Splash Day!

Thursday, the 22nd, was Cooper's and Calli's last day of preschool and their splash day! I can't believe Cooper's first year of preschool is over and next year she will be in the 4 year old class - and then graduating! And Calli, even though she just started in January, has learned and grown so much these past few months and we have been so thankful for the opportunity for her to start preschool. This was a fun day to celebrate!

I dropped the girls off, went home for one last hour by myself, and then headed back up to have fun at Splash Day with them. It was a little cloudy that morning, so the girls were a little chilly, but that didn't stop Calli from having a blast! She was loving life at splash day. :)

 

Cooper, on the other hand, was a little more reserved and hanging back. She had to have some encouragement to get in the water, and even then, she decided she would rather get wrapped up in her towel and sit with me for a minute.

 

She warmed up at the bubble station, though, and I was even able to get a picture with her and her cute friend Shea - also in a tu-tu.

 

After they played in the water, everyone had a picnic together! It was so fun to get to do this with the girls and their classes - I love how simple things like this are such a big deal to them! They helped me make cookies for all their teachers, and we passed them out while we were all outside. We love Wee Place and the wonderful team that loves on our girls so well!

 

 We had a wonderful year at Wee Place, are so excited about the summer that is ahead of us, and I know we will all be excited about the girls going back to school there in the fall! :) 

A Visit From Gigi and Peeps!

We had a visit from Gigi and Peeps a couple of weekends ago! They have been busy taking care of Grandma Dane, Papaw, and Mamaw these last few months, so we have not seen them in awhile. We had a great, full weekend, and the girls and we were excited to have them here!

They got in town late Friday night, so they went on to a hotel and we met up with them Saturday morning. We didn't tell the girls they were in town yet, and only told them we were going to eat breakfast somewhere. We went to their hotel, and Cooper said, "You know this is a hotel, right?" We went up to their room and told the girls to knock on the door. They were pretty excited when Gigi opened it! We had a great breakfast at their hotel and then the girls got to swim in the pool! It was a fun morning.
That afternoon, we went to pick strawberries at the strawberry farm in Alvin. That was a fun adventure!

 

 

From there, we went on to Pearland, and did some shopping and had dinner. It was a fun, full day!

Sunday, after church, Randy and I had a wedding to go to north of Houston, about two hours away. Our friend Peter was getting married to Monica, and we were so excited to get to go celebrate with them. We were thankful that Gigi and Peeps were staying until Monday so they could stay with the girls, and it was a fun day away with Randy.

 

Michael came without Noelle, because it would have been a long drive from Ft. Worth for her, being so close to her due date! We are so ready for Haddon to be here! Kathy and Greg are pretty ready, too. I got to hang out with Flat Noelle, though. :)

We got in late Sunday night, but Monday was another full day! Calli had her six month check up with her liver specialist in Houston in the morning, so we all went up, Calli and I left everyone else at the zoo, which is right across the street from the medical center where her doctor is, and then went to her appointment. We got a great report, but did have to do bloodwork - and that was not so great. I actually had to lay on top of her this time to allow them to draw blood. Not my (or her) favorite part of the weekend. :(

After the appointment, though, we went back over to the zoo and met up with everyone. Then we had a fun afternoon there!

This picture cracks me up. Randy told the girls to look scared. This is Kendall's scared face, and Cooper wasn't playing along.  

Gigi and Peeps headed north from there, and we headed back to LJ. We had a great weekend with them! We crammed a lot in, but it was fun and I think it made the girls even more ready for summer! Thanks for coming, Gigi and Peeps!

Safety Day

Last Friday was Safety Day for the Kindergarteners at Kendall's school! They spent the day learning about all different kinds of safety issues and showing off what they have learned in order to keep themselves safe. Officer Wright, the police man that has come and taught them once a month all year, was there, and he brought his police car and another officer brought his motorcycle. A fireman was also there with the fire truck and they got to spray the water hose!

Kendall and Emily locked in the squad car!

 

Randy and I both volunteered and loved getting to watch Kendall enjoy the day. We were amazed that she tried squirting the fire hose! She has grown so much this year...

 

 

All the kids got to bring their bikes and ride them around the track! But before they could do that, they had to sign off that they could say their phone number, their address, their parents' names, tell right from left, tell which shapes were which, and give directions. Once they could do all that, they were given their Brannen Drivers License! So cute! Here Kendall is telling me her phone number. She worked so hard on it and was able to say it!

 

Then she got to go out to the track with her bike! She was so excited. Such a fun day!

She made sure to put her puppy in her basket on the front before we left the house that morning.

They got to have a snack stop on the track! Water, juice boxes, and goldfish.  

 

 

We're so proud of how hard Kendall has worked this year and how much she has learned. We loved getting to be there to watch her class celebrate such a fun year! These next couple weeks are going to be so fun!

Kendall's Kindergarten Program

Kendall's Kindergarten program was last week and this year it was a Fiesta!! She brought home a CD with the songs about a month ago, so our whole family has heard them over and over and over again. Randy joked that even though we've heard them so much, it's been a nice break from hearing Frozen music all the time. :) Thursday was finally the day of the performances, and we were all very ready!! Kendall told Randy that week, "I think maybe I will get stage fright." Seriously. So he prayed with her about that, and they talked about it on their way to school every morning. They had one performance at 8:30 that the whole school came to, and another that evening at 5:30. We all went to both and were able to get some cute pictures and videos.

I have loved her class this year and all the sweet friends she has made. I'll be sad when they are all mixed up to go to first grade next year!  

Loved how Calli set her baby up to watch the show. :) And this is what she does when we ask her to "smile!" lately. Such a cheeser.

Sweet friends came to watch her evening performance! Greg and Kathy and Erin and Aubrey all came. They were so sweet to come support her and she loved having them there.

Earlier in the week, she told Randy that he needed to bring her flowers. Where does she even get stuff like this?? So when we came to the morning performance and he didn't have flowers, she commented on it. That afternoon on his way home from work, he stopped and got some, and hid them in the van when he came to pick us up to go to the school. He even walked in with us but just hid them behind his back. When he gave them to her after the show, she was so surprised and said, "I didn't even know you had these!" So funny.

And here's a couple quick videos of some of the songs. It was a really cute show, all the stage decorations were so cute, and the costumes all the kids wore were awesome. Kendall was very serious - probably because she was nervous - so she doesn't smile very much, but she was very focused on making sure she did the motions correctly. Sweet girl.

 

 

 

A Party, the Plaza, and Pancakes

Wrapping up April on the blog! We had a fun birthday party a couple Saturdays ago for our friend P. He had a SuperWhy party and the girls had so much fun. Randy had something he had to help with for church that day, so I was on my own with the girls. It went pretty well! Thinking back to about a year ago, this is something that would have been pretty overwhelming to me - taking all three somewhere by myself. But we're getting used to it and I'm thankful that we're able to go do fun things like this!

 The girls are pretty obsessed with P's new little sister. She is 7 months old now and they just love on her every chance they get. She was napping for part of the time we were there, but when Lindsey brought her out, they were all over her. She's pretty stinkin adorable.

Friday night concerts on the plaza have started! This is one of my favorite things about our little town. Every Friday night from April to July, the city hosts live music on the plaza downtown. Everyone just brings their lawn chairs, picnics, and hangs out listening to music. We have been once this year already and look forward to more Friday nights out there! The girls had fun at this one with Abigail!

And finally, I love this picture so much. Cooper is Randy's little sous-chef and HAS to be up on the counter with us whenever we are cooking. Randy makes pancakes most Saturday mornings for the girls, and Cooper took some time out from being a fairy princess to help him cook. :) Priceless.