Lake Fun

This was the trip that Nathan finally got brave enough to cross wake while skiing! And Charlotte attempted to ski. She got up lots of times but hasn't really mastered the balancing part. She is so close though! And this was a fun trip because Nathan, Charlotte and I picked up Mama on Wednesday morning and drove to the lake early that morning. Then everyone else met us there Thursday afternoon. It was fun to be there with just Mama for a little while. We did our favorite thing...binge watched a new Netflix series called the Staircase! 

Parnell Family Reunion

We went to El Dorado for the Parnell Family Reunion. We haven't been there in years so it was so much fun to go back and remember the good ole days! Nathan and Charlotte have been there but they were little so they didn't remember it. We drove them by Mommy and Daddy's old houses and then Wayne, Stuart and Grandmother took the boys to eat Spudnut Donuts and then to the stadium to play football. While they were doing that, Carrie, Tiffany and I took Charlotte and Lexa to the square to walk around and grab a snack and then we all met up for lunch. Nathan and Charlotte were so amazed that no matter where we went, it only took about 5 minutes! Something cool that El Dorado does is a show called Showdown at Sunset. It's once a month and is a reenactment of a famous gunfight on the courthouse steps between the city Marshall Guy Tucker and two members of the Parnell family in 1902. It's neat that it's part of the Parnell history. We had a great weekend of catching up with family and eating WAY TOO MUCH good food! The kids also had a great time with each other. I always love it when they can get together with all of their cousins at one time! We were also able to go by the cemetery to see Wayne's dad's grave along with his grandparents. It always makes me sad that Nathan and Charlotte and I never got to know him. I know he would be so proud of Wayne and our family and that Nathan and Charlotte would have loved Grandfather.  

Girls Trip to Las Vegas!

School got out on June 7th and that afternoon I headed to the airport to meet Carrie and our group of high school friends for a girls trip to Las Vegas! We were there Thursday through Sunday and had so much fun together. We stayed at the Bellagio in a suite. The first day was our private cabana/pool day and then a delicious dinner at Nobu. The next day we just walked around to different casinos and played the slots and people watched. We had dinner that night at a place called Rose Rabbit Lie. It was dinner with a live music show. It was great to have a quick getaway and lots of fun with the girls!

End of the Year Awards

I can't believe it's the end of the year!!! And we had a big surprise at the Awards Ceremony for Nathan! Both Nathan and Charlotte got gold academic medals for doing their reading projects. These projects are voluntary and you can either get no medal, bronze or silver. They both got gold. Plus they both got A honor roll. And the cute thing with Charlotte is that she and her best friend, Adalynn planned on wearing the same outfit :) The big surprise for Nathan is that he got chosen as student of the YEAR!!! He has never gotten this and never thought he would. It was so exciting for us and him. He was kind of hoping for student of the nine weeks but when they didn't call his name, he stopped paying attention, ha! Then when they were announcing the students of the year and they called out Nathan Parnell, he thought they said Aidan. But one of his friends hit him and said "It's you!" He said his legs were so wobbly because he just didn't believe it! He also got The Hardest Worker Award. This really meant a lot to him and us because this was the first year that he just LOVED school. He always does well, but math has always been a struggle for him, and he would rather do sports than school work :) He's all boy. He just loved his teacher, Mrs. Klima. She pushed him to try hard and not give up and made him feel special and smart. He wanted to do well for her and make her proud. I just love teachers like that!!!! He also had to take the Starr test this year. This was the first year that it really counted. He took it last year but it was more of a practice test. He didn't do well on math so he was put on a list of kids who needed extra tutoring this year. At first he was really upset about it, but when he found out Mrs. Klima would be his tutor, he was really happy. He was in a group with 3 other girls in his class so Mrs. Klima always joked that it was Nate Dog and his girls (she nicknamed him Nate Dog and called him that all year which he loved). Once when shopping he found a t shirt that said "Ladies Man" and that became his Wednesday tutoring uniform, ha! Well, we got his Starr test results after school let out (I was so nervous to see them!) but he passed and scored so well!!! The 79th percentile! And he scored in the 90th percentile for reading and writing which is phenomenal! So proud of him!!!! We went out to eat that night to celebrate and ran into his tutoring group at Chilis. When we walked in, we heard "Nate Dog!" And then giggling. I got a picture of them together :) Their moms said that their girls always talked about how nice he is to them and everyone else. Makes Mommy proud of her boy