Memorial Day with Grandi & Gramps

Ted's parents came to visit us over Memorial Day weekend. Madi decided to show off her Pledge of Allegiance skills to them.
And she insisted that everyone else participate as well...
Ted and David worked their tails off over the weekend making home repairs. They even got rid of my hideous pink toilet and replaced it with a normal white one! While installing a new door in the crawl space, Ted took this picture of his dad. Well, his dad's hand, at least. I threatened David all weekend that if he made me mad, he was going to have to stay in the crawl space. Ha!!
Aunt Kate wasn't able to come this trip, but she sent along my birthday present. In honor of the big 3-0, she sent 30 presents. One was a pair of reading glasses to help me read with my aging eyes. (Ha ha) I never got the chance to try them out though.
And Madi wasn't the only one who like them.
Madi seriously wore them EVERYwhere. She called them her "Aunt Kate glasses" (because Kate has a similar style of glasses).
Since Grandi and Gramps were here, Madigan insisted that we have our traditional tea party.
Gramps willingly obliged. Funny story - last week, a boy from Madi's school came to play at our house. She mentioned wanting to play tea party and I told her that he might not want to since boys didn't usually like having tea parties. She frowned and said, "Well Gramps does!"
Other activities included painting and labeling some garden markers that Grandi and Gramps brought.
Here's Madi's garden with her handwritten signs!
I personally LOVE this picture. Bet you can't guess why...
Paxton loved having Grandi and Gramps around and decided he wanted to be like Gramps when he grows up. He started by wearing his shoes.
And then moved into his socks!
We had a wonderful time with Grandi and Gramps as always. So glad they got to come visit in the new house! Hopefully Gramps will rest up from all of the manual labor soon... :)

Summer Time!

I'm officially 1 week into my summer break and loving every minute of it. Which is good, since I only have 6 1/2 weeks of summer. But who's counting? So what have we done in week one? Well, we've done a little swimming...
and some more swimming...
and some more swimming.
We've also managed to squeeze in some time for some frozen yogurt,
an outing to the library to sign up for the summer reading program,
and some quality time at the ballpark.
What more could you want?! Here's hoping week 2 is just as fun!

Lovin' Baseball Season!

Anyone who has spent any time around us knows that we love baseball. We do our best to make it to Texas and cheer on the Rangers as much as possible, but in the meantime we enjoy catching a game or two at the local double A team, the Arkansas Travelers. For my 30th birthday, Ted and the kids surprised me with a night at the ballpark.

Surprise!

And also invited some of our closest friends to join us!

Put me in Coach!

Paxton loved taking in the sights and sounds of the game.
And Madi was even super brave and gave the mascot, Shelly, a hug!
The kids were less interested in the game and more interested in rolling down the hill. Hey, whatever works!

We had a wonderful time with all of our friends!!
Then a few nights ago, we joined my work friends for another ball game. Ted and the kids checked out the bullpen staff...
We actually caught a double header and in between the two games they let the kids (and parents) run the bases. Here's Madi and Ted heading to 3rd base...
Prepare yourself - just 18 years away. :)
Madi's going to have to work on her underhand pitch though...

Rally cap!

We again had a great time cheering on the Travs and can't wait for the next game. Have I mentioned that we love baseball?!

Graduation

A few weeks ago, Madi graduated from her preschool...that she's going to attend again next year. Confused? The quick answer - they ALL get to "graduate", whether they're finishing the preschool program or the kindergarten program or coming back the following year. Turns out it's a good thing that we get to do it again next year, because we forgot to charge our camera and the battery died half way though the program. The rest of it was documented on my phone camera. I just figure we'll fix her hair the same way next year and piece two years of pictures into one big event!

The Proud Graduate

The part I was the most concerned about was the program (songs and diploma) due to Madi's fear of people looking at her and clapping. But to my surprise, Madi did excellent! I think it helped that they practiced it for 2 weeks before the actual graduation.
After Madi got her diploma, she thought that she had to hold it up in every picture.

Like this...

And this...

It was fun to celebrate the end of a great school year. We're thankful for a wonderful school and the best teachers in the world.

Madi and Ms. Marti

Madi and Ms. Carolyn

Now it's summer break!!! Well, at least for one Bowsman...