It's a Rodeo!!!

Last week, Adalyn had a kindergarten rodeo!!! 

Her grade has been learning all about Texas and what better way to end the unit with a little rodeo?!

She had to have a stick horse for the event, so I hopped on Etsy to see how fast I could have one shipped, and then thought about heading to Cracker Barrel to buy one.... thought I could just make one myself, but I couldn't find my sewing machine (I'm hoping it's still in a box in the garage), and then I called my mom who can always come through in a bind!! 

She printed off a pattern, sewed a little horse head for us and put it in the mail!

All I had to do was buy a dowel rod and stuffing :) 

Adalyn named her horse Caroline. 

The mornign started with a little horse parade.

I had to laugh at how clever some of the other parents were! There were Cracker Barrel style horses, fabric horses, pool noodle horses, paper horses, cardboard horses.... but my all time favorite was a stuffed horse taped on to the end of a stick. 

And I was instantly jealous that I didn't think to do that since Addy has a ton of stuffed animal horses. 

She went to school in her best rodeo duds. 

And by that I mean, pigtail braids, jeggings, a fabric bandana, and she had a pink sparkle cowgirl hat from the Dollar Tree! 

I'll tell ya, I would've been all over this kind of thing when Gretchen was little, complete with a hand-made skirt, and applique'd shirt, but man, it's hard when it's the third child. 

I ended up taking the day off work, and volunteered to work a station. I was assigned to the "pig races" which was a little relay race, where the kids had to race a pink balloon down to a cactus and then back again. 

I was sad that I couldn't hang out with Addy all morning, but I could peek out the classroom window and see her at a few of the outside events, and she was so excited to be in the pig race room with me when it was her turn, and I may have let her be first in line :) 

Most of the groups, were able to pig race twice, and then I told them a few pig jokes before they went to the next rotation.

There was also cow milking, sheep sheering, gold mining, a camp fire reading, a chuck wagon (snack station), and face painting! 

We had a fun morning together! 

And then she convinced me to stay and eat lunch with her. 

Her friend Addy also had lunch with her mom..... just two little Addy's. 

After Adalyn's lunch, Megan has her lunch, so I stayed to sit with her while she ate, and she loved every minute of it! 

(I told Gretchen that I would come back and have lunch with her one day too!)

The little rodeo was so fun, and Adalyn is quickly becoming a Texas girl through and through! 

Monday Musings...

Happy Monday! We had a busy weekend, but it was jam packed full of fun! Today, I'm just musing over last week and trying to survive a Monday!

The girls had Red Ribbon Week, and I must admit, it was pretty boring. Dress up weeks were always my favorite in school, and when I worked in the schools, I loved dressing up on those days. 

This year, the girls had wear red day, sunglasses, crazy socks, adventure day, and wear a Halloween shirt. I mean, is it too much to ask for a pajama day, decade days, crazy hair day, twin day. Part of me, liked that I didn't have to think, but man, our kids sure do miss out on some of the fun things that  we got to do as kids. 

Anywho, I forgot to take a picture most days, plus, I wasn't enamored with the themes, but here's two of the girls on sunglasses day. 

And, we had no clue what adventure day meant. I guess this could've been our one day to go a little crazy, but our adventures involve road trips, not African Safaris, so I let the girls choose something on their own. Megan wore denim on denim on denim. She said she was mountain climbing. 

Last week wore Adalyn out. We're still getting use to earlier bedtimes and super early mornings, and I can always tell that she needs a little nap right away, because she'll come home super fussy and whiney. Addy and I both took a nap on this day! Ha! I guess I was fussy and whiney too :) 

Megan was a sweet heart when it was time to wake her up for dinner. 

My aunt sent me a new sign for our house, and it was perfect for our entry way space. It's the "thankful" sign :) I'm not sure where she got it, but most of these just came from good old Hobby Lobby. 

Addy and I enjoyed a few minutes of quiet while she ate breakfast before school. And, i'm not sure about y'all, but it is SO dark here in the mornings! DJ says it'll get better when daylight savings kicks in, but it's pitch black when we get up and leave and I'm so not use to that. 

Kindergarten birthdays at school are so much fun... especially, when you come home with icing all over your face. 

Gretchen was accepted in to her schools gifted and talented program. She's already involved with a research project, and she was explaining that she wanted to research the world's most famous asked questions. I have no idea what she really means by this, and I may have encouraged her to change her topic, but she's pretty persistent. So, if you have any ideas for us, since good ol' google didn't, let us know! 

Remember those whiney afternoons?

