All of our family moments from May 2022
Every school year the elementary school kids have a school-wide Art Show where parents and family can come see their art work on display.
Since Tess’s kinder year was the shut down year this was actually her first-ever Elementary School Art Show! She was SO exicied and even got dressed up for it.
She and Britt both had the same second grade teacher and her year with Tess was actually her last year teaching as she retired – so sad Spear won’t get to have her!
It was also Britt’s first art show since 1st grade and she loved getting to give Spear a tour of the school too – including a peak into the PreK hallway for next year!
Our 15th wedding anniversary was on May 28th. EVERY year for our anniversary we are out of town! It was weird to be in town for the big day but our travel plans made sense to arrange over the week that the kids would be at Georgia Bible Camp.
With Zach’s parents living in a trailer while buildling their house they didn’t have space for ALL the kids but could def fit Spear solo while the big kids were at camp so we made our plans around keeping it as easy on his parents as possible.
On our actual anniversary we had a low-key family kinda day. It was beautiful weather so Zach was had a FUN DAD moment and took all the kids on a golf cart ride down to our neighborhood playground where they were having a summer kick off event so the kids all got to play on the water slides.
To celebrate our anniversary Zach and I used naptime to lay out and read and relax together. Simple and wonderful!
That evening we went over to Zach’s parents property to celebrate Colt and Payton’s birthdays!
It was such a pretty day and a great time for outdoor family fun – including an epic volleyball match and Tessie schooling Aunt Karen on some math facts 😉
We’d appreciate continued prayers on Aunt Karen’s behalf. Her breast cancer moved to her lungs. She is currently continuing treatments in order to maintain her quality of life for as long as possible. She has lots of wonderful plans and our prayer is for her to remain healthy and strong to be able to enjoy them all! Thankful for these moments of our babies getting to spend quality time with her and the rest of their extended family.
THE highlight of summer for the big kids is Georgia Bible Camp and they have a Daddy tradition of going shopping for ALL the camp snacks and fun stuff. It was Tess’s first year of camp which also meant her first bathroom travel bag 🙂
Tess was SO excited about camp! It worked out great for her and Britt to be able to be in the same cabin this year and Kye and Colt were excited to be bunked together too.
I was VERY interested to see how Tess would enjoy camp or if she’d be a “one and done” kinda camper. She’s more like her mama and isn’t as into the outdoors and bugs and such. But she LOVED IT.
Zach and I dropped the kids at camp and then hit the road for Atlanta to fly out to Boston for our anniversary trip (posts to come). ON our way we got the dreaded phone call.
Britt puked. At camp. In the dang POOL. We were hoping it was a one-off but then we got another call. Tess puked.
Bless. We felt SO BAD Mrs. Charlotte had to go get them and on her way to pick them up with Spear…he puked.
It was such a baffling event! But then. Our neighborhood facebook group posted about the end of the school year event…with the water slides…that Cool Dad Zach took the kids to (which he NEVER does)…almost 28 FAMILIES got sick. It was so nuts that the Georgia Department of Public Health actaully investigated!!! CRAZY.
Mrs Charlotte took the girls and Spear to our house and stayed there for the night and had to wait 24 hours until they could return to camp. We later found out that Kye actually threw up too but didn’t tell ANYONE because he didn’t want to miss camp. I’m telling you our kids LOVE CAMP. The girls cried and cried about having to miss.
Thankfully they could go back and had no problem jumping right back into ALL the FUN! So thankful for their opportunity to make fun memories with fellow Christians and to learn more about Jesus!
Zach and I have had the plan to wait until 8th grade for our kids to have a phone. We have LOTS of reason for this decision!
Kye knew our plan to wait until 8th so he was SO SHOCKED when we surprised him with a phone. It was hilarious – you can watch his full reaction in this video I posted on Instagram:
We decided to give Kye the phone during his last month of 7th grade because he had a big Archery trip to Kentucky and we wanted him to have the phone for that trip.
He did not, however, get to have the phone “for real” until 8th grade and even with him having it “for real” he is very limited in his time to use it. He only takes it to school on days when he’s staying after and may need to contact us.
I also have it hardcore set up with a ton of restrictions too. Post to come on all of that. I do already have a post that goes over how we use a smartwatch to delay giving the kids phones. You can read that here!
And, yes, Zach also made Jesus Kye’s homescreen picture hahaha
Another reason we wanted him to have the phone for the trip was to be able to take pictures. Pictures are HOW we remember things and I wanted him to be able to have those memories from his awesome archery trip. Here are the pics he took – which crack me up.
He had a blast on the 5 day trip and loved competing in nationals but I was def ready for him to be HOME 🙂
As an upcoming 8th grader Kye was able to submit an application to become an FCA Leader. He asked our preacher as well as two teachers for recommendations and they wrote the kindest things. We are always so proud of Kye and especially his character!
Kye had another big milestone this month – he’s officially able to ride in the front seat. For safety reasons the back seat is ALWAYS the best choice but it’s nice that he’s able to ride up front on occassions and it makes it possible for all four kids to now ride in Zach’s truck!
