So, Saturday started off at the ballpark for Gracie's last game of the season. She did a great job and ran in the last run of the game. Yay! Here is a few pics from the game. Jai played with a friend the entire time, and he bought Jai a sucker for letting him play with his toys. Jai was pretty stoked about that!

Here is Gracie with her new trophy. She was so hot after being out on the field in the direct sun. It was so hot by 10:30...yuck! :(

After the game, we went to a festival that was being held in Winston Salem. My parents and Paul & I run a wheelchair/scooter/stroller rental booth at various fairs & festivals. My stepfather was working it on Saturday, so we went up to visit him and I took the kids around to some rides. We didn't last but maybe an hour or so. It was miserable! The kids had rode some of the rides the previous night (with awesome weather)...so we just had a few tickets left to use up. This was the first time that Jai has ridden a ride by himself, and he was pretty excited! He loved the cars and choo-choo train! :)

Here is one of the strollers that we rent. The kiddos loved riding around in it...especially Gracie because she always has to walk now..haha.

Gracie's favorite...the swings. I don't think I've ever seen her so happy in her entire life.

I didn't get a good shot of her smiling from ear to ear...but it was a sight to see. :)

Hot baby boy! :(

I found a really cute purse from a local vendor that hand makes these purses. She was awesome, but I felt so bad for her because she had such bad business. She was selling everything at 1/2 price..so I ended up getting for 10$. Score!

The sun was so brutal! We were all very tired when we left...zzzzzzzz!

Well...hello 3rd grader!!! :)

Gracie's last day of school was on Thursday, June 10th. It was a 1/2 day and was also field day. I spent the day at her school to help out and catch up on my volunteer hours. To be a part of Arts Based Elementary, you must commit to volunteer 1 hour per child enrolled, per week. It's a nice way to be involved in the school. I did several things this year including copying, helping teachers out in classroom, being on the "Box Top Commitee", parent council meeting, etc. We had a lot of fun!

This, obviously, was the "hot potato" game with the water balloons. It was a bummer because it was their first game, and the kids were so excited...and as soon as they burst this one...a lady that was running the game said they couldn't have any more because they had to save enough for everyone. Really?! Oh well..guess I should have donated some more water balloons. :)

Haha...Gracie crawling through tunnel during obstacle course.

Gracie & her best friend Aida

Goofy Class Picture

Painting their favorite fruits during an artistic relay

Oh my gosh...this was the worst event for Gracie.

They couldn't figure out how to work together at this, so they had a really hard time. Gracie was in tears by the end of it because after falling at least 4 times...one of her classmates ran by and shouldered her in the face (accidentally). She had had it by that point and just broke down. Poor little girl. ;(

The 2nd fall happened right before this...and then a parent and student fell on them as Gracie & Aida were getting up...causing a 3rd fall. Sheesh!

4th fall.

Watermelon & Popsicles cheered her up pretty fast though!

After playing musical sponges...

Playing "mirror faces" with the hula hoops. I remember doing this when I was small (without the hula hoops)...and it was pretty fun.

This booth was originally a hula hooping booth but considering the hula hoops were purchased at the dollar store, they didn't last long.

They were breaking apart, and became completely unraveled. The parent running the booth did a great job improvising. :) There were 25 hoops to begin with...I think after an hour or so, there were only about 11 that stayed together.

Gracie's face painting (a peacock)

It was a very hot day...but we all had a great time! We got to bring home Gracie's tadpole which I should have taken a picture of. Hopefully we can keep him alive until he develops into a frog....it should be interesting. :)

CONGRATS GRACIE! YOU'RE A 3RD GRADER NOW!!!!!

Poetry Slam!

Gracie had a poetry slam today that her school put on (Arts Based Elem.) at Krankie's coffee shop! I really have enjoyed her school this year. They do a LOT of exciting things as they learn to keep the kids having fun and enjoying school. Gracie's last school was very good also, but she was really bored. They never seemed to do anything fun (except go outside to play). At ABES, they are always doing fun things whether it's erupting volcanoes, learning to play guitar, violin, and piano, growing butterflies, and tadpoles, dance classes, planting and learning about gardens, etc. It's amazing the things that they do sometimes, and it really is important to me that she is enjoying it in every way. So...they had a poetry slam today..haha. There was about 60 kids that got up (individually) in front of all of the parents, teachers and patrons at the coffee shop and read their poems. They were each judged on performance, etc. Gracie got 4TH PLACE out of all 60 kids. Of course, only 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place were recognized but I was so proud of her. She got up on stage and read her poem so nicely. Her class were supposed to write a poem about untrue things, basically. I'm sure her teachers had a better explanation than that..but...well...I can't really say it any better than "lies". They were supposed to tell lies..haha. So, Gracie's went like this...

(sorry I couldn't figure out how to rotate it) :(

Busy Saturday!

On Saturday we had a busy, busy day! I had to work from 8:30am until 1:30pm. Paul's cousin was having a birthday party for her daughter's 1st bday, and they had a petting zoo at 12. I was so sad that I missed that portion of it, but the kids had a great time enjoying the animals. From what I remember, there was a duck, hedgehog, pot belly pigs, donkey, cow, alpaca, ferrets, sheep, goats, & rabbits. I wish I would have thought to have Paul take the camera. I would have loved to see their expressions (especially Jai's) when they visited with all of the animals. It was really nice to see Paul's side of the family though. We don't get to spend much time with them at all, so it's really nice when we are all together. Paul's sister Rita came into town with her family and I loved talking and catching up with her. We hated to miss it, but they had a party later that night to celebrate a couple of birthdays (her husband's and Paul's aunt's). Paul was catching up on his missed sleep (3rd shift)...so we missed it. :(

But, after the birthday party, we headed to Winston Salem for the India Fest. We try to go every year because it's so nice to learn about India and all of the culture. It's disappointing that they will not allow any religion to be discussed though. Although there are several religions in India...it is a MAJOR part of what India is about, and that is sad to me that it can't be shown. It's hard to understand that people would be so offended if it was a part of the festival. Oh well, such a shame. We only stayed for about 10 min. (haha) It was almost over and it was sooo hot. Jai was asleep and Gracie was anxious to have some lunch. So, I snapped a couple of pictures, and we jumped right back in the car. Whew!

More Water Fun!

The kiddos enjoyed some more water fun at their Nana's house yesterday. Jai loves

the movie Toy Story, so we bought him some new arm floats with Buzz and Woody (which he is proudly showing off in the picture below). We all had a great time and enjoyed the nice weather before the storms rolled in and washed away our fun.

Jai was enjoying making faces at the camera. :)

I just love these action shots of Gracie.

PawPaw going down the slip n slide. I don't think he actually realized how slippery it would be! The next picture would have been (if I had caught it in time) him lying flat on his back from the fall. Oops...I don't think he'll be trying that again! Haha

My brother Jody (Jojo) and his wife Chrissy (Auntie CC).

Me and my handsome one and only!

This was my ladybug friend that hung out with me for about 20 pictures. I was amazed at how well my camera did with these close ups. I couldn't pick just one...

My little man! :)