Walking with Us

The Tooth Fairy

2012-01-25T12:38:00.003-05:00

Last night, after enjoying his supper since he no longer had to worry about his loose tooth hurting with each bite, Josiah was eager to place his tooth in the tooth fairy pillow. So, please excuse the extra food on his clothing and face! He's still cute, even with the extra food, lol! :)
My two proud kiddos, showing off their pillows. Mackenzie wanted to join in the fun, even though there was no tooth to place in her pillow last night. ;)

He's clean! Josiah's holding that tiny tooth after bath time last night.

Inspecting his tooth.

Placing his tooth into the pillow that Geri made for us.

He's ready!

And this is what he found when he woke up this morning! A celebration on the floor from the tooth fairy with a note, too!

Here is the letter.

A proud boy, with his excited sister celebrating with him! (He said the camera flash was bright so early in the morning!)

So he was squinting! The tooth fairy left him a $5.00 bill and a Fifty Cent piece as a special keepsake. She also left his tooth for him to keep, too. I need to find a keepsake box for him to store it in sometime soon.

A fun morning, for sure!

Josiah's First Lost Tooth!

2012-01-24T19:01:00.003-05:00

It appears that I have not blogged in quite a long time. Life seems to be whirling on faster than ever, and I have not found much spare time to blog. This post, however, must be completed! Josiah lost his first tooth today! His tooth is tiny!
It was his bottom front middle left tooth.

Josiah discovered that his tooth was loose this past week. Less than a week later, it is out! He wiggled and wiggled. I pulled on three different attempts. The third attempt pulled the tooth right out as the first two loosened it. I am not sure who was most proud...Josiah or Mackenzie! She was super excited for her baby brother.

It's gone! :)

Thanks to our neighbor, Geri, for stepping in and helping me make Josiah's tooth fairy pillow. My sewing machine thread and fabric got caught and jammed as I began sewing tonight. I did not have time to fix it right then, and I am thankful that Geri could help finish the pillow for Josiah. He is excited. Should be fun to see what the tooth fairy brings tonight! More pictures to come, I'm sure.

Josiah's class was in charge of chapel earlier this month. Each child memorized a set of lines, created a poster to illustrate the lines, and stood up in front of the whole chapel crowd to say the lines. They did GREAT!! (Josiah is at the middle microphone in the above picture.)

Josiah practicing at the microphone just before chapel began.

I will try to do a better job of blogging. Since my last post, we had a wonderfully blessed Christmas, a great start to the new year, and who knows what all else happen. For now, at least I got a few things recorded!

Our Week

2011-11-28T16:10:00.002-05:00

We had a wonderful last week, and here are three pictures for you. Above is our annual picture with Santa Claus at Fantasy of Trees. I think it turned out pretty cute. :) Both kids talked to Santa, and Josiah even hugged him at the end of the photo shoot. So super sweet.
Josiah's half birthday was on Thanksgiving Day this year. He is officially 5 1/2 years old. Granna and Z-pa bought him a turkey cake to celebrate. He told me today that his favorite part of Thanksgiving week was celebrating his half birthday.

To complete our week, last night Mackenzie's other top front tooth was so loose that I insisted on pulling it. On the third try, I got it! Here is her new smile. I believe she is adorable in this phase. She says she is embarrassed to be missing those two top front teeth. After assuring her that she is beautiful, both inside and out, I tucked her into bed. The tooth fairy came while she was sleeping. All is well in our world that seems so full of fun milestones these days!

Thanksgiving School Parties

2011-11-18T23:33:00.004-05:00

It's official. The kids are out of school for Thanksgiving break! Yippeee! :)I joined Mackenzie's class for their party this afternoon. Mackenzie did a great job of quoting her memorized lines for the Thanksgiving program that her class did in the room. I am proud of how well she did! Above is Shaun and Mackenzie.
Her class decorated giant sugar cookies for the party activity.

Mackenzie, Savannah, and Hollie

Part of Josiah's class. His class all had t-shirts with a turkey made from the child's hand print on it. Super cute. They were out of dress code and in turkey shirts with pajama bottoms and slippers today!

Most of the boys in Josiah's class are in the picture. I love how excited they are, though I have no idea just what happened to cause such happy faces! Made for a great picture, though.

Mackenzie and Josiah, ready to head home for the holiday!

