a morning at the sprinkler park...5.24

when we woke up saturday morning, we decided to make a quick run to the "sprinkly" park, as sarah calls it! sarah remembered it from last year and immediately made herself at home! she was soaking wet in no time. drew, on the other hand, completely surprised us by being fairly timid. he ran around like a wild man as expected, but he did not get wet if he could help it. seemed completely out of character, but he still had a great time!!! the first of many trips to the sprinkler park for the season...

sarah's dance recital...5.23

the big day of the dance recital was FINALLY upon us...sarah endured her hair rollers again...

we forced her to eat a little something before we left...she was quite grumpy from being woken up from her nap...

nana, pop pop, mimi, and poppy all got to come to the recital along with mommy and daddy to cheer on our little ballerina!!!

before the recital...mommy and daddy gave her her very first roses...

a few pictures of sarah and her favorite friend heather...how cute are they?!?

after the recital (which was a camera/video recorder/cell phone free environment) mimi, poppy, sarah, daddy, and mommy went to TCBY for a treat! pop pop and nana had to leave after the recital...once we got home, sarah was a little wound up to say the least! she kept us entertained with her antics for a good hour before we made her get in bed! she was a worn out little girl!!!
i did order a video of the recital since we weren't allowed to take pics or video ourselves. it was pretty hilarious! at one point, sarah got her paper stuck to her foot and took a while to get it off while her class continued on with the dance. (each child dances on a sheet of paper with their name on it to keep them in place!) she got VERY into a few of the moves...and got a little distracted a few other times! overall, it was an excellent first dance recital! even if mommy almost had a nervous breakdown :)

trip to the zoo with mops...5.21

the attack of the preschoolers in the butterfly house!!! a little boy (who wasn't in our group) disassembled a water fountain in the water exhibit and our kids thought it was so fun!!!
hangin' out in front of the giraffes...
sarah and ava take a moment in the polar bear exhibit...
look at those little monkeys...ava and luke (backwards), will, sarah, and griffin (smiling)
most of the little ones in the boat...ava, anna leigh, sarah, luke, griffin, and will
griffin, drew, and sarah clapping in the sea lion show...
my mops (mothers of preschoolers) group doesn't meet during the summer, but we scheduled lots of summer playdates to keep our kids busy anyway!!! 6 moms and 11 kids all together!!! we brought a zoo to the zoo!

annual gbc picnic...5.17

after our quick trip to louisiana, we got home, took naps, and headed out for some more fun! we went to our church picnic for a few hours to enjoy all the rides, face painting, and inflatables! we didn't take any pictures at the picnic...SHOCKING, I KNOW! but, did get a few of our tired kiddos once we got home. sarah really wanted us to take a picture of her rainbow that was "just like darbye's" (the girls got their faces painted together and of course, got the same thing)! we finally put our worn out little ones in their own beds for a good night's sleep! what a weekend...and it was just saturday night!!!

jacob's graduation ceremony...5.16

drew was so delirious by this point...graduation didn't begin until 8pm. originally it was outside, so it was scheduled after the temps had gone down a little. but, it rained all week, sending the ceremony into the gym...
jacob's fan club...
the kids made themselves right at home...look at my two lefties!!!
the proud mama and little brother
jacob marches in!
yeah...uncle chip was supposed to just present some scholarship award, but then he started talking about how wonderful bowling green had been to jacob over the years...SOB SOB SOB! i was crying UGLY tears after that! he didn't even warn us that he was going to say anything about jacob...thanks a lot uncle chip :)
blurry pic of jacob receiving his diploma...
jacob and seth...
woah! scary lighting! jacob, sarah, and jim!!!

jacob's graduation party...5.16

the big graduate!!! jacob!!!

"aunt" lana and drew
son and father preparing for the big night
papa vick, jacob, and granny merle
our big attempt at a picture of the woodard's and the graduate
drew was trying to grab jacob's tassel, and jacob was trying SO HARD to focus on the camera!!!
our little performers...just a few pics in the front yard before heading out...

sarah, jim, and drew

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after preschool on thursday afternoon, we grabbed the kiddos and headed to louisiana for a whirlwind trip to celebrate jacob graduating from high school! we are so proud of him! as most of you probably know, jacob is my first cousin who has downs syndrome. i became an occupational therapist because of him, and he's just always been my favorite buddy!!! we couldn't miss going to see him graduate! we were in louisiana for less than 48 hours...so crazy for our two little ones! aunt ann and uncle chip had a big party for all the family before we went to jacob's graduation ceremony. it was so much fun to spend time with all of my mom's family and to celebrate jacob's accomplishments!!!

sarah's last day of gymnastics...5.14

mother's day 2008...5.11

after church, mimi, nana, pop pop, aunt becky, and nicholas came over for lunch. as you can tell, trying to get THREE kids to smile nicely at the camera is impossible!!! nicholas was the king of funny faces :)