Memorial Day 2011

 I am so thankful to live in the great USA where we are FREE!! And I am so thankful to all the men and women who have sacrificed EVERYTHING so we can continue to enjoy that freedom! 

May we never take their sacrifice for granted!

We truly enjoyed every second of our extra long weekend! It was filled with delicious cookouts,  fun at the pool, and loads of family time! 

We are officially READY FOR SUMMER!!!!!

Corban has one more week of school left, and then we can really party!!!

Sunday evening, we met our sweet neighbors down in the cul-de-sac for a fun summer cookout! Everyone brought their own meat to grill and then also a dish to share. 

The kids had a blast and really enjoyed hanging out with their friends!

These two totally crack me up! This is Sophie's sweet friend, Elise.

Both of these girls are so spunky and full of personality! On a street full of boys, these two can hold their own!!

Monday, we spent the day pool side! Shane and I had taken the big boys for a swim a few times earlier in the week, but Monday was the first time the babies were at the pool since last summer. We wondered how long it would take for them to get acclimated to the water again, but I'm happy to report that there was NO hesitation at all! They both jumped in and started swimming like little fish! AND, this is the first year, in a very long time, that Shane and I could sit on the edge of the pool and watch them play. Last year, the babies were just learning to walk, so we had to hover over them as they played. This year will be a little easier for me at the pool and I'm grateful;)

Monday evening, we headed over to my parents house for a cookout with my family!

 Of course, Miss Sophie couldn't wait to get her hands on sweet Brooklyn. 

 Unfortunately, Brooklyn is getting a little too big for Sophie to hold on her lap now, so they have to sit side by side on the couch!

How cute are these two? 

Sophie and Jake waiting patiently for their dinner!

My sweet Riley!

I love his sun-kissed cheeks!

And Corban with his "big-boy-grin"

What's a party without a little "corn-hole'!?!?

My girl!!!!

 

So sweet!

And of course the evening wasn't complete with out some more POOL-TIME!

GREAT jump Ri!!!

 

 After such a FANTASTIC weekend, all I can say is...BRING ON SUMMER!!!!

A Saturday night at the park...

 Saturday evening was PERFECT. 

The weather was cool, clear, and just plain gorgeous. 

 We spent the entire night at a local park in our little town.

 

Every Saturday night during the summer months this park hosts a different band, and then, beginning at dusk, they show a family friendly movie on the BIG outdoor screen.

 Because it was Memorial Day weekend though, they didn't show a movie, but had an extra special concert instead.

We met my parents, and Grandparents (who are here visiting from Michigan) at the park and enjoyed a fun evening together.

 Between the music, bouncy house, playground, balloon animals, clowns, and ice cream cones-- my kids were in heaven!!!

 

Sophie and Hudson couldn't get enough of the bounce house. 

 

Time after time, they would jump, climb, and slide.


And after all that bouncin'...


a yummy ice cream cone hit the spot!!!

 Curly the clown was on hand and impressed everyone with his unique balloon creations!

Riley shows off his cool balloon sword!

Hudson and my mom enjoyed sitting and listening to the music,

while others had fun dancin' along;)

It was indeed a perfect SUMMER night...

with LOTS of fun memories made!!!!

Mommy and Me--dress and matching skirt

 I LOVE making clothes for the kids, especially dresses for my Sophie girl. 

  This girl has more dresses than she could ever possibly wear, but unfortunately that doesn't stop me from buying more fabric and making more dresses;) 

I've never made anything for myself before, but this weekend I had some leftover fabric from some dresses I made for Soph, so I thought I would give it a try! 

  I decided on a skirt. I mean how hard could a skirt be-right!?!? I didn't want to buy a pattern, so I searched the Internet for a free pattern. Then I came across this tutorial. It was PERFECT!!! She says it will only take about twenty minutes, and to be honest, I didn't believe it. 

 Well, I got TWO skirts made in just under a hour. The first one took me a little longer because I was just trying for figure it all out, but the second was MUCH easier and faster. ANYONE can make one of these skirts. Even if you don't sew, you CAN DO THIS!!! It's super easy and her instructions are fool proof!
I can't wait to make more!!!

The Amazing Grace Race

Sunday night Corban participated in, The Amazing Grace Race, a musical put on by the children's choir at our church. The kids put a TON of hours into preparing and rehearsing for this much anticipated performance. All their hard work definitely paid off because they did a phenomenal job!! 

Corban surprised us all when he said he wanted to try out for a part in this musical. He is not at all a like-to-be-in-the-limelight-kind-of kid, but we encouraged him to try out if he really wanted too. 

He did, and he was given two little solo parts in two different songs. 

Needless to say, we were very proud of him! 

After the musical was over, we headed over to Y@foria to celebrate a job-well-done!!

Our sweet friends, the Howard's met us there too! 

Corban and his buddy Jack-- both did a super job in the play!

Riley and precious Darcy!

Nothing like a good cup of yogurt-right Hud?!?!?

Yup, good to the last bite!!!

Our little graduate;)

Today was a BIG day for our little family! 

Today my sweet Riley graduated from preschool!

 I seriously cannot believe that we are just one summer away from kindergarten!!!

Just that thought makes me teary eyed!

This morning we headed to Riley's school for his end of the year program.Oh.my.goodness was it PRECIOUS!!! Each class preformed an adorable song.

(There's my little giraffe on the end.)

Riley had such a sweet class this year and I know he is going to miss all his friends.

My sweet boy proudly shows off his much anticipated preschool diploma!

Yup...there's the diploma again. Ready for the camera.

After the program we headed over to P@nera with my sisters to celebrate our new rising kindergartner! 

And YES, Riley enjoyed every bite of that big ole' cinnamon role!

When we got home that afternoon, Riley and I got busy in the kitchen. I had found the most adorable flip-flop cake recipe, and I though it would be the PERFECT way to celebrate our little graduate!

. I just added the decorated flip-flops and sand (crushed vanilla wafers) to the top of a iced vanilla cake.

So simple!!

And since we were celebrating our sweet RiRi today, I told him that he could choose the dinner menu for the evening. I had to run to the store anyway,so I told him to pick ANYTHING he wanted. 

You know what he said...CEREAL! 

I was a little disappointed by his first choice, so I asked him to give me a second favorite dinner.

SPAGHETTI and garlic bread was choice number two. 

PERFECT.

And Ri's spaghetti was served on the "special" Celebrate plate. In our house, if someone is celebrating an accomplishment that day (no matter how big or small) they get to eat on the "Celebrate" plate!

 

After dinner, everyone was super excited to finally dig into that cake!

Congratulations to my precious rising kindergartner! 

We are SO VERY PROUD of you!!!