Ice Cream

One evening this summer my parents had a hand-dipped ice cream truck come by their house.

Even Reese who normally doesn't eat sweets was into it!

No surprise Grant was in heaven!

I love my boy.

Fun treat!

The Lagoon

Our favorite place to go this summer seems to be the South Lake Lagoon in Irvine. We have already been 3 times and I bet that won't be it.

The fun slides are clearly the big attraction. Naomi doesn't mind at all the big splash in the face of water at the bottom!

Grant man loves the slides too.

Reese tried it out but wasn't a fan. Thanks for helping him Jolie!

My sweetheart

Grant wouldn't stop tackling Naomi, she is such a good sport about it!

My fish

Reese's cheese face

Field Day

We had fun today at the Field Day relay races. Enjoy the photos!

Kindergarten Picnic

Then it was Lucy's turn for her class picnic.

Mrs. Cooper, we could not have asked for a more wonderful and perfect teacher for our Lucy!

She has really come out of her shell this year and made tons of friends! (Kayli and Alyssa)

This kid was a good sport through all of the festivities.

Could he be more filthy?

Receiving her certificate for completing kindergarten.

I am going to have 2 kids in school full time next year! What will Reese and I do?

2nd Grade Picnic

On Monday all of the 2nd graders got to have a picnic at a nearby park to celebrate the end of the year.

Mrs. Lemmer has been a very good teacher this year.

Jolie loves her friends and has a million of them!

Everyone had fun.

A friend of Mrs. Lemmer's brought some bunnies over for the kids to play with.

The girls were basically obsessed.

They didn't even know I was taking these pictures.

I can't believe I am going to have a 3rd grader!

Annie

Someone I know was in the play Annie this year in Drama class.

She was the cutest orphan ever!

Grandma came for the big performance.

Jolie and her friend Angelina (Grace Farrell)

I'm pretty sure no one enjoyed the show more than Reese! He followed along with all of the movements and cheered louder than anyone. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

Sweet 16

A special happy birthday to my sister Camille today. She is basically a more beautiful, talented, sweeter version of me! And although I should hate her for it, I just love her all the more. Happy birthday Camille, I love you forever!

Explosions in the Sky

On April 30, Landon and I went with some friends to an amazing concert at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Picnic dinner, good company, beautiful music, lovely weather. Really good times.

A special thanks to Ian for being the photographer. Most of these images are his. Here are more.

Happy Mommy Moment

I had a successful mommy moment today. I feel like I should write it down to remember how good it felt to follow my instincts and exercise patience. It may seem like a small thing to some, especially to those mothers of just little ones but it was a big deal for me.

When I picked up Jolie from school today she handed me a note from her teacher stapled to her agenda. Here is what it said, "I let Halle and Jolie go to the restroom in the middle of State Test since they said it was an emergency. They were gone a very long time. I had to have another teacher cover my class while I went to look for them. They were talking, goofing off and walking really slow. As a result the entire school was delayed recess since our class was the last one finished."

Now Jolie is no perfect student. She has been known to get a warning here and there for talking, she loves to talk! So I wasn't shocked to get the note, but for some reason it sort of bugged me.

I would normally give her a pretty good scolding for something like this. It is a bigger deal than usual. But when I opened my mouth to give a speech and punishment I heard a voice in my head telling me to stop and wait. To just hold off a while before reacting.

We didn't mention it again until about half way on our walk home. She turned to me and said, "Mom, I thought you were going to yell at me for sure!" I just smiled and said I didn't feel like yelling about it. Then 1 block later I noticed she was wiping tears from her eyes. I asked her what was wrong and she just grabbed me in a big hug and told me how awful it was, how her teacher had yelled at her in front of the whole class and told her she ruined recess for the whole school and how she didn't mean to get in trouble.

I felt so thankful in that moment that I had been able to curb my all too often temper with her and actually listen to what this little person needed from her mother. I so often jump to conclusions and rush to anger at silly things like this. I needed to document this to remind myself how good it felt to be there for my baby in all of the little struggles in her life.

I love that girl, she is so wonderful.

I Think I Need This

LOVE

In African Violet

Note:  I am cranky tonight. I thought online shopping might make me feel better but it didn't. Now I just want stuff. Darn it.