Our 5th Grade Graduate!

I absolutely CANNOT believe our baby is moving on to 6th grade, which also means Junior High...ahhhh!!!! When I said to Dave "I don't know if I can handle her going to middle school", he said "But she can handle it". Very true. She has a great sense of who she is and is a sweet girl that will undoubtedly make good choices. Congrats, Dakota!

Best Friend, Willow

Good friends, McKenna & Jasmine

Dakota was fortunate to have Mr. Schooley for 3rd & 5th grade. She had a hard time saying goodbye to him, he was a wonderful teacher to her.

Choir and Chimes

Dakota was in the Chimes Group this year. She enjoyed it so much and I really enjoyed getting to hear her group perform! At the concert, the 5th graders also performed a couple of songs. This, I don't think she enjoys quite as much!

And the Grammy goes to...

This year Rian was in the drama club. All year long they worked on several plays and last week they performed one of them, "Readin', Writin' and Rockin'". She did a fantastic job!

Little Fishy

During his first week Jack cried before, during and after each lesson. He even cried himself to sleep the first night and woke up crying the next morning. He tried every excuse in the book to escape his turn every time. Even going so far as to say he needed a tissue. Mind you...this boy has NEVER asked for a tissue in his life! After week one though, he got a little more comfortable and even started floating around in a tube during the other kids turns.

No floatie needed anymore!!!

Playing "swim froggie" with his good little friend, Gabby!

I gotta say, I was a little jealous of the instructor here. It looked like a lot of fun to throw the kids in the water!

Doing SO well!

Lessons are over, and although he started off slowly, he is now swimming so well! We took the kids to Lifetime yesterday so he could get some practice in to keep it fresh in his mind. He now swims long distances, touches the bottom of the pool, and turns in circles underwater. Go Jack!!!

Rian's Birthday Celebration

Because Rian has a summer birthday, she rarely gets to celebrate with her school friends. Between the impending birth of her little brother, summer vacation, and our annual trip to Bainbridge, we knew a party would be difficult to get together on her actual birthday. So, we decided we would do one before school let out for the summer. She invited several friends over for a movie night and ice cream sundaes!

Happy Pre-Birthday Sweetie!

Soccer Stud

Jack is amazing in his soccer games! He works hard to score goals as well as play keeper, he has learned that he also needs to pass the ball, and has also become quite the little leader on the field! Unfortunately, I also caught him taunting the other players!

Handing out goody bags at the last season game, posing with his team, and receiving his medal.

Other than actually playing...Jack's favorite things about soccer are his adorable girlfriends, Hayden and Kyndall, and orange slices!

The Simple Things...

Because its just more fun to watch a movie in a fort!

Gotta love the sound of that Ice Cream Truck!

Jack was proud to use his own money this time!

The kids woke up bright and early to find their Easter baskets full of goodies and toys!



The Easter bunny had also hid lots of candy filled eggs around the house for them to find.

After church we headed over to grandma and papa Cameron's house for a yummy feast and an egg hunt prepared by Brevin and Tyler. This is a tradition in the making...second year in a row that these sweet boys have done this for the smaller cousins. Tyler even gave away one of his dollars from grandma to the cousin that found the most eggs!

I love the meetings at church on Easter Sunday, 3 hours where all that is spoken of is our Saviors resurection. Even in Primary, the Spirit is so strong as we speak of Him. I am especially grateful for these 3 (soon to be 4) amazing little spirits...

Happy Easter!

Big Brother Jack

Jack is so excited for his little brother to join our family. He is constantly talking to my belly (asking the baby if he wants to be named Boogart or Jett), tickling me in hopes of making Jett laugh, and asking daily when Jett is coming out of my belly. One day I came home from a quick errand and he asked if I went to get Jett out. Another time he came into our room and handed me his little blue blanket (one that Bree gave me when I was pregnant with him and he has used since the day he was born) and told me he wants to give it to baby Jett.

The following are pictures he has drawn, both highlighting his soon-to-be baby brother...

From left to right...Jack, Rian, dad, Dakota, mom. I reminded him that he forgot someone so he quickly drew baby Jett in the only space he could find on the page. He laughed hysterically at his artwork because Jett was standing on daddy's head and his foot was in his eye!

This picture is a little harder to see, but from what he tells us it is baby Jett in a spaceship! He was so proud of this one that he enlisted Rian's help to tape it up above his bed.

Now I just have to hope that the enthusiastic welcoming continues once he realizes babies cry a whole lot and require most of mom's attention!

Skillz...

She later scored a goal, which doesn't happen too often for defenders, but of course I didn't have my camera on her at the time...ugh!

Pre-teen?

Dakota turns 11!

We started the day off with her favorite breakfast...French Toast.

(Can you pick out my non-morning child?)

I later picked Dakota up from school for lunch...Subway, her absolute favorite.

After school...presents, cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

(I think for my next birthday, I will wish that my kids would STOP growing up so fast!)