Kinder Graduation Ceremony

I can't believe the school year is already coming to an end. It really seemed to fly by. Mostly, though, I can't believe we're going to have a first grader next school year! Crazy. For the graduation ceremony, the kids sang us a couple of songs. One of them went something like "Start spreading the news, we're leaving today. We want to be a part of it.....first grade, first grade." That confused Allie a little bit. She thought it really was her last day and she would be in first grade tomorrow. School doesn't actually get out until next Thursday though. They were all called up one by one to get a certificate. When Allie was called up she gave Mrs. Castillo a big hug. Mrs. Castillo commented that Allie gives the best hugs and that she makes sure she gives her one every day before getting on the bus. Allie was the only person she made a little comment about......and some of the other kids started shouting, "we give good hugs too!"

Blake was so noisy the entire time. This past month he has made huge strides in his developments (crawling all over, can go from lying down to sitting up, pulls himself up, very talkative, etc). I had Avery feed him to help get him to stop talking. The only problem with that was that this guy LOVES food and if Avery stopped feeding him for just a second he would get even louder. :)

1st trip to the pool in 2012

We wanted to knock another "must see" off of our list this weekend but the girls were sick most of the week. Avery was really sick Friday. By late afternoon Saturday she seemed to be better and both girls were begging to go to the pool.......it didn't take too much persuasion because it was SO HOT out.

So Random

Just wanted to highlight a few things that I've missed blogging about.

First, Derek is almost done with his job as Aide de Camp! We're all ready for that to be done. It was a good opportunity and he enjoyed it (and racked up some nice airline miles) but we're ready to get back on somewhat of a normal schedule. Last Thursday they had an early Farewell Luncheon for him and a few other guys/gal that are leaving soon too. Avery, Blake and I were able to go and it was really nice. General Otto and Chief Ricker had a lot of very nice things to say about Derek. General Otto told a pretty funny story about Derek and how cheap he is. I'll have to have Derek write out the story because I know I'll miss some important details.

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Derek has been busy making more cornhole boards. Everytime we make a set for ourselves he ends up giving it away. He has made 10 sets now and we still don't have one for ourselves. He recently made four to give as gifts to people he works with. Here is a picture of him and Blake working on the finishing touches of one of them.

Since he was making so many different ones he just used gray for everyone's main color....otherwise it would have been really expensive.

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Teacher Appreciation week was last week. Remember how I went all out last year? Well, I didn't this year.  I did try to get her teacher things I knew she liked. I just didn't spend as much or get as cutesy as last year. I did a lot throughout the year as Room Mom..... This is as cute as it got:

Her teacher loves Coke so I got her a bottle with some popcorn for her to snack on one day. We also got her some new dry erase markers for the classroom, brought her lunch one day from one of her fav restaurants, and Allie wrote her a sweet note and drew her a picture of her favorite memory of the school year. We also got her a bunch of scrapbook paper and a nice container for them since she really enjoys scrapbooking. 

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Remember the video I posted just a week ago with Blake "crawling". Well, he is now really crawling all over the place. He can also go from laying down to sitting up. He finally said "ma ma" the other day. I've been able to get him to say it one other time since though. He just isn't a very talkative boy. Derek says that's just how boys are. Blake loves to do the "SO big" move where he raises his arms up when I say it. It's pretty cute. He also likes to play "peek - a - boo".

Peek-a-boo video

Mommy Makeover

I've been delaying this post because I didn't really want to post this not so flattering picture of me. It was a fun time for Allie and I though so I should just get over it and post about it. Allie's kindergarten class does a Mommy Makeover day. It was last Thursday. Basically the kids are supposed to pamper their Moms for an hour. It started out with her showing me everything that she had made at school for me for Mother's Day. Then she asked me what I wanted for breakfast and went and got it and then brought it to me. THEN, the real fun began. She painted my nails......this was a first and a few of my nails looked like the polish was about an inch thick. Obviously I'm exaggerating, but now I know this is something we can practice. She also put lotion on me, did my make-up and hair. I didn't bring a lot of make-up on purpose! She actually did really well with my lipstick though.
Here we are in action:

That necklace I'm wearing was a gift from Allie!

Trying to decide  which book to read to me

Mother's Day

My kids and husband spoiled me this year. It was more like a Mother's weekend and by far more relaxed than last year. It started out Friday night by having dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Tiago's. Saturday Derek suggested going to Sam's to grab a few things. We ate dinner there as soon as we got there (it's good and cheap). Then he took me over to the phones and I could pick out whatever phone I wanted....except for an iPhone. He's not a fan of Apple. I got the Galaxy II......and it will probably take me a while to figure it out since it's my first smartphone! I love it though.

Sunday morning Allie woke up and found me and with a big smile on her face said, "Happy Mother's Day". Then Avery followed. When Derek got up he asked me what I wanted for breakfast and then made me scrambled eggs. (He does make me breakfast just about every Sunday though) Then I was showered with pictures from the girls......

The girls posing with some art that Allie and Derek had framed and a card from each of the girls

Avery's artwork

Allie made me some flowers with chores

Allie made this on the computer

my self portrait by Allie

Our Cute Kids

We finally hooked up Blake's booster seat to our chair a couple weeks ago. It's so much easier to feed him this way and he likes it much better. I think he feels like a big boy now. He loves his Puffs.....he gets so excited when I start dumping them on the tray. Then he grabs handfuls and shovels them in his mouth!

Avery and Blake play really well together. Believe it or not, Avery is a big helper for me during the day. 

She wanted to be like Mommy! :)

VIDEO --- ALLIE SINGING

VIDEO -- BLAKE "CRAWLING"

McKinney Falls State Park

I'm so glad we made it to this park! We almost turned around and came back home after getting stuck in traffic due to some construction. (we're not very patient) We ended up spending about 5 hours here.....wishing we would have brought our camping gear and bikes. This place is just 12 miles south of Austin, so a good hour and a half to get there. Totally worth it though! We were afraid it would be super packed because it was so close to Austin but it wasn't bad at all.....especially the first swimming spot we went to. It was a little more of a hike to get to than the other, maybe that's why it wasn't as crowded. We don't like crowds so it was perfect for us. (and we LOVE to hike)

Start of the hike. Allie insisted on wearing the Camelback. I knew it was so she could CONSTANTLY be drinking water while we were hiking. I was right!

walking under a rock shelf (reminded us of Old Man's Cave trail in Hocking Hills, Ohio)

We made it to the Lower Falls!! Our first Texas swimming hole.

Avery and Derek swam out to the rock. You can see where the water is darker. It gets really deep.

Allie's turn

now all of us are over there. I found a way to go around the back side of the rocks! There were little pools of water on top of the rocks. Our little genius found a stick and dipped it in the water and started writing and drawing.

Blake's turn to cool off!

We had to keep a very close eye on him......everything goes to his mouth

Not happy that he can't get those rock things in his mouth

......so we taught him to splash

not too far into the hike back Blake was asleep

we promised the girls we'd stop at the Upper Falls. It was a lot bigger and way more crowded......but more kid friendly b/c of this big shallow area.

Derek was loving this little diving area

This was such a fun day! I always have a hard time getting up early to drive to these 1-2 hour away destinations but am always more than glad that we did after we get there. It's so nice and refreshing to be outside exploring nature. I'm so glad we started hiking with our kids when they were little because it's helped them to really enjoy hiking and being outdoors as well. This spot was extra special because we had somewhere to cool off in the Texas heat! When we got back to the car the external temp said 100 degrees! Can't wait to scratch off a few more of our "must see" places soon. We don't have a whole lot of time left to do them all.