Bubble day fun with Summer!

Last week, Summer had her Bubble Day at school, and all week I have been meaning to sit down and finish this post and didn't.  What a week!  We had something fun every day with one of more of the children as they are wrapping up the school year.  My, how fast the year has gone!

This pretty thing will be a Kindergarten graduate in just a couple of days!  Wow!  David was a rock star last week, helping me to figure out ways to be with each of the children for their special events, many of which specifically asked that no siblings come.  I completely get that, it was Summer's special day, and I was thrilled to spend time with just her, a rare treat in our home.  I kind of like to think she enjoyed the attention, too!

Summer with some of the adorable girlies in her class.  They had such a fun day together!

Here we are getting all the rules before the fun began!

And they're off! 

The first thing they did was the Bubble walk, and this may have been my favorite thing.  They lined up on the Bobcat walk, where the real Bobcats walk before each Varsity sporting event.  Each child had their name called over the loudspeaker, and they walked through a tunnel of bubbles made by their classmates, so cute!

It's almost Summer's turn.  I love how she shyly looked over at me and gave a sweet smile!

Just before this moment, she mouthed to me that she didn't want to do it.  I gently encouraged her that she could!  I have no idea where she gets this not wanting to be in the center of attention stuff, ha!  Definitely not from her daddy!

There she goes!  I was so proud she did it, and I adore that shy little cock of her head as she walked.  So precious, she is. 

Her class quickly assembled to take a group picture in front of the Bubble Day sign. 

There they are, Mrs. Malone's Kindergarten class. 

For the remainder of the morning, each class went from station to station playing on each of the games.  It was such a great day.  The weather could not have been more perfect, warm, but not too hot and not a cloud to be seen in the sky. 

I love her so. 

Twins!  Summer and her friend had on matching suits.  Can you tell ours was from last season, ha!  I think it faded in the pool during our swim lessons.  There are some serious chemicals in the pool. 

Summer's favorite events were the slides that emptied into the pools of water!  She went over . . .

And over . . .

And over again!

The big splashes were the best part!

Last year, I did not get to experience Bubble Day with Carter, so I am especially grateful that I was able to be with Summer on this super fun day.

I loved spending time with her and watching her play with her friends. 

Tuesday, she will graduate from Kindergarten.  This has been such a wonderful year for Summer.  She has thrived in school and has loved meeting new friends.  I have loved having her home with me in the afternoons.  It will be so strange to have two of the children stay at school for the whole day come Fall.  They are just growing up right before our eyes.  We love you, Summer, and are so very proud of you!

Muffins with Mommy.

Friday was Muffins with Mommy at Tilly's school.  Tilly has been so excited about this special day, and we have been counting down for several weeks now, it seems.  

Here she is with her classmates reciting some sweet poems in honor of their mommies.  And here is my present Tilly made for me.  The card has a questionnaire inside, I just love these.  According to Tilly, I am 88 feet tall and weigh 8 pounds (love her!).  My favorite food is a chicken fried sandwich, and I enjoy mopping the floors, ha! I have brown hair and green eyes, and my favorite show to watch is Baseball.  Ella is showing Tilly some pictures of her baby brothers, who were just born two weeks ago.  We are hoping and praying they get to come home very soon! Sweet girls.   They have the most precious little friendship to be so young.  They clearly adore each other so much!  Tilly with her teacher, Miss Gin.  We love Miss Gin so much!  She was Summer's teacher last year.  We hope she will get to teach Story, too! A group picture.  I have to document this for memories' sake.  The little boy in the picture is Jaxon, he's one of Tilly's friends.  He came up to me at the party to introduce himself to me.  J: Hi, my name is Jaxon.  Me:  It's nice to meet you, Jaxon.  I'm Tilly's mommy, Miss Heather.  J:  Well, I kinda like her! Me: (after trying hard to regain my composure) You do, well, Tilly is a great friend to have.  Next, he proceeds to put his arm around Tilly's shoulder.  I think Tilly could tell I was freaking out a little, okay a lot, so she shrugged his hand away.  Oh boy! 

Me with my Tilly girl.  I'm so proud of the little girl she is growing up to be, and I am so thankful for the gift of being her mom.  I love you, Tilly!

Mother's Day!

We began our celebration of Mother's Day a little early.  I was privileged to attend Muffins with Mommy at Tilly's school on Friday.  It was such a sweet time.  There's a post scheduled for later with all the details. 

