Sweet Summertime!

We started our summer off with some of our favorite things!!! 

We went to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul at the Fork and Screen!

 We played and played and played and played!!! (and made messes too!)

We did our first research project of the summer. Grant chose the Bermuda Triangle and Wyatt chose the Moon.

 We had a cousin sleepover and went to the arcade!

 We played wiffle ball with cousins and Mimi!

 We played in mud puddles with our little friends! (Some little buddies from my preschool class)

 We got ice cream- CHEERS!

And this was only in the first 6 days of summer!! Can't wait for the rest of our summer fun!!!!

Seals and Monkeys, Oh My!

Grant has loved seals since he was an itty bitty guy. He's not so itty bitty anymore, but he still LOVES seals!! And monkeys. He just loves them both! After changing his sheets one day, he decided to sort out all of his seals and monkeys so he could really admire his collection! Most of these were in his bed, some were in the toy box (he feels so bad for the animals that live in there, because if he had his way, they'd all be in his bed, but then he'd need two king size beds for them to all fit!) and some were figures that were on his bookshelf. I loved how he organized them all and then of course, posed with them, like the proud stuffed animal dad he is!! His seal and monkey collections are always growing, as those are the first stuffed animals he looks for when out and about! 

(The robot thing is just a robot he built (not sure why he's in the midst of all the seals and monkeys, but with Grant, ya never know!)

Last Day of School!!!

The day we've waited for for months and months has finally arrived--- The Last Day of School!!! I feel like we went into summer mode back in April, but we made it through to the end and finished up the school year, with not a day to spare!! 

They had a half-day and Grant couldn't wait to go because he knew it was yearbook signing day! Well, that actually turned into t-shirt signing day. I'm glad he didn't wear one of his best shirts! He was excited to say goodbye to 2nd grade! It was a long and bumpy year and we are all ready to breathe a sigh of summer relief!!

These boys LOVE walking to and from school together! Next year, there were be 3 more kids up there with those big 1st grade kiddos coming in!

 Grant grew SO much this year, in SO many ways!! Its hard to believe he's getting so old!

 Wyatt is definitely ready to rock 1st grade next year with all the growing he did this year!

Home at last to start SUMMER VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, first we must make our annual Orange Leaf Last Day of School Celebration with some of our favorite friends!!!!

Last Day of Kindergarten!!!!!

 The day has come that Kindergarten is done!! So hard to believe our year is finished, but I couldn't be more proud of Wyatt and SO thankful the Lord provided him with a safe and special environment to help him be the best Wyatt he could be!

We celebrated our last day with a family day at Deanna Rose! We had time to adventure and play before a little "graduation" ceremony as an entire kindergarten. 

Their teacher greeted them with new shades for their field trip because, "Their future is so bright!" 

So thankful to spend the mooning with my special guy!

 His teacher, Mrs. Gentz, and possibly one of his favorite people of all time!

 Graduation hat on!

 It's official- he's a big kid!

 And now----- It's SUMMER VACATION!!!!!!!!!!

Kindergarten Awards Day!

Kindergarten is wrapping up and I can't wrap my head around that. This year FLEW by! It was a fantastic year for Wyatt. The most amazing teacher and class for him. Something I prayed for over and over and over again for him. Answered prayers for sure! He excelled in all that he did in school- his academics as well as his confidence! I couldn't have asked for anything better!

During the last week of school, his teacher put together a little awards ceremony to honor what an amazing year of growth it was for everyone! She had a different award for each of them and told a little story about each child and how they contributed to their class family. She even had a little red carpet for them to walk.

Wyatt's award: Class Leader and Future President

Mother's Day

My favorite thing on Mother's Day is just being with my little family and seeing the special little cards the boys make me! I don't need fancy brunches, or pampering, or anything like that. Just special times with my special people and thats exactly what they gave me!!! Look at these masterpieces created JUST for me!!!

 A few close ups...

