Memorial Weekend

Happy Memorial Day folks!

Isn't it just fabulous that our summer vacations always starts with a loooong weekend?  I personally can't think of a better way to get us into summer mode.

I thought I'd just pop in and share a few pics from our summer vaca kick off...gotta love having an awesome Aunt and Uncle with a lake house.  Big shout out to them-not only did they invite our family of 5, they welcomed two of Jack's friends!

Naturally, the majority of our time was spent outside on the lake.  We managed to squeeze in a little bit of everything.

And in case you are wondering, yes, Jack's two friends are twins.

Lucy developed a serious HERO CRUSH over the course of the weekend.  I'm still trying to figure out how she knew which twin to fall for.  I shudder to think that this is only the beginning.

If Lucy wasn't pining over her hero, she was wrestling with him.

Or foe tubing with him.  He was such a sport and I must admit, quite a gentleman with my baby.

Although it may look like Lu had the most fun, all five kiddos had a blast.  The weather was gorgeous, the lake was smooth, and the company was fabulous!

Not a bad way to kick off SuMmEr Twenty-Sixteen!

School's Out For Summer!

Schools Out For Summer and we could not be more excited around here!  Yippee!

We have literally spent the entire last week celebrating the close to an incredible Kindergarten year and a near as satisfying {too much to explain there} 2nd grade year.  

I started the week with a way too fun end of year Kindergarten Carnival.  All of the K classes got together and us Mom's planned an outdoor foe carnival for the kiddos.  I was so busy manning my face painting booth {trust me, it was not pretty} that I don't have any photos.  Boo!

But imagine 100 kindergartners running around eating popcorn, cotton candy, visiting booths, and winning prizes...so much fun!  Lucy even tagged along for the festivities.  Girlfriend was having so much fun I hardly even saw her.  Maggie has the sweetest group of friends who kept their eyes on the littlest for me.

Come Tuesday, I was more than ready to sit back and relax to Ms. R's class version of The 3 Little Pigs.  My fave group of K kids hit the stage and I was just waiting for a Maggie meltdown.  If you may recall Maggie and performing are like oil and water.

To my most pleasant surprise and utter shock...Maggie rocked her part!  Not a tear or a wince of anxiety {which in turn almost had me in tears}.  She even sang the end of the year song and danced.  What?!?! Big stuff for my girl!  I was so incredibly proud of her I was literally squealing with joy!

My, my, my what a year can do!

The performance was followed up with a darling reception back in the classroom.  Ms. R put on an incredibly endearing slide show for us parents.  I don't think there was a dry eye in the room {including me and the teacher}.

We've have been so incredibly blessed with this lovely lady for an entire year.  I can't imagine a better teacher for my Magpie.  I had a very hard time saying goodbye and I warned her that I may be stalking her next year....trust me, she is that wonderful!

All that sweetness was followed up by pure craziness the next day.  Wednesday was 2nd Grade party time.  Each class planned their own individual shindig.

Now I'm not one to brag, but ours was most definitely the BEST!  We went for a "Splashing Summer" theme.  After Lucy's little sponge and bucket game at her EOY party, I just knew we had to do something similar {but on a grander scale} for these big kids.

I did do a little better grabbing a few photos at this party than at Maggie's, but not much.  I was trying to manage 20 something second graders and water...yikes!

I whipped together a quick little center piece for the snack table.  We went light on the snacks offering goldfish, Swedish fish, water bottles, and popsicles....all in the name of summer, of course.

We set up a few water stations...they were a huge hit.  The kids were soaked!  We had splash ball slingshots, water soakers, and waterball bullseye.  All steals from the Dollar Store.

 After about 30 minutes of pure wet madness, we took up the water games and offered the kids a few summer themed activities to allow them some drying off time.  We had a beach ball relay...

...and a summer photo booth just to name a few.

The kiddos hung out and enjoyed some much needed FREE TIME.  2nd grade can be grueling...I shudder to think what 3rd grade is like.

