may madness... its a thing, right?

just like every month before it, May has proven to be busy busy busy!

to kick off the month, charlie was chosen as the patriot of the month for his class! he has been waiting and waiting for this and his turn finally came! we are so proud of charlie for being proud, positive, and persistent (the criteria that the teachers use to pick the patriot of the month).

we had three days of hard core partying the first weekend of may. 

first up was thursday, may the fourth (aka star wars day!). 

we all wear star wars shirts, i make special lunches for the kids (by special i mean i throw in a couple star wars pictures, some star wars graham crackers, and a star wars napkin, so nothing crazy), and then we have a star wars dinner complete with Han-Burgers. its been a fun tradition the past couple years.

it took the kids a while to notice the extra members of our family in these pictures :)

friday the 5th was cinco de mayo!!!

our favorite food to cook (and eat) is mexican, so we always go all out!

chris made some authentic pork carnitas and they were DIVINE! seriously. the kids said they were the best tacos they'd ever had and we agreed :)

of course we listened to mariachi music while getting dinner together which of course means these kiddos got their groove on!

then saturday the 6th was the kentucky derby which means mint juleps for everyone!

ellie's horse came in first place (out of our family's bets) so she won the prize.

 charlie was the first student in his class (2nd child in the whole of kindergarten) to reach the AR 50 Point Club! super proud of this boy!!! he received his certificate on the 8th, but will be receiving a trophy next week at the end of the year awards ceremony.

last thursday was a busy one! ellie had the 3rd grade play called Goals, then we went to jack's amusement park (more about that in a minute!) and then i had book club.

ellie really, really enjoyed being part of the play. she had a small speaking part that she practiced so many times and she nailed it! she was so cute up there holding hands with her best friend in class, anna, and together they were singing as loud as they could and laughing the whole time. it was pretty heart warming to watch.

the 4th grade classes had a huge economics project the last couple weeks of april and the first two of may. they designed and built an amusement park, complete with carnival games, roller coasters for marbles, a concession stand, and other fun things. each 4th grader had to apply for 3 different jobs, write and submit a resume along with two letters of recommendation, and then have interviews with the three 4th grade teachers. jack was thrilled when he receive the job of manager! he basically oversaw the whole project, kept the kids on track, did all of the public speaking (including a voice message home to every parent at the school), and was the liaison between teachers and students. he loved this project so much! it was very fun to go see him the night that Woods Wondrous Wacky World was open for families to visit. he's such a good boy and takes things seriously, but was also able to take a small break to give owen hugs and take him to play a game or two.

the money they made went to charity. jack really wanted the money to go to the Children's Shelter here in fort smith, but the 4th grade kids voted and the $1361 went to the sebastian county humane society.

after the amusement park, i buzzed out and headed to book club. i realized that i haven't written anything on this ol' blog about the book club that i started a little over a year ago. we have about 12 people in the group, and usually about 6 or 7 show up for our meetings each month. it's been fun, but i will be totally honest and admit that it just isn't the same as our book club in bonita :( 

this particular night we were reading one of my favorites and my friend cassy, who loves to do chalk art, whipped up this beauty on her pantry door:

cassy is the third person from the right.

the author, john flanagan, saw her picture on instagram and liked it, so thats pretty cool!

we've been spending most of our days at the soccer fields. here are a few photos of charlie

he's definitely not our aggressive athlete, but he has a great time. he especially loves to throw in the ball and takes every chance he can get to do it.

we got a kick out of this one with his glasses falling off mid throw! he refuses to take them off for his games even though he doesn't need them.

and this picture is great because owen took it!

he has made one or two goals this season and they finally won their first game last night. ellie and jack's team is kicking trash right now. they have only lost one game this season and the score was 6-5. when they played that team again, they made sure they won it 4-0. but one of the coolest events of this season was about a week ago ellie scored her first goal! chris and i jumped out of our chairs and shouted so loud! she had the biggest smile on her face and all the guys on the team were giving her high fives. it was an awesome moment!!! she's been working so hard and its crazy how much she has improved so far this year. the other kids didn't really expect too much from her at the beginning of the season. sometimes she would be wide open and ready to take a shot, but they wouldn't pass her the ball. but she's fast and doesn't give up. she's always right there where the action is and doesn't let any one get in her way. she's a fighter. she's proven herself to her teammates and her coach and she feels like she is an asset to the team. and jack is always right there cheering her on and passing the ball to her to give her a chance. its been the best having them on the same team!