Preschool Graduation 2006

I didn't think I would be affected like I was when I saw my little 5 year old son singing in his Preschool program for the last time. I've been through this before, the cute little kids sing a few songs, someone's kid hollers out "Hi Dad!" or something embarrassing. (usually mine) Then you go into the gym and have punch and cookies and you go home. But last night as they lined up the kids, and they enter the sanctuary, they all are wearing little graduation caps and they are playing the graduation song. That was a little more than I could handle. Even Bill said he teared up a few times. My little man is no longer a preschooler. He is a Kindergartener. That was the first thing he said to me when he finished his last day of pre-school - He was so proud. Lately I find myself just gazing at him, taking in all I can. I know once he is in big school, that is it. These days of spending the days together doing whatever we like will be in the past. I am so excited for him to move on, I know he is ready. But a part of me just wants to keep him little forever......


Here he is above with his friend Mason and his arm is around his buddy Macey. Macey is who we carpooled with every day this past year.


And here is a link to them singing part of a song last night. Ethan is in the back row with the blue hat.
http://www.clipshack.com/Clip.aspx?key=F253F71D09DC1F50

Tea Time with the Ladies

This past weekend was a pretty busy one for our family, but we did try to take time out for tea. Aunt Sandy invited us girls to her church for a mother-daughter tea. Since I am a mother and I have a couple daughters, I thought SURE, why not?
Elena was happy to get to do some "girl stuff" she had to rub it in her brothers face a few times that only girls were allowed to go. She did real good for the first bit, she loved getting to drink real tea in the fancy tea cup, but she was famished and couldn't wait to eat. Once the meal was over she was done too. (tea time fell right during nap time) Cousin Jennifer had some neat crafts for the little girls to do while the mommies listened to a speaker - but Elena just wanted to go home and sleep, so that's what we did. (Natalie was starting to fuss a bit too) When we got home I told her that she was probably just a little to little, maybe next year she will be ready.

All she could say to that was " Will they have more chips? They were almost out of chips"
Oh the mind of a 3 year old :p

I had to post this one, my cousins this week told me Natalie reminds them of a cabbage patch doll, Esp how she smiles showing off her bottom teeth. They said even her name reminds them of one. Here she is, showing off her cabbage patch smile:)

Dedication of our little Angels.

This year on Mothers Day we had our children. Ethan, Elena and Natalie dedicated. Jason was baptized when he was a baby. The kids have been anticipating getting to go up front with Paster Bruce for weeks now. I think Ethan mostly since he has been up front for school programs and such, he was excited to be in big church instead of in his classroom. Elena was just excited to finally wear her new sandals:) She has been asking me daily if it was church day so she could wear them. The kids all looked so adorable and really behaved well. I did take their wiggle butts back to the class after the dedication- they were just a little too excited to sit quietly after that! Luckily we did it right at the beginning of the service. It feels so good to have that done. I was feeling like something was missing for a little while now. Above is a picture of our family with our pastor. And here is a picture of my sweet little children all dressed in their sunday best.

Happy Birthday Natalie Joy!

It is here. My sweet little girls day.

For Natalies First Birthday, Mommy, Ethan, Elena and Ethans friend Macey went on a picnic to the park. It was a great day to be out. Natalie even discovered that the grass isn't such a bad thing. Especially when you can pick flowers!

We had her birthday party on Sunday and surprisingly for May, we were able to have it outside. We celebrated with family and she was such a good girl! She slept for the first part which was fine because she wasn't cranky when it was time for presents and cake.

Here is mommy and daddy taking a moment with their little girl when she woke up.

Now is time for the fun! The cake. She kind of just stared at it not sure what to do, then mommy showed her it was okay to eat, she became a little piggy! We were all laughing. She was like Randy on The Christmas Story. "mommy's little piggy" :)
I think she would have been done after a few bites, but she had a clump of cake stuck to her hand so she would flail it around for a minute and then just take another bite. Here she is trying to share some of it with us.
She had a really nice time and it was nice to get together with family.

Birthdays, Birthdays all Around!

Ok, this mommy has been getting a bit emotional these days. With good cause though. My baby is turning one. So hard to believe that the little baby days are now behind us and we are on to bigger adventures with all of the kids. Although I am happy in the fact that we really enjoyed every aspect of Natalies first year it is bittersweet to know the next time we have a little baby in our family it will probably be our grandchildren...

Ok, on that note. I of course have been reflecting back to when my first baby turned one and how I can't believe that was almost 5 years ago! Someone told me (I'm sure many people told me) when I was pregnant with Ethan that time would fly when I had kids, I probably politely smiled and said something like "I'm sure it will" Never realizing how true that would be.

So I thought I would share some pics of my first babies on their first birthdays.


Ethan Robert on his 1st special day.















Elena Catherine on her 1st birthday








And I couldn't resist adding this pic, this is me on my first birthday..