Last minute, we headed over to the Banks’ house for some holiday swimming last week!

We have the cutest girl/boy stair-step in the world!  Noelle, Brayden, Anna Kate, Braxton, Rose and Breland; all one year apart! 

Jaalisa and I have had a blast getting to know each other and cracking each other up!  Even though our worlds are opposite genders (lol), we have so much in common… especially the same sense of humor about being a dynamic wife and mother/family member.  Here’s Brayden giving his ‘too cool for school’ face while taming the turtle!

The girls are so happy and thankful for our wonderful friends and family time.  Cheers to lots of fun in the sun!

This is my favorite store in the whole wide world!  If you ever wonder where our girls get their cutest clothes; it’s here: ELLA BELLA!  The store owner is my friend, Kara, and she will help you customize any outfit for any occasion… down to every last accessory, including jewelry; Noelle’s favorite thing!  And if you’re out of town, you can shop online at www.arlingtonellabella.com.

One day while Noelle was going to be at school, she put Anna Kate’s bathroom rug on her dress-up trunk to make a whole veterinarian clinic for Anna Kate to play with.  She is such a sweet big sissy!  The big girls have been dancing away at their summer dance class!  Miss Emily came to watch a couple weeks ago, and the girls loved that!

Rose fell asleep in the car on the way home from a party with her hand in a bag of chips, lol!  She had so much fun!

I wish I had used my Canon for these pictures… I’ll never forget this play date with the Key sisters when Anna Kate and Mia had a pretend wedding.  Noelle and Georgia were the bridesmaids.  They were all so giggly and cute!  Such a sweet memory!

Rose has been a sick little baby again lately.  Last week, she ran a really high fever (like in the 105 range) for a day, but by the time I took her in that evening, she was on the up-swing.  We have really been through it this spring.  Looking forward to some bright Texas sunshine and a very healthy summer!

Mike and Noelle enjoy playing the guitar/ukulele together!

Rose’s first experience/reaction being stopped by a train… she was so observant and cute!

My Girls Laugh friends!

Cheering for Malia!  The Pond girls are her biggest fans!

Malia and Anna Kate totally get each other; they are great play mates and best little buddies!  *I love Rose on the side of this picture off in her own little world on her party blower, lol!

The girls love the wind tunnel machine at Pump It Up!

Our neighbor Jackson turned 5, and this is the first picture he has ever let me take of him with Anna Kate… yay!  Happy Birthday, Jackson!

After Noelle saw the face painting PTA party pictures, she decided to set up a face painting station in our back yard last weekend for the girls.  She had a list of things she could draw for them and the prices were hanging on the slide outside (one of the drawings said you could use play money to purchase it, lol).  They were so happy/busy/excited working on their face painting and usually do a great job of entertaining themselves when they are altogether and everyone is well fed and well rested (those are the magical keys to life with toddlers)!

From Mrs. Paula: This week I took 3 different groups of kiddos to the Botanic Gardens, where they had a blast!  We also enjoyed learning about earthworms, and searching for them in the backyard, and creating and observing a worm habitat in the classroom.  We learned about slugs and snails, pretended to be them, gathered them in the backyard, observed and wrote about them, and held them.  They are cool!

Best.preschool.ever.

I don’t know how I missed this picture from the mall the other day!  Aww…

We had a pretty good little garage sale two weekends ago, and the girls had a blast selling drinks!  We wanted them to have a chore to do to keep them busy, but they made a pretty good little amount of “fun” money!  As we were busy working, I was just loving watching all three of the girls doing their thing, so I just had to go grab my camera.  So glad I did, at our garage sale of all places!  Lol…

This is what you call a “Hot Mess!!!” in every way!

The big girls and I bought matching aprons before Rose was born… we’ll get one for Rose when she’s ready to participate, haha!

Here’s Noelle posing, of course, next to all of the girls’ garage sale clothes… I can’t believe they’ve outgrown all this stuff!  Like the way we set up our little clothes rack?  Lol!  It got the job done!  We sold more off the rack than we did in the piles on top of boxes… so it worked!

Mike had to go to the bank to get more ones, Rose went with him, and they gave her a sucker because she was fussing so loudly.  Mike said she just laid flat on the bank floor having a “toddler tantrum,” and there was nothing that could be done while he was almost to the front of the line (he knew we needed him back home; it was crazy busy), so he was totally stuck… until they gave her a sucker.  We would never let any of the girls get a reward (I would’ve said ever until this incident) for bad behavior, but there is a first time for everything!  The happy sucker phase bought us an extra hour of her happiness, so although we were too tired to consistently discipline, this day, I’d say it was all we could do to make it through!  She looks so innocent and cute spinning around like such a sweetheart in these pictures; most of the time I just let you think that, haha!  My big girls were very interested in helping.  They took selling drinks and our garage sale items very seriously and sat at their little table most of the morning!  They are getting so big, and understanding the concept of working for pay.  It’s cool!  Our little entrepreneurs!

