May is a month of celebrating for us! We start the month celebrating Pop's birthday, then Dawson, then mother's day, then Lolly's birthday, then celebrating school being out, and then Drew's birthday at the end of the month! In between all the celebrations we managed to squeeze in a few other fun activities too.
(WHY, oh why is the blog doing this...my pictures are way out of order, but at least they're here!)
The kids have a LONG LONG list of things they want to do on Summer Break...on the first Sunday of Summer Break they woke up asking if after church we could go golfing AND fishing! Well, we went to church, the driving range, and then Pop and John took the boys fishing. They had a great time and are ALREADY asking to go back! Dawson caught TEN fish and everyone else caught zero. (Carter was okay with this because last time he caught 4 and Dawson none.)
Also on the first weekend of Summer Break we had two birthday parties to go to...first was Bailey's skating party. I wasn't sure how Carter and Nora Kate would do skating since they had never been, but they did AWESOME! Dawson did too...but he's skated before so I wasn't as worried about him. I wouldn't tell the kids this, but I actually think Nora Kate may have been the best skater! Maybe just because she's fearless! Her tiny roller skates were cute..taller than they were long! They were all so good, and John and I were impressed with their skating skills. They had so much fun helping Bailey celebrate her birthday!!
Last day of school pictures for Dawson. I cannot believe how much he has grown, changed, and learned this year. I'm definitely proud of this big boy, and even happier to have him home all summer!!!!
At the beginning of the school year, I told Dawson I would try to come eat lunch with him at least once a month. Many months I was there more than 1 time, but I managed to get there at least once every month. Here we are with Dawson's friends at lunch!
Nora Kate says she is big enough to eat an apple "not cutted up" now, and I think it's pretty adorable so this is how we do it now! :)
No month is complete without at least one visit to Dollywood...
Nora Kate decided she was big enough and brave enough to ride the kiddie coaster this time! SHE LOVED IT!
Ending our day at Dollywood with a special treat of ice cream!
After a hot day at Dollywood we home and did the slip and slide!
Dawson loves having an audience at his baseball games!
Dawson loves having an audience at his baseball games!
Dawson loves having an audience at his baseball games!
Nora Kate and her sweet friend Jackson at his birthday party!
Celebrating Mother's Day with these FOUR!
Time for a walk in the park...Carter and Nora Kate always want to run ahead along the path!
After the park, we headed to Dawson's school for field day...
Field day selfie...notice Clayton's head in the carrier!
These two stopped by Lolly's classroom to make their mark on the dry erase boards.
More field day fun! This boy climbed to the top of the rock wall!
Picking strawberries!
The inflatable we rented for Dawson's birthday party we got to keep all weekend, so we spent lots of hours jumping!
And then were exhausted and laid down in the inflatable together!
Nora Kate, Clayton, Lolly, and I went shopping while the boys were fishing. Check out this fancy girl's new sun glasses!
My pictures are not in chronological order, but back to the beginning of May...
We celebrated Pop's birthday!
He got a new chainsaw!
Time to blow out the candles!
When you have 4 grandkids, you don't get to blow out your candles anymore, Pop!
Baseball continued through May and into June. Dawson progressively got better and better with the season. Here he is before one of his games!
The last full week of school, Dawson's class did an adorable presentation. It was so sweet!
At the end of the program, his teacher said something special about each student in the class and gave them a corresponding award. Here he is receiving the "helping hands" award for always being willing to help with anything any time! His teacher was SO great this year! Dawson, John, and I have all discussed how much we will miss Mrs. Johnson when he's in another class next year.
John, Lolly, and I all got to go watch him program!
(Clayton went too in the carrier and slept the entire time.)
Dawson's kindergarten class.
Dawson and Mommy after the program.
(you can barely see the top of Clayton's little head)
John wanted to start a fun little tradition with the kids for the last day of school. He came up with the idea of getting a cookie cake (which they love). So here's the first year of the Last Day of School Happy Summer cookie cake!
The kids were so excited and dug right in!
Here's Dawson with his wonderful kindergarten teacher on the last day of school!
Dawson got lots of great birthday gifts and we saved several do to this summer in our free time. One gift he asked for from Lolly and Pop was from the "STEM" area in Toys R Us. It is a carnivorous plant greenhouse. Planting the seeds and getting it set up was a little involved, so we saved it for one of his first days out of school. Here he is working on in (in pajamas)!
To kick off the first day of summer break, we had breakfast on the patio in our pajamas.
The first week that school was out Dawson did golf camp. It was just two mornings. Doing this in May was perfect because it wasn't too hot. He was SO excited. Above and below is the first day of golf camp.
They split into groups of 4 with an instructor. He already says he wants to do this camp at Concord Park again.
Since Dawson's camp was in Knoxville and it didn't make sense for us to drive home between dropping him off and picking him up, Carter, Nora Kate, and I spent several hours at Carl Cowan park. We walked near the water and played on the playground. They had a blast!
Clayton had fun too. Here he is on a walk in his stroller at the park.
After we would pick Dawson up from camp, we would go back to the park for a picnic lunch and so that Dawson could enjoy the playground too!
Here's Dawson the last day of golf camp!
Dawson asked if he could play in the kid pool while I was making pizza dough and the others were napping. I made him set it up on the patio so I could watch him in the water. Next thing I know, I look out to see this! He was keeping cool with his chair in the water!
I had no idea Nora Kate was sick until she woke up crying in the night, but at the very end of May Nora Kate came down with strep. Poor girl. She ended up having to take two different antibiotics before it got better, but she perked up Memorial Day weekend to play with the boys in the water!
Clayton continued to be a sweet and happy baby though May. He's so, so easy and happy! I just love him!
The boys had been asking about bunk beds for a while. We decided Memorial Day weekend was the perfect time to get them! These pictures are the weekend we assembled them. There is now a hidden mattress under the bottom bunk for sleepovers and a bedskirt on the bottom bunk making it look much better. We thought this was the kids would have the summer to adjust to the bunk beds before school started back. They were SO excited. They love the beds and all the extra space they have. Now we were able to set up a little reading area in the corner with their bean bags! They've been doing great with the new beds!
Again, more out of order pictures, but back before school was out I took C, NK, and C to Gym Bugs to play and meet our friend Olivia once more before summer break! They had a blast as usual!
Such a good baby, this guy hangs out in the kitchen happily while I make everyone's breakfast each day. He is so easy going, and I appreciate this SO very much!
These three love to help in the kitchen! They help frequently! I can't remember what we were making here...I think it was amish cinnamon bread!
"Can we eat outside?!" The most common question I get right before meal time. We have tried to eat outside as much as possible this summer when it's not too hot!
Celebrating Lolly's birthday.
Nora Kate colored this Shopkins coloring sheet for her.
The kids wanted lots of sprinkles so I convinced them to just make the numbers out of sprinkles instead of covering the whole cake in them!
And again, lots of helpers to blow out candles!
May was a great month, and I am so excited to have all four kids home all the time this summer! I couldn't be happier that the end of May means summer break begins! YAY!
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