Kindergarten!

Today was Ava Grace's first day of school!! She has been looking forward to this day for so long!!

We live only a few blocks from her elementary school so for the last year, she has been asking when she gets to go there... today was the day!

We have been getting ready since her birthday. We bought her school supplies, new clothes, new shoes and all of the stuff you need to head off to kindergarten. She got a fabulous backpack from her cousins and Aunt Molly and Uncle Bubba. Nana even made her a nap mat cover that is uniquely hers. She was set!

Last Thursday, was back to school night so Neno and I took her to meet Mrs. Wood. I have prayed since last Spring that she would be Ava Grace's teacher. We are so excited to have her in Ava Grace's life. She seems to have an amazing touch with the kiddos. Anyway, after meet the teacher and a few kids in her class, Neno and I took Ava Grace on a date. We talked all about how she needed to act in class and the things that she would get to do in school. It was such a special night. Thanks Aunt Bess for watching Annabelle and Adalyn!

She has known since last week that she would start school on Monday. So, last night, she knew what today would bring. After her bath, we finished packing her bag, picked out clothes for today and talked about what she wanted in her lunch.

6 a.m. came awfully early for me, but I think I was so excited that I didn't even think twice about hitting snooze. I jumped up, showered, started breakfast, fixed coffee (which I don't even drink), made lunches, switched around laundry and all before 7 a.m. We woke Ava Grace up at 7. Without any hesitation, she got up and got dressed!

We made breakfast casserole, pancakes and cut-up fruit for her first-day breakfast. Jeremy and Beth joined us to help send Ava Grace off to school. I was so glad that they were here. I know it made Ava Grace feel special and they kept Annabelle and Adalyn at home so Neno and I could walk AG to school.

I think she was a little overwhelmed by all of the people in the classroom when we arrived - parents, kids, brothers and sisters. But she grabbed a chocolate milk from the teacher and found a seat. It wasn't until I hugged her good-bye that I began to tear up. I managed to take a few deep breathes and hold it together for her. Only now, are the tears falling as I think about the tight hug that she gave me. I don't know if it was Mommy don't leave hug or a hug to reassure me that she would be okay. I know she will be okay. My social child will eat it up!

We are so proud of our sweet Ava Grace. Today is a big day!

Ava Grace is Officially 5!!

Last Friday, our sweet Ava Grace turned 5!! She has been so excited about this birthday for lots of reasons that I will get to, but first we had to celebrate - all weekend!!

She had spent the week with Neno's parents - Granna and Grand Pappy and her cousins Noah and Brynn. She came home on her birthday. We were waiting with hugs, kisses, presents and cupcakes. Her daddy also made her an extra special gift that will be a blog all its own.

On Saturday, we got up early so that we could PARTY!!

You can see by the invite (that my fabulous friend Monica made) that we had a pool party on Saturday morning so instead of cake or cupcakes, this mom served donuts. I would say they were a huge hit, because not many were left!!

She had a great time and got lots of great gifts.

But, the fun didn't end there. We went back to our house with all of our family, rested a little and then played somemore. Oh, and opened more gifts.

Sadly, everyone went home on Sunday and the birthday weekend came to an end. But now, she is looking forward to KINDERGARTEN - - EEEEEKKKKKKK!!! She has wanted to be five all year so that she could go to the school by our house. Well, sweet girl, much to this mother's dismay, you will start in about 20 days and yes, I will cry!!

To our sweet 5 year old girl - you are the sunshine of our lives. God put you in our lives and we thank him everyday for you. You are a wonderful big sister, full of life and personality and you have the most fabulous expressions. You amaze us everyday!! We are so proud and blessed to call you ours.

WE LOVE YOU!!!!

Where has 2 months gone?

I am a little behind in Adalyn updates so here is her announcement and my digital scrapbook pages from 1 month and 2 months. She was two months on the 22nd. Time goes way too fast.

Beach Bums

We were invited to join my family for a little beach vacation this year in Galveston. My sister-in-laws family has a beach house there and it was there week to have it and they included us. We love and thank them for including us because we had a blast!!

We left Mom and Dad's house on Tuesday morning - July 6th - also my oldest brother Wayne's 40th birthday!! We arrived around 12:30, ate lunch and hit the beach. We took full advantage of all the sun and waves that we could get. We thought we were going to be rained out all day on Thursday, but the sun finally broke through late that afternoon and we were off.

On Friday, before we left, one of my very best friends, Kristen and her sweet daughter, Presleigh, came over from the Woodlands to play. I am so glad that they did. I don't get to see Kristen nearly enough and we loved getting the girls together.

