We celebrated Mama and Daddy’s Anniversary with a family weekend away to the Opryland Hotel. Celebrating our anniversary with our kids was a lot of fun this year. Emily is old enough to understand what an anniversary means and loves the idea of celebrating her parents wedding. The joys of girls!

– a room with a view! a climate controlled balcony is awesome on a super hot weekend when four people share a room.

Emily has a general love of hotels and wants to run one later in life so we thought taking her to such a unique hotel would be fun. She was a bit overwhelmed and it will be interesting to see what her long term thoughts are on it. She loved following the different trails of the garden and watching the "dancing" water show. We were always watching out for brides and grooms too. Being Memorial Day weekend there were a lot weddings going on at the hotel.

We saw a wedding set up in the gazebo earlier in the weekend and thought it would be fun to get Emily’s photo in the same spot. For the whole weekend Emily was a bit more willing to let us take her photo. Julia’s favorite things this weekend were coloring on the balcony in our room, throwing coins into fountains, and jumping into the pool over and over again.

We enjoyed riding the boat and learning a few new facts about the hotel. Another interest that Emily has is about any natural disaster or weather anomaly. In 2010 Nashville had severe flooding of the Cumberland River which flooded the Opryland Hotel. After riding the boat all Emily wanted to discuss was the flood and the hotel.

Daddy and his girls strolling on one of the many trails.

We took a walk around the state capitol building and checked out the statues and the burial place of a president. We now know James K Polk was buried at the state capitol. We also visited the State Museum and enjoyed a little local history and some air conditioning.

Welcome and Hello Thea!

Life doesn’t get much better than this! We lounged together on a warm spring day getting to know each other. She is pretty perfect. She studied everything, did not mind a new person holding her, got down and played in water and rolled around on a blanket, helped look for other kids, did not fuss about how she was held as long as she could be a bit squirmy in whatever position she was in, and had such happy faces. This mama took pity on her and kept two sets of little hands off of her today, but the moratorium is off now and she will have to suffer love from two more girls. We are so excited to watch you grow little one! So glad you are in our lives.

All the bigger kids had fun doing their favorite kid things together. Lots of wonderful busyness.

Emily is trying to catch water drops on her tongue. She was pretty busy enjoying herself and wouldn’t pose for any photos.

Wet grins!

Of course Julia had to swing. While she can swing in the bigger kid swing she would prefer to swing in the more secure swing and beg for “underdog”. Geez, the things that Uncles teach little kids. Uncle Doug had better watch out.

Every week when Julia is in her speech therapy session at the preschool Emily and I sit in the hallway talking, playing, or working through educational exercises. While we wait, we watch two classes swap in and out of gym. One week the gym teacher, Ms. Stacie, asked Emily if she would like to join the class that was entering the gym while we wait. Emily was delighted. The class is fellow 4/5 year-olds. Every week the activities are different and fun. Emily has enjoyed participating each week. We are grateful that she was invited. Today was the last week that she will be able to participate with the end of school almost upon us. Just a few photos to help us remember these fun days.

Emily was sick around the time of her 5th birthday and we made a visit to the doctor, but we didn’t call it our well visit. I guess we really wanted to have a 5 year and 4 month checkup instead.

It is hard to get excited about this checkup when it brings with it a LOT of shots! Emily was very much dreading the whole event. She did enjoy visiting with the doctor, taking her hearing test, reading the eye chart, and completing a drawing exercise. Part of her drawing exercise required her to draw a person, so she drew her best friend Elena in a princess dress. She had a few new experiences that were interesting, but in the back of her mind she knew the shots were coming. When the four shots did come she was pretty upset. Interestingly, by the last shot she had calmed down and showed how brave she was. The dread was worse than any of the shots. That is a tough lesson to learn as a kid.

Her weight was 39.4 lbs. (a four pound increase in a year) and height was 45 (a three and half inch increase in a year). Like usual her percentage for weight was in the 20th percentile, but 75th for height. Her height change in this year is quite noticeable when hugging her while standing and not having to bend so much. She also doesn’t need a step stool at the house for much anymore. Occasionally, she wants to use them for comfort, but not to gain access to things.

This fall is going to bring a lot of changes for our family with Emily starting school. When the doctor asked me if I thought that Emily was ready, it was a definite yes. I realized that my sadness at her moving on to this new stage of life is not fear of the future, but sadness for the loss of this special time together. I’m very excited for the new experiences, new things to learn, and the stretching of herself. We have enjoyed all of these pre-school days together and I’m grateful for all of them (and a few more memories we will make this summer).

Julia finally figured out that she could fit in the baby doll stroller. The first time she climbed in she flipped herself out. She figured out the trick and rode around the house several times with Emily pushing. Both girls seemed to enjoy the game.

Emily could not be outdone and had to fit herself in too. She still fit, but Julia wasn’t strong enough to push or pull Emily around in it.

This Thursday School Graduation was the best one yet. For some reason the kids seemed hysterical and sweet all at the same time and our girls had both sets of grandparents to watch and celebrate.

Julia’s class performing their song selection. Julia sang with a lot of exuberance and seemed to love being on the stage. Normally she is such a shy kid and seeing her act so bold was really fun. Julia’s little voice could be heard loud and clear.

Emily’s class singing for their performance. The kids seemed to enjoy singing their songs and all the actions associated with the songs.

Elena was a great performer.

Emily finding her Mama in the crowd.

Fantastic photo of the singing Julia. She sang with gusto!

Maeve was shy and not willing to venture far from her teacher. We weren’t sure what happened with her knee and the Band-Aid, but it was distracting her a bit.

After the singing performances each child was presented for their diplomas. The little girls came first.

Julia continued with her boldness she had while singing. She marched right up on stage, got her diploma, and gave the crowd a wave.

Maeve was so brave. She crossed the stage to Ms. Kelly and got her diploma. She wouldn’t give a wave to the crowd, but who really needs that.

Elena was presented in her cap and gown for graduation. The kids were asked ahead of time what their career would be when they grow up. Elena’s answer was that she would be a veterinarian.

Emily seemed to be very happy to be in the limelight. Her career choice was to run a hotel, serve food, and be a doctor. We are very proud of the accomplishments of the girls and their best friends!