Fast Summer!

This summer is going so fast, I can hardly believe it!
Braxton has been playing T-Ball, which he loves! Everybody on his team is from his school so he has lots of friends! We have been having lots of playdates with friends and lots and lots of swimming!
This weekend we have the annual 3rd of July party at Chad's parents house. We have been trying to slowly work the kids into firework mode, and so far it seems to be working. They are actually staying outside during fireworks and the other night Braxton actually lit a few! We'll see what happens on Saturday though.
The kids are so excited to spend time with their cousins that we haven't seen since Christmas or before! We are going to take some family pictures since everybody will be in town and then take some pictures of just the grandkids. I hope they turn out good! We are going to take them on our own, so cross your fingers!
In a few weeks we will be headed on vacation, so be prepared for lots of pictures!
have a great summer!

Braxton can Swim!!!

We have been doing a lot of swimming this summer at Grandma Virginia's pool.  Well, the kids and Chad have, I haven't been brave enough to get in yet!  Towards the beginning of the summer, I challenged Braxton to swim across the pool the short way.  He could make it about halfway.  He kept working on it and it was his goal to be able to swim across the pool with his cousin Ellie.  This weekend, he was jumping off the board and swimming to the ladder, so I asked him to see how far across the pool he could swim instead.  He decided he could get points.  If he made it halfway to the rope, that was 1 point, the rope was 2, and the wall was 3.  The first time he got 1 point, the second 2, and the third he ALMOST got 3 points.  After that he made it all the way to the wall!  WOO HOO!!  He figured out he could take a breathe and keep swimming!  Now he always swims to the wall.  I am so proud of him and he can't wait to swim at grandma's pool with Ellie!

Lilly Turns 4!

I can hardly believe it!  My little girl is 4 years old.  It seems like just yesterday she looked like this.

It seems just like yesterday!  For her birthday, I arranged for Lilly to have a playdate with her best friend from preschool, Lillian.  Yes it is a bit confusing to have two Lillian's playing together!  After Lillian went home, Lilly got to pick lunch and she picked McDonalds (of course!)  We took her to one with a play area since we usually avoid those.  She had a great time playing and then wanted to go swimming.  We headed over to grandma's to go swimming! 

For dinner we met Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Chuck at Dino's.  Grandma Virginia rode with us.  We had a great dinner at Dino's!  Then we headed back to grandma's to open presents and have cake.

Now let me tell you about the cake.  Lilly's request was a cat cake with a rainbow.  Since it was graduation weekend, there weren't a lot of premade cakes out there, so I set about making the cake myself.  I think it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself!

All in all I think she had a great birthday!  I still can't believe that I am the parent to a 4 and 6 year old.  YIKES!

Opening presents!

First Grade ~ Here He Comes!

It's official!  Braxton is no longer a kindergartner.  He has the diploma to show it!  Today was his graduation from kindergarten.  He was so excited! 

After 8 o'clock mass this morning, the kindergartners received their diplomas from Fr. Connor.  Afterwards they sang 3 songs.  Braxton really is quite the entertainer!  He had a great time singing and dancing!
We were very lucky that both Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Chuck as well as Grandma Mimi and Papa Mike were able to join us!  It was a special morning!
After the graduation they had a nice reception in the parish hall and Braxton had a blue cookie!  The rest of today and tomorrow he will be at daycare.  I happened to find out yesterday that his summer program actually starts on Friday of this week instead of June 7th!  He is so excited that he will only have to be away from his friends for 1 and 1/2 days!

Class Picture!

Braxton & Sister Pat ~ Martyrs Principal

Braxton & Mrs. Score (was Ms. Mlnarik!) his teacher!

Lilly's Field Trip to the Zoo

Tuesday was Lilly's class field trip to the Lincoln Zoo!  She has been so excited for weeks!  She didn't really want me to go, she wanted to go with her friend also named Lillian.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go, but Chad was able and had a great time!  Lilly found her friend right off and they walked through the zoo holding hands and having a great time!

They got to ride the train as a class and then sort of went their own way for the rest of the zoo.  Lilly and her friend saw all the animals, including a pretty peacock (the blue one) and an ugly peacock (the white one).  One of the peacocks was hanging out in the pool that will be for the new penguins!  They climbed on the spiderweb and dug for dinosaur bones.  Lilly loved her first field trip and I think Chad had a pretty good time too!

Waiting for the rest of her class!

Climbing the big spider web!  Good thing she has shorts on under her dress!

Digging for dinosaur bones!

Dance Recital!

This weekend was Lilly's first dance recital!  She has been taking a tap and ballet class all year and her class was performing a tap dance called "Radio City Music Hall".  She was so excited that Grandma Mimi and Papa Mike were coming from Alliance, Grandma Rosie and Grandpa Chuck were coming, and Grandma Virginia!  Thank you guys so much for coming!!!

Since I am unable to walk very far, Chad and my mom took Lilly to "call" at 2:30.  Lilly was a little nervous so Grandma Mimi sat with her for a while in the dressing room.  We decided to leave a little bit after that to try and get seats, unfortunately for us, everybody else had the same idea.  We ended up on the TOP row of the auditorium.  Yep, I got to climb up 2 flights of stairs.  Great fun!!!

Lilly was so absolutely adorable!  She danced and shaked her booty and halfway through the dance, she pulled out her "binoculars" (her hands up to her eyes!) to see if she could see us!  Towards the end of the recital they did a photo montage of the year, and one of the pictures was of just Lilly, and it captured her personality perfectly!!!  I am tempted to buy the video just for that picture! 

After the show she kept saying "Did you really see me dance?"  It was adorable!  She is a pretty good little dancer!

Run Away Lilly

On Friday night, as I was sitting in the living room (because I can't do much else these days!!) I heard Lilly ask Chad if she could ride her scooter in the front yard.  Chad told her not right now since they were doing stuff in the back yard.  She marched into her bedroom to pout!
About 5 minutes later, she walked back through the living room with one of my old purses full of panties and one pair of shorts crying.  I asked her where she was going and she said she "just had to get outta here!".  I asked her where she was going and she said somewhere else.  It was hard not to smile because she just looked so sad.
She headed to the garage and opened the door.  When she realized that she couldn't get the garage door open, she was quite unhappy!  I asked her again where she was going and she said "Grandma Mimi's".  I asked how she was going to get there and she just stared at me.  So I pulled out my phone and asked Lilly if she wanted to call Grandma and ask her to come get her. 
So we call Grandma (knowing that they will be at our house the next day) and Lilly asks if she can go live with Grandma.  It was so heartbreaking and yet so adorable at the same time. 
I am sure this isn't the last time that Lilly will run away, but it was a pretty dramatic first try!