The end of May 2019

 I feel like there are so many random pictures I'm forgetting. If I could only stay on top of my stories they would be more than pictures, but sometimes a picture says a thousand words.

So, a couple of random pictures from the month of May.

I'm pretty sure Connor got a hair cut at some point this month....

 And Kael was so proud to get his basketball "stuck".

 Kael's field day

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL AWARDS

 Elara, Mrs. Brittany Antionetti, and Gabriel

Mrs. Antionetti gave each child an award on the last day of school. It was so sweet. Elara received the go fly a kite award because she was always wanting to learn more each day and soar higher and higher.

Kael got on the honor roll and a couple other awards on the last day of school for his 5th grade promotion ceremony.

Finally school is DONE! We had our traditional end of school party with our friends and thankfully our friend Sarah Guest had the party at her house this year.

 The Linck Family has been some of our dearest friends. Alice and Eden and Kael and Ryan became the best of friends and it was so much fun having them just down the road. They moved to DC this summer and we miss them terribly.

It's hard to believe we only have one more end of school party in the 5 years we have been in Texas. The next party will officially be our going away party. We sure have loved every minute in Texas, tough minutes included. We've had the best of friends and have been so blessed! I think the phrase "so blessed" must have come from Texas because Texas is good to those who live here.

 Elara's friend Avery on her soccer team had her 6th birthday and celebrated at the EVO theater and they invited our whole family to come and play games and watch the live action Aladdin movie.

It was so much fun, and Avery's Dad was Elara's soccer coach "Coach Kevin".

They are such a fun family and great at soccer. With Kael's team splitting up we decided to put him on their son Wyatt's soccer team and have Coach Kevin be Kael's coach as well.

 Kael is growing up before my eyes. It is his last year in primary and every once in a while I get to steal a glance his way in primary and it melts my heart. He is SUCH a good boy, and I'm so very proud of him and how he tries to be a good example for all those around him.

Over Memorial Day weekend we were lucky enough to be able to drop the kids off up with the Pinkston's and have them watch the kids so Derek and I could sneak away for a night in Austin.

We haven't been able to do any Austin trips, and getting rid of the kids made it such a fun trip! It was so nice to have some time with just the two of us since he got home. It had been so busy every single day and trying to cram in as much time as we could it was nice to just take a breath and enjoy some time together.

 Blake and Ashley watched the kids mostly and they found this brand new baby deer, and helped it find it's Mom, AFTER they got to hold it for a second!

 The kids found a deer and WE found a zeebra!

We went on a tour of the "Inner Space Caverns" and they were beautiful, and they happened to have some zeebra outside of the cave. 

Waiting to go down in the cave. 

 After the cave tour we went to go see the bats under the bridge on Congress Avenue. And the bats decided they just didn't feel like coming out that night. We waited several hours, even past dark and decided around 9 PM we were wanting some ice cream and just left after only seeing about 5 bats leave the stupid bridge. I'm certain it's really cool when ALL the bats come out, but it was pretty dumb for us. 

The next day before picking up the kids we stopped at "The Salt Lick" for the best BBQ for lunch.

 Random Photos Again.

This boy's name is Alex Nickerson. Alex and his twin sister Abby would come play at our house sometimes. He was in Elara's class at school. They moved this summer and we sure miss them too. Being in the military means a LOT of goodbyes. We are grateful for the good memories we get though. We can cherish them forever, and I think it helps our kiddos to become kinder, more understanding, and helpful human beings. Because they know life can be tough.

May was tough with the goodbyes this year. Most of the families who helped support us through Derek's deployment moved away. We were and are so grateful for the love of a military family.