Classroom Crafts

2011-11-15T16:14:00.004-05:00

I am so incredibly thankful for my job that allows me the flexibility to work and still be present for my children's classroom activities. I had the opportunity to do a craft with Josiah's class last Friday. One of the things we made was a Christmas door hanger. Kids had fun. I did, too! Above is Josiah, Tucker, Isaac, and Riley.
Josiah busy painting his ornament craft. (Yes, we did Christmas crafts before Thanksgiving because the stores were sold out of Thanksgiving crafts, lol!)

Rylan, Josiah, and me.

Rylan and Josiah. Definitely buddies!

Today, I had the opportunity to join Mackenzie's class in making a Ginger Bread house for the Fantasy of Trees, a fund raiser for Children's Hospital. Above: Sophia, Emma, McKenna, and Mackenzie.

Mackenzie, McKenna, and Emma

Caleb and Mackenzie mixing icing for the gingerbread house.

Mackenzie and Savannah taking a turn at decorating.

Mackenzie and me with the finished ginger bread house!

The kids tried to make a cross out of skittles on the roof on this side.

This side of the roof has a Christian fish on it, and "Baby Jesus" (i.e., Ginger Bread Man) is in the Manger at the front door!

I think the kids did a great job. We all had fun. I think the best part was watching the kids enjoy some of the left over candies! I loved getting to be with the kids for these fun activities at school.

Trunk or Treat

2011-10-30T18:23:00.004-04:00

Tonight was Trunk or Treat at church. Here's my two kids: an angel and Jango Fett off of Star Wars. :) Ready to enjoy some crafts and games!
Allison, Lauren, Mackenzie, and Josiah

Mackenzie making a bracelet craft.

Josiah "fishing" for candy. Fun game!

Jango Fett

Josiah, Britton, and Owen

Mackenzie, with Josiah close behind her, making the rounds to gather candy. Another annual Trunk or Treat. Another fun memory made.

Fall Festivities

2011-10-28T17:12:00.005-04:00

We've been busy with lots of fun activities. Here's some pictures to catch you up-to-date. Mackenzie and Josiah at a pumpkin patch on Tuesday afternoon. We stopped by to pick out a couple "pie size pumpkins" for school projects.
And I had to snap a few pictures while we were there, of course. ;)

This morning, after settling the kids in their classrooms, I joined some friends and we off-loaded their truck bed full of pumpkins. Today was going to be pumpkin patch day for the kids, complete with hayrides! Due to rain, the pumpkin patch grew out of concrete this year. ;) The kids loved getting to pick out pumpkins. Thanks to our friends for donating the pumpkins. The hayride was rained out, but we all had fun anyways! You can see the trailer full of hay behind Proctor's truck. Would have been fun....sigh...but the concrete pumpkin patch was great!

Here's the Kindergarten side of the pumpkin patch.

My Little Man is in the middle of the back row with the gray shirt and red pants. Today was "dress up like a community hero" day; they enjoyed being out of dress code. Josiah was a firefighter.

Josiah with a few other boys picking out pumpkins.

Josiah and me at the concrete pumpkin patch. lol.

Here's his whole class with the pumpkins they chose. He's on the front row toward the right.

Mackenzie's class did not attend the pumpkin patch (it was just for the Kindergarten and 3rd grades as those are the grades that Proctor and Allison's kids are in), but they did enjoy painting pumpkins in their classroom today. I guess 2nd graders are more independent than Kindergartners as they did not need parents in the room to help today. So, I don't have any pictures of Mackenzie from today! I did get to eat lunch, one-on-one, with the kids today during their lunchtimes. That was fun. The above picture is of Josiah's class decorating pumpkins with stickers this afternoon.

Josiah and Tucker

Josiah decorating his pumpkin with stickers.

Josiah and me. I love getting to be involved in his classroom activities! I am thankful to "share" room mom responsibilities with Lexi's mom this year. Very nice, indeed!

Josiah with Mrs. Haluska

Candid pics of pumpkin decorating.

Cutie

Aly and Josiah

Last weekend, David and I worked together to create a "baby poster" for Josiah. The assignment was about baby names and pictures. Josiah was hilarious. He saw that his full name was on the poster. He quickly indicated that he did NOT want his middle name on the poster. We said it had to be on the poster because of the assignment. We tried to explain the importance of his "family name." When I told him about the four people in the family with that name, his quickly said, "I wish there was one less." Poor baby! He was very funny about it. Then, after presenting it at school, he came home excited. I asked him what his friends thought about his name. He said, "It's cool, Mom." Apparently his name went over quite well in the classroom! How funny.

The poster will be on display all year long in the classroom. He was so proud of his poster that he wants to hang it in his room at home. He has asked us to make another one for him to have here at home because he says he can't wait until the end of the school year to have one in his room. Cracks me up. Glad he liked it.

