Will the graduates please rise...

Gretchen recently had her preschool graduation. Her Everyday 4 year old class sang several patriotic songs and bible songs for the families. Gretchen did a fantastic job, after all she does love to sing. :) They presented each student with a diploma and told the audience what they wanted to be when they grow up. Gretchen used to say she wanted to be a mermaid , a teacher and a mommy. Now she has decided to be a doctor. Go for it girl! This evening officially marked the end of my "babies". I now have a kindergartner, 2nd grader and 5th grader. OH MY!

The class lining up to go sing for the families. Little Fact: They are lined up from tallest to shortest, and my little princess is 4th in a line of 14!!

Gretchen singing her little heart out.

Gretchen receiving her preschool graduation certificate.

Ms. Marge, Gretchen and Emily. Ms. Marge has taught Gretchen so much this year. She is a remarkable teacher, one who knows exactly how to reach each child. She runs her class like one well oiled machine. They just love her, and so do I. She is the best.!

Gretchen and her best friend, Emily. These 2 have been inseparable since last year's three year old class. Next year they are off to 2 different kindergarten classes. :(

Gretchen and her friend, Ashley, who was in her class last year too!

Ballet & Tap Dancing, All Dressed In Pink & Flowers, Fun With Friends :)
Gretchen had her dance recital last week. This was her 3rd year in dancing, and as always she enjoyed it. If she is not singing around the house, she is usually dancing. In fact, I don't think she ever really walks anywhere, she is either dancing, skipping or pretending to walk a balance beam. They did a couple of ballet dances, one with these flower bouquets, and one with everyone holding hands together or with a friend. It was adorable. Then they did a couple of tap dances, which are amusing to watch. Their little faces are concentrating so hard to make that tap shoe move like it should. Then they did the Kinderdance theme song finale. She was all smiles, loved her pink roses, and snow globe trophy. This was her last year with Kinderdance, now she is on to a professional dance studio.

As we got ready in the bathroom, Gretchen said we needed a few pictures before it started. She said, "I'll pose for you." Obviously,not a camera shy child.

Our little ballerina dancing in her huge tutu!

Ballet dancing together, so cute!

TADA! Gretchen tap dancing to "I Want A Purple Kitty".

The level 3 girls got to pick out their trophy from a 3 different ones, but as soon as Gretchen saw the snow globe trophy with the ballerina in it, she said "Perfect!"

We went fishing with some friends this weekend at the lake. The kids had been dying to go, and once they found out our buddy Eric loved it, they were all on him to take them. Lucky for us, he does love to fish, and thinks our kids are a hoot. So, we loaded up all our scooby poles, bought a bucket of slimy worms, and lots of snacks. All 7 of us fished and only one person caught any fish....DALLIN!!!! That boy caught not one, not two, but THREE fish in about 20 minutes. So, now he is all fired up about it, and once again asking when he can go. Of course, he is asking for a real tackle box now, and better pole. I said, "Why? Obviously, yours is working just fine!"

Parker's class took a field trip to the UT agriculture fair. They had tons of farm animals for the kids to touch and see. Parker was facinated with the shearing of the sheep. They had honeybees with honey sticks to taste, butter to churn & wheat to grind-then homemade bread to eat with the butter, seeds to plant, a hay ride, Smokey the Bear log cabin, and free icecream sandwiches. Parker and his buddies were hilarious, and energetic.

Parker churning butter at the UT agriculture day.

The boys on the hay ride.

Parker, Bryson and Devon with a sheriff car.

Happy 7th Birthday to Parker!

The P-Man had a putt-putt party for his birthday. He had several friends from school come to hang out with him, play some games, eat some pizza & cake, and play putt-putt. The birthday man even had some hole in ones! WOOHOO!

Happy Mother's Day Grammer!

Reasons why Mom/Grammer is GrEaT:

pretty, funny, smart, nice, plays with us, likes to play video games, helps us, good cook, takes us to the movies, comes to visit us for our birthdays, reads books to us, walks our dog, buys us exactly what we want for our birthdays (yeah for Martian Matter), and LOVES us!

We love you! Have a great Mother's Day! Make Papa cook for you tonight!

I was tagged by my lil' sis and I never do these, so here you gooooooo.

