End of school breakfast celebration

This morning Gary, Hayden and I visited Layla at school.

Layla and Mrs. Aslin

We LOVE Mrs. Aslin.  She is heaven sent.  She has been the best 1st grade teacher and I'm thankful for an amazing year!  

Layla filled her plate with fruit and a do-nut...the breakfast of champions! 

Layla and some of her best buddies.  They are all such sweet girls!

The celebration this morning was so special.  Mrs. Aslin had each of the kids stand in front of the class as she honored them.  She presented a slide show of each child and facts about them.  Layla surprised me with her shyness.  She wasn't impressed with a classroom full of people clapping for her.

My sweet girl got all A's all year long. 

Layla created a self portrait and it was on Display at the NISD art show. 

I wish the picture gave it the credit it deserves.  It is such a cute portrait!  I am so proud of Layla.  She loves creating fun projects.  I can just see the smile on her face when she made this adorable self portrait.

I'm thankful I was able to attend this mornings celebration.  I am so proud of Layla and all that she has accomplished her 1st grade year.   We are blessed with a great school, great teachers and great friends!

One more half day of school and we will be beach bound!!

things we're gonna do this summer

Grill burgers, steaks, ribs, brisket and just about any vegetable.

Camp as much as we can.

Eat tons of watermelon and other fruits and veggies.

Water my hibiscus and enjoy it's blooms.

Love on these two little cuties.

Relax and throw our hair into fun buns and pony tails.

Indulge in many many snow cones.

Layla has two half days of school left and then we are officially on summer break.

Woooot!

remembering a great man

  8 years ago today we lost Gary's amazing father.  

8 years means he never got to meet his grand kids.  It breaks my heart they will never know him.

Yesterday we ate steaks in his honor while watching NASCAR, his favorite sport.  Every single Sunday afternoon Gary and I would go have a steak dinner with his parents.  

Gary's dad would load up his baked potato with baked beans.  I eat my baked potatoes this way now just because I know he would like it.  We sat at the dinner table with the kids last night and told silly stories about the Papaw and the fun we used to have!

I'm so thankful I knew him.  I miss him more and more every day.

Scenes from our weekend

I did some work in my flower beds on Friday.  I can't believe it, but I got so sore.  All I did was spread mulch and pull a few weeds, but sheesh I was feeling it on Saturday.

Layla had a friend sleep over and they had a fun time.  The house was filled with giggles galore.

Gary installed a new storm door on our back door.  Callaway and Bogey both scratched our old door so bad.  It looked so terrible and it was old and would barely close.  Last week when the wind blew really hard all day long we almost lost it.  I'm thankful for a handy husband; I love our new door.  Now I have to paint the trim.

I made rice crispy treats with cake batter.  THEY ARE SO GOOD!

I put red and blue sugar sprinkles on them to make them festive for the holiday weekend.

The kids loved them.  Rice crispy treats are a great snack when you're swimming.

 Layla was surfing...can you tell?

 

Gary grilled steaks and corn on the cob.  It was the perfect end to our Sunday funday!

How was your weekend?

late night post

We took Hayden to the allergy and asthma doctor today.  I was shocked at the outcome of our visit.  After hearing all about Hayden's history the doctor was very adamant about her diagnosis:  Hayden has asthma.

 She gave us a very clear treatment plan and sent us the the lab for blood work.  They will test his blood to see if they can get any ideas of what allergies he has so we can keep him away from triggers that will cause asthma symptoms.  So there is that.  I'm still processing it all.  We will go back to get the results from the blood test in a few weeks.

Hayden was not a fan of getting his blood drawn.  He told Gary, "That man poked a hole in me and it hurt."  Hayden was a champ though.  He barely cried.  I was so proud of him.  He milked that 'holy' arm.  He wouldn't move it for hours.  He couldn't wait to get home to tell Layla all about it, but not before he talked us into a do-nut, Popsicle and lunch out.

Hayden told Layla, "Some man poked me in the arm and took my blood."  This was before Layla really understood what was going and where we had been while she was at school.  She eyed me with a shocked look.  I was giggling inside.  Kids are the reason rumors get started....haha!

Layla has 3 full days of school and 2 half days left as a first grader.  I am a tad bit jealous of all the people already out of school, but we have Monday off.  After Monday we are on the down-hill slide.  Summer is upon us and I am so excited about some fun things in store for us this summer!

after school 7-11 treat

Today was free Slurpee day at 7-11, so the kids and I joined the fun!

 You guessed it! 

