VERY LAST day of FOOTPRINTS (for Brynn)

I can't believe Brynn has had her LAST day at Footprints...it seems like such a short time ago that she was starting the little two year old class...WAHHH!

Here are the girls on the LAST day of Footprints this year.  

I told Brynn I wanted to take a picture of her helping me deliver all the cleaning bottles...she is always helping me with this in the mornings before school starts and I'm going to miss it SO MUCH next year when she isn't there!  BOO!

Brynn's very first day of Footprints almost three years ago...she started in Mrs. Diane and Mrs. Sheila's class when she was two, and now she's FIVE and graduating from Pre-K.  WOW!

BUT BRING ON THE SUMMERTIME!

Last week of Footprints

The last week of school our Pre-K class spent a lot of time practicing for their program...

And Brynn and Emory spent lots of time with some of their little friends whose mom, Karry, also works at Footprints.  Our kids spend a lot of extra time before and after school together.  It's going to be so sad that Brynn and Jack Allen won't be with us next year!  =(

I channeled my inner "graduation sadness" =) by making some graduation cookies for Brynn's class..

and that Wednesday night "Mr. Jordan" (he and Ryan meet together to do a Bible study) came over and brought a couple of kayaks..the girls and I paddle-boated while the boys attempted to race across the pond...Jordan smoked Ryan.  HA!

We turned on the water-proof blue-tooth speaker and jammed out on the pond...it was awesome!

Emory's Class Program

Emory's class at Footprints had a little program for the parents during the last week of school.  It was so cute.  They sang a couple of little songs, and then handed out some Mother and Father's Day gifts and the binder they had been working on all school year.  

The best part of the whole thing was probably when they walked in.  The program was at 9:15 that Tuesday morning and Ryan was able to get away just for an hour or so to come.  When Emory walked in and saw him she immediately started yelling "THAT'S MY DADDY!  MY DADDY IS HERE!  THAT'S MY DADDY! and on and on and on."  I could have started ugly crying right there it was so precious.  In true second child fashion we forgot the video camera and it kills me that I missed out on recording one of the sweetest moments I've ever seen!  But as Ryan said "I don't really need that on camera.  I will never forget that for the rest of my life!"  BOOHOO!  It was just adorable!  

Showing Daddy her letter binder and some of the things she had made.  

1 - HOW DOES SHE LOOK SO OLD?
And 2 - God has truly blessed our program with amazing teachers.  These ladies are absolutely amazing.  They have such a love for these kids and just shower them with God's love and teach them His Word all day.  Thank you Mrs. Diane and Mrs. Sheila!  We love you!  (Because Emory is a September birthday she will be in their class again next year, just as one of the oldest kiddos instead of one of the youngest).  I'm so thankful she gets to have the again!

Mother's Day - Brynn's BROKEN wrist!

We really had a wonderful Mother's Day...I guess so wonderful that I didn't take ANY pictures until we ended up in the ER that night.  

We had a great service and church and then ordered Outback take-out and ate at Pam and Rick's which was delicious and more relaxing than us having all five grand-daughters in the restaurant on Mother's Day.  

We got to stop by my parents house really quick to see Granny and Pawpaw and wish Granny a Happy Mother's Day before we headed home to take naps.  

Then we headed back to my parents that night to eat together and celebrate Mother's Day with them.

Ryan did pretty good in the gift department this year...WE GOT A MINI-VAN!  We got it a couple of weeks ago but I'm definitely considering that a great present!  I also took a picture of some shoes and a purse that I wanted at TJ Maxx and he actually went by and got them.  (Although I told him I needed the shoes in a size 8 and by the time he went by there the 8's were gone so he said "I just got the 7's...figured they would be fine."  HA!  Seriously?  Men are SO CLUELESS sometimes.  But I'd still say he did UMPTEEN TIMES better than a couple of years ago when he got me a SKILLET...I still haven't let him live that one down.      

And then the night took a turn for the worse...we were taking a walk in a cute little neighborhood by their house and we started racing.  We were cracking up because she was seriously almost beating us...like she actually BEAT my mom and my mom was trying her hardest to win.  Anyway...we were having a big old time running around and then it was starting to get dark and we kept running around and she just fell and tripped one time and landed on her wrist wrong.  I was worried she was going to have skinned up her entire face and legs but there wasn't one scratch.  Just what we thought might be a BROKEN WRIST!

