Could it be......a future cheerleader in the family!!!!!!!!!!

Kate is officially registered for COBRA cheer camp on July 28th (coincidence that its my birthday!!!).  And a few weekends ago we signed her up for COBRA cheer leading in the Fall.  Our community sponsors a youth football league which allows young boys to learn the fundamentals of football and they also allow the girls to cheer for the teams.  So starting in the fall, Kate will be able to cheer for the boys that she has in her class while they compete with neighboring communities.  I SO wish they would have had that when I was her age.  Nonetheless, everyone that knows me, knows that cheer leading was my passion.  Even at 32 years of age I can recite numerous cheers from high school and bust out in some of my favorite competition moves from back in the day.  Cheer leading is something that just pours through my veins and brought me so much happiness when I was younger.  I never thought Kate would even be interested in cheering because she has such a mellow disposition.  But I've watched her come out of her shell the past few years and really become quite the passionate little girl.  So needless to say when she approached me about the cheer camp, I was MORE than happy to fill out the application.  Now our evenings are spent doing gymnastics in the yard or in the trampoline.  And yes (just for the record) I can still kick it and flip it.  I might hurt a bit the morning after but I still have it and the kids think its HILARIOUS watching mom with spirit fingers (and the occasional fall on my behonkus!)

We've already purchased her uniform but I did a little shopping tonight to find her the perfect pair of pom poms (because not all pom poms are created equal!).  And of course along the way I found some cute socks and face stickers.  So no matter if this passion for cheering lasts a year or for many years to come, I am so happy to be able to share this common bond with my sweet girl and watch her have fun and enjoy life.

Memorial Day Weekend 2011 (in pictures)

If you've followed my blog for any period of time, you'll notice that at times I can write a novel (maybe its one of those nights where I just can't fall asleep so I multi-task between blogging and HGTV).  But then I have times when I want to share my story with mostly pictures.  This entry is more pictorial.  I was able to snap some sweet (and very candid) pictures of our fun swim on Memorial day thanks to a few factors:

1.  Justin was able to share the day with us so therefore I did not have to be in the pool the entire time acting as a hanging post for Wesley, and

2.  Our kids are becoming more proficient swimmers (well at least Kate is) so that leaves a few hands free to snap some pictures...ENJOY!

She started the day with her floaties...she is not a daredevil and has a very strong appreciation for water.  Its made for some really nice toddler years because I never had to worry about her just jumping in and gulping water

 This one left his floaties on the entire time.....he's not a daredevil in water either (somehow I must have put the fear of God in them when it comes to appreciation of water)

Justin being Kate's biggest cheerleader..wait, that is supposed to be ME being her biggest cheerleader?  Oh well...2 cheerleaders is better than none!

His girl.......

Swimming from one end of the pool to the other..so proud of her!

Yes....still in his floaties and won't try to jump off...maybe if the pool didn't have these cool fountains he'd be more adventurous?!?!

Loves of my life!

Maddie

 Wesley acting like he is going down by himself...........

 Until dad had to come to the rescue!

Maddie going off full speed!

Typical Kate style...she went down the slide slow and cautious...and when I asked her why she stopped before the end, she replied 'Well Mom, I have to take a deep breath before I can just jump in....'

I did explain that as she gets older she'll realize that she can take a deep breath at the top of the slide and it will last her until she jumps in.....she replied 'But mom....your and adult and I'm a kid...your lungs are bigger than mine'  And I can't argue with that my sweet (almost) 1st grader!

You go girl!

What can I say other than.....my daughter absolutely ROCKS at softball.  While she definitely has some natural athletic ability (Justin and I are both super athletic...even in our older age), she got this good, by working her tail off!  Yes...Kate is the only girl that never missed a single practice (even more spectacular because she had conflicting schedules with Kumon on Thursday's which meant that this mom worked just as hard getting her from point A to point B in record time!)  When she wasn't practicing with her team, she was out in the yard playing with her dad.  They have been playing softball since she was 3 so (outside of learning the formal rules) she knew what to do with a bat and ball....SLUG IT!   Softball is a great sport for a child that is going to be vertically challenged.  You don't have to be long and lean.  You just need a lot of heart, some quickness and (when at bat) some really good hand/eye coordination.  Kate was by far the most consistent hitter on her team.  She was also one of the smallest girls and looks were very deceiving.  Which is nice because the girls would move up when she would come to bat, she'd hit it past 2nd base and end up with 3 RBI's...love it!  Did I mention that outside of being an athletic family we are VERY COMPETITVE as well?

Congratulations to my amazing Kate for a great season!  Many more to come!  Here she is at her end of season team party.

Her team..the Little Dippers.....

Our special cupcakes for her teammates...very appropriate since her team sponsor was Chocolate Fountains of Victora

Where is WALDO? I mean, WESLEY?

Where is Wesley?  Peek-a-boo?

This was the scene from Wesley's K3 graduation this morning.  I would LOVE to have photo shopped this picture with a big arrow pointing to my very photogenic child but unfortunately someone (I'll blame it on the teacher that is not returning next year?!?) decided to place my child in the very back.  Not only is he the YOUNGEST in his class...turning 4 in July, a good year younger than most in his class...but he's not one of the tallest in the class.  So I didn't snap any other pictures because it would have been a waste of time and it was far more enjoyable watching him bob up and down in the back while waving to us.  Waving as if to say 'Mom and Dad..I'm here...your tuition did pay off...I know this song, I promise...you can't see my lips move but I know the song..I practiced hard..I promise..you just can't see me!'

And since I can't look back on this particular day and remember what he looked like at this point in time, I snapped these pictures a few days later....now THERE is Wesley!

