graduations galore!! (warning...long post lots of pics)

SCHOOL'S OUT!!!! wahoooooo!!! Who is more excited the kids or mom?? I am just pretty darn sure it's me! I have been looking forward to school being out for a while now! I actually love when the kids are home and we get to spend time together! Life is soooo busy...I really appreciate the slower pace of summer and all the time we get together as a family! With the end of the year comes lots of graduations and awards ceremonies.
So let's get to it... Kailee had her awards ceremony a few weeks ago...did we remember the camera?...nope! She received the outstanding achievement award in Choir for the year and also an award for having an A average all year in every class! Go Kailee...she did awesome this year. She also tried out and got in the Varsity Choir for next school year!
Austin...he was sad to see his reign as president come to an end...not sad to see the school year end! He was recognized at 5th grade graduation as the Student Body president and was given a gavel with his name on it! It's pretty cool! He thought that was super cool! When he went through the line to shake everyone's hands on stage, the Asst. Principal Ms. Miller said..."This is not supposed to be used on your brothers!" :) He also received an award for having an A average all year in every subject area and an award for outstanding achievement in Music. Austin also got to welcome the audience and lead them in the pledge at the D.A.R.E. graduation last week!Tyson...He received an award for all A's all year in every subject. He also got an award for the most responsible in his class and an outstanding reading award! He was a little sad to see the year end...he had a wonderful teacher and he is going to miss her. Also he is going from little brother to being brother next year...since Austin is moving on to Jr. High...Ty will be the oldest Fullmer at the school and Kyler will be the little brother!Kyler...graduated from preschool last week and is now officially a kindergartener! He is sooo anxious and excited to start school he hasn't been as excited about the summer! We requested his teacher for next year so he is super anxious to be with her everyday...we just love Ms. Rigling!!

It's been a bittersweet end to the year...all the kids did phenomenal this year and we are soooo proud of them! We will be starting a new stage in life though...all 4 kids in school! It will be a little sad come September! I know everyone tells me that I will get used to it and love it...but it might take a little time! :) Can you believe that when school starts in the fall, I will have a 13 yr. old 7th grader, an almost 12 yr. old 6th grader (two in Jr. High...WHAT??) an 8 yr. old 2nd grader and a 5 yr. old kindergartener! I have really come to understand better this year how quickly kids grow and that they are only mine for a tiny fraction of time!!
A few more pics after the 5th grade graduation...the whole school comes out and lines the halls for a Clap Out....we make signs to wish the 5th grader good luck in Jr. High...here are some pics of Austin's walk through the halls and us with our signs!

Alli and Shawn...

the whos down in whoville...

Our little (well actually quite grown up) Miss Kailee is performing this weekend in the Katy Jr. High production of Suessical the Musical. She plays a "Who Father". I wasn't able to take any photographs during the performance but here are a few of her after the show was over! She did a fantastic job! It was a good show!! She had a fun costume...that pink hair is awesome isn't it?!! not wanting to show her face and do the picture thing...it's a must though...gotta scrapbook these moments!!ok...fine she will take a picture...and because dad gave her the look....the look that says....Mom is gonna wait all night to get her pictures so please cooperate now so we can all go home!The boys wanted in on the picture taking too! They were proud of their big sis!Posing in front of her sign...you can add notes and good luck wishes to the actors!!Kyler insisted on one more picture...right before the flash Kyler got his toy in there...now I know why he "needed" one more picture!! ...Isn't Kailee beautiful...I love this pic of her...Shawn says it's a little to old for him...but I think she looks gorgeous!!!

Mother's Day weekend

Ok...so here is the deal...I decided that I have been a mom long enough that I really should get 2 days!! So I turned Mother's Day into Mother's Weekend! It actually started on Friday so really I got 3 days!! Friday, Shawn took the boys camping for a Fathers and Sons camping trip that our church does. This was Kyler's first time being able to go...he was super excited!! Also on Friday Kailee had rehearsal until 8:00pm so I went to dinner with some friends and then picked her up...she had to get right to bed cuz she had to be up at 3:30am & be to the jr. high at 4:30am for a trip to San Antonio with her choir. {They sang and then spent the day playing at Fiesta Texas...when she got home at 12:00am she was wired & talking soooo fast about her fun day....her choir won the whole competition and took home the mega huge trophy!!!} So after being up to take her I finally fell back to sleep at 6:00am and then slept in until about 10:45...when I heard Shawn and the boys coming in!! I declared my Mother's Weekend idea to them and told them what I wanted to do for part one (Saturday)...which was to plant some flowers in the yard and get the yard looking nice for summer. We spent most of the day working and making it so pretty! We still have some things left to do but it is looking much nicer and I love the flowers we planted!! Shawn and I ordered some take-out and watched a movie...The Prestige...pretty good. Since we had to wait till midnight to go get Kailee we figured we may as well watch a movie to pass the time! Sunday...part 2...we went to church and when I got home there was a sign on the garage door that said "Do Not Enter...go through front door!" So when I came through the front door there was a sign...Austin and Ty greeting me and Welcomed me to The Mother's Day Inn...I had to sign in and get my "Room #"...Ty led me upstairs and "carried" my bags for me {aka...my purse} He showed me around my suite and showed me my "walk in bathroom, with make-up provided and my walk-in closet that already came with clothes" After I changed into my comfy clothes....I was told to sign up for my lunch time and also for any spa treatments I wanted {the living room was the spa} ...a little side note...Austin had cleaned the entire downstairs too!! I signed up for my lunch and while the chef {Shawn and Kyler} were preparing a turkey wrap with a side of Mangos. My spa man {Tyson} brought me a diet coke and then gave me a foot rub and a backrub! Am I the luckiest or what!!!?? After lunch I got lots of coupon books, sweet cards and lots of loves and kisses. The kids let me take a nap in my suite. We had dinner later in the "Feast Hall" which was fabulous!!! Grilled chicken and mushrooms & onions with brown rice and roasted corn on the cob!! Yumm-O!! We made a few Mother's Day phone calls and then went outside to enjoy the beautiful evening! It was a great day!! I am the most blessed mom ever! My kids are fantastic (my hubby too) ...my weekend was perfect! I couldn't have asked for anything better!!! Austin making me chocolate chip cookies. And of course Kyler made me some Wiggles!!So here are a few pics of the boys camping!!
Austin took this picture of the deer they saw while camping!The boys found a lizard last week...so here they are all taking turns holding it! As many of you may know...I don't do lizards...I hate them! So these pics were from a distance using the ever useful zoom feature!!

our crazy Texas weather

Here are some pics I snapped on Saturday morning. Shawn and I were sitting on the couch talking...all the kids were playing in the backyard and Kyler came running in to tell us that the sky was crazy! "He said that one side of the sky was black and one side was sunny and it was the craziest thing he ever had seen!" Shawn and I went out to see cuz he insisted that we needed to see it! It was pretty cool. We saw the actual front of the front rolling in. You can see from the pics that it went from sorta light to dark in a matter of about 3-4 minutes. There were the coolest looking clouds though. **Later that day it turned out to be absolutely gorgeous...you couldn't have hand picked a more beautiful day...and we had a blast that night at our friend's Crawfish Boil!! The kids had fun swimming...Shawn ate waaaayyy too much crawfish and later declared he had the "meat sweats" and I enjoyed good food and good friends!!** {did I remember my camera for the fun night of swimming and crawfish eating??...nope...just got pics of the clouds!!}