Here is Caleb and Caraline on their 1st Day back at school... She is now a 1st grader and He is in the 5th grade. I can't believe he will be in Middle School next year! Caraline is still in the Dual Language Program, but she was also just promoted to the Gifted Program :) She was so cute when we explained it to her because she ran up to Caleb and said, "Guess what?... Now I'm as smart as you are!" Big news for Caleb... He just won a $1,000 Savings Bond in an Essay Contest! He also just made the UIL Math Number Sense Team, after tryouts, this week :) School has already kept us ExTrA busy, but we are love it and we're so very proud of our smart kiddos!
Oh, Summer... Why do you always come and go so quickly? We spent days and days sleeping in, going to the pool, and visitng LOTS of friends & family. The kids loved our visit to Temple for Grandma Bonnie's wedding and our trip to Turner Falls with the Griffins. We are sad to see the summer go, but excited for the new school year. Most importantly... we can't wait for the new baby to get here!!!!!!!!!!!!
We love our little Hippitty-Hopp ;) Jenny is the newest member of our family... we accidentally met her at the pet store, this spring, and we fell in LOVE! We brought her up to Caraline's classroom for Show and Tell at the end of the school year... I'm pretty sure her teacher fell in love with a bunny that day too! :) Who can resist that sweet little face???
after... 
We spent about 6 or 7 days priming, prepping, scraping ceiling popcorn, painting, hanging wallpaper, and putting up a chair rail in Caraline's room. She's been wanting a pink and zebra room for about two years now. We decided to get it done during the summertime... and we're really excited about how it turned out! No more "sea green and baby pink". We've moved up to "fussy pink" :) We finally just hung her shelves and bought her new Zebra bedding. As you can see... we forgot to take a before picture, but this will have to do. Hope everyone loves the results as much as we do!!!
We have been in FULL SWING with Ballet and Baseball mode for the past 2 months! Caraline has been enrolled in Ballet at Candy Crocker's School of Dance since August, but it has been pandimonium getting ready for the annual recital. Her class performed a little fairy routine to the music of the new Tinkerbell movie. Poppa, Gigi, and Katie came to see her dance. She was brilliant and beautiful on the night of her recital! Caleb started playing in the Minors, late Spring. The Dodgers started kind of slow (0 and 4), but they ended strong (10 and 5). They made it to the first round of playoffs, and Caleb was awarded the "Most Improved Player of the Year" (for his team) by the league. Now that it's all over and school's out, we almost don't know what to do with ourselves... I guess we are ready for another Summer in the Sun!!! 
Sooooo... four weeks ago we began a "little" project of knocking out an old shower, stealing space from the other bathroom, and creating a new large master bath shower. With LOTS AND LOTS of help from Laura and Joe we were FINALLY able to tile in a new and modern shower. We have all new colors, new lights, new vanity, new cabinets, flooring, fixtures, etc. No more are the days of bumping an elbow on the sides of the 'camper-feeling' sea-green shower! We are so excited to have it done... well, we're still working on the second coat of wall paint and on the grout sealant. But, it's AwEsOmE!!! Thank you SOOOOOOOO much, Poppa Joe and Lala :)
I am a little sad that my sweet angel, Caraline Faith, is not a baby anymore, but we were so excited to celebrate her 6th birthday with friends and family yesterday! She has wanted a swim party for years now, but the weather doesn't cooperate very well in early March... so, luckily we were able to accomodate her at Tyler's Indoor Waterpark in the "Villages". The Birthday was Hello Kitty-themed, and Aunt Jalee made an AmAzInG Hello Kitty birthday cake that RoCkEd!!! Caraline was excited to spend time with family and friends for cake, ice cream, & lots of swimming. Addie, Jordan, Ellie, and Ethan had a blast with Caleb & Caraline. Lots of family joined in as well: Lala, Poppa, Gigi, Aunt Jalee, Uncle Chris, Grandpa Dana, Deborah, Christopher, Jamikay, and Ethan (who turned 3 years old, just one day before)! The party was a huge success, but we were all exhausted by the end of the day!