let them be little

I saw this on Facebook the other day and almost died when I saw it.  Isn't this unbelieveable??  Why does time have to go so fast?

So.  My baby graduated from high school preschool.

Why does this picture make me feel like she's moving out and going to college tomorrow?? #slowdowntime

 It seems like just yesterday that I registered her when she had just turned 3.

We did curlies the night before and can you tell how excited she was when she woke up?

She just looked precious. 

She wanted a picture with her backpack on!  Ha!

We brought this big bin of summer fun for her teacher as a last day gift!  It was almost bigger than she was- ha!

This poster was set up with all the kids photos that were taken professionally.  Why do they try to make us momma's blubbering, sobbing messes on this day??

This was sweet.  Kerigan's is at the bottom in pink.  She said God was "in Heaven."  I love that girl.

They came walking in to pomp and circumstance...

They sang the sweetest little songs for us...

The letters and sounds song!

The kid next to her was killing me!  #hispoorparents

My girl sang every word and did every action.  I was so proud of her!

Kerigan with Dr. Herrick- the principal

And her amazing teachers Mrs. Lustyk and Mrs. Ricken

I loved her smile here.

And here :)

 Whenever she's asked who her best friends are, or who she wants to invite to her birthday party, or who she wants to play with she will always say Lily and Annika.  We are SO SO sad to be moving away from these girls and their moms.  Kerigan is going to be lost without them.  They have been in day care, preschool, tumbling and dance together for 3 years.  I can only pray and pray some more that she will find these rare and blessed friendships when we move.

Her fan club :)

We adore our sweet girl more than words can express.

So do her Ga Ga and Papa.  And she pretty much thinks they hung the moon...

Why does she look like 16??  Ugh!

We LOVE Mrs. Ricken!  She had the kids make a precious little book for them to remember preschool.

We walked outside the church and I saw this little bush and told her to stand by it and this is what I got.  I love this girl!

She knows how to rock the camera, doesn't she?!

After her ceremony we took her to Applebees for a special lunch.

She was so happy!

I took the rest of the day off so after lunch we went home and had a fun afternoon with Ga Ga!  We made cookies.  She loves to help in the kitchen so I knew she would love to do this.

Then she wanted to get her pj's on and relax!  It was my idea of a perfect day.  Celebrating my girl... and relaxing!  Ha!

Speaking of relaxing...that weekend we celebrated with pedicures!

The ladies just loved her and were doting all over her!

She was on top of the world at this point.

Then we did a little shopping at Hobby Lobby.  Seriously?  #summerjuststarted

We had an amazing day and weekend celebrating our girl.  

Hats off to the graduate!

And because I love comparisons... 

My babies on their Preschool Graduation days... be still my heart.

almost summer!

Cousin Jayden's birthday always marks the beginning of summer!  The kids were thrilled to go to Sky Zone this year to celebrate!

Kerigan did not leave this area almost the entire time.  She loved doing her tumbling moves and flying into the foam pit!

This is such a fun place!  Happy 8th birthday Jayden!

#alljumpedout

Kerigan finished up swimming lessons.  She took lessons for 6 weeks every other session all year.  It was so good for her!  She kept up with her skills and learned so much!  I feel like when they just take a week or two session every summer, they lose so much over the year.

She turned into a fish this year.  She was diving off the boards by the last day!  So proud of her accomplishments!

Kerigan has been continuing her tumbling classes and getting ready for Nationals next month!  They had a pizza party for all the kids after pictures the other night.  We are going to miss her tumbling place, too!  She's learned so much and just loves it.  We will definitely be finding a new place this summer!

Andrew still has a few more baseball games but we've enjoyed spending Wednesday nights at the ballpark!

We love seeing our friends there and Kerigan always has other kids to play with while Andrew is playing ball!  This is her teacher's little girl and she is adorable!  Kerigan doesn't get to be the "big girl" very often and she loves it!

And when Andrew doesn't have a game... daddy usually does!  We love going to watch Bobcat baseball with our friends!

Kerigan had her first friend sleepover away from home!  She and Payton had a great time together!  They were both so excited.

They giggled and stayed up late.  The definition of a perfect sleepover.

While Kerigan had her sleepover, this guy had a sleepover at Ga Ga's.  She won him over by taking him to his most anticipated movie of the year, Angry Birds.  Even though anyone who knows my mom knows how much she hates birds.  #anythingforyourgrandchildren

She also stocked up on McDonalds Angry Bird toys and he figured out he could make stunts with them out of his tinker toys just like the iPad game.

They had a great time doing this!

Everyone was lounging around the next day!  Including Belle! Ha!

Andrew was so sweet- he went into Kerigan's room and shut her door.  We thought this was odd but we sort of forgot about it.  After a while he yells down to Kerigan to come up and he had a surprise for her.  I wish I had videotaped her reaction.  She walked right over to him and did this.  I thought she was going to cry from happiness.

He had set up this sweet little tea party and listening to them getting along was pure bliss.  Let's hope that continues this summer!  Ha!  

This is what you call a sleepover hangover.  She was asleep by 6:30 on daddy's lap.  And she slept until 6:30am! #didntevenchangeherclothes #momoftheyear

So we took these pictures for Ga Ga.  Because you know, she hates birds.  Our neighbors got a parakeet and invited the kids over to meet her.  They weren't sure at first, as you can tell from their apprehensive expressions.  But they ended up fascinated with it!

Just chilling out one night before tumbling #cheesyfingers

Ga Ga came over to spend the night the other night and we had pizza on the patio!  Love these "almost" summer nights!

Who says pizza isn't a "patio" food?!

Memorial Day weekend we went to Ames to help Ga Ga decorate Grandpa Bill's grave.  The kids always love doing this.

Then we spent the night at Ga Ga's so we could head to my aunt and uncle's the next day.  The kids had a blast in Ga Ga's new jet tub!

Taking over Ga Ga and Papa's bed reading stories!

We had to drive through the cemetery again on Memorial Day.  It is always so beautiful with the flags out.  Andrew is always so sweet and talks about Great Grandma Tootie (my grandma) and Grandpa Bill (my dad).  He said we need to go visit Tootie also, but she is very far away so we told him we do need to go another day!

Before we left he wanted to give Grandpa a hug.  #meltmyheart

We miss you dad!

We headed up to my aunt and uncle's (my mom's brother) farm on Monday for a BBQ and family time!  They have so many cool "toys" and the kids always love visiting!

They had baby goats!

Newborn kittens!  Andrew was fascinated by them.

And Daisy the pony!  Chester is the bigger horse.

My mom had disappeared and all of a sudden these two come flying out of the woods!  Ha!  My mom and her sister in law.

Then Kolton took Andrew for a super fast drive on his special "big guy" trails!  Andrew thought it was the best thing in the world.

We ended the day with watermelon before heading home.  Because who doesn't eat watermelon on Memorial Day??