Long overdue End of School Year/Beginning of Summer

It has been so busy around here that I never got a chance to document the end of the school year for the boys.  Since we are switching schools this year, I really want to make sure that I include his last memories from this school we love so much.

The week before school ended this year, Harrison's teacher invited us to come to an end of school year celebration.  I just assumed it would be cupcakes and saying goodbye.  We had a lot going on that week so I almost skipped it...boy am I glad that I didn't!  The first part was a little skit where they all had a part.  They spelled out the word "kindergarten" and for each letter, one child said a line for what Kindergarten meant to them...

 

They each received an award...

 Of course there were cupcakes, but she also played a slideshow of pictures of the kids throughout the year.  I wasn't mentally prepared for any of this so it took all I had to hold the tears back!

Harrison had such a sweet class this year.  I know he will make new friends at his new school, but I'm sad for him to leave these buddies!

Crazy boys...

He had a special little bond with his friend Sara...he had been watching the slide show with his buddies and all of a sudden, he realized that Sara wasn't by them, so he scouted her out and watched the rest of the show next to her.

 

I was trying to get a picture of Harrison with his teacher, and this happened...it was so cute, they all just piled in together.

We finished up the year walking to school as many mornings as we could since we probably will never have that luxury again...one morning we even got to see some geese!

Next up was finishing up the baseball season.  He has had an amazing coach and team, two seasons in a row.  I'm so proud of Harrison.  He improved so much this year in baseball.

Davis is just starting to learn letter recognition and he gets really pumped when he finds "D's" for Davis...

On the last day of school, we suprised all the kids at the bus stop with water balloons and water guns...they had no idea what was about to hit them and they had the best time!  And somehow, I got soaked the most out of anyone!

Pure joy...

 

After school ended, we headed to the beach.  We were all ready for a change of pace, to escape the end-of-school business and house chaos...

 

We headed straight for the ocean when we got there.  It was a little cool, but that didn't stop them!

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We spent the week digging holes

building sand castles, 

boogie boarding and trying to convince the boys that the beach was way cooler than the hot tubs

 These boys were just thrilled to get to hang with their favorite person all week long...

 

So sweet together (when they don't think we're watching...)

We even found a sea urchin one day.  We kept it as a pet for a day and then returned it to his home...

Jump!!!
It was a wonderful break and as always, it went by too fast!

Here's to bittersweet endings, and new beginnings!

Breathe....breathe...breathe...its been a crazy past few months, and I find myself closing my eyes reminding myself to just breathe.  Thank you yoga for learning the importance of that!  I say this in a great, crazy, fun way.  April came around as it always does, and I was gearing up for our church's annual Easter Egg Hunt.  The day was busy and fun and full of kids excited for the upcoming arrival of the Easter bunny.  What I didn't realize it was bringing, was also a huge change in the Randolph household.
The day before, Lance had lunch with a friend who does real estate on the side.  He told Lance about the 'perfect house' for our family that we had to see.  We took that with a grain of salt...until we saw the pictures.  We ended up seeing it the next day.  I woke up that morning, thinking of the details of the egg hunt and our Easter plans.  Little did I know, that by the end of the day, while eating cheese dip and sipping on margs at our favorite mexican spot, we would be planning a move for our family and all the details that holds.
We have talked about moving for years, but it just hasn't felt like the right time yet.  We have lived in our current house for almost 11 years now.  This is our starter house that we never anticipated staying in more than 5 years.  And while I am beyond excited about our move, I have loved the house that we are in.   As most big changes in life are, this is a bittersweet move.  This is the house where Lance carried me over the threshold when we got married.  We brought all of our babies home in this house.  All of our milestones so far, have happened right here in this house.  Learning to crawl, learning to walk, learning to ride a bike, and most recently, learning to pump their legs on a swing.  This home has been our guinea pig for home improvement projects...most of which taught us that we work better having separate tasks, rather than sharing the same!!

The most recent five years have been a struggle between being frustrated for not having enough space, to learning to be content in appreciating the space that we have.  Over the past several years, many friends have moved to their "forever homes", and I have prayed and prayed for patience that when the time was right, we would find our "forever home" as well.  I have prayed for contentment in the place where we are right now.  That we are where we are meant to be, and I truly believe that the timing of things always works out the way it is supposed to.  Had we rushed and moved several years ago, we never would have found this house and would have settled for something not quite right.
I remember sitting at that dinner table discussing if this was the right time, weighing the pros and cons and thinking...'this is going to be a lot of work...its probably good that we are naive to the fact that we don't really grasp how many projects this is going to entail to make this move happen'.
None of this could have possibly happened without the help of both of our parents.  They are the true example of selfless love for their children.  They have worked tirelessly packing, cutting down trees, painting, and fixing a seemingly endless list of small aesthetic projects. 
I can't believe how smoothly this has all gone.  We went into this, with a leap of faith, that it would somehow work.  We worked and worked to get our house show-ready, and finally the day came where we put it on the market.

