Cheers to the Weekend, Last Full Week of School Edition

Hi friends! After the May Madness that was last week, this week felt so much easier. Don't get me wrong. It was still busy with a few additional items on our agenda on top of our regular craziness: a school meeting and an evaluation with a new physical therapist for Bella, a well-check for Harrison, end-of-year celebrations for both Raleigh and Harrison, etc., (and did I mention Clay was in California all week?), BUT I just felt lighter and better able to manage the madness now that our three Lu Crew birthdays/parties, Mother's Day, etc., were done as of Sunday. We still had therapies and dance and swim team and blah, blah, blah, but still, I felt a pep in my step. We are SO close to summer!!!

I am so thankful that this is our last Friday of the school year (we'll be yanking the kids out of school early next Thursday, and skipping Friday altogether, for a little surprise :) ), as I love having all the extra time with my kiddos over the summer! This has been the fastest year of my life, and it is absolutely CrAzY that the school year is coming to a close (didn't we just start?!), but it has been a great year for each of my kiddos; so, we have much to be thankful for as we say Hello! to summer next week! For now, though, a few things we are saying CHEERS to this week/end:

Mother's Day. I had a lovely Mother's Day with My Lu Crew last Sunday! After breakfast in bed and a nice, 4-mile run with my sister (who was still in town from Bella's birthday bash), we headed to church, where I got to love on so many littles I love in my class. We then headed to lunch, which....was an absolute FAIL. My hub had made lunch reservations for this cute place in Charlotte. We showed up on time and then waited and waited and waited for our food to arrive. After an hour of waiting, we finally left, and grabbed Moe's on the way home, which we ate around the kitchen table (fine by me! Moe's is my fave!!). While the kiddos napped, I headed up to our neighborhood pool all by myself. I listened to music and just soaked in the sun, solo. Then, my family joined me poolside for playing and pizza. It was perfect. 

And I just have to document the beautiful gift my hub and kiddos gave me that made me cry multiple times throughout the day. Four years ago, moments after Harrison was born, my hub surprised me with a beautiful right-hand ring he had designed himself, which included the birth stones of my (then) three babies (sapphire-Banks; garnet-Rals; diamond-Harrison). A couple weeks ago, he told me he was having the ring re-insured. Lies. On Mother's Day, he presented me with my ring, only it had another band added - one with Bella's birth stone (emerald). I will wear it 'til the day I die. I love it so, so much.

Family weekend last weekend. We were overjoyed to have almost all family members from both "sides" of our family here last weekend to celebrate Bella's 0-3. And one of my sisters, and her sweet trio, stayed with us, and we just had the best time!!! Time with my siblings is so, so special to me. Not only that, but my very kind brother and sister "in law" offered to babysit our seven kids (four mine; three my sister's) while we attended a neighborhood party. Keep in mind their two kiddos were also in the mix, along with my other sister and her two. So, there were 11 kiddos rockin' and rollin' under my roof at one point, which is awesome because those sweet cousins just love being together. Family is my favorite. <3   

90s party. That neighborhood party happened to be a 90s theme party, and my sister and I happened to cheer on varsity together for one year in high school in the 90s (I was a senior; my sister, a sophomore). We both still have our letter jackets, and our friend is now the coach of varsity cheerleading at our alma mater; so, we were able to borrow a couple of uniforms and pretend we were DFHS cheerleaders again. ;) It was SO fun! My hub was there, too, rocking a David Hasselhoff shirt in all its 90s glory. Such a great night with so many friends we love! 

Harrison's big week. Harrison had his last day of school on Monday and closed out the year with the most adorable program on Tuesday. Now, he's officially a big, bad member of the 4s class for his final year of preschool before kindergarten - sniff! sniff! He sang his sweet heart out, rocked his motions, and made me so proud!

The following day, he had the dreaded 4-year well-check. I didn't tell him about the shots until just before the nurse returned with them at the end of the appointment. Luckily, my dear friend hung out with Bella back at the house so that I could focus on Harrison alone during the check-up/shots. He did GREAT! He only cried for a few seconds and recovered quickly. His leg has been a little sore since then, but our feisty little peanut is pushing through. <3 

Raleigh's EOY celebration. Raleigh had the sweetest End-of-Year celebration on Wednesday in her classroom. There were the most precious songs and slideshow, and it took all I had not to lose it. How is my Raleigh graduating kindergarten? But she has done so well this year! She has come out of her shell and is such an excellent reader and writer. She LOVES to write me notes and letters, and they just melt me. She is such a great friend to others and adores her precious new BFF. I am just so proud of this girl and can't wait to have so much time with her over the next few months. 

And that's it for now, y'all! As of last night, my hub is back home (hooray!). We have all-stars baseball practice (weather permitting - hit the road, rain!) as well as a dance recital dress rehearsal tonight and the big show tomorrow. We are also supposed to have Harrison's last teeball game tomorrow (again, go away, rain!), and I have a friend's birthday dinner to close out the weekend on Sunday. Other than that, we'll be gearing up for the last few days of school and prepping for the big fun that awaits next weekend. 

Yay! Have a fabulous weekend, friends! I'll try to pop back in a time or two next week before Summer 2018 officially kicks off!