Summer is almost here — The count down is on!

 

Noelle and Anna Kate rocked it out at Field Day!  It’s my joy to watch them laugh and play and run! 

 

Go kinder cuties!

 

The littlest sister gets spoilt rotten!  She decided she was too hot and somehow convinced me to go home and change.  That would’ve never happened with the older girls!  Either she’s going to be a lawyer, or I’m just worn out!

 

  

 

 

 

 

Noelle’s had such a great year, with a wonderful class and teacher.  Nyla, Brianna, Ava and Carson brightened her days for sure!  The picture on the right makes me laugh.  Rose was being Rose and every time someone came up to talk to her, she pulled her shade down.  Anna Kate’s friends were giving Rose unwanted attention, so she just shut down shop.  You can see Anna Kate looking at me like, “What are we going to do with her?”  All four of us say that to each other every day.  I mean, look at that face under there… she is something else!

Anna Kate’s class won first place in tug of war!  It was double elimination, and they lost straight away.  When it was their turn again, they had to win three in a row, and sure enough, they did it!  That was so much fun!

 

The girls ran into each other at one point, and I’m so glad they did!  They take such good care of each other at school.  This next picture is called Queen and Princess BAE (Noelle’s description)!   So glad Lisa captured this moment for me.  She takes such good care of all of us!

 

That’s a wrap on the best field day ever!

We had a blast wishing Mrs. Paula, Tanner and Patriot one last goodbye before they leave Texas for good in a couple of weeks.  Mrs. Paula’s husband is already in California, but they stayed behind to sell the house and finish up Tanner’s school year. 

We were beyond blessed to get a teacher like this right off the bat with the girls!

After dinner, Mrs. Paula brought over dough to make “unicorn poop” cookies.  Look up all the different ways of making them on YouTube.  The girls had a blast joking around while making their colorful unicorn poop cookies!

We topped them off with sprinkles and sent them to the oven to bake.

They turned out so colorful and super yummy too!

Then, leave it to Mrs. Awesomeness, to bring a unit she made on her Teachers Pay Teachers site about unicorns! 

Anna Kate did such a great job figuring out all of the matches.

Never not creating with Mrs. Paula!

 

After airplane rides and watching goofy YouTube channels, we gave Mrs. Paula our goodbye cards.  The picture on the right is Rose’s.  She said it’s her and Mrs. Paula under a rainbow. 

Although Noelle never had Mrs. Paula as her official teacher, she’s been to dozens of fun family events at Mrs. Paula’s house and felt just as close to Mrs. Paula as the littles.  Mrs. Paula has a way of bringing kids into the action and engaging them in learning just by being her happy self.  Noelle appreciated that so much.

Anna Kate had two amazing years at Mrs. Paula’s Preschool, and we are so thankful for the time they shared together.  There was never a school like hers and there will never be another, but we are so thankful we got to experience the joy and magic she created for us all!

 

 

Carson, Noelle and Emily having a blast at the aquarium!

 

Noelle and I had a great day at the aquarium with her friends!  We have been field tripin’ this spring, and it’s been a lot of fun!

 

 

Rose and I have been little buddies this spring while the big girls are in school.  She has been with me 24/7, and it’s been so special!  Wouldn’t trade this time for anything in all the world! 

   

In the dressing room shopping with Roro is always entertaining!

This is the face of a good little girl that earned herself a treat!

More shopping and fun with my baby!

 

Harper and Saylor were so cute over Easter.  We can’t wait to see them again this summer!

 

 

Rose has only been spanked a handful of times in her life because we only use it as a very last resort, but she has a 0 tolerance policy with her babies.  She doesn’t mess around!

 

Loved my get well banner the family made me after a little surgery I had in April.  They are so sweet and loving!

This kid is so very dramatic and funny!  She makes life so humorous and unpredictable! 

 

Loved seeing Poppa and Rara on their way to the airport.

Well visits!

 

Anna Kate whispering to Rose that she thinks she’s going to have to get shots today.  And boy did she!  4 year check-ups are the worst but happy to be immunized and healthy!

PB&J cheeks, pjs, messy hair and chores are the days I never want to forget!

 

 

Fun layouts for my shop that I really like!

