Loved having Poppa and Rara here for the girls’ dance recital!

 

I thought this picture of the girls getting in our car after dress rehearsal was too cute! 

 

I love finding pictures the girls take with my phone!

 

Mike found this amazing movie theater with reclining chairs we tried out when my parents were in town.  They were a huge hit! 

 

Practicing Rose’s dance recital hair.  It was tricky!

 

Dress-up and princess party where Anna Kate got to see Bekah!

 

Anna Kate all dressed up for a princess meet and greet with Vivienne.

 

 

 

 

They are so cute and had so much fun!

 

Every time we go in a store, Rose asks me to take her picture with a mannequin.  She’s so silly!  Payton was a sweet dance friend for Rose this year!

 

Rose had such a great dance class.  Here they are after dress rehearsal.  She and Kinsley made fast friends! 

 

No mirrors the week of recital in the studio!  The girls always look forward to drawing on it before and after class.  Rose made me yogurt with strawberries mixed in that she asked me to cut.  Then she asked me to write, “Mom loves Rose” on her writing board.  I so loved our slow days together this spring.

 

She loved volunteering with me at school this May.  This was pajama day!

The sky looked like this pretty much every day for the entire month of May.  We got so much rain here in Texas!

 

Rose makes me laugh!

Cute birthday picture celebrating Vivienne!

 

Rose loves to dress herself, and her choices are always highly entertaining!  She loves chocolate yogurt too!

I enjoy working in our yard so much!  It’s a great stress reliever!  

 

 

One spring day, Rose and I went on a walk/tricycle ride to have an afternoon tea party.

  

She dressed herself again and didn’t forget her lipstick!

 

I love this happy girl!

 

I needed the sun so much this day!  It was perfect!

 

 

Here’s some of the flooding only a block away from our neighborhood.  It was crazy there for a while!

 

Here’s another couple pictures of how high the water got in May.

 

One night when we were working in the yard, Anna Kate found a doodle bug that had her babies in Anna Kate’s hand!  It was amazing!

 

Noelle and I are always playing with her hair.  It’s our little girl time when we chat it up!  Mike read the book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up:The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” and I found our junk drawer looking like this, with sharpened pencils and all!  Surprisingly, it’s stayed pretty organized!  He’s organizing our house, one drawer at a time, and I’m a huge fan! 

 

Loved this summer picnic food!  Ham and apples is an easy meal that we all enjoy (finished dish below)!

Here’s some really great healthy food options I enjoyed last month!  We signed the Food Revolution Day petition and are hoping for a healthier food culture in our country.  It’s really important to us to try to feed our kids with foods that make them feel healthy and strong, not sluggish and tired.  We definitely have treats, but we are aware of what we are eating and try to limit carbs and sugars as much as we can (vacation not included).

  

Noelle’s new orthodontist has a really cool silly hat collection!  Noelle wanted to try them all on but only got about half-way through them. 

 

I love this IG post by Ed Sheeran!  It made a lot of sense to me.  Noelle loves this yard and when we went on a walk, she just had to lay in the perfect grass, lol!

 

These set lists are amazing!

  

I never want to forget Rose as a toddler!  She’s full speed ahead, or fingers in her mouth on her last leg, there’s no in between.  We always thank her for being a part of our family because we need all of this in our lives!

 

 

Emily was so excited to see the littles do their thing!

 

 

Rose and her sweet cousin Noemi!

 

 

Rose’s dance buddies, Cooper and Kinsley

 

Malia came to support Anna Kate!

All day err day!

 

 

 

 

Rose and Cerly, and the littles with Rara

 

  

 

 

 

 

Rose with her friends, Cooper and Katie!

Whew!  This year’s dance recital was a whirlwind.  Between four costume changes and lots of moving pieces, I was running around like crazy!  The girls loved dance this year and both learned a lot!  A huge thanks to our family and friends for coming to cheer on our girls.  The lens on our camera broke, so lots of the photos from this day were blurry.  We got our new lens in last week, and we are back in business.  Hoping to get lots of pretty pictures this summer of our growing girly girls!

 

Our family put on a lemonade stand the evening of the last day of school to kick-off summer!  We thought it would be cool for the kids to earn money and find cool ways to give back to those in need with their earnings. 

Thanks Julia for this adorable PondFam5 pic!  Eye contact and a smile from each girl is a rarity! 

 

We are so fortunate to have tons of kids on our street to play with!  Rose cracks me up, as usual!

It was a super hot afternoon, and these guys were thirsty!

 

We love Lisa and Lincoln!  So thankful to have this friend by my side!

 

A friend gave us the idea to invite our friends to serve with us, and we named the group “Super Summer Servers!”  We’re doing our first project in a couple of weeks—can’t wait!  If you’re local and would like to join us, shoot me a text or email.   

Noelle and Anna Kate worked really hard this evening.  We had a lot of drive-by orders that kept them really busy!

 

Noelle got her “cursive license” at school in May for completing a 50 page packet practicing cursive.  Love it! 

 

Everyone has someone their age to play with!  

 

Will and Rose are big buds!  They just get each other.  Rose was about to have a “toddler tantrum” and you can see it all over her face!

 

 

Bekah trying to snap Rose out of her funk. 

