Rainbow Bananas

When I was little I spent a lot of time during the summers at Aunt Kim's house. Those memories are some of the fondest I have. We always had so much fun. I'm pretty sure that, even though there is 20 years between us, that I considered her more of a fun a big sister instead of an aunt. She always had fun things for us to do. We went to swim lessons, sno cone stands, and just in general had fun. 

One of the things I remember us doing was making rainbow bananas and marshmallows. We used pick up sticks to put them on. Anyone remember pick up sticks??

 I loved that game! But those plastic sticks made great kabobs for our rainbow treats. 

The girls and I didn't go that far, because frankly I wasn't sure if they would even like the rainbow bananas. And I didn't want to make a ton of them on huge kabobs if they weren't going to eat them. But we got all our stuff out and used tooth picks to put them on. 

Macie doesn't like marshmallows....or at least she said she didn't this day. So she just had bananas. 

Brenna was very serious about her banana coloring. Macie could have taken or left it. Story of our lives. 

They turned out just as pretty and vivid as I remembered! And- I'm not gonna lie- they tasted just as good as I remembered! But who wouldn't love a healthy banana rolled in artificially flavored and artificially colored sugar??

I love doing things with my kids that I remember doing when I was a kid! Brings out my inner child! And brings back great memories!! 

Fishing with Graddy

Since the beginning of summer, the girls have been begging to go fishing. Dad's boat hadn't been out of the shop in about 2 years. Fishing was his and Moms favorite thing to do together, and since she hadn't felt like it the last 2 years, the boat hadn't seen water. 

So with a little begging from his girls.....

Ok- very little begging....

Ok. Ok. All we did was ask! 

Graddy took the boat for a tune up! But once it was finished, it started to rain. And rain. And rain! So it took forever- it serd- for us to get to go fishing! But finally, the weather cooperated, and we got to go! We went on a Sunday after church, which made it HOT! But we didn't care. We were on the boat with Graddy!! 

Of course the day we decided to go was the first beautiful weekend in weeks, so the marina was FULL. But we didn't care. The girls had on their fishing shirts and we were in the water! 

It was a bit crowded to fish, so we decided that a boat ride would do. We had so much fun! The girls really enjoyed it. Brenna wanted to go FAST. And Macie did not. At all. Every time Brenna hollered FASTER! Macie hollered NO!! But she was all smiles the whole home! 

Not gonna lie, it was hard for Dad and I to be on the boat without Mom. She enjoyed that boat so much. Nothing was said during the ride. But we both knew. Something was missing. SomeONE was missing. MeMawMom. But we went on. Not without her. But with her in our hearts. We did it because we both knew what was the most important thing to Mom. Seeing her girls have fun. So

dad and I did just that.... We watched her girls have fun. I think the pictures show just that....FUN! 

It takes w talented 5 year old to drive a boat! 

I think she enjoyed it. 

Graddy and his Shortcake and Tooter. 

It's hard to take a group selfie on a boat! 

Brenna was Graddy's sidekick the whole trip. 

I'm having a hard time with how old she looks these days. 

See!!!???? I love her so much. 

Graddy showed the girls how to sit on the edge and drag their feet in the water. 

There are no words to describe how much this Shortcake loves her Graddy. 

And there are definitely no words to fescribe hoe much I love my Daddy. 

It was a fun day. A hard day. But a fun day. I'm so thankful to be able to do fun things like this with my girls and my Daddy. It makes my heart happy. My heart hurts each time we do fun stuff like this because I know how much Mom would have loved to do this stuff with the girls. She loved to watch them have fun. But yet, it makes me happy to do stuff that I know would have made her smile. Her smile made ME happy. And each time we do stuff like this, I honestly feel her smiling. And my heart gets warm. It's like she's there in spirit. I love that. I know that one day in Jeaven she will tell me that she was with us on all of those days. On all the hard days, when I wanted her there so much, she was there. She saw it all. She felt the happiness and the joy that the girls experienced. I just know. And that makes it all ok. 

I seeore fishing days with Graddy in our future. 

A day with Brycen

Two days after school was out the girls and I got to go spend the morning with Brycen. They were so excited, and had a blast playing with him. Pretty sure he enjoyed all the attention too. :) 

This girl loved holding him! 

I think he liked Brenna! 

I love how he is looking at Macie while she gives him his bottle. 

Brenna is usually not one to care much about babies. But she loved her Brycen time! 

Later we went over to Tim and Kathy's for lunch after the family got back from the funeral. The girls had a blast playing with Addison and Kaleigh! 

Sweet girls! 

First full day of SUMMER!

We planned to spend the first full day of summer at the zoo with Aunt Kim. But Jake needed to go to the groomer, I needed to go to a funeral visitation, and Brenna started off summer with a trip to urgent care for an ear infection. So....plans got changed. We decided to spend the day at Aunt Kims! Macie and I did some swimming, Brenna soaked up some sun and got her toes painted, and then she and Aunt Kim went to the movies! It ended up being a great and relaxing day! 

Excuse me..... But when did she turn into a teenager?? See her drink and iPad sitting by her head?? Geez. 

Floating in the pool while eating Cheetos.... It's a rough life. 

She stole my chair! 

She did decide to get her swim suit on, but her ear hurt too much for swimming. Poor thing. 

Pretty sure she's part fish! 

Another school year in the books!

The end of school this year was crazy- which really isn't out of the ordinary. But there were just so many things going on that I didn't have time to blog about it! 

Macie finished Pre-K at the Schoolhouse on Friday May 29th. She was so excited because now she gets to go to Kindergarten! I am pretty sure she thought Kinder started the following day! Ha! Time is so relative to a 5 year old. 

She has grown and changed so much this year. 

The biggest change has been in her maturity. She has become so much more independent. And her already wonderful personality has blossomed as well! 

That night, we went to a retirement party at Josh's fire station. This picture melts me! I love these 3 more than anything!! 

After the party we met Megan at Chubbys for a burger. Obviously, it was too much in one day for Macie Claire! 

The next week was the end of school for Brenna and I. Macie spent Monday with her friend Maylee, Tuesday with her favorite Mrs. Sara, and Wednesday with her Aunt Emily! I'm so thankful to have wonderful people in my life that help me out when I'm in a bind! 

Tuesday was Brenna's last day of 2nd grade. She was so excited!! How can she possibly be starting 3rd grade?? 

I love these two!! 

We spent that evening playing outside getting our summer started off right! 

Water guns!! 

I'm thinking Josh and I both need water guns too!! 

After I finished with my last work day on Wednesday I met the girls, Emily and Wyatt at Kims for a swim!! It was a great start to summer!! 

We are ready to kick off Summer 2015!!! Bring it on!! 

2nd grade Talent Show & Awards

Last Thursday Brenna had her first talent show. Unfortunately I had a class that morning and had to sign exemptions, so I couldn't go to the Talent show. But I heard they did great. She and some friends danced to "Shake It Off". 

But I did get my class covered so I could go to the awards. It was a surprise to her, so I had one super excited girl on my hands! 

I was glad I ended up

Getting to go, because she got the Golden Paw award! That is just like the student of the six weeks. Each 6 weeks the award stands for something different. This six weeks the award was for integrity. I was so proud of her! 

The look on her face shows how excited she was too! She also got perfect attendance- which was kind of odd since she missed the Thursday before due to a fever. But I guess they cut off absences before that. 

Sweet girl! I am so proud of her. She has a heart of gold, and the soul of a 40 year old. Integrity describes her perfectly.