My Tilly girl and me.  Tilly made me this beautiful corsage for Mother's Day.  I am so sad that I forgot to put it on for church.  Sunday mornings are kind of wild at our house, so we do real good to get everyone dressed and out the door some days, ha! The card that Tilly made me.  Inside it was full of great wisdom from Tilly!  Her handprint flower.  I love it.  Summer made one last year, and hers is purple.  They will look so pretty next to each other.  Summer painted this beautiful frame just for me, and she told me I didn't even have to worry about finding a picture to put in it because she already did it for me.  Thoughtful girl! This was the bag containing her gift.  Love her handprint flower!  So pretty!  Summer also answered a Mother's Day questionnaire all about me.  It's pretty cute!  She says that I am 35 years old, weigh 50 pounds (love her), and am 15 feet tall! My favorite color is red - and all the Georgia Bulldog colors.  I like to eat broccoli.  My favorite restaurant is Villie's, too bad it's gone for good at the hand of the terrible tornado we had in February.  I am good at cleaning, and I like to watch Duck Dynasty.  I think these questionnaires are so much fun.  I need to get Story's done for her third birthday.  And this is from Carter.  He has been so proud to give me this all week.  He wants to know if I will let Daddy use it in our garden.  Sweet thing!

David and the children took me to one of my favorite restaurants downtown after church.  On the way home, I told David I wanted to try to get a picture of me with the children.  That's funny!  Here they are, my four little loves.  So thankful for the ones who call me Momma and make this day so special.  So thankful for their daddy, who walks with me on this journey.  So thankful to the One who loves us best for entrusting us with these precious little ones. 

Story's 3rd birthday party fun!

I often tell people that I am so thankful that the Lord blessed us with a big family, especially since we live so far away from those we love.  We can easily have a party just the six of us, and that's just what we did to celebrate our sweet three year old.  Tilly and I had Muffins with Mommy yesterday morning (post coming). 

After a little free time on the play ground at CFA, or Fick-Chil-A, as Story and Tilly call it, we met Daddy for lunch to celebrate the birthday girl.  Story and Tilly loved the edamame, so much so that we had to order some more!

Daddy with the birthday girl.  After lunch, David took the girls and picked up Summer from school, so I could finish shopping for this pretty thing.  Tilly had a play date with her friend, Ella, to see the dinosaur exhibit.  I let Summer stay up to help me wrap Story's gifts.  Story took a 3 hour nap!  It sure is hard work turning three.  

By the time naps were over, our favorite big brother had made it home.  We didn't want to open the presents without Tilly, but we did let her open just one.  She was so cute and excited!
We have a beach trip coming up next month, so we got the birthday girl some pink sunglasses and a super cute bathing suit.  She loved them!  I forgot to get my picture with the birthday girl earlier in the day, when I actually looked presentable from Muffins with Mommy.  Oh well, better sweaty and smiley than not at all, right!
Story received lots of phone calls throughout the day from sweet friends and family members.  I think all of the attention embarrassed her, ha!  Her little cheeks would turn pink, and her little mouth would curve into a bashful smile.  So sweet!  I picked Tilly up just after suppertime, so she could enjoy some birthday festivities with us.  As we were leaving her friend's house and coming home, the most beautiful rainbow appeared in the sky.  I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but it was actually a double rainbow, so sweet!
The weather was rainy most of the day, so I wasn't able to snap a really great picture of the fab four.  I hope to do that tomorrow after church.  However, I did want to get one at least on Story's birthday.  For just two weeks, our littles will be 3,4,5, and 6!  I love it!  For dessert, we enjoyed brownies with ice cream (I so wish you could hear Story say this word, so southern) and sprinkles, of course! I wish this picture were lighter, but I loved her sweet face too much not to post it.  She is looking over at her daddy.  Clearly, she adores him! After dessert, we let the birthday girl open the rest of her presents.  We got her a baby doll with a stroller and a few other little treats.  She loves to push her babies around the house, and the stroller we have belonged to one of her sisters and was just falling apart.  She was so excited!  T sent her a new ballerina Barbie with some new Barbie clothes and a cute little pink outfit.  I love her little smile.  I love Carter's expression, too.  He is my favorite to watch at any birthday party during the present opening.  His facial expressions are just the sweetest.  He gets excited over every single one and makes you feel like you gave the best present ever.  I can't wait for him to be the one opening gifts in just a couple of weeks!

Today, we continued our birthday celebration at the splash pad.  For the first little while, we had it all to ourselves. 

I'm so proud I captured this moment!  Love their sweet little faces full of pure delight!  Don't let Carter fool you either, he loves all the attention he gets from his sisters!

And then there's Tilly, playing in her rain boots.  She does her own thing, and I love that about her. 

We got to see Mr. Peacock, strutting his stuff.  Carter and I had a funny conversation.  Me:  Look at him showing off for the girls!  Carter:  Why is he doing that?  Me: Well, that's what boys do!  He thought that was so funny!

 Another birthday celebrated in pure party of six style.  Next up will be Carter's 7th birthday.  Goodness, they are just growing up so very fast!  I sure am loving these moments and trying my hardest to soak up each and every one.