memorial day weekend/nana's birthday

Memorial Day usually coincides with my mom's birthday.  This year we spent the holiday morning at the pool and then had everyone over for a cook out for dinner.

Twins!

RED | WHITE | BLUE

Nana always gets a strawberry pie for her birthday.  

Nana's birthday was today so we went to the pool after school and had pizza before Bryce had to go to baseball practice.

mother's day

I'm so lucky to be called "mama" by these two!

They spoiled me with cards and gifts before we headed to church.  

After church we headed to Kelly's house for Chase's birthday.  My mom came and we enjoyed Mother's Day together.  Our next stop was to visit Jason's mom and his grandmother.  I had a little down time at home to read before we headed to dinner and dessert at two of my favorite places.  It was a fun and relaxing day spend with the ones I love!

gymanstics

Emmy had her end of season showcase today.  She is finishing up her level 1 season and will most likely be moving up to level 2 in June.  She enjoys gymnastics and she's doing well, but I'll be interested to see how far she goes once the practices become more of a time commitment.  Next season will be three hour sessions, two days a week.

Her level is broken in to two practice groups.  She only practices with four of these girls, so it was fun to see all the girls at her level.

The girls each had a beam, bar and floor routine they performed.  They also did a run down the track with a jump for the vault!  She doesn't compete at this level so all the girls got a participation medal (he he) and got to stand on the podium!

It was fun watching all of her hard work from the season come together in this show!

nana comes to school

The kids both had events at school today and Nana was able to come support them.  

Emmy had her first grade musical.  They put on a show during the day for students and one in the evening for parents.  Nana opted to come during the school day.

After Emmy's show, Nana was able to stay and visit Bryce's Kindness Fair.  Through a grant, the kids were given $10 and tasked with planning and executing an act of kindness in the community.  Today they shared their power point presentations about their projects.  

Bryce chose to donate items to the SPCA.  

The kids were excited to have Nana there for their special events.

kentucky derby

We hosted a derby party this year and it was so much fun!

I found a few simple decorations on etsy that pulled everything together.

I don't typically buy red roses, but these fit the theme and they were beautiful.

I'm not a bartender and neither is Jason so we took the easy way out on the mint juleps.

I ordered a derby pie from a local bakery and it was delicious.  

I tried to make as many themed foods as I could.

I got nuggets from Chick Fil A for the chicken and waffles.

I LOVE pimento cheese!

I threw my outfit together at the last minute, but I think it turned out well.  I found the hat at Kohls and primed a dress from Amazon!  Jason had his derby suit from last year that he wore for Easter.

Our friends were good sports and dressed up too!

Ann and her husband Chad joked that there were coming as the horse and jockey!!

It was a good mix of hats and fascinators!

The derby ladies!

Cheers!

We pulled up the names of the horses on the tv and everyone cast their votes and we all bet $2 to make it fun.  I picked the winning horse and then unfortunately he was disqualified.  My $16 winnings never made it into my hands before I had to give it up, ha!

We had such a fun evening and everyone wants us to host it again next year.  Hopefully our sports schedule will allow us to do it again next year as last year Emmy had a gymnastics show and Bryce a baseball tournament on derby day!

daniel boone

The fourth grade had their wax museum today where they dress as an important figures in Virginia history and share important facts about their person. 

Bryce chose Daniel Boone.  As soon as he came home with the news, Jason bought him a costume and a book so he could look the part and know the part.  However, when the costume came in, Jason was dissatisfied with how cheap the hat looked so he and Bryce took it upon themselves to make their own coon skin cap.

They trapped and killed a raccoon, skinned and tanned it and Jason sewed it together.  

Other than a slight smell, it turned out really well and everyone was impressed.

Jason and I enjoyed visiting their "museum" and learning about famous Virginians.  

zoo field trip

Today was Emmy's zoo field trip.

Jason and I were excited to both be able to tag along and chaperone.

We only had Emmy's little friend Daphne in our group so it made for an easy and enjoyable day.

We were able to explore the zoo on our own in small groups and have lunch on our own, but we still ran into friends throughout the day.

I think this was the first time Emmy was brave enough to feed the giraffes.

There were quite a few baby animals on this visit.

This little monkey and his sibling were the cutest things.  The glare makes him look a little funny, but his little brother/sister, was the cutest thing.  It was asleep curled up with a yoda stuffed animal.  

We had to drive to the zoo and meet the bus, but we were able to bring Emmy home with us.  She clearly had a fun and exhausting day!  

She woke up for ice cream though!

It was such a fun and special day with our favorite first grader.