And So It Begins....

Saturday night, we went to a picnic at Ms. Brenda's house to celebrate the rising 6th graders moving into youth. It was a lot of fun...good food, friends, and water fun. Brenda got up and said a little about each of the kids, pointing out some of their gifts. Andy said a few words and then it was on to the water fun! They all had a good time even if the water was cold! On Sunday night, it was CREAM night for all the new incoming youth. Meghan wore her old clothes and was prepared to get messy. Of course, her uncle Roo was her CREAMer, so she got it good! Hard to believe my baby is old enough to be in youth, but I know she has been looking forward to it. She is already trying to talk Lily into letting her big sister CREAM her when she gets to youth. I am not so sure about that!.....

Hanging Out

Here are all the cousins (minus Rori) at the park before James and Erin left on Monday evening. You can see more pics at Erin's blog here. It is always nice to get everyone together....wish it could be more often!

This week has been slow, thankfully, and that has been nice. We have been to the pool and we have eaten *free* breakfast at CFA a few times too! We have been busy planning for Lily's birthday party this Monday evening at the pool. She is so excited, but got a little carried away on the invites....but this is her first "real" party, so I figured next year will be a little more low key. As soon as her party is over, I will have to start planning Trey's. His will be at home and a lot less chaotic!

The Big 6!...aka Party #2

Lily and her birthday waffles

Lily is officially six years old today! She was so excited this morning when she woke up. She got to church and the kids all sang Happy Birthday to her during worship. She had a few friends come over to play this afternoon and then cousins galore over for supper and cake (party #2)! She had a great day!

The gang's all here!

Six candles!

Birthday Party #1

**Long Post-Warning!....and a bit sentimental!**

We went to my sister's house to celebrate Lily's birthday. She was excited by her cake and all her gifts! She couldn't wait to play with them! Trey also enjoyed his time at Aunt Amy and Uncle Scott's. He discovered Uncle Scott's riding mower and had to sit on it. Uncle Scott pushed him around for a little bit and then did end up giving him a ride on it (it was very loud!). Trey loved it! I have been a little sad today. All because of Lily. This is the last day that my baby girl will be 5. The last day she can count her age on one hand. It makes me sad to see her growing up. She has changed so much this last year....losing that baby look. I have been a little nostalgic today thinking of this time 6 years ago. I remember we were dogsitting Bear (my in-law's dog) while they were on vacation. He was just a puppy, but could be quite a handful. I watched Shrek for the first time 6 years ago tonight. I remember having occaisional pains, but thought they were Braxton Hicks...boy was I wrong. I woke up at 6am with terrible pains. I called the doctor and he told me to come on in. Daniel took a shower and I woke up Meghan. She was not happy to be getting up at 6am on a Saturday! I had to call my mom to meet us at the hospital b/c Lily was making a 2 week early entrance. Her Mimi and Poppy were supposed to take Meghan, but they were out of town. I remember the pains coming so fast on our way to the hospital. I was praying to make it there. I did not want to be one of those ladies who has her baby on the highway, especially with my 4 year old in the backseat! I made it to the hospital and I remember the nurse getting a wheelchair and asking how far apart the contractions were...I said 5 minutes. I had one at that point and then another by the time she pushed me into the elevator. She said, "I don't think they are 5 minutes apart!". Needless to say, when they got me on the table, I was already 8 cm dilated and that was about 7:30am. I had Lily around 8:15am. She was coming out with her head laying on her shoulder, so they had to use the vacuum to help her come out. Thankfully, the doctor said if it were not for that I would have had her in the car on the way! Anyway, I had a beautiful baby girl weighing 7 pounds and 11 ounces. Hard to believe that was 6 years ago....*sniff, sniff*.

Camper Returns!

Lily just got back today from her first visit as an official camper at A Camp a couple of counties over. She went with her Mimi (it was a grandparent/child sleepover) and it was to give younger kids a taste of camp. I thought what better way for her to experience what Meg loves than to go with someone she knows. She had a blast and even made a new friend. This little girl lives in our city and she is just a couple of weeks younger than Lily! She had lots of things to tell us when she got home and now Meg and Lily are swapping camp stories!!! I think she will love it when she is old enough to go on her own!

Tuesday

6:45am-eyes open

7am-out mowing

7:15am-praying the kids aren't killing each other

8:30am-beautiful yard

8:45am-wishing I could go back to bed.....oh well.

Finally!

Lily finally let me pull her tooth last night after VBS! She had run into Miss Holly, which helped loosen it up pretty well, so pulling it was no problem! She didn't even feel it! She was so proud when she woke up this morning and had money from the tooth fairy!

Let Summer Officially Begin...

Okay, I know that I have been off from school for a week and a half now, but summer really didn't begin until about 11:15am today. Meg had volleyball camp last week everyday and then I have been doing PD for the past two and a half days. Not to mention VBS in the evenings! I finally feel like I can breathe!!!! Here are some updates:

*Lily is about to lose her first front tooth (top). It is hanging by a few threads. I keep telling her to wiggle it. I am hoping she holds still long enough for me to pull it!

*Meg loved Volleyball camp so much! The coaches and the HS girls were great and very encouraging. Much better than any Y program!

*Trey is trying new words....most of them do not have the consonant sound at the end, but at least he is trying. He is OBSESSED with lawnmowers and weedeaters. He has to see Daddy's every time we get out of the van when we are in the garage. He says "Daddy mow" "Wee-wee" (for weedeater). It is so cute! I am loving now that he is communicating a little more.

We also had Daniel's unit's Family Day on Sunday. They had great food and lots of stuff for the kids to do. Both girls (yes, I said BOTH), attempted to climb up the rock wall they had brought in. They had a blast! Trey loved making bubbles and of course, they all loved swimming later that afternoon at the local pool. It was a tiring, but fun day in the sun!

Summer Vacation!

**This is a long post, sorry. We had a lot going on!!!!

Lily and her Kindergarten teachers

Friday was my and the girls last day of school! Yippee! I am so glad to be done with this year. Of course, our weekend was packed and I haven't been able to sit down for long so far....but I still got time, right?! Lily had her kindergarten program (which was SOOO CUTE!) on Thursday morning and Meg "graduated" 5th grade Friday morning. She also got to leave school when it was over (they all did) and she went to play golf with her daddy. I, on the other hand, had to go back to school, but that wasn't so bad. I went out to eat with the other preschool teachers at a great restaurant in the county I work in. So all in all, it was a good week last week. I videotaped Meg's graduation, so I didn't get any pictures. On Saturday, Meg had her first "dance". Some of the 5th grade moms got together and had a 5th grade graduation party. One of the teacher's husband is a DJ, so they had music. It was at a neighborhood clubhouse and she had a blast! When I showed up a few minutes before the end (to take pictures....parents were not allowed to stay), they were all dancing! It was quite entertaining! She had a great time. Lily even got to dance with her book buddy, Kirsten. All the kindergarteners had 5th graders as book buddies. A really neat program they do at their school.

Meghan with her friend, Meghan

Lily and her book buddy, Kirsten

Everyone doing the ChaCha Slide

Then on Sunday, I took the girls and some of their friends to the rollerskating place here in town b/c we had free passes we had to use. It was a lot of fun and a learning experience for Lily and her friends!