May was a big month for us. Lots of changes ahead of us and lots of endings. This girl did a great job in the school's musical Hats! The kids sang a lot of fun songs and Aria got to wear her very favorite hat. I just adore this one toothed wonder.
Just playing at the park. She looks so much like her Daddy here.
We finished up preschool with Jeff this month. Here we are making straw sculptures while learning to use our scissors.
This was our co-op group this past year. It was crazy and fun and so great for Nate and I to spend some alone time together. We are so sad that half of them are gone and the other half will be leaving soon. We love them all dearly.
Jeff and Nolan... our best buddies. eating apples...
Here is Jeff trying to read the eye chart and Aria trying not to help... :)
Another scientific experiment with our besties. So glad they live next door.
Jeff had a few dress rehearsals down in Pearland at the church this month, so this girl and I did homework, piano and even had time left over for scootering. It was fun getting to be with this girl.
We recently realigned the boundaries for our ward and in an effort to supply a little togetherness for the newly joined wards, we headed to the beach. We totally had a blast and we're so glad we went. I don't think we really met anyone knew, but we did bond as a family, and that made it all worth it... :)
I love Jeff's movement here. Just perfect. He was finally brave enough to try the waves. He hasn't been so sure at pretty much any other beach. I'm so proud of him, wave jumping and all.
Aria made a turtle in art class, it's so fun to see her work. She made it a fairy house to live in right outside our front door.
Jeff's graduation! He did fantastic this year and has grown so much...
The group was so fun and consistent and organized I would totally do it with these lovely ladies again. I'm going to miss them for sure. JEff too.
I've always loved Aria's heart maps.
We didn't get to bring home as much stuff this year, but we had fun going through all of it with Aria. She seemed to happy to be the one we were focused on. I only hope Nate can come with us next year.
Her vocabulary in writing has gotten quite large and she seems very creative. Here she is writing about the robot she made.
She loved this thing...
I also really loved this story she wrote about Jeff, here she is reading it to him.
Jeff and Aria have become so close lately... I wish I could just capture them this way and leave them there. curled up by each other... Jeff sucking his thumb.... princess sheets. :)... poor Jeff.
And the day finally arrived!! Nate finally graduated with his Masters from UT Houston, Dental Branch. I am so proud of his hard work. It's been kind of a long and sometimes difficult road for us. But I'm so happy for the opportunities that it's opened for him and that we can move forward to a new phase of our lives. We hear that we'll look back on these years with fondness and wish we could be there again. But for right now, we are both glad to be moving on.
As many of you know, this is not exactly the first time that Nate has graduated. I think he's pretty amazing and deserves to be celebrated just as much this day as any other day before. But for this experience it was me and the kids. It was only us at the graduation and to be honest it was, despite the crowds of people, intimate and endearing. Way less stressful and somewhat more enjoyable.
I finally made my way down to U of H, which has a pretty campus and we got to experience it alone.
As Nate went across we all shouted "Way to Go, Daddy!" I'm not sure he heard us, but it was fun anyway... He was one of the last ones to cross... hence all of the interested people there on the stage... :)
The only bad thing about being by ourselves is that we had no one to take our pictures..
and the one guy we asked actually didn't do too bad, but we only had one to choose from... so this is what we got.
He looked hugely handsome in the ridiculous regalia that is graduation.
Some of his best buds while here...
The kids still love to climb... every where they go.... church clothes or not.
We celebrated at Nate's choice of restaurant... Pappasito's. We never just go out to celebrate so this was really a treat.
Nate got snap happy. He loves this dress.
it's kind of embarrassing... :)
Right after graduation, we went straight to Jeff's musical theatre performance. He did such a good job. But we sat in the WORST spot. There's always someone in front of him. So is the woes of tall people
I guess...
Here he is sitting right next to his favorite buddy Ezra.
Nate is purchasing a practice from Dr. Ronald C. Auvenshine at Medcentertmj.com He has been like a father to Nate these past 3 years as Nate has grown in experience and expertise... He was unable to make it to his graduation so in order to 'make it up' to him, which was totally unnecessary, he took us out to dinner at a restaurant that was way too fancy for me, but I couldn't help but get dressed up to go out. but don't worry, we're keeping it real with our ghetto fabulous ironing board.
Nate was pretty certain he would hate this skirt until I got it all done. Then he got snap happy...
And don't even worry about it, we got asked if we were going to prom.
It was fun to get dressed up and to eat fancy southern food. We tried turtle soup and Nate had his first ever dose of accidental sherry in his food. Luckily, he wasn't driving so I think we survived the night. I forgot to ask him the next morning if he felt hung over.. :)
When it rains in Houston, it pours... What is rain good for? Mud parties. oh I mean, Mud zombies...
And finally Aria's last day of school. Aria is such a good sister to share with him so much.
She made some good friends this year, and it was so fun to see her get new relationships. Here she is with Charlotte, Francesca, and Autry.
Ms. Estrada was so good to Aria this year. She was very helpful with helping my find things for her to read and we have utilized it so much this summer. At our very first teacher conference, Ms. Estrada mentioned that Aria would just run and give Ms. Warner great big hugs, she was aiming for the time when Aria would do the same to her, but Aria seemed more cautious around her. I can officially say that the last day, Aria gave one of the longest squeezes I've ever seen to Ms. Estrada, and Ms. Estrada looked over. I said, knowingly, and yet not really thinking about it, "That's how she speaks..." and without any doubt in my mind I knew that Aria loved her. Ms. Estrada and I both had tears in our eyes. It was then that I knew it had been a good school year. Thanks for really helping her grow as our little writer.
The next day we spent at the children's museum with our friends.
We've been washing our hair to make sure it's free of lice. way way way more time consuming than I'm making it sound....I never truly understood the term nit-picky until now.
And we participated in our first ever crawfish boil. Such a tiny amount of meat. I think I'd rather eat lobster... :) But it was fun! And something every southern person should do... at least once...
What a big month for us, I can't wait to see what June will bring. :)
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