Memories! Pressed Between the Pages of My Mind...and This Blog

A few months ago I was showing one of my blog posts to one of my friends at church.

This friend is a little crazy...fanatic...nuts, to say the least.

She read my post and then piped up with something along the lines of "WhatInTheWorldWillYouDoIfTheInternetCrashes?"

TT, if the Internet crashes, we have a whole lot more problems than my tiny little blog.

However, she had a point. I needed to get this printed somehow.

If for nothing else then for the years down the road when my Baby Girl and Baby Boy have flown the nest and I'm, you know, dead.

They might want to know the craziness that is their Mother.

Maybe.

Not sure anyone is brave enough for that.

So, I spent some time, and by that I mean an obscene amount of time, formatting and adding and moving photos in the software from blurb.com

A few clicks and a credit card later and this came in the mail.





I only did 2007 first which was my smallest blogging year, which meant the booklet was small (only 52 pages). But I was so excited!

I have 2, one for Baby Boy and one for Baby Girl.

I'm working on 2008 now (which has 140 posts).

Looks like my longwindedness began the year my son's vocabulary kicked in.

I have no idea where he gets it.

More of Our Favorite Pasttime

My in-laws came in for the weekend last weekend and what would a visit from them be without a fishing trip!

So Friday once I got home from work, we headed to Beaverfork.


Are you singing the Andy Griffith theme song yet? I am!


Catching nuthin but loving every minute

(Please do NOT ask me about Baby Boy's outfit. It was all of his own doing.)

Once the kiddos have had enough we headed over to the playground.


And the evening ended with this.

How I feel at the end of just about every day, Baby Girl. Every. Day.

I Love That We Can Do This

You know...I'm so very thankful. I sometimes have to reflect on the fact that I'm a very lucky woman in the area of families. My parents and David's parents love each other.

For real.

I mean, they will do stuff without us.

Even more for real.

So it makes it even more special that we don't necessarily feel like we have to divide our time here and there and everywhere and try to make sure that each side feels just as 'loved' as the other side and one doesn't feel like they don't' get as much g-kid time as the other.

Whew! That is just not the life for me.

We have taken family vacations together, mini-trips together and sometimes we even all will pile up at the Overstreet's house in Ashdown and just hang out together.

I truly am blessed.

So, this Memorial Day was no exception to the rule. Since the Overstreet's were already here it just made sense for us all to be together.

We ate until we popped, laughed until we all cried, told stories, looked at pictures, and as always broke out the guitars and song books.

Now, of course I forgot my camera, but this was Luke about 10 minutes after we got home and the Overstreets left.



So this Memorial Day I am also remembering...that I LOVE that we can do this and I am one very lucky daughter.

A Star is Born

Remember a few months ago when I told you about Belle starting her acting classes?

Well, Saturday night was the culmination of her first semester of Children's Theater To Go!

About a month ago she was sent home with a script that had "Fairy 1" circled and about 20 lines highlighted.

TWENTY!

Wonderful for a girl who can't even read yet.

But we worked and memorized the first 2 lines by the next class.

When she came home that day 2/3 of her lines had been cut. The 2 fairy lines had been broken down into 4 fairies to share the love.

Which came in handy since the night before the play she was about to cry because she knew she was going to forget her lines.

I spent Friday night and Saturday morning convincing her that it would be A-OK if she forgot a line. She would just call a line and get it.

She psyched herself up and we headed out to the church on Saturday night.

Allow me to introduce you to...Fairy #1 in "The Queen of the Golden River".


Before the show with the star


We weren't allowed to take and photography during the play, but we did get a cast photo after the play. There's that beautiful fairy in the center!


Baby Boy taking his princess a bouquet of roses


How they looked when we got home.


Isn't she beautiful?


This is her main teacher, Miss Daisy. She LOVES doing this and we are already looking forward to the fall semester!

Way to go, Baby Girl! Way to Go!

Pictorial Proof

Remember this post that I still can't believe that we did?

Well, now here is pictorial proof.

Maumelle Sports tried to photograph everyone (some in groups) that came across the finish line. So I grabbed a few pics off of their site to show here.

Upfront...please excuse the crazy orange-haired woman closer to the end.

She was delirious by the time she got to the finish line.

Also, please excuse her looks. She is actually 6' 130 lbs but the camera just adds so much weight and shrinks height these days. It's rediculous!

New-fangled technology-schmectology!

Enough about her, on to the pictorial proof.


Here is the starting line with all those fancy-schmancy fast people.


Tammy was the first of our group to cross. She did so good...47 minutes!


