Showtime!

It was the end of the school year for Hayes and Libby.

Performance time for all!

Songs and dances are always amazing!

Love our preschool.

Love our friends.

Playful Pups

One day this child of mine will figure out how to actually smile like a normal person.

He is such a caring little guy.

His honesty and genuine vocabulary baffle me daily.

This was the day of his Mother's Day Tea.  I forgot that he should have dressed up and we all know his Daddy isn't going to make him dress nicely.  Nor does this child want to dress up nicely, ever.  Worked out well though.  I forgot that maybe I should have dressed up too.  Instead I wore his favorite color and my boy was happy with that part of it.  

I'm still working on that pirate face.  Seriously.

Last day of school with our FAVORITE Puppy teachers!  These ladies are awesome and love my kid while teaching him really important stuff.  

Fab Frogs

This sweet girl sure gives me a run for my money.  This is her delightful Mother's Day Tea at ELC.  The kids make the food and lots of sweet things for us as well.  It is really an awesome deal.  We love going and I really enjoy seeing how proud she is.  Her attitude at school is spectactular.  I did tell her teachers that she should not be in charge of any surprises, ever.  She told me every single detail about the food and the arts & crafts the day before the 'tea' happened.  

Here is a picture of us last year at her tea.  She was a ladybug last year and is a frog this year.  Mind you, the pictures are always her idea, but I'm grateful she likes me well enough to take pictures.

This is her BFF Delilah.  She loves this girl with some serious intensity.  I am grateful that they were able to spend time loving each other this year.  Delilah's Aunt Steph is reading to them.  She was so patient with them and so kind.  

And these ladies are her rockstar teachers.

They help with boo-boos.

They assist with potty training and accidents.

They provide guidance, for her in the classroom, and me outside the classroom.

They love her.

They were so kind and told me that the 4s teachers would likely fight over who gets to teach my 'delightful child'.....

All I could do was LAUGH like a crazy lady because my delightful child is so hard to deal with most days.  She is sunshine and rainbows when she chooses to be.  She is challenging and stubborn when she is not sunshine and rainbows.  She loves SO hard and she is so kind....

I am forever grateful to these lovely ladies.

Fab Frog

I love watching her write.  I still have to help her spell her name.  Note to everyone else, long names are a challenge for 3 year olds.  I know she won't be 3 forever, so I'll take this writing with PRIDE!  I love that she has improved so much this school year.  She has worked really hard to perfect her letters and she's made major strides in her name.  We still have work to do with some of the letter specifics and details, but we are making huge improvements.  

Alphabet Parade

I am so pleased to watch the little guy and all the fun things of his last year at ELC.  We have so enjoyed all 4 years and the lovely women who have nurtured and loved him.  Lori, Robbie, Dawn, Lynn, Erin, Cindy, Jean, Lori (the other one), Kristi, and Jill.  They are soooo special to me and sooooooooo important to his development.  I am thrilled to watch him grow from preschool to elementary school and I cannot WAIT for him to start in the fall.  I don't want him to grow up any faster than he already is, but he is SO excited to be a Wildcat in the fall and I'm SO proud of him!  

Alphabet Parade 2015.

Hayes Cochran

'Jazz' the Transformer Autobot.  

Letter J

Parties with Friends

We have several friends from the ELC that have summer birthdays.  We are so blessed to be able to attend their fun parties each year.  Hayes and Libby are BFF with another set of siblings, Walker and Charlee Kate.  They love each other fiercely.  This was Charlee Kate's art party... 

Elizabeth is painting some canvas art for our home with her friend Smith.  Love her!

Art is intense, just ask Libby.

Here are the boys.  Hayes and Walker working diligently on their art squares.  Hayes was very careful not to mix the paint colors on his canvas.  Perhaps he's a tiny perfectionist?

Hayes Date

The ELC always does Father's Night for the kids at school.  They aren't in school for Father's Day, so dads get a special night once a year. Luckily, our times didn't overlap and Daddy was able to enjoy time with both babies!  I got time with my big baby boy while his sister was on a date with her Daddy at school.  We went to Yogli Mogli (which is ice cream mountain if you ask Hayes) and he ate sprinkles.  I'm pretty sure he had 2 actual bites of yogurt and the rest was sprinkles.  He also talked with the girl who worked there about her big belly like mommy's.  I hope she was really pregnant...

It isn't a good night our unless you get some selfies.  We took a few, just in case.  

I don't even know how he makes this pirate face all the time, but he does.  It is now his signature face.  I give up trying to fix it or deal with it.  I just have to laugh.  

Back to School

My littles started back to school the same day my students did.  We had an extended Christmas break due to some extreme cold here in Georgia and they enjoyed an extra day home with Lori Beth over break!  LB is our new sitter/nanny and we LOVE her!  She picks the kids up from school 4 days a week and takes them to lunch or home or to play and then home for a nap.  They pretend as though they don't like her, but they ask about her every day when they wake up from their nap.

This is the photo that I got from a random number on their first day back.  I have no idea who sent it, but I'm so glad they did.  Don't you love how Elizabeth is posing with her legs AND her cheeeeeeese face?!  Hayes looks a little unsure of this whole ordeal, but he's sporting an awesome hat AND his mittens.  Love these kids and their sweet little quirks of personality that God gave them.  They are such a joy!  

Party Animals

Occasionally, the kiddos have parties at their school.  The ELC has done a wonderful job this year of trimming back the excessive parties for the kids!  They have celebrated minimally this year (with only major holidays) and I'm quite thankful for it!  I wasn't able to make the Christmas party with Hayes' class, so I sent BeBe in my place.  She sent me the following pictures.  

I know you would never be able to tell this from the photos, but Hayes has party anxiety.  He hates having a crowd of grown ups around him or in his space.  At school they have 12-14 kids per class and 1-2 adults per kid at the parties.  For poor Hayes that's a lot of grown folks in a room where there are normally just 2 grown ups and his friends in class.  

Hayes is also the world's pickiest eater.  EVER.  His class ordered a Chick fil A nugget tray for the party and I forgot to tell mom so she could bring him yellow sauce, that's what he calls Chick fil A sauce.  It is his most favorite thing ever.  But he shocked us ALL at his party and ate his nuggets with Polynesian sauce!  I was delirious with laughter because I knew it was a huge deal for my Sheldon Hayes.

We might need to work on the silly faces with BeBe and Hayes.  They both look hilarious here.  Hayes typically prefers to make silly faces.  He would rather skip the serious photos and have fun!  I know he had a blast at this party and I got a SUPER cute calendar for 2014 that he made in class as my Christmas gift.  I love it!  

I'm so thankful that my mom (who my kids call BeBe) is part of the village raising my littles and helping me with parties and other miscellaneous parenting duties.  She is truly a blessing for my family and my siblings!