Ahhhhh, Summer

 Summer has arrived.  We celebrated our last days of school.  We will "kinda" miss our bus stop walks every morning, at least Liberty will.

We always had fun conversations while waiting for the bus!

Goodbye 1st Grade....

 Me and Mrs. Schesel

 What I can celebrate from this year... I received the Silver Award for achieving 90% and higher on the weekly high frequency word tests this year.  I had TONS of words to learn to read (probably around 150 or more).  I also met the SOAR reading goal every month and I was always on green light for behavior!  I would say 1st grade was a huge learning year for me and I am now a more confident reader and writer (but I love math the most!)

We already posted Cooper's 4K graduation pictures, but had to capture a few more on his last days.  He will miss Ms. Nikki and Ms. Angie.  Cooper loved 4K, riding the little bus to school, and is now ready for Kindergarten this fall.  He can count to 100, knows over half of his letters and sounds, rhymes like a rapper, and is a respectful young boy!

 Mommy completed her 15th year of teaching.  She was recognized (although not present) for her years of service with a fancy pencil holder.  Mom missed 13 school days this spring as she recuperated from her ACL surgery.  She had a great sub and all went smoothly.  She was able to see the kids, complete report cards and then celebrate as well!  The staff took a mystery bus tour around the area.  They had a blast.

 Mommy and Dawn, one of her Kdg. colleagues.

 Mom and Dad riding a school bus to bars, ha!

Here is the entire Kdg. team.  It will lose two teachers~ one is going to stay home with her young kids and also take some daycare children, the other one is moving up to 1st grade.  Mommy enjoys her K teacher friends.

The entire staff wore tie-dye t-shirts on the last day of school in memory of a wonderful colleague who tragically passed away this fall from a terrible bike accident.  She will forever be in their hearts.

In birthday party news... I had my friend's party at High Roller Skating Rink with 11 boys.  Only half knew how to rollerskate, so it was pretty hilarious to watch.  We had a great time celebrating together!

Since Cooper and I have birthdays close together, we had a combined family party (plus Genevieve) at Chaos Waterpark.  It was a busy party, but a nice smaller sized one that kept everyone happy!

We were excited to receive so many wonderful gifts!  We definitely are spoiled and loved by so many.

We started a tradition last summer, a bucket list of things we would like to do in the summer.  We made our poster board, with a handful of idea.  We are pretty sure we can get to all of these in the months ahead.  So far, we have kicked off summer by doing the following:

Pontooning with family

Mommy is continuing her rehab and can now bike (stationary) and also take short walks.  She started the elliptical in PT and is slowly gaining strength as expected.

While Mommy attended a workshop, the boys went fishing.  Cooper caught a crappie and his first large mouth bass!

We have a couple graduation parties and a wedding to attend this summer.  Here is our cousin, Noah, who graduated and is heading to Nebraska this fall.  We just think he is the greatest!

Children's Museum visit with our cousin Bennett who stayed with us for 2 days while his parents were ending their trip in Paris.

 We love this ski themed bench!

 Milking Bessie

We went to the state park with Mommy for a special kid's event.  We made cool fish/stencil t-shirts and also used drills and hammers to build our own birdhouses.  We made it back home in one piece, so we would say the day was a success.

 Goodbye soccer....

 Cooper scored a million goals, so we told him to show us his number 1 sign...charming.

Hello T-ball!  Cooper has waited his ENTIRE life to play baseball.  Me on the other hand, could really care less, but I am playing regardless. Daddy is coaching and we only play once a week.

We both have been riding our bikes (Cooper rides a 2 wheeler), so we ride ahead while Mommy limps behind and yells at us about everything (getting too close, watch out for cars, slow down, speed up, ah!)

Our sweet Ava Lola was baptized on Sunday.  Mom, Dad, Auntie Stefanie and Uncle Bruce were honored to be selected as her godparents.  Ava smiled when her forehead was anointed with the cross. She looked absolutely adorable.  What a blessed day it was!

 Ava and her big brother Jimmy

 With perfect timing and company, she smiled in her sleep as Mom snapped some pictures.

We gave her a sweet gift of beaded sandals (with a mini-cross on the side) and a personalized bracelet.  She was all blinged out for her big day.

We had to laugh as this was caught on camera.  We are thinking it meant that pictures were over and it was time for her to sleep in peace :)

In final news, I am currently away at bible camp.  Our church family chose this week~ older kids stay for a full week and the younger kids get to do a 2 day discovery camp.  I was very excited and my family was anxiously excited.  Mommy and Cooper got me all settled in, gave hugs, and then we bravely said "goodbye" for the next two days.  I can't wait to share my camp adventures with you on my next post!  Happy Summer!