Two Promotions!

It's been a busy couple of days for us! Yesterday, we celebrated Matthew's promotion to high school. What?! How did that even happen? It was a very long ceremony, but it was a great milestone to mark. He let me take a few pictures after the ceremony and then he was off to Burger's Lake to celebrate with his classmates. I love this tradition that Dawson Middle School does. They get a day off and then they can focus on taking their finals.

Waiting for the ceremony to start!

He chose optimism as a trait he's known for. It's a little surprising, but I'm happy he sees himself as one.

M wasn't able to make it because he was traveling for work, but Jennie and Grandpa were there to give their support. Michael and Mark wanted to come too, but it was because they wanted to get out of school. Haha!

These 2 have known each other since Kindergarten and are both in YMSL. I hope that they develop a great friendship.

I'm so glad there was a photographer there to take a "green-carpet" picture with Principal Wilson and Assistant Principal Langford. I was stuck in the stands so I wouldn't have been able to take this great shot. He's so luck to have such a fantastic principle for the past 2 year.

That same evening, Mark had is Rank Advancement Ceremony for Cub Scout. Never in a million years did I think we would participate in Cub Scout. It was never in our periphery until Mark showed interest. There's been a lot to take in and lots of new things to learn, but I am trying to embrace it.

Mark seems to be enjoying it tremendously. I am not a camper and will never be a camper, but Cub Scout is so much more than camping as I have come to realize. So, we celebrated Mark crossing over from a Tiger Cub to a Wolf Cub. I don't know how long this will keep his interest, but I will hang on for as long as he needs and wants me to.

As we were waiting for the ceremony to start, my little sweet boy brought over this flower to me. My heart melted...

I love this little face so much!

He got called up to the front twice-once for getting his Bear badge and then his Wolf badge.

Here is the den receiving their new Wolf handkerchief.

What better way to end the evening than to grab a bite at the Shake Shack with a friend? These two were doing silly choreographed dances throughout dinner.

It Went By Like a Blur....

So technically, the boys have 7 days of school left and within those 7 days-there are so many activities crammed there that it's going to feel like 2 days of school left. Seriously, how did we get here?!

Last week was a bit of a blur to me. On top of school activities, I've also been busy with SWC. I will be serving on the board again as Communications Chair. It's not one of the bigger roles, but that suits me just find. I feel like being on the board last year made it so much more fun to be in the club. Plus, I really do enjoy keeping company with the other ladies on the board even it if means reminding them a million times to send in their committee updates for the newsletter.

We had another great fashion show this year. I didn't model again, but am considering coming out of retirement. Haha..I did miss modeling. But, it was nice to sit down and enjoy the last luncheon instead of stressing about quick outfit changes backstage.

We also had our last board meeting of the year at Kirby's. It was a chance to say goodbye to everyone before going our separate ways for the summer.

I have been working on the 8th Grade Celebration with 3 other ladies on the Dawson PTSO. To say I'm relieved that the event is over and we pulled it off is an understatement. After a couple of months of planning, we were able to give our 8th graders a fantastic event with a mechanical bull, surf machine, dancing and dinner from a food truck. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves and the teachers didn't have to deal with any catastrophes. We were hoping for 150 8th grader to show up and ended up with over 220! Matthew was among them and it seemed to me that he had a great time as well. I was surprised to see how easily it was for him to move from one group of friends to another.

My friends and I went and did something that was out of my comfort zone - we went shooting at the shooting range. Yes, shooting with real guns. I have never in my life seen a real gun much less fire one. I was so nervous that I was shaking at first. It was definitely an eye-opening experience. It taught me that if I owned a gun, the chances of it being turned on me is much greater than me shooting an intruder.

I did enjoy the target shooting and it was a great experience because my friend Kristy knew exactly what to do and did a great job coaching us and making sure we knew the rules. I would definitely do this again.

And we let Mark swim last week. He's been begging for weeks to let him get into the pool but I've been telling him that it's too cold. I finally relented and he happily went swimming this weekend.

Last night, Matthew had his first YMSL meeting with his class. He's not much of a talker but it seems to be open to it than Michael. He said the meeting went well. My friend Heather was there - she's on the Boys Committee (they help the boys put on the meetings). She wanted to know if it got better. Haha. Apparently, the boys were pretty wild. I told her it will get worse before it gets better so buckle up, Buttercup!

