End of the Year Party....Hello Summer!

The day after graduation was Caleigh's class party!  Whoo-hoo!  Time for fun!  Parents were invited to come and play games with their kids and their classmates.  There was face painting, games, and even gifts from her teachers.  This incredible school has been the best thing for our family.  I only wish that they had an elementary school.  Kindergarten is our next move and while I am 1000% confident Caleigh is more than ready for it, I am not so sure about her mama!

Party, Program, and Graduation!!!!

I cannot believe that when I first started this blog I was nervous about Caleigh's first day of 3K!  That was over two years ago!!!!  She is now officially a pre-school graduate!  Her end of the year program and graduation ceremony were held on a Sunday night in the sanctuary of her school's church.  

Since the program was that evening, I held a little reception at our house to celebrate Caleigh's accomplishment with her family.  We served sub sandwiches with chips and dips and some cute little cupcakes.  Granny made lots of adorable decorations just for the occasion.  

Caleigh loves all of her cousins!  She was especially happy to have them with her on her special day.  Shelby and Dakota made it to her reception and Lydia joined her at the program.  She was thrilled to get the sweet gifts that people made her or bought for her.  Some of her favorite things were her flowers, pencil sharpener, a Highlights magazine subscription, a purse, a teddy bear, bags of craft stuff, her own Chick-fil-a gift card, and a handmade crochet pony!  She was tickled to get such awesome things!

The name of her program was "Sermon on the Mound."  It was a baseball themed program and it was very cute.  She was so excited about her "solo" that she had been practicing day and night for.  She is such a little performer.  She loves to be in the spotlight and usually has no stage fright but she was very nervous the night before and couldn't sleep.  However, when it came time for her to do her part, she did it very well and with great enthusiasm.

After the program came her graduation ceremony.  They children put on graduation gowns that had the hand print of each child in their class on it while a video of the children played.  They then marched back in and each child was announced, their tassel turned, and they were presented with a diploma, a medal, and a Bible.  Caleigh was one proud little girl!







And I was one proud (sniff**sniff**) mama!

Donuts for Dad, Muffins for Mom, and Sassiness

After Caleigh's double spring break, she had a full calendar of events when she returned to school.  She had Donuts for Dad and Muffins for Mom.  She loves these days!  She gets to make special gifts for us and have us come to her school so she can give them to us and have a mini-breakfast with each of us.  She always makes such cute things.  Her favorites this year were the key chain she made for Chad and the silhouette and coffee filter flowers she made for me.

On both of the days, Caleigh insisted on wearing dresses.  On Donuts for Dad day, she fell on the playground and cut the underside of her leg from her knee to her bottom.  She was pitiful!  But, it only lasted for a day and then she forgot all about it.  I guess it just looked a lot worse than it actually was.

She also wanted me to take some pictures of her on random days when she thought she was "sassy."  I love her sweet spirit and her "sassiness"!

Spring Vacation

It's been about two years since we have seen the ocean and felt the sand between our toes.  And that was way to long of a time!  So this April, we packed up and headed out to Myrtle Beach for a few nights.  We were very excited and I picked a place to stay that included lots of things to do.  We had an oceanview studio on the 9th floor at Captain's Quarters Resort.  They have a children's water park, indoor and outdoor lazy rivers, multiple heated and unheated pools and spas.  In addition, they have an on-site bowling alley with 2 hours of bowling per night's stay included with our room rental!  We never ran out of things to do while we were there!  The hard part was finding time to squeeze it all in!

 

 

Chad and Caleigh love to build sandcastles.  They built castles, an owl, and they even turned Caleigh into a sand mermaid.  The water was very chilly but that didn't really stop Chad and Caleigh from playing in it everyday!  The resort also has a pirate.  Caleigh really loved talking to and petting the pirate's bird, Tiki.  

The second day of our trip happened to be Chad and I's 8th wedding anniversary.  

                              

 

We wanted to go out for a nice dinner and were more than happy to take along the greatest product of our marriage, Caleigh Jo!  We knew she wouldn't be thrilled about going out for a nice sit down dinner but bribing her with some night time pool swimming if she behaved was not beneath me.  We were trying to decide where to eat and after coming up empty as to where we wanted to go, we got in the car and headed in the opposite direction of the way we had normally been driving just to see what was out there.  I am SO GLAD we did.  

We came upon a chain restaurant that used to have a location near our home that closed up years and years ago.  It was one of my family's favorite places to eat when Chad and I were dating.  It seemed so fitting that we would stumble across this location overlooking the beautiful ocean.  The food tasted wonderful, the service was great, and the view was amazing at dusk!

