For our end of season party, we had another boys v Mom's game. These are always such a blast! One of the little boys didn't realize until we started playing that the 'moms' really were the moms...he said 'Oh, I just thought that was a really weird name for one of the teams!' So funny.
Here we all are.
We of course had some awesome sister cheerleaders.
Dawson batting to me at pitcher, and me batting to Dawson in the outfield.
Derek giving out their game balls to put into their trophy's.
And, cupcakes to top it off! I had to put this crazy pic of Andi in here too, she obviously enjoyed the cupcakes as well!
Well, another season of t-ball has come & gone. It is so fun that both my boys love baseball so much! Here is Coach Derek in action getting Dawson ready to bat. These next pictures are my favorite pics of my boy from all the different games this season.
Coming up to bat
Leading off on 3rd
Playing 3rd base
Playing his ALL TIME favorite position: 1st base
Baseball ready
Grounder
Batting: love the face
Playing pitcher: throwing to first
His whole team at the end of the season. We had a great relaxed fall season, looking forward to the NON-relaxing spring season. And, during the spring season we are going to have TWO kiddos playing t-ball. That's right, Andi is going to play too...we are thinking we might as well just pitch a tent and live at the ball park for those few months!
This is seriously one spoiled pup. But, he is just such an awesome dog. We are all quite smitten with him! Just look how sweet he is...Derek is pretty sweet too.
One super cool thing about first grade, is that they have mystery readers. Every Friday, Dawson's class has a mystery reader knock on their classroom door, & his teacher gives out clues to help the students figure out who it is that week. The mystery reader gets to read a story to the class. Mystery readers can be any family member or friend of the students.
I signed up to take the very first mystery reader spot the first week of school! I read the book 'Rainbow Fish' to the kiddos, because it is all about making new friends by sharing with them. I thought that would be a good book at the beginning of a new school year.
Me with my boy afterwards. I LOVE being up at school with him. If I could, I would probably hang out in his classroom all day long.
In the book I read them, Rainbow fish makes all of his friends by sharing his sparkling scales with the other fish. He shares all of them until he only has one sparkly scale left for himself. I lucked out & found these sparkly mustang silly bands. (school mascot) I gave each kid 5 silly bands, but told them they had to give away 4 of them, keeping only 1 for themselves. Good idea in theory, but Dawson kept me posted over the next few weeks about how many each kid still had, and it looks like they all struggled with the sharing part! So far, I have been the mystery reader 3 times this year! So fun!
Oh my...here is a lovely photo of me & my best friend Alicia! No worries, we don't dress like this normally. To kick off the start of the school year, the youth group at church had a party with the theme 'Tackiest family.' I am finding that there are plenty of opportunities to embarrass myself while working with the youth group!
Just a few days after Dawson started school, Andi started Pre-K! At her school they call in Kinderskills. We are so blessed that both of our kids got to attend pre-school at our church...it is just such a wonderful school!
About to leave the first day
Just look at that cutie smile! LOVE those dimples!
She loves her Dora backback. 'Backpack' is actually her lunchbox, so cute.
Andi & Jillian with their teachers Mrs. Lisa & Mrs. Elysha, during meet your teacher day
And, Andi with her best friend Jillian...so happy these girls got in the same class. I know she is going to have a super fantastic year!
Man...it was SO MUCH easier to leave Dawson at first grade, than it was at kindergarten. I remember that he just seemed so mature & grown up that morning. He just had so much confidence this year!
Leaving for school that morning
Handsome boy!
Him with his teacher Mrs. Janish on meet the teacher night
Me & my boy. No nerves, no tears from either of us...just smiles! Yay for 1st grade!
For the very last day of summer before the kids started school, my Mom & I took the 5 grand kids to the beach for a few hours. It was quite crazy & hectic keeping up with all five of them, but the kids enjoyed themselves.
Andi, Dawson & Bella burying Holden in the sand, while my Mom swims with Darin in the background.
And...that wraps up summer of 2011! Bring on the school year!
After our day at Sea World, we then headed on to Austin for Granny's 93rd birthday party. My grandma & Derek's grandma are the same age, and just a few months apart. Here is each of them with their 93rd b-day cake!
