Catching Up

The last couple of weeks have been very exciting ones.  So here's a post to catch up on all our news.  First, I turned 28.  Sigh.  It doesn't seem fair that I age as fast as the kids do.  Being this mature has given me a new appreciation for how very very young I was when I got married (19) and had Strawberry (22).  I'm too young to feel as old as I do.  Nights shifts have been aging me, I think.  I have enough grey hairs to be at least 40. 

 Of course, 28 seems much to young to be having a child graduate from kindergarten.  Strawberry had her awards ceremony where she received the award for being the Most Friendly.  Awwww.  We got to meet her friends and finally put faces with names we've been hearing about constantly since we got her.  "Zoe told Ayana and Alivia that she didn't want to be friends with them anymore, which was so not nice because Ayana shared her twinkie.  Then Sara said she didn't want to be friends with Zoe because she said that.  Then Bradley was mean to me and I don't even know why!  Liam says he wants to marry me, but he can't because I'm going to have six babies and he's only going to have five."  It was especially exciting to meet Strawberry's BFF.  Poor Strawberry is going to have to say good bye to lots of friends.  Kindergarten was awesome for her.  She loved her teacher and has learned so much since she started.  Apparently, she had much better teachers than I could have been.  I could barely get her to read the alphabet, but now she is reading really well.  She's excited for the summer: lots of time at the pool and playing with Apple all day.  We actually found out though that Arizona's schools start pretty early in August so since she didn't get out until June 13 here, her summer vacation will be less than 2 months.  :(

(Pictures: K graduation, Strawberry's BFF, girls from the bus stop, last bus ride)

Jed and Kate came down for a visit this last weekend.  The girls were ecstatic.  Jed came down earlier in the week and he and Luke went backpacking on the Appalachian trail.  Kate came on Friday night and they stayed through Sunday night.  We wanted to show them a great Virginia time: Busch Gardens or Williamsburg or the beach.  But we were really slow and it was so hot that we ended up spending most of the day inside hanging out.  Yep, we're super-fun.  We are very glad that they came all the way down to see us though, and it is really sad that we can't make it up to New York before we leave the East Coast.  Ever since Enchanted, Strawberry has been very eager to see NYC.  The girls cried after they left.  Our poor girls are very family-deprived.

Father's day ended up being celebrated on Monday night.  Strawberry got Luke a massager, Apple got him a remote-control helicopter, and I got him a frisbee.  Then the girls posed for pictures.  :)