My Girl

It's been a while since I blogged...and I should really be shot for not documenting this past 9 months! Especially in the life of my sweet Sissy! I feel like she has changed SO much in these last 9 months, almost as much as the first 9 months of her life. When people tell you things will be different once your child starts school...they will be more right than you want to believe!

Kindergarten was tough for us! It was a time that I will NEVER forget but I hope Sissy will...at least the bad parts. But, there has honestly been so much good~maybe more than I want to admit, because I feel that we have been sort of wronged a little bit when it comes to our first year of school.

I am only writing this part because a) I don't think anyone reads the ol blog anymore, and b) I want AA to know how absolutely PROUD I am of her for being so determined this year to learn and grow despite the challenges.

And the changes in this girl--they are amazing!

Sister has always been strong willed, determined, stubborn...all of those things that have been frustrating at times, but over this year, I have begun to love those things about her!

This year, Sissy has played her first season of basketball, 2nd season of t-ball, learned to read, loves math, learned to ride her bike, lost her first tooth, and over all, just grown up a lot!

It is through all of those things that she really has shown us that she is determined to work hard at everything she does! She loves to practice basketball, t-ball, riding her bike. She is determined to do good in school (almost too much of a perfectionist), loves to practice reading, writing, and asks for summer homework. She is so stubborn that she would not stop trying to ride her bike (through scrapes and bruises) until she got it!

I am truly amazed by my sweet girl every day and I am so proud to be her momma!  I never want to forget how she is right now! My tough stuff, hard-working, determined, hard headed, sweet little thing! My angel~

Our first Tiger Walk and other November happenings

November was a super fun month! Not only did I have 3 SisterBug markets (I was looney!), we also had parties, Thanksgiving, and our annual Auburn Homecoming trip.

Here we are at Buddy's Fall Party. I missed the October party and felt really bad about it, but I had already signed up for Sister's field trip. It was the first time I had missed anything for my kids. I don't really like that at all!!

So, I made sure to be at this one--which obviously made Buddy happy! :)

We headed down to Auburn for Homecoming and good times with the cousins. We got up really early this year to make sure we didn't miss Ag Roundup or the Tiger Walk. Everything started at 8 this year and we had to drive from Bub and Shanie's house in Montgomery. And, I am proud to say that we finally made our goal!! We are hoping it gets easier each year as the kids get older!

Random Thanksgiving pic of my boys!

Sweet cousins! Sis keeps asking why Coco is getting taller than her since she is older (only by 10 months). I keep telling her that all of her cousins will be at least 6 foot so she needs to get used to it! :)

Here is Buddy dancing on Daddy's shoulders at the Tiger Walk! He LOVED the band especially when they started playing the Auburn fight song!  They kids' lullaby music at the lake is the Auburn Marching Band cd so when they saw the band, they were thrilled!

Jay getting a little skin from Coach Chiz!

Bub, Shanie, and the boys

Look who else we saw--Santa dressed in his Auburn best!

Thanksgiving with my family was really quick because Daddy had a few more acres of beans to cut. So, we all headed out to the field with him and it turned into a mini photo session.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids! Watching Papa in the field. Love.

In October...

Buddy took his Papa to school for Farm week. He was so proud he got to bring his own personal Farmer to school and Papa loved sharing with the kids!

We went to Lyon Farm to the pumpkin patch with Mimae and Papa. Daddy got to go with us too! The kids loved it as usual--and found more than one pumpkin.

Then Sister's Kindergarten class went to Tate Farms too. (One of 4 field trips in the first half of the school year!)

Buddy was Superman for Halloween--and came up with this pose himself!

So, Sister was Supergirl--because they still like coordinate their costumes.

We also pulled off a surprise birthday party for Mimae's 60th!

September-you were a little packed

It's fall!! My favorite time of year~except that I have already had my 1st Zpack and Buddy is on his 2nd round of antibiodics. But, the one thing I always look forward to is Harvest Time! This year had a great corn crop!  Here is Sister showing us that she is tall, just like the corn stalks.

I shucked this corn and it looked like a flower

Riding the combine with Papa-we could do this all day!!

View from the combine

Jumping in the trailer of corn. I am not even going to tell you where we found corn this year, andI am still trying to figure out how it stayed in those places so long!

