Awards Day

Yesterday was Third Grade Awards Day in the afternoon. I was getting ready and talking to Lola and she decided she wanted to take Shannon and Shane to it, too. Mason looked SO happy when he saw such a big crowd supporting him. See -- we have family in Texas!

Anyway, he won a ton of awards (honor roll, math fact mastery, behavior, etc) which we are very proud of, but he also won the Leadership award. One boy and girl from every classroom gets selected. We are so pleased that Mason has had an amazing third grade year!

Mason smiling when he sees his group of adoring fans. ;-)

Getting another award.

Shane goofing off for me during the award ceremony.
Shannon being all smiles at Award Day.

When he got home from school, we went swimming with the Monaghans for awhile.

We came home for dinner and returned to the pool. Later last night, Eric and Katie came over to try out Wii Fit. After they left and Mason went to bed, Lola and Jesse came down for a workout. I wish I could use it! Anyway, I am banned from taking ANY Wii Fit pictures. No matter HOW ridiculous my husband looks spinning an imaginary hula hoop around his hips or doing yoga positions, I cannot share that with you people. Sorry.

Tonight, we are going out to dinner to celebrate Mason's awesome year. Mark has to be in San Antonio tomorrow and Mason has a party after school (he gets out at 11:00), so we decided tonight was the best night to celebrate. When we return home, I think it's all night Lego Indiana Jones on the Xbox. ;-) (And yes, I realize we have way too many video game consoles. But we do limit Mason's use to once a weekday and weekends only! Except for Wii Fit, which he can do everyday.)

Oh! I found some more hockey pictures I forgot to post!

I am so proud of how well Mason has adjusted to life in Texas. While he still misses his friends and family in Ohio, he *gets* that Texas is home. He's had an amazing year here. Congratulations, kiddo!!!

Sorry... Sorry...

Life has been so hectic in the Miller home. OK... so maybe not "hectic" as we spend a huge portion of our time at the community pool... but socializing and exercise is important, no?

Mason and the Monaghan kids.

Mason and Shane at the pool.

Um... I haven't been wearing my sunscreen as often as I should.

We had a big party on Memorial Day with the Clarks, Dunagans, and Monaghans. And for once, I didn't take 49060 pictures. So, unless you want to see a picture of Jesse eating and Eric drinking a beer, I have nothing for you. We have gone over to the Dunagans for dinner and had the Monaghan clan down once, too. See? Socializing!

Mark and Mason as we waited for reservations.
Mason and Shane, his little buddy.

Mason playing the Dunagans' Wii.
Doing the Elephant on the Wario game.
Mason and Mark at the Dunagans.
My boys.

And we've also spent a LOT of time at the hockey rinks. Yes, plural. Now, Mason is in a league and taking more lessons and adding power skating to his routine. This summer, our hockey schedule is:

Monday nights -- League

Tuesday nights -- Power skating

Thursday nights -- Lessons

And stick-and-puck and drop-in hockey whenever we want to. The Millers are *REALLY* supporting Austin hockey this summer. Especially now since Mark has made friends with the coach and other dads who play -- something tells me Mason won't be the only Miller on the ice. Heck -- Austin even has a sled hockey team... so maybe all THREE of us will play in the future.

But we won't cheer for the Redwings. Boo!

Anyway, here are some pictures from Mason's last game on Saturday (yay -- we have weekends FREE again!).

He shoots, he SCORES!!!

Mason's last day of school is Thursday. He only goes until 11:00. At noon, he's invited to a birthday/end of the year party. Tomorrow is the class party. Ice cream sundaes (way early in the morning) followed be the award ceremony for third grade in the afternoon. This year seemed to fly on by. I can't believe he's finished with third grade.

I'll try and take pictures of the next few days and post them ASAP. I've been slacking, sorry... but we've spent so much time at the pool, I don't want to be the creepy lady that takes pictures at the pool.

Speaking of which, we had an HOA meeting today. Guess who is now on the Pool and Social committees? Yup. And Mark is on the Communication committee. We love our neighborhood and neighbors. It's going to be a great summer!!!

