Preschool Graduation night

The evening before Aubrey Rose's last day of preschool, she had a graduation.  :)  She has one more year of Preschool before she goes to Kindergarten.  Her class performed a couple of songs at the graduation.  It was a great night celebrating Aubrey Rose's accomplishment.  

Big Papa and Mimi were so sweet to join in the preschool fun.  :)

Oma and Opa were there as well.

You are getting so big little girl.  Can you please stop growing??!!  Please!!!

Love you sweet girl.

Last day of preschool!

Aubrey Rose finished her first year of preschool.  Here she is on the first day and the last day of school...

Her favorite way to drive home from school was with Daddy on his golf cart...

Aubrey absolutely loved going to school this year.  She loved riding her bike to school and getting picked up from Daddy on the golf cart.  She loved her teacher Miss Kristen.  She often called her "her best friend."  She absolutely loved her friends.  She would talk about them all the time.  "Mommy, today, Ava, Riley, Kenna, Dillon and me...we put our hands all together in a circle and then we raised them really high and yelled GO TEAM!!!"

Aubrey Rose, you grew up so much this year.  I absolutely loved watching you grow and learn.  You learned your letters and numbers.  You have started to learn how to sound words out and to read.  You can write your name now and you love to trace letters.  You absolutely love the social part of school.   You light up when you see your friends. You greet them with the biggest smile and hug.  It is adorable.
I think your favorite part of school are the art projects.  All you need is paint, a paint brush and a bunch of paper and you are content for hours.  Add glue, stickers and scissors...oh, and ANYTHING pink, you are in heaven.  

I am already missing walking to school together.  I can't wait until the school year begins again.  It will be the last year we will be able to walk just you to school and be all together.  Everything will change after next year because you will be in Kindergarten and Austin will probably be in preschool, so we will try our best to soak it all in.  :)  

Aubrey Rose, your Mommy and Daddy and all of your family are so, so, so proud of you Sunshine. We are incredibly thankful to the Lord for blessing us with you.  You make us smile and laugh every day.  We love you!
Love,
Mommy and Daddy

4th of July fun!

We had a wonderful time celebrating the 4th of July with friends and family.  I absolutely LOVE our tradition of swimming, bbq and fireworks with some of our favorite people.  

 I knew the water blasters would be a hit.  However, I didn't think the person to start all the fun would have been Eric!  He held my nephew, Jed for hostage!  HA!!

 The game got pretty intense.  Actually I am not sure if the game ever stopped.  HA!  Maybe a break to eat, but that was about it.  :)

 The kids LOVED it!

 Our American boys...

 Obviously the adults weren't the only ones having a great time.

 Aubrey Rose absolutely adores her cousin Jedidiah.  It is too cute!

 Here are all the kiddos!

Austin, Aubrey Rose and Jedidiah

Our group multiplies every year!  The kids are outnumbering us adults!  All of these friends I have known since high school.  Such wonderful memories we have shared together!!

My brother and his family.  Can't wait for little Riley to arrive in September!!

 Blake's fam!  We were just missing Blair and Alan!

After swimming and BBQ, we went to Grandpa's house to watch Buchanan's fireworks.  LOVE these girls!!

Austin finds "VROOOOM, VROOOOOM's" everywhere he goes!

Aubrey Rose wore these head phones all night!  HA!  She loved them.

Austin...such a little ham.  :)

Down by the river...

Okay so this is not really a river, but that is what we call it!  We have this wonderful walking trail across the street from our house.  I absolutely love it.  The trees hang over both sides of the trail, shading almost the whole way.  So peaceful.  Then the running water....aaahhhh, I love it.  Sometimes the water is low enough for the kiddos to play in.  That is when it really is my favorite!

Austin and my nephew Jedidiah are huge fans splashing in the water.

Finding sticks, dirt and stones are quite the entertainment!

Oma has come with us a bunch of times.

Opa joined us too one morning!

One of our favorite days was when we got to show Daddy our river.  LOVE it!!

Red, White and Blue

I love seeing all the red, white and blue to celebrate America's Independence Day.  Here are some of the patriotic touches we have decorated in our home.  They makes me smile.

 Our dining room

As I was taking a picture of the dining room, Aubrey Rose stopped me and said, "WAIT!!!  Mommy, let me fix the star!!!"  Then, she went over and tweaked it just a tiny, tiny bit to the right.  Oh dear.  I have no idea where she gets it from.  :)

For last years red, white and blue decorations, click HERE.