Alexa: No More Cast!

Today we went from THIS: 

 

 

to THIS:

 

By doing some of THIS:

 

And then we went and did a little of THIS to celebrate!

 

..::Alexa & Ally::..

 

Alexa couldn't ask for a better best friend!

She lives across the street.

They ride the bus together.

They were in the same Kindergarten class.

We go to the same church.

We're friends with the whole family!

It's been fabulous!

Alexa: Last Day of Kindergarten

Someone is excited (and yet super sad too) about her last day of Kindergarten!

She's ready for school to be done and very much looking forward to summer break.

But she's sad to be leaving her fabulous teacher, knowing she won't ever have her as a teacher again.

 

 

First day of school...Last day of school!

The sassy-ness is still there!

 

I started a new tradition.

I ordered shirts for each of the kiddos with the year they will graduate from high school on and I plan on taking a picture on the last day of school every year so that I have a year by year picture of them, wearing the exact same thing, to see how they grow!

Kind of a fun memento of their school years.  Thanks Pinterest!

 

Getting off the bus for the last time as a Kindergartner!  Wahooooo!

 

 

It's SUMMERTIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Say It Ain't So...

Yesterday after church, the girls were playing in the living room.  They had spread out a bunch of books on the carpeted floor.  Alexa got up to run around the books and slipped and fell right on her elbow.  She immediately started crying, saying it hurt really bad.

 

Here's where our fabulous parenting comes in...we didn't believe her.  Here's the thing though, this happens just about EVERY NIGHT at cleanup time.  I'm not joking...something starts hurting, whether its a tummy or a foot or an elbow, something without fail starts hurting RIGHT when it's time to clean up.

 

So we sent her to bed with some Advil.  And she slept through the night!

 

But when she did wake up to get ready for school, her elbow was swollen (which it hadn't been the night before) and so I knew I needed to take her to Urgent Care to get it checked out.

 

And lo' and behold...it is broken!!

 

So we rushed right over to Children's Orthopaedics of Tucson, where she got a pretty purple WATERPROOF cast put on.  Yep, I said waterproof.  We've come a long way people!  No more stinky, smelly casts around these parts! She can shower, go to the pool, run in the sprinklers!

Can I get a woot woot??!!! :-)

 

AND, she only has to have it on for 3 1/2 weeks!  Hopefully it will go by very quickly!

 

Alexa: Kindergarten Promotion

Today is Alexa's BIG day!

She graduated from Kindergarten!

She's officially a 1st Grader now (although she technically still has 3 1/2 days of school left!!)!

 

She has been looking forward to this day for a looooong time. So have I.

And then Payton got super sick this week. I agonized about having to miss Alexa's promotion today.

But thankfully I didn't have to stay overnight at the hospital with Payton last night, AND a sweet friend came to the rescue this morning...offering to come stay with Payton while I went to the school.

It broke my heart though to leave Payton screaming for me because she wanted to go and because she was so sick!

 

The first part of the Kindergarten Promotion was an ABC Parade.

Each of the students was assigned a letter.

Alexa got "B".

She was a Beautiful Bride!

A fun new friend from the gym happened to have this perfect bride dress up dress that she let me borrow!

Isn't she adorable??!!!

 

Beaming during the parade!

 

Then there was a musical performance.

They sang some really cute songs.

I wish I could figure out how to get my videos to upload!

 

Barrett thought the songs were too loud!

 

Then there was a class presentation back in Alexa's classroom.

Her teacher, Miss White, is seriously amazing!

 

Getting her certificate!!!

 

I am so proud of Alexa!  She has come so far and learned soooo much this past year!

She has LOVED Kindergarten and LOVED Miss White!

 

There was a family picnic to finish things off...but I left early to go home to be with Payton, and Alexa enjoyed having lunch with her best friend, Ally, and her mom.

 

1st Grade...HERE WE COME!!!!

Mud Treatments

 

Mud is good for the skin, right??!!!

I turned on the sprinklers for the girls and as soon as a puddle formed, they were smack dab in the middle of it.  I decided to embrace it and let them have fun!

We did this two days in a row this week and they were in HEAVEN!!

