May and June celebrations

 The past two months have flown by and been packed with lots of fun and lots of milestones.  Here are some of the highlights:

The celebrations started with Mother's Day.

Susannah made me a digital card on my computer.  

And her annual tradition of a scavenger hunt.  ;)

Sarah Avery made me the sweetest card and keychain. It was a great day and I felt so loved.

Both girls played Lacrosse for the first time this spring. They both really loved it, but we were especially proud of SA because it was her first organized sport and she killed it. She was the goalie for this game. 

So grown up it takes my breath away sometimes.  

As do the beautiful trees in our neighborhood.  So, so happy to be home in beautiful Alexandria. 

Susannah was chosen out of all of her 5th-grade classmates to be the dragon mascot at the annual school festival.  She rocked it.  

I can't believe these girls are middle schoolers now.  

SA and her friends got their faces painted at the dragon fest. 

Peter surprised me with a birthday dinner at my favorite new restaurant.  

I was so happy to celebrate with these girls. 

The next day we had my family birthday party, complete with carrot cake.  

And a completely full rainbow.  

My big birthday gift was for these ladies coming to DC for a girl's weekend.  

It was 1 million degrees that weekend, but we had such a fun time.  

I've known these ladies for 25 years and they know all my secrets.  

We saw some of the sights. 

And even met up with another Granger in Georgetown one afternoon. 

Sarah Avery's end-of-the-season party was hot but super fun. Her coaches were so great. 

The next week, we met Sarah Avery's best friend Maggie at the mall for an ear piercing! 

Such a rite of passage.  She was so brave!

Girls went swimming with friends on opening weekend. 

And then got to spend an entire weekend with their besties and Ms. Allison.  

While I headed to Lake Anna for the first bible study girl's weekend since COVID.  Lyndsey is our adopted member and we were so happy she drove in to meet us!

The girls had a blast with Ms. Allison and the Paulsen girls. 

And then it was time for field day at school!

I volunteered and got to see the girls in action. It was sweet to be there for Susannah's last elementary school field day. I even played in the kickball game. ;)

It was such a privilege to get to watch Susannah graduate fifth grade from George Mason.  We celebrated big, including having these cookies made for her and her friends. 

She was beautiful in her graduation dress. 

Her last picture in front of the GM sign. 

Watching her grow up with these girls has been so much fun. 

These two have been friends since Kindergarten. 

Susannah loved getting to know Zoe this year. 

We were so excited to celebrate our Duh Duh.  It was sad not having Peter here for the end of the school year, but we are so proud of the important work he is doing in Kyiv. 

The proud little sisters were excited.

These two were besties in Kindergarten and look at them now.  

Ready for the ceremony.  

Caroline is one of Sarah's favorite friends and she had a graduating sister too. 

After the ceremony, they had a big party with bounce houses and pizza. She's officially a middle schooler. 

Representing our Dragon love. 

Next came the last day of school. 

We squeezed in one more sign picture. 

And had our end-of-the-school-year chickfila nugget picnic celebration.  This year it was poolside. 

One night we headed to Falls Church to say goodbye to some of our Kyiv friends.  And Coach Benny was there!

The first week of summer meant dentist visits and booster shots.  Mcflurries and happy meals were the consolation prize.  

The rest of the week, we shared a babysitter with the Paulson family and they had a blast doing fun things like this picnic.

We took one last trip to Falls Church so we could do one last dinner out with these Kyiv friends.  

The girls and I spent one afternoon in Old Town and splurged on the world's best ice cream. 

In other news, we found a new church! It's lovely and within walking distance of our house.  

After church, it was time to pack for another rite of passage, Susannah's first sleepaway camp. 

She spent a week in Eagle Eirie near Lynchburg, VA with FBCA.

These three were roomies.

Goodbye was shockingly tough on this mama. 

Susannah was a little nervous, but she was mostly excited.

SA didn't want to let go. 

But she and Delaney had a fun basketball day camp planned so she recovered. 

This was the only picture I got all week.  

Sarah Avery won the passing and shooting challenge for the entire camp.  So proud of this little baller!

We were so excited to see this smiling face on Friday afternoon.  She had a blast.  

Reunited and it feels so good. 

The girls and I got pedicures to celebrate surviving the last 6 months.  

These two brave, resilient, kind, hilarious, talented girls deserved it.  For sure.  :)

There you have May and June for the Mallory family.  Also worth mentioning is that I finished my school year with KIS and have started a new job as the Refugee Ministry Coordinator at Christ Church. Peter will join us in Tennessee in just one more week. We can't wait to be reunited with Daddy.  We hope all of you are having a fun and healthy start to your summer!  We love and miss you all!