I wish I had pictures of Mackenzie's class from today, too. I enjoyed my lunch time with her. She enjoyed her day at school. She was dressed as a Bible character. Cutie! I am so thankful for the flexibility of my job. I am grateful to be able to work and still be present at school, too.

Bear Cabin and Ozone Falls

2011-10-17T11:53:00.008-04:00

We decided to take a last minute getaway for Fall Break this past weekend. After extensive online searching, we ended up at Bear Cabin. A big feature that our kids were interested in was a loft. This cabin had two lofts! Just perfect. Bear cabin was surrounded by woods with a pond near by. It has a wrap around porch with a soft tub spa on the back porch.
Here's one staircase up to the loft with a King size bed and a balcony, too.

Here's the kitchen with the laundry area just straight ahead.

Here's the living room with a spiral staircase up to the loft with a full size bed.

Here's the master bedroom downstairs just off the living area.

Here's the master bathroom. The cabin has two full bathrooms.

Here's the full size bed in the loft up the spiral staircase. It was cozy.

Looking back toward the living area from the full size loft. You can actually see across from one loft to the other loft. Very cool! The kids loved it!!!

Looking toward the full size loft from the king loft with the living room below.

Another view of the living room from above. The full size bed is just beyond the ceiling fan.

Here is the king size bed and loft area with the back door to the second story balcony area.

Standing near the back door balcony, looking back toward the living area from the king size loft.

Balcony out the king size loft. Huge yard area to run and play.

Two cute kids playing checkers with David watching. Soft Spa in the back ground.

The last picture of my babies with their top baby teeth in tact. Aren't they cute in their matching pj's?!

Penguins. Love it.

Here it is. Mackenzie's top right baby tooth. We noticed it was almost dangling. Knew it had to come out. She tried and tried. Loosened it. Made it bleed. I was then able to pull it on my third attempt. Woo Hoo! The tooth fairy even found her at the cabin. :)

Missing a top tooth! And, the one next to it on her top left is also loose. She would make a great hillbilly for Halloween. She's planning to go as an angel, though. ;)

What a smile!

During our Fall Break excursion, we decided to hike to Ozone Falls. David leading the way, with Mackenzie and Josiah close behind.

Josiah standing at the top of Ozone Falls. You can see the water falling over the edge just to the picture left, Josiah's right.

David with the kids at the top of Ozone Falls.

Some nice lady took our picture, all four of us together, at the top of Ozone Falls. You can see the stream that becomes the water fall just to David's right.

David and the kids with Ozone Falls in the background. I snapped this one as we were hiking down the rocky incline to the base of the falls. Sure was a gorgeous fall day.

The kids and me at the base of Ozone Falls.

Zoomed in on the kids and me at the base of the falls.

Mackenzie and me with Ozone Falls in the back ground.

My little mountain goat. Josiah loved climbing on all the rocks to get down to the falls and back up from the falls.

Picture of the falls.

Zoomed in on the top of the falls.

You see the little white dot behind the water fall toward the right side of the picture? That's a person. Kinda gives you some perspective on the size of Ozone Falls. Impressive.

Our two mountain goats. ;)

I propped the camera on the side of a boulder and used the timer to take this picture of the four of us. I loved the angle on it! The falls are in the back ground.

Future rock climber?

My two precious kiddos.

We had a wonderful weekend getaway for Fall Break. Fun times. Precious memories made together. Thankful for neat opportunities.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-17T11:22:00.005-04:00

About a week ago, following our annual tradition, we headed out to the pumpkin patch with our friends. We all look forward to the day at Oakes Farms each year. My two little pumpkins! Aren't they cute?! :)
Mackenzie holding a little pumpkin in her hands.

Josiah holding a little pumpkin in his hands.

Mackenzie "holding" Josiah, lol. They do have fun together!

Josiah driving the tractor with Mackenzie riding along behind it. (Okay, they were just pretending. Not really driving it!)

This thing is really neat. It is like a balloon trampoline. David, Bill, and all four kids enjoyed jumping on it!

Zoomed in on the four kids.

Josiah, Mackenzie, Lauren, Allison
(Petting zoo in background.)

All four kids peering in at the animals in the petting zoo area.

These big culverts were tons of fun! You climb in and roll them from one end of the yard to the other. :)

Mackenzie on the tractor bike.

Josiah loved the culvert slides!

Allison, Josiah, Mackenzie, Lauren

Zoomed in on Allison, Josiah, Mackenzie, and Lauren.

