Last Day of Kindergarten

The last day of kindergarten may have been just as hard for me as the first day. I could not have loved her teacher ANY more and I love her class just as much. She has made some incredibly sweet, precious friends and I feel so blessed that she has them in her lives. Her faith has grown even more this year and she even scored "very advanced" on her bible knowledge for her year-end testing. Hadley loves going to school so much that while other kids were counting down the days until summer, Hadley was getting more and more sad each day. I am so thankful for a smaller school where Hadley will continue to have the same friends each year and grow together with them socially, intellectually, and spirtually. I look forward to first grade and all the new things she will learn but right now I am ready to spend the next 3 months with my sweet, little girl!

A first grader now...

Hadley and her friend, Reese, on the last day.

Hadley and the most amazing Kindergarten teacher I could have ever imagined. We've already planned some dates at the pool because she has become as much a part of my life as she has Hadley's.

Hadley's dance recital

It's that time of year for Hadley's Spring Dance recital...her third year. Hadley still likes dance enough to keep taking it but it doesn't seem to be her passion. Which is fine with me...I'm not cut out to be a dance mom though I would jump all in if I needed to! This year she only wanted to take Hip Hop and she loved it. She had to wear a hat with her costume so I didn't have much pressure getting her hair all fixed perfectly. We just curled it and she was able to wear it down. I love how pretty and grown up she is with her curled hair and we took a few pictures before getting dressed and ready to go...

My favorite!

All dolled up and ready to go:

Here is Hudson just THRILLED to be here. He actually was so excited to watch her perform but was NOT excited he had to sit still and not run around the auditorium.  He got a little happier when we showed him the flowers he was going to give Hadley in the end. But what really did the trick is when we pulled out the iPhone and gave him some headphones. This thankfully ended up working throughout most of the recital.

Peyton and I went backstage so she could give Hadley a hug and tell her "good luck." Peyton is such a great cousin to want to go to everything of Hadley's.

I will someday learn to take good pictures inside an auditorium but for now this is the best I could get. Her sweet little smile on stage showed me she was having such a great time. She loves to perform and have the spotlight so the one dance recital they work all year for is definitely worth it. We had to miss the dress rehearsal and the last class of the year due to being in Disneyland so I was a little nervous she may forget something but she nailed it and remembered everything perfectly! So proud of her.

After the recital everyone meets in the lobby for pictures. Needless to say, it is really hectic and hard to get any child to concentrate and cooperate. We got a few pictures but missed getting a couple too! One thing to mention is that we saw Hadley and Hudson's nanny, Julie that was with us from the time Hudson was born until he was 13 months. Hudson has only seen her a couple times since so I had no doubt he wouldn't quite remember who she was. I was so wrong, he ran up to her, jumped into her arms, and hugged her until she let go first. It was so sweet and he was so happy to see her.

Charlotte's sister still had another performance so Lottie came home with us. Here is a picture of the two best friends in class...and another of Hudson photo bombing!

Way to go Hadley! We are so proud of your effort and commitment throughtout the year.

Disneyland Day 5

We all woke up a little sad that the trip was coming to an end. Thankfully, Mama had scheduled one last hoorah before leaving. We had a character breakfast scheduled Goofy's kitchen which is in the Disneyland hotel. Our plane was leaving in the early afternoon so we planned on eating breakfast and then spending a little more time in Downtown Disney and then heading to the airport. 

Walking to breakfast:

Papa took each of the kids to the penny machine for a souvenier penny! I remember always loving these as a kid.

Goofy greeted us as we entered his restaurant. Of course, they had to do some "goofy" faces!

Goofy's kitchen had a wonderful buffet with as much food as you could possibly want. And everything seemed to be catered towards the kids. As soon as we ordered our drinks and got our first round of food the characters started coming around for pictures and autographs.

Cute picture of Hadley sitting on the castle...with a tired Hudson laying in the background.

We stopped in the lego store for Hudson to check out all the sculptures as well as let the kids play with legos for a little bit. Hudson's favorite sculpture was the Hulk but he sure didn't want to get too close!

And one last trip to Ridemakerz before heading back the hotel. This time Hudson made Buck a car to take home to him. Hudson ended up with Batman and he made Buck a superman car. He was pretty proud and couldn't wait to get home to give it to him!

The hotel has an arcade where we killed about an hour of time waiting on the airport shuttle. Hudson and Hadley rode on this virtual roller coaster and their faces were hilarious!

Time to go and we had one that still wasn't ready. The kids had had the time of their lives and they were definitely sad about leaving.

On the shuttle I asked him if he had a good trip...

Back at the airport Hudson gladly carried both of the carry-ons again. We had a little bit of a bumpy flight and, of course, I got scared once again. I was sitting with Hadley and Mama and Hadley held one hand while Hudson reached his hand back to hold my other hand. And then at almost 10pm both kids fell asleep and were passed out the rest of the flight. Hadley even slept through us getting our luggage and driving all the way home!

We had such a wonderful trip and are so thankful for Mama and Papa taking us. The kids were at the perfect ages and it truly was magical for them. I understand more than ever why Disneyland and Disney World are often called "The Happiest Place on Earth!"