Well, last Wednesday, Adalyn was super whiney and throwing a lovely tantrum because she was grounded from the TV. Anyway, I had heard a friend talk using Endoflex essential oil on her kiddo during tantrums, so I grabbed ours, put a swipe of oil over Addy's heart, and within a few minutes, she was asleep! I didn't really mean for her to fall asleep, but she obviously needed it! 

Texas makes beautiful skies :)

The girls had award assemblies on Friday!

Gretchen and Megan both had A/B honor roll, and all of the girls had perfect attendance. I tried to get photos, but the cafeteria lighting as well as my iphone did not make for a good combination. 

Addy walking in with her class- look how tall she is! 

Megan was not as thrilled to be getting her awards. 

She hates being the center of attention when it's not her idea, so when her name was called, she walked to the front with a scowl on her face the entire time. 

The same thing happened when she got perfect attendance! Ha! 

I have to say again, that the girls have adjusted SO well to their new school. We prayed so hard that they would adjust and make new friends, and it's truly an answer to those prayers. 

Back To School.... Finally

Last Sunday we spent our first night in our new house. The girls loved playing in the empty playroom, but we called it an early night because the next day was the first day of school for the girls!!!! 

Our typical back to school traditions, were put to the side, except this book. Every year, we've read this book to the kiddo starting kindergarten. We all crawled on to a blanket (yup, we were sleeping on the floors since our furniture hadn't arrived) and read Adalyn, "The Night Before Kindergarten."

6 am arrived awfully, early, but the girls were so excited for the first day of school! Adalyn insisted on a first day piggy back ride too! 

The morning was hectic, so I only snapped one quick picture of the girls. Usually, we take several, and have cute signs to match. 

Gretchen is in 5th grade, and was super excited to start school. 

Adalyn wore her "letter" dress on the first day (she had no idea those letters were actual words- ha!), and the same school bus necklace that Gretchen and Megan both wore on their first days of kindergarten too. 

Megan picked out a sequin flip shirt that said "Girls Rule" and her cat ears. 

One quick picture of all the girls before we headed out the door. 

We made it to school, and DJ and I walked the girls in. We were a little worried that they may not let the girls start, because I accidentally had the movers put their birth certificates and social security cards on the moving truck. Whoops! 

Thankfully, DJ had pictures of them, and we got the girls enrolled and walked them down to the gym. 

We ran in to Megan's teacher on the way, so she walked down with Megan and Addy. 

We're two exhausted parents, but our kids were in school and we were excited! 

Later in the week, Megan had pajama day.... and we mastered the drop off and pick up line.

Unfortunately, 6 am comes awfully early! We've still had late nights, but we're trying to get in a routine. 

We're settling in to a good routine after school though. The mornings are early, but we're getting home much earlier than we did from our last school, so we settle in for snacks, homework, and lots of playtime before dinner! 

Schools Out!!!! And Our Summer Bucket List

This past Monday was our last day of school!!! And, the girls may not have been ready for the last day, but I sure was! 

Adalyn finished her very last year at her preschool! We have had a girl attend this preschool for the last 6 years, so it was a little bittersweet to walk out of those doors on Monday. We will greatly miss the teachers and staff there.

On the left- her first day of school picture, and on the right, her last day of school picture! She has definitely gotten taller this year! She's learned how to count, write her name, and all about Jesus! 

Next year, she'll be attending a pre-K that is close to my school and I'm thankful that she'll be closer!

The big girls and I attend school together every day! I love having them in my building! 

Our first day of school photo above, and our last day photo is below. 

Gretchen finished 3rd grade this year!!! I cannot even believe that I'll have a 4th grader! That just seems insanely old to me! I feel like it was yesterday when I was walking her through the doors for kindergarten. 

She can multiply and divide and reads on a 7th grade reading level! I'm just so proud of how much she's learned and how bright she is! 

And Megan finished Kindergarten! This girl knows all of her kindergarten and first grade sight words and she's bloomed in to a wonderful friend to so many! 

And a sister picture from the first day and the last day. 

I told my mom that these were typical first and last day photos! On the first day, the girls had monogrammed shirts, hair fixed, cute necklaces, and bows. And on the last day, I'm totally over it, and their hair is brushed, but down, and they picked out their own outfits! 

But, now we're ready for Summer!!!

And every Summer we come up with a Summer Bucket List! You know, those things that we want to accomplish over our Summer break!!!

~ Have a Lemonade Stand. (The girls have been begging me for months for us to sell lemonade!)