Catch Up Post

Oh my goodness. How is it that we are into mid-May already. I've been pretty bad at keeping this blog up-to-date. It's just been crazy, crazy and I know that's a weak excuse, but these little people have lots to do are busy, busy! This post will be all over the place-fair warning.

We celebrated Mother's Day last Sunday and it was pretty good. We all went out to breakfast and I spent the rest of the day not doing much. M had a work trip that afternoon so the boys and I ordered in dinner. Easy-peasy. We have our traditional picture with mom after Mother's Day breakfast. This is the only gift I want from them....

Mark had a lot going on at school. His QUEST class worked on a project about habitats and they capped it off with a Habitat Showcase on April 23rd. This is where they get show off their hard work researching and building a model of their habitats.

Mark chose the open ocean habitat where the orcas live. He did such a great job. I had a chance to talk to his QUEST teacher and she told me that he was the only one to think to turn his box height-wise to get the depth that he wanted of the open ocean. She also said that he was detailed oriented and whatever he used in his model had to be "just right." At the showcase, his classmates and parents were invite and he got to talk about the Orca and its habitat. He had a booklet with fun facts ready.

My little researcher explaining his project to classmates.

Morning With Moms 2019

I got to spend some time with my little guy at "Morning with Moms" this morning. It was chaos, but the fun kind of chaos because he was so proud that I was there. The food was terrible (day-old donuts)and mark refused to drink the orange juice (nothing but fresh squeezed orange juice from Central Market for him-haha), but I am so grateful to the dads that took time to make this event special for the moms. It is the best to see your child excited to be with you and to finally give you that special gift that they've worked so hard on.

My darling little boy who still loves to be with me. I will not take that for granted....

This is one of my favorite Mother's Day gift. I LOVE it so much.

YMSL Banquet 2019

Last night, we attended our 2nd YMSL banquet to close out our 2nd year of service. It was a very pretty ceremony. Michael was not happy about attending because he is after all a 16 year-old boy, but as a parent it is my job to keep pushing in the direction that I feel will give him growth. I won't lie - it's a struggle to get him to serve, but I know that one day he will look back a appreciate what he did for others. At least that is my hope.

He served over 30 hours this year so he received the Outstanding Service Award. Matthew will also start serving this coming year so I may have some more weight to push, but in the end, I hope these boys will remember the times we spent serving together.

Field Trip to See The Wizard of Oz 2019

Mark had a field trip with his 1st grade class to see the Wizard of Oz in Fort Worth yesterday. It was a pretty long show without an intermission, but I think he and the other 1st graders really enjoyed it. I know I did! I drove with my friends and it was a good time!

The moms definitely had a great time at the field trip. Lots of laughs on the way there....

 This is one of my favorite pictures. These 3 are just so adorable!

I love this boy so much!

We drove back to the school after the play. The original plan was to go to the park and have lunch but with all the rain we've had, the plan was flooded. So back to school we go!

Then me and some moms went to have a margarita at Chuy's before we had to go pick them up from school! Fun times!

Easter 2019

We had a pretty quiet Easter this year. The older boys have really outgrown the Easter egg hunts. I can't even bribe them by putting cash in the eggs anymore. So this year, it was just my little Mark hunting for eggs.

The day before Easter, we went back to our old neighborhood for their neighborhood Easter egg hunt. Even though we haven't lived there for almost 4 years, we still have great friends there and they always welcome us back year after year.

This year, Mark was super excited because he finally moved up the age group. When you are in the older age group, you get to hunt for eggs in the creek area. It was a big milestone for him. Haha!

There's always the popular petting zoo that he enjoys...

He still loves the pony ride. I'm not sure how much longer this will last. As long as he wants to ride a pony, I will oblige.

On Easter Sunday, we had our own Easter egg hunt at home. Again, I will fill those eggs and hide them for as long as he wants. I will miss this so much when he feels that he's too old for this.

Daddy even helped hide the eggs.

 So much joy in this little body....

Later that afternoon, we went across the street to Grandpa's and hung out. The boys got little gifts from their grandparents. Another Easter in the books!