Noelle had fun making pecan brittle, pecan brittle blonde brownies, and corndog casserole at the Young Chefs Academy this week (during her last week of summer)!
Here they are chopping celery…
Noelle is scooping in the last serving of casserole… the food was really good, and the kids got to read from a recipe, measure, mix, chop, and pour! They were really cooking! That was fun!
Noelle got a free ticket to Six Flags for her reading, so Mike and Noelle had a Daddy/daughter date day!
When I asked her what her favorite ride was, she said, “Everything!” but especially liked the parachutes. This is their last season to run, so I’m glad she got to experience riding them!
Mike did a great job taking pictures of all of their fun memories!
What a treat! Go girl!
It was so hot, but they made the most of their day and stayed almost 8 hours!
Noelle was getting queasy on the tea cups but made it through the ride, whew!
“Thanks for taking me to Six Flags! You’re the best one million and 65 times!” Love, Noelle
Noelle went to theater camp every day last week from 8-12 and had a blast!
On Friday, the students performed a little play for us, and Noelle was a monkey!
Brianna and Noelle got to play all week together at camp! The teenagers put stage make-up on Noelle, because that was on the list of things that were going to happen during the week (on the flyer), so you know she asked! She had fun with that!
Noelle’s favorite part about theater camp was the make-up, having fun with friends, and performing!!!
Piling on top of Daddy is a favorite thing around here…
Building cool forts with Creighton and Lesleigh…
My friend Holly came over one day last week, and she helped me make curtains for Noelle’s room. I love how they turned out! For the last picture of the week, Anna Kate asked me to take a picture of her posed like this… so there you have it! Hope everyone has a great week!
The girls had so much fun swimming with their friends this week.
I’ve decided Anna Kate is my little poser! She will get my attention and just smile at me. Finally, I’ll ask, “Do you want me to take your picture?” and she’ll stand there, not ever loosing her smile and shake her head yes. It’s so funny!
Noelle found a ladybug at the pool today, so she was very occupied for a while.
Anna Kate was playing teacher in this picture… the big girls were so sweet to play along with her. She was having a blast!
Noelle took this picture of Mindy and me. We had fun visiting while the girls stayed busy!
I feel like I’m always saying these girls crack me up, but they totally do!
Madison and Anna Kate had a lot of fun playing with their mermaids. When the girls were laying out, Anna Kate pretended like she fell asleep. Lol! She always does this in the car for extra attention, and this is what her pretend sleep face looks like!
Emily, Brianna, and Noelle jumping in the pool together!
Silly faces!
The girls got to play on the play ground on our way to the car… a bonus for sure!
We had a great day playing with lots of sweet friends!
We look forward to the Peters’ luau every summer where we dance the night away underneath the bright country stars!
The girls were having a blast the entire way to their house!
One more family pic before we let foot loose and fancy free!
My friend Donnette has a friend named Shelly who caters every year. She’s amazing… they both are!
These were little star fish s’mores… so cute and tasty!
The boiled shrimp was my favorite, Mike really liked the Hawaiian lettuce wraps, and the girls enjoyed the teriyaki chicken kabobs!
This is my sweet friend and party star Donnette! Thanks for having us over!
Exploring…
Taking it all in…
The Pond Girls
The sun went down way too fast tonight (I always get such pretty pictures up on this hill), but you can still see how precious Rose looked tonight. Anna Kate wore this dress to the summer luau of 2010. So sentimental to me!
Anna Kate had a purple snow cone and so her mouth was purple all night (just the way she wanted it)! She and Donnette’s little boy Luke had fun dancing together!
At the luau, everyone joins in and dances with everyone, and we have a ball! The shoes come off, the live band takes over, and we all just dance the night away!
These girls were in heaven tonight… a state of pure bliss! I never want to forget what these carefree summer nights feel like. They are definitely what make my world go round when times get tough!
To see the 2010 luau, click on this link: https://www.pondfam.com/blog/2010/06/15/hawaii-in-texas-who-knew/
To see the 2011 luau, click on this link: https://www.pondfam.com/blog/2011/06/18/luau-2011/
We had such a BLAST celebrating Landon and riding the Grapevine train with him! The kids are on the tracks in this picture, anticipating the train’s grand entrance into the station!
Anna Kate hugging her little buddy! Noelle was so excited to hop up on this saddle! She is such a cowgirl at heart!
First, we all ate lunch together at Joe T’s and got to eat cake and open presents. I don’t have many pics from this part of the party because I was using Jon’s camera.
Jon had the table decorated with all things Thomas! It was impressive. He even had play doh and toys for the kids while they waited on their lunch. He thought of everything!
