Toby & Arielle's End of School Year Festivities

8th Grade Graduation Day

Amy, Danielle, Toby, Bryce, Victoria

Angelica threw Toby an awesome surprise farewell party :)

Jessie, Kayley, Danadia, Arielle, Hayley

Arielle & I went to Five Guys after her 5th grade graduation to celebrate

Southwest Elementary 5th grade graduation

Arielle's Activity Recognition Night

5th Grade End of Year Party at Tanglewood Park (Arielle on end)

Angelica came to Toby's final Optimist game

Coach Mark Yost & Optimist Team 'Germany'

29.....Again!

I had a nice little BD party (4/26) at home with Jim & the kids. Complete with cake, a new game (apples to apples), and entertainment provided by Toby.

RaNdOm SpRiNg STuFf

Treats I made for my Mia Maids
Teddy & Gage (Gage came over to ride to school with us in the mornings, Teddy would wait anxiously by the door for him to arrive)

We took the kids to a Disney Magic Show, only to find out that all the kids there were like 4 yrs old! LOL.

Jim & I woke up one weekend morning to this sneaky slumber party

I went to Asheville for moral support when Link had his tonsils out & tubes in. He's so tough! This was him right after surgery, they wheeled him to the car in this cool wagon instead of a wheelchair

Easter Weekend at the Beach

We found this old school baseball pinball game and couldn't stop playing it!

Arielle Eating S'More Burger at River Cafe

The kids on ropes at Wonder Works

Super Bubbles

Bed of Nails

We spent Easter 2011 at Myrtle Beach and had a great time! We played in the waves (even though it was cooold), visited WonderWorks Science Musuem and found lots of great places at eat :)

Jim Graduates with his Master's in Nursing!

Jim carrying his master's hood over his arm
Presenting his final "capstone" project for UNCG

The graduating class

Yay! Big day for Jim :) On May 5th he graduated from UNCG with a Master's in Nursing. It was a nice ceremony at the Greensboro campus. We sat by the Parkes & the Mombergers during the graduation, then afterward we celebrated with the Parkes & Lindsey & her hubby at Mi Pueblo's (it was Cinco De Mayo after all...). Jim is so relieved to have the majority of schooling over! Now, he just has to endure the summer, more clinicals and some tough board preparation. But there is serious light at the end of the tunnel! We are so proud of him, it has been a long challenging road, but he's flying through.

A Shameless Plug

So...historically Family Home Evening has gone something like this around our house...just another night OR...hey...yah we are all together tonight so that counts- yah for us! Recently I've realized I have just a few years with the kids before they leave home (hopefully, LOL...). Yikes. That means all the wonderful parental wisdom I have to impart needs to be done NOW. That led to my commitment to get a little more serious about FHE. The older the kids get- the more outside influences take hold, therefore the more we need to fortify our influence at home. You get the idea. SO- thank goodness for www.ldsliving.com. Seriously- go there and subscribe to their "online" magazine. It's free and they send simple weekly FHE ideas to my inbox. These are SIMPLE FHE ideas. No fancy pants crafts or complicated recipes. I print it out in 2-3 pages and any family member can conduct the night, Arielle led tonight's. We have done this for the past 2 Mondays and success! Good thoughts & good laughs (a simple, "no supplies needed" game is included in most lessons). So there it is- my shameless plug for lds.living- love that site!

Arielle Turns 11

Roller Skating Par-tee!

Opening new riding boots

Letter from Playboy

I know every parent says this...but it really is weird when your baby keeps getting older & older. Eleven?! It happens so fast. My little BD tradition is to decorate the house late at night with streamers/ balloons/ posters to surprise the kids when they wake up in the morning. Only it's not really a surprise because they are expecting it...LOL. However, there was one year I didn't decorate at night before Toby's BD and he's never forgotten....Anyway, then Arielle chose where she wanted to go to dinner. It has become a joke between Jim & me because the kids usually choose Golden Corral (which is NOT a fav of ours). We just keep telling ourselves "serve with the left, eat with the right" remember that tip next time you're at a greasy buffet. After Golden Corral we opened presents. Arielle had 2 gifts: first, new riding boots because hers were too small and second, a letter from the horse she loves (Playboy...I know, I know) telling her that she can come ride him whenever she wants! We were able to negociate a part time lease with a horse that is rarely ridden at the barn & just happens to be her fav. horse, so she is in horse heaven now as she will get to ride more each week. With friends we had a roller skating party and then let her have 3 friends sleepover. We focused alot on the party & celebration of her birthday, now I need to spend the next year focusing on trying to raise a preteen girl and teach her the things that are most important (which is not always the party... :)