6th Grade Graduation!

Alyssa is officially a Jr. High Student! I am lucky that I have already had one start and it was a boy. I am so worried that she is going into the real world! I am so thankful that she has a good head on her shoulders and has always been a bit more mature than her age. I know she will do fine but its my job to worry right?? Here some of the best pictures of that night. She looks so much like a young women its kinds scary! She had so many great pictures taken this night but I can only put so many on here!

Sandra and Alyssa!



Jessica G and Alyssa
Mariah, Jordan,Alyssa and Jessica!
I could not get a good picture of this sorry:( you get the point though.

Mariah and Alyssa!

Beach Day!

Hunter's Kindergarten class had a beach day the last week of school! I volunteered and really got Lucky that I did not have an official group so I got float around a bit and enjoy seeing Hunter play with all the stations!

Here he is doing the hula hoop which I had no idea he could do and he is so good at it he even did it for the talent show and rocked.
This was a station to find sea shells. The funny thing is we found a ton of blue glass and a teacher and I were throwing it away as we saw it, come to find out it was supposed to be there for the kids to play with???
The sidewalk chalk was not his favorite but I got him to let me take a pic!
The music was crazy! It was loud and the kids loved it but for my ears it was a bit hard!

I think the day was a total success and all the kids had a blast. It was a bit too hot but the kids were fine because they were wet and lets face it kids do not care about the heat as long as they are running around and playing!

Mrs. Slocum.

This was Hunters Kindergarten teacher. She also had Alex about 6 years ago. That sounds weird to say, makes me feel really old. I am now sending my 5Th child to Kindergarten and we are a bit sad that she is retired now and that my son was the last to have her as a teacher. We will hope to see her as a sub at the school.

Alyssa at 6Th grade graduation with Mrs.Slocum
Alex at the beach day with her too.
Of course a good Hunter face to go along with the picture!

We will miss you so much thanks for such a good year.

Madyson's First Dance Recital!

This was the first year I had put Madyson in any extra activities other than preschool! I loved that she could go with some of the neighborhood friends. I loved loved loved the carpool even better! There is just not enough said about the ease of carpooling. I know it has its ups and downs but I really appreciate all those who share this with me. As for the dance experience I think she loved it. I really liked that it was out of someones house and that it was not expensive. Madyson has not stopped talking about it ever since the recital. She still wants to go everyday!
I think she has rude awakening when she realizes I did not sign her up again:( I think I will transition Abbey into dance and have Madyson try Tumbling this year! The recital was a bit too hectic for me but all in all it was a great experience

Madyson in her angel outfit.
This is not the best picture but it is still cute. It was really hard to get good pictures in the hall because of the lighting.
Her eyes are shut! but this was the only good one I had of the three girls together.

Madyson, Lauryn and Olivia.

Julie had to run to another daughters piano recital so we took Lauryn

home and we had to stop for ice cream!
Lauryn and Madyson in my front yard!

Memorial Day!

Our day started off not very exciting with the normal day off type of lounging around..... This is how it ended up.... Steve and I had decided we would take the kids to the local pool to hang out in the afternoon that was about the only plan we had. Before noon we had an invite from friends to go to do a BBQ after the swimming. We had also decided we would try to get away to do a lunch just with Steve and I and a trip to the Home depot. For some odd reason we changed all plans and decided to go to the lake! So off we go heading towards the lake, we arrive at Power and McDowell and they have the road completely closed to all traffic. They were closed due to being over capacity! As Steve says they closed nature to the public:) We decided to try the Ellsworth way and drive by the police putting up the road block just in time before they closed the road there too.
We drive for some time and because we have never really been out here realize we never bought a pass to park anywhere in the Tonto forest! Great now we are not allowed to park and if we leave we can not get back in. The only way to get a pass is to drive all the way back into town. We both are pretty frustrated at this point. Steve wants to park along the road where it says no parking and I am against it. He knows I am right but just frustrated and wanting a nice idea not to turn out like this. We finally go into a parking lot and notice all the cars have tickets on them. I tell Steve to stop the car and I check the tickets and notice it was only a 12 dollar fine. That made our decision the passes to buy are 6 and for double we are in. I decide to go ask the nice Ranger if there is anyway we can get a pass he says "no but you can buy a ticket from me"! Just then I notice a guy getting busted for having glass bottles and being drunk so I go ask him since they tell him he has to leave can I buy your parking pass. He actually sells me his pass for 6 bucks! The best part is we sold it to the next couple as we were leaving the park! FREE PARKING!