My firstborn was the 2nd of our group to cross at 50 minutes. WOW! I'm still so proud! And look at her determination on her face! Let's enlarge that, shall we?


She is taking NO prisoners!


Then, there was this crazy lady we talked about earlier. Let's not continue to entertain her craziness.


Go Nana!


Here comes Sharon!


And last but not least, our lovely fairies I was telling you about. See that one in the middle? She had a camera hidden somewhere.

She called it her "vault".

I want to be like her when I grow up.

Doesn't she just look so pleasant?

My Little Entrepreneur

In the car last week:

Belle--Mom, I want to know the truth about the Tooth Fairy (for the record...the only Make-Believe character we entertain around our house) Is she real?

Me--nope

Belle--Is she you?

Me--Yup

Fast Forward to Tuesday when she brought me her tooth home from school:

Belle--So, my family is the Tooth Fairy?

Me--Yup

Belle--So, when I lost my first tooth and I got $6 that was from you. Out of your wallet (this is lead her to try to give me money back!)

Me--Actually, Daddy and I gave you $2, Mimi and Papa threw in $2 more and then Grammie and Grandpa threw in $2 more.

Fast Forward to that night right before bedtime:

Belle--So, um...Mom? Even though I know you are the Tooth Fairy, can you still slip some money under my pillow?

Me--How about that $3 you gave me?

Belle--$3 sounds great!

Way to captialize on your investment.

I Smell Rain

I walked into Belle's room Saturday morning just before the race and here was what I found:



You know...just in case there is a deluge that happens to be in Belle's room.

My Little Waterbugs

For the last few years Belle has been in group swimming lessons at a place here in Conway.

And I was never really pleased with the teaching or the results.

So, we quit and tried it on our own at the 'rents pool.

Lesson #1--Baby Girl thinks she can swim and needs zero help from her own 'rents. She CAN swim, but I'm not 100% comfortable with her yet.

Lesson #2--Baby Boy thinks he is Superman. Son...you WILL DROWN!

So, all that last summer lead us to the Red Cross certified team at CRMC Fitness Center. And Monday night was our first night of private lessons.

Lesson #1--Baby Girl can probably swim the English Channel in just a few short weeks! I mean, once she got the one-on-one lessons, she is transforming!

Lesson #2--Baby Boy will get to be Superman soon. When I first discussed my precious little boy with Beth on the phone, she said that some 3-year-olds do better than others depending on their level of fear. I promptly assured her that the letters F E A and R are actually not even usable in Baby Boy's alphabet. She discovered, I was right and he will be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound in no time.

In the mean time, here are some photos from Monday night. We had lessons again Tuesday and the kids were P-U-M-P-E-D! I'll wait a few more weeks and give you some updates.


Here we are...READY to go...


Luke goes first



BIG splash!


Then it's Belle's turn



She remembered so much!

Then...well then...Luke wanted a photo shoot of himself waiting on 'stiter'! Here goes...




More updates in weeks to come!

Happy "Every" Day!

Happy Mother's Day! I mean...happy Every Day! Because everyday is truly Mother's Day and here's MY very own proof!

For those of us that are Mother's, we really know that to be the truth.

And I'm talking to all mothers...

including step mothers, spiritual mothers, mothers-to-be, "just like" mothers, etc.

We all know that every single day is Mother's Day!

We get special glimpses into how God's heart leans towards the beings that HE Himself teamed with in order to create life.

We have at least a moment or 2 throughout every single day when one or more of our children do something, no matter how tiny, that makes us remember one of the many reasons why we have them in our lives.

To love them!

So, to all of you mothers in that list up there...Happy Mother's Day! Every Day!

My Mother's Day was wonderful as always! Just to have "Happy Mother's Day" said to me 50 million times by my kids, Hubs, loved ones, friends, TV Commercials...whoever is such a gentle reminder of God's grace. When I think back and remember when I thought I would never have children, hearing Happy Mother's Day said to me is priceless.

This Sunday was just as priceless. We got up and had breakfast as a family and headed to the only other place my heart continually longs to be other than home with family and that's the Lord's house. We had a wonderful service and went to eat with friends who aren't just more like family...they just plain ARE family now. We headed for a quick nap and then it was off to the Nursing Home.

Wow...to be in a nursing home on Mother's Day and have no children that can come and see you. My heart broke for these women! But to have them ministered to by many, but among those many being my 2 children, swelled this Momma's heart with JOY! Pure. Joy. They handed out homemade cards to them and desserts and flowers and these women's eyes LIT UP!