By Thursday, we were all more than ready to say goodbye to school and hello to summer.  We enjoyed the last day off the bus with a party in our neighbor's yard.  We called it "Popsicles & Popcorn On the Porch".  We had an incredible turn out and the kids had a good ol' time running off that last day of school energy.

By the time we walked home, my kiddos were zapped.  However, there was still one more surprise looming...The Walk of Fame...

I listed a few of both Jack and Maggie's accomplishments from this school year on each side of the walkway.  At the end there was a near novel listing everything amazing that I could remember.  I just adore watching them read that.

Last year when I asked Jack to stand next to his fave sign he picked the last and most detailed one {he was so proud}, this year he chose this one.  See?  Not such a huge fan of 2nd grade, but not for any particular reason.  Hoping his passion for school returns next year.

Maggie, on the other hand, chose this sign.  Someone just can't wait to grow up!  It's killing me!

Shew...with all that behind us, we are looking forward to a nice loooong weekend.
Ready...Set...Go....Summer here we come!!

Royals

All great things must come to an end.  We are knocking them out right and left.  First Lu's school year and now a great baseball season has come to an end.

Somehow I got weaseled into being team mom this season for the Royals.  I can't say I minded it, there were certainly some perks, but there was also a lot of behind the scenes work.  This was my first time carrying this title and I'm not so sure I'll be leaping up to volunteer again.

However, I did thoroughly enjoy planning the end of season team party.  Big surprise, huh?  Actually when the coaches approached me, they had me at the word "party".  {But, that's our secret}

With the playoffs being a huge scheduling factor, pinning down a date was almost near impossible.  But I was more than determined to make it happen.  I mean I had the party planned in my head since our first game back in March.

We finally settled on a date {our coach had some superstitions to contend with} and grabbed a pavilion to celebrate.  And speaking of "coach"...Coach Jeff was literally the most amazing positive and inspiring coach we have ever had the pleasure of playing for.

So on to the fun...

I made these quick center pieces for each of the tables.  My baseball bats were not made for the long haul.  I had to improvise with construction paper when I couldn't scrounge up any brown cardstock.  They made it through the party though and I suppose that is all that matters.

I made a place setting for each boy with a plate {for pizza} a fruit cup that I made baseball stickers for, a box of Cracker Jacks, and a personalized picture frame.

I had taken pictures of the boys all season so Clay helped me go through them to pick out one shot that each boy would love. {he somehow remembered every play and every game}  I added their names and numbers with my Cricut.  A super fun keepsake from the season.

Dessert was non other than Royal baseball cupcakes {baked by one of the mommas}.  Yum!

I set the utensils, parent food, party favors, and coaches gifts on another table.

I added a tag to a package of Big League Chew for all the boys to take home as a consumable favor.  From my experience, most boys can't resist some sort of candy.

In between a few impromptu baseball scrimmages, the boys chowed down and had one last hoorah together.  We really had a sweet team of boys this year.  I'm hoping we get the opportunity to play with them again.

Meanwhile the girls played with Shopkins and my camera.  I came home to find about 45 of these pictures on my camera.  I couldn't bring myself to delete all of them.  Such cuteness.

I was able to "borrow" my camera back for a brief second as the coaches presented a baseball and participation tee to each boy.  They had the wittiest and most endearing thing to say about each of the players.  Just more proof of how awesome our coaches were.

Sadly, with my camera being confiscated I didn't get a picture of Jack receiving his goodies from the coach.  There's always next season though.

Go Royals!

Next up...SCHOOL'S OUT!

Lucy's Last

Lucy celebrated her last day of pre-school in the young 3's class today.  I'd be lying if I said next year was going to be a huge transition.  Hardly...she will be attending the same pre-school and in the "older 3's" class.  Geez...that August birthday is a doozie.

Regardless, it was the end of another milestone year and therefore a reason to PAR-TAY!

This little group of three year olds are just darling.  But, seriously, what three olds aren't?  This age is so funny!

