I Hope She Reads This One Day

Since this blog has become a scrapbook, I wanted to document this while it was fresh on my mind and so that one day when she reads this, she will be proud of herself.

Last night was Baby Girl's parent/teacher conference.

The first one for 1st Grade.

The first one WITH grades.

I wasn't expecting a whole lot of bad news b'c Mrs. C is very good at continually letting me know by either e-mail, phone calls or papers sent home how Baby Girl is doing.

We sit down and she runs thru the basics:

Reading = Above average (should be 4-6 and she is at an 8)
Spelling = 98% A and above average on handwriting, reasoning, etc
Math = 96% A
Extra Curricular = Excellents (PE, Art, etc.)

She begins to tell stories of how Baby Girl does things like reasoning thru every assignment before starting it and then doing her best to make sure it is perfect.

But then, she heads off in a different direction.

She tells us that BG is awesome this and great that and that she doesn't have many 1st Graders come thru like this one. She is comfortable in being different than everyone else and comfortable in her own skin.

She looks me square in the eyes and says that we have raised a wonderful young lady who we should be very proud of and that she "aspires to be parents like us with her little boy someday."

WHAT?!?! Do you know me and how much I mess things up?

Y'all...that humbled me and made my heart swell all at the same time. She went on and on about why, but I was still stuck on someone looking up to me as a mother.

You know...someone who isn't 7 or 3.

It was a testament to the fact that Baby Girl IS an awesome kid! That her character has gone before her. That someone who doesn't know me sees the by product of what God has done in our family.

Wow!

So Hubs has to run to his last class of school (yeah, Hubs!) and I follow Mrs. C to find out some information and on our way back, ANOTHER blow.

"So, where do you go to church?"

Excuse me?

After another conversation that about brought me to my knees, I come to realize that Baby Girl has been being a living witness to her teacher! I know she comes home and tells me sometimes that she told someone about God today but she has actually been living her life and talking about God and her church and her preacher so that her teacher wants to come see us.

My heart is full.

Thank you, Lord, for this wonderful gift you have given me in Baby Girl. Help me to continue to do Right by her and grow her into the Godly woman You want her to be. Thank you.

A Long Line of 'Em

Girls, that is.

We all know he has Andurah and Cam. We saw him here making his moves on one of them.

Then, there's me and Baby Girl. He alternates between which of us is his "girlfreen" as well.

So, at the Vilonia ball game the other night he had all but one of his girls from church around to photograph with and soaked up every ounce of doting they did on him.


This one had a guy with her and I'm thinking he was making sure he made known where her heart lies.


This one was out on the field teaching all sorts of other girls and plus...she has had his heart for some time now.


This one he is still trying to see if she will take him to Harvest Party at CBC. He has a suit...


And this one he has wrapped around both pinkies and pinky toes.

AND...they all know about each other.

Help! I gotta break this habit before Kindergarten.

Guess What We Did The Other Night?

Come on, guess...


Does this help?


Oh, yes we did. We bundled up and headed out in the rain!




They splashed and splashed more than I could count! Their booties were soaked and freezing but you can tell by their faces that they LOVED it!



Baby Girl said we should do this more often.

You are right, Baby Girl. It did this Momma's heart good!

THIS is What Happens When You Give Her a Camera of Her Own

So, my Baby Girl has had her own little pink camera for awhile now. She periodically takes pictures that I like to grab and post to humiliate her when she is older.

I care.

Last night when she did this video I KNEW it had to be added to my blog for all friends and family to see.

Eventhough it has a Heifer on it in her PJ's cleaning the house.

I sacrifice for your entertainment.

So, grab a dramamine, sit back and enjoy the show.

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

If you haven't been over to my photography blog in a while, go check it out here! I'll have my latest shots up (fall pics) in the next few days and then 2 more shoots this weekend!

One Fine Cowboy

So, Baby Boy had these black cowboy boots when he was 2. LOVED them! Wore them everywhere.

Baby Boy outgrew said boots and he was crushed!

Baby Boy received some rubber rain boots for Christmas. They were green and had the face of a frog on the toes.

