Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to the best daddy around! We love you! Lyle's only request this Father's day was my fried chicken and pickled coleslaw sandwiches and Mims' famous lemon pie. He got both so I think he was happy!

Bring on the Summer!!

Boy, am I glad it is summer vacation! Time to slow down a little. Let the kids stay up a little later at night and catch fire flies in the yard. I LOVE this time of year! I always worry that is going to go by too fast though and we won't get done half of the things we have planned so this year we made the.........Wall of Summer! We used the wall of the refrigerator to put up calendars and fliers about various activities around town we don't want to miss. Ella absolutely LOVED this idea! That girl is all about schedules and keeping things organized.....who does that sound like you say?? She decorated the wall for us which I love!

We made a list of things I wanted to really get done this summer like cleaning out old clothes and finally putting up Luke's crib. We have actually gotten some of that stuff done already including making memory boxes for the kids. It holds all their art work, school videos and soccer pictures.
Here they are decorating them in the back yard one day:

But one of the very first things the kids' did I think the first day after school was over for both of them was play in the sprinklers and of course eat popsicles!

They took the water heater box that we have yet to get rid of and played with it in the sprinklers trying to walk with it over their heads as the water hit them. Obviously, this didn't work out too well.

Its going to be a good summer!

Ella's Last Day of 1st grade

Well, Ella is now a rising 2nd grader! How did that happen??? Time is flying by so fast I literally can't keep up!

Luke finished school a week before Ella did so he spent the week at Grandma's while Ella finished up. It was nice having some one on one time with her but man was it quiet around here without little Luke! Ella was so bored! Lyle and I took her to watch the Croods one night. It was a cute show and we got to snuggle with her the whole movie since we didn't have the little guy climbing all over the place! I think she enjoyed all the attention!

We had a playdate with her friend Grace and here are the two cuties on the way home from school after we stopped at Sonic for a cool drink:

Here are a couple more of her goofing around with her friends at field day:

And as always, we went to iHOP for her last day of school breakfast celebration.

Seriously...how can she be going into the 2nd grade!!

Her last day was a blast. They had a party for the summer birthdays which meant pizza, cupcakes and snow cones!

 Ella and her teacher Mrs. Sweeney....the best 1st grade teacher ever!

Oh my little Ella! Words can not describe how much joy you bring to our lives. We are so proud of how well you did this year. Mrs. Sweeney had nothing but great great things to say about you. You are so kind to your friends and really work hard at your school work and at being a respectful little girl. You have so many friends that I tell daddy that I feel like your manager most days just trying to manage your busy social calendar! Your daddy and I love you sooo much! Always remember that. You have a brother that's pretty crazy about you too!

Luke's first dentist appt.

About a month ago, Luke had his first visit to the dentist. He was a little nervous about it but Ella assured him that everything would be fine. A week before, I warned him that the dentist was going to be checking for cavities and he needed to make sure he was brushing well. He took this very serious and brushed extra long for about two nights and then forgot all about:)

He is the big boy in the dentist chair:

I made appts. for all three of us and who do you think was the only one with a cavity..yep me! The kids got a huge kick out of that one let me tell you!

Here is a link to Ella's first appt. if you would like to stroll down memory lane with me for a bit. She thinks she is a pro now....wait until the braces come and she won't be so excited to go!

Luke's last day at his Baby school

I have been terrible at posting lately, so the next few posts are going to be ones that happened a while ago but are big milestones in our family and need to be posted.
First up.....Luke finished his last day in his little Preschool or the Baby School as Ella and I like to call it. Luke was just 18 months when he started here. I remember when he started he cried every morning for 6 months straight. Although, his sweet teachers assured me he stopped crying seconds after I left, my heart broke every time. By the end, he just gave me a hug and kiss and said he would see me soon...no tears anymore. We had a great time at 2nd Presbyterian Preschool.
Here is his final class. Some of these boys like his buddy Landon, Sam and Gage he has been with for a long time.

To celebrate his last day, we met up with Landon and his mom Katie for breakfast before we dropped the boys off at school. I think that has been my favorite part about Luke being in this school....it allowed me to meet Katie and her wonderful family. Landon will be going to CTK with Luke next year which I am very very grateful. They are pretty good buds. Here are the two rascals at breakfast:

 After school I told him he got to pick where we went for Special Friday Snack and with a little persuasion by his sister he picked Orange Leaf for ice cream.
It was western day at Ella's school so that is why she is dressed like a cowgirl in this picture.

I can't believe he is finished with that school! It is bittersweet for me. I am extremely excited that both the kids will be at the same school next year because drop off will be soooooo much easier. See, Ella's school started at 7:45 while Luke's didn't open until 8:30 so Luke and I would have about 45 minutes to waste every morning which was frustrating because I just wanted to get to work. But now that those times are over I will kind of miss my sweet time with just him. I knew I would write those words someday. I knew I would miss it although while I was going through it I was very tired of it.
Here is a picture of Luke on one of those days when we were hanging out in the park waiting for school to start several years ago:

Here are a few pics from some of our mornings his last week of school. He loved going to Chickfila for breakfast!!

 In this picture, he is sliding over half of his cookie to share with me...he can be so sweet sometimes!

Luke,
Your mommy and daddy are so proud of you! You are such a wonderful little boy! All of your teachers loved you and always said what a polite and sweet little boy your were. They gave you this on the last day of school:

 Made me laugh when I saw it because I beg you to help me clean up your room at home without much luck but maybe you are listening a little and will help your teachers.
We know you are going to have such a bright future and we can't wait to share it with you!
We love you so much!