~ Basketball camp for Gretchen and Megan

~ Spending time at Gee's house all by themselves! (Each of them will have a few 1:1 days with their Gee!)

~ Pool Time!!!!

~ Lake Trips

~ Popsicles, Ice Cream, and Sno Cones

~ Splash Pad Fun

~ A Visit to Hurt's Doughnut

~ Guthrie Green

~ A Day trip to Laura Ingalls Wilder's home in Kansas

~ Shopping in Branson

~ Sleepovers

~ S'mores

~ Walt Disney World!!!!

~ Beach Fun

~ Gymnastics Camp

~ Musical Theater Camp

~ Trips to the Park

~ Hiking and Exploring

~ Pajama Day

~ Summer Reading Program

~ Baking Days

~ Campout

~ Visit the Pioneer Woman's Mercantile

~ Break out the backyard water toys

We're looking forward to Summer!!!!

What's on your Summer Bucket List?

Friday Favorites: Girls Week Edition

Happy Friday Peeps!!!! We did it! We survived the school year- yay!!!! Today is our last Friday of school, and then we head back Monday because we had one snow day, so we need to make that up. But basically, I'll be re-organizing my office, finalizing paperwork and not seeing kiddos! So, we're just going to pretend that today is it! 

I'm linking up today for Friday Favorites and sharing my favorite moments from the week.

This week, DJ had his CSVA convention in Atlanta so I was flying solo. He left bright and early Monday morning, and I managed to get all of the girls dressed and ready, despite Megan complaining of her tummy hurting. We dropped off Adalyn and Megan was pretty much in tears over her tummy, but I kept telling her that we were going to TRY to make it through the day. But, I grabbed a plastic bag from Addy's daycare just in case. And, it's a good thing I did because she threw up when we were almost to school. It was definitely not a favorite moment of mine, but luckily, she has good aim. 

So, I dropped off Gretchen and called in that I would be heading home with Megan. I spent the day being crazy productive with my Young Living gig while she watched Netflix and played with her dolls. And strangely enough, she was fine for the rest of the day. I had called my mom and told her to be prepared to head up just in case Megan was still sick and had to miss another day of school. Thankfully, we didn't need Gee to come and rescue us. 

Tuesday morning, I was ready to tackle the day. I wore my new dress from Shop Tailgate. I can already tell that it's going to be on repeat and a favorite for Summer. Unfortunately, this one is sold out, but this one is a similar option. And, you can use the code ELAINEW to save 10% off your order. 

Shop Tailgate also sent me one of these fun graphic tee shirts! She has some of the cutest designs! Every Tuesday, Tailgate Tees are 10% off, but you can use my code above for 10% off every day! 

So, the transmission has gone out in my car, and we're driving a dealer car until it's fixed (which should be today.) The girls thought the sunroof was extra cool and they all decided to hang out of it Tuesday afternoon. We had a sunroof before, and I have forgotten how much I love having one. And, it's obviously a favorite for the girls. 

And sometimes, you have to sneak outside alone, and enjoy an ice cream cone. These ones from Skinny Cow are my favorite.

By Wednesday morning, I was exhausted from this whole solo-parenting gig and had a hard time waking up. I put a few drops of peppermint oil on my shower floor and I felt refreshed and ready to tackle the day! I have so many favorite uses for peppermint oil! 

Megan's class had Books and Breakfast Wednesday morning. We enjoyed doughnuts and then she read to me all of the books she created this school year. 

Spending some time with my middle and seeing all of her creations was a favorite. 

So, a bird has built a nest on our back patio, and we have babies!!!! It's so fun to watch the little baby birds (don't worry, we haven't touched them) and to see the mom come back and feed them. 

And, I had to remember one of my favorite quotes this week. 

Wednesday evening, Gretchen had her musical theater rehearsal. This girl has practiced super hard this year! She's a perfect "lost kid" for Peter Pan. Seeing her on stage is my favorite. 

And while Gretchen was at rehearsal, the little girls and I snuck off for some dinner at our favorite restaurant. 

On Thursday, we celebrated Megan's birthday a few days early by bringing cookies for her classmates! Her real birthday isn't until next Wednesday, but she wanted to celebrate with all of her friends at school. 

Megan's birthday shirt is here. 

Her shorts are here.

And, our favorite shoes are here.

Whew, I'm off to enjoy our Super Kids Day at school today, and then we're going to celebrate the start of summer with a pizza night and Gretchen's recital this weekend! And, we're all going to hug DJ's neck when he walks in the door this afternoon! We sure have missed him!