 

Thanks for the laughs, Cindy!

Santa in the park doing Tai Chi with Rose, who is still a little star-struck around Santa, even though she’s hung out with him all her life!  Silly girl!

 

Party girl was super excited to be glowing in the black light!

Happy birthday, Hannah!

 

Jax was such a good boy when he visited our house last month.  We took care of him as if he had 4 moms and a dad! 

The girls couldn’t believe they were matching today!  They all picked out these gowns separately and were so excited when they realized they were matching.  Love that they love matching as much as I do!

 

Jaalisa came over to style Malia’s hair, and we had a fun girl afternoon hanging out.  When I was showing Malia her new braids in the mirror, she snapped a picture on my phone.  She was so proud of herself!  I love that kid!

 

Mike loves to try out different ways to cook steaks.  These steak bites were delicious!  Katie and Rose had fun jumping on the trampoline in their matching rompers.  They look so much alike!  From behind, we get them confused if they are dressed the same!

Noelle has made all A’s so far this year and has worked so hard for each and every one of them.  We are so proud of her determination and drive to do the very best she can at school!

 

Beyond happy to be headed into summer! 

 

 

Anna Kate and Rose did such a great job dancing at Mayfest this year.  We were so proud of our littles!

 

 

 

 

Noelle and Brianna got to be presenters at a district wide event to represent their school and book categories.  Noelle’s book, Creepy Carrots, won in the favorite picture book category, which meant Noelle had to walk on stage, give a little speech and accept the trophy.  I was a nervous wreck because I wasn’t given directions on how to help her prepare for the night, but she walked confidently across the stage and gave a simple, well thought-out acceptance speech.  She was as happy and comfortable as she could be!  Go girls!

Harper came to play with us while her parents were at a convention in Dallas!  We had a blast walking the streets of downtown and literally spent the entire afternoon walking around and exploring.  We had no idea what we’d see or what we’d do, we just started walking!  It was more fun than we could have planned!  Personality plus right here! 

At any moment it could’ve started pouring, but it didn’t!  We walked over 2 miles all together!  Mike and I got so many stares with 4 girls.  He got lots of high fives.  People are so funny!

 

We originally had planned to swim in their swanky hotel, but it was closed due to weather, so we took to the streets, lol!

 

We started off in the biggest atrium I’ve ever seen.  We rode lots of glass elevators and just walked around checking everything out inside.

 

After about 30 minutes indoors, the girls were really wanting a treat, and they were being so awesome that they deserved one!  Nothing was open inside, but our map said their was a CFA a few blocks away.  That was our original plan, but it turned out taking a lot longer to walk with little ones in tow and by the time we made it there, it was closed.  It was a little kiosk CFA in an underground city type place.  Weird, I know.  We were confused too. 

 

So, we just kept walking and lots of little parks kept popping up with really cool things to explore!

 

 

The girls were so shocked this man sweeping was a statue and were about to walk right past it when I told them to go give that man a hug.  I literally had to tell them he was a statue and they could go touch him.  They went running!

 

 

This is one of my favorite buildings in the skyline.  Always has been, along with reunion tower. 

We happened upon this little cupcake store, and it was perfect timing! 

We tried red velvet and wedding cake cupcakes!  The girls drank more water than I’ve ever seen them drink.  They walked hard for this treat!

 

Doesn’t all of this look so fun?  We had no idea downtown was so kid-friendly!  They even had a free book exchange program offered by the library called Wheel Borrow.  We took a couple of great books we read when we got back to the hotel that were really fun for the kids.  Mike dropped a ton of our books off to say thanks last week.  I love honor system sharing ideas. 

Little did we know how much adventure did await in downtown!  This spring has been so weird in Texas.  It was snowing in March, and we’ve had tons of rain, severe weather, tornado warnings and flooding ever since.  Although it’s been unusual and not ideal, we’ve still had a great time!  Thanks for chilling with us, Harper!  You are such a fun little trooper, always in it to win it! 

 

This was Noelle’s family birthday year, and we had so much fun celebrating her!  We started out getting mani/pedis together.  She was in spa day heaven!  Then, she wanted a date with Mike and me, so that’s what she got!  She looked so classy in her Oscar de la Renta dress!

