1st Day of School

Julia

It's hard to see, but Julia proudly sported an Alabama Tide backpack this school year.

Audrey

 

Surprise! It's Award's Day!

A couple of weeks ago, we received a note from Julia's teacher stating that Julia had earned the "Superintendent's Award" for the year (95+ grade average in all subjects). The teacher's note said that we were encouraged to attend Award's Day to see her honored and that it was a secret so we didn't need to tell Julia.

The secret was kept, but I did nonchalantly ask Julia what Awards Day was and whether we should come. She shrugged and said, "I think it's just for Field Day winners, and I'm the slowest one in my class. I'll never win anything." Even though I reminded her that her Field Day had actually been rained out and cancelled, she still insisted that the field day activities that happened during PE time were the Award's being given out at Award's Day.

This morning, as we were leaving Kids Club (before school Bible Club I help out with), I told sweet Julia that we were planning on coming just in case. She responded with a scowl, and the poor child's shoulders slumped when she saw her Daddy and Audrey walking into the building. She also avoided eye contact with us as her class walked into the auditorium. I truly think she was embarrassed that we were coming to see her not get anything.

Part of me regrets not having told her about the award and leaving her to feel bad for a few minutes this morning, but the other part of me gets teary as I think about how surprised she must have been when her name was called.

Heading to the stage and receiving a big smile from her teacher. 

 A handshake from Baldwin County's superintendent, Dr. Lee.

A medal...

 Eating cake and punch at a reception afterwards

 A forced photo with her awards.

 And a forced photo with Audrey. Why the stinker wouldn't smile a real smile, I don't know.

Congratulations, dear Julia! We're so proud of you!

How's Audrey?

Wednesday, April 24th was both great and not great for Audrey.

The great - Audrey mastered a backflip on these bars. She's super proud of herself now. She's also finally mastered the art of swinging herself high on the swings. 

The not so great part of that day? 

Kindergarten shots.

3 of them!

 In case there was any doubt, please know that this child can scream with the best of 'em!

But the next day, we got to go register her for Kindergarten! Yay! 

Here's Audrey's preschool Graduation picture. Graduation is next Friday night.

And, what photo shoot is complete without Audrey (and friend) posing like fashion models?

Speaking of posing...

 *sigh* 

My baby is growing up!

How's Julia?

Julia's great!

In the last month she has petted a skunk.

 She's had substitute teachers write an extra little note on her discipline sheet.

And next Thursday, Matt and I have been invited to Award's Day to watch Julia receive the Superintendent's award (for straight A's). Shhhh! The award is a secret for Julia!

April Fool's!

My girls have been talking about April Fool's Day for a month so I knew something had to be done to get the day going!  I started the night before by freezing water in the bottom of their cereal bowls, adding just a thin layer of milk and cereal on top that morning.

  

Julia growled at me. She's not a morning person.

I also made sure to prep some kool-aid (jello w/a straw) ready for them to drink. This made Audrey cry.  "I'm so thirsty. I was so thirsty last night. And now I'm thirsty again, and there's nothing to drink!"

I'm such a great mom. I prank my kids into crying before it even hits 7am. 

Audrey did (eventually) chill out and eat her jello!

I also safety pinned all their panties together so that when they changed clothes, one long strand came out of their drawers. They both thought this was hilarious, but for obvious reasons there are no pictures of the scene. I highly recommend this prank for little ones.

After school I told them I'd made them "brownies" and had them sit on the couch. I then brought the girls the "brown  Ee's" I'd made and waited for their reactions.

Julia figured it out immediately, growled at me again, and tore up her paper.

 

 When Audrey figured out what the brown Ee's meant, she threw herself on the couch... again, crying. I'm such a loving mother. I think I deserve Mom of the Year.

Don't feel sorry for them. I did pull out real brownies for them to snack on before too long.

We pranked Matt by taping a "honk at me" sign on his car and pouring some salt on his toothbrush. They got me by putting shaving cream under my car door handles. Not a bad day, if I do say so myself.

Spring Break 2013

The first day of Spring Break, it was too cold to play outside, the neighborhood kids weren't around, and by 11am my girls were seriously... no, I mean seriously... driving me crazy. 

 We had to get out and about, so I texted a friend and got permission for us to hide Easter eggs in her yard as a surprise for her kiddos. Fun! We had something to do! We stuffed several dozen eggs with stickers and candy and headed out.

 

We had coupons for free ice cream cones, so we stopped to grab that treat after hiding those eggs.

 Later during Spring Break, I broke down and agreed to use the tie dye kit the girls had received for Christmas.

 I was pleasantly surprised with the process. It really wasn't too much of a mess. We initially just did shirts for the girls, but when there was leftover dye we grabbed a couple of pairs of white socks, and I grabbed a t-shirt for myself. I thought they looked pretty cute! We wore our new tie-dye shirts when we headed to the park for "family exercise".

I made sure to buy Audrey some new flip flops this Spring Break so that I wouldn't feel so bad when I finally insisted these much loved Hello Kitty shoes be thrown away. 

And Friday of Spring Break we headed to an "Eggstravaganza"  We did an egg/spoon relay first thing.

There were tears.

But the tears dried up and we hunted eggs. There *might* have been an egg hunting strategy session beforehand. 

Afterwards, we posed with "princesses" and rode horses!

 I'm so glad Julia conquered her fears from last year.

 

Happy Easter!

Party at the Park

Saturday, we invited several friends to the park to celebrate the girls' birthdays! The day was absolutely beautiful with a high of 75. Other than some pretty heavy wind that kept blowing away presents, it was perfect! Julia and Audrey started their party fun with some dancing while I set up and Matt got the grill ready. 

Then they played with some friends  (Few pictures of play time. I was talking too much.)

   Our party was midday, so Matt grilled hotdogs. 

Then we pulled out the dirt cake.

A pail for Julia...

And a pail for Audrey.

We sang to Audrey first, but then she wholeheartedly sang "Happy Birthday" to her sister!

The "dirt" was quite tasty.

Matt's Granny sent down a pinata for the girls' party. It was a cute spring chicken. 

Finally, it was present time! 

 

 

Hairbows that glow. Fabulous!

I wanted a nice family picture, but the girls weren't cooperative.

So we all went silly instead. 

 Happy Birthday, girlies!