Kindergarten Trip to the Zoo

On May 30, I chaperoned the Kindergarteners on their field trip to the zoo.  I had Autumn and her friend Ephraim (a boy in our ward and her class that she says she wants to marry someday, and who had Mono this year too!) in my group.  We arrived at the zoo around 10:45 in the morning, and walked around until about 12:45.  We ate lunch while we walked around.  The kids had a blast!  It was hot and humid, but there was a little bit of a breeze and when we were in the shade it wasn't too bad.  The kiddos were troopers and walked around and saw as much as we wanted to!  I am so glad that I was able to take the day off to go with Autumn on her field trip!

Taylor Swift LIVE!!

On Saturday, May 25th, I took Chloe to see Taylor Swift at Cowboy stadium in Arlington.

Our friends, the Merricks, had purchased tickets for themselves and then came into some more tickets... So, they offered them to us.  Chloe LOVES Taylor Swift, and this was a once in a lifetime opportunity for her, so we went.  There were three acts before Ms. Swift came on stage, but once she did, Chloe paid attention with such joy on her face I had to steal some pics.  It was REALLY loud, REALLY crowded, and REALLY fun!  I am so glad that I was able to take Chloe to the concert... Love you Chloe!

Birthday Fun

For Ciera's birthday, we got up and had cinnamon rolls for breakfast and let her open her presents before school.

She got some cowboy boots, which she really wanted (we made it almost 3 years in Texas before any of our girls asked for cowboy boots!), some make-up stuff, a camel-back, a watch, and some clothes.

This evening for dinner we had Cheesy Potato Casserole (Ciera's pick), and ate her birthday cake (a mint-chip ice cream cake... also Ciera's pick)!  On Friday, Dave and I are taking her out for her birthday date to Studio Movie Grill to have dinner and watch "Epic".
I think it has been a good day.  I still can't believe my sweet Ciera is 13 years old!  Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Happy, Happy Birthday, Ciera Dear!

Today my baby turns 13.  Oh my!  I can't believe how quickly the years have flown by.  It seems so recent that we were listening to her scream her lungs out all day, every day!  She had a rough go of things for the first 4 months, but then she became the happy, sweet, loving girl we know today.  Ciera is a great big sister.  She is smart, fun, talented, responsible, crazy, a good leader, and beautiful!  We love her so much, and we are so glad she is in our family!


Happy Birthday Ciera!  We love you!

National Junior Honor Society

On Thursday evening, we also had an induction ceremony for the National Junior Honor Society for Ciera.  It is a group of students who are doing well academically, and who show great character, who do service outside of school, and who are involved in their school and community.  Ciera was one of the seventh graders who were chosen to become a member this year.  Brooke and I went to her program, since it was at the same time as Autumn's musical.  We were so proud of Ciera for doing so well in school, and being such a great person, and making it into such an elite group of students.  Way to go Ciera!

The Slug Squisher

Brooke has been in the Gifted and Talented program (GT) at school since Kindergarten.  Once a week, the GT kids are pulled out of their classes to work on other things.  This year, the second graders learned about innovators, inventors, and philosophers.  For their end-of-the-year project they had to interview people to find out "problems" they were having, choose one of those problems to solve, and invent something to fix the problem.  They had to create a marketing plan and build a prototype.  Brooke chose Dave's problem of "slugs in his soup".  She invented a "Slug Squisher" that could protect your soup from the unwanted pests by either squishing them or capturing them.
The Wylie ISD 2nd grade GT kids had an Invention Convention on Thursday evening to show off all their inventions.  There were a lot of great inventions, but I think, by far, the best one was THE SLUG SQUISHER!

Sounds a Little Fishy to Me

Autumn had her Kindergarten musical on Thursday evening.  It was called "Sounds a Little Fishy to Me", and had each class singing songs about fish, sharks and whales.  We had three things going on that evening (which I will post about next...) so Dave and Chloe went to watch her.  (They did it again on Friday morning for the entire school, so Brooke and I watched it then.)  It was super cute!  Autumn was in the front, center stage, for her class number.

Mrs. Farrell's class (Autumn's class) sang a song about sharks.  They did arm motions and sang "Oh me, Oh my, Please Swim Right By!"  It made me get all emotional watching her.  (I always get emotional at the girls' performances and awards ceremonies...)  We were so very proud of how well she did!

Smarty Pants Chloe

Chloe has been doing Advanced Math and GT Language Arts in school this year.  She has been doing so very well all year, and was invited to the end-of-the-year awards ceremony for her school on Monday evening.  She received an A/B Honor Roll medal, for getting all A's and B's all year in the first 5 grading periods.  We are so proud of her!!  Great job Chloe dear!!

Mother's Day Fun!

My family always makes me feel so loved on Mother's Day.  This year was no exception.  I am so grateful to my wonderful husband and my beautiful girls for all they do for me!  I LOVE my family!  Autumn made me a card in school, and I thought it was too cute not to share...

Apparently I like my naps and sleep!  Autumn would buy me a pillow... and I like to go to Target.  (True!)  My favorite is that I am 24.  Super!  Thanks for a great Mother's Day my family!

Run, Run, Run, as fast as you can...

Ciera joined the Cross Country team at her school this year.  It was an unusual season, and it was only four weeks long, but she was able to run in every race, and she improved her times each week.  She really became a great runner by the end of it.  We are so proud of her and how hard she worked to do her best and have fun learning to run!