 

The timing was perfect, it went on the market on a Friday, we had two showings on Saturday.  For the second showing that day, we headed to the Varsity to enjoy a frosted orange.  Just as we pulled into the parking lot, Lance's phone rang.  It was our real estate agent calling to say that we had an offer!!!  What??  Pinch me, is this really happening?  We had a vacation planned for that week, where we were leaving on Monday.  I had just hoped for a lot of showings that week while we were gone, but kept telling myself not to get my hopes up for an offer right away. 

Selling a house is no joke, it is a lot of ups and downs with negotiating contracts, waiting on inspection details, waiting on appraisals, hashing out the details, but it is working out.  Our closing dates between our two houses are one week apart, I could not have planned it to work out better if I tried.  

This has been the most nerve wracking decision of our lives because there were so many details that we could not control.  The fact that things have gone so smoothly has made me feel comforted in knowing that this is all a part of the master plan for our family.  I can't wait to see what lies ahead for our family and the new memories that will be made in our new house.  We have already met some new neighbors and were even invited to an end of school year party in the new neighborhood.  That alone made us feel welcomed and excited to be a part of fun, close-knit community.  We are one week away from closing and the chaos of the actual move.  I'm hoping the hard part is over, but ready for this new beginning for us!

Harrison's Big Project & Spring Break Cousin Fun

About a month ago, Harrison's school sent a letter home saying that the kids could participate in Exceptional Kids week at school by completing a project that focused on an "exceptionality" that certain kids have to face in life (ADD, Autism, Cancer, Down Syndrome...).  There were a bunch of prizes that they could win, the biggest being lunch in a limousine.  At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to deal with it, but I have an Aunt with Down Syndrome and Harrison has asked a lot of questions over the last year about her so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity for him to learn a little more about Aunt Mary.
So, we went to the library to pick out some books on the subject.  I found a few really good ones that explained it on his level.  We read those together, he asked questions, I tried to help explain, and we were on a roll.  Then, I found this video online, and bawled the first time I watched it, just thinking about how different my Aunt's life would be had she been growing up now.  This is a fantastic video put together by 3 kids with down syndrome and their best friends.  http://www.special-and-determined.com/down-syndrome/down-syndrome-awareness-great-presentation-to-kindergartners/
This was the most impactful for him in terms of learning.  We even tried the marshmallow trick explained in the video and that really sunk in for him, some of the extra things that they have to deal with everyday.  I sent this to his teacher and she let the class watch it, which I loved.
We put a poster together, and he wrote every letter on it.  I was so so proud of him.  He is not the biggest fan of homework already, so this was a big deal.  He did most of it without complaining...

 Once he turned it in, he presented it to the class and then it was displayed outside the classroom.  There were a bunch of prizes but only the top 5 entrees per grade got the lunch in the limousine prize.  His teacher said there were about 50 kids that participated overall.  My heart about exploded when the letter came home that he won lunch in the limousine!
I couldn't resist going up to take some pictures!  The top entrees were posted in the main hallway, but I was so bummed b/c they had taken them down before I could get a picture of his up there.  I was also proud that he won b/c most of the projects were done on the tri-fold "science fair" boards.

I loved that they put out a red carpet for them!  They did the limo lunch by grade, so they had plenty of room to stretch out.

This was also an exciting week because Lance's sister's family came in town.  They live in Colorado, so the boys don't get to see them very often, so they were very excited.  I let it be a surprise that they were coming, so they just rang the doorbell and I let Harrison open it.  He fell on the floor he was so happy!  Harrison had a baseball game that day, so they came with us to the game...
Davis showing Laurel his favorite baseball activity...digging up gravel and rocks...

 

Harrison had an awesome game that day, hit the ball every time he was up to bat, made a great throw from the outfield, and had two runs throughout the game.  He really is improving so much this year and its fun to watch his confidence grow as he gets better.  He still says its not his favorite and he thinks the games are too long, but I told him we will play this season and then decide if he wants to play again next year.  He is doing great though, so I'm hoping he comes around.  He still loves being catcher and its great because it keeps him busy and focused while his team is in the outfield. 

