Preschool Graduation, Leah's Birthday, Memorial Day

I heard on the radio today that this month has officially been the wettest May on record EVER in Texas. Every time I check the forecast on my phone I just see the thunderstorms picture for 5 days in a row. It's fun to puddle jump and sometimes cool to see and listen to the storms, but there have been so many tragedies with the flooding that it all makes me sad.

Emmy finished up preschool earlier this month. She loved Miss Yvonne so much, and every day she came home with such fun projects and a big smile. 

They were all adorable at the graduation. She loves these friends!

Since her birthday is in the middle of September, she will do one more year of PreK. Because we are military, she will be able to attend a great preschool at Jansen and Natalie's elementary this fall.

Jansen has done some really awesome things in the Alpha program at Scarborough. Last week the whole family went to see the "bubble biomes" the kids had created. We really love and appreciate his GT teacher.

This was our first swim of the year in our neighborhood pool.

Nate took Jansen to dinner at Red Robin just the two of them. They had a great time downing burgers and throwing back lots of chocolate milk.

Leah's birthday was on Saturday, and Natalie worked hard on Friday night to create a blanket for her as a gift. It was so sweet of her. I need to get a picture of the finished product, but it has her name on it and everything.

The first, I'd say, 6 months of Leah's life were very, very hard. She was an incredibly hard baby, and we moved, and she didn't sleep well. I truly am shocked that it has already been a year since we rushed to the hospital and after a traumatic and painful hour or two had this baby girl. She is such a joy. 

Although 25 pounds and just an all around big girl, she really doesn't eat a lot. We still feed her one bottle during the night just because it's a habit, and she still sleeps in our closet in a pack n play. After our summer travels we will get her moved to the crib finally! She has a blanket that she loves to sleep with, and all the corners are chewed on. She really loves to gnaw on and bite her blanket. She still loves to unroll the toilet paper or steal it all together if it's loose. If I hold up a book and ask her if she wants to read she jabbers happily and then runs to me. 

She is really starting to get excited about animals, so we took her to the zoo for her birthday.

We knew it might rain, and I brought 3 umbrellas, but it really poured on us.

We left not long after getting soaked, and it was a good thing we did because it just kept coming down.

 Leah loves Nate, and it just warms my heart when her legs start pumping and she starts blabbing and reaching for him when she sees him.

We had cake and ice cream for her on Sunday. Somehow she got a spoon! That's not how baby's first birthday cake is supposed to be eaten!

That's better.

Summer evenings are here! 

We tried to make Memorial Day a little more meaningful this year and visited the Sam Houston National Cemetery. It was a quick, simple trip, but hopefully it will make a small impression or be a good memory for the kids. I have no words for the gratitude I feel towards the men and woman that fight and die for this country.