Happy 7th Birthday!!!

Oh how they have grown...

Another school year done!  It is crazy to think that we have SECOND GRADERS!  We are all looking forward to the adventures of summer vacation.

Ready for vacation!

Since the day we told the kids that we were going to be taking a cruise for our family vacation this year they were counting down the days until we set sail.  They were even more excited when I told them Bumpa would be making the journey with us.  After a late flight into Florida and getting to the hotel just after midnight we all were exhausted!  They were troopers though!

We all were fast asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow and everyone slept past 8am...a miracle in itself!  Then it was time to get showered, dressed and to the curb to wait for the shuttle to bring us to the port.  As you can see in the picture below, we had a whole range of emotions...excitement, happiness, are they here yet, come on and get this over with!

So excited to be on the ship!

Schooling Bumpa on how to play mini golf before we set sail.

Good bye land...hello open water! 

Ready to check out the room!

St Patrick's Day

The boys decided to forgo making a Leprechaun trap this year but Aubrey was pretty excited to try to entice him with a bucket of gold coins.  She covered it up with a Leprechaun hat she made with Mrs. Keddy after dance class.  

This morning they followed the path of shamrocks to the kitchen table where they found that they did not succeed in capturing him but he did leave them some goodies! 

Cutest Leprechauns around!

77 months

Snow Shoeing

One of their Christmas gifts this year was snow shoes and wouldn't you know it...we hardly had any snow!  They did take advantage of this warm winter day before the snow was quickly gone again to take a little walk with their snow shoes and explore the backyard and the woods behind the house.

Royal Reader

The first grade class asked for some parent volunteers to go in and be a "Royal Reader" to the class. Of course the fab four were all to happy to sign me up.  Cameron picked out Hop on Pop by Dr. Suess for me to read to them and I think it was a hit!

Father Daughter Dance 2016

Aubrey goes through obsessions with all the different princesses.  Right now it is Belle again so we had to do her hair half down and the other half in a bun and she was very pleased that her beast aka Daddy brought her home her first red rose.

She was all too happy to do some posing before headed out to the ball... 

and what would a ball be without brand new high heels?  She definitely didn't inherit my lack of gracefulness...this girl can dance the night away in her heels.

Aubrey informed me "Belle" needed some poses with her favorite books...

and a couple with Daddy before heading out!

I had to sneak a quick pic with my beautiful princess who is growing all too fast!

All about Dad

According to Matthew
1. What is something I always say to you?  I love you!
2. What makes me happy? Me!
3. What makes me sad? When Mommy is mean
4. How do I make you laugh? when I love him
5. What was I like as a child? a good boy
6. How old am I? 37
7. How tall am I?  6 feet
8. What is my favorite thing to do? Snuggle with me
9. What do I do when you're not around? Waste money
10. What am I really good at? Making pictures
11. What is something I'm not good at? Being mean
12. What do I do for a job? Plowing
13. What is my favorite food? Seafood
14. What do you enjoy doing with me? Snuggle with me

According to Brady
1. What is something I always say to you? Good night
2. What makes me happy? Hugs and kisses
3. What makes me sad? When we aren't getting along
4. How do I make you laugh? Tell him funny stuff

5. What was I like as a child? Always in the principals office
6. How old am I? 37
7. How tall am I? 5 feet
8. What is my favorite thing to do? Snuggle with me
9. What do I do when you're not around? Works
10. What am I really good at? Making people mad
11. What is something I'm not good at? Having patience
12. What do I do for a job? plowing
13. What is my favorite food? Pizza
14. What do you enjoy doing with me? Go out to breakfast with me

According to Aubrey
1. What is something I always say to you? I love you
2. What makes me happy? Father Daughter Dance
3. What makes me sad? When people don't follow directions
4. How do I make you laugh? Tickle

5. What was I like as a child? naughty
6. How old am I? 1000
7. How tall am I? 10 feet
8. What is my favorite thing to do? Watch movies
9. What do I do when you're not around? Working
10. What am I really good at? Dancing with me
11. What is something I'm not good at? Not being mean
12. What do I do for a job? Cutting Wood
13. What is my favorite food? Pizza
14. What do you enjoy doing with me? Go to the ball

According to Cameron
1. What is something I always say to you? Eat your food
2. What makes me happy? Kisses
3. What makes me sad? nothing
4. How do I make you laugh? Talking to him

5. What was I like as a child? Like Matt
6. How old am I? 38
7. How tall am I? 11 feet
8. What is my favorite thing to do? Watch movies
9. What do I do when you're not around? Works
10. What am I really good at? Yelling
11. What is something I'm not good at? Talking
12. What do I do for a job? Work
13. What is my favorite food? Smelt
14. What do you enjoy doing with me? Eat shrimp with me

All about Mom

According to Matthew
1. What is something I always say to you?  I love you
2. What makes me happy? 
3. What makes me sad? When we are mean
4. How do I make you laugh? Daddy
5. What was I like as a child? Bad
6. How old am I? 0
7. How tall am I? 100 feet
8. What is my favorite thing to do? blah blah blah
9. What do I do when you're not around? Love me
10. What am I really good at? Being mean to me
11. What is something I'm not good at?
12. What do I do for a job? Watch us
13. What is my favorite food? Ranch
14. What do you enjoy doing with me? Wierdo stuff


According to Brady
1. What is something I always say to you? Good night
2. What makes me happy? Hugs and Kisses
3. What makes me sad? When we don't get along
4. How do I make you laugh? When we tell you jokes

5. What was I like as a child? No idea!
6. How old am I? 38
7. How tall am I? 5 feet
8. What is my favorite thing to do?  Spend time with us
9. What do I do when you're not around? Planning trips for us
10. What am I really good at? Scentsy
11. What is something I'm not good at? Picking me up
12. What do I do for a job? Scentsy
13. What is my favorite food? Shephard's Pie
14. What do you enjoy doing with me? Have alone with me

According to Aubrey
1. What is something I always say to you? I love you
2. What makes me happy? Tickling
3. What makes me sad? When Daddy's being mean
4. How do I make you laugh? Tickling

5. What was I like as a child? Good
6. How old am I? 38
7. How tall am I? 28
8. What is my favorite thing to do? Play princesses
9. What do I do when you're not around? Make plans for fun stuff with us
10. What am I really good at? Being nice to us
11. What is something I'm not good at? nothing
12. What do I do for a job?  Daycare
13. What is my favorite food? Chop Suey
14. What do you enjoy doing with me? Princess time

According to Cameron
1. What is something I always say to you? I love you
2. What makes me happy? When I am good
3. What makes me sad? When we are mean
4. How do I make you laugh? When we tell jokes

5. What was I like as a child? Bad
6. How old am I? 38
7. How tall am I? 10 feet
8. What is my favorite thing to do? Watch movies us
9. What do I do when you're not around? Scentsy
10. What am I really good at?  Hug and Kissing us
11. What is something I'm not good at?  nothing
12. What do I do for a job? Velata
13. What is my favorite food? Meat
14. What do you enjoy doing with me?  Kiss me

Basketball 2016

Every year the kids want to play basketball but up until 1st grade it is a parent/child 1 on 1 activity...not really something that is feasible when Ben is on call all winter long, I am very athletically challenged and there are 4 children.  This year they couldn't wait to play!

The first few weeks were definitely a time of learning but as time past they got better at it.  Cam cracked up the entire audience with his "under granny" shots.  Aubrey tried as hard as she could but just couldn't quite reach the basket.  Matthew thought he was a superstar from day one and Brady took it seriously, as he does with everything he does!

I am so proud of them for trying all that they do and giving it their all.