last day of preschool {kate}

I had mixed emotions going into Wednesday (our last day). I cried some thinking about the past and how things will certainly change for us and Kate next year. I cried thinking about crying on the way to her FIRST day of preschool (when she was ONE!). But I am also so looking forward to the big K for our girl too. I think she will eat.it.up.

Here are some pics from the event (Eve graduated from the “toddlers” class as well)…

Pre-shots…

A good friend from our playgroup (thanks Danielle), was telling us how she had seen on Pinterest, to give your preschooler the book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go” and get their teachers to sign it every year until they graduate from High School. I LOVED LOVED this idea because I have MY copy from when I graduated from Clemson. I love Dr. Suess and I love this book/pretty much have it memorized. I wrapped it up for Kate and had it for her the morning of “graduation.” We all read it together and I got teary, of course. Her teachers wrote the sweetest notes in it (as well as Mrs. Beth, the Director). I think my favorite was what Mrs. Edmondson wrote, “You are a born leader with a lot of spunk! I know you will go far in life!” I love that. Thanks Danielle for passing this idea along…

{still with her bed-head}

At school they had a “sing-a-long” for the parents. Eve’s class stayed in their bye bye buggies and sang along. Eve’s teacher says that, many times, she is the ONLY one in class that will sing with her, the rest sometimes just stare at her like she’s crazy ;). Eve sang shyly some of the songs (will post the video one of these days), but here’s her and her friend, “Elizabeff”…

{she was telling elizabeth to take her thumb out for the picture!}

{mrs. staci said she put eve in the front hoping she’d lead them in song ;)}

Afterwards I was determined to get a pic of the three amigos on their last day of preschool, being so nostalgic about this famous photo…

{first day of the ONEs!}

I hope to goodness that these three will always be tight. I can’t imagine them not…they are so much a part of each other.

It was a bittersweet day, but mostly sweet. Summertime here we come!

house update

These are almost a month old, but have been meaning to post nonetheless for our “records.” We have been spending a lot of time clearing out our new property to prepare for house building. I have actually had nothing to do with it as far as organizing, just been enjoying the process and asking questions/offering tidbits along the way. Bruce is apparently an expert in landscaping and all things related and has coordinated this whole effort seamlessly. Here are some pics of the property 3 1/2 weeks ago…a lot has still changed since but just, like I said, to have recorded…

First, a few “Before” pictures of the back…notice you do not see the golf course anywhere in site…

After pics…



{we have gotten our mileage out of this thing!}

{so see the golf course now! bruce is in heaven ;)…that big pile of debris is now moved and ground graded…grass to come in next!}

{this is more the back, back, backing up to the creek dividing us and the course…obviously here the debris had still not been removed}

{this is my most fave part…that area where the trees are going more horizontal and there is a little shelf for us to hang and heckle the golfers/dad}

{hopefully one day soon the left side will look like the right!}

{looking back}

{miss sass}

We have a LONG LONG way to go before we actually are living here but hope to keep this process more fun and less stress!

mrs. anne

I have been waiting to post these until I was able to get the copies to Mrs. Anne, our beloved babysitter/in-town grandmommy. So so so very unfortunately, Mrs. Anne has moved to Wisconsin to be with John, her husband, who had been transferred there for a work promotion. A few months ago we were devastated to hear of the move :(. The good news is that she will be back A LOT because her daughter Ashley still lives here. She is actually here all of May, so we have seen her quite a bit and is scheduled to be back in July too!

I took these at her little going away party. It is all of the kiddos that she has taken care of over the years :(. (All good friends of mine too)…

{kate, maisie, javier, eve, andres, emi & liza}

We will miss miss miss Mrs. Anne terribly. She has been an incredible role model and grandmother figure for my girls and such a good friend to us and a role model to me as well. I will make sure she gets back often though!

end of the year carnival

{kate and gracie myers}

{face painting with mrs. rachel}

{kate and our beloved mrs. merchant…the preschool director. we love.love.love this woman}

A fun time with my big girl (didn’t volunteer to help with Eve’s class because I didn’t want her to cling)

summer birthday {school party}

Our girl wanted to have a “Rock Star” themed party for her little summer birthday celebration at pre-school. The whole fam came. Bruce brought Salsaritas, per Kate’s request…

Kate’s got upset/pouty while the class was singing to her because some sang the “Happy Birthday-Cha-Cha-Cha” version, vs the traditional. Mrs. Edmundson and I got a kick out of Kate’s “I don’t like the CHA CHA CHA!!”…

(p.s. kate is dressed like “kiki” from the fresh beat band in case you didn’t notice)

mayday playday

Latin had the MayDay PlayDay this weekend and we took the kiddos to get them even more excited about school next year and help them get to know the campus a little better. They had a ball…

Created with PhotoShake for iPhone.
{the kids looking onto the field, aston trying to break baby eve free, me with my big kids, getting ready for the race!, getting her “fake” cast, fake cast, eve was pooped!}

 I threw together the little iphone footage I could get…

mayday playday

Created with PhotoShake for iPhone.

she did it!

Created with PhotoShake for iPhone.

I was so so very proud of my poobug for “passing” the swim team “swim evaluation.” In order for her to be on the team, she had to prove that she could swim the whole length of the pool (25 yards) all.by.herself. She chose to do backstroke for 75% of the way and then flipped and made her way freestyle/doggle paddle and underwater swim to the end. I had tears in my eyes watching her. She worked hard for this (and the treat she got at Target afterwards ;)) I attribute her success to my girl’s determination and her awesome swim teacher, Mrs. Helene, who knows how to push Kate to swim! This should be a fun season!

kindergarten playdate {kate}

Our girl is so excited about next year. She had a playground playdate at her new school for of the rising K/TKers last week. It was hard to keep up with them…The 5th graders were there to help out and Kate, Aston, Jack (a new bud) and some others were playing hide-and-seek with them for days. At one point I tried to get Kate’s attention and she literally gave me “the hand.”

On the playground and decked out in her Latin T and tatoo afterwards…

Created with PhotoShake for iPhone.

I caught Kate doing this little didi she made up, of course…

gran’s 85th!

We celebrated our Gran’s 85th birthday last weekend at my Aunt Nancy’s (mom’s sister) in Greenville, SC. It was so so nice to see the family…my mom’s 3 siblings were there with many of their kids (my cousins). My cousins really are fun peeps. We used to see each other a lot more when we were younger, but it was good to visit even for just a few hours.

Gran/Anne, my mom’s mom, whom I was named after, is so special to us all. Her wit, smarts, energy and strength is something I have admired and will admire my whole life. I was happy to be there…

{gran with dr. lyles and his wife, dot…dr. lyles was MY pediatrician growing up! i always remember his bowtie. he was also good friends with my grandparents…my papa and dr. lyles went to med school together}

{cousin kyle and his new wife, mary…cousin katie and her new husband, David…these cousins really make me laugh}

{uncle ed, my mom’s brother, and his little girl, middleton…eve LOVED uncle ed}

{cool cake…gran is an exceptional pianist/organist…i keep telling bruce we need a piano…one day i hope, it runs in our blood}

{cousin katie and eve…fyi katie is a katharine, just like my mom, just like kate}

{andy and kate ready for cake!}

{love those two with such happy/sweet faces of gran’s}

{“the marys”…mary (kyle’s wife), m.e. (mary everett), cousin mary…have missed that girl!}

{the group…missed those that couldn’t be with us!! p.s. gran wearing the necklace kate made her}

I put together a little “movie” of the footage cousin Mary took…”Moon River” is one of my grandmother’s favorites…

Happy Birthday to our Gran!