Graduation!

Noah graduated preschool today!

I thought I'd be fine--"No tears here! It's just preschool!" Ha! Yeah, right. The ceremony started out with a cute slideshow of pictures of the kids through the school year. That would have been fine, except for the teacher added all these "feel good" emotional songs as the soundtrack! "Let them laugh, let them cry, let them be little." Totally got me!

Then they acted out a play. We didn't quite understand the point, but the kids thought it was hilarious, and Noah was very proud of himself. Click here to see it.

Then the teacher read this poem:

A Touch of Love

 You were six months old and full of fun.

With a blink of my eye, you suddenly were one.
There were so many things we were going to do,
But I turned my head and you turned two.
At two, you were very dependent on me.
But independence took over when you turned three.
Your third birthday, another year I tried to ignore.
But when I lit the candles, there weren't three, but four.
Four was the year that you really strived.
Why, look at you now, you're already five.
Now you are ready for books and rules.
This is the year that you go to school.
The big day came; you were anxious to go.
We walked to the bus, going oh so slow.
As you climbed aboard and waved goodbye,
I felt a lump in my throat and tears stung my eyes.
Time goes so fast, it's hard to believe
That just yesterday you were home here, with me.
And tomorrow when the bus brings you home
and you jump to the ground,
You'll be wearing your cap and graduation gown.
So I'm holding on to these moments as hard as I can.
Because the next time I look,
I'll be seeing a grown man (woman).

 Author: Anonymous

Again, I probably would have been tear-free, except the teacher's son's last day of high school was also today, and she sobbed hysterically while reading it. I'm a good sympathy cryer!

Then each kid got their certificate. (I tried to take a picture while taking the video, which apparently puts a little glitch in the video. Now I know.)
"Noah grew 1 1/2 inches this school year. In the future he plans to be a firefighter." Click here to watch it.

My favorites were probably "In the future, Drew has plans to go to Grant's Farm by himself, go to the zoo by himself, and go to Chuck E. Cheese by himself," and "In the future, Henry plans to have three light sabers that click together." Love preschoolers!

Congrats, Noah! We're so proud of you!

Oh. My.

Three months. And 3 days. That's how long it's been since my last post. I keep thinking, "I need to update the blog tonight." And then kid bedtimes come, and I busy myself with dishes, or laundry, or "Call the Midwives" on Netflix. :) So I'll just chip away at this bit by bit....

We celebrated the 4th birthday of our buddy Cole with a cute Paw Patrol themed party. The kiddos loved all the fun games, eating like puppies, "flying" like Skye, and more. Happy birthday (almost 3 months ago!), Cole! 

I have good cookie dough taste testers. 

Lyla loves trying out all the Thirty-One bags I get!

Noah decided he needed in on the picture action, too.

They have the craziest ways of entertaining themselves...stretched out in the bathroom...

...and playing in the laundry basket...(But look at those cute french braids!)

Loving all the stuff I get for partying with ladies! 

Trying on a hat at Target. We didn't spend the $3 on the hat, but we did splurge for the $1 necklace! 

We do love a fun trip to Ikea!

An afternoon at the Museum of Transportation.

Book time! 

Our first fire pit fire of the season. 

Noah's spring break started with him vomiting and having diarrhea...only two days passed before Lyla started in...and then it continued for the next 14 days. I've never done so much laundry in my life. Every day we would think they were starting to get over it, someone would start in again. Noah's was a little shorter lived than Lyla's, and we finally had to get that poor girl some Zofran and probiotics to settle her tummy. We missed a lot of things in those two weeks, but we know it could have been a lot worse and we're so glad they're healthy now! Easter was in the middle of it, so Daniel went to one church service while I went to another, Easter dinner was just the four of us, and our Easter egg hunts were just the two kids. But we made the most of it, and celebrated Jesus anyway! 

After a few rounds of Easter egg hunts outside we came inside and the kids decided to take turns hiding the eggs for each other....I bet you can't find where Lyla hid the eggs for Noah to find! :) 

Noah is not much of a cuddler, but this was in the middle of his 14 day bout of illness...we definitely knew he wasn't feeling well when he would snuggle and snooze like this! 

But two weeks later all was well and we  got to put on that Easter dress and $1 pearls after all! 

With a good coupon and some Kohl's cash, Lyla got a new swimsuit for only $3. She's ready for warmer weather! 

One Saturday in April, we had a family fun day. Lyla and I headed to the salon to use a gift certificate on pedicures while the boys went to get haircuts. (We usually just buzz Noah's head in the front yard, so it was a "special treat" for him to get a cut like Daddy.)

Lyla was fascinated by the blue water. She loved hanging out there. 

Then we headed to a food truck festival with over 20 different food trucks. After finally deciding what we wanted, we enjoyed an amazing lunch and delicious cupcakes. 

It was perfect weather for naps in the sun. 

The next day, Daniel and I left for our first vacation without kids, and our first vacation to a destination other than Pennsylvania in 5 years. 

