Last of 7th Grade

aidan's last day of 7th grade was today. {i might have forgotten to publish this post...}

he ended the school year well - for the most part - he did have a little mishap with some behavior issues in athletics which ultimately affected his grade. grrr...

I can't believe how fast this school year went by and now he's entering his last year of junior high. how is it possible he's one school year away from high school. i mean - i just graduated!!! ;)

we are so glad and ready for summer and some sleeping in!!!

Fun in the Sun

on memorial day i wanted to go to the pool at the Y so bad - but roy was being a bore and ryan does what daddy does when he's home - and aidan was grounded.  so - i asked cole if he wanted to go with mommy to the pool and of course he said yes!  he pretty much likes to do whatever i do - especially if it involves going somewhere :)

i packed a bag and got us changed and off we went - leaving the bores behind!  we had such a fun time.  i wish i had been able to get more pictures - but with it just being the two of us - i wasn't comfortable trying to take pics in the water.

this was our first time ever at the Y pool - and it was so nice.  very clean and well kept and it was pretty big too!  there was a good size kiddie pool/play area - complete with a little water slide.  cole loved that!  he probably went down it 20 times!  we also ventured over to the "big water" and he jumped off the side to me a few times.  he loved that too!  he also practiced kicking his legs and climbing out by himself.  such a big boy!

he loves the water and i think we will be spending many summer days there this summer!  hopefully next time the other boys will want to join us!

one good thing about fun in the sun and at the pool is it makes for long naps afterwards ;)  cole was one sleepy boy when we got back home and he took a good, long nap!

only two more days of school left for aidan and then we can say that summer has officially started!  

More Pictures

i wanted to share some more pictures from the family bbq we had after uncle tom's funeral.  these pictures were taken by roy's aunt gloria (his mom's sister).  nothing new to post - just wanted to share :)

 

{my mother-in-law and her 3 boys ~ from lt to rt ~ robert, roy, raymond}

{the 3 boy thing runs in the family ;)}

{can you find our family of 5?!  i love, love, love this pic!}

{me and my man}

{me and 2 of my guys}

i hope everyone has a happy and safe memorial day weekend!  thank you to all who serve!

Reunite

yesterday was a bittersweet day for my husband's family. his uncle tom (roy's mom's brother) passed away on monday morning and his funeral was yesterday. bitter because of the loss of roy's uncle - and sweet because we were able to spend a lot of time with his aunts and uncles and cousins and now their children. i love roy's family. they have embraced me so graciously and love our boys. that's all this girl needs in life :)

my husband's uncle was a wonderful man who was full of life and his greatest wish was to see all his family be together. he would have been a happy man yesterday.

i have to share this detail because it just brought joy to my heart: tom's favorite beer was lonestar - i know can you believe?! ha! - and so all the cousins and his daughters went to his graveside after the funeral and burial and we all sat around talking and they reminisced about growing up all together and we just sat out there in lawn chairs and blankets and drank lonestar. we had a big cooler full! it was something that I know his daughters and his nieces and nephews will cherish for a lifetime. that's what tom loved to do - hang out with his family and drink his lonestar! isn't life so simple sometimes?!

yesterday evening we all ventured over to another aunt and uncle's home and had a huge BBQ complete with swimming and football. good memories. my boys loved every second of it and so did we.

uncle tom ~ your presence will be greatly missed - but you will never be forgotten.  you can bet this family will keep your memory and spirit alive.  may you rest in peace.

bAyLoR

i am pretty bummed to announce that i will not be attending baylor in the fall.  i found out last week that i was not picked for one of the scholarships i was waiting on.  i had all the financial aspect covered except for about $5000.  and when you have a family of 5 living on one income - that is a lot.  there is just no way we can cover that.  so - with that said - i will be attending tarelton and am trying to get excited about it.  {sigh}

i know tarelton is a great school and in the end - does it really matter where your degree is from?!  no - probably not.  but i had my hopes on baylor and am kind of mourning its loss.  hey - at least i got accepted right?!  ;)  i can always hold that near and dear to my heart! 

