Last Day of K!

Remember this little boy? This picture was taken last August on the first day of school. He looks so much smaller to me there! He was so excited to start school. This little boy has come a long way this school year.

And here's Jack today, the last day as a Kindergartner. Cool & confident. :) (Look closely and you might see he's lost another tooth).

He has enjoyed this year so much - the school, the teachers, the friends. Every morning when I drove him to school, we prayed together. It's one of my favorite parts of the day. We prayed for a good day, to be respectful, to stay focused on his work, to thank God that He is with Jackson wherever he goes (Josh. 1:9), to make good decisions, for his teachers and especially that he would shine a light for Jesus to his class. Jackson often requested to hear the Newsboys song "Shine" on the way to school to pump him up and remind him to shine bright!

I wonder how much longer he'll wave and tell me he loves me when he gets out of the car??

Summer Track Out has officially begun! Whoohoo!

Family Pictures

I had a hard time narrowing down my favorites!  Love them all.  Thanks to our friend, Amanda, of Mishmash Photography for catching these priceless memories!

Kindergarten End-of-the-Year Program

What is more adorable that a bunch of Kindergartner's singing together?!? As the curtain opened the paparazzi flashing and frantic waving commenced. :) Jackson's class sang two songs - a funky version of "Hey Diddle Diddle" and "Little Hands". And all kindergartners (tracks 2, 3, & 4) sang "The World is a Rainbow" and "I Like It Here" together.  We have already watched the video of it with him twice. 

He has the sweetest little classmates.  I'm sad to see them split up some for first grade.  It has been a great year for him.  Only four more days as a Kindergartner!

He loves Mrs. I and Mrs. H!

One proud Salamander!

The Big Movies

Yay for $1 Summer Movies! This week we met up with my friend Laura and her two youngest sons, Keegan and Tanner, at the cinemas to see Charlotte's Web. It was Hannah's very first movie at the "Big Movie". She did pretty well and only got restless towards the end (a slow and serious part in the movie).

Good practice for her to see if she can make it through Cars 2 with brother sometime soon. :)

Potty Chronicles

Potty Training... ugh.  Training Jackson was a LONG and arduous process.  Hannah has been ready for a while, I think.  The delay has been ME. 

Do I really want to intentionally engage my now 2 year old in another battle of wills??  Am I ready to be house-bound for a while?

But every time I purchase another box of diapers, I have a sense of urgency. 

So last week, it began.  Four successes and 2 accidents in a 3 hour period for the first day.  I call it a success!  She was SO PROUD and is quite a little cheerleader for herself.  Every success is very celebrated!!  The drive for candy works for her - probably a lot has to do with the fact that I very rarely let my kids have any.  I have not been able to dedicate all day to it like I would like since we are bound to take Jack to and from school and my new working schedule.  Last week was a little trial to see if we were both truly ready.

This week she has been terrific!  Accidents are few and far between, she is communicating the need, and still motivated by the candy.  She has been okay with wearing a diaper while we run errands and then right back to the potty when we get home.  I'm hoping by this weekend to have her in her cute new panties full time (except for sleeping).

So proud of you, sweet girl!

Thinking outside the box

Jackson is so very imaginative and creative. He creates this wild and elaborate adventures and games for us to play all the time. Two weeks ago he wrote a book and had daddy help as illustrator. Last week he wrote a song and had us all perform it together.

He's a Clown...At the library's Summer Reading kick-off carnival he asked to become a clown. Most kids got spiders, rainbows, hearts, etc.


After seeing this empty box from one of Hannah's birthday presents, he could not wait to transform it. This is a "Dino Decoy" or "T-Rex box". He wanted to paint it so that he could observe Dinosaurs without them knowing. (Maybe he's seen one too many "Dino Dan" Shows!). He's even walked down the street with it on to show his buddy Rees.

Field Day

I volunteered today with the big shindig and it was SO much fun!  And, let's just say that Field Day has changed ALOT in the last 25ish years.  Two giant inflatables, tattoos, snow cones, dunking booths, and almost all activities involved getting wet.  Which was a relief since we have it in June!  I think there were like 25 different stations of fun.  The kids were soaked from head to toe and as giddy as could be.



Jackson and buddy Campbell were partners for the day.




The Car Wash inflatable was a big hit!




Some really exhausted classmates




big finale is the teacher's water balloon toss competition.  They cheered so hard for Mrs. H & Mrs. I!

 I had so much fun playing around with all the kids.  The other volunteers and I really enjoyed hanging out together and making sure the kiddos were good and soaked.  :)  Good thing they are all required to bring a complete change of clothes & shoes!

Pretty toes

Hannah insisted that she needed some pretty toes like mommy (aka painted toe nails) the other afternoon.  Mimi gave her some polishes for Christmas, but I had doubted that she would be still enough.  Boy, was I wrong!  She squealed with delight and sat stiff as a board until they were all polished and dry.

As soon as Daddy came in from work, she had to show him the "pretty toes". It has been the topic of many conversations with her and I have already repainted them (& finger nails too) several times since it doesn't hold up well to all swimming and play.

Quite the girlie-girl!

Patiently blowing her nails

Two Year Party

We had a small family gathering for Hannah on Friday night. We grilled out and had homemade ice cream and the cake pops. Candles had to go into the ice cream. :)



Loved her pink flower cake pop!



The weather was very pleasant. Even though we had tables in the house and the new patio, everyone stayed on the deck.

Grandaddy and Baby Noah

The cousins (Ethan, Caleb, Elijah, Noah - Jack & Hannah too) all played in the mini pool, slip & slide and sprinklers. The water was COLD and the boys were WILD. :) Hannah wasn't so sure of it, but finally took the plunge. (Note the cute new monogrammed swimsuit Aunt Amanda made her!)

[i have no idea why blogger is making these pictures sideways... ugh.]

Of course there were lots of presents - dress up, princessy things, baby doll stuff, books, movies, etc. Let's just say that the boys didn't hang around to play with them.  She was squealing with delight, though.

Noah fit in the new doll cradle that Granddaddy and GranDee gave her!

of course she had to try too.

Flower Cake Pops for the Birthday Girl

I have wanted to try to make cake pops for a while now. I thought Hannah's birthday was the perfect opportunity to try them out.  While I am no where near as creative as Bakerella (seriously, go see her amazing creations!),  I am pleased with how mine turned out.  And, most importantly, they were so yummy!!  I stuck a dozen into foam and put it down in a flower pot then added some green tissue paper cut in strips to resemble grass.

The only downside is that they took quite a bit of time to make... baking the cake, mixing in icing, rolling into balls, freezing, "gluing" the sticks on, freezing, dipping each one, freezing again, and finally attaching the flowers (I made mine out of fondant, also a first for me). 

There were plenty of plain cake pops as well.  Not perfect, but made with love.  :)

Birthday Girl was super excited by her birthday cake flowers!

backyard pool

One of Hannah's birthday presents was a new pool and sprinkler for the backyard.  After a long drive home on Memorial Day, we pulled it out and let the kids get out some energy.  She loves it!

daddy was so hot after mowing the grass that he jumped in with them!

we found use for the slide that I thought they had outgrown