My little boy's dream~one day maybe he can drive one of Papa's big rigs.

 One night on the way to church, Sister asked me if she had to be a mommy to get her ears pierced. I said, no, you can do it now if you want. And she said, ok...so we scheduled it for that weekend. I thought I might want to jump on that while she was willing.

She cried for about 2 minutes after it was done. She said it hurt worse than a shot. Then she worried for about a day or 2 that the earrings would fall out. Other than that, it has been a non-issue and we don't even think about it that much. So glad we went ahead and got it over with before she chickened out 4 times and walked around with purple circles drawn on her ears (like someone else I know).

One Saturday morning, we headed over to the local airport to see the airplane show. There is a more official name for it, I just can't remember what it is. Buddy LOVED it! He basically walked around pointing the whole time!

And when his pointer finger got tired, he started using his pinkie!

They even got to sit in an airplane! The nice man was an Auburn fan of course! :)

Buddy loved that a fighter jet showed up and did a few loops over everyone!

The best part about all of these events is that WB got to go with us to each of them!

Sister had her first "real" field trip to a play at the high school, as well this month. She loved riding the bus and has begged to ride it just about every day since. The last thing I need is for this little 5 year old to be on a bus with 5th graders!!

WB was also gone for 8 days to North Carolina to work the Hurricane aftermath. I had a big surprise for him when he got back!!

My embroidery machine had been down for 6 weeks and while he was gone, they finally got it fixed! The kids had gone to the lake with my parents, so I was working like a crazy lady trying to get caught up. I got a little carried away with whatever I was doing and stuck my finger between the needle and the fabric. Not real smart!

Top is the brown thread, the bottom is the needle with the tip broken off, but still threaded. There were 3-4 different parts of the needle that broke, leaving just one part in my finger. My first thought was-that didn't hurt as bad as I was expecting! I actually continued sewing for another 2 hours.  And then, I realized that all of the neighbors were out of town! It was my right hand, so I knew I wouldn't be able to pull it out myself. My friend Joy came to my rescue and took me to her husband's fire station for him to yank on the needle.  It came out fine and didn't hurt that bad. I am very lucky that it didn't hit a bone!! 

I knew my time would come with this injury because it is common with us monogrammers! Maybe I won't do it again for another 2 years-or ever!

School-we were excited, then we weren't

Sister started Kindergarten this year! It is so hard to believe it is time for this HUGE step. She was so excited and so ready~talking about it all summer long, and not even caring when we found out none of her friends were in her class. She said she would be glad to make new friends! She couldn't wait to eat in the lunchroom and use her new napmat and backpack!

She didn't want me to walk her in on the first day because she 'knew' where she was going. She was too busy here writing her name on her paper for me to take her picture, but told me I could do it really fast.

Then, she came home...and her spirit had been broken.

It has been a tough road since, some days she can't wait to get there and some days she cries because she doesn't want to be away from home. Part of it is still the after effects from the first day and part is due to the whole transition of being at school for a whole day. It is a long day and a tough change because church preschool and public school are NOTHING alike.

We have come up with a morning routine that includes riding her bike before leaving for school and listening to Zack Brown and Taylor Swift on the i-pod on the way. And, I make sure not to get her there too early because she does not like sitting in the hallway before school.

We are taking it one day at a time and I have assured her that she can't go to 1st grade if she doesn't finish kindergarten. This too shall pass and one day she will love school. Hopefully. :)

Buddy also started preschool this year! He has been looking forward to this for so long! He goes 3 mornings a week to the preschool Sister went to these past two years.  The first week was awesome! He was thrilled everyday...then, day 6, he decided he didn't "wike" it. It took me a little bit, but I figured it out...he thought Sister would be with him at school. He didn't want to just go to school, he wanted to go to school with her. It is hard for the second child to do something on their own when they are use to having the oldest (and dominant) one with them. But, after a few weeks of seeing if he could get away with not "wiking" school, he has now claimed that he "woves" it and is actually missing this whole week due to croup. :)

There is a lot more that goes along with these first days of school that need no documentation because they are forever in my memory...One day, when they are having issues with their kids starting school, I will be able to say-let me tell you about your first days of school. Can't wait! :)