The four of us.

Josiah, Mackenzie, Lauren, and Allison.

The four of us.

We took a hayride out to the field and enjoyed the pumpkins. Josiah on a pumpkin.

Mackenzie on a pumpkin.

All four kids in the pumpkin patch.

Sweet Friendship. Fun times. Gorgeous day.

Kindergarten Craft, 2nd Grade Field Trip, Julia

2011-10-17T11:05:00.003-04:00

Have I even taken time to mention in my blog that Mrs. Haluska asked me to be Room Mom for Josiah's class? Well, I said yes and tagged Allison, Lexi's Mom, to be Co-Room Mom with me! Nice to have a friend involved and to be able to share the responsibilities. I love being involved in the classroom. We had our first Craft Friday September 23rd. We will do those about once per month. Here's my little man. The kids were allowed to be out of dress code to celebrate Fall in farmer style clothes. Josiah wore a flannel shirt and blue jeans. The craft was nice and messy with paint to create hand print trees and thumb print leaves on the trees. We all enjoyed it.
One Sunday night we hosted our H2H small group Bible study at our house. One family has a new baby girl, Julia. She has an entire fan club, you see. Mackenzie was delighted to get to hold precious baby Julia.

SOOO super sweet. I love this picture! Julia doesn't seem to mind the attention, and the kids are learning so much from being around her. I am grateful that her parents are willing to share her with our whole H2H group! Thanks, Mike and Cindy, for sharing your blessing. :)

September 29th, Mackenzie's 2nd grade class took a field trip to Safety City. Sadly, I had to work that day. However, David was able to go and represent us and enjoy the day with Mackenzie. She loved having her Daddy there, too.

Safety City is a miniature city that teaches kids all kinds of safety skills, including rules of the road.

Mackenzie is on the bike to the right with a white shirt on in the above picture. Her class really enjoyed the trip.

That was 3 posts in 1! Getting caught up! More posts to come very soon. :)

David's Birthday

2011-10-17T11:01:00.002-04:00

This tells you just how far behind I am with my blogging! Here's a couple of pictures from David's birthday. We had a fun celebration with family. I made him his favorite Fruit Pizza as a surprise on his birthday. I think he liked it!
David's parents bought him a Bruster's Ice Cream Cake. That was a nice treat. We all enjoyed the time together. I am so thankful for this man's birth!!! :)

Celebration!!!

2011-09-10T20:52:00.005-04:00

What an amazing day! My "baby girl" has made the most important decision of her entire life. She gave her life to Christ over 6 months ago, and today she was baptized. What a blessing it was to be a part of this day for her. I loved hearing her plans as she thought aloud through the week, planning out this special day. She choose 3 songs, each of which has special lyrics, that she wanted played at certain times. David was able to put together a disk with the songs, and our friend, Mike, played them over the sound system at church for us. The first song was Come Now is the Time to Worship. Mackenzie wanted this played at the beginning, as it says, "now is the time to give your heart." The second song was Counting on God. She had the whole song played before the baptism, and she had the part about "the miracle of Christ in me, is the mystery that sets me free, I'm nothing like I used to be" played immediately after she came up out of the water. The last song she choose was Love the Lord Your God, by Lincoln Brewster. She says this is what it is all about. I LOVED hearing her pick these songs and the reason why she picked them. What insight. What a blessing. I do pray that she spends every day of her life serving the Lord with everything that she is and everything that she has and in everything that she does. We are so very proud of her. She choose a small group of around 40 people or so to be there for this celebration. We even had a pizza party afterwards!!! Even in the smallest child size baptismal robe, I had to roll her sleeves up for her hands to stick out! So precious.
She asked her daddy to baptize her. What an honor! He readily agreed and did a fantastic job.

Here is Mackenzie, ready to enter the water.

David met her at the stairs and escorted her to the middle of the baptistery. I then was using only the video camera and did not get a still pic during the baptism. My favorite part was when David picked her up in his strong arms so that she could see out over the edge before setting her down and immersing her.

My joy-filled child of the Lord. She was radiant! As soon as she was back in her dry clothing, she scurried back down to her friends and family. Thanks to Chris for leading the opening prayer and Leland for concluding in prayer circled around Mackenzie. We are all so blessed by our friends and family. We really appreciate everyone that came to celebrate with us today.

The pizza party afterwards!

Wonderful fellowship with wonderful people.

I really do love our friends and our family members, and I appreciate you all!

Mackenzie, Avery, and Arriona. Precious friendships.