The sun moved right over the table where our little sellers were!  Isn’t it so fitting for Noelle to wear platform shoes with sequins to a garage sale with “Diva in Training” on her apron!?!  And for Anna Kate to be sitting their obeying and listening so well, always trying to make the right choices to help the family, and sweet baby Rose (guys, she really is totally precious) strutting her stuff in her leopard apron!  We were wiped out when it was all over (this was our first garage sale ever), but we made a little bit of “fun money,” did some spring cleaning, worked as a team, and had a lot to donate to a good cause afterward.  Wins all the way around… except for the way our bodies felt that night, lol!  Oh the joy of garage sales!  Once you do one, you think you’ll never do it again, but after a couple of weeks have gone by, I’m kind of looking forward to the next one our neighborhood puts on (all the houses coordinated it on the same day, so we didn’t have to do any advertising; it was great)… the girls loved socializing and making a little extra money, and it was a fun PondFam5 experience!

*And this post makes me only a week and a half behind on the blog… whahoo!  I can’t stop taking pictures to get caught up, lol!

Thank you to all who presently serve, have served, and have paid the ultimate price for our freedom!  God bless the U.S.A!!!

We had a blast having lunch, face painting, snow cones and playing at the park with all our buddies at the end of year party for junior PTA!

Payton and Rose were enjoying a pre-lunch snack… it was super windy today, but other than that, the weather was perfect!

Here’s Anna Kate with her butterfly face painting!

The Pond girls wanted to check out the beach at the lake!

Aww, my sparkly butterfly!

Chickfila catered lunch!  Rose got her face painted… I’m not sure why she did that black vine for her to smear under her chin, but Rose was happy, so I wasn’t about to wipe it off, lol!

See what I mean!?!  H.A.P.P.Y.

After lunch and exploring the lake, it was snow cone time!

And then we caught up with the group at the park… of course mine are running in opposite directions!!!

This was Rose discovering the tunnel and then crawling into it… she was having a blast!

Play grounds are so good for Rose right now because she is in to everything… so with no limits, she can just discover whatever she wants and no one is saying, “No, don’t open that cabinet…” or “Don’t go tear up everything in sissy’s room while she’s at school!”  We can just PLAY!  Wish I had the energy to take this one somewhere every single day!

I love their different personalities!  I knew exactly where Anna Kate would be because she generally stays in the same spots at parks.  She’s not our runner… never has been.  She started up this obstacle ladder, and was like, “No way!  Forget it!”  Then Rose saw her getting down, and sprinted to the top!  I was just cracking up.  I love them so much!!!  I think I’m more like Anna Kate, but I admire Rose for her fearlessness, not as her mother (good grief), but as her friend!

Each spring, I get the honor to help out with the 4th grade girls program at Noelle’s school called “GIRLS LAUGH.”  Noelle’s school counselor, Lisa Arnold, along with several other awesome volunteers, have a great time each week hanging out with the girls and hosting programs with topics that promote inner beauty and wellness… and just maturing into great young ladies who have manners and respect for others.  I really enjoy this age group and have a blast helping out with what hits closest to home for me: character and girls! 

One of our first activities in the program each year, is the bad cupcake/good cupcake test.  Each girl gets two mini-cupcakes.  One is beautiful and one is plain.  They eat the beautiful one first and it tastes awful, but then they eat the plain one and it tastes delicious.  The life lesson is that you can’t read a book by its cover.  Just because someone is pretty on the outside does not make them pretty overall;  inner beauty goes way farther than outward appearances… we talk about inner beauty, and it really makes an impression on them with the cupcake test.  Both years I’ve helped with the program, the girls are so shocked and surprised, and the lesson really seems to stick with them as they use all of their senses at the same time with this activity.  I hope Noelle doesn’t read this before its her turn… there are tons of secrets shared only in “GIRLS LAUGH” between us girls, so if she does, she’ll still have A LOT to look forward to!  I wish I could tell you guys more, but we pinky promised; what happens in GIRLS LAUGH, stays in GIRLS LAUGH! 

Madison and Anna Kate always have so much fun together!

Eden was being fussy, and Rose walked up to her and told her to “Shh…!”  She was really sweet about it, and trying to act like her big sisters, but I was cracking up.  I couldn’t stop thinking, “Now that’s the pot calling the kettle black!”  Rose is great!  She’s going to work it all out; all two year olds do!

We had a blast last week at the mall with these sweet buddies!  Cherishing my time with these precious girls… I’m going to be beside myself when Rose goes to kindergarten (and Anna Kate for that matter), so these play dates (and everything in between) are priceless to me!!!