And just for the record...I am talking to Mrs. Thompson his K4 teacher on the first day of class and demanding that they put my son int he front for at least ONE performance during the year...I don't care if its the Christmas program or the Grandparents Day program or the K4 graduation.  But at some point I better get a picture of my son on stage...or else I will trot myself in front of other people's children and get a picture of him.  He is far too cute and photogenic to allow this for one more year.  :)

Easter Sunday - 2011

The kids left their Easter baskets on the back porch for the Easter bunny and when they woke up in the morning this is what he left them......cool stuff!

But they had to wait to play with any of it until they got home from church....where we had another Easter egg candy hunt....at church instead of hiding candy inside eggs when we all know that the kids ahd enough eggs from other hunts, they just laid the candy on the lawn and let the kids go after it.  Makes it really nice when you have the little boy that runs to an egg, opens it for the candy and then misses out on more eggs b/c he's mesmerized with the candy inside...just cut the middleman out and give him some c-a-n-d-y!

Here are Kate and Maddie getting ready for the 'go!'

Vanessa and Kate

Wesley...he loves smarties!

 After church, we had our own hunt at home...........................

Reach high my big girl!

Wesley had the tree house covered.....if there was an egg..he got it!

Then we headed to Schulenburg to Uncle David and Aunt Cathy's for Easter lunch.  They have an indoor pool so the kids enjoyed swimming together...here are Katharina and Wesley born just 3 weeks apart!

The following pictures are priceless.....Wesley doing what he LOVES to do the most..make people LAUGH..even if its his 80 yr old grandma getting soaked by his water gun!

 Cathy and David have a HUGE house...like 5000 sq ft huge...so they did an indoor egg hunt.  Plenty of cool places to hide eggs....

Then Aunt Cathy hosted a cupcake decorating contest.  The kids had a blast!

And finally......we stopped by Grandma's house on the way home and she always sends us home with something.  This time it was a cute pot plant (not seen in the photo) and this bear...yes...its a 3ft bear carved by hand.  Grandma got it from a girl down the road that was selling some things.  Evidentally it originated in Nacadoches, TX while she was in college, she bought it.  It is very very heavy and the kids love to decorate it.  Cool idea grandma (even though at first I thought Justin was going to kill us when we drove up and asked him to get a 200 lb wooden bear out of the back of his truck!)

Easter Celebration #3

We will call this one Easter Celebration #3 and Peters Family Reunion all lumped into 1 special day.
Unfortunately Justin was on call, so he couldn't leave his home area but Vanessa and I took the munchkins to Beeville for 2 separate events. 
First, we went to Uncle Gene and Aunt Shirley's to have our Peters Family Reunion.  When Grandma Peters was alive, every holiday was a reunion.  Everyone came to Grandma's house and had lunch and sat underneath the oak trees and talked about how things were going and how they used to be and everyone just loved it.  Now that grandma is gone, its much harder to get everyone together.  Grandma was so special to everyone but to Justin, she was his world.  So I think that (for Justin) any future Peters reunion will never be the same (or even come close) without grandma there.  For me, Grandma's get togethers were a very integral part of my life with Justin before we were married and as we started our life together.  I enjoyed the closeness of the Peters crew since I was an only child and (as an adult) couldn't really count on my family for much more than a genealogy pool.  So Vanessa and I took the kids to see cousins that they had not seen before (or if they had seen them before they were all too young to remember!). 
Second, we headed to MiMi and PaPa's for some one on one time with Mary Grace and Cade (and more Easter gifts from MiMi and PaPa)...luckily MiMi and PaPa didn't indulge in candy since the kids already had enough candy to last all year!

Wesley and Cade in Uncle Gene's backyard fort....Wesley is instigating something I'm sure from the look on his face :)

Vanessa getting ready to hide the eggs for the younger cousins

 Kids getting ready to hunt eggs...sweet little Frannie is chatting up to Wesley

My beautiful Kate

 Wesley found all the super sneaky hidden eggs.................

 Our uncles....Chuck, Buster and Gene (and Aunt Shirley in the background)

Easter Celebration #2

Kate's Celebration at school......just like everything her school does, her Easter egg hunt was very organized, safe and fun!  And (unlike most public schools) we were allowed to celebrate Easter as a Christian family as well.  We go to church with 95% of Kate's Kindergarten class and the remaining 5% go to church at other churches across the street from ours (in downtown Inez there are literally only 4 streets and one is Church St).  So many of the kids we hunted eggs with on Good Thursday, were also hunting eggs with us on Easter Sunday after mass.  It is very nice to have developed such a tightly knit circle of parents.......our kids are so amazing and special!

Kate's custom Easter basket...accessorized with her favorite little charm 'cutie'.  Cutie goes EVERYWHERE with Kate.  She's normally attached to her backpack or getting washed in the bath tub along with Kate's bath but for this special occasion.....she's decorating Kate's basket.  Kate was very surprised when she woke up Thursday and saw my mommy decorating  :)

 On your mark...get set...GO!  The kids were allowed 5 eggs each.  Honestly, its the best way to run an Easter egg hunt for a bunch of 5 and 6 year olds! Everyone gets their 5 eggs and sits back down on the sidewalk..everyone walks away a happy camper  :)

 Kate and her dear friend Maddie....and just for the back story...Maddie's mom is best friends (from high school and college) with my cousin Melody.  Small small world!  And Maddie has a cute little brother that will be in Kindergarten (Class of 2012) with Wesley!  Of course Maddie also has a cutie pie little sister Abigaill (2 yrs old) and Kate doesn't have a little sister (nor will she ever) but we will be happy to take Abigaill with us anytime she wants us  :)