His Last Day of School

May 9th was Ian's last day of school this year.  Where has the time gone?  This school year just FLEW by and I can't believe that it's over.  It was a good year.  It started with Ian crying when he was left, but quickly in his second week, he said, "I'm done crying now."  And, he was.  He hasn't cried since!  It's been all fun and games!

 

Ian had some familiar faces in his classroom this year.  His first year of school, Mrs. Alethea was his teacher.  Last year, Mrs. Annie was his teacher.  This year, Mrs. Annie AND Mrs. Alethea were in his classroom!  That was exciting . . . we love them both.  His friends Brady, John Colton and Ella Harding were in his class this year again and were his best buddies throughout the year.  Sully was a new buddy this year and quickly became a best buddy too.  The other new friends Ian made this year that he talked about off and on over the year were Mila, Hadley, Isabella, Patrick, YookYum, Olivia and Alice. 

 

I can't believe how differently Ian looks in these pictures compared to his first day of school pictures.  He's so grown up!  I can't wait to see what his next first day of school and last day of school pictures look like.  I think it's gonna kill me a little bit every year.  :)

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure that this next one is just about my FAVORITE even though I ask myself this question, "Is he three or is he sixteen?"  Hmm.

 

I'm so thankful that we've been blessed with Mrs. Annie for the last two years and it looks like she'll be in Ian's class again next year.  Woo hoo!

 

We love Mrs. Alethea and Mrs. Annie!

 

On Ian's last day of school, he made me this little jewel.  I have to say that it really is a treasure!  Deciding what to make my kids for mealtime every day truly stresses me out most of the time.  It's just not an area of mothering that I feel good at so it's always a chore rather than a joy.  This is proudly hanging on my refrigerator now and I'm praying that the Lord uses it to speak to my mind and my heart about turning this chore into a joy.  I'm thankful that my sweet boy sees and appreciates my efforts, as pitiful as they can be some times!

A Trip to Atlanta

At the beginning of May, the kids and I made a quick little trip to Atlanta to see Garyn, Zach, Campbell and Cassidy.  Man, it was good to see them!  Campbell and Ian are such sweet little friends and have the best time together.  Ian has been talking about Campbell pretty much non-stop since we got home!  And in case you're wondering, he only likes to eat mac-n-cheese at Campbell's house . . . "not at my house."  It cracks me up some of the things he'll do with his friends, but not at home!  (I'm trying to briefly ignore how terrifying this thought is!) 

 

We arrived to Garyn's right in time to pick Campbell up from school, so we put all the carseats in the van and surprised her.  It was precious!  There were groceries that needed to be had, so we braved the grocery store with four kids!  I have NO CLUE how women do this ALONE!!!  Seriously.  I have plenty of friends with four kids who do this all the time.  We were exhausted and there were two adults handling four kids, so all of you who do this on a regular basis by yourself . . . my hat really does go off to you!  You amaze me!  Aren't they so cute in their carts though?  Ian was super excited to ride in the car cart with Campbell!

 

 

It was a success and everyone was happy to have balloons in the end!

Livvy and Cassidy are so much alike . . . they're about the same size (even though Livvy Girl is 5 months younger!), they both have dark hair with curls, they're both little independent souls.  They found each other interesting on occasion, but were mostly interested in their own thing.  Sometimes Cassidy would join the big kids in their fun, but Livvy was almost always happy to explore her new surroundings.

One of the days we were there, Ian fell asleep during his quiet time in the playroom while he was watching Curious George.  He was SO sound asleep that when the rest of the crew woke up and started playing around him, he slept right through it!!!  Livvy even SAT ON HIM and he didn't wake up!  He's always been my boy who could sleep thru just about anything, but this was a little wild!

 



 

The favorite toy of the weekend was Campbell's riding scooter.  Oh, my!  They had so much fun on this thing!!!  Cassidy happily rode along even though she was seriously squished . . . Livvy couldn't have cared less about it!  We eventually had to put it away because big kids couldn't keep an eye out for little kids and too many tears flowed from being ran over, but it was a blast while it lasted!

 

They kind of like each other . . .

 

It was an awesome couple of days!  It always is!  Can't wait for our next visit with these precious friends!

Some April Cuteness

April was full of lots of fun as we got ready to have a one year old in the house!  Dominique came for a visit, our adventurous girl got even more bold and brave, and we had plenty of fun outside in our uncommonly cool weather.  We also did some interesting things like tear down a wall in the basement for some repairs.  Here a few cute things Ian said this month and then there are a ton of pictures!

