little miss starts school ...

Little Miss started school this year too, she goes Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few hours and she LOVES it! She did not shed one tear on her first day and barely looked back to say goodbye to me.

She had been very anxious to start school since we used to pick up big sister there last year. She looks forward to it all week and gets a little irritated with me on the days she gets to stay home with me because she wants to go to school too!

Smiling with teeth, haha

Look at that HUGE backpack! She picked it, she wanted DORA

Posing with Mommy!

Playing by the big tree

Her teacher, Miss Karen

catching up...

I've dropped the ball (again) in keeping up with all the stuff we've had going on so standby for several updates ;)

new beginnings..

Monday was the first day of school for the Teen and Miss Priss. They were nervous and excited respectively and they both had a fantastic first day. I almost shed a tear when I hugged Miss Priss goodbye, but she was cool as a cucumber!

High School and Kinder in one year, and in two weeks Little Miss will start her Kids Day out two days a week! Everyone is growing up and it's happening fast! We are so blessed and grateful for our sweet, beautiful and smart girls. Here's hoping for an amazing year!

beach bums...

Summer vacation planning planning fell on my shoulders (as usual) and I thought it would be great to take our family to the Destin FL area - we had never been and I have many friends who have raved about the beautiful beaches and great family trips they had taken.

We decided on Seacrest Beach which is right between Seaside and Rosemary Beach. Originally we planned to fly with our benefits, unfortunately the flights were too full for us to go that route and since we'd already booked a beach house, we just decided to drive...14 hours... with all our kids (plus some, the teenager took friends). It was a looooong drive, we cut it in half and spent the night both directions in Jackson, MS to give everyone a break.

Overall, we had a great trip, the kids loved the beach (most of the time), we had so much fun just not doing much of anything but swimming, playing, napping and just relaxing! Perfect vacation!

Our little beach cottage for the week..

Teenagers! They had so much fun..

Little girls playing in the sand..

Jason's only quiet time that day..

Look, I was there too! We went shopping one day in the cute little town of Rosemary Beach just down the road..

Beautiful sunset..

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..