Memorial Day Beach Trip

 
 
 
 

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We made our annual trip to Gulf Shores for Memorial Weekend & had a great time. Daniel, Laura Ann & Kate had a blast together. They are at such good ages & all played so well together. We did the beach, but didn't spend as much time there as usual because of Laura Ann's cast. It can get wet, but she didn't need to get sand in it. It's kind of hard to be on the beach & keep sand out of anything, but we did attempt to do this with a bread bad & rubber band. Bless her! We did all of our favorite things in addition to the beach & pool......dinner at Tin Top, a visit to the "Shark Store" for junky souvenirs, played in the bay, yummy meals by Gran, lots of reading by me, play time with our beach friend, Bailey, and dinner at Bahama Bobs. And then we added in some new things this year.......fun on a wave runner for Dan, crab hunting on the beach at night, a ferry ride & visits to Ft. Morgan & Dauphin Island. It was a super fun trip and we are already looking forward to our next beach trip!

Hip Hip Hooray.......

......Daniel is an OFFICIAL FIRST GRADER TODAY!!!!

 
Leaving for school on his last day to be a Kindergartener
 
Running to the car from the bus. I know this looks like he's really excited school's out, but he actually ran to the car like this everyday, unless he had moved his pin & then he would just walk to the car. I always knew as soon as he stepped off the bus how his day had gone!
 
Loved the sticker on his face!
 
We celebrated at Yogurt Mountain!

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Country Music Star

 
Daniel told us tonight that he was going to put on a concert for us & came down dressed like this! I'll just say that the outfit was way better than the music! Ha!

Sweet Friends

Laura Ann LOVES Ann Claire & has been begging for her to come over & play for a long time. Since they are both out of school this week & the big kids are still in school, it was the perfect time for them to have a playdate. Amy dropped Ann Claire off at lunch and they played their little hearts out until time to get Sophie & Daniel off of the bus. I told Amy when I dropped them off, that the girls were just 'perfect'! A little while after we got home, Daniel called me up to the playroom to show me two buckets FULL of water, as well as all of Laura Ann's food from her kitchen. I asked Laura Ann about it & she said that they were just making soup! Ha!! So, they were almost perfect!

This Made My Day!!

Ms. Elledge helped Daniel write this about me, then framed it with some pictures for my end of the year gift. So, so sweet & thoughtful! LOVE it!
 
 
She also included a card that mentioned how much she was going to miss Daniel and all of the 'life' that he brought to her classroom! What a nice way to put it!!! I am praying for a first grade teacher that understands and can handle all of the 'life' he will be bringing to her classroom!

Wrapping It Up!

Let the birthday celebration begin! Daniel got to wear the birthday crown today & was very excited to take cookies for his class to celebrate his birthday.
 

Ms. Elledge LOVES dogs & that has been the class theme all year. Their classroom is the 'dog pound', she has a dog house around the door & dog posters & pics everywhere, they made 'dog-gone' good class tshirts, etc. The kids call her their 'dog gone' good teacher, so that's what we named our poem. We let Ms. Elledge take a long break from the classroom last week & the kids all came up with descriptions of Ms. Elledge for me to plug into our poem for her end of the year gift while she was out of the room. They did such a great job & she loved it! When she opened it, she just died laughing & said, "We think alike, wait until you see your end of the year gift!" Ha! Look for it in the next post!
 
 
 

Sprinkler Fun!

 
 
 

When Daniel got home from school, the sprinklers were on, so he changed right into his swimsuit & headed out. Laura Ann was right behind him. We are so excited about SUMMER!!

Hudson is ONE!

 
 
Can I just say how much I love this sweet baby boy??!! He is so precious & I have loved watching him grow this past year. I think I may have heard him cry like twice ever. He seriously is that good. I have been telling Becky & Jeremy since he was tiny that something about him reminds me so much of Daniel. The shape of his head & that little white fuzz hair, especially. Big Daddy & Nanna saw him last month at Laura Ann's Spring Choir performance & said the same thing. So it really isn't just me being sentimental! Here he is at one in Daniel's outfit! Yep, I had some flashbacks! Happy Birthday, Hudson!!

