It's hard to believe that summer is already here! The past year has just flown by and so much has happened in that time!

For Memorial Day, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and invited our family that lives in town over for a cookout. Shane's parents had taken Xander and Cade to Myrtle Beach for the weekend, so they showed up sunburned and waterlogged! They had a wonderful time, so we enjoyed listening to all of the stories they had to tell. I believe the highlight for Cade was that he made two holes-in-one and tied his score with Xander's! This obviously was NOT the highlight for Xander! His favorite part of the trip was the "slingshot" he went on 30 feet into the air. For a little guy, I'd say that was pretty brave!

We enjoyed the food and the babies, since Hayes and Gage stole the show as usual! Here you can see Auntie Sara spoiling Hayes as any good Aunt should do! And she's definitely the best when it comes to taking care of her nephews!

The rest of the week was busy finishing up school with exams and graduation. I spent the week working on a syllabus I had to submit for our AP English program (to keep us accredited), so that made for some very stressful days! However, we got through it, and I will never have to do it again as long as I teach at GCA! (whew!)

Friday morning, we attended Xander's awards ceremony at school. He received a certificate for the A/B Honor Roll, for which we were very proud of him! His only B was in Reading, and that was because of his expression. Now, I know what you are thinking, and you are correct. How can such an expressive child not read with enough expression?! Well, he was afraid that people would laugh at him if he did, so he would read in a voice that was VERY monotone! We worked on this all year and were thrilled when he finally started getting A's in Reading during the last quarter! He also received a certificate for having the highest average in Math for his class! This award was by far the most important to him, because Math is Xander's absolute favorite subject!!! We are so proud of him and the effort he put forth this year in school!

Friday was also Cade's last day at his daycare. These are three of the children with whom he has spent his days. The fourth child is an adorable baby who had already fallen asleep by the time we took this picture.

After Xander's award ceremony, we met Miss Debbie and the kids at Krispy Kreme and had breakfast. Then making a day of it, we went to the Jumpin' Monkey which is a place with inflatibles, much like the place Xander went for his field trip. Once the kids had worn themselves out there, we finished the day at our house for a picnic in the back yard.

Miss Debbie has been such a blessing to us and has gone above and beyond the call of a caregiver! She came into our lives when Xander was a year old and has been a huge part of our family ever since! This will be very difficult for both her and us as we make this transition. Fortunately, we will still continue our friendship and will take part in special activities with her from time to time.

Shane's mom has decided to quit teaching to watch Hayes for us, which is why Debbie will not be helping us with him. Once we knew were going to have Hayes, his mom began talking of being a full-time Grandma! She is very excited about doing so, and we are thrilled that Hayes will get to spend his days with his Grandma Golden. Because I will only be teaching part-time, I will be able to bring Cade home with me from school to spend the afternoons together with Hayes. I am greatly looking forward to this new schedule and hope it will help to have a little more flexibility in my days.

Cade's favorite friend at Miss Debbie's is Riley. They have been the best of friends for the past 3 years and will miss seeing each other on a daily basis! We will definitely be keeping in touch with Miss Riley, but I know the transition will be difficult for both!

Well, that's all for the school year. Xander is looking forward to 2nd grade, and Cade is anxiously awaiting K-4. However, summer is here...and we are ready!