Mrs. Charlotte and I attended Kye’s honors program where he received awards for Honor Roll with Distinction. He was very upset that he didn’t receive Social Studies Student of the Year as apparently a teacher input a grade wrong or something, I have no idea. But I just hate that he pushes himself SO HARD for these things! In the long run, they are NOT important. I know it FEELS important right now, but I just hope he’s better able to find a balance and not to put so much pressure on himself.
Britt also had a big milestone this month – we entered the land of shaving her legs! We are a hairy family and my rule of thumb has always been whenever the girls want to, they can shave. Last year Britt mentioned that her hair bothered her so we trimmed the hair but she got to a point where she was ready for the responsiblity of shaving.
She did great with it and just does it when she feels like she needs to – she’s not to the point of needing it super often so it’s not even part of her regular routine yet! She is very responsible and felt so grown up hitting such a big milestone 🙂
Britt also had the opportunity to partake in HER first solo campaign! Justice brand clothing asked to work with HER. She got to choose the clothes from their collection and put together the entire campaign on her own. She loved doing it and did a fantastic job!
Britt is so well-rounded and is loving volleyball life. She’s SUPER competitive and shines on the court as she always cheers on and uplifts her teammates! She finished her first season and has FOUND her SPORT. She absolutely LOVES it!
Britt has been asking and asking about getting her own Disney Spirit jersey. I had a chance to visit the Disney outlet store while on the trip with Kye and Asher and saw one on sale! She has been working SO hard with having a positive, selfless, helpful attitude and I’m just so proud of her. I was excited to surprise her with her first Spirit Jersey!
Zach and I finished the 2nd book of The Talk series with Britt – it’s called Changes and goes through what to expect with puberty. It’s fantastic!
Britt also worked on her LEGOS from Christmas and they turned out so cute. Since Britt is my child who NEVER has a sick day from school, I allowed her to have a “hooky” day and she rested and relaxed while watching a movie, she went swimming, had trampoline time and then we went to lunch with Aunt Katie!
She loves writing with her quill and wrote me the sweetest note.
I took all the kids to get their hair cut and when Tess sat down in the chair they said they couldn’t cut her hair bc THEY SAW LICE. Yall know we about freaked the freak out and were like here we go agaaaaaain (you can read about Tess’s prior lice experience here)
We got home from the appointment at the hair cut place and did ALL the lice things and then took Tess into the lice check place first thing the following morning and…she did NOT have lice afterall. Whew. False alarm!
They said either it wasn’t a larva that they had found on her head OR it was just a single one that she picked up from somewhere and we caught it so early that ir was THE ONLY ONE.
Tess continues to sleep with Britt every night so Zach modified Britt’s bed to fit a queen mattress to accomodate them sleeping together. So sweet!
This was the first year we didn’t need to buy Tessie a new “Miss Watermelon” bathing suit because she can now wear Britt’s old ones!
Tess had her own big milestone moment as the time has come to graduate from the baby hangers to the adult ones. My little girl is growing up!
Tess loves a good theme like her mama so for Teacher Appreciation Week she dressed up like a teacher 😉
She also came home from school on FAMILY PICTURE DAY covered (literally) in temporary tattoos. Like even on her FACE. I about died the timing was just hilarious. Thankfully they all came off pretty easily!
Tess loves reading, especially reading aloud to others especially Spear 🙂
Her “Dear Future Me” letter meant SO much to me to read – that’s my goal right there.
It was just a month of milestones around here!
Now that Kye is 13 we tried out a bit of babysitting fo him – and it went great. He did awesome keeping Spear (and the girls who don’t really need any babysitting) while I ran a short errand.
My plan is to pay him for times that I’d normally pay a sitter, but not pay him for times where it’s a benefit for HIM to get to stay home (like for example I’d normally take em all to a dr appointment but if Kye wants to stay home with Spear then great!).
Spear is super talented with drawing – I’m always so impressed with how well he draws tractors! He is also so creative and imaginative and I’ve really seen him explode in these areas lately.
He also has created a song called “Bailing Hay is a Good Idea” and it cracks us ALL up!
While I love that he’s forever my baby, I am thankful for these growing up kinda moments. Kye especially has been waiting FOREVER to have a little brother to truly play with and Spear is reaching that stage of being a legit play partner!
Spear had his first ice cream truck experience which he was super thrilled about. Growing up my dad would always have us close our eyes and put out our hands when he brought us home gifts and I just love Spear’s little squished up closed eyes!
Spear has been day trained forever with potty training but still struggles a bit at naps and bedtime. I have started to put a diaper OVER his underwear during sleep and he’s been waking up dry and clean more often!
We had our last Sam’s Jams morning together where we ran errands before he got dropped off at preschool. It was a very emotional day for me (more on that here)/
Daddy attended Spear’s end of school party with him and Spear is doing so well with writing his name. He is excited for big boy school in the fall and getting to be with his big sisters everyday!
We had a fun time getting family pictures with Captured by Colson – You can see all the pics from our Spring family photo session here 🙂
Got to have a day date with Zach, Book Club night with friends, a visit with Robyn at her house, and Zach had a golf outing with church fam!
We love the lazy days of summer, especially the bonding opportunities for the kids together.
Growing up my dad always took my brother and I out of the house on Saturday mornings so my mom could sleep in and I LOVE that Zach has his pancake Saturday mornings with the kids – I know these are memories they will always cherish as adults!