 

From 11am-7pm ... 7.11 ounce Slurpees were free!  That was a mouth-full huh? 

A brand new 7-11 just opened near our house last Friday so the Slurpee treats were so convenient.  

I got the new Mango lite flavor.  It was really good and so refreshing on this hot day.  

We always make a big deal about seeing 7-11 convenience stores since Layla was born.  Her birthday is July 11th.   It seems like lately there are tons of 7-11's springing up in our area.  Layla and Hayden love seeing them!

The kids each got cherry flavored Slurpees and they loved them!   

I see many more Slurpees in our future coming up this summer.  We also have a snow-cone stand nearby.  They will be seeing our smiling faces all summer long!

Did you get your free slurpee today?

All about Hayden

Hayden is 3 1/2 years old.  He is my sweet boy!  I love having a boy and a girl because they are so different and equally enjoyable to parent.  

This post is all about Hayden and what he is loving right now.

Hayden is all about monster trucks and rock n roll music.  He has a monster truck he got for Christmas and it plays a few guitar riffs.  He now associates monster trucks with rock n roll.  We were listening to Texas country and he said he didn't like our music.  He wanted to hear some rock n roll.

Hayden knows the names of monster trucks I didn't even know existed.  He loves to watch Monster Jam on TV.  I didn't even realize there is a whole monster truck racing series kinda like SuperCross motorcycle racing.  

Oh the things my kids teach me!

Hayden loves music.  He loves playing his "fake" guitar.  I seriously want to get him a drum set.  He loves to put on loud music and break dance.  He is so silly!  He is also a big wrestler. When Gary is sitting on the couch Hayden is begging to get rowdy.  He is such a BOY!

His last day of preschool was last Wednesday.  They measured him on the first day of school and he weighs the exact same, but he is 2 1/2 inches taller on the last day.  He writes his name when he wants to or when he is interested.  Every now and then he surprises us with his knowledge, but usually he is just laid back and doesn't ask for praise.  I am proud to say he can say the entire Lord's Prayer.

I love this picture of him getting measured in his pj's.  

He woke up and asked if he had gotten bigger overnight!

Hayden loves playing games on the iPhone.  I'm hoping we can trick him into learning this summer!  I'm going to get a few more good learning apps.

When we style Hayden's hair in the mornings he asks for motorcycle hair.  He wants the spiked look in the front.  If his hair is not styled he is wearing a ball cap.  He loves caps!

Hayden will not sleep in.  We usually put him to bed around 7:30 because he wakes up so early.  The little guy can wake up as early as 6:15 am.  We make him go back to bed until 7:00 am.  Oh how I wish my kids would sleep late, but so far neither one do.  They are both awake by 7:00 every day.

Hayden is usually a good eater.  We have a hard time getting him to eat veggies, but if you give him a steak he will eat the whole thing.  The boy loves meat.  He loves ribs, pork and chicken.  He likes eggs and cheese.  He will even 'take down' some cottage cheese.  If I could only get him to eat more veggies.  He loves chicken nuggets from Chic-fil-a but has to have ranch for dipping.  He also likes cheeseburgers.  His favorite drink is apple juice and smoothies.  Luckily he drinks tons of water.  He loves the stuff.  

If we ask Hayden what treat he wants he always asks for peach colored circus peanuts.  GAG!  He loves those things.  He calls them his favorite peanuts.  He also loves the candy airheads.  He loves Kiwi.  I wish you could hear him say Kiwi.  It's the cutest thing!

Hayden seems to be a born athlete.  It doesn't matter what ball you hand him he knows what to do with it.  He loves to play golf in the backyard.  He loves to throw a football and can hit a baseball.  He also loves to cast a fishing pole.  He suddenly thinks he is a trick rider when it comes to his four wheeler.  Our next task is to remove the training wheels from his bicycle.

Hayden asks almost every weekend to go camping or do another mud run. 

 The boy loves being outside!

His current career path...

a dirt bike rider, race car driver, a monster truck driver and a fire fighter in his spare time.

Hayden loves his sister.  He idolizes her.  They play so good together and thankfully she is a great influence on him.  

My sweet boy does have his share of temper fits.  He was mad at me on Saturday because I made him eat a peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich.

It is so hard for me to believe that in a few weeks he will be 4 years old.  Time has flown by and I have to say every stage of his life has gotten better.  He is a fun and energetic boy.  Each day is different and  usually I am laughing at his silly personality.  He says the craziest things.  I seriously need to glue a video camera to my arm.  I'm thankful for him and can't wait to see him grow into a bigger man!