We signed the papers!!

We signed the papers for the Fredericksburg house today. We didn't have to go to Fredericksburg to sign them (shucks...) so we went to the bank to sign the note, sign the closing papers and they Fed Ex'd them back to Fredericksburg for a Monday morning closing with the current owners.

IT was very uneventful, but still exciting that we are going to own a home to escape to when necessary...on Monday officially. I can't wait to host special times there and have friends up to enjoy the house.

We are currently looking at furniture to fill the home and all the necessities like towels, bedding, etc.

We are also looking for a weekend to go up there. We can't take possession of the home until next Sunday- June 7th, but of course, have events going on that day (Emma's dance recital) and that weekend. We have family coming in actually and I am not sure how they feel about going to Fredericksburg to help us move into the house. I can't blame them...but we will try to convince them somehow. If it doesn't work out while they are here, we plan to go the 3rd weekend in June and have furniture delivered and the movers take our things.

The last time we were there, I took more pictures. Here they are:

A look into the dining room

The cutest little telephone nook in the hallway leading to the master bedroom

An area by the front door to place our things (I am on the search for something like this)

A view of the front family room

A view from the dining room to the front doorThe sunroom (we need a casual couch for here) This will probably end up being our "hang out" spot! It's just off the kitchen and will be so nice to lounge here.The opposite wall of the sunroom (I'd like to put a desk with a computer here too- so I can keep blogging!!)We can't wait to go up there and have some fun times.

Our first Mock Swim Meet

We had our first mock swim meet tonight. This is a perfect opportunity for the team to see who is swimming strong in the particular strokes and a closer look at times. The times help the coaches set the line ups for the "heats" and allows him to put together relay teams.

We always have a good time at meets. They are HOT, HOT, HOT, but so much fun for the kids and the adults have a pretty good time themselves. It's where we get our social "fix" for the first 6 weeks of the summer and where a lot of good times are had.

Even though this meet wasn't for real, it was still a load of fun. It was Jackson's first experience at "racing" in the pool and he took to it...he thought it was fun. Here he is heading out to his first race!

Check out his dive... LOVE this picture!

And he's still smiling! It went well...he didn't even hang on the ropes in the middle.

The girls had a good time hanging out with their friends and both of them did well on their times! Emma got first place several times and Bailey did too. As much as we are happy for them, I don't think they really care and we certainly don't care what place they come in...I just want them to have fun and try their hardest!

But more importantly....HAVE FUN!





Here is Emma doing the butterfly stroke. I was her lane "timer" so she smiled at me the whole way down the lane! I think she liked us screaming, "faster!".

Bailey's Economics Fair Update

Bailey's 4th grade class had their economics fair today and I said I would report back with the results so here they are:

She sold all the necklaces!! Six necklaces sold at FULL price ($5.00)...and the last 4 sold at $3.75. She has had several moms in the neighborhood asking for a necklace so I think she will be taking orders soon! This just might be a great activity for her this summer...something to keep her busy!! Yay!

Bailey came home with some great items herself. She came home with a picture frame, a pair of flip flops and a hair scrunchy, a ball made out of rubber bands, a cute clipboard, and some "flubber". The fair was a success and the kids actually learned something...yippee!

Ms. Casey (Emma's 1st grade teacher and a dear friend) came to the fair at school and headed directly to Bailey's table to get her a necklace...but unfortunately, they were already gone!! We got you covered Mandy- be one the lookout!!

This is how I like my brownies....mixed with a little almost Kindergartener!

This is just another event that I will miss with my almost Kindergartener! When Jackson asked if he could help me make brownies for Emma and Bailey and their friends, my answer was "SURE"!

When we were done mixing our ingredients, he asked if he could lick the spoon. My answer?

"Absolutely! They wouldn't taste as good without it!"

And those brownies were gone in the matter of minutes....seriously! Bailey had Alexis over and Emma had Maddie over to swim after school and with all of them and all of us- they disappeared!!

Memorial Day Weekend

This Memorial Day weekend was a great one. We spent a lot of time together as a family watching TV, movies, and swimming. We were cleaning out the garage at one point and came across this large float that my aunt gave the kids at Christmas time. Jerrod blew it up for them and they played on it all day long.

Teague had a good time floating around.Tonight we packed up everyone and headed out on a bike ride. I have had this carriage for the back of my bike for several years (I bought it second hand from a girl when Teague was born) and this is the first time we actually used it. I didn't know how to attach it, but we were able to figure it out this weekend and so we wanted to try it out. The boys loved it and I actually didn't mind pulling them along...all 50 something pounds!

