Summer fun has begun!

Today was a wonderful day! We went to church, bought groceries, took naps and grilled burgers. My parents and my brother and his family came over to relax and enjoy the evening. The kids had so much fun on the big blow up water slide and with their water guns. It was so nice not having to worry about getting to bed early because no one has school tomorrow. Woohoo!! Here are some pictures of the beginning of our summer fun!

 Colton was being a great big brother and helping Carter go down the slide

Carter loved it!!

Coops taking aim

Colton and his cousin Landon

This is the result of four of them going down at once.

A jumbled mess. Surprisingly, no one got hurt.

Serious water gun shooters;)
Cooper, Colton and Landon

Cooper and his cousin Luke with their loaded guns

Want some Sugar?

Last night I was at the Sugarland Concert with two of my favorite friends, Lynn and April. We had so much fun!!!! We attempted to eat several places beforehand but ended up at Applebees because the wait was manageable there. Then we headed to the Alamodome. We squeezed into took a fun bike carriage ride that got us right up to the door instead of having to walk for ten minutes.

We caught the end of Little Big Town, who are really good by the way. Then Sugarland came on. They are awesome!! One of the those great groups that sound as good in person as they do on their cd. They are SO full of energy and so much fun to watch! Of course, we stood most of the time and sang/danced along. I loved every minute of it!

I have to mention that the bike carriage driver promised us he would come back for us at the end of the show. Sure enough, he pulled back up for us and took us for a ride. We giggled like school girls the whole ride because he was flying! Nearly taking out pedestrians and dodging a few pillars. It was hilarious, a little scary thrilling and so fun!

Farewell 2nd grade

Colton is no longer a second grader. He had a fun end of the year party on Thursday and I of course I loved being there. They had started morning with their own Olympics that included a Spelling bee, Math Bee, Jump rope off, Shoot off and a Hula hoop off.  Then they each got to do spin art and ate pizza. They had a ton of fun.

Colton with Luke--Best Buds
Aren't they funny?

Colton and Mrs. Crosland~ we all love her!!

After that one of the fabulous dad's, Steve Hogue, who used to be a circus clown, performed a few of his old tricks. He even talked the kids through the tips on how they could practice to do them themselves. The kids loved it!

He balanced and juggled these cigar boxes~impressive!

 They ended the day with popsicles and time to chat with their buddies.

Michael, Luke, Colton and Andrew

Today was the last day of school. The kids got to play games and hang out. The teacher had her own private awards ceremony with her class. Colton came home with a fabulous report card(all A's for the year) and the award for being Most Creative and Most Considerate in his class! SO proud of my 2nd grader!!!! Oh wait, he is now officially a 3rd grader!

Photo Flashback

I think I am going to aim to do a photo flashback post every Friday. I love seeing the difference from year to year. So I couldn't resist posting these flashbacks today....
Here is our family of four at Colton's preschool graduation 3 years ago.

Here is our family of FIVE 3 years later on Wednesday night at Cooper's preschool graduation.

Here is a picture of Colton with my bestie Lynn's daughter Hannah. Hannah is about 7 weeks younger than Colton and they have literally been friends their whole lives. This picture is of them after one of Colton's tball games in 2008.


Here they are after Colton's baseball game on Monday night. Gosh, they are looking so grown up!!
Still adorable though!

My Little Graduate

Cooper's graduation from preschool was so special. The kids and teachers had worked so hard to have a great program to show the parents.

We took our seats and the graduates walked in so cutely singing a song they sing each morning "Rise and Shine". Yes I did start to tear up.

Doesn't he look precious?

Then the ceremony was made to show us somethings they would do on a typical day at Little Einsteins Preschool Academy. They said the pledge of allegiance and the pledge to the Texas flag. Then they sang their alphabet stew song and each kid had letters on sticks to wave around.

Next they showed us how they can speak three languages by singing their months of the year in English and Spanish and then using sign language while they sang a song. Precious! I loved seeing that knowledge that Cooper has learned.

 Then they danced around to the Jack Jackson song "Upside Down". The teacher talked about how it was fitting because they are like Curious George who is going out into the jungle and playing with and meeting new animals. In our case... new friends.

Finally, the director talked about how these graduates were ready for kindergarten and they all received their graduation hats and their "diploma".

Then a quick but cute slide show was played and the graduates walked out in graduation style to the song "Find Your Wings." I love this little tidbit, Colton gave Cooper a high five as Cooper marched out.

Afterwards,  they had a little reception with cupcakes and drinks. They had normal size cupcakes for all of us and each graduate had their own really large cupcake with their name on it. So cute!

As always, my kids' devoted grandparents were there beaming with pride! Can't say enough about how lucky we are to have them.

I also really can't say enough about this preschool. Colton went there and left ready for kinder and I know Cooper is ready now too. He has had great teachers...Mrs. Ale, Ms. Rose, Mr. Bryan and Ms. Amanda. He has learned a lot and had so much fun!

 

I was so emotional several times throughout the ceremony. I just cannot believe my Cooper will be in school full time next year. I am going to miss my running buddy. Seriously- I am tearing up just typing this so I have to stop. Ultimately, Cooper Wiley makes me so very proud to be his Mama!!  I am super lucky to have him!!

Brotherly love!
(Colton is bending down so Cooper could put his arm around him.)

Oh, one more thing~ In the program, each child was asked to tell what they learned in preschool. This was Cooper's answer:

"Going to the treasure chest!! Polygons have sides...Plants need water and sun to grow...Animals migrate because they need more room to sleep."

Too cute!!