One Big Day

I saw this cute idea on Pinterest for a bus driver thank you.

I gave them to Ben's driver and bus aide since they are so great with him.

The 30th was a big day for our family.

First, Ben had his graduation in his SpEd class...

His teacher recognized each child in her class and which grade they will be going into next year.

Then they showed a cute slideshow.  Every time Ben saw himself on the screen he would say "Me!"

Here he is with his cute one on one aide that he had the last part of the year...

the many faces of Ben :)

Then we immediately went outside to witness the 5th grade Civil War reenactment...

Matt had earned his Great American Award...

So proud of him for doing all that was required for that!

We had fun memorizing the Gettysburg address together :)

There are multiple speeches and battles.

They use water balloons as their ammunition...

We couldn't decide if we should run Ben home to be with Abby who was sick at home or if we should try and tough it out with him at the reenactment.  I'm glad we just kept him because it didn't take long before he fell asleep in Andy's arms.

Grandpa and Grandma came to watch our general...

Look at that Great American!

So first and foremost, that day was Andy's birthday!

He was so supportive of his kids :)

We went out to dinner as part of his celebration...

A couple had seen us walk in and noticed Matt's Great American medal and had dessert brought over to him once we had finished our meal.

They had already left so we couldn't thank them...but oh my goodness!  How nice was that?!?!?!

Andy and I set out for a quick birthday walk around the block and got caught in the rain...it was awesome!

Then we opened some gifts...

Josh was clever and wrapped the gifts in beach towels so of course Andy had to pose with them...

Happy Birthday to my cute Hubby whom I love to pieces!

Memorial Day 2018

Sunday evening I took the kids up and visited Grandpa and Grandma O's graves

Monday morning I took Josh and Matt up to the Avon and Paradise cemeteries with the Kidd side of the family.

Andy had had little sleep the night before, Ben was still sleeping and Abby was taking forever to get ready so I left them all at home.

The crew...

Kind of small this year.

Mom imitating the facial expression of one of our ancestors...

Matt hanging out in a tree in Paradise

Before our picnic in the park, we stopped by the house, dropped off Matt who was feeling sick and picked up Ben and Abby (who was finally ready :)...love you Abs!

Grandpa feeding Ben

Ben is always happy while sitting next to 'Bapa'

Josh played frisbee golf with all the guys

That afternoon, after we got home, I went out to plant a bunch of flowers and the most glorious thunder storm rolled in!

It was amazing!  

The thunder was just a constant rumbling...hardly ever a break for at least 15-20 minutes.

I kept on planting and the kids went out to play spike ball in the rain.

That evening we watched Coco.  

What a perfect movie for Memorial Day!

T's Bridal Shower

I was excited to throw a shower for my cute sister in law to be!

She loves poppies so that was the theme.

I found several great tutorials online of how to make crepe paper poppies.

I kind of combined a few and tweaked some things to make it work for me.

It was a lot of fun!

The hardest part was figuring out the fringe in the middle and I'm still not completely happy with how those turned out but it was okay :)

I painted a poppy banner...

I had these 3'x4' posters printed at Sam's to use to decorate for their wedding dinner but I figured I might as well use them for the shower too and get some more mileage out of them...

And I wish I would have gotten more pictures but my mind was on other things.

My aunt Norma, in the middle below, helped by coordinating all the food.  

Super helpful and awesome :)

I had a few things planned as far as games/activities...

The two moms helped by submitting fun facts about the bride and groom and guests had to guess who they were describing.

Also, while we ate, Abby and my cousin Sarah and I shared the results of the 'how well do the bride and groom really know each other' kind of activity.

I had asked them in advance their answers to and how they thought the other would answer about 15 questions about anything ranging from impressions of when they first met, childhood facts, favorites and their goals for the future.  Most of them they were spot on but there were just a few that they both struggled answering for themselves and each other :)

Here is T inspecting Jo's mission quilt that Mom made and saved to give to him until he had a wife to take proper care of it :)

Mom was very kind in letting us hold the shower in her home. She also donated some of her handmade soap and put together these cute bags for all the guests as a 'thanks for coming' gift.

I just love this darling picture of T and her mom!

T, her mom Jen and her friend from art school, Jenna

I am really not loving this picture of me but I had to include one of me and the bride to be :)

It was a fun evening and I'm so grateful to all those that helped pull it together and to those that came and supported our family in this exciting time :)!!!