Memorial Day Pool Party

Fun with friends at the pool.

Nothing beats eating a corn on the cob, poolside.

Aiden's last day of school

Aiden's last day of school. Field Day!!

Sno cone machine slushy.

The day before, we did their end of year party with a pool party theme. We we so busy with the kids I didn't take a single picture. 

But here are some of the party details...

All the mom's hosting the party wore white t-shirts and made lifeguard crosses out of duct tape. We served an ice cream sunday bar complete with waffle bowls. They all made a commemorative t-shirt with hand prints on the back and the party wrapped up with an outside water gun war.

Charlotte, NC

Weekend road trip to see a long time friend tie the knot. The groom, Kevin, and I worked together 16 years ago at Goody's Family Clothing which was my first job out of college. It was great to hang out with some friends from the good 'ol days!

 Laurel and I with a Rolls Royce. Kevin is a lover of cars so this is what took them from the ceremony  to the reception. Then they left the reception in one of Kevin's fancy sports car.

The friends from the past (because we are NOT old, i'm not going to say old friends!)

The kids had a blast staying in the hotel. There was a hot tub, swimming pool and a putting green.

 Camille enjoyed staying in the top bunk in the hotel room! 

The kids liked eating breakfast in the lobby in their jammies!

Gavin literally cried when we had to go home. We had such an enjoyable time catching up with friends from the past as well as hanging out with just our family enjoying and relaxing.

The peach in Gaffney SC.

My camera died on this trip, I'm super bummed about it. I even bought a purse style camera bag from Jo Jo Totes, lugged it with me to the wedding and after about 5 pictures it just stopped working. So most of the photos are iphone. I had really hoped to capture some great moments in print but I guess my memory will have to do for this one. I hope it is an easy, inexpensive repair.

Pool is OPEN

We made opening day. Aiden and I ran down there for a bit. Yea for Summer!!!

Cannon Ball!! Go Aiden!

Preschool is out for summer

Gavin and Camille had their last day of Preschool today. They had great teachers and a fun year, it was fun to look back at how much they changed over the school year.

Little Miss Independent Camille walking herself into school on her last day.

Hugs with her teachers on her last day.

 Her first day, what a sweet tiny little baby girl.

Gavin turned into his own person this year, he has the cutest sense of humor.

He has grown a lot in many ways.

Here he is on his last day.

This was his first day.

Brrr Cold Snap

We had a bit of a cold snap, so I got one last wear of our corduroy dress, tights and ugg style boots.

Track Meet

Aiden got to participate in the relay race this year. The relay is one of the most popular events, he was so excited. The other thing that added to his excitement is that the track meet is usually only for third graders and up. He was one of the second grade boys selected to fill in.

 here is his relay team

 Here are his faithful supporters!

and the event, look at him go! 

I was so proud and honored to have him represent his school and our family.

boys can wear a necklace

Gavin just adores turtles, I found this cute stone carved turtle at a bead show and instantly thought of Gav. As soon as I showed it to him he clung to it called it Lou Lou (his new favorite name for his pets) he carried it around all day.

Later, we sat down with some wooden beads and he designed his pattern then I knotted it and Voila a necklace fit for any surfer dude.

Wouldn't you know that Camille then began to ask where her necklace was! I had purchased a strand of "pearls" recently so she also got a new necklace too.

I think she still likes his better!

I have Monkeys in my house!

Monkeys I tell you real, live, roaming monkeys! They come in the form of my Littles, even the littlest of my littles is in on the monkey action.

 Yes, they have started climbing door frames, I should clarify that Aiden has done this before but Gavin and Camille are new on the scene.

Happy Mother's Day

We decided we wanted to make our presents for Nana and Baba this year. I got the idea for metal stamping here and ordered some sterling hearts from etsy to give it a go.

Each of the littles took a turn to whack with the hammer. I wasn't quite brave enough to let them do it without me holding on to the back of the hammer, after all those are my finger below it!

 Finished hearts. They turned out super cute and the littles all enjoyed being part of the process.

 I turned Nana's into a bracelet, I don't think she wears many necklaces. Her "N" has a shadow from being hit twice but I was okay with that, it adds to the character and it is from children after all!

Baba's is a necklace because that is what we decided she would wear more often. I couldn't decide if i wanted to drill a hole and hang it from a jump ring or just let it free float on the chain. I ended up going with the free floating heart, we can always add a hole a whole lot easier than take one away!

And we have liftoff

Geoff, Aiden and Gavin had the exciting opportunity to go flying with a neighbor. Aiden had been once before but this was Gavin's first time.

 In the hanger

 Getting ready.

 Instrument check.

 Up Up and away!

Geoff the Co-pilot.

 An aerial view of the tornado damage in North Georgia.

And lastly a video of Gavin at take off. He starts off all smiles and excited then not so sure.
Watch his eyes dart back and forth as his mood quickly changes once he realized they were in the air!

3...2...1...BLASTOFF!

It was our turn to teach again, this time on the planets and space exploration.

 Let me introduce you to our cadets in training.

 Geoff did the devotion.

Each of the students were assigned a planet to research some facts about then I was a news reporter interviewing them.

We watched a movie about each planet followed by a snipit of the astronauts loading into the shuttle and lastly the launch. Here were taking a stretch break pretending to be rockets launching into space.

 Once back in the classroom we passed out adult diapers (because the real astronauts wear them) then loaded up for our own launch complete with a countdown! 

 It was time for an outside activity. We put alka-seltzer into a film canister added a bit of water then waited for launch. This was a super cool activity to see how far they shot into the air from the pressure.