A-Z all about ME!
A-Age: 33 on 4/29
B-Band listening to right now: Micheal Jackson "Thriller". My 9 yr old just discovered this song.
C-Career (plan): #1 job Mom, part time Three Year Old Preschool Teacher-tons of fun (those kids go home :)
D-Drink or Smoke: nope
E-Easiest friend to talk to: Richard, he is my BEST friend
F-Funniest moment of your life: my dad shooting coke out his nose while my husband was making him laugh even more. I thought he was going to choke. He could not stop laughing.
G-Gummy bears or gummy worms: bears
H-Have a significant other?: yes for forever!
I-In love: yes, I am married to him
J-Junk food you like:French fries and chocolate are good, but doughnuts are my FAV!
K-Kids: 3 perfect little angels :)
L-Longest ride ever: I have been Raleigh to Toronto, Raleigh to Maine, Raleigh to Florida, and Knoxvegas to Dallas. They are all a haul, yet we keep on driving everywhere. I married a serious driver.
M-Man/woman you love the most: Richard
N-Names for your kids: Dallin Jackson, Parker Anderson, Gretchen Abigail and Charlie Brown, the dog.
O-One wish you have now: to be back on our spring break cruise. Real life is the pits.
P-Phobias: ??? I do not want to say them out loud, they might happen.
Q-Quote (favorite): "I love to shop. It's so much fun!" says Gretchen today at the mall. Man, I love that girl!
R-Reasons to smile: Weekends, vacations, doughnuts, shopping, happy & healthy family
S-Sleeping hours: 11pm to 6 am
T-Time you woke up: 5:30-ish. I am stressing, I could not sleep.
U-Unknown fact about you: I got new rims on my Expedition care of Richard.
.V-Vegetable you hate: cooked carrots, peas
W-Worst habit: worrier or know it all
X-X-rays you’ve had: dental only
Y-Yummy foods: I told you DOUGHNUTS, always doughnuts!
Z-Zodiac sign: Taurus

Get onboard the Funship!
This year for spring break, we were looking for something new and thrilling. Some friends of ours, Leilani and CJ, convinced Rich and I one date night that our family would love a cruise. They said the kids were the perfect ages, and that their son loved the camps, so much so he did not want to leave. They said the boat is cool, food is good and excursions are fun. Well, you all know how hesitant we can be, the only thing we are impulsive about is shopping. :) We talked about it, researched it online, price checked, and even watched 2 shows on the travel channel...cruise do's & don'ts and cruise tips. We called into the cruise agent, and she talked us through it, yes we were all 3 in the conversation. We ended up leaving from Port Canaveral on Sun. and got back on Thurs, on the Carnival Sensation, which took us to Freeport & Nassau in the Bahamas. We planned on staying in the area once we got off for a few days to do have extra FUN. Several people were interested in how it was going to go for us since none of us had been on one, AND we were taking our kids. We must have heard, "Let me know how it goes!" at least 100 times. Well, we did it and....
IT ROCKED! IT WAS ONE SWEET VACATION! EVERYONE AGREES IT WAS THE BEST...BETTER THAN DISNEY!!!!
The kids loved it; the food, the pools, their room, our cool waiter we had each night Eric from the Phillipines, the shore excursions, they loved the camps, even the "fancy" night at dinner and the broadway like show! Richard said it was the way to go! He said it was, get this, relaxing, even with the kids. He never checked email or voicemails, or even had his cell phone on!!!! I loved it! I could not be happier, and our friends are awesome for recommending it to us! THANKS GUYS! So here are some of the 200 or so pics I took. I even managed to get myself in a few, and a few of the whole family. So, now Rich says if you want to vacation with us, we will be onboard from now on. Who knows where we'll cruise off to next...

The boys waiting on the bench at the Radisson for our shuttle to the cruise terminal. Do they look like they are up for some serious fun?

Richard, Dallin and Parker standing inside the atrium area in the middle of the ship. You could see all the common area decks and it overlooked a piano bar.

Dallin, Parker and Gretchen blowing away as the boat started doing a 180 degree turn in the water to head out to sea. It was wild to watch a ship that large turn around without going forward or backwards.

