It was a week...

Last week was one massive roller coaster. Some things came to an end, some hard things are beginning, and good things are beginning too...

One thing that came to an end was Ethan's Kindergarten year! His last day of school was a fun one full of water gun fights, getting gifts from his sweet teacher, and playing outside. His first year in school has been such a wonderful experience as he's had a fantastic teacher and has made such sweet friends. Oh, and he's learned a ton too. I'm thrilled to have a few months off with no homeschooling and no where we HAVE to be, but I am sad this year has come and gone. I think he's already looking forward to 1st grade as he said that his new teacher is "so sweet and full of smiles"!

Another thing that came to an end was the "G Court Era". :) Some of our dearest friends, the Crawfords, that have lived 2 houses down the street from us for the past 4 and half years, have moved to a different town. We've lived a lot of life with them, and all of our children view each other as siblings; we're all feeling their absence. I think we're going to feel it most around 4:00 in the afternoon when we usually met them outside to play and wait for dads to come home. Man, that "witching hour" is going to be tough alone!

They came to say the final good-bye to the neighborhood on Friday, and it was only fitting watching the kids all play together in the cul-de-sac. Xander and Ethan, per usual, had an initial rough time compromising on what they were going to play together (first borns), and then they made up and walked the entire length of our block holding hand and talking. So sweet. As they were getting ready to go, it started pouring. The kid's shirts flew off and they all had a blast running in the rain. It only seemed appropriate! I could probably make some comment about heaven was crying that they were moving, but I'll spare you. :) Crawford family, you will be missed greatly!

(from the Crawford's good-bye party)

This summer break is already taking a different shape as we learned of a good friend's illness last week too. I'm thankful we serve a kind and loving God who will give us feet for the path. We're heading into Summer of 2013 anticipating seeing The Lord at work in our lives and in the lives of those around us, and us making lots of good memories along the way!

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

 Grandma Debbie turned 29 again, and we went to OKC to celebrate with her! The kids were thrilled to stay at her house, drink her "peach water" and play on her back porch.

 Harper and I went shopping with Grandma on Saturday afternoon, and Harper was in heaven. She skipped her nap to go, and I've never seen her more wired. She bounced her way across the mall, charmed sales workers everywhere we went, and argued with Grandma over which pair of shoes she thought Grandma should buy her! The only time I wondered if we should have brought her along was when we were in Anthropologie and we turned our backs for a minute only to turn around and see Harper carrying a cookie jar that was as big as her. A porcelain cook jar that cost $130. Praise the Lord she had a good grip on it!

One of the highlights of the trip was a lunch at Ted's Mexican restaurant. I've never seen my kids eat so much. Harper and Ethan both gave up using chips to eat the queso and opted for spooning it out.

It was a great weekend celebrating Grandma Debbie! We're looking forward to many more birthday celebrations with her!

Kindergarten Graduation

My first baby graduated Kindergarten last week!!! I cannot believe it. It doesn't seem like that long ago that he was marching up to the school for his first day. I'm not going to lie...I got a little teary seeing him stand on the stage. It's all going by too fast. 

 We celebrated the big day by having grandparents come to town for dinner, and then we all went and watched the ceremony. When each child was called up to receive their diploma, the teachers would read a godly characteristic that thy had seen manifested in each kid's life throughout the year. For Ethan, his sweet teacher chose "Friendship" as a word that described him. She said, "Ethan is a fun, kind-hearted young man that is a friend to everyone and loved by all." That was fun to hear!

The kiddos surprised the parents with a song they had practiced - a song with all the books of the Bible. And of course there was a slide show of the year. We closed the night out with Paw Paw treating everyone to ice cream. It was a great night and sweet mile stone in my first born's life. Now on to summer, no homework and lots of swimming!