Jakob's Promotion / Memorial Day Weekend

This past Thursday the little cowboys and I headed down south for my nephew, Jakob's 8th Grade Promotion and to spend time with family over Memorial Day weekend. 

At promotion. Kallahan and I set up in the top of the bleachers with our favorite, Jacey Mae, to take pictures.

Jakob looked so handsome in his suit.  Jakob was salutatorian of his class and had to give a speech...

Didn't he do awesome?!

Here I am acting like "that goofy aunt" with Jakob and his friend Collin {who feels like family}. We're soooo proud of these two guys!! They're officially high-schoolers. It feels like yesterday Jakob, the boy that first made me an aunt, was learning to walk {which quickly turned to running} & teaching me the true meaning of life - new life.

After the ceremony we enjoyed some sweet treats at the reception.

Then took some pictures with our fav grads.

My little cowboys look up to these two so much.  Thanks for always playing with them and spending time with them.  It means so much!

To end the night, I got to help chaperon their scavenger hunt.  I wanted to be with Jakob since I don't know many other kids in his class BUT I was quickly rethinking my request when his team consisted of the three fastest boys in 8th grade.  Seriously, like district track champions fast.  I was able to hang (luckily I'm back running), we had a lot of fun but unfortunately our team didn't win.

 

On Friday morning, we got up early for the other Samuel's end of year track & field day.  Yes, more running!  We started off with a color run.  I stayed with Kallahan.  Keeler blew past us and finished with the big boys.

{I LOVE this picture}

Samuel was super sweet and stayed with Kallahan the entire time.  Their endurance was very impressive.  Kallahan loved passing the other children and never stopped to walk.

Such a stud!

We finally met up with Keeler and the big boys at the finish line.

We had a blast at the color run!

Then it was over to the track for more events.  Kallahan again, decided he would compete with all the big kids.

Keeler mainly hung our with Jakob and Collin administering the games but he did stop to play tug-a-war.

 The rest of the weekend was a little more low key.  This picture above is so sweet and perfectly portrays Kallahan's admiration and love for our Jacey.

 We enjoyed time in the pool...

This picture says it all - pure joy!  Hello summer!

W helped Samantha get the house and yard ready for our upcoming family reunion / anniversary party... 

but most of all, enjoyed spending time with our fam bam.

I had to include this picture because Keeler's "kissy face" cracks me up!  We were trying to send a picture to Tyler ;)

Monday, on Memorial Day, I headed on home for work.  The little cowboys decided to stay for the week to enjoy some more family time.

I hope everyone enjoyed their long Memorial weekend as much as we did!  I always love this holiday as we remember our heroes and kick off summer.  

What's Up Wednesday

I've been slacking on the blogging front so I thought linking up for What's Up Wednesday would be a fun and easy way to do a quick post.  So here goes...

1// What we're eating this week...

   School is officially out for the summer so we're in full summer food mode.  We've been grilling (protein and veggies), the boys are loving all the fresh summer fruits and dining on the patio. 

Best of all it's great to have Keeler around for our lunch dates. This week I've been taking the little cowboys and their cousin to our house for a quick lunch and some playtime to give their granny a little break.

2// What I'm reminiscing about...

Oh boy! Oh boy! These little guys are a constant reminder that time goes by too quickly.  We had our annual neighborhood summer kick-off this past weekend with the best next door neighbors in the world.  God had a hand in placing our two families right next door to one another over three years ago... our boys were meant to grow up like brothers and us mommas needed the support - #boymoms have a special bond.  It's hard to watch them all grow and become more independent but I'm going to be right there treasuring every mud pie, water balloon fight, rabbit chase, etc...  

P.S. Another Berglund boy OR girl is arriving in July :)   

3// What I'm loving...

Spending more time outdoors. Whatever it is about summer break that makes life so much more simple, I'll take it!  Absolutely all of it. 

4// What we've been up to...

spending time with friends while Tyler's busy on the farm.  Last night we combined our weekly farmwives / farm kids dinner date by taking all the kiddos on a Ranger ride to check cows with Tyler.  Sweet little Becca fell asleep while I was holding her in the middle of a field - my heart is still smiling.
I'm also back running in the mornings with some of my favorite ladies. I'm loving the social time, now if the rest of my body could learn to enjoy it.  However,  I am shocked at my endurance and how well I am getting back in the groove.  The first morning out we did over 7 miles and I didn't die!

