Ahhhhh

I feel like I have just exhaled from a big, deep breath. Summer came not as the lazy days I remember, but as a whirlwind taking us from one fun activity to the next. I loved our Summer List, but also realized that I always feel like I have to check off everything on my list and it did contribute to a little of the frantic pace of our summer. I hated for it to end. We did have a wonderful time as a family. BUT, I am thrilled that we are back into routine, getting a new rhythm to our life with Aubrey in first grade and Mallory at a new pre-school this year. I have lots of pictures and stories and projects from the summer, but I will post them when the dinner isn't just about ready. Thanks for sticking with me if you're still here!

P.S. - I would post a picture of us, but I haven't even gotten any pics loaded to my computer from this summer yet!

Helloooo??? Anyone here???

Well, I'm here, but not for long or with any major news. We're just enjoying our summer, checking things off our list and having a great time. I am not really worrying about my blog (as you can see by the messed up layout. I changed it, it doesn't work, and I don't know how to fix it. If any of you would like to volunteer I'll make you some homemade cookies and love you forever.) Some of my friends have 16 posts on my Google reader that I haven't read. If I haven't commented know that it doesn't mean I don't love you or cherish your stories anymore, just that I'm not really online much right now. So I just wanted you all to know that I'm kind of on a blog hiatus right now. I have much to show (lots of scrapping and knitting) and tell (stories from the lake, camp, birthdays, milestones, etc), but it will all have to wait. I hope you all are having a wonderful and blessed summer. (and you're still with me when I come back! :) )

Sssssummer's here!

We are having such a good time already this summer. Only one week in, and we have had so much fun! I haven't really looked forward to summer like I have this year. I think it's because this was Aubrey's first year of real school, so we really did need a break. I saw this Summer List idea here at Meg's blog. I thought it would be such a neat thing to have things to look forward to, keep us on track, and help me be more intentional about doing things this summer. Aubrey and I mostly made the list with some input from D. We also left a little space in case something comes up. We have already been able to check some things off our list. (which always feels good to me) I am going to take pics of all we have done, as well as save tickets, receipts, etc. Then I will make a small scrapbook of our summer list. Something very small - probably a photo book with a little journalling and embellishments.

We are also working on responsibility with Aubrey this summer, so he has his own chart. We are learning a Bible verse a week together as a family, so that is on his chart. (I'm also going to make a book of all of our verses so we can review them.) He is also reading 50 minutes a week, doing some homework that I put together for him, and learning 5 new words a week. I really didn't want him to lose any learning this summer. We're being light about it, not stressing, just keeping our brains working. He is also learning how to make his bed, in charge of feeding Piper and other small chores. I am letting go of some things even though it is hard for me to let him do things because he doesn't do them exactly like I would. He needs it though. I probably do too.

Anyway, that is what is going on here right now! I feel such a feeling of relief now that summer is here. I didn't realize I needed it so much. And, I had to throw in this pic of the snake I made for my nephew Les. I finished it months ago, but never posted a pic. He loves it. And it was fun to make. Have a great week!

moving upward and onward

Many of you know how much I absolutely love our local elementary school. I taught there for 2 years before I had Aubrey, and I loved it then. I love it even more now. Public school isn't perfect. There is too much to do, with too little funds, too little parent involvement and a host of other ills. However, I found during my 7 years of teaching that almost every teacher I taught with loved his/her students and was teaching because they loved kids and wanted to make a difference.

Last summer I prayed a lot. I prayed for Aubrey's teacher, Mrs. Costley, who I didn't even know about. I prayed for Aubrey's classmates. I prayed for Aubrey's safety, physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally. I prayed for all involved in his first year of school. I couldn't even think about it without tearing up. As a former kindergarten teacher I know how important the first year of school is. I had all kinds of people giving me their opinions on where to send him, what to say, what to do, what not to do, etc. I even had a friend tell me she would be praying that I would change my mind about sending Aubrey to our local elementary school. That hurt, and actually it made me mad. As his mom, I would never do anything to put him in a position I thought would be detrimental to him in any way. So I prayed and prayed and prayed. God heard my prayers. He knew the desires of my heart and how tender I was about this journey. He couldn't have been more perfect.

Aubrey's kindergarten year has exceeded anything I wanted or hoped for him. His teacher was so wonderful for him. She cared for him in such a special way. I know she does it for all of her students because she let me come in once a week to do an art project with the kids. This was such a sweet time for me. I got to know all the children Aubrey talked about. I got to see how he interacted with his teacher and class. I felt like I wasn't just dropping him off at school, but a part of what he was doing. Mrs. Costley was so cautious about Aubrey's food allergies it made me feel secure. She called me to check on him when he was sick (which he was - a lot) and called me any time someone brought in food she wasn't sure if he could eat. Aubrey didn't come home asking me about horrible words, movies, tv shows, etc. I know that will come, but I had heard horror stories about it happening in kindergarten. His class was one of the sweetest classes I have ever been around. They liked each other. They were kind to each other. No behavior problems. No kid I didn't want to rub off on Aubrey. It was truly amazing, and I believe it was partly due to prayer.

Aubrey has matured a good bit this year. At kindergarted graduation he received the Explorer Buddy Award for being kind and friendly to others. The kind of award I hope he always receives. He learned a lot this year, both academically and emotionally. I am so thankful for Mrs. Costley, our administration and our entire school. It is a blessing in our life. I am sad to be moving on and up, but it is a fact of life. Now I'm just a little more secure in this change, and I know Aubrey is too.

