Last Day of 1st Grade

Where did the year go? Makenna is done with 1st grade! I seriously felt like we just started the year and now she's calling herself a 2nd grader! Ahhh! This mama is feeling old! Makenna had a wonderful 1st grade year. Makenna thrived in all areas once again. Her reading is outstanding (middle 4th grade level), she's in advanced math, never has had a behavioral issue at school, has lots of friends, and gets along with all of her teachers. She just enjoys school in every way and I'm so thankful!


Makenna on the last day of 1st grade! All ready for relay day!




Mrs. Seery's 1st grade class


Water balloon toss


Three legged race! I love the excitement on Makenna's face - her and Paityn won!


Makenna and her "at school" best friend Grace :)


Makenna on the playground... not sure who took this picture :)


For a little comparison, here is the 1st day of 1st grade... she sure has grown up!


A few of the changes from the beginning of the year until now include a few less teeth (and two new permanent ones), longer hair, and you can no longer see her scar from the stitches on her forehead (Thank God!)! Not to mention that I'm sure she's grown at least 3 inches :)

Most Families Walk...

Ours runs. Most families with little kids like to go on walks after dinner... Pull out the stroller and go for a walk. Not our family. Our girls insist on going on runs. Just goes to show that modeling is everything. They see Josh and I exercising and running and this is in turn is what they chose to do with us. I'm so glad our girls enjoy exercising and that we have fun doing it together as a family! We have to be quite the sight out there :)

Daddy and his running partners! Makenna is a more frequent running partner, while Maryn has just started to ask since she sees big sister going along. Even Miss Maya refuses to ride in the wagon and insists on running now :)


Maya wanted in the picture. How typical... she's trying to take off a piece of her clothing.


Can't go on a run without one of Daddy's running hats or visors :) Makenna is an amazing runner for her age. We let her set the pace and decide when she's done... more often than not she will go two miles or more! I think we have a distance runner on our hands :) The best part of it all is that she talks non-stop the entire two miles... lots of good Mommy/Daddy and Makenna bonding time.


I love this picture!

Saturday Morning Snuggles

Saturday morning snuggles on the couch with Daddy :)

Maryn's Preschool Spring Program

Our family was able to enjoy Maryn's preschool spring program last week. She did so well! She knew all the words and actions! Mommy and Daddy were so proud of her! She looked so grown up on stage! This is her last official preschool activity because next year she's going to Alternative Kindergarten at Bowman Woods! And she can't wait... the first thing she asked after her last day of preschool was "do I get to go to AK today?" I can't believe it. My baby isn't in preschool anymore!! I know she's almost five, but I still think of her like a baby. I'm pretty sure my kids will be graduating from college and I'll still think of them as my babies :)


Maryn's big program night! She was so excited to wear her Easter dress! She actually asked me to curl her hair for the program! This is amazing coming from the kid who usually screams and hides when I try to comb her hair!


Showing off that precious dimple :)


Patiently waiting for the program to begin


Getting embarassed by mommy taking so many pictures in the front row :)


Maryn on stage with some of her preschool friends


Maryn and Odelia


Maryn with Mrs. Sodman and Mrs. Underwood. Maryn grew tremendously during her year of preschool. I can't even tell you how pleased I am with the progress she made this year.

Blurry Pictures Fixed!

I finally got around to fixing all of the blurry pictures on my blog! Feel free to go back and check out the pictures from the past month of blogging!

Oh How Times Have Changed...

Daddy recently got a new iPhone and passed along his old iPhone to the girls. When I was a kid I didn't even have a cordless landline phone! They absolutely love it! They only play games and music on it, but since we don't have any game systems in our house this is very cool!


I found the girls like this on the couch 10 seconds after walking in the door on Sunday night. Thankfully they are still really good about putting it away when we tell them to, otherwise I think the iPhone might accidentally get lost.