The boys bought me a lottery ticket so I love this letter Wyatt wrote me! He'd rather have me as his mom than win the lottery! That is love right there!!!

Thank you my precious babies for these special treasures I will keep forever!

Millie Snuggles

Millie is definitely a mommy's girl and has to be on or near me every evening, or when I sit down to relax.  It's a good thing she's cute and cuddly and not any bigger than she is!

Levi's Birthday

May 12th is a wonderful day because its Levi's Birthday!!!! While he worked all day, we still celebrated him that night with an evening at the fire pit! We love you so much Levi and while we keep our birthdays pretty simple around here, our love for you is nothing simple- it is fierce, unconditional, and amazing!! We are so lucky you are ours!!!

Happy Birthday!!

Talent Share!!

Grant has been wanting to participate in the Talent Share the last two years, but it was always at the last second and he honestly had nothing prepared to even try out with! So this school year, he began thinking about the Talent Share a few months prior and decided he wanted to tell jokes. After all, he is very talented in that area ;-) He scoured joke books for a few days and came up with his favorites. Wyatt decided he too wanted to be in the Talent Share, so he put together a floor routine and parallel bar routine he could show off. 

So they practiced at home, tried out for their music teacher, and made the show! I had seen Wyatt practice his floor routine he made up all the time, but Grant never practiced his jokes. EVER. He just knew he was going to wear a mustache and a hat and Wyatt was going to be his assistant. So when Talent Share day came, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. 

But they both blew me away! Grant was so lively with the crowd and had them cracking up! It was awesome and I LOVED seeing him and Wyatt up there together. I love that he chose Wyatt!!! Grant was definitely in his element and didn't feel nervous for one second. He did GREAT!!

(I only took video so these are just screen shots for memory sake!)

Wyatt was so cute and tiny up there. I couldn't even hear his tiny voice when he introduced himself on the microphone. I tried to talk him into having the music teacher pull out the gym mats so he could do his back handspring, but he didn't want to, although now he says he should've done that because the crowd would've been totally amazed if he did that. But they were amazed anyway!

I'm so proud of them being so brave to go in front of their school and show off how awesome they truly are! SO proud of you boys!!

Field Day Fun!

The weather for Field Day could not have been more perfect! And what added to it was that Grant and Wyatt's classes were right next to each other through the whole morning so I was able to watch both of them do all the activities!!! Mom win!!

Wyatt got to come to school in the morning, which is always exciting. Watching them walk to school together kind of made my heart skip a beat, as I know this is a glimpse into my future for next school year.

Field Day was PERFECT! Lots of game playing, chalk drawing, flower planting, smiles, and fun!!  

 Their PE teacher is retiring and she is a BIG KU fan, so they filled the picnic area with KU and Jayhawk drawings for Mrs. Marx!

 Grant's class! Of course, Grant didn't wear his class t-shirt like they were supposed to because you know, 100% cotton just isn't his thing (sigghhhhhh).

 Wyatt and some of his best buddies, Oliver, Rex, Marietta

LOVED seeing them side by side all morning!! 

Love my fellas!!

Morse Carnival and Fun Run

I love how our school carnival is a family event on a Friday evening! Even better is that it starts with a one-mile fun run through our neighborhood! I signed up the whole family, but the day of the run, my toe arthritis (yes, that's really a thing) was bothering me just walking, so I knew running wasn't going to work. So I stayed back to be the family photog! This was Wyatt's first year running the race, and I have to be honest- I had my doubts. He might have a ton of muscle but he doesn't have a lot of stamina when it comes to running. He poops out quickly! But Levi ran with him said he ran the whole thing without ever walking for a second! Grant took off sprinting with his friends. He ran some, walked some, ran some, walked some. The all crossed the finish line within a few seconds of each other! Then it was off to the games to win some prizes. Rubix Cubes are all the rage at school right now, so the prizes reflected that. Lots of puzzle cubes and things. The boys spent all their tickets and got pockets full of prizes! It was a successful Carnival and Fun Run!