While our cousins were in town, we decided to get pictures taken of all the cousins together for Lance's parents.  Thankfully the studio we went to wasn't busy b/c it was supposed to be a 30 min appt, but it took almost two hours trying to get everyone to cooperate and hold still.  It was chaos, but we got some cute pictures that will be ready next week.  I can't wait to show them and get them printed up!  They had fun playing with props while we were narrowing down the pictures!

We hung out at Grandma's and then spent the entire evening at the park.  We stayed until past dark, which is later than we have ever been up there!  Harrison kept asking why kids were allowed to play so late!

They had the best time running around all over...

silly gooses...

Davis still loves the swings...

Go Laurel!  This one has no fear and loves to keep up with the big kids!

These two had a great time watching the skate boarders...

Pizza time!

Emily was cracking up b/c she has mastered the head tilt...

We had a great time and were sad to see them leave.  

We are supposed to be on our way to Alabama right now but Davis decided this would be a great time for a stomach virus, so it looks like we are laying low for another day or two.  We are praying with all our might that it ends with him!!!

Feb-March 2014

Its been a while since I've been able to (or had the energy to) write a blog post, so this is just a recap of the past few months.
Right after Harrison's birthday, Lance had tickets for he, his dad, and the boys to go to the Supercross race down at the Georgia Dome.  He has been excited about this for months and the boys were so excited.  The night before, he came down with the stomach virus, so I ended up going.  It ended up being more fun than I anticipated and the kids had a blast.  We were in the Home Depot suite, so it was nice that they could run around.  I think it would have been a different experience entirely if the boys would have had to stay in seats throughout the entire night.  One of Lance's friends from work was there with his two boys who were similar ages to Harrison and Davis, so they played all night.  Davis watching the race with Granddaddy:

 

Harrison and his buddy, watching the race:

 Harrison's buddy, Tucker, was also there with his daddy, so they were pumped to see each other.

Davis played basketball this winter, which was hilarious to watch, if nothing else.  He was so excited to tell everyone that he was playing basketball, but spent most of the time playing with his shirt, laying down, spinning in circles...Our friend, Brandon, was the coach, and to say he was patient with the kids, would be an understatement.

After basketball ended, Harrison's baseball season began.  We are at the park several days a week, but he is on a team with the same coach from last year and a lot of the same boys, so it is a lot of fun to get to see those families again.  This year he doesn't get to hit off the tee, so he has really had to work on his hitting.  His granddaddy has taken him to the batting cages quite a bit and helps out at every practice, so that has also helped.  He loves to practice fielding balls, catching and throwing and is improving in that area more and more every day.  He has a lot of fun practicing but seems to get frustrated with the long games.  I noticed recently that he was the only one without a big barrel bat, so we bought one and low and behold, he went from hitting maybe 1 - 2 balls throughout the game, to hitting everytime he is up to bat.  I'm hoping as he gets better and better, he will get more enthusiastic about it.  His favorite part, is getting to play catcher.  He switches every other inning with another little boy and loves this!

I had to help in the dugout for one of the games and Davis loved it.  He felt like such a big kid, sitting with the big boys.

Now I keep finding him sneaking in to the post game meeting with the team where the coach gives out the game ball...

He also got practice with Harrison's bat and I was amazed at how many balls he was able to hit!

We had team pictures last weekend...

We are so lucky to have such great coaches again...

I also got to go on a girls weekend with my college girl friends.  We all went to Houston for the weekend and had a fantastic time.  It went entirely too fast, but it was nice to relax and catch up.

Harrison and Davis are doing choir this year and they both love it.  Harrison sang in "big church" for the first time this past weekend and did a great job (for some reason the video won't post)

Davis is getting so excited for summer and won't stop talking about the beach and the pool.  Unfortunately, it doesn't feel like its going to be here very soon, but he will be ready when it is!  He loves changing everyday into his swim suit, and has multiple swim suit changes a day.  If its not a swim suit, then its a super hero costume!

Grandma and Granddaddy came to eat lunch with Harrison on Grandma's birthday.  They brought Chick Fila and Harrison was so surprised and excited.

This past weekend, we went up to Marietta Square for dinner and it was cold but beautiful outside.  The flowers were blooming and the square looked so pretty.  Amazingly, the boys were being very cooperative and let me take a few pictures of them...

Davis randomly surprised me today when he got home from school.  He was telling me about how he got to hold the flag today, so I asked if he said the Pledge Of Allegiance, and he just spouted it out.  I didn't realize that they said it in the two's class, b/c Harrison didn't start saying it until he was in the 3's class.   I think he is about the same age as Harrison was when he learned it since he was held back this year.  He is naturally a more quiet/observant kid, and it always amazes  me how he quietly learns things like this.