Swim and Dance

Last week James had his first official swim meet, and Natalie had her first dance recital.  On the same day.  We were so happy that so much family came to watch our two little performers, who performed perfectly.

James is loving swim team, which I honestly don't understand.  Swim practice is nothing but swimming laps and more swimming laps.  And then turning around and swimming another lap.  It is exhausting just watching him, but he insists on going each day.  He has worked so hard, and I am constantly amazed at his ability.

He is in the left lane doing the back stroke

I mean, is he a stud or what? 

I was warned about doing swim team, mainly because the meets are so time consuming.  James swims in his heat for a total of 30 seconds, and then there is about an hour of waiting around (and snacking) for the next heat.  Thankfully, his first meet was on a Saturday, and I stayed home with the two little ones, who aren't very good at waiting around.  When I texted Brad and asked how it was going, this is the picture that I received.  Waiting around.....

 
James finished 9th in the freestyle, which is a-maz-ing.  The boys who finished ahead of him were 6 years old, and again, considering where he started, he has come a long way!!  This is actually just a participation ribbon, which of course he understood.  This kid is accustomed to earning trophies, not participation ribbons :)  

So after a long morning of swim, Ms. Priss had her dance recital.  I wasn't sure what to expect--Natalie flips between wanting others to have the attention or being a little ham.  However, on this day, she LOVED the attention.  She loved her Aunt Chesney and CiCi fussing over her, she loved us all being in the audience (especially Abigail), and she loved performing!  I went overboard with the pictures, but she was just too darn cute!!

The recital was at 2:00, and she started asking for her "mate-up" and costume around 9:30.

Sweet little friends.

Natalie spent a great deal of the recital looking for and waving to Abigail!  She, and James, were so excited that Abigail came, and all three had a sleep over that night.

Sweet cousins, minus John Brannon 

Natalie's fan club!

And more pictures, because she was just THAT irresistible 

She is waving at Abigail 

And my favorite

I have to include one of Lukey Man

And one of us going on "date night".  Funny story (well, maybe more of an annoying story for Brad): I pre-bought Entourage tickets (one of our favorite tv shows).......for the wrong week!  We got to the ticket counter, and the cute little girl said "Uh, Mam, we aren't showing that movie".  We ended up seeing Aloha, which we loved!  Brad says I do this "type thing" constantly........I disagree.  I'm busy keeping three kids alive :)

Memorial Day

We had such a fun Memorial Day weekend with Mrs. Georgia and Gary.  Brad cooked one of my favorite things, his ribs, and we spent most of the day at the pool.  We all ate way too much but so enjoyed the day together.

Our neighborhood had its annual pool party, complete with pool games and lots of watermelon.  We discovered that watermelon is apparently one of Luke's favorite foods.

 






 

Natalie's friend Anice brought these fun star glasses for Natalie, and this is one of my favorite pictures from the weekend.  Glamour girl and her beautiful grandmother.

Brad smoked delicious ribs while we all played outside.  At one point this was my view, and I couldn't help but laugh.  These three are definitely cut from the same cloth.  The older James gets the more he acts JUST like Brad.  These three are peas in a pod, and apparently their preferred dress is lounge pants or underwear.

James perfecting blowing his first bubble

And did I mention that this big baby loves watermelon?  Seriously, he must have eaten a quarter of it, but he sure was a happy fella.

So much food, and such a fun weekend

End of School and Start of Summer

Disclaimer: please forgive the length of this post and the amount of pictures.  I am nothing if not nostalgic this time of year.  

School is out!  James finished Bridge last Friday, and I am left with mixed emotions.

My attempt at a first day and last day of school picture comparison fell a bit short.  This technically wasn't even his last day, but rather his last day in uniform as the last week was "free dress".  
  

James grew so much this year, and although I was worried about him switching schools, he definitely found his niche in this world at Second Baptist.  Each day I picked up the happiest child.

Mrs. Jobe was a wonderful teacher for James: strict, no fuss, but always loving.  She must have told me 10 times that James reminded her of her own son.  At his end of the year conference she told me that "I have a winner, and that she has loved, loved, loved teaching my son".  She set high standards, and James met them.  By the middle of the year, James was taking school serious and loved "being on green and listening".  His standard response to the best part of his day: "being on green and listening".  And his standard response to who he played with at school: "William Carlson".  Green Jello.  He loved Bible class the most, and he even participated in singing during chapel!  It helped that the songs had interpretive dance :)  

The end of school also meant parties, parties, parties.  Grandmama and Grandaddy came for a visit and were able to enjoy the fun.

After school swimming at Caleb Walker's house (Caleb, Logan Walker, James, Logan's neighborhood friend, James Thomas Garret, and James Clarke).  Yes, there were three "James" in his class this year.  

James Thomas hosted the end of the year baseball party.  And when your grandparents own a party rental supply company, you usually throw a spectacular party complete with all things inflatable.

James and James Thomas received "Big Red" for the end of the year, and yes, that is James picking his teeth with his baseball trophy. 

Little girl has her mom's sweet tooth.  No, I don't think any of the three cupcakes were actually hers.

 

I imagine she was thinking "What? Oh come on, you would have done it too" in this last photo.

We have so enjoyed the amazing temperatures in May.  Lots of outdoor play.

 

I believe we have been at the pool every day since it opened, and Mrs. Georgia captured these sweet photos of me and Luke.  I am usually the one behind the camera (no offense to my dear husband, but his photography skills are a bit lacking), so I treasure these.  Much to my surprise, this little guy loved the water!  The coloring is a bit strange, but he is actually grinning in these pictures.

 

Funny Luke loves James's goggles, and on this particular day he walked all around the house wearing them.  I don't know why, but it was so funny.

After an early morning of tornado warnings, the sun came out just in time to play on the playground and enjoy donuts and Pentecost cupcakes (who knew) after church.  Again, I am so thankful that Gary captured the entire moment of Luke shoveling as much of the donut into his mouth that would possibly fit.

 

Here's to a fun, laid back summer filled with lots of sun, smiles and pancakes