Our cruise to Nassau and Coco Cay was a much needed break and refreshment for us, and we're so thankful to my parents for keeping our kids! 

Daniel had to do a push-up challenge during one of the games. He sort of won...but then the host let another contestant have a second chance, and then he lost. My challenge was to say "Red leather, yellow leather," as many times as I could in one minute. Easy for a speech therapist. The other contestants didn't even try! :)

We loved our time at sea, but we were ready to get back to some cute faces! They couldn't stop talking about the fun at Grandma and Grandpa Shoemaker's, but we know they missed us, too. 

Easter outfit #2. 

Sibling love.

Bread Co. breakfast date. (My reward card had a free bagel every day in April--you can bet I took advantage of that! 

Dairy Queen lunch date. Gotta love a $5 meal that includes a sundae! 

Lyla loves helping to bag groceries!

Cole and Natalie came to play! (She's in the pic below...)

Daniel got me new bands for Mother's Day--a band of birthstones for each child. LOVE them!

I came home to this one day...Lyla had somehow twisted a play comb into her hair. After 3 hours, one little snip, some conditioner, some cornstarch, and a few tears (mine), there's just a tiny gap of hair in the back where it's thinner and shorter...and probably only I notice. At one point, Lyla turned around and said "Why you sad?" Daniel answered her, "Mommy's said because your hair is really messed up." Lyla: "But you never cry when my hair's messed up!" Ah yes, little girl, but I didn't imaging your first haircut being like this! 

Ready to run errands!

Noah's been hesitant to ride his bike this spring. Last fall he had an incident where he panicked and couldn't get his bike stopped before going into an intersection (it was in our neighborhood and very quiet, no cars around, and I was right there to stop him, but it scared us both a little bit). So we've been spending some time on the trail to build his confidence back up. Now he's super proud of himself and talks about it frequently ("Mama, do you like how I used my strong muscles and rode my bike the WHOLE way?")

Today was our third annual Lindbergh Spirit Festival with the Riley's. We heard rumors this is the last year, and we'll be sad to end this tradition. 

It's pretty much impossible to get all four kids ages 1-4 to all smile at once! 

Waiting for the parade to start. We made out in the candy department! 

The wind was really chilly so we took breaks to head inside to warm up, but the kids didn't seem to notice! 

These boys were the littlest on this ride, but they loved the roller coaster. Their smiles were HUGE! 

Lyla was too little so she took a spin on the cars. 

Waiting for the bus ride back to our cars. Always a fun day at the Festival and this year was no different! 

 Okay...those are the highlights of our lives over the past few months...oh! Except for this one:

Yeah, we'll need to get her warmed up to the idea! 

Noah is at such a fun age right now--we've had his end of year preschool conferences where his teachers had all good things to say about him (like, "He really helps his friends remember the rules.") ha! They described him as a confident child, which surprised us, but I guess a comfortable setting where he knows the expectations is one that he thrives in (which didn't really surprise us). His kindergarten screening gave him fantastic scores, and they say he's ready! He says he's not. He says he needs to spend more time with Mama. We'll see how long that lasts. :) He's an awesome helper around the house and will often say, "What can I do to help you?" without being prompted. His favorite chores are collecting dirty clothes and taking the trash cans behind the house after trash pick-up. His least favorite is matching up clean socks (I mean, me too...that's why he's doing it!) ;) Just kidding. Maybe. He is busy figuring out life and asking lots of questions. He's awesome with Lyla. Most of the time. He has some periods of meltdowns and getting really upset about little things that easily frustrates me, but I'm learning a softer voice (from me) and some time to process seem to be his best remedy. He's getting bolder in praying out loud (a recent favorite: "Dear Jesus, Please help Lyla's boo-boo to get better. Help Noah to stop biting his fingernails, and help Noah to stop eating his boogers. Amen." We praised him for knowing God can help us do hard things. :) 

Lyla is Miss Independent, doing everything herself. If she wants someone's help, it usually has to be Daddy's. This doesn't work well some mornings since he's gone for work by 6am and she doesn't awaken until 7ish. ("But I waaaant him! I llloooovveee him!" with a pouty lip and eyes full of tears). She loves to make sure we do "sad/glad" at night though her answers don't usually make sense ("Um, it made me sad we didn't have time together." on a night we've done nothing but spend time together...or "It made me glad I ride my bike today." when she didn't ride her bike.) but she's learning and she listens closely to what we say. She loves reciting her memory verses. She's entered the normal toddler stuttering stage and will just stop sometimes and say, "I don't know the word" in a pitiful way that makes you wish you know what she wanted to say so you could help. She continues to be obsessed with her purple monkey and we dread the day we lose it. She loves reading books and takes at least one to bed each night where you will hear her "reading" it for up to an hour at times. She's our snuggle bug, which makes it difficult to get things done when I think I need to, and will make it interesting when #3 arrives! 

We love you guys soooo much!