Baby Boy wears said rain boot with his 4-piece suit.

It's attractive.

But nowhere near as attractive as this look that he sported the other night after his Mimi bought him some more boots.



Now, those of you that know me know I'm NOT the fan of the character attire. However, these are Toy Story and light up when you stomp and say "ANDY" on the bottom just like WOODY!

How can I say no.

Daddy's Babies

Just some shots of Daddy with his babies.


Hubs was getting ready to load up his wheeler and head out to hunt for the weekend when Baby Boy decided he wanted to go for a ride. They drove around the yard and he was happy!


Same said day as he was about to leave. Baby Girl adores Hubs.

And the feeling is obsiously mutual.

Annual Pumpkin Patch Trip

This year our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch was a little...ahem...a LOT soggy...and muddy!

But a girl can let that stop her from some beautiful pictures of her 2 babies can she?

Notice no photos of from their knees down.

On to some of my favorites, though.

Trying to catch BOTH kids looking at me and BOTH kids smiling and BOTH kids keeping somewhat still posed a challenge. But what I did get was priceless!

>

One sweet one in the bunch...

...and then there were numerous photos like these 2...


...and I ADORE them!

And then, in a moment of weakness they both attempted to ooze so much sweetness as to slay their Momma where she would never recover.



Mission Accomplished...

To see more from our day, check out my photography site here.

Baby Girl's Maaaadddd Artistic Skills

Let me just say that obviously my Baby Girl is very observant.

And Baby Girl is a very good and DETAILED arti-ste!

And Baby Girl has a very good memory.

And sometimes, when all of this meshes together, this Momma laughs so hard she almost pees her pants.

"She said she liked it better than Pirates of Penzance." (Name that movie)

Case in point: Journal Entry from this week.



Allow me to interpret:

"My mom is just like my teacher. My mom is creative. She is 31. She is pretty. My mom has spikey red hair."

But observe the photos.

Photo #1: Me being creative and doing a Family Night
Photo #2: Me turning 30 at my fabulous McDonalds Surprise Birthday party
Photo #3: Me being pretty in a saucy poofed-sleeved green dress (that I don't own) and tall boots (that I do own and love) with a chandelier over my head (b'c I like to attend fancy balls in my tall boots)
Photo #4: Me...hands above my head...spiking my spikey hair

I know y'all are jealous.

Girls Night Out

Friday night a bunch of girls from church loaded up and headed out to Murrays Dinner Theater to see "Ivy Gap Baptist Church".

Hil-ar-ious!!!!

If you get a chance to see it before it is over, GO!

I only had Baby Girl's little pink Kodak camera and it was kinda dark on the floor so excuse the fine photography skillz.

(I have inadvertently left off the lovely photo of the napkin that was accidentally shot.)

Minus Rebecca and her shiny glasses...here we are in all our craziness! (I actually think Murrays will no longer let VBF in due to the sheer volume of our renditions of 60-70's songs as well as our listening skills that tell us ALL to turn off our cell phones so that they DON'T go off during a climactic portion of the show.)

Chris.


The Mommas


The Daughters


A Momma and Daughter and Friend


A Momma and Like-Daughter


Friends


Sisters and Friends

I love you girls and thanks for sharing this walk with me and having some fun along the way!

"So in Christ we who are many form one body..." Romans 12:5

A Welcome Home

What more could a Mama ask for?

Step off the plane from a 5 day stay away from my family.

Walk thru the exit.

See Baby Boy RUNNING at my screaming "Mama! Mama! I brought this for you!"



Welcome home.

A Little Fun in the NYC

Since my BFF couldn't make it to NYC with me this year, I had no intentions on going into the city.

Then, it just so happened that I made friends with folks that I have worked with for years, but never had the opportunity to get to know.

So the 3 of us decided to see a show.

And here were the stars!



That would be Gina Gershon and John Stamos (aka uncle Jessie) in the revival of "Bye Bye Birdie"! This was a blast to get to sit and watch and I highly recommend it if you are in the NYC area.

A little proof that I really was there...



Funny...as many times as I have been there and as many pictures as I have taken, I have never taken a picture of Times Square street sign. So there you go.



