Dance Recital

Today is Kate's first dance recital.  We are all so excited to see her dance!  She has had such a fun time this year in dance especially since her 2 best friends were in class with her.  We are so proud of her!!  They had dance rehearsal on Thursday so I did a little photo shoot before the rehearsal.  The photos turned out so good!!  

Memorial Day Fun!

I am starting to get caught up from all the busyness.  Finally getting around to Memorial Day.  We had a pretty low key holiday.  Sunday at church we decided to do a get together with my parents and Kelly and Andrew.  I was kidding my mom because she put together the party in a few hours and it looked like something out of a magazine.  It was spectacular.  

 We had a great time relaxing, chatting, eating and playing.  Kate pushed Perry all around the yard.

 We played a little cornhole.  Ben had a good time learning how to play.

 Had to get a cousin picture.

 The kids spent the night with my parents so I could get up early and run the Cotton Row race.  It is a Huntsville tradition that I have never done!  It was a beautiful start to the day.

 I had not run much since the 1/2 marathon back in February.  Needless to say it was a tough morning.  I got to run with Kelly, Paige and my friend Katie throughout the race which was fun.

 It was a great race.  There was "the hill" at mile 3 that I was not really prepared for.  It was straight up.  I struggled the first couple of miles but the last few went great.  Finished in a pretty good time and I was just thankful not to have passed out along the course.

Matt had to work all day so that was a bummer.  We did meet him for lunch.  The kids and I just had a down day together which was fun.  It was a great way to kick off our summer.

A Day at the Lake

We kicked off our Memorial Day weekend/summer with a fun trip to the lake to spend the day with the McClures.  They were camping all weekend in an RV they rented at Honeycomb lake and they invited us to join them for the day on Saturday.  It is our kind of "camping" - just a few hours of all the fun and not the yucky stuff.  It was a perfect day.  The weather was gorgeous and the kids had a blast.  

 They loved the beach area at the lake.  Neither of them ever really enjoy the beach so I was surprised they enjoyed it at the lake.  They could have played there all day.  They swam and dug and played so hard.

 The campsite had several fun activities for the kids including a visit from the local fire department.  They got to try on some of the equipment.  The firefighters also sprayed the kids with the hoses.

 We rented a canoe and enjoyed some spins around the lake.

 It was so beautiful!!  So peaceful to just sit and enjoy God's creation.

 Addy and Kate spent lots of time coloring together.

 Ben and Evan enjoyed some fishing!

 Kate and I went on a hayride together!

 The boys played some poker (with rocks) around the campfire.

 Matt did a great job fixing us a wonderful dinner over the campfire.

 Of course there were s'mores.

 We finished the day just sitting around the fire enjoying time with friends.  It was a blast of a day.  So thankful for special friends and good times!

In Summer...

Last Friday was the last day of school for Ben!  So exciting!  It meant finishing up the school year and getting ready for summer.  The day started with a trip to Dunkin' Donuts for a special last day of school treat.  

Ben's teacher had asked me to help out with a special surprise for the last day of school.  I had to fill up 200 water balloons for the class.

Kate and I got to go up to school for the fun!  They had a blast playing games and getting wet!

 The last day of school is a little bittersweet.  Ben has had such an amazing 1st grade year.  He has learned and grown so much.  We are excited for new adventures but sure will miss 1st grade.

 We are so thankful for his AMAZING teacher Mrs. Stokes.  We don't want to leave her or his sweet little class!

 Mrs. Stokes made this wonderful gift for each child.  She picked adjectives that described Ben and made them into a keepsake for him.  These words describe our Ben so well.  What a blessing to have a teacher that recognized these qualities and celebrated them.

 And just to make it official...

 I had a little summer party planned to celebrate the beginning of summer!  I found this cute idea to do a play on the song "In Summer" from Frozen.  It was fun to do.  We had "Kristoff Ice" jello cubes "Impaled Snowmen" donuts and fun beach cups.

 The kids loved it and we enjoyed a relaxing start to summer.

 What better way to celebrate the start of summer than a trip to the pool.  Always fun to check it out for the first time of the season.  I think the entire neighborhood was there with the same idea.  Ben had a blast playing with all his friends from school and baseball.  This is Ben and his sweet friend Lily Baker.

 We finished up the very busy day with a trip to the dollar movie with the Johnsons.  We always have such a fun time with them.

Summer was kicked off in a great way!!  We are so excited to see what all fun we have over the next 8 weeks!