Amazing weekend

The weekend before last was a whirlwind, but a wonderful, sweet one that will always be remembered by our family. Saturday began with an entry in the Mt. Laurel Festival parade. I was not prepared to be in the parade. I had been told that the kids would be in the parade and I could just sit, watch and take pictures. I just put on a t-shirt and shorts, and headed out to the parade. When I got there, plans changed and I was in one of the cars. D.'s dad is running for County Commissioner, so we rode in 2 of his old cars. It was fun, but very hot. Those cars don't have air conditioning, and the engine heat comes right inside the car. We got to see lots of our friends watching the parade, and hopefully it was good PR for Mr. Higgins.

After the parade, we went to lunch, then home for a quick change of clothes. Aubrey had a t-ball game, but Mallory and I stayed home for a nap for her and vacuuming and cleaning up the house for me. Then, when Aubrey and D. got home, we got ready to leave for the Gwinnett Braves game. It was t-ball night there for our league, so a bunch of our t-ballers and their families were there. The boys and girls got to walk around the field and have their teams announced over the PA system. It started raining in the first inning and we thought that might be it for us, but it passed by quickly and we had a blast at the game. Definitely something we are going to do again.

Sunday was by far the highlight of the weekend. Sunday morning, Aubrey was baptized along with 5 other children in our church. It was a sweet church service, and something I know none of our family will forget. Even though Aubrey had asked if he could use his snorkel to be baptized, he did great without it. After the service, we had lunch together with the extra family members that came for his baptism, then headed home to get things ready for his party. Aubrey is way into Legos, so that was what we did for his party. Lego stores have party packs they sell for birthday parties. The packs come with a box full of Legos for each child, and the lade at the Lego store had told me these are great for the kids to play with at the party so that's what we did. I set up a table and each child had a tray with his/her box to build with. The kids loved it, and stood there for well over a half an hour building their Legos. My dad said it was the quietest birthday party he had ever been to! Then we had Aubrey's special Lego cake and ice cream. He was thrilled with everything. We had the whole family stay for dinner after that. It was a very full day, but one filled with so much love and excitement. Aubrey turned one year older, and showed his new life in Christ all at the same time. It doesn't get much better than this.

Night Out

I have always loved music. In first grade I wrote that I wanted to be a piano teacher when I grew up. Then I began singing and still took piano lessons, but decided to become an opera singer. I went to college, did an opera, found out more about an opera singer's career path and decided it wasn't for me. However, I still love to sing and I just love music. I honestly can't imagine my life without it! I had listened to country music some, but after I met D., my musical horizons were greatly widened. D. loves country, most notably old country music. (like before we were born country music) I have developed a love for country, but still don't love the old stuff. One of my very favorite singers ever is Martina McBride. She is a classy lady who can just flat out sing. D. and I had seen her before in concert, but we went to see her again the weekend before last with our friends Terry and Libby. Luke Bryan and Blake Shelton opened for her and they were so much fun to watch as well, but Martina was the big star.

When we got to the concert D. was looking around and said, "They are going to fly someone over the audience tonight." We said, "How do you know?" He showed us a beam overhead that had no other reason to be there. Well, Luke and Blake sang and nothing. Martina came out and nothing. There was also a round stage in the middle of the floor right in front of us and we thought someone would use it, but nothing happened. Then, Martina said, "I'd like y'all to listen to my fiddle player." and the arena went dark except for a spotlight on the fiddle player. I saw people moving down towards the round stage and I thought, "She's going to be there!" So, I grabbed Libby and said, "Come on, we've got to go down there!" We ran down to the stage, but started feeling dumb when Martina came back out on the front stage. She was sitting on a crescent moon. We about passed out when the moon started to rise with her on it, and we saw that it was headed our way. We were so, so excited. D. was right, and we were going to be close enough to touch her. She flew across the arena on the moon and landed in front of us. It was so neat, and we laughed and laughed as we took our pictures in front of her. We could see her cool jewelry and black fingernail polish. She left after a few songs, but it ranks up there in my fave concert happenings. Of course after the concert we were equally as excited to see her up close as well. All in all, a super fun night out for this homebody.

Chickens

I might surprise some of you when I say I would love to live in a farmhouse in the middle of the country with my family and my animals (outside in the pens/barn of course) to keep me company as we played, cooked, read, knitted, created, etc. Reality is this will most likely never happen for me. That's ok. I'll do what I can to make as much of it happen here where I am.

I am trying to live simpler, and part of this is having a garden, and hope to someday have a chicken coop with a few chickens for eggs. I asked for a chicken coop with chickens for Mother's Day this year. On this past Tuesday I was driving toward the school for a meeting (and running kind of late) and D. pulled in front of me and motioned for me to follow him. I wasn't very thrilled, but I did it anyway. We drove to one of the shops they have for their heavy machinery and we got out and he said, "I want to show you something." We walked over to one of the machines and he pointed down in between parts of it. There was a beautiful chicken! And she was sitting on 11 eggs. I was so excited! I told D. that God had answered my request for Mother's Day and he didn't even have to pay for it! We took pictures and did research that night to find out what kind of chicken she was (Old English Game Hen). We looked at coop design and I was getting so excited! The next morning, D. left for work and about 20 minutes after he left the phone rang. He told me that something had eaten the eggs during the night and the chicken was gone. I was so sad. So, I'm still on the search for some chickens for my backyard. If any of you help me, I promise I'll keep you supplied with fresh eggs!