 

So sweet Anna Kate’s friends were able to stop by too!  Our neighbor, Ian, posted the left picture on his Facebook page, and it really touched me.  This is what it’s all about!  xo

 

 

 

 

Behind the scenes, lol!

 

These girls have grown up so much this year!  Rose didn’t go to school this spring, so I don’t have a last day of school picture for her.  We jokingly called her our preschool drop-out, but after Mrs. Paula moved, she was with me 24/7, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  She’ll start back to school with friends in the fall! 

This wraps up the best school year yet!  So happy to have these girlies home for summer!

Below are a few of my favorite pictures of Mike being the best Daddy these girls could ever have! 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

Watching Mike be a dad for the last 9 years have been so tender and special.  There are no words to describe how crazy I am about this man and these girls!  Happy Father’s Day!

 

After 40 years of practicing dentistry and accounting, my mom and dad are retiring!  We are so proud of all the love and care they have given their community, and we are excited and also a little sad this chapter is coming to a close in their lives.  

Pam and Meredith have worked with us for decades, and we are so thankful for them!  We couldn’t have made it without them!

 

I remember sitting on the front porch of the office as a kid, staring at these letters.  Time is a lot slower when you are a kid.  I have good memories here.  My parents were so kind to their patients. 

I chose a black/white theme as a symbol of an ending and a beginning.  Endings are always so bittersweet.  Michele, John and I bought them these lovely flowers.  That made our parents tear up! 

 

There are so many memories from my childhood playing in the creek under Mom and Dad’s office.  Jumping rocks was a favorite and just being still and listening to the ripple of the water.  I will miss this place!

Meredith, Poppa, Rara, and Pam made such a great team!

Before the party was over, the girls had fun playing dentist/patient.  They are always so imaginative!

 

Every time Anna Kate giggled, Dr. Noelle added $1,000 to her bill, lol!  I think Anna Kate ended up with a $4,000 bill!

 

The cookie cake was all Mike Pond.  It’s sort of our thing now to think up silly cookie cakes.  We’ve started this tradition with friends, so look out for yours! When we saw this owl sitting on a sideways branch, it reminded us of the office over the creek.  Meredith said they had an actual owl a few years ago come visit for two weeks straight before he flew away.  I didn’t know that!

 

I loved this shelf growing up as a kid in my dad’s office.  We were so cute!  Sometimes when I would drop-in the office as a teenager, Mom would be so busy she wouldn’t even look up, but the window would always fly open and she would say, “How may I help you?” and then she’d see that it was me, and we would both giggle.  I had to get one last picture of her opening the window in the waiting room, and was so tickled that my girls got to walk in and see her open the window just like I did all those years with their own eyes, making their own memories.  Oh, I forgot to mention, this was a surprise party!  So when Rara opened the window and saw the girls, it was amazing seeing her joy.  I’ll never forget it.  Just so very sweet, and the love is so strong and alive.  Truly brings tears to my eyes.  Then, the girls patiently waited under the counter to jump out at Poppa when he came out from the exam room.  They loved being in on a big secret and pulling one over on their grandparents.

 

Here’s what it looks like under the office building.  The creek runs straight under it!  I remember as a child worrying so much that it would fall in.  I even had dreams about it, but my grandfather (Pawpaw, Granny’s husband, Gary Arnett) knew what he was doing and built it strong.  It has stood the test of time through many storms and high waters.  It’s so peaceful getting your teeth cleaned with this view! 

What a job well done!  I’m so proud of these folks!

 

We only had time to make a day trip this visit, but we went to Poppa and Rara’s house to swing before we headed back home.  The girls love visiting their grandparents in the country, and this visit was a memorable one.  They have helped so many people during their time serving their community, and I just wanted to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for everything.  xo, Mo

Anna Kate’s sweet friend Vivienne had the coolest art party!  Her mom was over-the-top creative with all the art projects and decorations.  You can tell these kids were so proud of their work.  They did this cool concept called “Friendship Art” when each child painted a different part of their friend’s canvas.  By the end of the rotation, everyone has added to your canvas.  The kids loved this!

 

  

 

Super fun food art in the making/eating!   

 

The kids even got to decorate their own pack-packs.  The personalized smocks were so cute too!

 

  

I love this cute picture of the birthday girl!

 

Kindergarten is such a fun year building new friendships!  Anna Kate and Vivienne are so lucky to have each other as neighbors and friends!

This was another night of dress-up created by Noelle.  She played the part, acting and all, as a maiden from the 1500s and hung out with her sisters, like a Disney character would at a party.  She told Rose her iPad was “an amazing piece of technology.”  Being a 9 year old and doing hair, make-up, outfit and pose like this all by herself really impresses me.  The possibilities are endless!

When Noelle and Anna Kate play dress-up these days, it’s with their real dress-up clothes and lots of make-up!  I love watching them do their thing all dolled up!  Hair and make-up by Noelle, Personality plus by Anna Kate

 

The girls had a blast at their end of year school parties!  It was a perfectly hot Texas day for snow cones!

 

Talk about a fun teacher!  Lila and Anna Kate have been buddies ever since they were 2.  They had fun being in the same class this year!

Noelle and Autumn running their fastest in 3rd grade relays!

 

This last picture totally sums up our year!  Whahoo, summer is officially on!