My Little Tulip

Every year Thanksgiving Point Gardens hosts a Tulip Festival.  Not like the ones we use to attend back in Albany every spring, but the flowers are just as pretty!  Kendall and I spent a "girls only" day down at the Gardens and enjoyed seeing all the beautiful colors and flowers.  Here are some of the pics from our time there:

Kendall loved the bath tubs

I was nervous she was going to fall in

Love this pose - by this time she was sick of me and my camera

Ice cream cones make everything better

Now she's showing her playful side

Yes, this is what Kendall is really like!

Check out the dirt on her forehead!  Go figure!

Aren't they beautiful?

What a fun day we had together!

Tiny Dancer

Last night was the Children's Dance Academy's spring recital.  It was held at the Draper Day Barn which is an old barn that has been remodeled and restored and used for these type of events.  Kendall was very concerned that she would be dancing among the cows, chicken and manure!  She did such a great job and didn't act shy like she pretends that she is from time to time!  We were so proud of her and she had a great time with her friends last night.

Pre recital warm up

Avery and Natalie are also in Kendall's class

Happily waiting her turn to perform

Hi Mom!  Love it!

Here's her number to the song L-O-V-E by Nat King Cole:

Cinco De Mayo Festival

For our big school fundraiser this year, we changed things up.  We had a school event on Friday, May 4th for the kids - The Amazing Grace Race.  We planned our own version of the popular tv show.  The kids had a blast!  We then hosted a family version of the race as well as a Cinco De Mayo festival afterwards.  What a great event!  LOTS of work, but LOTS of fun!  Totally worth it!  We were able to raise over $15,000 and after expenses, brought in over $13,000 for our school!  So proud of our school community!  What a great day! 

Here are some of the pictures from our Cinco De Mayo Festival and Amazing Grace Race:

Carrying the cross challenge

David vs. Goliath Challenge

Tower of Babel Cup Stacking Challenge

Ark of the Covenant Challenge

Mariachi band

Our winning boys!

Bounce House fun

Running of the Bulls

Chik-fil-a Cow came to visit

Dancing on the Kenworth truck cab

Even our friends came to check it out!

Faith and Page at the sombrero toss

Carrying the Cross Challenge

Having fun with friends

Bounce house fun

Jalapeno eating contest

This was about all Kendall was allowed to do!

The marshmallow shooters were very popular with the kids AND the dads!

A fun game of mat ball

Riley and his good buddy

Part of the Obstacle Course Challenge

Pastor Brooks in the Running of the Bulls

Pinata fun

Chasing the "Bulls" aka parents

The Kenworth truck was a hit!

Part of the Obstacle Course

All in all, after everything that had happened, I was thrilled with how the two day event turned out.  Everyone kept saying what fun they had and how great they thought it was.  Whew!  Lots of months and hours spent getting ready all paid off!  Thanks to everyone who helped make this day possible and such a great success!  

I'm also proud to announce that the Chunko/Mallory team captured first place in the race!!!

Road Rash

This year started off our Amazing Grace Race (aka Jog-a-thon) at the kids' school with a terrible accident!  While loading up the truck with all the necessary equipment, Kendall fell from the back seat of the truck and landed on her face.  Riley had put the boosters in the truck for me.  She was sitting by the open door and leaned towards the door, fell with her booster face down.  She didn't move right away - I think she was in shock because she didn't cry until I picked her up.  Once I picked her up I saw how wrecked her sweet little face looked and knew we were in trouble.  She had scraped off most of the right side of her cheek area.  Her eye and lip immediately swelled up.

I got her cleaned up and she wanted to go to bed, not a good sign.  We got to school and I started to unload when Alyssa and Miss Sue got a good look at Kendall.  Both agreed I needed to take her to see the doc.  Thank goodness for such great friends!  They pulled off the entire event that I planned while Kendall and I spent the better part of the day at Children's Primary Medical Center.  Kendall got checked out, had a CT scan to check for facial fractures and took a little nap.  Once she got discharged with a concussion but no fractures, we headed back to school.  Once she got out of the truck, she threw up!  Uh oh!  She got lots of lovin' from the kids, parents and staff at school.  One mom even ran home to get Kendall a bunch of Barbie movies to watch at home!

Kendall waiting in the ER - she looked much worse later that night as the swelling and bruising increased

Once we got home, she threw up again!  UGH!  But thankfully it wasn't more than just those two times.  We didn't have to run back up to the hospital but had to keep her calm and resting for a week.  That was the hardest part!  I was tempted to make her wear her bike helmet because she kept hitting her head on things!  Too much anxiety for this mom!

Thank you to everyone at Grace who stepped up, especially Alyssa Mallory, who took over without thinking twice!  Of all days for this to happen...on the day of the big school fundraiser!  Thankfully everything worked out just fine and the kids had a blast doing our first Amazing Grace Race!