They remembered the feeling that I get every time my kiddo draws me a new picture.

Even if it does have spikey hair.

Oh, Lord. BLESS those women!

Then we headed back to church and settled down as a family when we got home.

And you know what...I wouldn't have that day any other way. Every corner we turned an even as I typed out the events of the day I couldn't help but be so thankful and so blessed for what the Lord has done for me.

I have 2 wonderful mothers who adore me, a mother in Tammy who literally guides me out of the uttermost and wretched parts of my being to a holy place, and 2 children in whom I have not only hung their moon but probably designed the holes in it by myself. I have Hubs who I can't even begin to explain, friends near and far whom I love and trust and am so thankful that God gave them to me and a church body that is now ingrained into my soul.

Man...this Momma has "immeasurably above and beyond what she could ever think or even begin to imagine"!

Thank You, Lord, for Your gifts and blessings!

Ok, simply because I need to inject a little humor into this post before my tears and snot short-circuit the keyboard, here are some "My Mother" responses sent home from the kiddos schools.

Luke
#2. My mom is special because? She's Billie (what more do you want, people!)
#5. My mom has a pretty smile! I like to make her smile by? Smiling real big at her (he demonstrated it too apparently)
#7. My mom is smart! She even knows? She starts with the letter "B" (gosh, I should win an award or something...surely)

Belle

#4. What is your mother's favorite food? Beef and Corn (what?)
#8. What does your mom cook the best? Pizza (Baby Girl...his name is Papa John and his number is 327-9111...you know, like in emergency?)
#12. My mom doesn't like to? Listen to my brother yell around the house (amen. amen.)
#13. My mom looks pretty? On church days (heaven forbid y'all see me Mon-Sat!)

But then...oh merciful heaven then there was #7. You can ask Hubs...#7 took my breath and caused me to weep. It cased me to know that my Baby Girl is so very perceptive. It cased me to know that I am going to have to eventually explain all of this to you in my Blog-o-sphere one day. It caused me to thank God for giving me a daughter who is exactly like me. I mean, as soon as I started crying she knew exactly which question it was.

#7. If I could buy my mom anything, I would by her? An adopted baby girl

Thank you, Lord, for Your blessings on me!


As crazy as they are!

I STILL Can't Believe We Did This

11 Weeks ago Belle and I decided to do something crazy.

We joined the Women Run Arkansas walk/run clinic.

Every Monday and Thursday (give or take a few misses) we joined a group of women at the Conway tracks and practiced building up our endurance. We had everyone from the beginning beginners (Hell-o Billie!) to some speedy little suckers (Hell-o VERY far from Billie!)

When we started we had to walk at our normal gait for 4 minutes and then try to speed walk for 1 minute. As the weeks wore on the times got harder and harder. Until the last week we were there we had to speed walk for 9 minutes and walk normal gait for 1 minute.

Yeah. THIS body is so not used to that.

Neither is my heart.

I really didn't do it for weight loss or anything like that. I basically did it just to see if I could.

And I did.

The Conway Jr. Axillary was in charge of the Girls Run Arkansas team. They had their own little shirts and everything. Belle's group started with about 30ish girls. Saturday, they were down to 3 with Belle being the only walker and the other 2 being runners.

There were nights when I just didn't want to do it. WAY too busy (but honestly...any one that knows me at all knows there literally isn't a single minute of my life that isn't busy anymore) and way too notlookingforwardtothesoreness.

Those nights...my little champion would cheer me on and inform me that we were not going to miss out on exercising.

Um, excuse me little girl. I'm the parent here and what I say goes.

So off we would go.

Her heart is MUCH younger than mine, people.

Anyway, all of this endurance training lead to Saturday morning.

The Women Run Arkansas 5K!


Here is racer #1083 and #1084 up in the wee hours o'tha morning having just ate our peanut butter toast and heading out the door.

We got to the hospital and met our partners!


We got our time chips put on our shoes and waited for it all to start. Over 1300 women from Arkansas showed up and it was an absolute blast! Seriously.

It was fun to see the different groups (shout out to Begina who had to miss with her Cabot group. They were HUGE!) My Conway walk leaders were dressed as faries and they came around to sprinkle farie dust on our feet so we will run faster.

And it was a BEAUTIFUL morning! Mostly cloudy and cool, thank You Jesus!

Belle walked with her instructor and she made it her goal to beat me. So when she jogged to get a good ways ahead of me, I just smiled. I wasn't going to try to keep up. She deserved this, she really did! I stayed and walk/jogged with Nana Shirley and Sharon. And we really had a great time.

