Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Last Day of School & Memorial Day Weekend

We had such a wonderful long weekend together. I'm back to work today for post-planning but summer has officially started and the Selph fam is thankful and excited!! (And also praying our littlest is on the mend after getting sick last night and that no one else gets it! #boo #sicknessbegone)

Our last day of school was Friday and we only had a half day so it was short and sweet. Here are my boys on their last day of 3rd grade, Kindergarten, and Preschool...



They were excited and ready. 😊

(And here's a flashback to our 1st day of school)

I was feeling great about my last day with students and definitely on a summer starts this afternoon high, until I got to school and Terrell sent me one of our fb memories. This sweet, adorable, precious baby boy is now heading to 4th grade! #sobs Trying to soak it up and slow it down and enjoy it all. Man does time fly.

My para and I just after saying goodbye to our kiddos! We made a great team this year and I'm so thankful I get to work with her again for the upcoming year!

This is what the back of our shirts look like. Woohoo! 😊

My parents picked up all 3 boys from school and took them out to lunch to celebrate since I had to work until 2 on Friday. So after picking them up from my parents' house, we arrived home to a surprise from their other grandparents! Terrell's parents left them a candy bouquet, cards, and baseball cards as another little celebration of the last day. They were super surprised and thrilled with their goodies!

As soon as we sorted through book bags and last day goodies, we changed into swimsuits and headed for the pool! After TONS of rain this week we were sooo excited for a little sunshine and swimming!! 

Saturday morning was pretty lazy until we started getting ready for our official grand opening pool party! (Based on the weather, we decided to host our Memorial Day get together on Saturday.... which doubled as our grand opening pool party. 😊) We had so much fun!!



After lots of swimming, Terrell grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for us and some of us lounged and read. Ah. Sweet, sweet summertime. 

Austin actually went in to watch the Braves game (or some baseball game) and fell asleep! Bless it. Swimming can be exhausting and lead to some awesome naps. 😊

We had such a good meal together and enjoyed eating out on our brand new deck. (I'm going to plan a start to finish post soon of our new backyard!) It was a fun grand opening party with lots of laughs and delicious food. Including an ice cream bar for dessert! The whole afternoon and evening was the best.

Sunday morning we overslept a tad but made it to church barely on time in our red, white, and blue. 😊

And Austin's Sunday School artwork was my favorite! 

Sunday afternoon was overcast but DRY, so we spent our time poolside while we could. The rain around here has felt non-stop. And we have more coming this week. So we're making the most of our opportunities to be outside!

Terrell even decided to cut our backyard/new sod for the first time.... so of course our littlest man had to join in and help out. #mylandscapers #likefatherlikeson

Monday morning was lazy for everyone. It was rainy and messy and we slept as late as we could before getting up and starting the day. I ended up going shopping while Terrell and the boys stayed home. I went in search of a new swimsuit but struck out. I may have to order one. Eeesh. The boys got super bored at home so Terrell took them to Dollar Tree and out to lunch. Haha. Once I got home there was a break in the rain so the boys went out to swim while I did a few things around the house. 

And then to wrap up our long weekend, we went out on a family date! And it was Terrell's idea!! Haha! He said he was trying to speak my love language. 😊 We had a great family date night. 

Not perfect.... but close. 😊

So, so grateful for the men and women who have served and fought for our freedoms so I can enjoy weekends like this one with my family. Praying God's blessings and grace on their families as they are remembered. 

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Friday, May 25, 2018

Friday Favorites: Last Week of School Edition!

We have had a fun, busy, looong last week of school. Phew! Mama (and Mrs. Selph!) is SPENT. But today is the day we wrap it up and welcome Summer!! Woohoo!! #allthepraisehands

Here is a look at our favorite happenings from our last week of school....

*We kicked things off Monday morning with Garrison's Awards Day at school. We just give God the glory for His grace and blessing on Garrison's 3rd grade year. This year was probably his favorite school year so far. He LOVED his homeroom teacher, loved the school, loved the challenges and learning, and did great. 3rd grade exceeded our expectations big time and we are soo thankful. And proud of our biggest!!

He worked very hard this year and earned some special awards. 


He received one math award in particular that we were so excited about because he set out to achieve it and he did it! (One of only 3 third graders to achieve it!) 

We are so proud of our rising 4th grader. He is motivated all on his own and 3rd grade really pushed him to learn more, know more, and do more.... without stressing him out or discouraging him. I'm just in awe of how God made this year (this "transition" year that we were pretty nervous about and had been warned about and concerned about) SO smooth and amazing for our biggest. 

*Then on Tuesday it was all about Layton and his graduation from preschool!

We were blessed with a great year for our baby boy too! Big school PreK will still be an adjustment I'm sure, but I'm thankful he's going in as ready as he can be. 

Layton's program and graduation were held Tuesday night in our sanctuary and his class performed several nursery rhymes and Bible verses that were so cute.

Layton even had a special part with "Little Boy Blue". He did so good. 😊

We are very thankful for how well Layton adjusted to preschool, being away from me all day, and for his wonderful teacher (who has been a family friend for my whole life!).

This is what his slide showed when he went on stage. 😊 Love!! And his best friends! Oh my mama heart!!

Our little graduate!


