The Ducote Family: Moments in May

We had a lot going on in May and thankfully were blessed with good health and great experiences. Here's a recap of the month:

The kids are in a good routine of going to school in the mornings and even though I still think they could/should be there full day, we are thankful for the increase in hours. Plus it means I get three hours to myself three days a week which I'm not going to lie, is lovely! I pick them up at 12:10 and we come home for lunch and have been eating outside since the weather is perfect so it is a nice way to start the afternoon. Here is Julia and a lovely corn dog from school lunch!

The kids had dress up day at school for "Dress for the Future" so they got to dress up as to what they want to be when they grow up. Julia dressed up as a dj and Ella dressed up as a teacher and Joseph opted not to dress up!

Ella celebrated her First Communion this month and she was beautiful! She did a great job this year with all of her lessons online and it was nice to have to set aside time to do them with her each week. Joseph, Julia and Charlotte all had games on the day of First Communion so it was just her, Daddy and I who attended (along with the Ozecks since Cole also received his). After First Communion she and I went to In-n-Out since that was where she wanted to go for lunch, while Rich went to meet the rest of the kids at the games. We celebrated at our house that night with everyone for dinner and had a great night. God Bless Ella!

This is Ella's banner that she made for First Communion that was hanging in the church.

It's felt more like a regular season this spring which we are so thankful for. We wrapped up the spring season this month and everyone had a great season. Julia's team ended up winning the championship which was so much fun! Joseph's team made it far into the playoffs which was a surprise since they didn't have a great record during the season so it was nice to end on a good note and Charlotte and Ella didn't have playoffs but both had great seasons.

We continued to spend a lot of time at the community park this month while practices winded down.

Always SO MANY interesting selfies found on my phone!

I got a haircut and Julia and I had the same hair!

Joseph was on student council this year so he had to pose for a photo for the yearbook. He has done a great job this year with keeping up with his schoolwork, along with his extracurriculars of student council and roadrunner TV.

The following are just random shots from the past month:

Charlotte and I always hang outside in the driveway for a few minutes while we wait for Christy and Spencer to pick her up and I love these moments with her.

Julia posing with her dj set:

Charlotte and her many looks!

Time for a haircut for Joseph!

Ella put curlers in her hair the night before so wanted to send a picture to Rich!

I'm pretty sure they were eating dessert and I just snapped this photo because they sit like this so often that I just always wanted to remember it...all in a row, always in their "designated" seats. They are so lucky to have each other and every day I am so thankful for them. They really have great relationships with one another and and get along so well.

Our friends, The Tirado family, are moving to Kansas early next month so we had Isabella spend the night one night. Isabella has been such a good friend to our girls since we moved here and they love her like an older sister. We sure will miss having them so close but know that they'll love Kansas being so close to family.

Rich and Joseph making a fire for the girls for smores.

Charlotte has been coming into our bed in the middle of the night recently and this is how I found her one morning!

We tried a new hike (Santa Margarita) one Saturday wtih the Ozecks and had a great time. The entire hike ran next to a river so we stopped at a few spots and the kids swam and played in the water for a long time. We definitely want to go back here!

Joseph helping Charlotte get across the rocks-he is so good with her!

We cleebrated Mother's Day and Nani's birthday this month, too. It definitely was a month full of celebrations. We are so thankful for Nani-she is such a blessing for all of us as a mother and a grandmother!

And I am so thankful to be the mom of these kids, even though we couldn't get one nice picture!!!

For Mother's Day we all went over to Nani and Poppa's in the afternoon and then the moms snuck away to Orfila for a few hours which was such a treat! Then we came back and the guys grilled for us-it was a lovely day!

Safari Park with Nani and Poppa one day for Charlotte and the cousins!

Funny story about this photo...Joseph had a great game one night so we decided to go get ice cream from Dairy Queen to celebrate! The Ozecks came along, too. As we pulled up to Dairy Queen they were closing (it was 7:00)...thankfully the Rite Aid in the same shopping center has ice cream so we went in there but the employee was on break so we had to wait FOREVER!! The kids entertained themselves by looking at greeting cards so it was entertaining at least, while Dave and Rich ordered Mexican food!

Morning snuggles with Charlotte...whether you want them or not!

We were inside one evening and everyone was playing and all of a sudden I hear the ice cream truck outside and then I hear a stampeded or kids sprint down the stairs yelling, "The ice cream man, the ice cream man!" I said yes and they bolted out the garage and tracked him down!

We celebrated Shane's birthday at the Clinton's home over Memorial Day weeekend. THey set up an obstacle course in the backyard that everyone got to do thtat was fun and Ella beat most of the boys!

Michelle and her family came to town so I was able to go out to dinner with her and then the next day they stopped by the house so I could show it to them since they haven't been here. It was so great to see her!!