Here is Derek's Granny with her cake that weekend.
And, here is my Grandma with her cake a few months before.
Me & my Grandma
The kids taking a pic with 'Lil Granny' as they call her.
Me & Granny
While in Austin, we got to see our beautiful GROWN UP cousins Jennifer & Dana. Jennifer was 2 years old & Dana was only about a month old when Derek & I started dating long ago...
And, Granny's birthday party was at Aunt Sharon's beautiful new house. The kids loved playing with her jumping chickens. What a fun weekend!
The last weekend of summer, we were planning a trip to Austin for Derek's grandma's 93rd birthday party. Then, Hettie had a great idea! We could head up a few days early and her & I could take the kiddos to Sea World. The kids LOVED it! It was an awesome, tiring & long at times, but totally awesome day. I didn't want to lug around my big camera & risk getting it stolen or damaged, so I only took my little flip video camera with me. So...not the best quality, but I did get some cute pics & videos throughout the day. Dawson wanted me video EVERYTHING, so I ended up with tons of videos. I just selected some of my faves to put on here.
Hettie, Dawson & Andi with 'Shamu'
The biggest challenge of visiting Sea World during the summer, is what to WEAR. Some of the rides get you a little wet...some get you VERY wet, and they have a HUGE water park that would take an entire day to explore, on top of all the other attractions. We wore our swimsuits & water shoes most of the day, and then changed into dry clothes in the late afternoon when we were done feeling soggy. However, cooling off in the wave pool was the only way we survived the 100+ degree heat in August.
Kiddos posing with the Shamu car
We were able to see the sea lion show, two different killer whale shows, and the beluga whale show 'Azul'. I didn't end up getting any pics or videos from the sea lion show because we sat in the splash zone...and that show ended up being the kiddos favorite!
Here is a video from the Shamu rocks show:
Throughout the day, they posed with several Sea World buddies
We also got to feed the dolphins! This was such a fun experience!
Then, we visited the shark aquarium. Wow! This place was so amazing...it was so calm, peaceful & beautiful that I could have stayed in there all day long. The sunlight streaking through the water was so amazing looking. I even got some cool sharks on video!
The beluga whale show called 'Azul' was quite amazing too. It had a very interesting mix of dolphins, beluga whales, birds, high divers, acrobats & aerialists. It seemed like a show you would see in Vegas. It was really entertaining though. The first video from that show, shows the trainers riding on the whales. I am just totally amazed by this every time I see it.
And, this last video shows some of the birds & the aerialist.
We had such a great time there & the kids have been begging us to take them back. Andi will just whisper to me out of the blue 'Mom, I really miss Sea World.' Next time we go back, we will have to take Derek with us!
One summer afternoon, poor Spidey Dog found himself stuck in Andi's room for a tea party. This picture is so hilarious. You can tell he is hating life at the moment, but also tolerating it because he is such an awesome dog. Can't you just hear him saying 'You have got to be kidding me.'
Right after I helped him escape from Andi's room, he chose to eat the remote. I'm thinking he had some pent up aggression! He had never done anything like that before & he hasn't done anything like that since. I think I will have to keep him away from Andi's tea parties in the future.
For several months, Andi had been asking me to get her hair cut short. I resisted for a long time & finally caved in. Surprisingly, I didn't cry! But she almost did. As soon as we drove away from the haircut place, she said 'Mom...I wish I would have left my hair long like Rapunzel.' It will grow back eventually & we have enjoyed how much easier short hair is to manage!
Cutting off about 8 inches!
And...she also decided she wanted to get her ears pierced! So I totally jumped on that one cause I didn't want her to chicken out, and off to the mall we went! We had Mamaw, my Mom, meet us there for moral support. Here she is getting her ears cleaned before the piercing. All smiles beforehand...
And...tada! Pink sparkly earrings. She really did great! She started to cry right when the girl finished & I said 'Well, don't cry now...she's already done.' And she said 'Okay.' And that was the end of the tears.
The prize Mamaw got her for being a brave girl.
Posing in front of Claire's afterward.
With Mamaw afterward
And, striking her 16-year-old pose later that day! My baby girl is growing up!
