Happy Birthday Sweet Boy!

6.

Why is that so hard to say?  I struggle every year with his birthday!  On his 1st birthday I stood in the card section and cried.  Actually every year I have cried.  Last year I even bought his card a month or two before his birthday so I wouldn't stand there and cry.  This year we had the party early and I was fine.  Tomorrow is the big day!

Here is the birthday boy that brings so much joy to our lives.  He is so smart and loving.  Just recently he stopped giving his mommy kisses.  I hear it's a phase.  I sure hope so.  He still likes to cuddle on the couch and crawl in my bed in the middle of the night to cuddle(but don't him you know that or he may stop).  It drives me crazy and yet I know there will come a day that he never does it again because he will just be too old for that!

We are so proud of you Andrew!  You bring so much joy to our lives and I can't imagine this life without you.  God blessed us the night you were born!  We were so scared as new parents and didn't know what to do.  I still remember your daddy sleeping next to your bed that first night to make sure the dogs didn't get too close.  Not sure why we didn't just kick the dogs out of the room.  Then Big Mark flew out and surprised us and helped us take care of you those first few days and we are forever grateful that he was here.  Our lives are forever changed because of you.

Happy 6th Birthday Sweet Boy!  We all love you!

Swim Lessons 2011

We finished day 3 of swim lessons and the kids are doing great!  Andrew is a little nervous about jumping in the water but thankfully his teacher only makes them do that at the beginning of the lesson.  2 years ago when Andrew took lessons they had to jump in several times and it was a requirement to pass the class he was in.  No tears this year from either of the kids.  Grace said she likes it but it was a little cold today.  It has been REALLY windy the last 2 days and today we even turned off the air conditioning and opened all the windows.  I know the kids have been cold but it will be back up to 100 by Friday so they won't be cold for long.  Here are some pics of the kids and you can click here to see some videos.  If you click on the picture (in picasa) you should be able to enlarge it to see the picture or video.

The last day of class (July 8th) is camera day.  I don't know if they really want me taking any pictures right now.  I'm not allowed to walk past the fence so I'm just zooming in with my camera to get these pics.  Tomorrow I'm just going to sit and watch and cheer them on.  Grace is getting really brave and keeps going under water when she is waiting for her instructor.  I'm so glad she is participating.  I was a little worried the first day and then today she was crying at the beginning b/c she had to jump in the water and she really isn't too sure about having a male instructor.  She is kind of anti men at this age.  Can't wait to see what happens tomorrow!

Andrew's Birthday Party

Andrew and his buddies in the pool.  They stayed in the shallow pool the entire hour and a half.  They had so much fun playing with the boards and rings that we had.  I prayed for no wind during the swimming and it was very calm almost the whole time they were in the pool.  Then we moved to the shade and it was windy but beautiful to be out there celebrating a special little boy turning 6!

 This is one of maybe 3 pictures I got of Grace.  She is very hard to take a picture of.

 Superhero lollipop decorations for the table.

 Opening presents.  He was awesome and posed for the camera with every gift!  We now have a house full of transformers!

And of course, Andrew picked out a present for Grace and he chose a rapunzel dress and hair.  The hair is attached to a clip and she wore it the rest of the party and most of the day.  She loved it and was so excited that she got her own present!

 We had batman, superman, and spiderman cupcakes!

Grace with her Papa after the party.  She usually likes to go off on her own during the parties.  We were close to the playground so she kept going over to play by herself and then toward the end of the party we found her sitting on Bill's lap and then she finally clung to her Papa!

Busy Week

I'm here to apologize for my absence.  I'm hoping to post some pictures but really don't have any good ones since vacation to post.  This class has been really, really hard and very time consuming.  It's the last week of class and I have a team project to turn in today and my team did not agree this week so I'm not counting on full credit.  Then I have 2 huge projects that will determine if I pass this class.  The teacher is super picky and takes off points for the littlest things.  I just want to get this week over with and get a passing grade.  I've had 100% in the last 2 classes and for this class I'm just hoping to get 80% to pass.

Andrew's birthday party is next weekend so I have a lot going on with that and I'm just not sure how I'm going to get it all done.  I'll get something on here as soon as I can.  For now, I'm freaking out about my assignments and don't have enough time to work on them.

Vegas

So we went to Vegas this last weekend.  We left on Saturday and came home on Tuesday.  It was a nice little family getaway but now we are back to reality.  I only took a couple pictures because my kids refuse to have their picture taken anymore.  No smiles out of Grace and rarely even a glance toward the camera. 

We really enjoyed the pool.  The first day we had a rough start because Grace had a tummy ache.  We spent the majority of our time at the pool and lazy river.

 Kids gave up on their tubes in the lazy river right away.  It wasn't a peaceful float with the kids.  They loved that it was easy to swim in the river because they didn't have to work hard.

 Andrew practically ran in the water because of the current.

 Lunch by the pool!  Yummy pizza!

 Dinner at Toby Keith's I love This Bar and Grill

 Andrew even got brave for a little while and took off his floaties.  Good thing because he starts swim lessons in a little over a week.  Hopefully this time will go better. 

I just love this picture.  A little girl and her daddy.

Mosaic Pictures

I bought a couple kits I saw on clearance the other day and wondered if it would even be worth it and I can say it definitely was.  There are 4 pictures in each kit and they came packaged with the stickers that go with that particular picture.  Andrew chose to do the dinosaur and this is what it looked like when we opened the package.

 Below are the squares and triangles that go with his pictures.

 Here is Grace's butterfly (in progress).

I didn't get a picture of the finished dinosaur but I still have the picture so I'll put a picture up sometime.  Maybe when we do the other 2 pictures in the box.  I think Andrew already finished his other one but I'm not sure.  He disappeared in his room with it the other day and I forgot to check.  Just another summer activity to keep us busy until the pool is up in another week!

Chocolate

I have been trying to find activities to keep the kids busy and away from the tv during summer break.  Today I haven't been successful with this plan but yesterday we played around with some chocolate.  We have the Hershey's chocolate book about fractions so we read a few pages of it and did the activity.  Most of it is way too hard (especially when you have a Hershey's chocolate bar waiting to be eaten). 

Happy Birthday Daddy!

At the beginning of the week, we celebrated David's birthday!  We didn't do anything crafty or get him anything really exciting but it was perfect for him.  We got him some shirts for work and a lunch pail and thermos.  Important stuff when you work in an office! We went to Sizzler for dinner and had chocolate cake for dessert. 

Sonshine Concert

Last week was Andrew's spring concert for Sonshine Choir.  It was really fun and I although I haven't taken the time to watch the video, I have a lot of pictures thanks to my friend Sharon!

 Andrew is in the back row on the end (left).

Even a picture of momma helping the kids remember all the moves!  The quality of the pictures isn't the greatest but it was a great night and so awesome to see the kids perform!  I have a few comments on facebook that Andrew was quite the performer!

Building

Grace being shy at our neighbor's house.  She looks like she is pouting but she was just refusing to talk or smile for the picture.  

These cups kept Andrew entertained for most of the day!

Last day of Kindergarten

 Completion of Kindergarten Award

This picture is from the 1st day of school.  Look how much they've grown!  Well, Grace has grown taller but they both look a lot older!