Mother's Day

My Mother's Day morning was all planned out for me...by this little lady.  First, she read me two books in bed.

Then, I had to close my eyes and she lead me to the kitchen table where I found a pile of handmade cards, notes, coloring pages, cards that Daddy bought, and more.  I think she had been saving up stuff for a while...so sweet!

After a pancake breakfast (thanks, John!) with my favorite peeps, we headed to church.

Grace made me this sweet little owl at church and Carter did not.  He pitched such a huge fit that his handprints did not get painted.  Boo.

After church, we had lunch at our favorite Mexican place with our mommas!

I know that I am so blessed to have these two special mommas and these two great kids in my life!  I am truly thankful!

in case you were wondering

i am alive.

i'm just tired...

eight and a half days left of school

the day we went to the zoo

Grace and I were super excited to go on her field trip to the zoo.  While getting Carter dressed, I said, "Carter, you ready to go to Mimi's?"  He replied, "No, Mimi's!  Wanna see lions! Grrr!"  And I was all like, "Huh?  How do you know we are going to see lions?  How do you know we are going to the zoo?  How do you even know that there are lions AT the zoo?"  Grace said, "Mom, I fink we need to take him."  So, now, Grace and Carter were super excited to go to the zoo and I was worried that I might accidentally feed Carter to the lions.  (He's been so tough lately...I'm exhausted from fighting a 2 year old)  Just kidding, I would never feed him to the lions.  I mean, maybe if he climbed in there with them, maybe I wouldn't stop him. 

Surprisingly, out of the ordinary, Carter was in a super cooperative mood and we had fun.  Just the three of us.  We missed Daddy, of course.

Grace was our tour guide.  She made every decision with a little guidance from her old wise momma.  This was her field trip after all!

He was in such a great mood; I didn't even let him go swimming with the ducks (which are a fav) and the flamingos.  He tried really hard though!  

A few of our favorites...lions, monkeys, giraffes, and the not pictured camels, pandas, grizzlies. 

The elephants were pretty cool too!

We also got to ride the farm train!  Choo!  Choo!

The end.  Oh!  Carter is just asleep.  He did actually survive the zoo.

InstaFriday

sweet girls.  swinging on the front porch reading and playing with dolls.  perfect.

our little cherry tree that could.

grace wanted a "healfy" lunch.

we had cereal for dinner.  it was a rough day.  john was at soccer.  it was me versus the kids.

"help!  momma, help!  help!"  he was stuck.  i didn't fall for it.

after a 30 minute battle, i won!  he picked up his toys and went to bed.  that was exhausting, but i am the champion.  this time.  truthfully, it was a whole lot of praying.

Grace's School Program

Grace had her K4 "We are the Kids of America" program.  They have been practicing hard and I was excited to see all their hard work come to fruition! 

Grace and I had been arguing for weeks about how to spell "obedience."  She said that she was last and that she was the letter "i."  I said there was no way that she was last.  Now, who was right?  Ha!

Grace's speaking part was..."A good American needs to be able to count."  Then, everyone counted to 100.  Exciting stuff!

She also got to be a cherry tree.  Too bad, George Washington cut her down!

The moment that everyone had been waiting on. We have been hearing this song sung around the house for days, weeks, possibly even months.

♫ FIFTY NIFTY United States ♪♫ ♪

♪♫ ♪  thirteen original colonies ♫ 

Spectacular!  They did a fantabulous job!  After the program, they had a little award ceremony and Grace received "The Most Cooperative" award.  She really is such a sweet girl!  We kinda like her.

John brought her some pink flowers.  Excellent Daddy!!!

We are so proud of our cooperative Grace.  She has really blossomed this year both socially and academically.  She isn't the super shy girl that she used to be and she is reading and counting to 100!  Yay!  Grace!

Grace, we love you more than you know!  You are my favorite little girl in the whole wide world!