Crickets Chirping

It has been a while! Two and a half months to be exact. We are all alive and well, but exhausted and busy! I can't really tell you exactly what all has gone on since June 23 (my last post), but I will assure you that there hasn't been a lot of time for documentation, so I will be updating with the best this ol mommy can remember.  We did go to the beach this summer (more details below), have a 33rd birthday, and start kindergarten and preschool. The jury is still out on school-as in neither of them are sure they like it-as in their minds change every.single.second-especially when those seconds are really close to time to get in/out of the car in the mornings. Fun times. So, there are many, many days that I find myself wishing I was back on this trip to the beach.

We are not a big traveling family, just due to the fact that WB's busiest times with his job(s) are March-October, then comes my busiest time of November-December...and who wants to go to the beach in January or February? This year, we were bound and determined that no matter what, we were going on a family vaca since our kids were at the perfect ages (5 & 3.5) for a beach trip. And, it was the best trip ever!

First of all, God showed out for us! I think he knew we needed that trip to remind us we should take the time to bask in His beauty more often. We saw dolphins jumping and flipping every morning, brought home tons of shells from the ocean, caught a little crab, saw the end of a rainbow, swam with sharks (not on purpose), and just relaxed. I want to go back tomorrow!

The kids were great! Buddy loved the beach and Sister loved the pool. They did good at all of the long dinner waits (thanks to cars and search & find books). WB and I were able to get a little alone time one afternoon when it rained, and I even got to spend a little time shopping with my mom! WB and my daddy got naps and good dinners every day, so the trip was a success to them. :) We had a ton of laughs with (at) the kids~it was just an awesome getaway and totally worth the wait!

They were in a hole, although you can't really tell it was a hole.

The rainbow that ended in the sand. We wondered if we should get a shovel and see what we could find!

Mimae and Papa

Me and the Sis (& my hair right when I walked outside)

(my hair, after I had been outside for just 5 minutes. I forgot what the good ol humidity did to my naturally wavy hair.)

We waited til the last day to do the "family beach shots" which is why we didn't get any...it rained. But, this trip was the best vacation I have ever been on! It was so fun to see the kids experience the beach for the first time. I am glad we waited til they were big enough to be able to play and enjoy it. And, it was a much needed, long overdue rest for us!

On being an encourager

Encouragement is a kind word to a friend.
Encouragement is a hug when someone is going through a tough time.
Encouragement is a Bible verse taped to your mirror.
Encouragement is a reminder that you are loved.

Being an encourager doesn't take a lot of time or a lot of effort, but it can make a world of difference to the person on the receiving end! Just think about how good you feel when someone tells you that you are a good mom, or that they are praying for you, or that their child has had to be spanked in the church parking lot too. A lot of times it can make your whole day brighter!

Then, why don't we take the time to do it? Are we too busy? Do we just not think the person would care?

And, why don't we send cards anymore? Actually putting pen to paper is a dying art these days...but think of the response it would get! I mean, don't you go to the mailbox wondering if there is something in there other than the bills? And when there is, you just can't wait to open it! Then when you realize that someone actually took the time to write your name on a card with an actual pen, look up your address, then put a stamp on it and walk it to the mailbox...just for you! WOW! What a great feeling!

And by being an encourager, you have the ability to make someone smile without even seeing them! How rewarding to know that you could be a blessing to someone, just by taking 5 minutes out of your day to send them a little 'praying for you.' Because, we could all use an extra prayer, couldn't we? You don't have to write anything profound, or fix anything, or come up with the perfect verse that would make things seem better for them. Just a good old fashioned 'I said a prayer for you today!' can make all the difference.

Here are a few cards that I received to review from DaySpring recently.

And, when I opened them, I had a specific person in mind for each card! All of them have a fun spin on friendship and a special verse. Perfect for those of us (namely, me) who can't always write well, or at all, and always tries to make it sound great, only to see that what I write doesn't make sense! 

There are all kinds of different items available at DaySpring to make it easy to be a encouragement to others! Go check it out!
You can't put a price on making someone else smile~and more than likely, it will be an even bigger blessing to you!

**Yes, DaySpring sent the cards for me to review for free...but the opinions are all mine.**