We left the beach Friday afternoon and decided we were going to go all the way home that day!! But first, we made a stop in Austin to see some other great friends - JP/Dena and there kiddos, Trace/Elizabeth. We had dinner with them and visited for a little while. Then we put the girls in their PJs and threw them in the car. There was no turning back. We were Lubbock bound!!! The girls were really great and I was so impressed with Neno being able to stay awake and get us home safe. I even got to sleep most of the way home. We finally pulled in the driveway at 2:45 a.m. Though it was a long trip, we were so glad that we came on home. I think the girls had missed there beds.

July 4th

Just like every July 4th, at least since Neno and I have been together, we headed to Lake Buchanan - home of my mom and dad. We arrived Friday night late. We thought the girls would sleep in the car on the way - we thought wrong. They fell asleep 3 minutes from mom and dad's. We took them in and put them straight to bed.

Saturday morning, the Cassie neighborhood had its July 4th parade. Last year, Ava Grace and I rode on someone's trailor, but this year, Papaw had a new toy. He bought a golf cart!!! The girls love it! So, Nana, Papaw, Ava Grace, Annabelle and Neno all jumped on to take part in the parade. They were so cute!

I stayed behind since Adalyn was napping, but I got to hear all about it when they returned. Ava Grace thought the best part was getting to through candy to the onlookers and Annabelle thought the best part was eating the candy - surprise, surprise!

On Sunday, we set out on the golf cart to find the deer that live in the neighborhood. The one in the photo is named Sugar and she apparently will walk into the home that we were in front of and she will eat out of anyone's hand - obviously! Ava Grace loved it and hated when we ran out of bread. Annabelle just kept yelling "DEER", "DEER" - so cute!!

Ava Grace @ VBS

This was the first year that Ava Grace could go to Vacation Bible School with her cousins in Austin. We had been talking about it for a few months and she was so excited to go, but before I shipped her off, I had some preparing to do. No, I wasn't worried about her being gone for a week, but more concerned with the fact that my nieces are on swim team and AG was not a great swimmer. She would've told her Aunt Molly that she could because in her mind, she is every bit as good as Marlee - not so much.

Anyway, I decided to put her in swim lessons at the YWCA. Neno took her to the lessons in the evenings and we weren't seeing much progress over the two weeks she was there. So, I decided we had a little more time before she shipped out to take more lessons. Luckily, some other parents at the Y told me about another pool that pretty much guaranteed that your child would swim before their 9 lessons were up. They weren't kidding. We only finished 8 of the 9 and she is a fish that can go anywhere in the pool that she wants.

On June 11, we sent her with Aunt Bess and Uncle MeMe to meet my mom. She played at there house for the weekend and headed to Aunt Molly and Uncle Bubba's on Sunday. Then the crazy week began. Molly kept the girls going non-stop. They swam almost everyday, went to the sprinkler park, went to Zilker park, got ice cream, read books, played dress up and went to VBS ever evening.

Ava Grace was so busy that I talked to her only once that whole week. Molly was so sweet to send update pics of what they were doing.

We went down on Friday for the weekend for my Big Dad's memorial service, Father's day and to get our sweet girl. I missed her!! I think Annabelle missed her too. Ava Grace keeps her corralled and entertained more than I ever realized. I definitely needed AG the day that I was nursing and Annabelle decided she needed to mop the house with the toilet brush and toilet water!!

Family Comes to Town

In my attempt to keep catching up, I am going back to Memorial Day Weekend...

Family came to town!! There was still plenty of family that hadn't met Adalyn so one week after her birth, another wave of family joined us. Her Aunts (Neno's Sisters) - Cheetah (Charity) and CJ (Carrie) and grandparents (my mom/dad) - Nana and Papaw, came to town.

Here are some of the sweet pics with them with Adalyn...

Her cousins Noah and Brynn also joined us to play with Ava Grace and Annabelle. They all have so much fun together.

In the midst of them being here, my husband decided to take on a home improvement project. We have been talking about extending our patio for a long time and instead of building a deck, we decided to use the remaining flagstone that used to cover our front yard. He and my parents tilled up the dirt, added dirt and leveled the ground. Then over the next few days/nights, we layed rock - well, I supervised! It looks so good and opened up room on the porch for us to actually enjoy sitting there.

Did I mention that Neno had a lot of help...

Ava Grace found a friend while we were working on the rocks. Apparently, a baby dove fell into our yard while learning to fly. He struggled and she thought she needed to love on him. I think she may have loved a little too much - if you know what I mean.