Cadie UP Elementary Graduation

The celebrations were deep and wide for this graduation 4th grader! Mom's skit, carpool pick-up parade, popsicles in the park, graduation ceremony, swim party... Grant and I had to divide and conquer to make it all happen.

Surprising, I loved doing the Mom skit. I was 1/3 of the backstage crew along with Norine Shippey and Misha Gosh. I loved it! It was so fun to be able to peek out and see all the kids, and not have to do as many rehearsals as the Moms in the skits. I did fall off the stage while walking across with a sign introducing the next skit. Oh well. Cadie was a embarrassed my me, but I hope she also appreciated the effort.

Grant decorated the GEM and did the carpool parade. Kamryn Tillery, Grace Humpries, and Claire Van Kirk all rode with Cadie. Hailey Crain, Grace's Mom, ended up riding with Grant and the girls too. The carpool parade ended with a popsicles in the park party.

Grant, Big John, and I all went to the graduation ceremony. The little boys were there too, but they were mostly playing on the playground. Cadie was so beautiful and I loved it when they sang their last song and turned to face the parents. Cadie as a "W" was in the back row, but that meant she was in the front row for the song.

The very last day of school I took the whole day off. We kicked it off right by hosting the Field Day breakfast at our house. Grant and Cadie decorated the backyard and we had so much food having Cadie's class over for breakfast. In the afternoon, I took Cadie to the swim party at UP pool. She had a fun time, and I enjoyed chatting with Moms. In between the Field Day party and the pool party, I did some power shopping to get ready for the Israel trip.

Next up: Cadie's box of middle school goodies! I can't wait to take her to dinner and give her the flip-phone, kindle, and other fun treats. I am so proud of our baby girl!

Colton HPPDS Graduation

Colton is off to UP Elementary! I was able to go to a fun before school parade from the Dunagan's house and Grant attended Colton's commissioning chapel. We are so proud of you Colton! You have grown so much in Kinder with Mrs. Rickman and Miss Camp. I especially loved his Hawaiin shirt selection for his final Spirit Day.

YMCA Track Meets

JR did track with enthusiasm and Cadie did track with reluctance. I had a fun time at both meets! Things were a bit confusing with JR's meet because he was practicing with a 3rd grade team so we didn't get all the communications for his 2nd grade meet, but it all worked out in the end. Cadie did the long jump and 50M, JR did the ball toss, 50M, and 100M. He killed it in his 100M and won his heat!

Cadie's Team: Coach RJ (Randy James), Kamryn Tillery, Emily Keogh, Caroline Merkle, Aubry Allison

Ranger's Team: Coach Johnson, Bryce Johnson, Nathan Brown, Connor Mullens

Mother's Day

What a lovely weekend and Mother's Day. Saturday we spent special time with Mimi at DD and Big John's house where we ate delicious Shari's Berries Chocolate Covered Strawberries that Grant ordered for me. We had to miss Amanda Settle's 40th birthday party when we were skiing, and we promised to take them to dinner. We followed through on Saturday night with a family dinner at Toyko Kaze. It was a little crazy with 7 kids, but we made it through dinner before it was really out of control. After dinner, Ben fell into the Koi pond! He was wet up to his waist and insisted that he was pushed. He may have it, but was too crazy to tell for sure. I was just glad the real drama was held at bay until after dinner. I loved seeing Blake and Amanda and am so thankful for their friendship.

Sunday I woke up to breakfast in bed by Cadie and lots of sweet mementos from the kids. Cadie, Colton and I went to Cadie's art show in the afternoon. Her inspiration for her abstract pottery art is the ceramic work by Melinda Laszczynski (http://www.melindalaszczynski.com/). It was fun to visit Zhen for the show and to visit with her pottery teacher, Kylie.

Daddy Grant chaperones Arboretum Field Trip