joy is prayer, joy is strength

Joy is prayer - Joy is strength - Joy is love - Joy is a net of love by which you can catch souls.
~Mother Teresa

Above all, I want my littles to be kind, God-loving, giving individuals who always look for the silver lining. I want them to love with their whole hearts and to find joy in the little things.

And even as I...we...are trying to teach them these things, they are teaching us so much more in return. I love how truly happy they are and I pray when they look back on their childhoods, big fat smiles sneak up on their sweet faces.
 

Kindergarten Literary Ball!

Friday was the long anticipated Kindergarten Literary Ball at the little pumpkin's elementary school and she dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood!

Cutest Little Red! {yes, I'm biased!}
She was sooooo excited!!

Adorable littles!!

So many fun book characters!

Little Bo Peep and Old King Cole...

Max from Where the Wild Things Are...

Peter Pan and Wendy...

Splat the Cat!

Glinda the Good Witch and the Tin Man...

The Man in the Moon!

Rapunzel and her Prince Flynn Rider...

Pocahontas and John Smith...

Our theme was Adventures in Reading...by Land, Air and Sea! Meredith and Angela...two of our uber talented moms created this fun backdrop...

Amber, another super talented mom, created the adorable keepsake scrolls with all of the children's names {blurred for privacy reasons}...

My friend Bridgette and I were in charge of food and we had a blast coming up with the menu {inspired by pinterest, of course}!

We had Molten Core Push Pop Cupcakes and Caterpillars {Adventures by Land}, Pirate Ships, Mermaid Food, Cannon Balls, Sailboats, Pirate's Gold, and Pixie Juice {Adventures by Sea}, and Hot Air Balloons and Snowballs {Adventures by Air}...

I made the jello Pirate Ships using {this} tutorial and free printable by Marie of Make and Takes and they turned out so cute!!

Angela and Bridgette made these fun centerpieces...

Another sweet mom, Kristi, made these sparkly treasure boxes...

Alicia, one of the moms in Grace's class made this super fun treasure map runner...love all the details she painted!!

Oh, and there's her cutie pie Savannah as The Lorax with another one of Grace's buddies Will as Max! Savannah's mom hand-sewed her costume - talk about talented!!

Super cute party favors by Amber...

Our wonderful principal dressed up as Cinderella to introduce each couple as they walked in...

Grace as Little Red Riding Hood and her dance partner Splat the Cat ready to take the stage...

The girls curtsied and the boys bowed before dancing the waltz...

I'm so bummed that my camera malfunctioned {kept giving me the darn busy signal} as Grace was walking in and I missed a bunch of sweet photo opps :(

They were so cute and soooooo excited!! 100% of the children danced and I think that's a huge testament to what a great job the four kindergarten teachers did getting all 80 students ready!!

Before...

...and after! Ha!

Our sweet Little Red!

Enjoying the yummy Hot Air Balloons another one of the sweet moms, Molly, made...

Pretty Alice and a Handsome Pirate!

I love this photo! Grace was soooooo excited when she spotted Noonie who had rushed from a doctor's appointment to make it there... {Mimi, we now you were working and couldn't make it, so we videotaped it so you could see!!!}

LOVE!

Grace with her sweet principal...

Grace with her beloved teacher Ms. V...

Family pic!

Noonie and her girl...

Hudson: Are you okay, Noonie? Is your surgery better? He has been so sweet and so concerned for Noonie. Every time he sees her he asks her that question and gives her a hug and a kiss on her shoulder...

A handsome prince and his moves...

Grace and her sweet friend Nacoma...cutest Little Reds around!

Sugar high!

Too many sweets! I don't know what to choose! That's Hayden showing off the Earth's Core Push Pops his mama made...yum!

This was such a fun day for our kindergarteners! A true labor of love from so many parents. I had a blast working with you Alicia, Amber, Angela, Bridgette, Emme, Kristi, Meredith and all the parent and grandparent volunteers!

These two little brothers were troopers! They played so well together and spent loooonnnnngggg hours at school while we set-up. Hudson and Will~ we can't wait to do it all over again for you two boys in a couple of years!

And to our Little Red...

You were fAbULouS!!!!!!!!!!
We are so proud of you!
XOXO,
Mama, Daddy and Hudson