Our week in pictures....

School has been out for one full week and we have been incredibly busy the entire week. In fact, as we speak I should be finishing preparations for our Memorial Day pilgrimage to St. James and so I will keep this short and sweet....

In April we celebrated our 11th anniversary. Struggling to find the perfect gift for the man who has everything, I did some research and discovered the suggested traditional gift for the 11th year of matrimony is steel. Contemplating this, I decided a fire pit was just the ticket and boy was I right. Not only did Jason love it but the girls declared it to be "THE BEST GIFT ANYONE COULD EVER GET!"~High praise, indeed. We broke it last Friday as a summer kick-off activity and this may be one of my best gifts to date. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I predict we will be a houseful of professional marshmallows roasters before the leaves begin to change....

Saturday brought the conclusion of Grace's soccer season. They went out with a bang and played the best they have all spring. The stress and excitement was bordering on unbearable and just when I thought things couldn't get any more tense, the coach put Grace in as goalie. It was only her second turn defending the goal during her long and esteemed soccer career and don't let this photo fool you...

She was an animal! Maybe a timid little kitty cat, but an animal nonetheless. Even though nothing got by her, she maintains goalie is definitely not her position of choice. Medals were bestowed and another season is under her belt.

Monday morning was a morning Lily Jane has been anticipating for over a month~swimming lessons! Finally she gets to be like the big girls and really test her aquatic prowess. The first day went well....right up until shortly after this photo was taken...

For some reason with about five minutes remaining, Lily flipped her lid and wanted out. Out of the pool, out of the building and out of lessons. Day two was even worse with her begging me to let her sit with me instead of swimming. I finally got stern with her and used my best playground voice to let her know~A. These lessons are not optional., B. She will remain in the pool. and C. If she continues to flip out, I will have to sit in the hallway for the duration of the lessons and will not be able to watch.

She didn't like it much but did return to the pool and proceeded to follow the instructor's every directive, tears flowing down her cheeks and little shoulders shaking all the while. It was heartbreaking but she made it. Wednesday and Thursday were complete successes with her not only participating but enjoying herself. I'm not sure if this was because of my playground voice lecture, the fact that Grandma sweetened the deal with the promise of a treat if Lily was brave or if it was because the little boy who screamed the entire time on Monday and Tuesday wasn't there, but really, I couldn't care less. She swam, floated and blew bubbles with the best of them and it was awesome.

Grace, my little mermaid, started Monday in level four and by Wednesday was already in level six. She is quite the little fish. Ella was determined to move from level three to four and by Thursday, she was finally awarded that prized gold sticker indicating her promotion.

And finally, yesterday, Grace celebrated her 10th birthday (by the way, I truly cannot believe Grace is going to be 10 years old. That's double digits!) slightly early with some of her best friends.

They tie-dyed t-shirts, played, ate pizza, cake and s'mores and basically just ran wild for about 6 hours. Grace had an absolutely fantastic time and I think everyone else did too.

And now we are headed east, to the land of 10,000 lakes and a whole bunch of goofballs for what is sure to be a weekend full of fun and games. We are very much looking forward to having a few days away from the busyness and by golly, if you can't get away from it all and have an awesome time in St. James, then I don't know where you can!

Happy long weekend to you all!