End of an Era!!

I can't believe how quickly the years are flying by!  I can remember reaching the milestones of no more diapers, no more car-seats, all kids in school, and being SO excited about the progress everyone was making.  I am so enjoying the kids these past few years that I am almost sad at how quickly the time is slipping by.  We had yet another exciting event this week, 6th grade graduation.  No more elementary school for us.  Jr. High, here we come! YIKES!!!

 This picture shows the personality of these two pretty accurately.  They love each other, and frequently take care of each other-one's goofy and fun, one's studious and sweet.  I'll let you figure out who is who...

 Here they are with their diplomas and awards.

Kinsey earned gold honor roll-4.0 for the year.  She also earned the top award for her class-the Crystal Apple award.  This kid makes a mother proud.  I was surprised when Kevin didn't get the silver honor roll award-I asked him why not and he explained "it's not just the grades that matter Mom, my behavior scores count as well."  Oh-well that explains that.  He's working on it, and got a kind note from his teacher about his progress.  His teacher's and Mother have a hard time getting angry with him, because he's so dang funny and never trying to intentionally do wrong....BUT there's a time and a place.  Right Steve?  Not sure where he get's it....

LOVE MY TWINNERS!!!!

Warmed heart

Phone call today

Me:Hello
Derek: Mom, it's Derek.  In school today we were given a paper heart.  We were told that we couldn't talk to any girls or we'd have to give them our heart.
Me: Oh?
Derek: I want to talk to girls Mom, but I want you to know that you're the one that has my heart.  Ok?
Me:  I love you son.
Derek: Love you Mom.  Bye.

From the time this boy was born he has known how to warm my heart.  I  LOVE that kid!!

Lately...

 Kinsey may be my only hope for an athletic child.  At least one that wants to try.  Club volleyball has been taking up a bit of her time lately.  I can't say that I mind.  She's better than I was at her age.  I'm hoping she'll catch the "bug" and love it!

 Shay had a very special date recently.  Her Papa and his brother (Uncle Dave) invited their oldest grand-daughters on a double date.  They wanted to show the girls what to expect from a gentleman.  Here they are getting ready to leave.  They went bowling, to dinner and ice-cream.  Over dinner Papa presented Shay with a document he and Uncle Dave put together- "What to look for in a spouse"  It listed characteristics to look for and some red flags to watch out for.  It also talked about how important it is to BE the kind of person that you are be looking for.  That is the purpose of dating after all.  What a treasure.  Hopefully it will be awhile before she makes THAT decision.  But in the meantime, I hope she gets lots of practice "looking" and striving to develop her own gifts.

Speaking of looking for a good spouse....Steve and I just celebrated 21 years of marriage.  What a blessing it is to have married such a kind, funny, fun, good man.  I hope and pray that my children find a spouse that treats them as well as mine treats me.  Here's to eternity!

MERRY CHRISTMAS FRIENDS!!

Winter Formal

ALL OF THIS.......

 Was in preparation

 (notice our doorman....)

 FOR THIS!!

 My angel Sister-in-lawshared memories of her favorite winter formal with Shay.  She then so graciously volunteered to help us re-create the evening for Shay and her group.  It was a HUGE task
that took her away from her family of 6 little darlings to help us.  I will be FOREVER grateful.  She was the mastermind.  Here's what we did..

 As the guests arrived we had a gentleman (Derek's best friend) at the curb to open the car door.  There was another (Derek) waiting at the house to open the front door and usher the couples inside...where yet another (nephew Taylor) was waiting with Christmas trivia for each couple.  This kept the group occupied while waiting for all 7 couples to arrive.  They were then seated...

 and served a 3 course meal  consisting of a delicious holiday salad, chicken cordon bleu with a dijon-parmesan sauce, herb roasted red potatoes, steamed green beans, roll and ended with choices of chocolate, white raspberry, pumpkin or traditional cheesecake. YUM!  The waiters and waitresses (Kinsey and Abbey)  were prompt, helpful, and super cute!

 We then had a surprise visit from....none other than SANTA!!  He came bearing gifts for all.  This is a picture of the group playing the left/right story game.  Santa read a story and they had to pass their gift whenever they heard the words left or right.  They then kept the gift they ended up with.  (They were all the same, so it didn't really matter)  They each received a beautifully packaged ornament that read MHS Winter Formal 2013 with some yummy chocolates.

 Each couple then had photo ops with the big guy...doesn't he look a little familiar???  This happened to be my favorite couple:)

Here they are getting ready to head off to the dance.  What a fun night!  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to my angel SIL.  We love you!!

Halloween Recital

Kinsey had been asking to take guitar lessons for quite some time and I finally relented and found her a teacher.  She's only been going for a few months.  They had their Halloween recital today at an assisted living facility.  Isn't that a cute idea?  She's dressed as a prisoner that died while incarcerated (in case you couldn't tell)

The Halloween song is an original composition.  She used the music to a known song and insterted a Halloween poem she wrote for the words.  Kind of cute don't you think?

Good Thinking...

We had some late monsoon rainstorms in August that caused our back yard to be inundated with mosquitos.  One HOT Saturday morning, it was Kevin's turn to weed-eat the back.  He came in after a few seconds and said he was being swarmed by the mosquitos.  I told him to figure it out and get back out there....Here's what he came up with.  Keep in mind it's 100+ degrees

Gotta love this kid.  He always makes me smile.