The Vickery's

We had a wonderful week in Hilton Head!  It has been several years since we have beached there and it was as great as we remembered.  The kids dug and made sandcastles, found starfish, walked the beach, swam in the pool, and searched for alligators.  We had some delicious meals and finished every night with Hilton Head ice cream.  Ellie's favorite was Cookie Monster and Thomas' favorite was Superman.  We are thankful we're able to enjoy the beach for two weeks this year and excited about Litchfield in a few weeks.

We kicked off summer celebrating Memorial Day on the lake with family and friends!  

Ellie celebrated her sixth birthday with five special friends at Plate 108.  It was a rainbow cooking themed class and the girls had so much fun baking and creating.

Thomas missed his last day of school because he was sick with the dreaded fever virus but we took the obligatory pictures on the steps and made sure to get some with his teachers.  Thomas, just like Ellie, hated drop off every single day - he is bumping up to three days a week in the fall and I hope this helps with the separation anxiety.  

I am always a mess at the end of the school year.  This year was particularly hard as it's Ellie's last day at Southside Christian.  We decided in March of last year that she was probably going to repeat kindergarten and it was important to me that she have two separate k5 experiences and so the natural choice was to spend one of those years at SSC.  We had some growing pains in the beginning of the school year but she has grown leaps and bounds and flourished with Mrs. Czuk and Mrs. Phillips.  They taught her to read and add and subtract and spell - but most importantly, they taught her how to have self-confidence and to believe in herself.  Jesus seeps from their pores and they pointed Ellie to Him repeatedly throughout the year - beginning and ending the day in prayers covering her and her classmates.  They taught Ellie so much scripture that she has hidden in her heart.  My love for them is deep, for loving on our Ellie so well and providing a foundation that will be so important as she continues in her education.  We ended the last day of school with lots of tears and lots of hugs - but Ellie is more than ready for her "big girl school" next year and we can't wait to see her flourish and thrive!