Noelle did an awesome job in AR (Accelerated Reader) this year!  She reads a lot and ended the year with 109 points!  We never have to make her read or worry about her making her points each 6 weeks.  She’s an amazing student!

 

We are so proud of Noelle and love her so very much!  I hope she remembers this night in particular as one of her favorite child-hood memories.  We had a blast! 

 

First, we had dinner at The Magic Time Machine.  This place is crazy, goofy, and so much fun for kids!  They encourage you to explore the restaurant in between courses and even give the kids an autograph book for the waiters to sign who are dressed up as characters.  Now, don’t get me wrong, it smells kind of musty and feels a little old, but the charm and playful atmosphere make up for it!

Every meal comes with a trip to the salad car.  We started our dinner here.

After our salad, we couldn’t wait to go explore!  There are so many different themed booths, but we only took a picture of a few.  This one was for Valentine’s Day.

Everywhere we turned, there was some little detail.  These crayon stars were on the ceiling in a random hallway.  Our waiter says he notices new things he’s never seen before every night he works.  I’m a very detail-oriented person.  Most of the time, it’s not fun because I notice imperfections that don’t bother anyone else, but in places like this and Disney, it’s a huge advantage because I get to enjoy more!

 

Here was the Halloween booth and Charlie Brown section.  Then, we moved on to the circus themed room.  The booths in this room were part of a carousel.

Here is a spaceship booth along with a Mexican fiesta booth.  So random and fun!  You can see how this is a kid’s dream restaurant!  And it isn’t frowned upon to get up and walk around, which is so nice when you have curious little ones!

 

This hallway was super odd and fun.

 

They took our picture at the beginning of the meal, and then at the end, they brought it to us to see if we’d like to purchase it, and when I opened the envelope, this is what we saw!  Lol!  Noelle loved it, and it topped off a super fun dinner with the birthday girl!  If you haven’t been to The Magic Time Machine, or have just forgotten about it, you should go!  We give it a thumbs up!

 

The next stop on our birthday date night was for dessert at Five Sixty, in Reunion Tower.  Mike proposed to me here 13 years ago, and this was our first time back.  Noelle was so excited riding the glass elevator to the top of the ball to the restaurant! 

Our beautiful birthday girl right before we sang happy birthday to her.

Our booth was a semicircle facing the window.  The view was incredible!  For those of you who aren’t locals, the restaurant seating rotates around the tower providing a 360 degree view of the city every hour.  It was so beautifully peaceful.  You really feel alive up here.

Noelle fell asleep in my lap after such an exciting day, and then the couple to our left got engaged right in front of us while we were reminiscing!  We were all clapping and whistling.  It was such a special way to end our night.  Mike had to hold Noelle on the way to the elevator, and it just reminded us of how quickly time flies.  So thankful she gets to be little for just a little bit longer!

Her birthday fell on a Tuesday this year, and since she has art class on Tuesday evenings, we went to her favorite restaurant, Cheesecake Factory, on Monday night. 

She wanted to try the red velvet cheesecake and said it was her favorite flavor so far!  She is an amazing big sister and always takes such good care of Anna Kate and Rose! 

 

On Tuesday after school, Malia’s mom, Susie, surprised Noelle with a homemade lemonade birthday cake.  The girls got to put on the candles all by themselves and have a piece of cake for their after school snack, so everyone was happy as could be.  This is what birthdays are all about!  Noelle felt so special!

I did the art class car-pool on the night of Noelle’s birthday, so we stopped by for froyo on the way home from class for one last hoorah.  Anna Kate, Ava, Emily, Brianna and Rose had a blast wishing Noelle one last happy birthday for this year! 

I’m thankful we haven’t reached double digits quite yet.  I keep telling her to stop growing up so fast, but she’s not listening.    Love you, Noelle!  We’re having so much fun being your parents and sharing our lives with you.  It’s never boring and always highly entertaining.  You’ve got such a bright future, and we look forward to loving and encouraging you every step of the way.  Happy 9th Noelle!!!

  

Here are a few fun pics of us hanging out after Anna Kate’s jelly bean birthday!

 

 

  

 

 

She’s such a sweetheart!