Sad day, Happy day

Our Chardonnay left yesterday morning for her end of the year school trip to Washington DC. She will be gone until Friday evening. I had plenty of time (the entire school year) to prepare mentally. I think we barely slept Sunday night anticipating seeing our daughter off on her first very big trip away from home. Briahnna cried so badly on Sunday and said she will really miss her sister. I had to hold it together so I would not break down and make it worse for little sis.

I snapped this photo right before we left the house to drop our big girl off to where the tour buses were waiting.

Here's the crew saying "see ya later" to Chardie. Dwayne always asks me why I am never in any photos. Well, perhaps because I am always the one taking them?! Chardie's eyes suddenly turned red and some big tears dropped down her face. All the other families were "awwing" because no other child expressed that type of emotion. We all held it together and encouraged her to have the time of her life. (As long as you she followed my 1001 rules that I made her a hard copy of to take and study...kidding!)

I told another parent, "when that bus takes off, the tears will have dried up". Here's her bus driver. He was so sweet and assured us that their days are so jam packed with tours and events that they will be too worn out to get into any trouble.
We got a call at 10:15 last night from her thanking us for letting her go on this trip and that she was indeed having the time of her life. I am so excited that she is getting to have this experience. We can't wait to hear all the details when she gets home. I really miss her, but I'm so happy for her at the same time.

My other son

Here's my sweet little Milo taking some time to relax on the front porch. He spends most of the day resting, snuggling, playing and very importantly, protecting the family. Doesn't he look tough? Okay fine, maybe he looks like a sweet little softy but he really is a good dog (shhh, nobody must tell him he is actually a dog). He is very gentle with his baby brother and really never gets in any trouble. I think he listens better than the rest of the family! My father-in-law says that Milo lives in the lap of luxury and would not be able to survive if he had to live a dog's life. Sadly it is true. I am ashamed to admit this but for the first month of William's life, I called him Milo. It took a while to etch 'William' into my head! I just love my other little son Milo!!

**I'm sure the question will be asked...What kind of dog is he? He is a pure bred long coat Chihuahua.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Graduate

Congratulations to Briahnna for successfully making it through her elementary school years. Briahnna won so many awards for her academic achievements including the highest honor of making all A's throughout her elementary school career. She also won the Lieutenant Governor's writing award for her entire school and several others. We are so proud of her!!! She is officially a middle schooler!!!

Her big sister Chardonnay was lucky to meet the keynote speaker Lucas McFadden ( a local news reporter soon to be a national news reporter per Dwayne). He was kind enough to pose for a photo, sign her yearbook, and offered words of encouragement to follow your dreams.

Little brother was being carried through the hallways by his grandmother because we did not want him to disrupt the ceremony with his loud grunting! Yes, he grunts like a man!!! And finally here are the proud parents...

Bath time is lots of fun!!!

Baby William is now a little over two months old and weighs a whopping 12 pounds! He is obviously a good eater! Every evening around 7:30 he gets all worked up and the way I soothe him is by putting him in a warm, bubbly bath. It's as if he changes his entire personality the minute his bottom hits the water. He is always sticking his tongue out except of course when I am trying to clean it! Last night he slept a whopping 7 hours straight. He's such a good baby!

Briahnna's house

On Wednesday night we went to Briahnna's school for a house lighting ceremony. Her gifted and talented class was wrapping up their final unit of architecture. Her last assignment was to make a model of a house. All of the students had their house wired with lights. At the end of the ceremony, the teacher turned the lights off and the students houses were all lit up.. well they were supposed to be. Some kids were having issues with their battery power (my kid included). In the end it was a great presentation and all the students did a spectacular job.

Look at what baby brother was doing the whole time...