  But, we adore her.  

Um, twins maybe?  I  know people think they look alike and as Addison gets older I see more and more of Lauren in her.  These 2 are so much fun!  

Sadness brings people together.  Sadly, Mark lost a very close friend a few weeks ago.  Dustin was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died less than a month later.  Here are all the guys after the funeral.  They all came together to celebrate Dustin's life.  Such an incredible group of guys. 

See what I mean about eating everything.  Forget the flip flops.  She would rather have the bike helmet...laying around in the back yard???  I have no idea why, but it was.  

I enjoyed Nurses Day of the K with some co-workers and it was fun!  

We tailgated before the game.  It was a gorgeous day and a great time with these ladies! 

This was also completed recently.  Worth every penny.  We love it!  It was quite challenging to have the backyard torn up, supplies everywhere, and mud puddles after it rained with a new puppy...but totally worth it.  We love our new patio! 

The girls completed another year of church class.  These 2 teachers were so great with the kids.  Addison and Jenna loved going to church class every Wednesday night! 

Soccer is wrapping up with weekend with a tournament.  Lauren has excelled this year with some new skills and is doing well.  

Addison tolerates being drug to the games each weekend...she doesn't love it, but she finds ways to keep herself occupied.  Last weekend it was dumping water on herself to keep herself cool. This weekend at the 8:00 AM game we will e bundled up in winter coats, gloves and hats as the soccer field is always 10 degrees cooler!  I can't wait for the 8 AM game! 

We are looking forward to the tournament this weekend and family in town as well.  One more week of school and it will unofficially be summer!  We can start counting down the days to our summer vacation...an Alaskan Cruise :) 

Mother's Day Brunch

I have to thank Mark and the girls for an amazing Mother's Day.  A few years ago we discovered an amazing brunch at Tom Fooleries and we have tried to make it a tradition to go every year on Mother's Day.  The past few years Lauren has had a soccer tournament, so we have not been able to enjoy the brunch.  But not this year!  The soccer tournament is next weekend! 

It was gorgeous in the morning so we snapped a few pictures.  I love these girls and absolutely love being their Mom.  They are turning into such wonderful young ladies...especially Lauren who is 10 now!  She is such a good kid.  Loves school, soccer, Girl Scouts, music and dancing.

Addison is my creative one.  She is always making up games, projects, and various creations with anything she can find laying around.  She has a huge heart and is so kind.  She loves Girl Scouts and I think she loves having me as her leader.  She also loves to dance, play with Lego's, Barbies, and really anything!  She has a huge imagination.  

I told Mark I wanted a massage and a pedicure for Mother's Day and I got both!  Both were very relaxing.  The girls made me some crafts from school, and honestly I would have been happy with those.  I love the thought they put into the projects and their excitement to give them to me! 

Addison also asked me what she should get me and I told her nothing.  I told her Daddy already got me a gift, but she insisted. So I suggested some little things.  She came home with lip gloss and nail polish!  Perfect.  Lauren also bought me a new spring robe..which I love.  Thanks Lauren.  

Later that afternoon my parents, Grandma, sister and her girls came over to celebrate Mother's Day.  We enjoyed ice cream sundaes and watched the Royals play.  I think everyone had a great time!

Thank you Mark and Lauren and Addison for a wonderful Mother's Day celebration!  I love you guys!!!

Girl Scout Camping with Addison!

Seems like forever ago, but a few weekends back I took Addison's Daisy troop camping!  It was a gorgeous weekend and we had a blast.  The girls decided to spend their cookie money on camping and it was well worth it.  So, thank you to everyone who buys Girl Scout cookies.  The money earned allows the girls to do things they had never done before.  Several girls had never been camping before, a few had never roasted marshmallows around the fire, and it was a first for some of the mom's as well! 

When we first arrived we got unpacked, cleaned the cabin and headed out on a hike.  This past summer at camp we found the Fairy cabin, so we headed back out to find it again.  It was not a long hike, perfect for the girls!

Once we arrived, we were able to color on the walls with chalk!  Everyone signed their name and made sure others that visited the Fairy cabin knew that Troop 3136 had been there.  

When we got back to the cabin it was time for dinner.  The girls were split up into groups.  One group cooked dinner, one group got the table ready with decor, and the other group had to clean up dinner.  These girls must have been the clean up helpers since they were running and playing out front.  The cabin was prefect for our little group.  

Addison and I had a great weekend hanging out together.  She definitely loves her Daisy troop, which makes leading the troop well worth it.  

After dinner we hung out and played games, then we made smores over the fire.  I built an amazing fire by the way!

Sonia, my assistant leader, was in charge of games.  The girls loved this game.  The moms were not thrilled but did participate :)

We also did some fun arts and crafts.  The girls really seem to enjoy doing crafts.  Each girl got to decorate the first letter of their name.  They painted them first, and anyone that wanted to include nature on their letter could do so!  Some girls glued on acorns, leaves, rocks, or whatever they could find in nature! 

We also did a service project by making bird feeders out of toilet paper rolls, peanut butter, and bird seed.  Each girl made a few and then we hung them up all over camp! 

They were very proud of the finished products! 

There was also some downtime for kids to be kids.  These 3 were on a ship that had wrecked and all off their stuff was on this small boat!  They played for a long time doing this! 

You can also wrap yourself up with a rope.  I guess that is fun too! 

There was a lot of clean up and chores while at camp too.  The girls did not love that part of camp.  One team had to sweep, another team had to take out the trash, and another team had to clean the bathrooms.  It was good for the girls to do some work :)  They took turn cooking each meal and also cleaning up each meal.  They all learned something new...and the Mom's were impressed. 

Here is one last shot of these girls before we all headed home for a nap :)  It was a great weekend of camping with beautiful weather, a great group of kids and an even better group of moms!