end of middle school

So the teenager is officially moving on to high school! We've got some exciting years ahead of us, but we will look back fondly on her years in middle school. The only thing she said she is going to miss about middle school is Ms. Springer - the most amazing, fantastic and loving Principal you will ever meet. When do you ever hear a kid saying they're going to miss their principal more than anything else?? That's how awesome she is!

Friends forever!

Final 8th Grade Walk of the Halls..

Best Buds!

Ms Springer! We'll all miss her..

spring break...

I know this post is MONTHS late, but I wanted to make sure to do a quick post about our little road trip in March to Broken Bow, OK near Beavers Bend State Park.

We rented a cute little cabin and stayed for two nights. We visited the beautiful State Park, went for a nature hike, had a picnic, fished, played on the playground, thew rocks in the lake, spent some time 'swimming' in the hot tub, had a bbq, and made smores! All three of the girls had so much fun, and J and I did too.

It was a quick, fun trip. It was so pretty and we really had a great time together.

On the road..

Cute but tiny on the inside of the cabin, J 'napping' with Little Miss..

Making a campfire..

Swimming in the hot tub..

SMORES!

Little Miss just wanted graham crackers, and jumbo marshmellows too!

Playground at Beaver's Bend State Park..

Family before the hike - all smiles!

Are we almost done, i'm tiiiiiiiiiired....

...and sleeeeeepy...

Fishing! Miss Priss is starting to show signs of boredom from all this waiting around for bites business. She thinks there's not enough action involved in fishing.

Mini train ride around the park..

Only picture I was in all weekend, proof I actually went on the trip too :)

graduation..

Miss Priss graduated from Pre-K last week. She was SO sweet! She's officially ready for Kindergarten, I can't believe it!



She said when she grows up she wants to be a teacher :)

Miss Priss with Ms. Lynette her teacher

Best Buds

five ...

happy happy birthday sweet baby girl. I CAN.NOT.BELIEVE that you are FIVE years old!!!! holy cow, it seems like just yesterday you were born and now you are going to be starting kindergarten !!

you are amazing, so so smart, so sassy. you are a girly girl through and through. you LOVE dresses and sparkles, you love being crafty and creative. you always want to help in the kitchen but you also love working on projects and getting dirty in the garage with daddy.

today you woke up with a fever and had to stay home from school, but I didn't mind because I really enjoyed the extra cuddle time, I know before long you won't want to cuddle with me and work on puzzles and paint suncatchers, but today you did, and for that I am grateful. I love you baby girl.

indian princesses ..

J and Miss Priss joined the Indian Princesses program this year (actually it is called the Adventure Guides, but that sounds lame and apparently everyone who participates in the program still refer to it as Indian Princesses). They have been having so much fun at some of their recent events.

They participated in Derby Days and created a wooden race car together. At the big race Miss Priss won 2nd place! Her purple polka dotty car beat some fancy schmancy cars and she won a trophy, a medal and a patch. She was SO proud!




A couple of weeks ago, they attended the Spring campout at Collin County Adventure Camp. They both had such a great time, they got to shoot bow and arrows, beebee guns, they went on nature walks, made smores, went to a bonfire and she earned two feathers - one for being a new camper and one for bravery when she saw a small snake on her nature hike (EEEEEEK!!!)

J can't wait until the next one, he said it was so fun spending good, uninterrupted, quality time with Miss Priss and I know she felt exactly the same :) As I was packing up her things for the campout, I told her I was going to miss her and maybe Little Miss and I could come to the campout too. She promptly informed me that Indian Princesses was NOT for mommies or babies, and I needed to stay home and take care of Little Miss, and that she and daddy would be back soon. sweet sweet girl..

the tooth fairy is comin' !!

major milestone at our house today! miss priss lost her first tooth - she was so excited when it started wiggling, she spent some quality time jiggling it back and forth, helping it along. today she asked me if I would wiggle it a little and once I had my fingers on it, I could tell it was barely hanging on. I gave it a little tug and it was out, she didn't even know until I showed it to her laying in my hand.

she is SO excited that the tooth fairy is coming tonite!! can't believe how big she is getting.