Saturday Morning Fun

This is what our fun, relaxing Saturday mornings used to look like (now we're typically running out the door for soccer!). The girls have it set in their heads that Daddy needs to make a hot breakfast both days on the weekend. Maya's definite favorite is eggs and Makenna and Maryn prefer waffles or pancakes. Even though Daddy did make some awesome french toast this past weekend that got rave reviews!

All lined up and ready to help cook breakfast!


Sister love!


So TRUE to life! Makenna and Maya are listening seriously and Maryn is goofing off!

She Has Piggies!

I have waited for this day for a LONG time... Maya finally has enough hair for pigtails!!!! Well, kind of. The tiny little baby kind on top of the head that a 12 month old usually has, but I'll take it! She looked so sweet I just had to take some pics :)

My first piggies!




From the back... I know this picture is blurry but you can kind of see all her wispy, messy curls in the back :)


She just melts my heart! Love you Maya!


Maryn had to get in on the hair fun! She wanted something "special" so I braided over the top of her head and swept it all into the back with a clip. She thought she was so gorgeous! She even slept with it all in at night so she could wear it to preschool the next day!

Big Girl Swing!

Maya decided this spring that she is much too old for the "baby" swing. She asked to use the big girl swing, we gave her brief instructions and she's been big girl swinging ever since! I'll ask the question I ask every time - When did my baby get so big?!

Darling Maya on the big girl swing!


Look at me Mama!


Precious Maryn!


Swinging in action! She's a little daredevil as well! She's constantly asking for "Under doggy Mommy!" or sometimes she gets confused and calls it "Super Doggy!" :)


Having fun!


Anyone that knows Maryn will not be surprised to find out that this is her preferred method of swinging :)


She's actually quite good at it

Privacy Mommy!

Maya is a talker. I mean NON-STOP, full sentence talker. Here's just a little of what she's been saying lately...

In a house with five people, sometimes it's difficult to find a moment alone in the bathroom. Since this is often the case in our house, I have taught our girls to kindly ask for "privacy please" if they need time alone in the bathroom (you wouldn't think you'd need to ask to be left alone in the bathroom, but this is just the way life is with three little kids in the house!). I taught Maya this just shortly after she potty trained. She took to "privacy please" very quickly :) And now she's starting to apply it to other areas of her life... like when she's doing something she knows she shouldn't. I walk into the kitchen to find her standing on the counter getting into something she shouldn't. She looks at me, holds out her hand as if to say "stop" and very adamantly shouts "Privacy Mommy! Privacy please!" Ha ha ha ha little girl if you think I'm going to fall for that :) Nice try stinker!

Apparently when I drive and get annoyed at other drivers a common phrase that must slip out is "C'mon Dude!" I didn't even realize this until any time I would hit the brakes a little hard or anything abrupt happened in the car I would hear a "C'mon Dude!" from Maya in the backseat :) I guess it could've been worse!

Maryn's Best Friends

Last week we had Maryn's two best friends, Abby and Odelia, over for a playdate after preschool. Everyone had so much fun! I thought I might not be sane by the end of an afternoon with three 4 year olds and one 2 year old, but it was actually a lot of fun and very easy. The girls are so good together and play so nicely. And they are such polite, well-mannered little girls! This weekend I ran into Abby's family at the store and her mom was talking about how Maryn is Abby's best friend... Abby corrected her and said "No mom she's my BFF!" Oh girls!!

Maryn's fun playdate (Odelia, Abby, Maryn and of course Maya)


Princess Dance Party!


Three best friends :)


Maryn is so blessed to have these little girls for friends... they are like peas in a pod :)

Easter Egg Hunt

Easter Continued... After church and lunch on Easter, we had an Easter egg hunt in our backyard. It was a huge hit and the kids had a lot of fun :)

And the search is on!!!

Maya did a great job finding all of her blue eggs

Makenna's on the hunt








Love my Maryn :)

My beautiful Makenna

Tears from Maryn... her egg was infested with ants when she found it :(

Daddy saves the day with a good egg :)

Makenna counting her eggs


Maryn, Eden and Maya relaxing after the Easter egg hunt and watching "Tangled"


Cute little Chase