A Little Here + A Little There

our weekend was pretty boring and layed back.  actually all of last week was.  this was my first week to start my summer vacay - so i was pretty excited about that!  in case you're wondering - i quit working 2 summers ago in order to go back to school full time and get my bachelor's degree.  i want to teach junior high english - i know - i'm special ;)  i eventually want to get my masters to teach on the community college level.  one step at a time!

so - our week was fairly quiet.  we did join the YMCA the week before last - so i have been kind of addicted to going there.  aidan and i met with one of their trainers and had him walk us thru a good work-out session for us both in the weight room.  i'm so glad about that because i really have no clue about those kinds of things.  clearly.  just look at me.  i love cookies.  and cake.  and brownies.  anyway...

we've done the weight room together and the treadmills and the stationary bikes.  i like all those things - but i tend to get bored if that's all i do.  so wednesday i tried a body shaping class with a friend from church and i really liked it!  i was probably one of the worst ones in there - but who cares.  that's one good thing about getting 'older' - you tend to not care about that stuff anymore :)  then thursday i tried a yoga class.  i'll be honest - i have always thought yoga was for weird people and not something i would ever enjoy - but i LOVED it!  it was so relaxing and i left there feeling long, lean, and limber!  now don't get me wrong - i was sweating like a pig and wasn't the greatest at all the poses/movements - but i gave it my all!  and i'll definitely be going back :)

last saturday we all traveled to nacogdoches for the day to see my little brother graduate from SFA.  it was a long day with 3 boys - but i wouldn't have missed it!  it was nice to see some family that i haven't seen in awhile and just enjoy the day all together.  i am so proud of my brother. 

{how a 2 yr old stays entertained during a 3 hr graduation}

{how a 5 yr old stays entertained}

{how a 30-something stays entertained - not really!  ryan took that ;)}

{my handsome graduate}

{our 5 plus the graduate!  clearly two people were not interested in picture taking...}







Slowly catching up

i added ryan's 5th birthday post - you can find it here.  i'm still trying to play catch up!  my semester just ended - so i can finally breathe :) 

scroll down to see what i also posted today...

Stache-no-more!

aidan thinks he's a man now - as if he didn't already!  he has been sportin' what we like to refer to as a "douch-stache" - haha!  i know that sounds so wrong - but we all think it's so funny!  it looked just like derek holland's mustache - you know - the RANGERS pitcher ;)

anyway - it was time to do something about it.  i tried to take him to get it waxed - but he refused.  he's only 12 - so i wasn't quite ready for him to shave yet - but roy promised me it wasn't going to grow back in full swing overnight.  he better be right. 

so - daddy got after it and showed him the ropes on how to shave.  {insert me crying here}

i'll let the pictures speak for themselves - some are pretty funny!  he's a dork and is always trying to be funny!

{don't mind the hair on his back - ha! - i had just cut his hair and we hadn't cleaned him up}

{two little brothers watching their big brother}

{my handsome boy}



how we've gotten to this point - i'll never know.  everyday i'm watching him turn into a young man.  {sigh}

Kindergarten Round-Up

ryan had kindergarten round-up tonight.  kindergarten already?!  excuse me a sec while i go cry...

i just can't grasp the fact that he is 5 and starting school in a few months.  i know i've been thru this before, but it's just as hard this time around.  and i'm sure will be again when cole starts.  i'm having a hard time accepting that i am out of the having babies stage and getting more and more into the having big boys stage. 

crying...

this post was supposed to be happy.  oops.

{on our way}

anyhoo - kindergarten round-up :)  it was fun being back at the elementary school and seeing how much it has changed since aidan was there.  aidan had fun seeing old teachers and i bawled laughed as they couldn't believe how tall he has gotten and how grown up he is.  {sigh}

we got to meet the new kindergarten teachers and see the classrooms.  we don't know who his teacher is yet - but it was nice to be able to meet them all.  ryan was so shy to talk to the teachers and is very intimidated by this whole process.  but - he did love seeing all the neat stuff in the classrooms!  good thing we have all summer to get ready!  we are going to need it!

i know he will love school and he will become such a big boy there.  hopefully roy will be a big boy too when we drop him off on the first day ;)