Last day of school....

Today was the last day of school for the girls. Although they do attend camp at Harding during the summer, that is about fun and no schoolwork is allowed (according to Anna). Anna wrapped up kindergarten with great success. I cannot believe how much she has learned. My little girl can READ anything you put in front of her. Her work steadily improved during the year. Now, if we can just get her to not "police" other people and do her work a bit more neatly, then she will be even better prepared for first grade. At her school you go to a different building for first grade. It is referred to as "up the hill". There is some anxiety there for her to leave her comfort place, but excitement in that she is thrilled at everything she will learn and experience with the "big kids". Anna claims they are all so big and tall....when we participated in "Sneak a Peek into First Grade" Gary and I noted that Anna was in fact just as tall if not taller than most of the kids in the first grade. Anna had a great year with Miss Christy....made some new friends....and strenghtened some of her older friendships. We look forward to taking the summer off and then diving back in "up the hill" in mid-August.

Caroline will be with her same teacher this summer and then in the fall will be in the transition or "older 2's" class. Many of the kids in her class turned two during the school year, allowed to start the 2 year old program early because they had siblings enrolled in Harding. Therefore, they will all do the 2 year old class again due to their birthdays. Caroline loved her "Rainbow Room" singing new songs, loving her ABC's and even counting in spanish. She had a great year with Miss Carol, who was previously Anna's teacher. Miss Carol has a special gift and is great with the little boys and girls in her class.

I took a picture of the girls the last week of school dressed the same as the first day of school to see if we could see some differences....obviously Caroline has sprouted some hair and both have grown in height. What a great year!!

anna the last week of kindergarten

caroline showing her usual sassy self

silly sisters
caroline and me after she finished in the bounce houses
anna enjoying her popsicle on the last day of school
caroline enjoying her ice cream sundae on the last day of school

anna with her friends ella, besty and ellie

anna with miss christy...we LOVE her!!

Memorial Day weekend

We had no plans for the weekend since we are all traveling next weekend when school is out so we had our own "staycation" in town. The weather was not ideal, but we did manage to do smethings outdoors to mark the beginning of summer. The girls had a great time riding their bike and trike at the park and both did so well. Anna is hoping to get her training wheels off soon. Gary and I made the mistake looking back in actually buying Anna a bike that fit her! I think had we bought a bike a little smaller she would be sailing around the neighborhood. She's so tall that we did not want to waste our money on a bike that just was too small. Oh well...she'll get it soon. We watched a few movies this weekend and I took the girls to get their nails painted. Anna had been begging for that for a while. I have now figured out that if we want Caroline to sit still then we take her to get her nails painted!! Hilarious. We are looking forward to the last week of school and heading to Dallas for Blake's birthday party. Gary's headed to his mom's house for a quick visit and to get her set up on a new laptop.

the girls on their bikes ready to go!

having fun on the swings



anna took our picture while having our snack

the girls are showing their muscles....something they do often!

The Big Show

Caroline had her "Big Show" at Little Gym on Saturday. I have no idea why the director scheduled the big show for Memorial Day weekend, however, it made it nice because there were only about half as many kids this week. Caroline LOVES Little Gym as she runs wild and plays on all the equipment. She did a great job displaying all the things she learned in class this time and we look forward to taking the summer off and returning in the fall.

anna "walking" up the wall

caroline hanging from the high bar

she's proud of her medal


caroline with Mr. Caleb, her teacher

My Little Night Owl

I got home last night around 9:00 from my supper club, which by the way was so good at Ciao Bella! Anna was finishing up reading with Gary and Caroline was asleep in her room. I always kiss the girls good night even if I arrive home after they are in bed. So, I was going to tip toe into Caroline's room and give her a kiss. I walked and and she was not in the bed! I looked around and just by the light of her nightlight I spotted her reading a book in her chair. I think I startled her but got her settled back in bed. She instantly decided she needed to go potty. I took her to the potty and then tucked her back in the bed and sang her a favorite song. Then, the fun began. We kept hearing Caroline talking in her room. We decided to let her talk a little bit and figured she would fall asleep soon since it was getting to be well past her bed time. Around 9:30 or 9:45 Gary decided to go up and make sure she was headed to bed. He walked into her room to find her with her nightgown off and pull up off reading books in her bed! Gary laughed so hard I had to come and check it out. Caroline thought it was the funniest thing ever. She is WIDE awake. About 10:00 I am downstairs getting things ready for this morning and I hear a noise in the den and just think it is Gary sitting down to watch a show on the TV. I keep hearing it so I go out to check it out and it is Caroline helping herself to something to drink!! She is hilarious. I put her back to bed for the LAST time and after talking and singing to herself for a while she fell asleep at 10:30 last night. She did sleep a little later this morning however I hope this trend does not continue!! She was making us laugh with all her antics however little miss crazy does require her beauty sleep!!