Me and the kids at sunset, ready for some fun!

The kids checking out the vast ocean we were cruising through on our 1st night onboard.

Gretchen, the bunny, after her 1st visit to Camp Carnival with her coloring backpack she made. All 3 of the kids had their own camp to attend, and they had a blast. They made volcanoes, slime, penny boats, colored t-shirts, backpacks, made helcopters, shields & swords, etc. They stayed busy, and made new friends.

Parker and Gretchen on the Lido deck hanging out at the pool.

The gang headed off for a little fun in Freeport, Bahamas. We took a taxi ride with General Grant, one crazy old Bahamian man, over to the marketplace and the beach.

The boys, doing what they do best, digging in the dirt.

Our little sand princess on the beach in Freeport, Bahamas.

A couple of beach bums surfing the waves.

Gretchen and 2 sand monsters.

Dallin and Gretchen snuggling in for the night. The kids had their own room, and the "big kids" had their own room.

Our boat ride over to a private island, Blackbeard's Cay, where they have snorkeling, jet skis, swimming, beach area, and a little outdoor grill restaurant. We spent the day here on one of our shore excursions in Nassau.

On one of our shore excursions we snorkeled, fed and swam with the stingrays. Gretchen, however, opted out of the fun. She watched from the beach.

Dallin and Richard petting and feeding the stingrays.

Dallin snorkeling with the stingrays.

Parker and Dallin at Blackbeard's Cay doing a little digging, again!

Gretchen and "Woody" the pirate.

The P-Man dancing to some island music on our water taxi.

Our cruise ship docked in Nassau. This picture was taken from our boat ride back from Blackbeard's Cay.

Dallin, Parker and Gretchen standing at one of the gigantic boat tie downs.

Richard overlooking Nassau.

Overlooking Nassau.

The gang getting ready for some on board mini golf.

Parker, Dallin, Richard, Gretchen and me playing a little mini golf on the top level of the ship, awesome views on this course!

The kids were lucky and got to see a school of dolphins swimming and diving outside their bedroom window. They were jumping in and out of the waves right beside the cruise ship. Unfortunately, no pictures of the dolphins, those little guys are fast!

Parker hanging out at the hot tub by the basketball courts.

The day we were out at sea the waves got a little more "wavey" and the ship started rocking. So, when it started rocking it turned the kiddie pool into a wave pool, see the white top wave in the center of the pool. The kids thought it was hilarious playing in it and watching them wash over the pool wall.

Each night our room steward left us towel animals: seals, elephants, bunnies, etc.

VACATION PART 2: When we it was time to disembark the cruise ship, it was pouring down rain and all the kids windbreakers were in the suitcases!!! Luckily, we found a baggage porter with dreadlocks and a Jamacian hat to load up all our luggage for us and take us to our hotel shuttle. It was not exactly the way we imagined getting off our cruise ship...pouring down rain, 5 suitcases, hanging bag, 5 backpack carryons and only 1 umbrella! I managed to dig out all the kids coats so at least they could cover their heads. After the cruise we planned on staying in Port Canaveral to go to the Kennedy Space Center for the day. So, we went back to the Raddisson to unload the luggage and head off for more fun. It ended up clearing up :) and we all had a great time checking out all the NASA rockets, shuttles and more! The next day we went to Bradenton to visit Grandma CJ, where we enjoyed some lunch, cookies, and a little time at the park. Then we headed off to the Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach for some goodies, and fun. We stayed that night in Clearmont, and visited some great friends that used to live in TN, ate pizza, icecream, jumped on the trampoline and laughed and played. Unfortunately, the next day we headed back to Knoxvegas for those ugly W and S words. It was our best vacation, one I am sure we will all remember and if all goes as planned, one we will repeat for years to come!

Richard with the moon walker.

Parker, Dallin and Gretchen with one of the previously used space shuttles.

Parker & Gretchen with an astronaut suit.

Dallin in the mission control room.

Parker standing under a once used rocket that blasted off the space shuttle.

Me & Gretchen with the rockets.

Astronaut Parker ready for lift off.

Parker, Dallin and Gretchen at the Kennedy Space Center.

Parker & Dallin with the Ron Jon PT Cruiser in Cocoa Beach