Steve and Christopher wading out in the river!




Abbey just catching some rays!

My very studly looking man!
Madyson trying her best not to fall!

Alex and I trying to get a good pic, It really did not turn out:(
Cutest little boy in the world!

After we had enough of the sun we pack up and get ready to go. Christopher had to be home to do Flags with the scouts and we still had to eat dinner. As we were driving back we say so many people getting DUI's along the road. It was crazy to see people going to the lake and driving in seeing a massive amount of cops and then driving home drunk????

We decide to have Souper Salad for dinner and boy what an experience that was. If any of you have had the privilege of knowing my hubby you know he can be a bit crazy. So we head in and after about a 15 minute normal dinner with 5 kids(Alyssa was in D.C.) all went crazy. Yes my good old hubby decides to start bantering Hunter and gets him a bit hyper. He is sticking pieces of ham up his nose and blowing them out. I can not stop laughing. I am trying so hard to be the mature adult here and I could not get a hold of myself.... Which makes the kids and Steve just up the scene. They go to get ice cream and Steve starts making farting noises as the ice cream comes out of the machine. What he does not know is there is this old man standing right behind him:) He starts talking to this families little kids and getting them started too. They were the kind of family that were very proper trying to teach their kids to behave and here comes Steve! The couple behind us were really trying to have a good dinner but we can not hold it together for a minute without losing it with laughter. Just to add to it Hunter falls into the man's chair and he was not happy. Finally we are pretty embarrassed ourselves and just have to leave. I have to say the day started out bad but we definitely have some great memories!

Awards, Awards, and more Awards.

The kids had an awards ceremony at the school for the end of the year last Wednesday! It was so hectic for me to make it because Madyson's graduation was the very same morning at the same exact time:) I decided to go to Madyson's thing and Steve went to the awards ceremony. After the graduation I zoomed over to Porter and got there before Alyssa received the Straight A's award for the entire year! Maybree and her were coming off the stage together so I made them pose for a pic. unfortunately I did not get any of Alex receiving her awards. I will get some of her from my friends that were there and post them here soon. When I got there I was bombarded by people saying "what the hec is up with Alyssa"? of course I had no idea what they were talking about but I guess she had just received 7 awards and people were just laughing saying she should just stay up there! She rocks and is just an amazing student and I just could not ask for anything more. I promise Alex I am doing a post just for you so please do not feel left out here, i just do not have any pics yet:)

Christopher hates his picture taken!

It seems that my son has reached an age where he is too good for pictures:) It all started a month or two ago when we were at a park and he would have nothing to do with looking at the camera! I wonder if it is because he might end up on my blog???? Well it did him no good because I have finally got a few good shots of him! I love this guy like you would not believe. He is growing up so fast and really is a young man now. It is so hard to look back on his baby pictures and think that was 14 years ago!! It really makes me feel old. i will try to post a baby picture of him soon. He will love me for that huh? Hey maybe that will fix him and he will let me take him picture more:)

A little game of catch up!

Sorry have not really posted much since January because of my semester at school. Now that is is over I will try to play a bit of catch up and do a few posts on what has been happening in my little world.

Hunter turned 6 this year! I can not believe it. I just love this little guy to death and it has really been hard for me to see him grow up. He used to be this really hard toddler and even made me question a few times where he came from and who child was he. As he has been getting a bit older he has turned into such a character. He is just like his dad when it comes to humor. Ask his teacher he really does say some funny things at the most inappropriate times.

Grandma Santos here this year for his birthday so we decided to go to the local peter piper Pizza to celebrate! We of course have a big enough family to make our own little party! At first he was so happy for me to be taking pictures but as you can see in the next one he was like "OK mom enough can I just go play this gun game"! (Which I thought I would never let me kids do).

Dont mind the older brother sticking something up his nose???? I hope this is just a really bad picture and he really is not doing what it looks like:)

Alex Singing for the very first time in public!