The kid's started the fun with a summer themed snack complete with festive paper goodies.

The party activity was decorating water bottles with summer embellishments.  I thought this was a very cute and unique idea.  Not to mention, Lucy really enjoyed it and has wanted to use her bottle everyday since.

The crew then headed outside for a few water relays and bubbles.  The water totally got me inspired for Jack's end of year 2nd grade party {more on that later}.

But, honestly, the most precious sight of all was seeing these 3 year olds go nuts over the bubble party.  Another reason to love this age...it doesn't take much to elicit giggles and squeals.

We ended the fun with Lucy passing out her goodie buckets.  She felt like the star of the show calling out her friends names and wishing them a Happy Summer!  She seriously melts my heart...

One down and two to go...I smell SuMmEr!  Woo hoo!

Summer Gifts

I can hardly believe another school has almost passed.  So bittersweet...I honestly can't wait to have my kiddies home {and lest I mention sleep past 6:00 am}, but at the same time they are a whole school year older.  Yikes!

To calm my fears of this trio of mine growing up too fast, I had to divert my attention.  What better way than getting together a few summer gifts to share with our terrific teachers and fabulous friends?

You must have figured out by now how much fun this is for me {it's seriously a problem}.  Not to mention, all of them are so deserving of a small token of our love and summer wishes.

Let's start with little Lu since she will be ending her school year a whole week ahead of her bigs.  I happened to have several buckets left over from Lucy's flamingo birthday.  I knew I had to put them to use somehow some way.

I ran into the Dollar Store {my fave} and grabbed a few packaged summer goodies....bubbles, silly straws, popsicle holders, squishy balls, and sidewalk chalk.  Most came in a package with multiple items so it was super inexpensive.

I also had to grab a couple yellow buckets to add some color {ridiculous, I know}.  Next I got on my Cricut and personalized them for the class and added a cute little tag.

Lucy loved helping me fill the buckets and pick out colors for each of her classmates.  It was darling!  And now I don't have a surplus of sand pails.

As room mom for Lu's class I am responsible for the class gift for the teachers.  I found these sweet bags for a steal and added the initials with iron on glitter {again with my Cricut}.

As a class, we also gave both teachers a substantial gift card to Amazon which we stuffed in the bag.

Lucy and I will be giving each teacher our own personal gift too, which you will see in a few.

Now on to my Maggie.  I saw these cute bags in a package of three in the Target Dollar spot and just knew I had to use the ice cream tag from last year {found on Dixie Delights}.  I only grabbed enough for Maggie's class.  It was safe to assume that this would not be "cool" for Jack.

We filled them with Dollar Store ice cream bubbles, ice cream erasers {Target dollar spot}, and pencils.  Maggie can't wait to pass them out this coming week.  She's already claimed hers.

Jack was so SUPER easy this year.  I gave him a few choices and in the end candy won out.  It usually does with him.

I grabbed a bag of Pop Rocks at the Dollar Store {again}, whipped up this fun little tag and all done...just like that!  I have to admit, boys are pretty easy when it comes to this stuff.

Now on to the teachers.  I just can't say enough about these fabulous ladies who have been such an important part of my children's year.  I have a total soft spot for educators.  And nothing excites me more than showing them my gratitude.

I made a basket for each teacher filled with a variety of summer goodies.  Some of them will get pink and some will get turquoise, but they are all filled the exact same.

I found the baskets for $3 bucks at Target.  I swooped up a cart full knowing they would be perfect for end of the year gifts.

Each basket is filled with 4 acrylic tumblers, a platter, cocktail napkins, flip flops, and a koozie.  I personalized everything with my Cricut {want one yet?}

It was so fun to do Ms. R's with her new initials!  I'm hoping they all enjoy a well deserved summer vacation.

The kids and I are literally bursting at the seams, we can't wait to pass out all of the summer gifts!  Hoping to make lots of smiles on this bittersweet ending...