Busy Times

Friday was Field Day at Mason's school. Mark and I went to watch the third grade run around and have fun. It isn't like our field days where it was more of a competition, rather just a bunch of fun stations like giant volleyball (seriously, that ball was HUGE!), putt-putt, and sponge tosses. Mason had a blast! In the afternoon, I returned to the school to volunteer during the 4th and 5th grade's turn in the face painting booth. I am the least artistic person I know so this was REALLY hard. ESPECIALLY since every child wanted a Longhorn or something else Texan that I needed help with. Mason was picked to volunteer during this time, too, handing out water. Only a few third graders were asked to volunteer because they behave well in P.E. Afterwards, I yanked him out of school early (10 minutes) and we came home and went swimming with a ton of his friends from third grade. No pictures -- didn't want to embaress him!

Mason and his friend, Cameron, at Field Day.
Putt-putt.
He has the Steiner stance with the tongue out, of course.
Smiles.
Trying to put on the Bumper...
Almost there...
Got it!
Bumper Bash at Field Day! (Mason going down!)
More Bumpers!!!

Saturday, Mason did really well in hockey, according to Mark. Since I hadn't slept the previous night at all, I stayed home. When they got home, we went shopping (I FOUND window treatments -- finally!), got a book at Barnes and Noble and went "out" for Mother's Day to avoid crowded restaurants on Sunday. Afterwards, Katie and Eric (our next-door neighbors!) invited us over to play with their new Wii.

Mark and Baker, their dog.
Katie rocking out to Guitar Hero.



Sunday, the boys let me sleep in. Mark did yard work and Mason practiced stick handling on his blades. Mark made a late lunch/early dinner of filet, crab legs, asparagus, twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and buttermilk pie. Oh goodness! While he cooked, I took Mason to the pool and it was completely empty!!!

Cannonball!!!

We came home and ate. Yowza. Then, Eric and Katie came over (in which Eric pulled out our front tree with his bare hands!!) before we ran to Lowes. I think we're going to redo our landscaping soon. We shall see. When we came home, we visited with the Monaghans and we went back to the Dunagan's house for pie and more Wii fun. Eric kicked my bootie in Wii Tennis.

I had a great Mother's Day with the boys and got wonderful presents. While I did miss my Mom (last year, we spent it with her at Jill's), I know we get to see her very soon! All in all, a pretty busy weekend with good times and good friends.

I am Ironman!

So, after our fun-filled day of adventure, we drive to the 1890 Cinemark to see Ironman with the Monaghan's following close behind. This is a new theater and NEVER busy. We got there way early and still had to wait in line. Note to self -- it's hard to save NINE seats in the good rows! ;-)

The movie was AWESOME! Mason has always loved Ironman so this was definitely not the last time he would see this movie.

Afterwards, we all went to Rudino's Pizza (it's beside the theater). We sat in the back, but it was SOO sunny! Ick. We had a blast with the Monaghan's!

Shane, Mason, and Sha-nay-nay.
Leah and Shane.
Mark and Dana. Dana kept asking Mark TONS of questions about the movie.

The next day (sorry -- no pictures!!), we had Katie and Eric over for dinner. Mark made his special Tiki pork sandwiches. We had a great time with them. :) You'll meet them soon enough!!

Still more!

So, I decided to get the heck out of dodge (or... Lola's) and took the kids with me. No snakes at our house... or????

Shane showing off his muscles.
Mark and Shannon on our way to our house.
The mess that became Mason's room when Shannon and Shane invaded. First priority was to find Shannon all of the girl GI Joes and Super Heroes to play with. Check out my son giving up the "SuFi!"
Strange, strange kids.

While I hung out inside with the kids, Mark mowed our lawn and... ran over another snake. This one was little -- like 6 inches long, but after our eventful snake experience, it was enough to do me in. I called my Mom and told her I was packing my bags and moving back to Ohio. ;-)

STILL MORE!!!