Anna Kate has had so much fun the past few weeks kicking off her first season of cheerleading, from practices to a swim party and even a lemonade stand fund raiser! These girls have been busy and have an awesome season ahead of them!
Too much fun in the sun!
When we were helping Fancy Nancy during her battle with kidney stones, we got to go with Harper to her Meet the Teacher! The kitchen in her classroom was an instant hit! I love that they call their home center “Dramatic Play!” So cute!
They are pretty dramatic (and adorable) if you ask me!
We asked Harper to take a picture with her teacher, and she walked straight over to her and hugged her as big as she could. The teacher was a little surprised, and I knew Harper had already won her over! She’s going to have an awesome year being her sweet little self in preschool!
Sand box patio + Mommy margaritas = priceless!
We napped so hard right after these gorgeous snaps were taken! After Nancy’s month-long battle, her x-ray on Monday will hopefully show no more kidney stones—She’s one tough cookie, and we are so proud of her!
Whahoo! Let’s do this!
Loved seeing our cheerleader as we walked through the front doors this morning—This is going to be an awesome year!
#firstdaymemories
Silly Kate and Noelle growing up way too fast!
Sweet, smart, hard-working girls in tha house—yep, it’s going to be a great year!
We had an awesome day at Six Flags back in August! Noelle, Anna Kate, and I hung out all day and then Mike and Rose joined us after work. The girls won free passes for doing 6 hours of extra reading during the spring at school. They were so proud to have earned their day of fun all on their own! It was my first time to go to Six Flags since being a mom, in at least 10 years. I had a blast, and the whole day felt so awesome to get to experience!
We went on a random weekday and had a lot of the park to ourselves. It was still hot, but we love the Texas heat!
#thebigboss
We rode everything in Bugs Bunny Boomtown several times!
My little scaredy cats!
I let the girls each buy one sweet treat during the day. Noelle bought a lollipop, which, if you know our family, is definitely a rare treat! Anna Kate bought a bag of sour Skittles (People say what?). We all shared their treats all day—It was fun! We also pressed a lot of pennies for souvenirs! Anna Kate loved watching the pressing machines!
This ride scared me to death! Anna Kate kept slamming on the brakes, and I kept bracing myself to be hit by the person behind us (if you get rear-ended in real life, you never forget it). It never happened because, fortunately, the people behind us were adults!
We ate curly fries and rode around the park twice in the train to take a break during the afternoon. That was a great idea if I do say so myself!
Did you know there are games you can play that guarantee a prize? Well, alright then—So fun!
Rose arrives on the scene. The big sisters won her a unicorn! Long crazy story, but we had to win that one—And we did!
They both gave her their little toys too, right off the bat, and the rest of Noelle’s lollipop, and a superhero cape. Rose didn’t know what was behind the gates of Six Flags, but with this kind of welcome, she was beyond excited, almost spaced out!
#heaven
Good times.
These girls are our heroes!
This night and these girls were just too pretty not to photograph before heading to school to meet our teachers for the 2015-2016 school year. Ahh, love them to pieces!
The Pond girls are excited for back to school!
Rose, her rad modeling skills, and my favorite Lily romper!
Noelle, Mason and Aaron are all in 4th grade and their siblings Anna Kate, Will and Vivienne are all in 1st grade!
Ms. Montgomery and Mrs. Waddell are the sweetest! We are excited for the new year!
Anna Kate and Kayla met last year on the play ground and were so excited to find out they are in the same class this year! Sweet Vivienne is a very fun and chill friend for Anna Kate. Aren’t they so cute!?!
Love the Keller and Molen kids!
We got into all kinds of trouble with an ice cream sundae bar, hair and make-up and lots and lots of dancing at our last sleepover of the summer! Rose had Katie over to spend the night, and Anna Kate got to go spend the night with the rest of the little sisters at Sydney’s.
The big girls have had a blast cheering together in elementary school, but they are all venturing off to try new things (modeling, gymnastics, volleyball, acting) this fall! Although we sure will miss cheering together on the football field, we’ll make lots of new memories cheering for each other, which will be even better!
I can’t believe this sweetie has graced us with her presence for over a month now! I’m going to blink, and she’s going to be drop-dead gorgeous and doing all the things like her sweet Mommy!
I took this the night Joelle Katherine Faye Banks was born on August 6, 2015! Isn’t she lovely?!
I love this sweet Mommy! Jaalisa and I just get each other, and it’s so special sharing our lives {and all 8 of our babies} with each other!
Here are the Bellas getting to know each other!
Noelle did this twist into a braid on herself while we were hanging out in the hospital—So cute! And all these baby faces are adorable!
Anna Kate could not wait to meet Joella. We had just come from dance pictures, so she said, “Mom, Joella gets to meet her first ballerina!” And so she did!
Jaalisa and Joella all smiles leaving the hospital! Joella’s Daddy bought her her going home from the hospital outfit, which I thought was the sweetest! So excited Joella is finally here and look forward to documenting many more firsts!!!
There is a very good reason for the winter hats in the dead heat of a Texas summer from Rose’s perspective—She doesn’t want her head to get sunburned, of course! This little bit is something else, and we love her to pieces! She makes life so entertaining!
The kids worked hard this summer serving our community using our lemonade stand profits! One night we picked up 7 bags of liter—Whahoo! It felt soooo good!
Another night, we passed out chalk, toys and cold water to people at a local park! That was super fun!
As we were packing up to leave, this little sweetheart showed us what she had made with her chalk. Are you kidding me? This was such an amazing exchange of kindnesses. I’ll never forget it, and the girls won’t either!
Rose (minus her cat hat, lol) passing out chalk and toys to friends she made at the park. She loved dressing herself this summer and wore this Rose shirt constantly!
Our world is so beautiful! The PondFam5 and friends are prioritizing keeping it that way! No matter where you live, how old you are, or what you do, please consider grabbing some gloves and a bag and taking an hour out of your day to clean up our shared space. If we all did a little each season, it would turn into a whole lot! Looking forward to many more service projects throughout the year with our little loves—This is so very important to us!