It was such a fun program and we had a great time celebrating with Layton. He was so proud that we were all there for him. 😊

*Then on Wednesday it was time for my end of year program with my class AND for Austin to show me his new sight word karate kid. His name/karate kid is at the bottom. 😊 Once again, we can't take credit. He wanted to learn more and more sight words and kept asking us to practice with him and asking his teacher for new lists, and just never gave up. He worked hard until the last week of school and now knows way more sight words than he has to before entering 1st grade. We are just really proud parents this week. Tired and proud. 😊

*Our little program for our parents turned out so good! We had a room FULL and my students did awesome!! It's so bittersweet to see this group leave me for Kindergarten but I know they are ready. They are itching for more and it's time. And I am going to miss their parents big time. They were the best. I'm praying God gives me another group of sweet kiddos and supportive, wonderful parents. 

*Wednesday evening we finally had a breather and crashed after supper. We watched the first few innings of the Braves game and just relaxed. And savored the night off!


Then on yesterday morning, it was all about Austin. Awesome Austin as his teacher called him this year. 😊 The Kindergarten classes had their end of year program at our Fine Arts Center and we got to watch our middle man sing and perform. This is Austin's class walking out on stage and being introduced. (He's 3rd from the left)

It was such a cute program with all of the Kindergarten classes and we are sooo proud of Austin's hard work this year. Kinder was a big transition for him and he faced some challenges early on with his nerves and anxiety (and a crazy scare and hospitalization with HSP). But he had the best teachers and absolutely soared academically. We couldn't be more proud of him. 

And it was super special to have Piper come watch him at his program too! #cousins #oneofPiper'sboys

This week has been FULL and busy but super special and so much fun. God really surpassed our expectations for the year and blessed us beyond anything we could imagine. On today, our last day, I am just especially thankful and give Him the glory for all FOUR of our school years. We embarked on something brand new and a little scary and we did it!! Through God's faithfulness, grace, and provisions, we did it. #praiseGodfromWhomallblessingsflow

We are so excited to welcome summer and enjoy a BREAK from the busyness, demands, and exhaustion of the school year. 😊 Happy, HAPPY Friday!!

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Catching Up

Since I feel like May is the craziest month ever and I haven't had time to blog about everyday happenings, I decided I needed to try to catch up a little. I'm going to want to remember this stuff! 😊

We've had a long few weeks of school this month. Summer is in the air, everyone is counting down, we can all smell freedom, and the kids are crazy. Cuh-RAY-zee. Haha! But this quote is soo very true. One of my new favorites for sure. And I'm having to keep it in mind so I don't lose my mind. Ha!
Enjoying a year of school with my middle man has been pretty awesome. At the beginning of the year he wanted me to walk him to his classroom every single morning and he made some regular visits to my classroom during the day due to some anxiety issues that we never would've predicted. But, as the year went on, he became more and more confident and now he's a pro. I'm so proud of him. He's definitely ready for 1st grade. 

Piper and AnAn have been over to swim a couple of times and Baby Girl loves the pool! She's even jumped off the diving board a time or two!! 

Just for record keeping purposes I had to post Layton's little Mother's Day questionnaire he did at school. Haha! These are always so special and funny. 

Last Monday was the only day it didn't rain last week. So we took advantage of it by swimming after school and eating outside! #bestMondayever  

We are enjoying our new backyard so much!!

We finally wrapped up Spring sports and now we're moving on to some summer sports commitments.... but thankfully we get to wrap those up mid-June. We sure do love watching our boys play.


I'm pretty sure Garrison's biggest fan was Piper Caroline. She was so sweet greeting him with a big hug after one of his games. 😊

T-ball was exciting as always and both our boys had a ton of fun. Layton got tired of playing in the field during most games but he honestly loved the season as a whole. He loved going to practice, LOVED batting, and had a blast winning. Haha. And Austin's love of the game runs deep. 😊 It was a really fun season.




This month we also had another big yard sale and Terrell was finally able to clean out the garage and get things organized the way he wanted. It looks amazing!! Unfortunately I don't have a before picture, but let's just say it was a cluttered and very messy space. Now it's clutter-free and perfect. Yay.

Last week my para and I decided we wanted to start a new tradition of putting our students' handprints on the ceiling tiles in our room every year. And it's perfect because this is my first year in Pre-K so I got to start the tradition with my very first class. They've been driving me crazy big time, but these handprints and names melt me. 

We had the best Saturday this past Saturday. After a very rainy (and exhausting!) week, we slept in Saturday morning, went to a fun birthday party at lunch time, then after I got home from buying groceries, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the pool or in our new lounge chairs enjoying the sunshine! It was the best day!

Terrell got our new umbrellas set up and everything too. YAY! 



We just need one more for the table on our deck and we'll be set. 😊

We all sort of felt like we were at the beach on Saturday. It was sunny but not miserably hot, we had the shade of our umbrellas, and we smelled like sunscreen. Ha. Even Layton decided to scoop and pour pool water into his bucket as if it were sand. Hahaha! We had such a great afternoon together. And we topped it off with Mexican take-out for supper and watching the Braves. Summer is definitely in the air. 

We've had a busy, fun, tiring month of May so far. 😊

I'm hoping to blog about my favorites from our last week of school on Friday.... but this is another crazy-busy week so who knows. Ha. Even though we have lots going on this week and are worn out already, we are most definitely counting down and SOOO excited about summer break!!