Butterfly Dance

My girl - being a girl - or should I say being a butterfly in the front yard. Oh this girl and how I love her.

She is at her first sleepover tonight with a girl friend from daycare.  I know she is going to make it through the night with no problem.  She is so fiercely independent even at this very young age. It is going to be the thing I admire the most about my daughter and the one that is going to probably hurt and worry me the most.   She is the most amazing little creature.  Enjoy the video.

Baseball Fever

So I finally took my camera out to the ball diamonds - both for the Wood Bat Tournament last weekend (for Beau), and for Brenley's game the other night.  I think I got some great shots. I tried to pick some of the better ones and I have captioned them to tell the story.  I love my camera!!

Practicing hitting. Keep your eye on the ball!

Supposed to be practicing infield, but this is what you can find her doing 99% of the time.

And this is Dad speaking to her about not paying attention.

And this is her getting mad at her Dad.

Talking it out

Officially mad.  And I missed taking it because I was laughing too hard, but when he walked off, she pointed her finger at him, like, "don't even do that again!"

Oh geez. This is hard work.

Okay, game time. Here she is rounding first.  Cute, huh? This part, she does well.

Still running.

Trying to be still. The helmet is too big.

Oh well, I will just hold it.

Made it to 2nd.  Low five.

Now she is on 3rd, and this is her young boyfriend Coach. She is showing him where her Mom and Dad are sitting.

Okay, so 'nough about little Missy Pots and her cuteness. Now on to my big boy.

Look at that swing!

Dad trying to teach him something. 

Down and Ready

"Hey Beau, did you see that?"

Right field...

This is his friend, Austin, pitching. Love this picture. Thank goodness for the "Sports" setting on my camera.

Practice swings

Rounding second on a double!

Checking the pop up.

I have a lot more, but these are the highlights. Only a few more weeks of baseball summer left. We wouldn't trade it for anything!

Brenley's First EVER Organized Sport - T-BALL

Well, the first one is in the books. Besides her not wanting to wear her (pink) Nike baseball cap, she did look the part in her YMCA jersey, white baseball pants, hot pink socks, baseball hair scrunchie, and cute black and pink cleats. This is only the beginning of her cuteness. Check these pictures out....

I'm ready. Just pick it up and throw it.

I love this Pink Bat

I did it! First base.

Being bossy, as per usual

C'mon. Throw it already.

I've totally got this base covered.

Where did it go?

Just playin' in the dirt a little bit.

That's me. Bending down. Playing crazy alligator.

That's me. In the dirt again. I like the dirt, especially when I wear white pants.

Summer is here!

I can't even believe it.  Beau's 3rd grade year at Maize South Elementary has come to an end. He had a tremendous year. I am so proud of him.  His teacher was outstanding also, so she gets a lot of credit for taking an interest in him and making it fun for him to learn.

He mastered cursive and math facts - addition, subtraction, multiplication and simple division. His oral fluency was well above the benchmark and almost double where he started the year. He was the highest reading counts student in his class, and was one of 16 kids in the ENTIRE elementary that finished the year with over 500 reading count points. That earned him a gold medal.  I am just so incredibly proud of him.

And he grew -he grew a lot.  Here is his......end of the 3rd grade school year.

The other ending this week was his days at Northridge Academy.  Six years being dropped off and picked up at the same place, and I decided it was time for him to move on. He technically can be there through the 5th grade, but he has just outgrown it and once where he was the little fish in a big pond, he is the shark now, and I don't want him to be bored or unintentionally hurt anyone while playing. So...... his adventure will begin with the YMCA. This summer he is going to Camp Hyde - an amazing outdoor retreat nestled in southwest Wichita in a small town called Viola. He will be dropped off at a central location each morning (local church) where a bus will take him out to camp, and of course, take him back to the church at the end of the day where we can pick him up.  Camp Hyde has recently been renovated and it has a new swimming pool, a huge pond, basketball courts, and lots and lots of land. It is lead by many tenured camp leaders and counselors, and I think (hope and pray) Beau will have a lot of fun this summer meeting new friends and still hanging with some of his current friends.

He will also do a before and after school program with the YMCA when school starts again in August. More on that to come later.

And Sis? Well, Brenley May also had her last day in Room 11. She has been with Mrs. Heather for the entire school year also. And she LOVES Mrs. Heather and vice versa, but she is really excited to move to Room 7 which isn't technically Pre-K - just a staging room for it, so she will move again to her official Pre-K room in August.  Mrs. Heather has been preparing her too... telling her after the three stay home days this weekend, she will go to her new room. And Brenley repeats those words like a parrot.

So to celebrate her last day (along with a few other friends who will move up with her),  Mrs. Heather let them choose the theme and snacks of their last day of school party. Come to find out as I was dropping her off on Friday that Brenley organized the whole thing. She got all her friends to come around to the idea that they needed to have a Costume party, and have little bottles of water, grapes and chocolate chip cookies. Brenley doesn't even eat grapes, but I think she knew she needed to pick fruit of some kind???!!!

Anyway, here she is on Friday her last day in Room 11. She wanted to dress up in her baseball "costume" (her t-ball league starts this week and she is excited!!).  She didn't wear her YMCA jersey, but did wear her Tigers baseball t-shirt. I think she pulled off the look well. So while the other girls were dressed as princesses, my girl went as a ball player.  Her Dad and I are so proud of her strong mind......

Her ball, mitt, and of course her sleep baby

these two love each other

Mother's Day 2012

I am so blessed to be Beau and Brenley's Mom.  I just am.  Who couldn't love these faces and big hearts?

On Saturday we drove to Garber to celebrate with my Mom and Dad. Dad's birthday was the day before. So we opened presents, had a great steak dinner and enjoyed time playing and chatting with my brother Travis and his family.  Tyler's family couldn't get home, and Troy's family was going to Garber the next day. So it was a manageable group and we just had a great afternoon/evening together.  The time always goes by too fast.

Sunday morning I awoke to a sweet boy that wanted to bring me breakfast in bed. So I got Cheerios ("Mom, you said earlier this week that you really like Peanut Butter Cheerio's"), and I got a bag of Cheetos and a cookie for breakfast. How do you say PERFECT BREAKFAST?!

Then I lounged around a little longer in bed. We had lunch, followed by a nap and that was about as glorious as my day got. It was wonderful. I got to spend it with my husband and my kids - it doesn't get any better than that.

Happy Mother's Day to my best friend, Me Ma Levings, my Mother-In-Law, my Sister-In-Laws, and all my friends that I lean on for support.  Love to all my favorite mom's out there.......

May Day Parade

Brian took Brenley to the annual May Day Parade in McPherson. She loves it. He loves it. And man does she come home with stories! Here are a few of her favorites.

Then it was over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to celebrate Grandpa's birthday with cake! And she had fun playing with her two sweet cousins, Brandon and Tyler!