On our way to the train, we got to stop by a little petting zoo in the stockyards. Here’s our animal lover cuddling with a goat!
Yikes! I don’t think I’d be brave enough to let him eat off my hand!
Anna Kate was enjoying the animals from a safe distance. She’s getting it!
Noelle’s little goat friend started tickling her…
These pictures crack me up! I love it!
Rose was starting to get tired, so we were getting kind of nervous how the train ride would go, but the conductor gave her all of our tickets, and that saved the day!
Here’s a pic of the Pond girls with their momma!
Landon’s mom, Heather, and I are always so busy chasing the kiddos, we never get any pictures together, but not today! Love ya!
The big train rolled into the station!
I didn’t get any pictures of the outside of the train, so I clipped this one in for you to see. It was a pretty big train! The kids were very impressed!
Here’s the conductor stamping our tickets, and Rose is wanting in on the action.
That conductor knew what he was doing to give all 5 of our stamped tickets back to Rose. She was a happy traveler from here on out!
I love this picture of my Rosie getting sleepy.
Landon was so busy taking it all in… he was in heaven! It was so neat to share that experience with the Fearing Family.
Jon took this picture of the PondFam5!
When we were going across this bridge, I kid you not, the train kept leaning from one side to the other and back again. We were holding the girls and Anna Kate started to panic… but just like that it was over. Mike and I were looking at each other like, “Is this supposed to be happening?” Added some excitement to the ride, for sure!
Rose saw something out her window and was saying, “Oh!”
I had to get a picture with the birthday boy! He’s so special to us!
Noelle kept kissing Anna Kate from behind her hat!
They thought that was so funny!
Here’s Landon’s little brother, baby Logan! He is the most perfect baby and couldn’t be any sweeter. It was so fun to spend the day loving on him too!
Here’s Noelle and Landon saying goodbye, and Logan getting kisses from his Aunt Missi.
We’ll be talking about Landon’s train party for years to come! It was such a fun experience and memory to share! Happy 3rd Birthday, Landon! We love you!
Working on Landon’s 3rd birthday train party pictures… but just had to share this one in the meantime! Love it!
The girls got free Hawaiian Falls tickets for completing their summer reading program, and Poppa came with us to share some fun in the sun!
The girls worked really hard on reading this summer, so we really anticipated today. We had a great time and did a little bit of everything!
This is my favorite set of pictures from the day. Here are the girls waiting for Poppa…
And here he comes! All four of us were cracking up!
Anna Kate made a friend named Skylar today! They had fun playing in the “ocean” together! I thought that was really neat.
Anna Kate finally faced her fears and did a water slide!
Noelle had a great time today just chillin’ and enjoying the waves!
Noelle tried this obstacle course/lily pad challenge. It was super hard, but she had fun trying. I love how Poppa is photo bombing this picture of Anna Kate, lol!
Sissy would wait for Noelle at the bottom of the slides, and that was just as much fun to her as going on them herself! I just love these joyful smiles and care-free spirits!
Poppa and Noelle really got some speed on this one… it definitely ended with a big splash!
Noelle ran into lots of buddies today… Zane and Noelle have grown up together, and it was so neat seeing him and his family today! Noelle’s friend Chloe came later in the day, and they rode the waves together!
We were so proud of Anna Kate for doing the little water slide! When we put the pics on the TV when we got home, Rara said, “Anna Kate did that?” She was so proud of her. Yay, Anna Kate!
After Anna Kate faced her fears, it was Poppa and Noelle’s turn. I thought they would get to the top and Poppa would have to walk Noelle back down, but there was no hesitation whatsoever. She went all out and had a blast!!!
Go Noelle and Poppa!
Shoe-ing off the bees, lol!
Sometimes the girls ask me to take their picture, and these are two of those pics! 🙂
You can tell everyone was having a great day!
Poppa finally talked Anna Kate into going up in the play land with him. She was so scared of the bucket that would fill up with water and crash down over the play land. It does make a really loud sound, but it absolutely terrified her. Hopefully next year she can laugh it off!
Anna Kate finally faced her fear of the lazy river, and at the end of the day, she said, “I’m not scared of lazy rivers anymore, Mommy!” Poppa helped her find all the “3”s on the side because that’s how deep the water is. She thought those threes were there for her because she is 3. He also made up a game of seeing who they could squirt along the way with the water gun, which distracted her from moving downstream. This is a huge win for us, because now lazy rivers can truly be lazy (and relaxing)!
Bye bye scary bucket full ‘o water… see you next year!!!
