Day by Day-Autism Awareness Fun Day

As some of you may know, I joined the Junior League of Lake Charles last spring. My first year in the League is considered your "provisional year." It has consisted of lots of meetings, volunteer activities, but mostly fun with a fabulous group of women. By coincidence, 3 of my book club attorney friends were in my provisional class so it was fun having friends to go through the process with. I made a lot of new friends throughout the year and even have started attending a play group with some of them (look at the post below). Our class was required to produce a "provisional project" and we chose an Autism Awareness Day. It was awesome to see how our project actually impacted parents whose children have already been diagnosed with autism or were still in the diagnosis phase. We received so many accolades that we were able to provide resources and information that they have not been able to find in other places. Overall, I think it was a great success!

Play Group

We have just joined with a few of my friends from Junior League as well as some of their mutual friends in a little Friday morning play group. The kids are mostly around Will's age (not quite 2), but Anna Kate loves "helping" with the younger ones. Every Friday we go somewhere different like park, zoo, Children's Museum, fire station, etc. I took a few pictures at the Children's Museum a couple weeks ago.

Level 2 Gymnast

Saturday Anna Kate competed in the Contraband Classic gymnastics meet. This is her second year competing in the meet. We were so proud to find out she has been promoted to a Level 2 gymnast (she is the youngest one at her gym!) She received a gold medal on bars, silver on vault & beam & a bronze on floor and a bronze medal all around. I don't think she has taken off her medal yet!! She is so proud of it!

Senior Tripping

My Aunt Tracy & I brought my cousin, Lauren to Galveston & Kemah for a few days last week to celebrate her high school graduation. This has become a tradition in my family since Aunt Tracy brought my cousin Cara and me on our senior trips to Galveston as well. We had a delicious dinner at Gaidos (I'm still salivating from the pecan balls- pecans rolled in vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate sauce!), a fabulous spa day at the San Luis Resort (I had the Balinise experience- 1 1/2 hour massage, scrub, soak & lotion application), Rock the Dock in Kemah, Walk along the beach in Galveston. I can home from our adventure with 2 new hermit crab friends. Anna Kate LOVEs hers. HOwever, Will just screams, "It MOOOOOOOOVES!" everytime we show it to him! Poor little guy is not a fan!

A Tea-lightful Day!

Our precious Anna Kate turned 4 on May 11th and we celebrated her milestone with a Mom & Me Birthday Tea. We had it at a little tea house in town. It was so precious to see all of her little friends from school, church and a few cousins come dressed in their prettiest dresses. The girls decorated foam crowns, sipped tea, munched on quiche and tea cakes, dressed up in an assortment of boas, jewels, hats, etc. and had a fun surprise at the end- Horse & Carriage rides around downtown! While I had a lot of hiccups in my party planning (party favors didn't arrive so had to spend the morning on Plan B, Tea house put us in the smaller room & we had a HUGE turnout, etc.) I think it went very well & the girls seemed to have a "Tea-riffic" Time!

Strawberry Picking

Back in March when we went to Houston for the Rodeo, we stopped by a little farm on our way home in Alvin, Texas. It was the opening weekend of strawberry picking season & the kids had so much fun. Anna Kate is our competitive child & in true Hankins spirit was able to turn Strawberry picking into a competitive sport! However, Will is more my personality & quickly learned that if you just eat the strawberries in the field that you have less to carry :)