Memorial Day Ceremony

Audrey's school does a Memorial Day event every year, and it is a great way to remember and honor those who served, and those we lost.  Last year was great, and this year was even better.

This young man lost his brother in 2012, in active duty.  For his eagle project he put together a memorial honoring those we lost on 9/11 and specifically his brother.  It was a beautiful tribute.  I am always glad to have something like this to remind us that Memorial Day (or other holidays with meaning and purpose) is more than a day off of work.  

Preschool Graduate!

Tis a sad day when your child graduates from Preschool.  Audrey had 1 wonderful year in preschool, and Phoenix has had 3 wonderful years in preschool.  We have had amazing teachers each year, and the kids have made friends and learned so much.  No offense to public school, but in our experience, it is downhill from preschool (we do have a lot of hope for Phoenix's kindergarten year though).

The graduates came out and sang a few songs for us. Phoenix had been practicing them for a few weeks at home.

This is him telling his teacher that he was "the best singer ever" (seriously).  Then we got to watch a slideshow of pictures taken thoughout the year, set to sweet songs while our little graduate robed up.

Miss Amy was an amazing teacher!  Both me and Phoenix will miss her!!

My photogenic little man has taken a turn for the goofy lately.  I am sad that the preschool era is over for now, it truly was so fun.  Phoenix is totally ready for Kindergarten though (HE thinks so anyway).

Audrey...

Here are a few pictures from Audrey's dance class (and the above I included because it is cute!).

Audrey really has enjoyed dance these last couple of years. She is naturally talented, and we practice at home and she is quick to apply the corrections that I give her.  I love seeing her dance, and I can't wait for her recital next weekend (my parents and Leah are coming!!). 

Colonial Williamsburg

We spent the night in Williamsburg, and we hit up Colonial Williamsburg the next day.  We didn't pay the $ to get into the cool exhibits, I don't think we needed to this time because there was so much to see for free (that said, next time we will be purchasing the tickets).  I am a bit of a (major) history nerd, so walking around in a historical town with characters/actors dressed up in historical clothes was kind of like a dream come true (the only thing off was my "modern" outfit...which will hopefully be remedied next visit).  I could have spent hours looking in the shops!  

We let the kids choose a souvenir, and thankfully they both chose the same thing...a small musket.

Phoenix spent the rest of the day "shooting" bad guys that were hiding in the trees, gutters, windows, and under porches.  I am so glad he was there to "save" us!

We hadn't been home for 5 minutes before Audrey put together a soldier outfit for herself and Phoenix!  She did an AWESOME job!!!  At one point Phoenix got both of his legs blown off, but luckily they grew back.  

All in all, we had a great time in Williamsburg!  We are looking forward to going back (hopefully in full costume) and seeing more sites!  

Busch Gardens

We hit up Busch Gardens in Williamsburg last weekend.  It. Was. Awesome!!!  I think having gone to Disney World a few months ago prepped the kids (emphasis on Phoenix) to actually have fun at an amusement park.  Both kids were tall enough to go on almost every ride (exception being the coasters, which I would not have had them go on anyway), and we never waited longer than 20 minutes per ride.  There was a little roller coaster for the kids and they LOVED it!!  Even me and Travis enjoyed it!

A lady that worked there chastised me when she saw me taking "pictures of pictures" hehe.

One of the things Phoenix really wanted to do was to see Elmo.  Wish grated (with less than a 5 minutes wait).

Phoenix's favorite thing was the bumper cars and the kid coaster.  Audrey's favorite thing was DaVinci's cradle and the kid coaster.  My favorite thing was probably the pirate ship (or battle ram).  I think Travis's favorite ride was the swings.  

Our whole family had a great time!!  Both Audrey and Phoenix are at really fun ages, and we are taking FULL advantage!  We are already planning on hitting up a few more amusement parks this summer!

Mother's Day

A few days before Mother's Day, Travis let Audrey go to work with him.  She picked out her outfit herself (borrowing the polo and the shorts from Phoenix, and she cut out the Stomp logo from a flier and attached it to her shirt with tape...too cute for words, right?).  I had to share the picture of their day together.  Travis put her to work, she cleaned a lot of things and she helped with paper work.  He told her that he would pay her $1 for her work (classic low-ball), and she responded with "How about $5?", so they agreed on that.  She is such a cute and creative little girl!!!

And now to Mother's Day.  I love waffles, but there is a bit of a process to make them.  So I told Travis that I would love for him to make me waffles in the morning.  The night before I looked over the recipe and gave him additional tips to ensure a great outcome.  Fast forward to morning of, I woke up and got ready (I wasn't allowed downstairs because Travis and the kids were decorating).  Then it was time to make the waffles, so I went down to help (Travis had already made the batter).  Right away, I knew something was different...the batter was not light and fluffy.  I tried making a waffle anyway, how bad could it be?  I had forgotten to explain to Travis that self-rising flour is different than all-purpose flour (and in his defense, I switch between 4 different flours when baking, so it would have been impossible for him to identify the right kind of flour).  Long story short (and a few "Why does this taste so bad?"s from the kids), I remade the batter (with Travis observing), and we had a very delicious breakfast.  Travis got me some beautiful tulips, and Audrey made me a few bracelets, and Phoenix made me a bracelet also!  I loved showing them off at church.

This is a visual comparison of the "before and after" waffles.  

I definitely appreciated the effort, and now we have a fun story to remember.  :-)

Discipline

Travis and I have learned that spankings, when used sparingly, can be an effective form of punishment for long lasting results (just remind the kids, and they get right back on track).  Tonight when we were saying our family prayer (Trav was still working, so it was me and the two kids) Phoenix was bouncing all over the bed.  I want our kids to have reverence and respect for our Heavenly Father, so I wanted to "teach" Phoenix a lesson (don't worry, my spankings never hurt...but the thought is enough to scare some sense into the kids).  So I tried to pin Phoenix down for about 5 minutes, only to have him wiggle out of my hold seconds later.  Eventually I gave up (it was a battle I was NOT going to win...yes, I just admitted that I cannot pin down a 4 year old that weighs 35 lbs), so I pretended that I was being nice and decided against the spanking.  Phoenix still learned his lesson because he was so scared (even though I had been fighting off laughter).  Here are a few highlights from his personal prayer about 10 minutes later:  Please bless that Mommy will be nice to me, Please bless that I won't get a spanking, Please bless me to be reverent, Please bless that we can go to Busch Gardens.  

Kids make life fun (even if the fun is sometimes at their expense).  

After the Baptism

We did a mini photo shoot in Janae's house to capture a few more pictures of the day...

This picture is so that you can see the back of Audrey's dress...

This above picture is by far my favorite picture of the day, it makes me laugh, and it is so "real".

 

We had chicken salad sandwiches, salad, and some yummy treats.  My Dad brought his special chocolate chip cookies (which Audrey thinks are "the best cookies in the world", Janae made a lemon cake, and I made white cupcakes with strawberry frosting.  

After the festivities the boys (young and less young) cuddled up on the couch to watch some Star Wars.