We stopped at the park midway and let the kids play so that we could rest our legs.

Thank you to all the veterans that have fought for our freedoms so that we are able to have wonderful weekends like this! Thank YOU!!

I need help sometimes...

While I was helping Bailey with her economics project, the other kids were busy running around making noise as usual. I needed help changing Teague's diaper so I asked Emma for some help with that. This is what I got. Nice.

Bailey's Economics Fair Project at Campbell Elementary

Bailey's school has a large project for every grade level each year. In fourth grade, one of their projects in the spring is to participate in an "economics fair" with all the other fourth grade students. The students are required to come up with a project that they can sell at the fair, but the goal is to concentrate on creating the item, marketing the item and then selling the item to other students with money they earn through good behavior, etc. a few weeks before the fair. The lesson is to try to come up with something and make a PROFIT!

What a lesson Bailey learned when we went shopping and searching for something to sell that she could make a profit on! Bailey said that she had earned approximately 10 dollars already so we assumed most students had earned about the same. The helped us to come up with a price we thought her friends would want to pay...somewhere around $5.00. With that knowledge, we had to come up with something that would cost her around $2.00 to make and that was a challenge, but MORE importantly something others would want to buy!!

She found these ugly charms at Walmart and decided to decoupage scrapbooking paper on them and then add cute sayings, etc.

Here's how she decided to do it:
She added Mod Podge to the charm, added the paper and then cut the paper so that there was enough to fold onto the back of the charm.

She knew it would get "clumpy" on the back as she folded so she cut out little triangles so that it would fold smoothly. Smart girl.

She kept folding...

Here's how a few turned out:

She couldn't add initials on the necklaces since she didn't know who would be buying them, but she did add a few cute sayings like: Big sister, I love you (someone could buy it for their mom,etc.) and she made two necklaces very similar that said "bff" on them! They turned out really cute and we were so proud of her. This is Bailey's necklace that she plans to wear at the "fair" so that she can show everyone what they look like on.

Here are the necklaces and how she plans to display them. They turned out really cute! I'll report back on her profits...

Remember Indy??

Remember Jackson's obsession with Indiana Jones?? He has really taken to him and even wants to dress like him. It's in the low 90's right now and he wanted to wear this "get up" to the park while the girls had swim practice. I couldn't help but let him wear it (if you look really close you can see that he has his white izod type shirt on backwards) and I even convinced him to wear his camou pants because he would be just like Indiana Jones. Of course, the hat is just perfect and he has been practicing all of his moves too. He wanted me to button his jacket up and so I did- but I apparently didn't know how many buttons to snap because he told me that Indy only buttons "this many". I couldn't help but snap away...I don't ever want to forget this time in his life. Check them out!! Meet Indy...

There were a few other little boys at the park this day. I had to tell Jackson that he would need to be careful with his sword because the other boys would probably want to play with it. They were just watching him because he was so "serious" about his playing!!

He can balance his hat just like Indy!!

Jackson is going to Kindergarten!

I really can't believe that this was Jackson's last day at Shady Oak Christian School. That means that my boy is heading to Kindergarten at Campbell in August!! No way.

He did great this year. He made a lot of friends: Alex Arlott, Alex Runyan and Joshua Segal. He was friends with the girls, but he didn' t play with them - when I would ask if he played with the girls, he would say "ewwww"!! Already??! Really?? These are some of Jackson's friends:

Here are Jackson and his friends making plans for the summer:

Ms. Weidemayer, Jackson and Alex Arlott.

Alex Arlott (again), Ms. Strode and Jackson.

Jackson favorite tree house at Shady. He loved to play "super heroes" here. I heard all about it everyday on the way home.

I have mixed feelings about Jackson going to Kindergarten. While I am excited that he will be joining his sisters at Campbell Elementary (Bailey in 5th, Emma in 3rd), I am sad to see him grow up and go to "real" school. I know he will do great, but I will sure miss him during the day. I'll miss hearing him playing super heroes, asking me lots of questions, going shopping at HEB/Walmart/Target and looking at the toys and buying little treats here and there. Jackson has been such a pleasure to have home the last 5 years and I will miss him!! I will definitely be attending the "boo hoo" breakfast that the PTA hosts each year for all the Kindergarten Moms on the first day...