Last day of preschool!

Today ends a chapter in our lives as the boys go to their very last day of preschool. They have been attending a smaller preschool here in town which Carter found when he came to find us a house. (Remember... I didn't get to come on that trip because I was pregnant with Annabelle! Carter's mom came to help him... hooray for Gran!) I have mixed emotions about today. I am super excited for the boys to start Kindergarten in August, but am so sad to see this part of their lives end. We have been through the last day at a preschool before, but this one has a whole new meaning since it is truly their LAST day of preschool EVER. How did these boys grow up so fast??? They have made such great friends and none of them will be attending our kindergarten. We will try to stay in touch over the next few years, though. Here are some pictures from our day...

** standing on the front porch of their school
** with their sweet teacher, Miss Julia
** a few friends from school
** brotherly love before leaving the house
** the rice krispie treates they made (they say P + H... maybe I should have taken the picture before we put the saran wrap on!!!)

Swinging

Annabelle had fun swinging at the park while the boys played tee-ball yesterday. Precious!

How times change!

Carter and I had a minor flood in our basement last week. My heroic husband cleared all of the boxes and tubs out of our storage room before anything was damaged, but the repairman just came yesterday to fix the problem... so we have had a basement (a.k.a. the boys' room!) full of crap for over a week. It gave us a great excuse to go through some old boxes of stuff! We emptied over 6 large tubs and have a TON to give away... and I'm not finished yet. In going through our stuff, we found some interesting treasures.

*** A box full of beanie babies which makes Carter shake and convulse with memories of driving around from McDonald's to McDonald's when they had Teenie Beanie Baby toys with Happy Meals. His mom and I couldn't bear to miss out the entire collection... but we ate way too many chicken nuggets that summer.

*** Way too many boxes of artwork from Palmer & Harrison. I threw away a trash bag full of coloring pages and old valentines from preschool. (Don't worry, Gran, I kept a lot too!)

*** Carter's ZIT hat from Tech Drumline days... I think there was stuff growing inside it. Gross. Nasty. Ewwwww!!! He was ecstatic and started googling how to wash a baseball cap without ruining it.

*** Speaking of Carter's stuff... we found these two lovely items which I had to share. He and I laughed so hard when we found this t-shirt among his collection. My how times have changed!







And this collector's item also made us laugh... considering the events of the past few weeks. This was from the inagural game of the Big 12 (Tech vs. K State I think) which Carter attended with the band.

Father's Day Weekend

We had a great Father's Day Weekend!  Here are a few highlights...

Annabelle slept until 7:00 Sunday morning and started babbling "Mama" (oops... forgot to tell her it was Father's Day!)  She has also started grinding her teeth, now that she has enough to grind.  :)  It sounds awful.  Carter's wish was to watch the U.S. Open, so I tried to keep the kids occupied and away from him.  Palmer curled up on the chair next to him and fell asleep.

The boys had a birthday party to attend Saturday, so Annabelle and I had some girl time.  We read books...

And practiced standing up!

Friday was a super fun day as we went to the long awaited Toy Story 3 movie!  The boys dressed in costume (although neither one wanted to be Woody... they usually fight over him!)  I cried at least twice during the movie... it was great.  Can you tell how small the Buzz costume is on Harrison?  We have been counting down this day on our calendar for a very long time.  It was precious to see it with our Buzz and Woody fans... definitely a day to remember!

Tee-ball!

After a rain cancellation on Tuesday, the boys were excited to meet their new tee-ball teammates yesterday! Carter has gallantly volunteered to coach our team (the Phillies) and it was almost as much fun watching him as it was watching the kiddos! We have 10 kids on our team... a good mixture of boys and girls. Our first game is next Thursday. It was the hottest day we've had in Iowa City this year... of course. :) (upper 80's, Texas friends!!!! Ha!) Love it!

7 months old

Annabelle Joy is 7 months old... where does the time go?  Here are some things I want to remember about her at this age.

• her ear to ear grin
• how crazy she is about Palmer & Harrison
• her belly laugh when she plays Peek-A-Boo with Palmer
• how hard she arches her back
• her "vampire" teeth
• how soft her skin is
• what a great eater she is
• how content she is (most of the time!)
• how much she loves bathtime
• our precious "mom and me" time between 5:30 and 7:00 on my mornings to get up with her
• the smile on her face when she sees me
• her ability to sleep through the night (hallelujah!)
• watching her develop a very special relationship with her Daddy (some days I think she likes him more than me...)
• the sound she makes when I am preparing her food (she reminds me of how our cat, Roxie, used to act when we opened a can of tuna!)
• the sound she makes when you are bringing a bottle toward her mouth (Hurry, Mom... faster!)
• listening to everyone who sits behind us at church ooh and aah over how cute she is each Sunday
• her early love of jewelry (mine, that is)