Right after dinner, we walked one of the piers and took some pictures and relaxed.  Caleigh got to see some fishermen catch and release a ray and she thought that was pretty awesome.    

As promised, Caleigh got to swim after we returned to the resort that night.  I did NOT want to wash and dry all that hair again so I stopped at a souvenir shop and bought a swim cap for her head.  She looked so cute in it but she did NOT like putting it on at all!  After an hour in the outdoor heated pool and a few trips around the indoor lazy river, Caleigh was finally worn out enough to call it a night.

We had an amazing time on our little beach trip and we look forward to returning to beautiful ocean again!

Spring Break Week

Spring Break week was a fun but laid back week for Caleigh and I.  We had no real schedule so we were allowed to relax.

During the week, we had a playdate with one of Caleigh's friends from 3K last year at the park.

We went to Granny's house and she played with sidewalk chalk on fresh pavement and then had a dance party with Granny in her living room.

Chad, Caleigh and I had a picnic and adventure at Dauset Trails followed by some froyo at Cherry Berry.  Caleigh played the Just Dance game in front of everyone at Cherry Berry without any fear!

We stopped by and visited Dakota and Molly one night and Caleigh and Kota played and read to each other.

One particular day of Spring Break felt more like winter and so we made the best of it and slow cooked one of Caleigh's favorite meals, chicken & dumplings.

The end of Spring Break was spent cleaning house, doing laundry, and packing!  Up next is our family vacation!!!

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend found us very busy!!!  We had festivities that lasted throughout the entire weekend.  We began our "weekend" on Thursday.

This was Caleigh's last day of school until after spring break.  Her preschool does not have class on Good Friday.  Her class participated in an Easter egg scavenger hunt.  The class was given a clue and then they had to figure out where in the school they were supposed to go and then find a certain number of eggs with their name on them in each location.  

Good Friday was spent with Chad off work and the family taking a trip to Caleigh's doctor's office.  She had spent the night before gagging and hugging the toilet with an awful cough.  She begged me to take her to the doctor.  She had just finished a 10 day round of antibiotics only 7 days earlier due to a strep/flu/double ear infection diagnosis.  But with the weekend and holiday approaching, I didn't want to take any chances and I was glad I didn't.  She still had a double ear infection and the immense pollen was causing all of the congestion and gagging.  She got another round of antibiotics and started back on breathing treatments as well as her regular inhalers.  Spring's here!  Right after her appointment we went to Tanger Outlet Mall where they were hosting a food truck and entertainment event.  We ate, shopped, and Caleigh played games, played with bubbles, and had her face painted.  It was a pretty fun day.  Later that night, Caleigh hung out with her Nonnie and Chad and I snuck in a quick date before picking her up and heading home for the evening.

Saturday was a very busy and fun day for Caleigh and I.  We started out at an egg hunt for the city of Locust Grove.  All Caleigh's cousins joined in and Mish and Thomas even came bringing Starbucks!!!  Caleigh and I then went to some Easter festivities at a local high school football field.  They too were going to have an egg hunt but not until much later.  So, Caleigh played on the jumpies, at some cotton candy, and played with some friends from her school that were there and then we left to grab some lunch at Moe's with Mish and Thomas.  After lunch, we came home for a few minutes and then headed to Relevant Church's Easter Egg Drop.  Caleigh loves watching the eggs fall from the big military helicopter.  Here she played on more jumpies, egg hunted, and got her face painted.  After this was all done, we headed over to Mish's house to dye some eggs of our own.  We were both exhausted after this and headed home for baths and bed.

Easter morning Caleigh was delighted to see that the Easter Bunny had visited and left her her usual Easter basket fare...a swim suit, swim coverup, beach towel, summer attire, etc.  This year he also left her some My Little Pony ponies and a pony play tent. She was one happy little girl.  

It was off to church after she saw he basket and then over to Mish and Thomas' for a steak and potato Easter lunch and a family egg hunt.

The weekend was sure busy but the memories created are sure to last for a good long while!  One of my favorite memories will be this video that Caleigh took of herself telling the story of Easter.  I LOVE HER!

Shelby's 2nd Birthday

Happy 2nd Birthday Shelby!!!!!

Shelby's second birthday party took place in the same place as her first did, but it looked very different. Pooh was the theme last year and this year it was The Cat in the Hat!  She had a super cute party that was topped off with the Cat himself (herself)!

She makes a great Barbie and a great Cat as well!