Olivia's Kindergarten Graduation

Olivia graduated from kindergarten with the cutest little graduation program.  She had been practicing the songs for over a month and it was so cute to see all the kindergarten classes on stage in their graduation caps and gowns singing their little hearts out.  I still cannot believe in a little over 6 weeks, my big girl will be in the first grade!

➹ Our last morning drop off. ➹

➹ Our neighbor made signs for his daughter's kindergarten class and then made signs for Olivia and some of her friends.  We held them up in the audience for her to see on stage.  I loved seeing her big smile every time we held them up for her. ➹

➹ Before walking on to the stage with her classmates. ➹

The ceremony was over before lunch time, so we took the girls to brunch with Riley's family.  After brunch, we went back home to gather our supplies so we could set up a free lemonade stand for the kiddos leaving school at the regular time.  The 6th graders have a clap out where all the kids from the school line up outside and clap as they leave their building for the last time.  Our girls were so excited to give out lemonade and cookies to the kids as they walked home.  And, I never would have guessed that we would have run out of lemonade before cookies!

➹ Pretty sure we started a new tradition! ➹

After cleaning up what was left from our lemonade stand, we came to our house to swim in the pool and use our new pool toy!  Our neighbor gave us this slide that he had made and used with his grandkids.  It has been the perfect addition to our pool and the neighborhood crew has used it non stop!  Sadly, we can't get Sydney to give it a try.

As if our day couldn't get any more full, we went over to Riley's house for pizza and then walked to the park to release a couple of paper lanterns.  What a full and fun way to celebrate graduating from kindergarten!

Another Month Down

Whoooo, the end of the school year was a BUSY one!  I was so excited for school to be over so I could relax, but the start of the summer has proven to be just as busy as the school year.

Here are a few things we were up to last month:

➸➸  We practiced long and hard for our four dances for the end of the year recital.  And I say we because even I practiced with them.  One thing we worked on was how to get our hair nice and curly for the required curly ponytails.  We discovered twisting their hair when it was wet at night, and then untwisting them in the morning made for some reallllly curly hair.  (In Olivia's case, it was too curly for her liking!)

➸➸ Nana took Olivia in for one final Monday at school.  Such a lucky girl to have her nana there volunteering in her classroom each week!

➸➸ We soaked up the not-too-hot weather and spent time at the playground and pool with our favorite neighborhood blonde.

➸➸  Olivia did a dance for her class talent show to the Bazooka Bubble Gum song, and she NAILED her performance!  I will have to upload the video my mom took of it asap!

➸➸  Sydney's preschool class had an end of the year patriotic ceremony.  Sydney got a little case of stage fright and wouldn't sing or dance.  Despite that, I am SO proud of how many gains she made this year.  I'm going to miss her class and teacher so much.

➹ First day / Last day ➹

➸➸  Our neighbor, and one of Liv's super good friends, had a huge birthday bash over Memorial Day weekend.  She had a party with butterflies, cupcakes as big as your head, an inflatable water slide, a candy bar, and sno-cones!  It was SO MUCH FUN.

➸➸  Olivia had her graduation and the girls both had their recital, but they deserve their own posts for that - so stay tuned!

Magnum Hound

About two months ago, Magnum fractured his left front leg for the fourth time in his life.  Yes, fourth.  Quick run down of his history - the leg broke with his original owner and a metal plate was put on it, when Jill got him, the plate got infected and had to be removed.  Shortly after we got him from Jill, the leg broke for a 2nd time.  He went through 4 months of rehab with an external fixator in his leg and less than a week after the fixator was removed, the leg broke again.  This time, we had a specialist put another metal plate on the bone.  He was getting around great until last February when a hole in his skin near the plate started opening up.  We kept the leg wrapped and it would get worse and then better and then worse and then better -- rinse and repeat.  The vet specialist x-rayed the leg and told us the bone was weak and could possibly break again sometime.  Fast forward a year and, that brings us to the most recent fracture.  The story doesn't need to get told on the how of things...all we need to know is that it was broken again....and there was no good solution for fixing it.  After pain medication and anti-inflammatory medicine didn't work, and the wound on the leg still opening up, and the fractured area looking worse and worse, we opted to have his leg amputated.  It was not an easy choice to make, and if I'm honest, I still struggle with knowing if it was the right one.  It was really hard to see Magnum heavily sedated on pain medication, hobbling around from place to place. Nearly a month later, he moves around easily and seems to be in little to no pain.  We have had some setbacks post-surgery - a small infection and the incision site opening up - but we are taking care of that with laser treatments every few days.

And, now, some Magnum pictures:

➹ About to get a laser treatment! ➹

➹ I love it when he gets wrapped with a pretty decoration on it! ➹

He is our million dollar dog for sure, and we are just happy that he continues to love us unconditionally despite the poking and prodding he gets from us.