You all know Steve has a crazy addiction to music. Well I do believe his daughter is right there behind him. They together have been practicing a song form Taylor Swift "Our Song". Steve had a gig at the San Tan Mall on Saturday night. I decided to take all the kids out to see him play. During a break I decided to mention having Steve and Alex play their song. Alex was a bit weary and did not want to because Steve did not have his acoustic guitar with him and she thought she would not be able to do it the same. Well after a few minutes she actually took the leap and she said she would. So please click here to take a listen! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neUkr050C_Q

Alex got her hair cut!

Alex had been bugging me to take her to get a hair cut so I finally did. When we got there they measured it and she definitely had enough to donate. All in all I think they took 13 inches off! She loves her new haircut but I think she is really missing her long hair. It is so hot here is the summer I think it was perfect timing. Her hair grows so fast it will be long again in no time.

GRAND CANYON

Last Friday was Porter's Annual Grand Canyon Field trip! It was once a trip that was an overnight event but as the years have past they have limited it to a one day trip. As you can imagine that is a huge task in just one day. Since it was only going to be one full day I decide to have the grand idea to go as a chaperon. At first it seemed like a great idea, but soon turned into a scheduling nightmare. I had a sitter all lined up. The kids all were taken care of and I had paid the money to go. Then as my girlfriends and I were talking about all the upcoming events we all had to attend and exchanging babysitting offers I realized my sitter was going to be on a Field trip with her daughter the very day I needed her. I had also offered to watch another friends child. It was a mess! I racked my brain and pretty much everyone of my friends were busy that day. So my very awesome husband saved the day by staying home from work. Not a common happening in my world but so appreciated.

So that morning we loaded up the bus and off we went. We stopped at Montezuma Castle and had our snack and potty break. We also had this great scavenger hunt that the teachers had created for us to do with our groups. We were each given a camera and we had to take pictures of our entire group with various things in the picture. Ex. Take a pic with a park Ranger. They even had one where you had to lift you leader of the ground entirely! Who do you think they picked for that one. ME. The downfall for being a light person. After our snack we then drove to the Canyon. We had a small hike down in the canyon and then we had the chance to visit the area. My group chose the ice cream shop! The wind was blowing really hard and Alyssa's ice cream actually fell off her cone!

All in all it was an awesome time and I so enjoyed the time with Alyssa. All her friends were great and no one misbehaved at all. We had a great group of kids and had a blast. The only thing I could have wished for was a bit more time. We all loaded up once again and went to Flagstaff for pizza. Then we were off to the long trip home. Its too bad they say that was the last trip because Alex will be in the 6Th grade next year and we really wanted to go to that one too. Maybe we can hope for the best and get them to do it again. We will see!

Glamour Alyssa!

A couple weeks ago Alyssa went to an activity. The girls all got to dress up and get make-up on and really just have an all out fun time getting "PRETTY"! This week they went to the activity to make special frames for their pictures. Alyssa came home with these amazing pictures! She is so beautiful I just can not believe she is my offspring! I know she got it from her dad:) Alyssa is so unbelievable and it is so awesome that she is more beautiful on the inside than she is in this picture. I am so proud of her and happy to she what a great young women she is becoming! Keep up the good work girl. I love you sooooo much!

I Did It!

So its Monday morning and I am stressing out because I have a Lab final in my Anatomy class! I also as most of you know am on the PTA Board at the local elementary school. It just happens to be the monthly Board meeting at 3:30 which is only 2 hours before my final! So I go to the meeting and plan on going straight to class.... Well my plans soon got a huge dent.




Let's just say the meeting did not end well and I left not having all my emotions in check! I was a wreck and at this point had a final in 30 minutes. So I gather myself together as much as I can and go to class. I felt great about the test and thought I did good. Last night I went to class and was hoping to find out my grade. The teacher left the tests on the table to pick up and as I walk up I see a paper that says HIGH SCORE! Mind you I have two people in my class who never even get one problem wrong so I know this is not mine but glance to see who's it was and what do you know it is MINE!!!! I got the High score on the Lab Final!! You do not know how much I needed that. I think that is what has given me what I need to get through this next week and one last final on May 5Th! I have so much to prepare for before then and hope it all goes well. If not then I at least can say I had one awesome test that I kicked butt on right?!