Dawson Field Day

   The second to last day of school was Field Day for Dawson at school.  Joey was able to volunteer and he got to chaperone a small group of Dawson and his classmates around the different activities.  The field day is comprised of lots of different fun activities and the groups of kids go to which ever activities they want to do.  It is always a great time and Dawson had such a good time with his friends.

It was also crazy hair day which is not as easy to do when you are a boy!

One of Dawson's classmates mother is a professional photographer.  She got a good shot of him.  

Class picture

Emersyn at 5 Months

   Our little chunky monkey girl just turned 5 months old! We have been absolutely loving this little princess now for five whole months.  I don't know how it is even possible, but I swear we all fall more and more in love with her each day.  She just has the best little personality.  She is so smiley and loves to giggle and laugh.  She loves to take in new sites and sounds and is always just along for the ride.  Her sweet little face just lights up when she sees her siblings or cousins.  She really loves kids.
   She is chunky little thing especially when I compare her to how skinny Ashlyn was as a baby.  She sure likes her food and it is fattening her up well!  She now weighs 15 pounds!  Next month, we will be starting her on actual food.  I plan on spending the next few weeks making her homemade organic purees so I will be ready with lots of food when the time comes.  I have a feeling she is going to be a good little eater!
    Emmy is constantly showing us her new skills.  We have been working on sitting up.  She has the tripod pose down.  She is really good at holding herself up.  She has also discovered that she can roll to get where she wants to go.  She loves playing with toys and is very good at occupying herself.
    Sleep is still touch and go and while it could be better, it could be worse I suppose.  I'm not really going to say much more about that.
   I know in the coming months we will have lots of excitement when we introduce solids and I think she will be start crawling soon too.  We just love watching this little angel grow, thrive, and develop.  She is such a little doll baby!
       

Its not hard at all to get a smile out of this one!

Showing off her fierce hair

She absolutely loves her activity chair.  Her favorite is to spin the keyboard.  

Dawson

  Our little Dawson is one amazing little boy.  First grade was such a good year for him.  It also helped that he had an absolutely phenomenal teacher.  I get teary eyed thinking about the fact that he will not have her as a teacher ever again.  She was truly an incredible teacher that had such a love for all of our students.
    Dawson is one smart little cookie.  He is in the gifted and talented program at school which really helps to challenge him above and beyond what he gets in the classroom.  We recently received an email that Dawson and his classmate won third place in a poetry contest they entered for GT.  He got an award and a gift card to Barnes and Noble.  We were so proud of our smart little man!
    His teacher hosted a special end of the year award ceremony.  It was a really neat event where she presented all the kids in the class with a different award that corresponded with a candy.  It was neat because she would describe the award and the how that students exhibited the traits for the award before she announced who won that specific award.  It was fun to watch because the kids could usually guess right away who would get which award.  When she started describing the butterfinger award I knew it just had to be Dawson.  She said the winner of that award was extremely easygoing and very laid back.  He would go with the flow and had the most laid back attitude.  His attitude often helped others be more laid back. She also said he would not only go with the flow, but he also found a way to challenge himself along the way.  Dawson was super excited to get butterfingers with his award as they are his favorite!  I am so proud of him.  Apparently it's not just Joey and I who think he has a very easy going attitude.  (Which is a very good thing since he has two sisters who do not have easy going attitudes at all.  I already see a lot of his same personality in Emmy.  I think she will be a lot like Dawson when she gets older. ). I am so blessed to have such a smart and laid back boy for my son.
   When the awards were over, the girls and I got to stay and help Dawson construct a farm out of paper.  It was a fun activity and I am glad we got to be part of it.

Dawson with the best first grade teacher ever, Mrs. Johnson (We are working on his picture taking skills.)

Dawson and Gracie

I kind of had my hands full with Emmy while trying to help Dawson with his project.  Mrs. Johnson lent a hand and walked her around the classroom.  She was as happy as a clam watching all the kids work.  

Hard at work on his farm

Ella getting her award

Dawson and his award

Bent's Old Fort

   For her final field trip of the year, Ashlyn got to go to Bent's Old Fort.  Joey decided to come along for the exciting day.  Bent's Old Fort is quite a journey and the bus ride was 2 1/2 hours each way.  Joey and Ashlyn said it was a great field trip.  They did a tour with a tour guide that told them what life was like long ago.  Ashlyn said the best part was getting to see the special room that some famous lady stayed in.  Ashlyn got to go on some pretty incredible adventures this year, and this one was a perfect ending to a fun year.

On the bus

Heading towards the Fort

On the tour

Lunch break near the river

School photo

Class picture

Ashlyn is lucky to have a dad the goes on field trips with her.