Saturday morning

What a wonderful day today! I got up early and ran 10 miles on a beautiful clear and cool morning.

Came home to gifts from the girls. Maddie made me this.

"I love mom. She is the prettiest. She is my superstar. She will always be mine." And then there was a math quiz just to make sure Im smart enough. 

Maddie got a rainbow loom from a fried for her birthday and they've been all the rage around here. Even Caroline can do it with some help.

The girls picked out the colors and did the patterns themselves.  Caroline's on the left, Maddies on the right. 

Happy Days!!

Happy Birthday America!

Another fabulous and fun 4th for the Herndon girls this year. We loved downtown Raleigh's 4th celebration and ended the day at Grammie and Grandads for a cook out and sparklers!

The girls even got to march in a parade!

Woo hoo summer!!

We've started the summer of with a bang!! First 5 days of the summer... 5 days at the pool. Woo hoo!

first day and last day of kindergarten

My sweet girl has grown much. Love this little gal!!

rain? what rain?

Caroline didn't let a little rain get her down. She just put on a pair of goggles with her princess dress and got back to playing!!

end of kindergarten celebration

It's hard to believe, but Maddie has graduated kindergarten!!! The year absolutely flew by and we made some wonderful memories.  

She made some sweet friends and there wasn't one single day this year where she didn't want to go to school. She loved her teachers Ms Holland and Ms Miller and everything that goes along with  being a kindergartner. 

When I asked her what her favorite thing about kindergarten was- she said Ms Holland.  When I asked what her next favorite thing was, she said recess!!!

Her end of year celebration was adorable. They sang lots of songs and got diplomas. I put together a slide show that was a big hit too!

We're really going to miss our friend Gustavo. We found out right before we took this picture that he's going to a different school next year.  He and Maddie were best friends from Day One and were inseparable this year.  She used to tell me she liked him a lot because he would catch caterpillars for her at recess.  We hope to stay in touch!

And in more sad news- Ms Holland is leaving MCES to teach in China!! We know she'll have an amazing time- but we're going to miss her.  

After the last day, the girls celebrated with some frozen yogurt!  How cute are they!!! 

So that's it! She's a first grader now!!! Let summer begin!

The lake

We're so happy that its summer and we can start spending more time at the lake. The girls love how much there is so do and explore up there.

This was the first time we attempted to cook our dinner on an open fire. It came our okay... 

We do silly things like paint our nails all different colors... Why? Why not? We've got plenty of time when we're up there so we can just relax and spend time doing things we're too busy to do at home.

Believe it or not, we didn't catch one fish that weekend. Not sure why... But Maddie now thinks fishing is pretty boring. 

And last, our beloved kayak adventures.  We explored a new part of the lake and saw a ginormous fish jumping out of the water. Maddie thought it was a seal. Honestly,  it really looked like one! I'm still wondering what that was. 

Hooray for summer!!!

maddie plays t-ball

Maddie was a member of the Diamond Jaxx this season for the Town of Holly Springs.  It was a co-Ed team of 5-6 year olds and she loved it. 

She made great contact with the ball every time she was up to bat and barely missed any balls in the field. 

We're so proud of her! Hope she wants to play again next spring! 

peanut princess

And we can't leave out this little princess!!

my princess

Maddies friend Sydni invited her to a Princess Makeover Party and Maddie was pretty much in heaven. It was held in a cute house in Apex and was covered in all things princess from ceramic frogs to castle teapots!

They got to pick from the millions of dresses, tiaras, shoes and even hair pieces!!! And to top it all off... Had their makeup and nails done. 

This was a drop off party (still getting used to that concept) but I'm glad I stayed because I got to snap some pictures. 

This girl leaves those Toddlers and Tiara girls in the dust, am I right?