happy birthday sweet little miss...

sweet angel baby, i can't believe it has been two years! some days it really feels like it is just flying by, and some days (I mean, i'm just gonna be honest) it really doesn't!

you are beautiful, playful, cuddly, sweet, loving, silly, sneaky, mischievous, high maintenance, dramatic, picky... and I couldn't imagine our family without you!

you love to watch Dora, and sing and dance. you are the worlds pickiest eater, but your favorites are CHEESE (who can blame you), berries, goldfish, tortillas, frozen peas (weird, but whatever it takes). you adore your sisters. you are a great nighttime sleeper, love playing with playdough and crayons - maybe you're going to be an artist!

thank you for all of your daily hugs and kisses, even when I think I might pull my hair out, you still can make me melt with that little snaggletooth smile :)

love you, sweet girl..

don't forget the 'un-romantic' valentine's date...

I know I haven't blogged in... forever. But I was scrolling back and remembered that this time last year we had our first 'Un-Romantic' Valentine's Date - we painted pottery, and J learned how to make a clay pot on a wheel - verrry Patrick Swayze ;)

Anyway - just revisited the blog, Prudent Baby, that game me the original inspiration, and she just posted about some of the things they have done on their dates, plus there are lots of great ideas in the comments also.

This year, we have childcare (woohoo) and we might swing by Rahr Brewery early in the day - J loves it there. Then we're having sushi (free gift card - thanks Mom), and I think visiting DFW Gun Range for some Dirty Harry practice - I actually think it will be fun! Other great ideas that were suggested, whirleyball, or TopGolf (yuck) but he would have a ball! and in the words of 'Prudent Baby' .. 'The whole point of the day is to plan something you would not ordinarily want to do, something ridiculously manly and out of your comfort zone. Then smile the whole time and act like you love it.'

It should be a memorable date :)
Happy V-day!

mission..

This year the Preteen has gotten involved with her middle school youth group at church. She had an amazing opportunity to go on a mission trip this summer with the group. They went to New Orleans for 6 days and then wrapped up that week with a few days in Gulf Shores, Alabama for beach camp.

They spent a lot time in the lower ninth ward cleaning up debris, garbage, tearing out, hauling off and just working hard in an area that, still after all this time, is in such bad shape and needs help. These kids had a chance to meet the people in the neighborhood, hear their stories, and serve them by getting their hands dirty and doing the work that needed to get done.

In the afternoons, the group would go to the projects and play with the children there. She said that as soon as they'd show up in the park, all the little ones would start trickling out to play with them - she said it was her favorite part of the whole trip.

It was a great experience for her, she learned a lot, she met a bunch of people and made tons of friends. She was touched by what she saw and learned there, I can tell by hearing her talk about it. She grew up just a little bit more. She wants to go back next year, says she can't wait..amazing!

first day of school, last year in middle school..

In preparation for the first day of school, I sent the preteen to bed early on Sunday, had her set her alarm, made her breakfast Monday morning, offered to make her lunch (she declined, she wanted to buy on the first day), I offered some fashion advice (it was warranted**) drove her to school FULL of excitement..... what am I forgetting, what am I forgetting???? Oh yeah,

I FORGOT THE PICTURE!!!!!

First day of 8th grade and I got no picture! WORST.MOM.EVER!!!! Sigh...

So when she got home, I made her put her outfit back on. She had just gotten out of volleyball practice, nice and sweaty - cute hairdo in a ponytail, but she looked cute anyway. She had a great first day, is excited about her last year in middle school!

**update : I just want to say for the record, I did not offer fashion advice when putting this outfit together, I give her FULL credit for that. I persuaded her (gently) from wearing the hideous, nonmatching, totally goofy shoes she had on when she first came downstairs. Oh, if I only had a picture of that!

summer vacation...

Last summer was rough, Little Miss had just been born so I was exhausted and sleep deprived with an infant nursing every 2-3 hours, all the kids were home and bored, I fell in early July and badly twisted BOTH my ankles, plus it was a bajillion degrees outside so no one wanted to go out. Needless to say, we were homebound and had major cabin fever. Worst. Summer. Ever.

