Our Little Graduate

Yesterday (May 29th), our little preschooler walked across the stage of First Baptist Church to receive her graduation certificate!  She is now officially a big Kindergartener!  It was a cute little ceremony.  The class of 2013 sang a few sweet songs as a group and then each class sang a song before each child was called out individually to receive their "diploma".  We then had cookies and lemonade, took a few pictures, hugged all of our friends and then went out to celebrate our girl's special day!

"I'm a little Shining Star, that's me

Learning at preschool at FBC

Most of all I learned that God loves me

In my heart he'll always be."

(Sung to "I'm A Little Teapot")

The "Squirrels" sang "God Made Me To Hop and Jump"!

Leah Hendricks

The Squirrels class of 2013

Mrs. Mason who joined her class in February

Miss Hailey

Mrs. Pevy

Mrs. "G", Leah's Spanish teacher

All of the four-year-olds had Spanish every other Wednesday, and then Leah took private lessons (with three other boys) after school for an hour every single Wednesday.  She has done AMAZING!  I'm going to do whatever I have to do to continue her lessons next year!

Nicholas

Tanner (who I think was done with pictures by this point)

Tyrus handed out roses to all of his friends.  PRECIOUS!

Leah really wanted to hold Megan who happily obliged with a smile on her face!

We're so proud of our graduate!

(Lane REFUSED to stop drinking his lemonade for a picture!)

We were so happy that Aunt Kelley was there too!

(WOW!  We all look TAN!  Thank you Santa Barbara!)

Our graduate!

And her super proud little brother!

30 Questions For Leah

Last year I interviewed Leah on her half birthday (Feb. 3rd or close enough) and made plans to ask her the same questions every year on her half birthday.  Well, here we are on May 17th and I'm just getting around to it.  Such is life these days!

1.  What is your favorite color?  pink and purple

2.  What is your favorite toy?  my doctor kit

3.  What is your favorite fruit?  watermelon

4.  What is your favorite show to watch on TV?  Sofia The First and Doc McStuffins

5.  What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch?  McDonalds

6.  What is your favorite thing to wear?  my gray suit

7.  What is your favorite game to play?  Memory game

8.  What is your favorite snack?  yogurt

9.  What is your favorite animal?  giraffe

10.  What is your favorite song?  Taylor Swift

11.  What is your favorite book?  my magazines  (Her Highlights from Uncle Chris and Aunt Kylie)

12.  Who is your best friend?  Lane's my best friend and you're my best friend and Daddy's my best friend and myself is my best friend!

13.  What is your favorite cereal?  Lucky Charms

14.  What is your favorite thing to do outside?  play, ride on my bike

15.  What is your favorite thing to drink?  apple juice

16.  What is your favorite holiday?  Easter because I get candy and the Easter Bunny comes and I get to see the Easter Bunny!

17.  What do you like to take with you to bed at night?  my sheep, Oliver and my cozy blankie

18.  What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?  the waffle sandwiches (a waffle cut in half with peanut butter on one half and Nutella on the other then put together like a sandwich)

19.  What is your favorite thing to eat for dinner?  spaghetti

20.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  a doctor, a dance teacher, everything

21.  What is your favorite restaurant?  McDonalds

22.  What do you want to be when it's Halloween again?  a pop star

23.  What is your favorite thing to do with your brother?  play in my room with him and hug him

24.  What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?  cook with you

25.  What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?  play Barbies

26.  What is your favorite thing to do at school?  activity time when you're leaving

27.  If you could go/fly anywhere, where would you go?  Hawaii

28.  Where would you like to go on vacation?  Santa Barbara

29.  Who do you like to play with at school?  Ava and Tanner and Meelah

30.  If Mommy and Daddy gave you money to go to the store, what would you buy?  fruit snacks

Nineteen Months Old

And just like that, Lane is another month older!  Photos taken May 15th, surprise surprise!

This is his "cheese" face!