We headed to the ER and sure enough...it was broken.  When we got there we knew three people that were working, from the triage nurse, to the nurse, to the ER doctor.  We didn't wait ONE second, even though the waiting room was super crazy.  I felt bad but I wasn't going to go wait in that huge line.  She was teary but did great...especially once the x-rays were over and the medicine was working.

They made a special cast and splint for overnight and she was already feeling good.  She slept fine that night and then Ryan was able to get us in to see the orthopedic doctor the very next morning at 8:30 (Ryan working at St. Francis and knowing lots of the orthopedic doctors definitely helped in this situation!)

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FROM THE EMERGENCY ROOM!  So thankful to be this girls' mommy and that everything turned out just fine.

Weekend of FUN!

A couple of weekends ago was CRAZY BUSY...but SO MUCH FUN!

To start things off...on Friday night we had an end of the year college event.."Costume Dodgeball", followed by a picnic at Pam and Rick's

Saturday morning we were up bright and early for "Saturday School"...a kindergarten orientation event at Brynn's new elementary school.

After a quick lunch we headed to the park for Frankie's SIXTH birthday!  Happy birthday Frankie!

We headed home for quick naps and then went to see Ansley in a production of the musical "Annie!"  She was AWESOME...seriously I was so amazed and proud of her!

Of course I didn't see much of the second half because this little wiggle worm and I were hanging out in the back.  She actually did pretty well but toward the end she was getting a TAD too loud.  HA!

GREAT JOB ANSLEY!

The next day was Sunday, Mother's Day.  We had a fun and busy day but considering we ended up in the ER at 8:30 that night...well...that's another post by itself.  HA!

Footprints Picnic

Everywhere at Footprints we have a "End of Year" celebration picnic.  All the kids and families are invited, and it's during the school day.  This year Ryan helped grill and all the grandparents got to take off work and come for a little bit.  

Emory and her buddy Abbie-Kayte.  AK's mom works at Footprints so these two are always the first ones at school and get lots of extra playing time together while all of us moms are getting ready for the day.  =)

And Jack-Allen and Brynn.  =)  It's going to be so sad and weird not having these two with us at school.  =(

 Grandma and Pamaw at the picnic!  I forgot to take pictures of Papaw and Grandpa.  Sorry boys!

Awesome grillers!

After school that day we had to run a couple of errands and the stars aligned and we were all holding hands walking in to the mall...BE STILL MY HEART!

Park and Baseball

The girls love Capaha Park...the ducks and geese are fun to watch (although I don't like to get too close...those things freak me out).  They have a new AWESOME park and an older park and the girls love those.  When we have an hour to kill we love to head over to play.  

One Tuesday we watched our friend Cameron bc Matt and Kristi had something that night so we loaded up and headed to the SEMO baseball game together.  These girls LOVED the free tailgate food.

We ran into McKenna and Ashley!  They are some of Kristi's gymnasts so they got to love on Cameron too!

And we got to hang out with Cody and Kaley!  Bandermann family PHOTO BOMB!

LOVE Baseball Nights!

5 Year Check-Up and Milestones....

One Friday night the college kids hosted a "College Leader Appreciation Dinner"...I didn't take any pictures other than some of our kiddos sitting around eating but it was a wonderful night and we are so thankful to everyone who helped make and serve our awesome dinner!

We started to read the Little House on the Prairie books and we read about a chapter a night.  We finally finished the first book and Brynn was SO PROUD!  We've been watching the TV show too and she always wants her hair braided like Laura Ingalls!  HA!

And then it was time for her FIVE YEAR CHECK-UP.  She knew she was getting some kindergarten booster shots but this was definitely the hardest appt for her.  The last few times she's gotten shots she doesn't care at all, but she was crying and sad before.  Finally she's acting like I did when I got shots!  HA!  I was trying to perk her up by taking some silly selfies...

Although she had some funny moments waiting for the "shot lady" to come in...

FIVE YEAR STATS include...
***She weighs 40 pounds exactly, which is the 41 %
***She is 42 1/4 inches tall, which is the 50%

OUTSIDE all the TIME!

The weather this spring has been great.  We've enjoyed lots of time outside...one of my favorite things being PLANTING stuff!  

Hanging out outside...LOVE IT!

We love getting ice cream downtown and walking by the river.  SO FUN!

One night we took the ENTIRE meal down to the grill and made an entire meal (not just the meat) on the grill from start to finish.  Then we just ate at the old little table downstairs under the deck.  It was GLORIOUS!  Brynn loved helping get the asparagus ready.  =)

While Daddy was grilling we were drawing with chalk.