Let's Go Purple Sox!

The Purple Sox had a great season and Meredith loved learning to play t-ball!  They completed their season right after Memorial Day with a last game and a fun party at Braum's!

Meredith, defending 3rd base

 Ready to bat with a little help from her coach

 Look at that stance - she is gonna be the faster runner home you have ever seen!  Running all the bases was by far Meredith's favorite part!

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A little blurry, but super cute!  Going through the tunnel at the end of the game

 On to celebrate at Braum's - here are all the sweet girls from her team - check out their cool medals that one of the moms made for the girls!

 We loved playing soccer and t-ball with Meredith's friend Reagan, especially because she has a little sister that Jillian loves!  Jillian and Schaeffer always made their own fun during games and practices!

Pretty proud of her medal!!

Last Day of School

Oh, the last day of school.  This year, I tried to hold it in. I did as well as I could - this was Meredith's last day of preschool ever!  And her last day at Fielder Road, the school where she has learned so much, grown so much and just had so much fun!  I have loved each of her teachers so much and what an amazing blessing all of them have been over the last 3 years.  I couldn't help but get choked up walking her and Jillian in on Thursday and thinking back to her first day there - just barely three, me tearing up as I left her, toting tiny little Jillian in my arms.  Even the lady that greets us each morning couldn't help but remind me how much they have grown and how beautiful they are.  She was out to get me from the start! 

I got them each to their class and then headed to brunch with some of the other Fielder mommies while Meredith started her last day celebrations!  Her class got to have water day - complete with little pools, water gun fights, and snow cones!  We got back to school just in time for them to change and start the rest of the party!

 The party was a luau so they were all excited to get a lei when they got there!

 Having lunch with her friend Caroline

 This girl was serious about her limbo-ing!

 A "prize" for her expert limbo skills!

 And they help make you look even cooler doing the limbo

 And a pic with her two teachers, Mrs. Guice and Mrs. Mays.  What an answer to prayer these ladies have been.  We, of course, went back and forth on where Meredith should be this year, but luckily for me, Mrs. Mays sat down with me last year and really helped solidify our decision to let her come spend the year with them. They have been everything she needed - her year started off a little rough because she didn't know any of the friends, and they understood and were patient (with her and me!) They took care of her and helped her through that transition.  They worked with her on her reading even when she had exhausted the books they had in their class.  They laughed with us, telling us they didn't have anything to teach Meredith, but we all agreed that she got everything she needed from this year.  They reminded me of how much she has grown, matured, and how much her confidence has soared this year - and I know that is because of their influence.  See why I lost it when I got there to pick her up?  :)

 Next up, I got to go pick up sweet Jillian from her last day as a Little Lamb with Miss Erica and Miss Nelda.  Again, what a blessing.  These ladies are a perfect compliment to each other and just love those kids so much. I couldn't have asked for more amazing first teachers for my little girl.  

After school, we headed out to the playscape for one more play time with our friends and then out for Frozen Yogurt to celebrate with Caleb, Corinne, and Stella.  We have not only been blessed by the school, the teachers, and all they have learned, but by the wonderful friends we got to spend time with throughout the year (and especially during those after school playtimes!)

Nelly the Nurse

As a celebration of studying all the letters of the alphabet throughout their year of school, all of PreK does a "Zippity Zoo" parade.  Each letter has a character associated with it and the kids each choose one to be in a little parade.  Meredith had about as tough a time deciding this as she did picking what to collect, but finally decided to be Nelly the Nurse!  We made the nurse's hat from paper and a headband, I tacked some ribbon onto the front of a white shirt and we added a doctor's kit we had in the playroom and she was perfect!  Meredith even added a few things to the doctor's kit that they talked about in the Nelly the Nurse song - a newspaper, nickels, and a nightgown and she was set!

She wanted to practice out her nursing skills before school - luckily Jillian was willing to play patient - looks like she has good insurance too, she seems to only have to pay a penny co-pay.

Daddy Daughter Dance

So, as the icing on the cake for the recital, the grand finale is Daddy Daughter Dance!  This is something that Neal and the girls have been practicing up at the dance studio for over the past month and is probably the highlight of our entire year every year we have been a part.  This year, they did a Footloose montage, starting with the littlest girls dancing to "Let's Hear it for the Boys." Then the girls a little older danced to "Hero" and finally the oldest girls did "Footloose" It was adorable as always and my three did a great job!  I am so proud of Neal - he was the only daddy in this group to have to work with two daughters and I think he did fantastic - and I know the girls agree!

 At the end of the whole dance scene, each daddy/daughter set had to pick their own ending pose.  Miss Jillian suggested they all end posed as Meerkats and what could be more perfect for us?  

 I tried so hard to get a family pic at the end - this one is cute, but Jillian is done!

I really wanted another Meerkat pose picture, too, but as you can tell that was not going to happen either.

 So then we just got silly trying to snap her out of it.

Then Landon wanted to join in!  So, we got silly smiles, no Meerkats, but lots of fun! :)

My beautiful little dancers

So many pictures from their fun recital day!  As an added bonus to the night of recital fun, Aunt Sandy, Laura, and Victoria all made a special trip to come see the girls during dress rehearsal because they couldn't be there for the real thing, but I think they actual were able to really enjoy this so much more!  And the girls loved getting flowers during the day and night!  

 Thanks for coming to see us dance and for our pretty flowers!

Such a pretty girl! 

Love my beautiful Beans!

 Me and the beauties

 Finally, it was time for the recital! The stage was open for a little play time before and the girls got up and were having fun posing and being silly.  I love how these girls love to do everything together.

 Jillian is ready to take the stage for real

 And big sis isn't far behind

 Posing with my girls after watching their stage-stealing performances

Admiring their beautiful flowers from Gigi and Papa

Tale as Old as Time

...or, if you are Meredith, you might think that famous song from Beauty and the Beast is saying "Hey, there's all this time..." Meredith, too, really stood out at her performance - I was so proud to watch her do all the moves she had worked so hard on all year and just have so much fun!