Summer is Here!

The kids finished up school this past week.  It was a great year for both of them and we will miss our teachers so much!  McKenzie is now officially a freshman in high school and Matt a fourth grader! How did this happen?! We are looking forward to a relaxing, nice summer filled with lots to do. Orange Beach is right around the corner in July, so can't wait for that. Due to work conflicts with David, we have to go later this summer but it will be totally worth it once we get there.

The past few weeks have been really busy with end of the year activities. McKenzie tried out and made the high school show choir Visions under the direction of Jenni Winter. She is super excited about this opportunity.  She has been dreaming of being in it for years.  It is a lot of hard work but we believe it will make her high school years special. She had three days of tryouts. It was a lot of pressure but she hung in there. The night she found out she made it, the whole neighborhood could probably hear her screaming.  Here is a picture of her after I picked her up from the final day of tryouts.

Matt has been doing a lot of this lately...playing golf and he loves it! Back in April he began lessons with Ernie Petty. He is really enjoying it. Matt is set to play in his first tournament in Pontotoc June, 1st. Its the Coca Cola Junior Tour.  For his age division, the daddies get to be the caddie so David is so excited to get to do this with him.

Memorial Day is coming up Monday, so I got my front porch all fixed up for the holiday. I found this cute wreath at Big Lots and added the ribbon that I found at Dollar Tree. I brought out the cushions for the furniture and planted a few containers and now set for summer. Here are a few pictures...

Graduation...catching up

McKenzie is officially an 8th grade graduate! We went to her graduation/awards day at school yesterday. It was really a nice ceremony. McKenzie was asked to lead the pledge to the flag at the ceremony. Also during awards,  McKenzie was given the Entertainers show choir award. The graduates walked in wearing their red caps with tassels, all 330 of them!  At the end of the ceremony they got to throw their caps into the air, which they all loved. Can't believe she is about to walk the halls of GHS! Great job, McKenzie!

This past Wednesday, Matt attended the Superintendent's Breakfast for all A's this year. I snapped a picture of him before we left. They got to wear their "Sunday best". Here is another picture of him and his best friend, Dillon at the breakfast.  So proud of you Matt!

A couple of weeks ago, McKenzie sang in her last middle school show choir concert. This was the 12th one since starting choir in 6th grade. The kids got to choose their own songs. Mrs Dorroh gave them a little creative control with the show.  It was a cute show. We have enjoyed watching her grow as a singer and performer over the past three years. She has enjoyed it as well.

A couple of weeks ago, Matt began golf lessons with Mr. Ernie Petty. He is loving it! Mr. Petty comes and picks him up after school on Wednesdays and they go out to Dogwoods for his lesson. David picks him up afterwards. Every chance David and Matt get, they go play golf. David is just so glad this is something they can do together. Here is a picture that David took at his first lesson.

Can't believe that in one month school will be out! I believe this has been the fastest school year for us. Looking forward to summer and going to the beach!

Spring Fling

Sunday, McKenzie was invited to join the Sub-Deb Cotillion Club. She is so excited and is looking forward to her first dance in December. The club had their annual spring fling where they invite the new members to come and meet the other members. They had snacks and were given a t-shirt and an invitation to join.  McKenzie is looking forward to being in this with her friends. Here is a picture of her and her friend Hallie.

Here is another blast from the past at three  when she handed out programs at a spring cotillion dance back when Mary Catherine was a sponsor of the club. She loved every minute of that night. That seems like just yesterday and now she is a soon to be freshman!

Congrats, McKenzie!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter weekend! We are enjoying the day off. David and Matt are playing golf on this beautiful day and McKenzie and I are about to do a little shopping.  A couple of weeks ago, I fixed up my back door and front door areas for Easter. I found this cute bunny from Knicks to use by the back door. Of course I added a new Kimberly Queen fern in my bean pot along with a cute back door mat from Target. I may leave up the bunny through spring.

For the front door/porch I bought two more ferns for the urns and placed burlap bunnies I have had for years in them and used my egg wreath from last year. I love the colors of the eggs on this one.

My favorite indoor decoration is my Peter's bowl filled with the kids' decorated eggs. Priceless to me! Here are some cute little bunnies I found at Gordman's. Love that store.

And at our house you are never to old for an Easter basket...

Lastly, I couldn't resist posting and Easter throwback with my sisters and cousin Davis. This picture brings back a lot of great memories. It was taken on Granny's back patio. We did Easter big at her house every year. We always had a great meal after church and then a fun Easter egg hunt later in the afternoon. Granny always made our Easter dresses, too. Look at those knee socks! Ha!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

Thursday is Matt's 9th birthday!  Hope you have a great day!  We love you!

March Madness Throwback

We came across this gem the other night while going through some old pictures and videos.  In honor of the NCAA basketball tournament going on right now we thought we'd share this video of Matt playing basketball when he was three and McKenzie providing the commentary and cheerleading.

Matt's birthday trip/McKenzie's choir show

We had such a fun weekend celebrating Matt's birthday. He will be 9 on the 26th but we chose this past weekend to go to Memphis to watch a Grizzlies' basketball game. We  arrived Saturday afternoon, did a little shopping, checked into our hotel, then on to the Side Porch for his early birthday dinner before the game. It was delicious as usual! I overheard one of the waiters telling someone that the night before they served 350 people! That tells you how good the food is. We asked Matt weeks ago what he wanted to do for his birthday and going to eat at the Side Porch and going to the game was what he wanted to do. We had a lot of fun at the game, too. And the Grizzlies won! After the game, we walked across the street to grab a drink at Starbucks, before heading back to our car. McKenzie always loves doing that.

Matt has been wanting a new basketball goal, so we along with all the grandparents bought him a new portable goal. The other one was on an old rusty iron pole that we are takng down. David put the new one together Sunday after we got home and Matt loves it! The boy loves some basketball! He also found a watch on sale at Target with a timer and everything. He is so proud of it and really enjoyed timing us in everything we did this weekend! Ha!

Monday night McKenzie had her choir show. It was titled Friendship and was supposed to have been done back at the end of February but due to the snow had to be rescheduled three times. We finally got to see it  Monday and it was so good. Here are a few pictures and a video of one of the songs the Entertainers performed.