Busy: May 10- May 19th

This year we took on a whole new level of craziness. I got this bright idea in my head that swim team would be so great compared to swim lessons. AND I was right. I mean 2 whole months of swimming non stop was incredible and the kids learned to swim so very well! The con was 2 whole months of swimming non stop. I'm so glad we did it and just embraced the craziness. By the end of the two months the kids became excellent swimmers. Connor swam the entire length of the pool without any help. Eden was diving like a swan even though she was one of the slowest swimmers. Elara was competing doing the butterfly and getting ribbons. And sweet Kael was getting some first place ribbons. It is definitely a sport we would love to try again and I loved that the entire family could do it and all together as well. Swim meets were so long, but so fun. I'm really hoping it works out that we can compete again next summer and that Connor will be able to race as well. All 4 kids improved their race times by the end of the season, and improved by a LOT! I'm so proud of how hard all 4 of them worked to become better swimmers. Lots of pictures to come still.

May 12th Mother's Day

I could not have asked for anything for Mother's Day because my biggest wish came true with Derek being HOME! Everything else was just icing on the cake.

Everyone spoiled me rotten. Derek took all the kids to help find me gifts, and he got me gifts as well. The kids loved wrapping the gifts and giving them to me, and they were all so sweet and thoughtful. New earrings from Elara, a cup from Eden with her picture, a necklace and a card from Kael and sour patch kids and hat from Connor and all their school presents. I sure love these 4 kiddos so much and am so grateful I get to be their Mom!

 On May 14th, Kael earned his arrow of light award in Scouting. 

I'm so proud of him. He worked hard to achieve his goals. I am especially grateful to Derek's cousins Andrew and Blake for making it possible while Derek was gone. They helped teach Kael the things that I struggled with. We went camping and they taught him how to sent up a tent, rope tying, and carving, and how to use tools to make his pinewood derby car. I'm so grateful we were a part of the scouting program. Each of the parents made a cool arrow and holder for their son. Sweet Heidi was amazing, and wood burned Kael's board for me, and I think it turned out amazing!

That same day Kael earned his Webelos award as well, and had so many awards they were delayed handing out.

The next day Derek was invited to Elara's school class to welcome him home from his deployment. The kids had a book picked out for him to read to the class, and a welcome home beach ball they all signed. It was seriously the cutest day.

 Derek is the BEST Dad, and the BEST story teller. He read an elephant and piggie book and did all the voices just perfect. The sound effects were great and he had the whole class wrapped around his finger. After the story the kids got to ask him any questions they might have about his deployment or anything they wanted. The last was a sweet little blonde girl named Peyton who asked Derek if he could flex his muscles for her. To which he did. It was hilarious. 

 They were the cutest 6 year olds and all wanted to keep hugging him. I'm so grateful for Mrs. Antionetti, Elara's kindergarten teacher. She was so perfect for Elara and helped her to grow so much through the school year and was sensitive to the fact that her Dad was gone basically the whole school year. The teachers at the kids school were amazing, kind, and considerate. We love Randolph Elementary School.

 The next day we were off to the beach for some much needed family time!

We literally had the BEST time in SO long. It was a perfect day for the beach. The weather was hot and perfect, the waves were out, and sand was fun to dig in. The boys found crabs, AND rescued a SEA TURTLE! It was stuck in the rocks and now Derek is a hero. We got some really amazing photos and released him back to the ocean.

After the beach we went straight to the hotel pool to swim in the pool where SO much more fun was had on Elara's giant unicorn float.

The amazing sea turtle!

At the pool

Day two was the Texas State Aquarium

The kids each picked out a toy to take home with their allowance money. And the boys got a little goofy in the gift shop.

 Feeding Sting Rays is just the best. It never gets old. 

 My favorite part of the Aquarium is just being able to touch so many different things. A typical museum you are constantly telling your kids NOT to touch something, but here certain things are ok, and they loved reaching down and feeling something truly amazing.

Going out to eat and poor Connor was tuckered. Fell asleep and Dad had to hold him. One of the best parts of Dad being home is just being held.

 Day 3 was Chuck E. Cheese for old times sake and was so much fun.

 I don't even remember when, but we took the kids to watch Detective Pikachu this month. It was a fun movie, and we missed going to the movies with Derek while he was gone. It has become a family favorite activity.