The Graduate

Will's sweet preschool doesn't do the whole cap and gown ceremony, but they did a special program to honor the kids who will be movin' on up to Kindergarten in the fall. I am an emotional person anyway, and I am sure being pregnant did not help matters, but I sat and cried through the entire thing. Ms. Diane, the program director started with a poem that reminded me of the book "Let me hold you longer," by Karen Kingsbury (If you do not have this book, go get it today....it is a children's book). The poem didn't necessarily talk about "lasts" but reminded me of how special and sweet this time in our lives is.....regardless of the chaos and crazy!

They sang about 10 songs and this picture was taken during the last one-it was called "Friends Forever" and was the sweetest, most precious thing you have ever heard 5 year olds sing. Will couldn't have had a better spot. He was in between Gabe, who he has been in the same class and friends with since he was 19 months old, and Kate, his friend by default :) We have had photo shoots with Kate since they were born and I am so thankful they were in the same class this year and will move on to kindergarten together.

 So special that Yia Yia and Papou could join us for Will's graduation!

 Will and Gabriel

 Will and Kate...after all of this history, they better AT LEAST be best friends growing up :) I'm still hoping for a wedding! They are currently more like brother and sister :)

 Will's 4K teacher, Mrs. Beth

 Our little preschool graduate!

 Family picture-I am about to POP and have no more makeup on because as I said earlier, I cried through the entire thing.

We finished out the day by picking Alex up and heading to Johnny Rockets for a celebratory lunch (Will's pick!).

We have a KINDERGARTENER!!

I love Liberty Park Elementary School's sweet tradition for upcoming Kindergarteners. To invite them to Kindergarten orientation they place a giant blow up crayon on their mailbox. I'm pretty sure I was way more excited about this because I have known about this tradition since before Will was born and now it was finally his turn to get a crayon. I can't believe Will will come with me to school next year! So fun and bittersweet at the same time...he is growing up!

Cousin Easter Egg Hunt

On Easter, for lunch we headed to the Jebeles' house. After lunch, a huge egg hunt takes place. This year, the ages ranged from 2 years to 20 years old :) And the competition is fierce. There are 3 golden eggs with varying amounts of money in them that the kids go crazy trying to find! Will and Alex were pretty content just finding the pastel eggs hidden or not so hidden in very obvious places :)

Preschool Easter Egg Hunt

We had our fair share of egg hunts this year! I always take a half day off work for the one that Brookwood Baptist puts on for the preschool because it is so adorable! This year was no different. The boys had a blast hunting for eggs and celebrating with their friends!

Ready to go! The boys were pumped about the days festivities!

Will's hunt was first. To make it last a little longer this year, the kids had to find the eggs with their name on them....not just any egg laying around! It was cute watching them read their classmates names and trying to help them out by telling them they had spotted one of their eggs! I am sure you can imagine how excited Will was that the first egg he found with his name on it was a Ninja turtle egg :)

 Kiki and Pops came to the hunt. Kiki helped Will get started on finding his eggs!

 Sweet Friends!

 And his very sweet teacher, Mrs. Beth

 Next, it was Alex's turn. His egg hunt was on the playground! He knew what to do and was ready to go!

 Sweet angel!

 It was fun having Kiki and Pops there this year!

 My boys...Will looks STOKED to be taking a picture ;) This was because I made him leave his cupcake to come and take a picture with me. Sad SAD knowing he will not be at this precious school next year!

Last Vacay as a Family of Four!

At the end of March, over spring break, John and I took the boys to Orange Beach. Will had been begging to go to the beach and we thought it might be fun to do one more trip just the four of us. The weather was not ideal (that is being very positive), but we caught the sun for a bit here and there! Alex still was not crazy about the sand, but was okay with it by the last day we were there. We enjoyed a laid back couple of days with lots of snacks, lots of indoor pool time, and yummy seafood dinners. The next time we head to the beach will be with my whole family in July and I have a feeling it won't be as laid back once we add the caboose into the mix!
The day we got there we went straight to the indoor pool to burn off some energy!

The next morning it was in the 50s. We were the first out on the beach and the boys just wore their pajamas and jackets to bundle up until it warmed up a bit.

Alex decided he liked his socks on because that way the sand wouldn't touch his feet!

Finally the sun was fully out and it was warm enough to shed some layers, eat some snacks, and dig some holes!

Friday was basically a monsoon and the entire day was spent inside. After watching as many movies as we could handle, the boys decided to improvise to keep from getting bored :)

 Saturday was of course the most beautiful day....and the day that we were leaving. We decided to stay on the beach for as long as we wanted and just deal with a late start back home. Alex dressed himself for the beach and made John a pretty proud daddy!

 Beach naps are best! I love that Alex will sleep anywhere! And how could you not nap great with the sounds of the waves as background noise!