5// What I'm dreading...

One word, newsletter.  I have a deadline at work fast approaching.  Just getting started is the hardest part.

6// What I'm working on...

This week I cleaned out the garage.  The little cowboys cleaned up their farm equipment :) I'm going to try to purge one room of the house every weekend this summer.

7// What I'm excited about...

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!! Later in the summer we're headed to the beach with some of our dearest friends.    

8// What I'm WE're watching/reading...

Children's Books and more Children's Books!!

Friday we were invited to the year-end awards assembly at Keeler's school. We were called ahead of time and asked to keep it a surprise that he was being awarded for being "the most improved reader."  Tears instantly swelled in my eyes with pride while remembering all the struggles and hard work Keeler has put forth this year through Vision Therapy.  

We couldn't be more proud of this kiddo.  We want to continue to improve his reading so we have them both enrolled in a summer reading program.

9// What I'm listening to...

 at home all I really hear are boys :)

10// What I'm wearing...

shorts, shorts and more shorts.  My summer go-to is a cute pair of patterned shorts and a solid tee or tank.  This year I've picked up a few new shorts from TJ Maxx.  

*Sale Alert* My favorite Target vintage tees are 50% off right now - I'd suggest buying one in every color because they're only $5, folks!

11// What we're doing this weekend...

Our weekend actually starts today! We're going to celebrate this tall kid promoting to high school.  High school? Seriously, this auntie might shed a few tears over this milestone.  How is my little red-headed chubby baby going to high school already?
As for the rest of the weekend, if you need me... I'll be poolside.  

12// What I'm looking forward to next moNth...

a big family reunion / 50th wedding anniversary!!  I can't wait to spend a fun day with family that we don't get to see often enough.

13// What else is new...

 we're taking care of another bucket calf.  Poor Little Red has a broken leg but seems to be thriving.  Now if Kallahan could just remember to put on pants before he heads out to feed! #nopantsnoproblems

School Year Complete & Hello Summer!

Last Thursday was this little cowboys last day of preschool in the 3 & 4 year-old class. His first year of school experience was great. He was blessed with a wonderful, loving teacher and always looked forward to "school days." 

Of course I had to look back at his first day of school pics.

My little cowboy obviously grew quite a bit taller over the school year but he's also grown is so many other ways.  He's such a smart little dude.  At his recent school IEP his teacher reported that he's right on track and as for speech, his therapist is going to decrease her visits down to 2 times weekly for 20 minutes based on his progress.

We're so proud of you Kallahan!  You were so brave all school year and behaved well.

He made some great friends this year - his best friends are actually two little girls that are cousins.  They call him their "boyfriend." He also claims he has "two girlfriends." Quite the ladies' man!  He's already looking forward to next year. He'll have one more year of preschool at the same school and with the same teacher.  We're so blessed!

This little dude is officially done with first grade!  How did that happen so quickly?  I failed at taking any milestone pictures so I guess we'll remember first grade as the year he ended with facial hair.  On his last day of school I helped with his school FUN DAY and got to paint mustaches on close to 500 kids.  We really did have a lot of FUN!

 Our first weekend of the summer was a fun one!  We started off the day by wrapping a present for Haylee's 2nd birthday party.  The little cowboys decided that they wanted to make Haylee books and worked on them all morning.  I was so impressed with their patience and hard work on this project.

In the afternoon we meet the neighbors for lunch and then headed to the traveling carnival!

 The boys both wanted to ride horses before the show.

 Then it was time for the tent show!  It was about 167 degrees in the tent so we HAD to get snowcones to help cool us down.

 Oh, I love these two little faces.

 Before we left they boys enjoyed the inflatables with Stryker.

 After the carnival, it was time to roll over to Miss Haylee's 2nd birthdat party.

Oh, I just love this little cutie!

Look at momma Brittney and Rachel matching {not planned} and both rocking that pregnancy glow!

 In the evening we played in the yard.  The boys cleaned up their tractor and Gator which led to some water fun with the neighbors.

The weekend was such a great start to summer break.

And today, I had the little cowboys and some friend's girls come out to the store and record our first ad for our "Thank a Farmer" radio campaign. 

They did such a great job!  Thankfully they work for ice cream ;)