Schools Out and Some Other Random Things!

I was so anxious for school to end this year - I was more than ready for summer! The last day of school was great and my kids had a fantastic year. It was a big Milestone for Ty as he is moving to middle school. They had a celebration of learning and although I didn't ever cry when I sent him to Kindergarden, I must say the prospect of sending my sweet boy to middle school completely FREAKS me out and I got really choked up during the whole Celebration!

A little blurry!

Another blurry shot, not sure why - oh well!

Tyler had a great year at school, we had a few stuggles, but he ended up getting a couple of awards at his classroom celebration.  The first award he got was for Most Improved Handwriting!  This is totally funny because Tyler has really bad writing and he hated having to actually write in cursive this year.  I think his cursive is easier to read, but oh well.  We always tease him about his writing skills and as this was always my worst grade in Elementary School it makes me laugh!  He also got a Math Award for Most Improved - we were excited about this because Math was a challenge and he worked hard to bring his grade up!

Josh and his awesome teacher Ms. Falter.  She was perfect for Josh this year and he really loved having her for a teacher.  He got the 'Skor' award for being the most athletic in his class!  I can't believe this guy is getting so grown up! 

 Brook and her wonderful teacher Ms. Ortel.  Brooklynn takes after me and LOVES school!  She gets awesome grades and really loves the social aspect of school too.  She is a wonderful writer (this she did not get from me) and recieved the Writer's Award for her classroom.  She is growing up so fast and we are so blessed that she is our little princess!


 THE RANDOM THINGS!

This is "Super Me"  and he is Noah's favortie super hero.  According to Noah he has 'Powers'  He can fly and run super fast too.  He sadly didn't get to go to school this year, but he was sure glad to have his kids home! 

We've had some crazy Thunderstorms this spring, this is a quick picture I got one night right before bed.  When these storms come through I don't sleep very well during the storms, we have big windows in our bedroom and the light flashes keep me awake!  I am always worried the Tornado Sirens are going to go off too.  We had one storm in the spring that landed me and the kids in our 'storm shelter' or better known as my closet.  When all the warnings started I had fallen asleep on the couch and finally after my phone started ringing like crazy I realized that something was up.  I turned on the TV to see some Tornados had touched down not too far aways and I was instantly up around the house gathering things to take into the closet. 

 Thankfully my neighbor was able to pick up the kids before the school was on lockdown.  It was really nerve racking for me, but I loaded up the closet with snacks, water, blankets, pillows and my laptop so we could watch movies.  I had to wake Noah up from his nap too.  I don't know how long we ended up being in the closet, but I was so grateful when the sirens finally stopped.

Josh and Steve got to go on a tour of the Mavericks Practice Facility.  They had a really fun morning and even got to sit in Dirk's chair! 

Piano

Ty and Brook have been taking piano lessons all year.  It has been fun for me to hear them get better and better throughout the year.  I have been shocked at how quickly they have learned and I love listening to my piano get used properly!  Since I don't really play and can only painfully pound out a few notes, I must admit I am a little jealous of their skills.  They recently had their year end recital and both of them played great!  I am so proud of their hard work and that they don't complain too much when I tell them to practice!  We keep telling Ty that someday he'll be glad he plays because the girls really dig it when the cute athlete has the hidden talent of being able to play the piano! 

Ty, Sister Fredrick (their teacher and my friend!) and Brook

Noah's Tubes

Noah had tubes put in his ears just before he turned 1, just like Tyler and Josh did.  Last month he had to have a new set put in and have his adenoids removed.  Thankfully it isn't a tough surgery and he came through it perfectly.  Before they took him back for surgery they gave him what they call 'Happy Juice' it is some great medicine to help them relax and not remember much of what happened.  The Happy Juice made him slur his words and have slow reactions.  Seeing him like that gave me the giggles, it was really funny!

Before 'Happy Juice'

After 'Happy Juice'  He was very groggy!

 When they brought me back to recovery after it was all over, he had 3 or 4 nurses gathered around him and they were swooning!  He is a charmer and even coming out of anesthesia he was able to wrap them all around his finger.  He got purple popsicle and a grape slush, and some apple juice all in the hour we stayed in recovery! 

I really love this little man and I'm so happy his ears are happy again!
 

