A Little Splash

On Saturday we went on a family date with the Miller Family.  We decided to get wet at the Fountain Hills Splash Pad.  It was very fun!  Here are some wet and wild pictures.

 Oh the things that dad does to his little girls. ha ha!  

It turns out that the girls' favorite part of the water fun was filling up cups of water and dumping them all over... ME!  Yep!  I was drenched.  It was fun.

 Even Oliver decided to try dumping some water on his mother.

 After about an hour, the girls were cold and exhausted... it was time to dry off.  Oliver took a little more convincing.  I think he could have gone for another 30 minutes if I had let him.

We had such a wonderful day.  A huge thank you to the Miller Family for inviting us on such a fun date activity.  We will have to do it again!

Happy Birthday to Me! I am 30!

Monday was my birthday!  I love my birthday's.  This one was a little surreal.  I knew that 30 was coming, and in a way, my brain has already been there for a while.  Then the day before it hit me: This is my last day in my 20's.  That's a little weird to think.  A decade is a long time, and yet it went really fast.  So many things happened in my life between my 20th birthday and my 30th.  I am a completely different person.  It makes me excited about this next chapter.

To celebrate my birthday, I picked Melanie up from school a little early (okay, only 30 minutes early and she only missed the school's lunch), and took my kids to lunch.  The kids loved our little date, and I have to admit, it was extra special to me as well.

For my birthday, I got flowers!  And lots of them!  These flowers and chocolate came from my girls.  I also received flowers and chocolate from my dad and his wife.   

 The girls and I made this ice cream pie.  It may not be much to look at, but it was really yummy!  After dinner, we enjoyed it to the fullest!

I'm so grateful for my wonderful family and for all the support and love they have given me.  30 has a lot of benefits.  I'm excited to be here.  

Casey is a High School Graduate (and other fun things)

In effort to stay chronological, we will start with something fun...  The library is awesome!  On Wednesday, we went to a show about dinosaurs, where the "performers" were paleontologists from the Museum of Natural History (downtown Mesa).  Thursday, we went to the Worm Drive, the musical.  It was hilarious!  And I learned things about earth worms that I don't' think most people learn in a lifetime.  It was so fun!

 At the end, the kids got to look at and touch (if they wanted to) the worms.  Melanie touched.  Noelle declared it "gross", and Oliver just looked.

 On to funner news...  My cousin, Casey, just graduated high school.  Brandon and I flew to Houston, Texas, on Friday, to attend the graduation.  It was really exciting to see Casey walk.    Here are some before the ceremony pictures:

 Casey with her parents, my Aunt Connie and Uncle Timmy

 Casey with my mom and Terry

 Casey and yours truly 

 Proof that Brandon came.

 Casey and my grandparents

 And... Princess Casey!

 Here she is after the ceremony with her boyfriend, Michael D.  I attempted to get some pictures during the ceremony and failed, terribly.

 The next day was the last day of my 20's, quite literally, and the last day of Brandon and my little trip.  We decided to try out the Museum of Natural Science.  To say it was cool would be an understatement.  Turns out that when I don't have children at the museum with me, I like to read all the plaques.  It also turns out that I'm a slow reader.  So... in the amount of time it took Brandon and I to go through the Egyptology wing, my mom, her husband, Casey and my uncle Timmy pretty much did the rest of the museum.  Yep!  I repented after that.  I wish I got more pictures, but I got in trouble using my flash. 

 Before we caught the plane home, I got some more pictures.  Here I am with my grandparents.

 Me and my uncle... Note that he is smiling... he must really love me or something!

 And of course, me and my Ms. Casey!  She is amazing!  I know she is going to do great things.  

Now I get to brag about my cousin!  She graduated with honors, and was excepted into Baylor University.  And she is pretty much, just awesome.  Even if she told me that I'm just not funny...  which she is pretty right about.  :)  I love you Casey!

Time Keeps Moving On

Oliver is 18 months old...  I know I say this a lot, but I can't believe that he is that old.  It feels like I just brought him home from the hospital.

Some things about Oliver.  He now weighs 22 lbs, 6 oz (which means he is finally on the chart).  He is 32-1/2" tall, and can wear a size 19" hat.  Oliver loves to climb and explore.  He likes to get himself into tight places.  Oliver is now in nursery, and pretty much hates it, but he will learn to love it... probably more so when it isn't during nap time.  Unfortunately, that's not for another 7 months.   Oliver can talk pretty well for a little 18 month old and usually gets his point across.  He loves his sisters, and especially loves to play with Noelle.  He likes to go into my bedroom and turn on my clock radio.  I'll come in and see him totally jamming out.  It's hilarious.  Oliver loves singing and I will often get comments at church from people who have heard time.  Oliver's favorite outfit is his church suit and if he had his way, he'd have his tie on every day of the week.  

Here are some pictures of my little Man.  Here he is in a tight spot.

 And with his suit on... and an extra tie...  He wore dad's tie like this for about an hour on Sunday until I made him take the whole thing off before dinner.

In unrelated news, Melanie started summer school through her new elementary school yesterday.  We walked to school and she got to eat breakfast in the big cafeteria.  She LOVED it!  Today she did the cafeteria thing all by herself.  She is getting too big too fast!

And more exciting news... the girls got nice new summer cuts.  They actually let me cut their hair short.  Noelle needed it in a big way because she has been looking a little mangy ever since she decided to play beautician on herself.   You can see the damage a little bit in this side shot.  It was easy to hide with pony tails, but it still drove me bonkers.  

 But look at her now.  She is gorgeous!

 Here is Melanie before...

 And after!

 Brandon picked the girls up from the princess academy their cousin is putting on this week, and didn't even recognize them with their new cuts.  It was funny.  They are looking really good.

And finally, I had to share my favorite book mark.  Not only to remind everyone that the summer reading program is going on at the libraries (and they have an adult program this year...  you really should check it out) but also to brag.  See... Noelle made this for me a few months ago.  It's 100% made by her.  She sounded out and wrote "Mom" on the paper all by herself.  Then her sister decided to add a "Y" to the end to make it "mommy", but  Noelle was NOT happy about that.  She cried and cried because Melanie ruined her paper.  Then she used scissors and cut out the "Mom".  And now it's my book mark.  And I love it!  It makes me smile every time I look at it.

And School has Ended

School has ended!  It seems like it just started, and yet it is over.  My girls have both grown so much and have achieved so much.

 

Melanie:

Has learned how to read and passed off 83 books from February 4th until the last day of school.  She also learned how to do a simple math, some spelling, and science.  Here is a before and after picture of her.

Noelle:

Noelle has learned all her letter sounds and can correctly identify them in both lower and upper case forms.  She is also starting to blend sounds a little.  Most importantly, she has made some really good friends.

 

To celebrate the last day of school, I surprised them with a special treat.

Um, yeah, it was good!

 

Good job on a great year girls!  Welcome summer!