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Dan+Fishing=VERY happy Dan

 
Chris graciously took Dan fishing tonight. While they were having all of that fun (see Dan's expression.....not sure how a fish on a hook can bring such joy, but anyway.....), Amy & I took the kids to Chick-fil-a for supper. The kids had great time too, despite the way they look in this pic. I took it as we were walking out & they had totally worn themselves out!!!
 

Leigh Anne's a Grown-Up!

 
 
 
 

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It's official.....Leigh Anne is a grown up! Daniel has been dreading this day for a while now! Ha! I'm not sure why, but he asked me a couple of years ago when Leigh Anne would graduate from college & I told him that it would be in about two years. His response was, "Awwww, man, I don't want her to be a grown up!!". And he has mentioned it a few times since then. Thankfully, the rest of the family was super excited for Leigh Anne and thrilled that she has officially entered the land of 'grown ups'! Because of the tornado, her actual graduation ceremony was delayed until August, but we went ahead with our celebration. Big Daddy & Nanna hosted her party and we got to enjoy lots of family time, meet some of her Dad's extended family and some of her friends. Nanna, as always, was a wonderful host. The food, by Beth & the 'girls' was yummy & of course, the pool provided endless entertainment for the kiddos! Congrats, Leigh Anne! We love you!

Oh, I should mention that this was Daniel & Laura Ann's first time to swim since October & I wasn't sure how they would do. Not to mention that Laura Ann is in a cast. She went straight to the diving board & I told her she really should jump in the shallow end first to be sure that she remembers how to swim & see how she does with her cast on. She looked at me like I was crazy & jumped right on off the diving board & swam to the ladder. She then gave me another look to confirm my craziness! Daniel did pretty much the same! Guess I'll be saving the swimming lesson $ this summer!! Yay!

Gumbeaux's

 
 

We celebrated the momentous occasion of Daniel & Laura Ann's FIRST time to eat at Gumbeaux's in Douglasville today! Gumbeaux's is our FAVORITE restaurant in the Ville. It has the BEST cajun food anywhere, owned and operated by Robert, a "ragin' cajun" himself. Dan & I go there on dates when we are in town & always leave the kids at Big Daddy & Nanna's. They got to eat lunch there with us today. Welcome to cajun food heaven, guys! :)

Lunch with Daniel

 
Dan has enjoyed MANY lunches with Daniel this year at Paine. Today was his last time to eat lunch with him as a Kindergartener & he sent me this text from the lunchroom. Laura Ann got to tag along today too!

Parent Appreciation Brunch

 
Singing Dr. Jean's A-tooty-ta song & cracking up!
 
Daniel served us brunch!
 
The fam with our favorite Kindergartener.......soon to be 1st grader!
 
Our gifts from Daniel

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Daniel's class hosted a parent appreciation brunch this morning. First, they sang for us & it was absolutely adorable! Nanna first introduced us to Dr. Jean's silly songs a few years ago & I was excited that Ms. Elledge likes her music too. They sang a couple of her songs for us & the songs they used to learn the abc's & #'s at the beginning of the year. They are such a sweet group of friends & it was fun to watch them laugh together over all of the silly songs! They have all grown up SO much since last August! I amazingly made it through the entire performance with no tears! After the performance, they served us brunch & took the 'serving' part VERY seriously. Absolutely no parental help was allowed! While we ate, we got to look through Daniel's journal, portfolio & open our end of the year gift from him. It was a really sweet time with Daniel. He was really excited to share this time with us & we were so excited to share it with him. He has had a great year! We love you, Daniel & are so proud of you!!!

Neighborhood Protection

Hiding out to catch the bad guys
 
'Army' men
 
The 'Army' man with the 'Princess'