Another year at Coles Ferry Elementary

Who are these two big kids?!?!?!  Ashton starts 3rd grade this year and Maddie starts 2nd grade.  They are both pretty excited about being back with all their friends and getting to know their new teachers.  Ashton has Mrs. House and Maddie has Mrs. Sullivan.  I'm sure we are in for lots of fun!

Party Time

Maddie decided she wanted a gymnastics party again this year.  The kids have a lot of fun and this year was no exception.

 

She loves this super long trampoline.

 

And I was surprised at how well she did on the balance beam.  She isn't the most balanced little girl.  ;)

Maddie is SEVEN

It is so hard to believe that Maddie is already 7 years old.  It seems like she is just growing up so fast.  She is so full of energy.  She has a major opinion about most things.  She enjoys getting all dolled up in super girly outfits, but also likes to throw on some of Ashton's clothes and go out and run around with him getting dirty.  We are super blessed with this little girl!

She got a little too tall for her old bike, so it was time for a new one.  I think she likes it. 

Champions

Ashton played spring baseball while hockey was in the off season.  His number one choice is obviously hockey but he enjoys baseball too.  This year we got on a team with a coach we've never played with before and we loved it.  Coach Joe was outstanding and he taught the boys so much more than just about baseball.  We can really see some of those things playing out in Ashton daily and thrilled about it.

 

This season was interrupted by more rain than any season we've ever played before.  We finally managed to get all the games in and Ashton's Cubs made a sweep in the tournament.  They went undefeated for the entire thing.  Ashton was so excited to get the Championship trophy plus a team trophy!  It was a pretty exciting way to end the season!

 



 

After the trophy ceremony, the dads and boys played a little baseball against each other and it was quite entertaining to say the least.  I got a couple pictures of that.

The kids had so much fun and it was a neat end to a fun night!

Mother's Day

Mother's day was a little bitter sweet this year.  I am thrilled to have two awesome kids, Ashton and Maddie.  They aren't perfect but pretty darn close in my eyes.  :)  They were excited because they had made things for me at school and Maddie especially couldn't wait to give them to me.  I always love the Mother's day surveys and this year was no exception.  Maddie has some pretty cute answers on hers and I loved it.  Ashton had made a photo collage of himself and it was perfect!  For their grand finale (and the kids most favorite part of the day).......

Predators mascot, Gnash, came to see me right after church.  He brought me flowers and a goody bag of treats from the Predators.  The kids were so excited!  They just kept saying this is the best Mother's day ever!  I love those two and I'm grateful to have them both in my life.

 

Adventure Science Center

After going with Maddie to the Discovery Center, I got to wrap up the week with Ashton's class at the Adventure Science Center.  I got more than my fair share of education on science for one week. ;)

 

He and his buddies had a great time.  I hung out with Ashton, Blake and Jackson for the day and those boys kept me moving.  We climbed the jungle gym in the middle at least three or four times, changed tires on the car and lifted in a few times, played wheelchair basketball and those were just the highlights.

 

Part of their trip included getting to watch Rusty Rocket's Last Blast in the planetarium.  Ashton wasn't really looking forward to it but I think he really enjoyed it once he saw what it was.  It was pretty neat.  I had never been to a show myself.

Discovery Center Field Trip

Maddie's class went to the Murfreesboro Discovery Center for their field trip.  Maddie had so much fun with the slide.  I stopped counting after about the 5th time she went down.

She enjoyed making faces using magnets on a tin can.

 Mrs. Smith, her teacher, even got in on the fun with her.

 

Here she is playing in the grocery store and had me buy things from her so she could use the cash register.

 

Adelyn and Maddie seemed to actually like checking out the fossils.  I never enjoyed that when I was a kid but Maddie is much more of a "nerd" than I was.  :) 

 

It was a fun day!!  We ended it going to the park for some lunch and then playing.

Balloons or Boobs?

We are on spring break this week.  Ashton hasn't been feeling great, so we've basically stayed home all week.  Maddie has been especially bored and yesterday she kept blowing up balloons and having me tie them for her.  After what felt like 100 balloons, she finally mastered tying them herself.  Woooo, I was thrilled!

 

I pick up a book and start to read and next thing I know, she appears in the living room looking like this.

She said "Look, I look like a little mommy."  I immediately have to have a picture because this will be funny to show her one day.  Alex, wasn't thinking it was as funny.  She pranced around a few minutes and then took them out and went back to playing upstairs.

 

I'm totally amazed at what kids come up with and thought it was too good not to share!  I hope you all got a laugh too.

Playoffs

Ashton's hockey season came to an end last weekend with playoffs.  His team played in round one and they won 7-5.  The kids were so excited!

This is a shot of Ashton heading over to congratulate the goalie.  I love how much the kids on his team supported and cheered each other on. :-)

 

The second round was on Sunday and it didn't go as well.  The boys played the number one team.  At times, it was just brutal to watch.  The boys tried really hard, but just couldn't catch a break.  The final score was 11-1.  :(

 

On a positive note, the kids had a special visitor cheering them on from the bench.

It was cool having Gnash there and the boys all loved it.

 

I took way too many pictures to post from these two games, but here are some of my favorite I thought I'd share.

Until next season......

Our little gymnast

Maddie has come a long way in gymnastics.  She started out completely incapable of doing a cartwheel to save her life and now she has mastered that and much more.  Here are a few pictures I took a couple of weeks ago of her doing a hand stand contest in class.

 

 

Her class has started working on their recitial for the end of the school year and so its been fun watching them work on stuff the first half of class and then practicing their routine the second half.  I am sure they will be great and have tons of fun doing it.  ;)

Camo

For anyone that knows me very well, knows that I am NOT a camo kind of girl.  Unfortunately, my son has become quite the opposite.  He wanted a bb gun for Christmas, which Santa hooked him up with, and he also asked for camo clothes.  Well, Santa, nor mom, was as accomodating with that one.  Grammy and Papa, however, were all over it.  As you can clearly see......

 

Ashton acquired a pair of camo coveralls, a hat and a pair of gloves at Grammy's house.  He was so excited that he had to put them on immediately and continue wearing them almost non stop for the next several days.

 

What makes this worse is that Aunt KK got him a shirt just before Christmas and I got him some camo socks and he must wear it ALL together or he just doesn't feel right.  He has even asked for camo boots, which we've not been able to find just yet.

 

 

This is a shot I got of him out on the porch shooting his bb gun after he got all suited up in his camo gear.  He thinks he has to have it all on (warm or cold) to shoot.  It is almost funny at this point.

Dillard Christmas

Christmas with my siblings this year was at our house.  The kids were excited to have all their "cousents" over to the house to play at once.  We just had some finger foods, did some Christmas crafts and opened gifts.  The kids had a great time and some of the adults had a pretty good time COMPETITIVELY playing Guess Who with Maddie and Addison.  ;)
 

We can't wait to get everyone together again for some more fun! 

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, we went to Alex's parents for lunch.  While we were waiting on everyone else to arrive, Papa decided to let the kids shoot his gun.  Ashton has been asking a ton lately and this was the perfect chance.

Maddie was just as eager to get her chance, so Alex helped her shoot too.  Needless to say, I think we may have just started a new Thanksgiving tradition at the Perry house.  ;)