Classic Concert

Gary and I bid on tickets to any concert at the Sommet Center in Nasvhille in the Deloitte suite to benefit Make A Wish. No concert really piqued our interest lately until we saw that Billy Joel/Elton John would be appearing in May. The concert was Saturday night and was really a great time. They performed separately and together for almost 4 hours! We were worn out by the end of the night. Sir Elton definitely was a more enthusiastic performer and I had seen him before and he did not disappoint. Mr. Joel needs to get a little more pep in his step but overall he was great too. We enjoyed the evening sitting in great seats with great people and really loved seeing these classic artists. I took a few pictures with my new digital camera which turns out has a great zoom lens!!

Lunch with Anna

Gary and I both had the opportunity to dine with Anna at her school for special occasions. First, I joined her for the annual Mother's Day Luncheon. It is a catered lunch for all the mothers that is very, very good. The tables are set nicely and the children make us a gift and sing us a sweet song. Our gift was a cute polka dotted picture frame with a great photo inside. The song is so nice and it makes me cry every year. I look around and some moms cry and some don't....I guess I am a pretty emotional person. We had a great time and Anna was so proud of everything.

enjoying our yummy lunch

The following Friday was the annual Father's Day BBQ lunch. Since Father's Day does not fall in the school year, Harding does a great job of recognizing the dads during the school year. They have a nice bbq luncheon and the children make great gifts and then sing a different song. Gary thought it was great and Anna was lucky to be able to leave half day and join Anna at the Expo at the Memphis in May Triathlon for the afternoon.

anna excited to see her daddy before the bbq

Anna is so sweet. She is caring and she really put so much into the gifts and learning the songs. She makes us so proud!!

Happy Mother's Day

I love being a mom. My life completely changed when we added out two princesses to our family. The sweet "i love you" from both of them as well as the hugs and kisses I get daily from them are so encouraging. Although being a mother is a full time job and I work outside the home as well, the girls are my first priority and I would not trade anything for the opportunity to be their mom. People always ask me how I do it all and my answer is usually I don't get much sleep....one day I figure when they are teenagers and keep us up late worrying, I can sleep in because they will finally decide to sleep in!!

Gary prepared a full pancake breakfast and Anna and he anxiously awaited me waking up on Sunday. Of course I set my alarm so we could get ready for church but at least I could sleep until my alarm went off (which is rare on the weekends with my 6am early risers!!). Yummy breakfast, pretty flowers and a new digial camera awaited me. We had a great day including church and naps for everyone which were fantastic!! Throw in a great workout and a nice dinner with my own mom and it was a perfect day. We even introduced my mom and stepfather to the Wii fit, which they loved. We managed to get my mom to do the Hula Hoop which was fun....her score did not stay long as Anna quickly played and beat her handily!!

I love my mom and my girls....the best of all things!!

my sweeties...love caroline's pouty face

me and my girls (the crazies as i like to refer to them)

Party at the Zoo

Gary's company hosted the employees and their families on Saturday at the zoo for lunch and an afternoon of fun. The lunch was yummy and the girls had a great time. Anna chose a butterfly for her full face paint and both girls got Hello Kitty tattoos. The animal trainers brought out an armadillo, a few snakes and a huge iguana for the kids to touch and observe. We actually enjoyed a few hours of sunshine that was a large exception to the weather we endured last week. The girls fell asleep on the way home, so all in all a great time!!

anna with her butterfly face paint
caroline with her heart facepaint and hello kitty tattoo

the girls on the way out....fun times!

Summer must not be too far away.....

I can feel it....summer can't be too far away. . . . . it's the beginning of May and swimming lessons!! Anna has been anxiously awaiting the start of both....she claims she is burned out but we just think it is spring fever. She is SO ready for summer vacation. She has visions of summer camp, no uniforms, staying up late, trips to see family and the beach and she is pumped. Swimming lessons at the pool school are great. Anna is like a fish immediately and I'm looking forward to seeing her enjoy swimming at the gym pool this summer. Bring it on summer!

anna with her game face (complete with goggles) before her first lesson of the season

anna and mckayla.....excited about swimming!!

Pink it is

Caroline has a newfound love for the color pink. She thinks everything she wears MUST be pink. Not a little pink, or a pink flower, but ALL PINK!! Unfortunately, the Harding uniforms do not contain pink....so we have had to counsel Caroline on the fact that she can't wear pink to school. Of course her response is "I got to wear pink one day"....of course that was PINK day. Last Friday I had Caroline dressed to go to movie night at church. The outfit had pink in it but was not completely pink. She went up to her closet and yanked a dress down from the rack that was all pink and took off the other outfit. Yesterday, Caroline got home from school and indicated that she wanted to change clothes. Since dinner was ready (prepared right on time by Gary) when we got home, I suggested we wait until after dinner to change clothes. While I was getting the table set and drinks poured, Caroline was missing.....she then reappeared with a pink hat, pink bloomers (that she was convinced were big girl panties), pink shorts and a pink shirt. She was SO proud of herself. We ended up dressing her before dinner and she immediately asked if we would take her picture. She posed nicely. We think she is a great rep for the Race for the Cure all decked out in pink and at the same time, I'm pondering what she will be like in a few years (or maybe months?) picking out her clothes!