 

• "Mr. Adam painted the wall in the basement.  I don't paint on the walls.  Yeah, I don't have my license to paint on walls yet."  (We tell him he's not allowed to cut his hair because he's not a licensed professional.  Apparently it has made an impression and filtered over to other areas of his life!)
• Ian is still BIG into making up funny words.  He very often uses them when we call each other silly things like, "You're a popsicle.  You're a treasure.  You're a boog-imon-itorita-boo."  Or something of the sort.  :)
• Ian has found a new tv show that he loves . . . Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood.  It's so sweet!  We're enjoying it a lot.  One of Ian's favorite Bible stories these days is Ahab and Jezebel.  Well, when King Friday comes out on Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, Ian asks, "Is that King Ahab?"
• Ian's favorite place to get a treat is Nancy's Italian Ice.  Our favorite flavor is Banilla, but they haven't had it the last few times we've been there.  It's literally been almost a year since we've had it, but Ian still remembers that it is his favorite!  We went to Nancy's the other day to celebrate the last day of school and they finally had Banilla!  Ian gets his Banilla ice and says, "Hello, Banilla!  We've been waiting to see you for a long time!"  It was precious!  And since the last day of school was actually in May, I guess that makes it some May cuteness, but I might not be able to remember it that long!

Livvy loves Veggie Straws.  She puts them in her mouth and blows air out of them and thinks she hilarious.  She's right.

 

We had a busy day of errands and doctor's appointments one day.  This is what I found when I got home.  Two TIRED babies!  How Ian is sleeping just cracks me up!

 

Ian got Ragedy Ann ready for school one day.

 

He then proceeded to have a super fun day at school and then came home to fall asleep during quiet time.  How does he sleep with his baby on his face like that???

 

Dominique came to see us the weekend before Livvy's birthday since she had a final on Livvy's actual birthday.  It was so good to see her, of course!  She brought Livvy her birthday present . . . an amazing house for her dolls (in the next picture)!  Ian got busy filling it up right away.

 

Livvy loves to climb into the rocking chairs that are her size.  She and Ian got to rocking in our room one day and it was precious!  They were laughing hysterically.  It does a mama's heart good.

 

Speaking of rocking chairs, Livvy's favorite thing to do these days is climb into her purple rocking chair in her room and STAND UP!!!  It's terrifying, to say the least.  She's actually quite good at it though and as far as I can tell, hasn't fallen out of it yet.  She's quite proud of herself for her accomplishment as you'll be able to tell in the next few pictures.

 

I love it when she carries things around in her mouth like a little kitty cat.  This just cracks me up!

 

We kept our family tradition of Miyako's for Livvy's birthday.  Ian was super excited to see Mr. Chu was our chef.  Both of my kids eat so well there!  (As do the adults, but that's a given!)

 

I tried giving Livvy her cake again when she didn't have an audience.  She put a bite in her mouth, but that was all.  She was still not a fan!  Crazy girl!!!

 

One Sunday I just couldn't decide what I wanted Livvy to wear, so I pulled out my three choices.  Livvy was with me and it occurred to me that she might have an opinion.  So, I showed her the first choice.  She touched it.  I showed her the second choice and she immediately pushed it aside.  I showed her the third choice and she touched it more affectionately.  I showed her the first dress again and this time, she immediately pushed it to the side.  When I showed her the last dress again, she grabbed it and gave it a hug.  Is that not hilarious?  Here is what she chose . . . good choice baby girl!  One of Mama's favorites!

 

I think I mentioned I love it when she carries stuff in her mouth.  Well, here is more proof that I do.

 

Livvy is not really a fan of the great outdoors it seems.  She's okay on the porch but once we venture out to the grass, she's not a fan!  She was happy to discover that she could get herself in and out of this little wagon because once we got on the grass, she climbed right in it and sat there while Ian ran around on the grass.  SO FUNNY!!!  She's totally my daughter.  I was wishing for a wagon too.

 

Livvy likes to help me with the dishwasher.  This is how we started out one night.

 

Then she said, "Mama, avert your eyes.  You don't want to see this."

 

She was right.

 

Ian loves his sister!  He doesn't ask to feed her very often because she's too squirmy, but when he does, it's the sweetest and cutest thing ever!  I love these two to pieces!!!

Ian and Ella Harding

Ella Harding came home with us from school one day.  They were both super excited!  It was HYSTERICAL to listen to them in the car on the way home!  They talk to each other like adults and have the funniest conversations because of it.  They had such a fun afternoon playing together.  They each got to choose one part of their afternoon snack . . . Ian chose the drink, which was hot chocolate (or room-temperature-chocolate) and Ella Harding chose the food, which was oreos.  They threw some pretzels in the mix too.  All of the food was excellent for dipping into the hot chocolate!  And when the sugar high wore off and there was a hint of fussing on the horizon, we added a side of cheese to our afternoon snack!  It's amazing how quickly you can see the need for protein!  These two are quite a pair and we'll have to plan many more play dates over the summer.  Ian's going to miss seeing his buddy so much during the week now that school is over.  He talks about this girl all the time!

 

Her Party Outfit

She didn't object to the hat nearly as much when we put it on for pictures.  In fact, she left it on for me for quite some time!  I love her birthday-cake-eating-outfit even though she never really ate any birthday cake!  Sweet, precious, birthday baby!!!