And let me just interject here...that is the fiestiest 72 year old woman I know! I had to jog just to keep up with her!

I sucked her under at the finish line, though. She told me to, it's ok.

We were by NO MEANS THE winner, but we WERE winners. (The person who came in first place over all...17 minutes...3.1 miles in 17 minutes!) Tammy did it in 47 and me/Nana/Sharon did it in about 55 minutes.

Belle...50 MINUTES!

I was so stinkin' proud of her, ya'll! And she was proud too! I mean, one night we trained on the Salem trail because it is exactly 3.1 miles. Halfway thru, she screamed "I AM NOT DOING THE RACE!"

But she did.

And she was AWESOME!

I could see her turning around and looking back at me from the front and waving as she would realize she was still beating her Momma!

While we didn't win any medals (we did get a ribbon) we won so much more.

We won this pride (the good kind)

Look at how proud she is!

Oh, and don't forget the girls and their ribbons!


My 2 favorite mens even showed up to support their girls!


Thank you, girls, for a Saturday morning to remember!

And Belle...you ROCK!

I Wanna Be Just Like You

It's so funny the things kids pick up on.

Both of my kids love music. I mean, David and I have been doing music at church since before I was pregnant with Belle, so they literally have had music ingrained in them since before they were born.

Then, I can remember many rehearsals bringing up the baby carriers and setting them down on the stage while we practiced.

With the monitors blasting the worship music right beside them and their little ears.

Belle...she has picked up on the singing side of it all. She has a beautiful voice and can even sing harmony. And many songs recently without David and/or I leading her. God has truly blessed her with a tool that we have an opportunity to foster. I can't wait to see how He uses it to explode His ministry in her life.

Luke...music is just inside him. I know no other way to say it. He sings a little and is pretty good, but his forte is rhythm. He loves to dance and play the instruments...air drums, air keyboard, air guitar...or his real guitar.

My parents finally bought him one for Christmas this year and it has become his best friend. He puts that thing on and just dances, plays and sings to the songs in his head or on the TV or whatever is available at the moment his groove thang hits.

He will bust it out when his daddy is practicing and make practicing crazy nuts, you know...with the off key strumming and all.

But, the other day Hubs came out and asked me if I had commandeered his guitar stand.

I said no.

I mean, I'm sure it would totally be a Wonderful prop for, oh...say...tying my son to it so I could clip his nails or something.

Hypothetically speaking, of course.

But anyway...Look what Baby Boy did.



I guess if Daddy's guitar needs one, why doesn't his?

I mean...this fine craftsmanship o'musical enjoyment deserves the VERY best.

Even if it is missing a string or two from the Slash-like guitaring to The Backyardigans opening theme song.

Family Night Edition #28

This picture should say it all...


Yes, tonight was all about the fact that Belle is almost done with her first year of school!

So, we let her show us a lot of how things go on at school.



Decorations for now and later!


Ready with our backpacks!


We grabbed our lunch trays and headed thru the lunch line to get our pizza (thankfully NOT square and...you know...hot), orange cups and Capri Suns. This is the best 'cafeteria' food I've seen in a while.


Lunchtime! And in THIS cafeteria, we can talk!


Belle even offered to be the janitor like Mrs. Donna does at her school...she took our trays, dumped the food and gathered the trays.


After lunchtime, it was time for Art Class. The kids were instructed to draw what they wanted to be when they grew up. Belle drew herself as a cheerleader on one side and as an artist on the other.

It's nice to have options.


Then we headed off to the Library where the 'librarian' read to the kiddos the favorite book of each of their choice.


When the bell rang we trotted off to Music class. Here the kiddos taught the grown ups their Frog Street Press songs. And they added a few rock star moves as you can see.


It was time for PE class. We were supposed to have the 'bus' (aka the momma-mobile) pick us up and take us to Ida Burns' playground. However, more rains came down and more floods came up. So, we played the PE Alphabet. Basically we had to do actions for each letter of the alphabet (ie. R=run, etc.) They both passed PE!



My FAVORITE memory of the cafeteria days was the triangle juice-pops. Yumm-o! Looks like the kiddos like-y too. And check out the cute nametags!


We were all pretty tired after a tough night of school, so get got in our jammies and piled up in my bed to watch Leapfrog's Word Factory.

Then, we were off to bed.

And it's really beginning to sink in that in just a few short weeks, I will be living with a 1st grader.

Excuse me.

I have to log off now.

*for other family night ideas check out Whittaker Woman