• Has become obsessed with playing with our phones and the iPad.  Taking his picure with my phone has become a challenge because as soon as he sees the phone he wants to play his baseball game.  He gets so stinkin' excited to play "buh baw".
• Still loves his "papa" upside down and his "blankie".
• Had his first tummy bug Sunday night (May 12th).  It was the saddest thing ever.  He threw up every thirty minutes for 2-3 hours until he couldn't even lift his head anymore to throw up.  Mommy, Daddy and Lane made a pallette in the living room. Come morning, he seemed good to go.  Bless his little heart!  So thankful that no one else got it!
• Loves to read books and always points out "buh baw" or "fuh baw".  Must be a boy thing because he doesn't even really know what it is!  Even today at the doctor, there was a poster on the wall that had a tiny soccer and football on it.  This was amidst tons of other colorful things on the wall, but he immediately pointed out the balls.  So fun to see a boy how a boy brain operates!
• The boy loves his sports but he also thinks that he needs a "bow" every morning because that's what Sissy gets!  He wears plenty of bows around the house.  He does make for one pretty girl, if I do say so myself!
• "Ta ooo" is probably his favorite word (and mine too).  He ALWAYS says "ta ooo" when someone gives him something (anything).
• Although he follows commands, talks, sings and repeats what we say (although more in the correct number of syllables versus the correct sounds) he hasn't made much progress with his speech in terms of audible words.  We've been referred to audiology and have an appointment for a hearing test on June 6th.  We know that he can hear, but he just seems to have trouble forming certain syllables.  This may turn out to be absolutely nothing or it may be something that requires some sort of intervention.  Either way, we will do what's best for Lane and will do whatever needs to be done to help him.
• It looks like his four "fangs" have finally broken through.  Thank goodness!  That was rough!
• Has started to cry when he knows that Mommy or Daddy is leaving and he doesn't get to go with them.  I knew this day would come!  If he's distracted, though, he's fine!  This is really fun for Mommy in the morning when Daddy leaves for work later than normal (he usually leaves around 6 am before anybody else in this house is awake).
• Baths, brushing teeth, playing outside, Mickey Mouse, baseball, hair bows, shoes, reading books before bed, yogurt (frozen yogurt sticks), cheese, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, the projections on his sound machine, hot chocolate ("ha shaw"), his shirt with the puppy and the football and drinking everybody elses drink but his (especially with a straw) are all some of his very favorite things!
• Is very cooperative for diaper changes these days!  Whoo hoo!
• One of my very favorite moments with him and Sissy is when she drives him around in her Barbie car around the court.  Totally melts my heart!  He's in charge of the music while she drives!
• A fun little thing that he and I do is every single day that Sissy has school (MWF), we drop her off and then head straight to the Starbucks drive-thru.  I always get a grande mocha frappuccino and a pumpkin loaf.  The MOMENT I put my foot on the gas pedal to leave the drive-thru, Lane grunts and reaches his hand back behind his carseat (he's still backwards so all I see is his hand, no face) waiting for his bite of pumpkin loaf.  By the time we get home, the loaf is gone.  Now I have to get two if I want any!
• He's all boy.....he loves playing outside, loves getting dirty, throwing rocks, playing in water (even if he's fully clothed and has shoes on), loves mud, dirt and baseball. Of course, he loves playing Barbies with Sissy too, and of course he wears an occassional hair bow!  This keeps him well rounded!

Mothers Day 2013

The three L's in my house sure made me feel special today!  I got to sleep in until 9:00 (whoo hoo) and was then greeted with my very favorite breakfast.....a Starbucks mocha frappuccino and a slice of pumpkin bread!

I told Luke absolutely no gifts for the holiday, but when I saw this note on the office bathroom door, I knew there was something going on!

I was held hostage in my room while I got ready for the day and was then lead to the kitchen with my eyes closed where I was greeted with a colorful Happy Mothers Day banner, a dozen roses, a ginormous wrapped box and several more colorful works of art!

Everyone finished getting ready and then we were off for our 11:30 brunch reservation at Brickhouse.  It was delicious! Leah had a chocolate chunk pancake that she said was the best pancake she's ever eaten in her whole life!  Luke also said the same about his omelet.  (My french toast was ehhhh, but I'm pretty high maintenance when it comes to french toast so it had alot to live up to.)  And just for the record, Lane wasn't on his very best behavior at brunch.  It might be awhile before he gets invited back out to a restaurant.  Thank goodness it was super busy so I don't think he bothered anyone but us. It just didn't make for the most relaxing dining out experience of my life!  Daddy handed him like a trooper like he always does, of course!

After brunch it was time to come home and open presents!  I told Luke not to get me anything but a card, but of course he didn't listen.  I've been wanting to get a bike trailer so that we can all go on bike rides (versus one kid at a time in the bike seat) and by golly, a bike trailer is what I got!  He also surprised me with one of my favorite things in the world.....Coke!  Leah couldn't wait for me to open up her gift from school.....a very sweet mirror for me to use to put my make-up on and a poster all about me!  Tonight when I put her to bed she asked me if I was going to wear make-up tomorrow (just keeping it real.....I don't wear make-up every single day).  I told her I didn't know and she got kind of sad.  I was a little confused until she said "but Mommy you need to use your mirror I made you."  She is absolutely right!

Please take note of my favorite hobby!  As for what I taught her.....I had to ask her for clarification.  It was when I showed her how to take the string off of the party hat (similar to a rubberband I suppose) to put it on the back of a face picture to make her Mrs. Mason mask!

Time for the big present!  Even with all of Leah's clues, I had NO idea what it was!  :)

Lane took a much needed nap after presents and then Leah and Daddy went swimming while I got some things together for our shrimp boil!  We scoured the entire Sacramento region for a turkey fryer/shrimp boiler Friday night and found ONE (and only one) that could not have been more perfect!  The shrimp turned out beautifully (might have been the best shrimp I've ever eaten in my life, Luke too)!  I made baked potatoes, Frito corn salad and spinach strawberry salad to go along with our shrimp.  And of course we had a bag of Ruffles too after having shrimp and Ruffles at Easter with the Mullikins!  It really does seem to go well together!  For dessert Luke surprised me with carrot cake (my request), red velvet cake and chocolate covered strawberries!

After dinner I got to sit on the couch (I usually clean up the kitchen while Daddy gives baths) while the kiddos were bathed.  We then loaded up on our bikes and went out for a nice stroll!  Notice that Luke forgot to take the bike seat off of his bike.  Does this mean that he has room for one more?  Hmmmmm?!?!

It was a WONDERFUL Mothers Day!  I'm so thankful for the two little people who call me Mommy and for their awesome Daddy!