Perot Museum with Third Grade

The third grade has waited all year long to go on their field trip.  Finally, the day had come and we all arrived at the Perot Museum in Dallas.  The kids had to eat a super-early lunch at 10:15 am, because no food is allowed inside.  After their brunch, the shenanigans began!

At first, just Jackson was on the frog, but then Corbin and Tucker hopped on his back.

About .5 seconds later, here came Ben, Caleb, Mohammed and some random kiddo.  They're crazy!  I was a little scared!

Never fear, though. Our group of four boys was fantastic!  They checked out the space room...

then we moved over to the dinosaur room. Very cool stuff in there.

All the boys were captivated with the fossils...

but this big guy was probably the most impressive!

The Age of Giants was amazing, too, with this enormous mammoth being the coolest.

I'm so thankful that this kid is mine!  He listened well, stayed with the group, and encouraged his friends to do the same.

On another floor we found the remote control cars...

and the kids thought this energy ticker was pretty neat, too.

The bottom floor was their favorite, though!  This is what happens when you ask 7 boys to take a photo.  Mayhem!  They were waiting in line to be videoed doing their favorite sport.

Jackson chose to throw a football and be compared to Roger Staubach.  He got to look at how he stacks up to the old Cowboys quarterback.  

Thumbs up for sure! This kid may have a future in the NFL.  

 

The last part of the day was spent racing different animals and people.  Ben and Jackson opted out of racing a tyrannosaurus rex and instead chose a soccer player.

On your mark.  Get set.

GO!!!  The boys raced three times and then we had to call it quits.

Three hours had zoomed by and it was time for all of the moms to round up their groups.

A fun day for Jackson and his mama, for sure.  Love this boy.

Tournament Weekend

Our weekends are usually pretty busy, but this last one was super-sized. Big Mac all around.  

We began with J's baseball tournament in McKinney at 8am.  Yep, they started playing at 8am!

Sister and I ran out of the house at 7:20 and made it a couple of minutes before 8 to see Bubba on the mound.  Although we love watching him play, it just wasn't a pretty sight.  The boys were not on their game...hmmm...think they might be tired?  They lost the first game, but came back and played to win the second game.

Thank goodness!  Go Bubba!

After they finished, we headed to Rowlett to see Lila play in her third 3v3 game of the day.   It's always nice to have friends with athletic little sisters.  These boys don't mind tournaments one bit when they get to hang out with each other.

We heard that the Bees had played really well, but by 1:00 it was getting seriously HOT outside!  Coach Jared tried to keep up their spirits and inspire them to play hard for the next twenty minutes.

After a slow start, and being down 5-2 at the half, these girls fought their way back and tied it up.  The game ended with a 5-5 tie, which put them one point shy of playing in the final game.  They were really disappointed, but all of the parents and their coach were very proud of them.  

You don't always need to win the game to be a winner.  This girl gave it her all.  What more can yo ask for?  That's a win any day in my book.

As luck would have it, we had to be back in McKinney for Bubba's tournament at 8am on Sunday morning.  He and his team played a fantastic first game, beating the team they had lost to the day before by a mile.  Redemption!  They also had the cutest cheerleaders, with Emily, Lila and Cami on the sidelines.  Too bad the boys couldn't keep it going in the semi-finals, though.  They lost that game and we all went home a little bit sad...but happy, too, because the games were finally over for the weekend.  For once, I was actually looking forward to Monday morning!  

Recital Night

School, Field Day, shower, power nap (for me!), hair and make-up and then Recital Night.  Whew!  It was a really, really big day.  For all of us.  By 7 pm we were in the audience and ready for the show to begin.  We watched the Company dancers do their 15 routines, listened to Miss Elizabeth's welcome, then watched a slide show of the girls.
By 7:45 it was finally showtime!

This girl was SO ready to get on that stage.

We found her page in the program with some of her best friends.  Love them!

I simply ADORED her sequined costume!

These two were the shining stars for their Hey Mickey tap routine.  Mandy and I were SO proud of them! They had practiced very hard all week and it showed.
They knew every step and had the biggest smiles during the whole song. #nailedit

During intermission, Lila got lots of hugs and well wishes from some of her fan club.

Cousin Madison was super-excited to watch Lila. It's so cool how much they support each other.  I was sitting next to Maddie during the show and she could hardly contain her excitement as Lila was walking onto the stage. 

After Lila's jazz routine to Bippity Boppity Boo, we met her in the lobby and showered her with flowers.  Great job, sweet girl!

Memaw and Poppi were so proud of her...

and so were Madison, Gigi and Boom.

I'm pretty sure that her brother, daddy and I were the most proud, though.  We had seen her work so hard and reach her goals.  What more could you ask for?  Way to go, our little dancing queen!

Olympic Field Day 2016!

There are some days that you just don't forget.  Field Day is one of those for me.  Every year, we looked forward to this amazing, incredibly fun day.  Now our kids get to experience that, too!  The theme this year was the Olympics.  In addition to the usual carnival games, they also got to have a few races.  Jared and I signed up to work the 400 meter relay.  We love a good competition.

There were two heats in every class and then a final.  Lila ran the anchor leg for Team Green and had to come from behind--she won, though, crossing the finish line a couple steps in front of Charlotte.  Go Lila!

I didn't expect anything less from this little speed demon!

Her daddy thought she was pretty awesome, too.

Charlotte, Lauren and Lila.  All three absolutely loving their first Field Day!

After running the relay, they went over to the wheel barrow races.  Downhill was a bit of a struggle!

They switched and had better luck going uphill, though:)

After a few more games, they finally got to enjoy some blue snow cones--a big hit with all the kids.

We worked the afternoon part, too, so that we could see Jackson. 
 He ran the anchor leg for Team Blue...

and they won, too!  Katie, Lucy, Ben and Jackson--a force for sure.  They won by a landslide.

And then celebrated with snowcones!

By the end of the day we were all completely exhausted!  The smiles on our kids' faces made it totally worth it.  I'm glad it's only once a year, though!

I'm so fancy

Sometimes it's hard being the little sister.  When your big sister gets to go to dance class, and you don't...and when she gets to have beautiful recital costumes and you don't.  Sweet Cami just wanted to be fancy, too, so she asked to wear her Minnie Mouse tutu dress.

Very soon it will be her turn to shine on the big stage.  Until then, dressing up at home will be just fine, I think.  Just look at those big smiles!
 

Dress Rehearsal

T minus two days until the actual recital, and it was the all-important dress rehearsal night!  

This tiny dancer was a wee-bit worn out from a long day at school.

Lots of learning, followed by a half-hour in the hair and make-up chair is sure to wear out anyone!

By the time we got in the dressing room, though, this girl had rebounded like a champ.
That's my girl!

Miss Gil was so happy to see two of her favorites.  They practiced their tap routine to Hey Mickey a couple of times before taking the stage and I heard they did really well.

I would expect nothing less!  This week we have had intensive dance classes at home.  I videoed their routines last week so that I could help Lila with her two routines.  After a few days, she is now able to remember all her steps and has the best smile on her face, too.  She's a natural!  

These three are going to steal the show tomorrow night.  I just know it.