3/18 – Devin Grubbs’ Eagle Scout ceremony

3/26 Cesar Chavez day – I was off work but nobody else had the day off so I ate lunch with the kids at school.

After school we went to Raine’s happy place — the library.

5/11 – father-son campout

5/19 Royal Wedding – Raine woke up at 4:00 in the morning to watch the royal wedding because she is obsessed with all things fashion and this was the fashion event of the year. We went shopping later in the day and tried on these royal-wedding-style hats.

5/25 – we finally replaced the net and pads on our trampoline so the kids could safely jump on it again.

The kids and I went to Hurricane Harbor…

…while Daddy went to Austin for the CapTex triathlon.

May 24 was Fun Day at the elementary school and it was roasting hot. As I packed their lunches and backpacks, I kept adding water bottles, and ice!

Carter, ball races

Raine, capture the flag

Carter, tug-o-war

Raine had more fun playing hand games with her friends than playing the field-day games!

Carter’s class at the tug-o-war and Raine doing the tube tug. The point of the tube tug is to pull the tube close enough to your team’s cone that you can touch it. Raine’s group didn’t use much strategy and all just pulled, so they took FOREVER!

Back in April, Raine performed in the school talent show. She and Catherine Crandall played a piano duet that they composed themselves. I was in Austin at a conference the day of the talent show, but I was able to watch the dress rehearsal before I left town.

This month, both Raine and Carter performed for Talent Day in choir. Below is a video of their “talents,” as performed at home. Raine sang “A Million Dreams” and Carter solved his 2×2 Rubik’s cube. I was pretty impressed that Carter was willing to do something in front of his class for talent day, he is not a center-of-attention, performing kind of kid.

Raine’s U10 Peppermints team

Sophie, Bryn, Erika, Leighton, Claire, Raine, Hannah, Piper, Chloe, Eugenia

Raine’s team took 3rd place in the bracket this year (but the trophies haven’t come in yet).

Carter’s U8 Great White Sharks team

Carter, Alex, Owen, Blake, Branson, Luke, Conner, Jacob

5/15 – Carter’s last game of the season

5/8 – Raine’s 2nd to last game of the season

4/28 – By some miracle, I started recording just as Carter made a drive down the field and scored a perfect goal — it was beautiful!

4/21 – Carter played in the pouring rain, and scored a goal too!

4/17

3/31

3/24

After our games, we went to the FC Dallas game. The association offers tickets to coaches to show appreciation for the time we spend. When I picked the tickets for that game, I thought it was early enough in the spring to beat the heat — I was wrong!

We had great seats, it felt like we were part of the action.

3/17 – First games of the season.

After church, Daddy grilled some shish kabobs and we had dinner on the patio.

Then I opened all of my gifts.

Carter’s portrait is sitting in my office and I get lots of comments on it!

After presents, Daddy baked a chocolate cake from scratch.

These “all about my mom” forms are my absolute favorite part of Mother’s Day each year because they highlight what my kids actually think!

On Wednesday, Raine and I went to a mother-daughter tea party for Activity Day Girls. Each girl introduced their mom and this is what Raine said:
“Hi, my name is Raine and my mom’s name is Kimberly.
My mom is amazing, wonderful, fabulous and she’s the best mom in the world
because she doesn’t get too mad when my brother and I fight.
We are alike because we both have a sweet tooth.”

Friday evening our good friend, and former neighbor Evan Eastman invited us to a Texas Rangers game against the Boston Red Socks. He had a suite with reserved parking — it was AWESOME!

Our parking spot was right across the street from the main gates.

You have to eat a hot dog when you go to a baseball game.

After the game they had a really cool fireworks show set to music. It was pretty late by the time we headed home. Raine was tired, but little Alice was so wired from the cotton candy, M&M’s, and Twizzlers that she kept telling us that she wasn’t tired at all!

This was the first time that our kids have been to a major league baseball game. Watching from a suite was definitely the way to go for kids because they could get up and walk around, and there was a restroom right in the suite. Hopefully they won’t expect this from now on!

Carter’s class went on a field trip to the SeaLife Aquarium on Thursday and I went with him. It was pouring rain and driving wind when we arrived at the aquarium. It looked like a hurricane! We were all soaking wet by the time we made it inside.

Ben Murdock was in our group. (There were 11 parent chaperones for the 19 kids in his class so the groups were very small!)

Carter looking down into the stingray tank.

Carter and Ben watching a shark swim toward them in the glass tunnel.

A giant ray swimming overhead.

Jellyfish.

These guys were such 7-year-old boys, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. They were constantly poking, pushing, and picking up each other! And laughing the ENTIRE time.

Touching sea anemonies.

Touching sea stars.

They had a “shark school” presentation at the end of their tour. When it was over, Carter informed me that it was the stupidest presentation ever! I had to agree. If you are going to call it shark school, it needs to be about sharks, not sustainable fishing. I appreciate the conservation efforts, but the best way to encourage conservation is to give kids an understanding of the amazing creatures under the sea so that they will WANT to preserve them.