Field Trips and Jumping Rope!

The Field Trip~
I had the great pleasure of going on a field trip with Josh, just a week or so before school ended.  They have a great little place here called Safety Town.  It is a mini town where the kids go to learn about things like fire saftey, road saftey and things like that.  For Josh's class trip, they first learned all about how to call 911 and even went through some 'practice' calls.  They learned that it is important to know your address and phone number. Josh loved it and I thought it was great. 

After learning all about 911, the kids got to go outside to the mini town and load up into the little Jeeps they have.  The tore around the town, following the stop signs and lights and driving on the right side of the road.  It was hilarious to watch as some of the kids just could not get the hang of steering those little cars - heaven help us in 10 years! 

The buildings in this 'mini' town were perfectly adorable and I wanted them in my own backyard! 

Me and my cutie - boy do I love this boy!

Jump Rope
Brooklynn worked really hard this year to make the Varsity Jump Rope Team for next year - The Rockin Ropers! She will have the opportunity to travel around the area and perform at half time shows for many of the College Basketball games in the area. They also perform at other schools in the area. From the get go she was determined to make it and after many hours of practice it happened. I had the opportunity to see the team perform a number of times, so I knew what she was getting into, but I don't think Steve really understood what it was until we got to go to her first performance. They had a Family Night at the Middle School and the JV Jumpers (that was Brookie) got to perform with the Alumni Jumpers (those who are now in middle school). It was so fun to see her go and we were so proud of her - she is really good!

The cutest thing was after the performance Brookie told me that one of the girls on the Varsity Team had told her that she gets butterflies, but that with the first click of the ropes they go away.  She then looked at me and said, "She was right mom, that is exactly what happened!"

Brook with a couple of her teammates for next year!

 

Mother Daughter Tea

The Activity Days girls/leaders hosted a lovely Mother/Daughter Tea for Mother's Day.  It was a whole lot of fun and Brookie and I had a nice time.  We made a real date of the evening and went out to dinner together first!  I am so lucky to have my one beautiful girl, she is so bright and fun and always has a smile and a giggle!  She is an amazing little lady and I love the time we spend together!

One of the best parts of the tea - was definitely the hats that Brookie made for us! 

Baseball

 
Josh decided to play baseball again this year and boy was he excited.  All of the little boys on his team go to church with us and that made it even more fun!  It was a great group of boys and Josh loved every minute of it.  Josh is a great little player and a really good hitter!  He played modified T-ball, where it is coach pitch and then if they don't hit it off the coach they use the T.  Josh was usually able to hit the pitches from the coach which was great for him! 

His enthusiasm was so fun and we loved to watch him play!

He got to play catcher a couple of times and LOVED it! 

Me and Noah at the ball park watching Tater! 

Every year the local Baseball Team hosts a night for the Baseball League.  We got tickets with all our friends from Josh's team and went to the game.  It was a beautiful night and the kids and the parents all had a great night!  We all got our Free hats, had some hotdogs and Pop, enjoyed some peanuts and enjoyed being together!  It was a great night!

All the Players got to go on the field for the National Anthem! Josh thought that was really cool.

 

A Project!

Steve and I have an old dresser that I had stashed in the garage waiting for when we moved Noah upstairs to share a room with Josh. We are in the process of converting the extra room downstairs into a guestroom and I decided the dresser would be perfect for the space. The only problem.....it was ugly, really old and dated and ugly.

What I started with!

 So after 'pinning' all kinds of information about refinishing a dresser.  And consulting over and over and over again with my girl Kari who has refinished some really awesome pieces, I decided that it was something that I could do.  Besides I recoverd my piano bench and it turned out great, so why not.  Steve thought I was a bit crazy, but I went for it! 

I used a liquid sander to get it all cleaned up.  Gave it 2 good coats of primer, 2 coats of paint, and then I distressed my own self with some sandpaper and some stain and then finished the top with some rub on poly.  I was really nervous and asked some of my friends for opinions along the way. 

This was almost done, just needed the poly and the handles.

My finished prduct!  I think it turned out perfect!  It is a really big dresser, but I think it will be great and besides it looks so much better than it did before!  Steve said it looked great and he was skeptical about me painting it white!