This really proves nothing other than I like to make friends with completely odd strangers on the subway.

Strangers with very little internal sense of direction.

Just kidding.

This was the train.

Okay...Okay...

AND he wasn't a stranger...he's a guy I work with.

Cindy took the pic and refused to allow her mug to grace a camera.

I'll get her next year!

Ta-Ta for now, NYC. See you again soon...

What I Get to Look at Here

I am currently leeeeaaaavin'...on a jet plane...don't know when I'll be back again.

Actually, I will be back.

Next year.

Anyway, I thought I would give y'all a taste of what I get to see every day here.

Where I work while I'm here is not what you think about when you think of New York. I work out in the NY Boonies! Seriously.

Now, I don't have my good camera with me here (not to mention taking the pics thru a window) so you'll just have to bear with me.


Here's our little outfit that we spend most of our time in. On a normal test year, this place can get a little...um...crowded.

But when we get out of the outfit and walk around we get this!




And this is what greeted me the other night when I showed up....yes...a fox. And according to the guard, she is the baby. I am pretty sure I almost met her mama with my car.

Parties, PJs and Pancakes Galore!

This past Friday evening we celebrated Baby Girl's 7th Birthday.

She had been asking for 2 years now for a sleep over. Since she had just started school last year, I asked her to wait.

She has been reminding me about it ever since that day.

So this year, I caved. We had a party for everyone at the church. Pajama Party was our theme of the evening. Everyone was encouraged to wear their favorite pajamas. So, one of my BFFs and I took it to the next level.


Here is the bed-side table that Baby Girl decorated herself! All of our table cloths were sheets and we used pillow cases as the chair coverings.


We served breakfast! There was sausage gravy, chocolate gravy, homemade biscuits, homemade jellies/jams, watermelon, sausage patties, donuts, breakfast casserole, coffee and juice. I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the whole table with the moons and stars above it! Oh well...you get the picture.


You can see here Baby Boy thoroughly enjoyed himself some sugar!


We had a sleeping bag race where the kids had to run down and unzip their sleeping bag, climb in, zip up and snore as many times as their age was. The funniest part was hearing their snores. From there we let the girls make matching flip flops and headbands by tying different fabrics on them in knots.

Here we see the kiddos having to get their hula hoop all the way around the circle without breaking hands. They even did the team building knot after this.


Then, we got to do one of my favorite things. SHRINKY DINKS!!! My kids have done them before on a family night but the rest of the kids had no idea! It was so awesome to see their faces when their door hanger was done. I printed off their first initial (LARGE) and let them trace and color it how ever they wanted to. I cut it out and punch a large hole in the top. After it shrunk and hardened we tied a string in it so that they could hang it on their doors. FUN-FUN!

Then, it was time for gifts. This is just one of my favorite pics of her face.


Her grandparents got her this. Isn't her face hilarious?!?! Only those who were there know what she said which shall not be repeated on my blog. Thank you :-)


Then we went on a hunt for our goodie bags. They had a camera with pictures on there that revealed their next rooms. Once we got to a room, they had to sing their favorite bedtime song. CA-UTE!

Here was where they found their loot! The goodie bags were pillow cases my M-I-L made and we stuffed them with mini popcorn bags, glow sticks and tooth brushes along with some pixy sticks!


We almost forgot this part, but here was her cake.


After the party 3 of her friends came home for her very first slumber party! The men-folk quickly disappeared. All the men-folk, that is, except for one. Check out his face when I told him he had to sleep in his own bed.


They did SO GOOD! Four 6-7 year olds and there were zero tears, zero meltdowns and zero fights. I turned off the lights at midnight and by 12:05 they were all snoring.

This was their favorite part of the next morning. The deflating of the blow-up mattress.


After the other girls left we kept her best friend, C, a little while longer. Here was how they looked when we headed out to the hair salon.


Overall, another fun party! I still can't believe my Baby Girl is now 7 years old. AND having slumber parties!

Sheesh. What happens next?

Baby Boy turns 4 in a few months.

Excuse me while I bury myself in a hole and never come out until they decide to stop growing.