I was really looking forward to a better summer this year, I think we all were. We've had a couple of Disney vacations, and although they can be fun and memorable in lots of ways, they are just not relaxing, and Orlando in the summer is a nightmare - HOT, crowded, humid, HOT. We wanted a vacation that the kids and adults could both enjoy. J and I thought that Washington D.C. would be a great trip to take, he hadn't been in years and the girls and I had never been, and the Pre-teen especially was at the perfect age to appreciate D.C.

Little Miss stayed with Nana and Papa, which we were so grateful for, she loved getting 100% attention all week and we loved that we had more freedom and flexibility in the activities that we were able to do on the trip.

Now it was definitely warm there, but not like Florida hot, ok well sometimes it felt that hot, but the difference was that we were indoors a lot of the time. We rode the Subway/Metro all over town - it was very clean, seemed safe, and was cheap and easy to use. We saw so much! We did a great guided walking tour and saw all the monuments, we visited the White House, the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, Natural History Museum, American History Museum (mainly just the First Lady dresses exhibit), we went on a guided tour of the Capitol (awesome!), we saw a Presidential motorcade drive out of the White House (awesome!) We walked and walked and walked - thank God we took the little stroller for Miss Priss, she would NOT have been able to keep up with all the walking we did.

Kids in front of the Capitol

The girls and I in front of the National Art Museum - we didn't see much art here unfortunately, we ate lunch in the cafe and enjoyed their A/C.

The fountains at the National Sculpture Garden. The building directly behind is the National Archives.

Natural History Museum. This is the elephant that was in the movie Night at the Museum.

Washington Monument. Notice the stone changes color half way up, they ran out of money during the Civil War and construction was halted for several years until they could raise enough to finish it.

Family picture in front of the White House.

The girls at the Lincoln Monument

Lincoln Monument. I'm pretty impressed that my camera got such a nice picture of it, almost looks like a postcard.

J and Miss Priss at the Lincoln Monument

Stephen F. Austin statue that Texas contributed to the U.S. Capitol. TEXAS!!

Dome in the Rotunda inside the Capitol. Beautiful!

Miss Priss on the Metro. Her favorite part of the trip!


All in all it was a great vacation! There is so much to do, there is no way to see everything in just a few days. Miss Priss was a little bored in the museums, but luckily she kept busy and was happy to be on vacation. Her favorite parts? The airplane to get there, the train to get into the city, the hotel and the subway. Ha!

swim lessons..

Miss Priss took 4 weeks of swim lessons this year. Her learning to swim was top priority this summer and I think with her awesome instructor, Mr. Ethan, she is doing fantastic. No life jacket at all this summer, maybe she's going to take after her older sister after all.

long days of summer...

It's been a long and busy summer and I have totally slacked on the blog postings it seems like we've been super busy, but then at the same time we have days (like today, and yesterday and....) where it seems like the day is just dragging.

Miss Priss is at a point where she wants to be entertained constantly, all day long, one activity after the other, finger painting, playdoh, swimming, sidewalk chalk (can you say HOT outside?), candyland, chutes and ladders, etc etc. We can't put one activity away before she's asking what we're going to do next, and what can we do after that, and by the way, what are going to do tomorrow???? I'M BORED MOMMY!!!!!

Mix all that together with the Little Miss wanting to get all involved in whatever activity Miss Priss is working on and let the drama begin. MP does not like LM playing with her stuff 99.9% of the time, and that is alllll that LM wants to play with. sigh...

MP has asked and asked and asked and asked when school starts again, and she can't wait until September and neither can mommy!! Holy moley summer's are busy.

The Preteen has been BUSY this summer too - summer vacation with mom, then another trip with dad, then a church mission trip then she's going on a little trip with her BFF and then another trip planned to visit grandma right before school starts. Throw in some sleepovers and other stuff and she's hardly been around, and when she has been, she sleeps until noon. Oh the good 'ol days of childhood summers, how I remember them fondly..

Anyway - i'll be posting some pictures of summer vacation and other fun things. Stay tuned...