Last Day of School

My three *almost* graduates. Cora's last day was yesterday but she still wanted to be in the photo with her brothers today.

Cora's "first day" picture was taken on the boys' first day in August. Since Cora successfully completed our school's Pre School Two's program, she will be going to the Three's in the fall. She will end up doing an extra year of pre-school since her birthday falls after the school cut off.

She was very excited about her Ariel bloomers this morning. Her favorite thing about school this year was her friend Levi, painting and eating lunch with her friends.

Sweet Cruz is on to Kindergarten! He had a wonderful year and we are so so proud of the way he's grown. I just love looking at the comparison pictures from the beginning of the year and now. He's so much taller and just more mature looking.

Talk about looking older... yikes!!! Rowan had a great first grade year. He won the "human calculator" award today at their class party. He made it halfway through the Multiplication timed tests in Second Grade math- farther than any of the second graders. Rowan is reading way above grade level, though he still isn't a big fan of reading. His cutting and handwriting could use a bit of work still. He is super competitive and very athletic. We've started noticing his little legs are gaining muscles! Rowan is good at pretty much everything he tries. We are so proud of you Rowan and I can't wait to be your teacher part of the time next year. That will be a huge blessing for me. :)

Now, on to summer!!! :)

Pre-School Graduation

Tonight our sweet Cruz Emerson graduated from pre-school.  My sweet second baby boy is going to Kindergarten! 

Sweet Siblings

Cruz was very nervous about being up in front of everyone so he walked in rather quickly.

Shaking his teacher's hand and getting his diploma.

Singing the song "I am a Promise"

Each child got to answer two questions. What do they want to be when they grow up and what was their favorite part of school this year. Cruz answered that he would like to be a baseball player and that his favorite thing was lunch. 

We love Ms. Smith! She was Rowan's teacher in PS 3's.

This little boy is ready for Kindergarten! His report card was full of good things all indicating he's ready to be in big kid school. He's reading, counting, cutting, sharing with his friends and being an overall good listener. I love how he's grown in his faith this year especially in regards to prayer. His teacher was faithful in taking prayer requests and praying for them with the kids. Cruz has loved coming home and talking about how God is answering the prayers of his friends. We are so thankful for our school, for the teachers and for the fact that our kids learn about God in everything they do.

Family! 

Just for fun... here's our family at Rowan's Pre-School Graduation two years ago.

Roger's Birthday & Mother's Day

Every year, Roger's birthday falls on or near Mother's Day. I feel bad that he always has to share his day with me so this year I decided we were going to celebrate his birthday all week. 

Every night when Roger came home from work there was a present waiting for him. We decided to do his birthday dinner on Thursday since Friday night was the talent show at school. Rog chose his favorite meal, Dried Beef & Gravy. Oddly enough, everyone in our family enjoys this meal... even Cruz.

Happy 32 to my handsome hubby! We are so grateful for you!

On Friday night after we got home from the Talent Show, Roger got to open the rest of his cards and gifts. The kids loved watching. They also loved when Roger showed them a couple of magic tricks.

Mother's Day was pretty low key. We ran some errands, got a car wash and went out for dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Rog and the kids got me a beautiful watch as well as some handmade goodies. It was a relaxing, sweet day with my family. 

The one who made me a mom! 

Everyone loved the waterfall at the car wash. 

The kids were actually disappointed when our car was ready and it was time to leave!

I am so thankful for each of my three babies. They each have amazing strengths and have stretched and taught me so much. I praise God that he knew who I needed as my kids and I'm so glad that he picked each of them for me. I'm so thankful to my sweet Roger for being my teammate in this parenting gig... glad we're doing it together. :) 

NVCA Talent Show

Our school held their first annual talent show on Friday, which just happened to be Roger's birthday. Roger had the fun idea to sing with the boys and together they selected the song "My Lighthouse" by Rend Collective. 

They spent quite a few evenings practicing and getting ready for the big night.

As you'll see in this video, Cruz decided he was too nervous to go up on stage on perform. He burst into tears when they announced their act so brave little Rowan went up there to sing without him.  I am seriously so proud of Rowan to get up in front of his peers like that and sing.  He started out kind of quiet but got louder as the song went on.  Quite honestly, I thought Rowan would be the one with stage fright.  I love the way he looks at his daddy through out this video.  I love the way his little hands are in his pockets.  I pretty much just love this whole thing so much. :)

We're Still Here!

Well, I think this is officially the longest between posts for me. We have been crazy busy doing nothing much.  I have been subbing quite a bit- usually 3 days a week. Between that, baseball and keeping up with the house, laundry and homework, I haven't had much time for taking pictures and blogging! 

Here are a few photos that I never posted from Cruz's birthday celebration last month. Cruz went for his check up at the doctors and weighed 32 lbs and was 40.5 inches tall. He moved up on the height charts to the 10th percentile and is still around the 3rd for weight.

Thank you, O'Connors!


Thank you Great Grandpa and Linda!




Thank you Uncle Randy and soon to be Aunt Nicole!! :)

Cora had her first modeling experience for a children's clothing company that a friend of mine started.


This dress is named "Cora" after her.


My little Coco and I love spending mornings together while the boys are in school. We've had fewer of them lately with all my subbing but she is a blast to be with one on one. She's my errand helper, frequent lunch date and personal comedian. I hope these are glimpses of our future relationship.

Grandpa and Deona came to visit for Grandpa's birthday at the end of April. Cora had a little ballet performance that Deona got to come to while Grandpa, Daddy and the boys headed to baseball games.





Before we left, Cora had a little time to teach some ballet moves to Grandpa!







Last weekend, Daddy went on the Men's Retreat with our church. While he was gone, the kids and I spent most of the weekend at the two day state chess tournament. Rowan played 9 games of chess. All of the best 1st-3rd graders in the greater Phoenix area were at this tournament. There were over 310 kids in Rowan's division. He ended up placing at 148. To place in the top half as a 1st grader is amazing. Plus, Rowan worked really hard and learned some stuff too.


Handsome boy ready to go!


There were lots of other NVCA friends there to play with. Cruz and Cora kept busy coloring, playing ball, watching shows on the ipad and getting their faces painted along with various friends.






So sweaty and dirty by the end of the 8 hour day.


Rowan and some of his friends played practice matches while they waited.




So proud of this sweet, smart little boy.

Coco started swimming lessons with one of the teachers at school about a month ago and is doing great! She loves to swim!! She's not a huge fan of getting her eyes wet but she's brave and will try pretty much anything. :)





Last but not least, I will be returning to work part time next year. I had the perfect opportunity presented to me at the kids' school and I couldn't turn it down. I will be co-teaching 2nd grade. My co-teacher will be teaching from 8-11:30 and I will take over from 11:30-3. I will be teaching the Language Arts block- phonics, spelling, reading, writing, grammar, etc. Teaching 2nd grade means that I will be Rowan's teacher for part of the day and I'm so looking forward to that blessing. Cora will attend pre-school two mornings a week and then will be in the after-care program in the afternoon which basically includes recess, nap and snack, so I won't miss out on too much with her. Cruz will be in Kindergarten just down the hall. I will honestly get to see the kids so much more being at their school every day and I'm really excited about it. :)

Okay, that's all the updates for now. We had our school's talent show last night and there was an appearance by some of our family. Stay tuned for more on that soon! :)