The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

Recently Audrey and I had a girls night at Disney on Ice! She loves these shows. Princesses, dressing up, $14 snow cones (even though we were freezing in there), staying up past our bedtime... what's not to love? 

We saw a friend from her soccer team that attends the same school Audrey will be enrolled in come autumn, and two little friends from her Soccer Shots class last summer. But she was most excited to see Merida and fireworks. 

My favorite was Ariel. 

But Audrey stole the show in her Princess Anna dress and cape. They're pretty hard to come by here and I just happened to stumble across it when I was buying her pajamas one morning. Tons of little girls were pointing at her and I heard lots of oooooohhhs and aaaahhhhhs and "Look Mom! Princess Anna!"

Spring Soccer 2014

This was Audrey's first year to play spring soccer. Barker has had a lot of parents ask him for a south Bossier league so they don't have to make the trek out to the Shreveport fields, south of town. So he created a little non-profit in south Bossier to make life a little easier on a few of the local parents with the help of our Lead Soccer Shots Coach, Rachel. 

So when it came time for Audrey to play, we signed her up with the Red River Development League. And no, Barker was not her coach. She chose her number to be 1 after she was placed on a team of kids her age, 2 of which were girls (that were quite good) and 3 boys. 

When Barker came home and said he was considering this Red River deal, I should have realized it would be cold on the river in the mornings. Brrrrr. Luckily it's right across from a Dunkin' Donuts so sometimes we would swing by to get a hot chocolate and a donut for the kids. When donuts are involved they don't mind the cold. Except for Arden, she mostly slept through the games all warm in her car seat.

Side note- the egg white flat bread sandwiches from Dunkin' are pretty yummy if you ever find yourself starving on a soccer field on a cold morning.

The RRDL offered several skills nights for all of the families to bring their children out to the fields to be trained by certified coaches and college soccer players. They also organized a canned food drive and painted the Barksdale Baptist Church's playground. It was, and still is, a lot of work to run this non-profit but I think a lot of families really enjoyed it and I believe we taught, at least a few kids, about giving back to the community, and soccer of course!  

a skills night

a canned food drive

one of Audrey's teammates painting the playground

Audrey's team won 2nd place and Audrey has officially scored more goals than I have. But she's still no tom boy. One of our coaches, the intern at our church, took Audrey to a tea party after her last game and she was just as proud of her tea party craft as she was of her trophy. 

They're all displayed on our mantle.

Audrey's Preschool Graduation

Audrey has loved being at First Presbyterian for preschool. She's adored her teachers and made some sweet friends. She's also become quite the leader, which is what I've been hoping for. 

Barker snapped this pic at her school recently. The teachers asked the children what they would do if they were President. I read a couple that said things like "go to the park" but Audrey's clearly laid out her picnic basket politics. It said "I would bring food in a basket to all the hungry people." I think she's a democrat. My dad is probably having a mild heart attack upon reading this.

We were able to attend her preschool graduation. Only I didn't realize until the program started that it was in fact a graduation. (Had I known I would have put a little effort into taming her hair that rainy/frizzy morning.) The paper they sent home said 'celebration' so I just thought we were having a little goodbye party at the end of the year and they were singing a song, because the parents are often invited up for coffee, donuts, muffins or to attend chapel. She wanted to wear a dress that day even though it was chilly (yes, in May) so I should have guessed it was a special event but I had no idea they were putting on a full on program with several songs, little certificates and walking across the stage area of the chapel. 

But even though I wasn't prepared for this show of transitioning to being a kindergartner I did well and didn't even cry. Miraculously, Arden didn't either!

I may not be ready for her to be away from me 5 days a week but she's stoked. Asa, the little boy on the front row in the seersucker jacket and boat shoes, is attending the same school as Audrey in the fall. But the others are really spread out amongst various public and private schools in both Shreveport and Bossier, as well as a few that will be home schooled. She'll miss her friends but I know she'll make lots of new buddies when autumn rolls around. Plus, one of her teachers from this year is also head of the PTA at her new school, so she'll be thrilled to still see Ms. Laura from time to time. 

Easter '14

This year's Easter post is seriously lacking. We missed hunting eggs on Palm Sunday because we were out of town. They hunted other times... at school, at a friend's house, at a restaurant. But I didn't document any of those. Oops. So all I have are some sad pics from my phone of them checking out their baskets. I didn't even get one of Audrey in her beautiful Easter dress. Shame. The back of it was a work of art. Mom fail.

Audrey was excited about her kite. I also gave them silly string because Audrey had asked for it recently. 

Crumbs in the Bed

I usually don't allow my children to eat anywhere but the table. But one night Audrey asked if we could make some cookies and I just could't say no. So we tossed together some quick peanut butter cookies and they each had one before bed. Hudson was already in pajamas after his bath and was ready to go night night so I caught this sweet moment of Huddie and Barker laying in Audrey's bed, sharing a cookie, before we brushed teeth and did our usual bedtime routine.

Cookies in bed isn't typical in our home but that night it was a great idea.

Wedding Season is in Full Swing

When your husband is in a fraternity you end up attending a lot of weddings. It's like being a groomsman is their weekend job. 

This season we were able to celebrate Mr. and Mrs. Scott Vanderlick in the delta and Mr. and Mrs. Will Street at a country club here in Shreveport. 

My beautiful Barker with Scott and GB. Doesn't the groom look happy? That's cause he's only been married 30 minutes. He has no idea....

Leaving the Street wedding 

We loved seeing so many friends, laughing our faces off, eating way too much cake, wearing non gym clothes and of course- meat pies. 

We've got one more this season I'm looking forward to, then it's back to Saturday nights in cropped sweat pants for this mommy.