My little graduate

Madi graduated from Kindergarten last month!  Very bittersweet day for me.  She looked darling and said her part perfect (“But we’ll remember all our friends and keep them in our hearts”).  She practiced that line over and over, and did a great job :).  She was SO sad to leave Kindergarten behind and not see her friends and Mrs. Willmore everyday.  But then I’d remind her all the fun things summer has in store, along with the fact that she’d be a big first grader in the fall!!  Then she was happy about it.  She’s lost her two front top teeth, so now Max and her match.  At least for a little while. 

She wanted to have a little photoshoot before we headed to the school.  Oh, and Madi bought that headband with her own money from Maurices!  Very exciting for her.

Grandpa Nield was the one who was able to finally get her first top tooth out.  Mike and I could not grab a hold of it!  They’re so tiny!

It was SO fun having my mom and dad stay with us.  My dad helped us get our lawn looking good again, and they also helped us purchase some trees.  We are so thankful!!  It’s nice to get those trees in there to start growing…it can take so long for them to get big.  My mom and I had fun shopping and talking.  I miss having her around.  I’m happy I live closer to her home now so that when they get back from Hong Kong we can hang out more often. 

Recital

The big day!  Ashley and Brian came down with their boys and Madi was so excited to dance on the big stage.  I’m so proud of her!  She did a great job.  She’s going to take a break from ballet this summer and do tumbling.  Then, next fall, I think I’m going to switch her to Clytie Adams for ballet.  It’s a lot closer and they do the Nutcracker every year!  Yay!  It’s by audition only, so I don’t know if Madi will get to dance in it or not, but it will just be fun to be part of a program that does it yearly!  She’s never been at a studio that does the Nutcracker.  Crazy if you ask me!  It’s tradition! :)

Make-up and hair done.  Ready to go!

All the Murray grandkids!  LOVE Andrew in this :)

Trying to get a picture of her in the car was impossible.  Haha!  All we got were silly faces. 

She starts on the back row, left.  Once she gets dancing she’s kind of right behind someone, but you can see her feet.  :) 

Dress Rehearsal

Madi’s recital this year was Sea Fantasy.  She was a sea horse and had such a cute little costume.  She did great!  Love my girl. 

Love her class all sitting there watching the big girls.  They can’t come out during the recital, so it was their only time to watch it.  Madi was really into it!

All done with her part!

68th Anniversary

Mike’s aunt put on a great party to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa Dickson’s 68th wedding anniversary.  68 years!!  So awesome.  It was great visiting with everyone we don’t see often, and the kids had fun playing. 

Max with his grandpa Max who he was named after.  I know I’ve said it before, but they also share a birthday.  Pretty neat!

Max enjoying his watermelon.  They had the best idea and put the wedges on popsicle sticks!  Basically watermelon popsicles.  My kids loved it. 

Back?

It’s been forever since I’ve posted.  It’s hard to get back into the swing of things, because I have so much to catch up on.  So maybe I’ll just cover the basics. 

We moved!  We bought a new house and we’re so happy here.  It really does feel like home. The kids are loving the neighborhood and it's fun to see them playing outside everyday with friends.  I even have to give them a bath every night because they're covered in dirt and filthy.  Which is nice because I know they're having lots of fun :).  Madi loves going in the fields and catching tiny frogs.  Those poor frogs...they should run for their lives!  Let's just say, Madi loves them to death.  Literally.  Haha! 

I had to get one of those tall orange flags for the back of Max's bike.  That kid gives me a heart attack on that thing!  He's like speedy gonzalez and he has a really hard time following the "stay out of the road" rule.  We'll keep working on it with him, but hopefully the flag will make him more visible.  And he's also learned how to ride without training wheels, so he's happy to think he's a BIG kid!

Madi loves her new school and is sad that Kindergarten will be over soon.  Then I remind her that’s because it will be SUMMER and then she’s excited!  I can’t believe she’ll be in first grade this fall.  She’s gonna be gone all day!  So sad.  I’m gonna miss her.  She’s just excited that she’ll have three recesses and get to eat lunch at school.  I’m glad that she’s so happy there. 

SIX YEARS OLD!

Brick oven and she got a lollipop sundae!

Madi got two birthday cakes!

EASTER

Madi’s looking sleepy :)

While my mom was here, Madi slept in Max’s room with him.  My mom went to check on them and this is how she found Madi, sound asleep.  SO funny!!

Kind of Easter Sunday pictures?  Mike and I were supposed to speak on Easter Sunday.  And…that Saturday Max started puking.  He was SO sick.  So I had to drop out and stay home with Max.  Which meant no Easter Sunday pictures all dressed up.  So this was a couple weeks later.  And I didn’t even know we’d be taking pictures or I would have actually done my hair and make-up.  Haha

We got grass!!  This was about 1/6 of the sod they brought.  We needed 12,000 sq feet of sod.  I about died when he told me that; that’s A LOT of grass!  Sheesh.

I didn’t take an after picture, but it’s looking really good!!  Hopefully Mike will be able to mow it this weekend. 

Max learning the 2-wheeler!  He did great and was so brave. 

This was so sweet.  After one of his wipe-outs Madi ran over and was comforting him.  I love how much my kids love each other :)

Well, there’s what we’ve been up to.  Mike is taking Max to the Jazz game tonight and then Madi to a Bee’s game tomorrow. They can’t wait for their night’s out with dad.  We’re excited for this summer!  Swimming, bbq’s, late nights playing outside.  It’ll be so nice.  Bring it on!