And I enjoyed hosing them off each time when they were done!! :-)

Alexa: The Writing Stage

I ABSOLUTELY love this new writing stage that Alexa is in.  Her learning to read and write this year has been sooooo much fun for me.  I'm constantly getting little love notes from her or finding gems like this:

 

Interpretation:

"When Jesus died on the cross, he got nails on his hands and on his feet"

 

Very fitting for Easter this coming weekend!

The Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland Family Trip - February 2013

Since it was Rodeo Week, we decided to take advantage of the fact that Alexa had two days off of school.  So we packed up and headed up to Gilbert as soon as Kevin got home from work on Wednesday afternoon.  We dropped Barrett off at Kevin's parents' house for the weekend so we wouldn't have to deal with napping, diapers, strollers, etc.!!  And boy what a fantastic idea that was!!!  We figured he wouldn't have remembered this trip anyways AND we'll go back when he's older, so it was all good!

 

We got to our hotel RIGHT across the street from Disneyland very late on Wednesday night (Thursday morning) and then got up super early to head on over to The Happiest Place on Earth! I think I was as excited as the girls!!!

 

We went through Sleeping Beauty's Castle first thing.

 

 

 

The girls' first taste of a Dole Whip!

Payton loves it so much it's putting her to sleep!! :-)

 

The Carousel was a favorite! 

 

As was Dumbo!

 

The Teacups!

 

The Toy Story ride was a huge hit too...mostly because the line wasn't very long when we went to it, so we got right on!!

 

I loved seeing the looks of joy on their faces MANY times throughout the trip!!!

 

Our cute little family!

(stinker Payton wasn't in the mood for a picture, apparently)

 

How appropriate to find a toothbrush while waiting in line for one of the rides in Toon Town.

 

The second day we were there, we started off over at California Adventure.

The Little Mermaid ride was an instant favorite!

 

We loved this ride too!

 

Me and my pretty princesses!

 

Daddy and his princesses...they are all ready for our lunch with THE princesses!!!!

 

One of the best decisions we made was to get tickets to have lunch with the Princesses at Ariel's Grotto.  The girls got to have their picture taken with Ariel before we sat down at our table and then while we were eating, the other princesses would come out and walk around to each table to meet all the kids.  We were near the beginning and so it didn't take long to see each one as they came out!  Definitely a highlight of our first Disneyland Trip!

 

I waited in line a long time to get our fast passes to the Cars ride...AND we even had to wait out a delay where the ride was shut down...AND we were worried we wouldn't make it to our designated time slot due to being at lunch with the princesses.  BUT, we made it and it was super fun.  Not near long enough of a ride though, if you ask me!!! 

 

We managed to be eating dinner right where one of the parades went by and Payton loved it.  She wanted to be right out there as everyone went by.  Alexa was a bit more unsure and held back.  But it was nice not to have to stake out a spot and wait forever for the parade to start!

 

We went on the huge ferris wheel...looking happy before we realized that it's a CRAZY ferris wheel.  We knew we had chosen the car that rocked to and fro but we didn't realize how MUCH it would actually rock us!!!  We had one nervous little Alexa after that ride!

 

On Friday afternoon, we walked back to our hotel to take a nap so we could go back to the park for The World of Color that night.  And I'm sooooo glad we did.  It was awesome! 

 

Seriously spectacular!

 

Payton turned out to be our little daredevil on this trip.  She loved all the scary rides that Alexa hated!  It was kinda fun to see their different personalities really come out!

 

Our last day at Disneyland!

We knew we needed to represent Tucson!

It was pretty funny how many times we heard "Beardown" or "Go Wildcats" from other fellow Arizona fans while we were there that day!  I swear, we saw more Arizona shirts/hats/gear than any other school!  I guess most people get out of dodge when the rodeo comes to town...and they all head to Disneyland!!!

 

We came back to our hotel on Saturday afternoon to find this.  We had put up the Do Not Disturb sign on our door the two previous days and simply forgot that day.  But the girls loved what housekeeping did to their bed!

 

AND THEN...we went to the beach.

First time for Alexa and Payton.

And despite it still being somewhat chilly, they got right in the water.

We told them to just get their feet wet, but it didn't take long until they were soaked through!

 

Do you think they liked it???

 

Me and my love!

 

Couldn't resist!

I know they'll hate me in years to come for posting these pictures...

but those cute little bum cracks were too tempting to pass up!!

 

And on that note...we are DONE!  Phewf...picture overload!

But what a FUN family vacation!

Can't wait to go again!