Monday, May 27, 2013

Last Zoo Day

Okay, so it's probably not really the last day we'll ever go to the zoo, but our membership expires at the end of this month and we're not renewing.  Although we appreciate all of God's creation:), our family isn't big on animals.  The kids have a good time at the zoo (most of the time), but it's definitely not their favorite thing.  We recently got an Arboretum membership, which is much more up our alley.
 
I was excited to finally get a picture with the BiG letters...
Charlotte was not into picture taking on this trip.  Actually, she just wasn't into getting out of the stroller. 

Elephants...

We got to see the real elephants get a bath and drink water, which was fun...

After we left the giants of the savannah, we headed over to the children's zoo so the kids could play in the water...

Not surprisingly, this is their favorite part of the zoo.  They are so excited for swimming this summer!

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Kinder Graduation

This year has FLOWN by!  It seems like just yesterday, I was ugly crying as I dropped Hunter off for his first day of school.  And now we have a Kindergarten graudate! 
 
Hunter still has school until June 6th, but his school is under construction for a remodel (we can't wait to see it next year!), so they had to have the graduation early.
 
Here are the graduates walking in with their music teacher...


After watching Charlotte at her program earlier in the day, it was so interesting to see how different Hunter is on stage.  She is all about dancing and making funny, expressive faces on stage (she'll put on a good show one day!), but isn't as concerned with belting out the lyrics.  He is the total opposite...so serious, but really into the singing.  I swear he was one of the loudest kids up there...maybe he'll be a singer one day!




 
I tried to upload a video of him singing one of his songs, but after an hour (literally.) of trying, I give up.  It's really a bummer, because he was dang cute:(

After several songs, it was time to graduate...


After graduation, we all had cake and punch.  He ran to the table to grab his before we even knew he had walked off!

We LOVE Hunter's teacher, Mrs. Stapp.  We seriously couldn't have asked for a better teacher for him this year.  They call her the Kindergarten Whisperer and it is SO true...

Here they are on the first day of school...
He looks so much older to me!

They played a slideshow during the graduation to the song "You'll be in my Heart" by Phil Collins.  Not surprisingly, I was emotional during it.  I just love Mrs. Stapp so much, and I know those kids will stay in her heart!  AND I loved seeing all of the pictures of Hunter with his classmates throughout the year.  I told James, before we know it, we'll be sitting at his real graduation, and I will be crying so much harder!

We are so thankful for both of our kids' schools.  They are such a blessing to us...

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Charlotte's Spring Program

Charlotte had her preschool spring program today...

This is her best friend at school, Rowan (or Rowyn?  No idea how to spell her name)...

I saw today why they are such good friends...
They were both such little hams during the performance!  It was so fun to watch them...




This picture is my favorite of Char...
She was being really goofy!  One of the teachers told us afterward that she was so funny to watch...and she really was!  I think she has a future in theater:)

She just needs to learn to face her audience for the entire performance...

She turned around and watched the older kids behind her for a good chunk of one of the songs...

 
She really got into two of the songs they sang.  This is the first one...
 
Don't you love that!?  We are so blessed by that sweet girl!  LOVE being her mom!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Grey's Dedication

We dedicated Grey to the Lord this past Sunday on Mother's Day.  It has worked out that all 3 of our children have been dedicated on Mother's or Father's Day, which is really special.  There was a baby boom at our church, including 10 babies (with 2 sets of twins!) over the past year, so a lot of our friends were up there with us...






I was thinking on the way to church that morning about how thankful I am to know the Lord in an intimate way and to be able to freely express that without any fear of persecution.  I know things may not always be that way, and I pray that my children will be able to freely love and serve God as we have the privilege to.  My constant prayer for all of them is that they will know Him well and continually stand in awe of the gift given to them through his love and sacrifice.  I know I am so thankful that I was able to stand up on Sunday morning and make a promise to raise Grey up to know the Lord. 

I have been so blessed by these four sweet souls...

James and I are honored to be Hunter, Charlotte, and Grey's parents and love getting the joy of watching them grow into themselves.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Recital!

Charlotte had several events leading up to her ballet recital.  First, was picture day!

Mrs. Michelle had a professional photographer come in to take group and individual pictures.  Parents weren't allowed in the room during pictures, so I'm anxious to see how they turned out  She's into doing a fake smile right now and has to have some coaxing and/or joking around to get a natural one.  I'm sure the photographer had lots of tricks, though!

Then we had dress rehearsal this past Friday night.  We couldn't video or take pictures during the actual recital, so lots of moms took pictures during rehearsal.  Here's Mrs. Michelle, giving some of the girls some tips...

Watching her friends...

Doing the dance...look at that face!  She's really concentrating!

Pretty ballerina!



Then Saturday night, it was finally time for recital!

She was super excited!

I loved watching Charlotte dance in the recital.  She kept looking down at her tape to make sure she was in the right spot, and then looking up and dancing again.  It was too cute.  We are excited to watch it on the DVD when it comes in:)

Daddy and Hunter picked out these beautiful roses for Charlotte, and Mrs. Michelle also gave her flowers for dancing so pretty...
(I had an allergy attack that lasted throughout the entire show...and a hormone surge that made me sweat profusely.  Good times.)

We had lots of family come to cheer on our little ballerina...
Poppy, Grandee, Daddy, Grey, Nanny, Grandad, Nana, Rich (and Hunter, Zack, Vanesa, Aunt Katie, and I not in the picture).  She has quite a fan base!

She did some dance moves just for us after the show was over...


And a curtsey...
She loves to curtsey and does it all the time.

One last picture on our way out to dinnner...
 
Charlotte danced beside the table all throughout dinner.  I'm thankful she loves to dance so much, because I can't get enough of seeing her in those cute recital costumes!  We're taking a break and doing gymnastics this summer, and then hopefully she'll choose to start up with ballet again in the fall.  And if she decides not to do it, I have no shame in trying to convince her.  Oh, yes I will. 
 
Until then, we'll be dancing our days away at home!