Memorial Day

We had a four day weekend for Memorial Day this year. Yes, four. We always have Memorial Day off and this year a bad weather day was scheduled on the Friday before. We didn't use it this year and therefore... four day weekend!

It worked out really well as Justin and I were able to close on the new house on that Friday. We are not going to be able to get into the house for another week or two, but we are excited to almost be into the new house. We also scheduled a vacation for just the two of us to Seattle & Vancouver in July after we closed on the house. Check. Check.

Since we still had another week of school and I had a lot to prepare for, I ended up taking Nora to school with me on Memorial Day morning. She played while I worked and set up for kindergarten graduation. Afterwards, we went to Chick-Fil-A For a special mommy-daughter lunch.

And then we spent the afternoon after "nap" time in the backyard, of course! We wore patriotic colors and enjoyed the freedom that we have been blessed with.

I think it is really important to remember, every day but especially on days like this, that we have been allowed the freedoms that we have today because of the thousands of men and women who have put their lives at risk for the sake of our country. And because of this, I choose to not worry about all the small things that someone has deemed important to worry about, but just to be thankful that we have the privilege to choose how we want to live, to dress, to play and that we have freedom to raise our families in a country where there is choice and opportunity. Let us not forget that. Let us not forget the sacrifices that many have made to make it that way for the rest of us.

God bless America!

Taste of Summer

Summer is almost here and we are so excited! Or maybe I should say that I am so excited. I haven't started pumping up the girls for a couple of reasons. First, they are going to school a week longer than me. I don't really want them to know this information. Second, I think once I start talking about not going to school, they are not going to want to go to school, and this cannot happen either. Because I need them to go to school for that one extra week. It's my catch-up week. I schedule it every year the week before I have to go back to school and the week after my school year lets out. It's necessary to wrap up the year and get ready for the new one without getting in over my head.

But, summer is closer and although the girls aren't celebrating with me yet, we have been doing more of those summer-like activities that we will hopefully get to do lots more of when the time comes.

We ate s'mores. We roasted marshmallows in a friend's backyard fireplace and Janie enjoyed this new treat. I don't think she's ever had one! She of course made a mess of herself.

We've been playing outside in the backyard a lot. The girls like to find rocks and other treasures and fill up pails with what they've discovered. They like to play with the little car & see-saw alligator toy we brought with us to mom & dad's house. They usually play pretty well together. Not always... but usually.

Nora likes to "feed" her animals. She's very much into pretending!

We've been to the park in mom & dad's neighborhood when the weather has been good. The girls like to play and climb together. They also enjoy the swings. We took a picnic to the park with Auntie K & Michael one day.

We are looking forward to more easy living this summer!

Main Street Days

It takes a little bit more time & travel to get to the festivals in Grapevine, but we headed over to the Main Street Days celebration this year with the kids. We ate festival food, rode on the rides, and enjoyed the little area for kids with the petting zoo. We were only able to walk about half way around before the kids had had enough and we made a run for it.

The kids tent is completely free, which is amazing. It is however, much more toddler-friendly than big-kid friendly, but it works for us. They can ride on the little vehicles, play and build with legos {Legoland is there}, draw pictures, touch little sea stars {Sea Life Aquarium}, and pet & feed the farm animals. We got there first thing in the morning when they opened, so not many other kids were there yet. And the animals were a little aggressive since they hadn't been force-fed cups of food by hundreds of little children yet.

Janie did not want to touch it, but Nora felt the sea star!

Before that goat ate her cone in two bites!

The rides cost about $3 each per person. They did not charge us for adults on the merry-go-round thankfully. Twenty dollars goes away in a matter of seconds on these rides! I read about a pass that they have for kids only on Fridays. I am going to look into that for next year and maybe we can take the girls on that day. I mean, if you're going to spend $40 anyways, you might as well get them a pass to ride as much as they want! There weren't THAT many that they could go on by themselves, but there were enough that they could do them more than once and definitely get your money's worth out of them.

The carousel was a for sure thing. I do not know how tall Janie is right now, but I remember Nora just reached 36" at her three year check up, so I wasn't positive Janie would be there yet. {That is the height requirement on these rides.} They loved it and both picked zoo animals, I think because we had just been there, but who knows!

As it turns out, Janie is just about 36 inches tall, so she got to go on all the rides we tried. Nora was all business and "big girl" and didn't really pay much attention to us while on the rides. Janie was hamming it up and waving and giggling and yelling out "This is so much fun!" for the entirety of the ride. I'm glad she had a blast!

I met the height requirement!

Surprisingly enough, no one would take a picture with the big dinosaur as we walked around, so I did. Apparently there is a dinosaur exhibit downtown Grapevine starting in June. It's called "Be the Dinosaur" and looks pretty cool! Plus at $4 a person, it's not going to break the bank. I'm going to look into going sometime this summer.

We had a lot of fun at Main Street Days. I'm checking out those passes before next time!

Zoo Day

It has been raining a lot this month, but the temperatures have been more mild than they usually are in May. We decided to try and take a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo as a family on a weekend when the weather cooperated and this weekend was it!

We went first thing in the morning and were able to see most of the zoo before nap time. I know they open an hour early some days in June and I will look forward to going then to try to get even more time in before the girls reach their limit for the morning.

The girls loved seeing the animals and we even became zoo members so that we could come back whenever we wanted! Janie still gets in free until she turns three, which I cannot believe are even words coming out of my mouth...

We only saw "sleepy cats"

They were impossible to get a picture of today...

Elephants... Nora's favorite!

Janie's spirit animal.

"Mommy, why aren't they paying attention to me?" -Nora

...hmmm

The little navigators! They liked looking at the maps while we rode along.

It was a fun day! We're looking forward to using our membership to return soon.

Mom's Retirement

My mom has been teaching my whole life... plus some. She has been in a teaching capacity since she graduated from Illinois State about 35 years ago. Mom is a special education teacher, so she doesn't have the typical classroom of 30 kids each year to instruct, she usually has an impact on a much larger number of kids each year, and follows them throughout the course of their schooling. She also works with high school aged kids, so you factor hormones into it all and I think you could consider the number of kids multiplied by at least two times. But the point of it all is, there are countless kids from the various places she has taught that she has helped over those 35 years.

After all that time in education, mom has decided to take her forever break and begin retirement. Her school held a little retirement party that we were able to take the girls to and celebrate her time as an educator.

Little girls in their dragon dresses! 

We are so proud of all the time and work mom has put into helping kids over the years. The reality is, that just because you retire from education, it doesn't mean you retire from helping kids. Although mom may not have to get up and head into a school every day, she will surely still find opportunities to help people. It's a part of what makes her the great person and mother that she is. We love you, Mom & Mimi, and wish you the best as you begin your newest life adventure!

Happy Birthday Pops

May is busy with end of the year/season activities, but it is also a busy time for holidays in our family! We celebrated my dad's birthday this month with pizza & ice cream... and REAL ice cream, too... not just the usual frozen yogurt!

We weren't brave enough to get Janie a cone...

We are so thankful for you, Pops! We hope you had a great birthday!