Mackenzie, we are proud of you. We love you. We pray that you will make the choice each day of your life to serve the Lord in everything. We pray that He surrounds you with people to keep you close to Him forever. We are forever grateful for His gift to us. We are grateful for Jesus' life and His willingness to die on the cross for our sins. We are awed that He defeated death and lives forever and ever. We are humbled that He has taken our place and forgiven our sins. We will do our best to live our lives in loving service to Him.

A special thanks to my mom, David's parents, and his brother, Zac, for making a special trip to be with us to celebrate this special day.

It's Official. He can ride!

2011-09-03T16:30:00.003-04:00

As David and I were inside the house getting last minute items gathered for our family outing to a farm area today, Josiah learned to ride a "two-wheeler." Mackenzie came running in screaming and we could hear Josiah outside screaming. We went running out thinking someone was hurt. Great news! No one was hurt at all. They were screaming with excitement. Josiah had done it. He taught himself how to ride a bike without training wheels. Our kids call bikes without training wheels, "two-wheelers." Josiah says he learned on our "practice bike," because it is the same one Mackenzie learned on...Elmo. Neither of them like Elmo, so he made sure to explain that it is just the practice bike. Today, David is taking the training wheels off his Cars Bike. It is official. He can ride.
I even got him to pose for a picture! :)

There he goes!

Way to go, Josiah! :)

7th Birthday Party

2011-08-27T19:06:00.004-04:00

Today we celebrated Mackenzie's 7th birthday and Lauren's 6th birthday with a double party at the pool. What fun! The two girls who share a birthday, one year apart exactly, had been planning this double party for over a year now. I believe today was a success for everyone. The kids really seemed to have a great time swimming and playing together. Between the two girls, there were almost 30 kids at the party today! The best count I got was 29 or so. Amazing turn out, and so much fun!!! Thank you to all who attended and helped celebrate with us. Above is Avery, Mackenzie, and Abby, friends from school.
This is Mackenzie with Alyssa, another friend from school.

Mackenzie is on the right with Lauren sitting beside her. The two birthday girls! Sweet friendship. We enjoyed having our friends from our H2H group at church there to celebrate with them both, too. I never figured out a way to get all the kids in one picture, so I just picked a few of Mackenzie to upload for the blog.

Mackenzie loved the double party! Sweet birthday girls...Happy Birthday to you both!!! I am so glad we could share the day together with so many friends.

Mackenzie's Birthday

2011-08-26T21:32:00.004-04:00

Somehow, among the chaos of this past week, my baby girl turned 7 years old! She is in the second grade. This was the first full week of school, and between early mornings and full days in school, we are exhausted! She has complained of not feeling well all week. Josiah has a cold with classic clear runny nose and sneezing. My case load at work has doubled, which is what I requested in order to have plenty of hours...however, one of the cases was "inherited" from another case manager who kinda went missing. Weird. She just stopped working. She did not really go missing, but she is not returning her calls or getting her responsibilities done. Therefore, her cases are being "off loaded" to other case managers. Problem is, there are MANY things left undone on all her cases that need immediate attention. I got one of those cases. Ha. No worries. I have an ultra supportive team of coworkers. I am truly and completely blessed with this team of people. I am getting plenty of hours and grateful for the job, too. That said, it was a crazy busy week....and it is not finished!

Tomorrow is Mackenzie's birthday party! Her birthday was Wednesday. She and Lauren, from church, are having a double party tomorrow. They have planned this party for about a year now, lol! I hope they have the party of their dreams tomorrow. It will be a pool party at a local gym. There will be lots of kids there, and the girls are very excited! I just can't believe how quickly her actual birthday came and kept on going...

We celebrated on Wednesday by taking sugar cookies with icing in between them and sprinkles, too, (like sandwich sugar cookies) to her classmates at school. After school, we celebrated with presents, ate at a Japanese restaurant so she could have mushroom soup (her request), and came home for cake and ice cream. It was a blessed day, and we are blessed to have her in our family.

On a side note...Josiah, as I tucked him into bed tonight, said, "Mom, the judge came into our class today and read Chester Raccoon to us." "The judge?" I asked. "Yeah, the judge. She came in and read to us and talked about not bullying." "Oh! You mean the principal?" I said. "Yeah." Josiah answered. That cracked me up! The judge. How cute is that?!

He also climbed onto the toilet, found the liquid Mucinex, took it to the sink, and attempted to draw his dose into the oral syringe. Sadly, he took an unknown amount. He showed me exactly where the dose came to in the syringe and told me he did that twice. Here's hoping that he is a good historian and is telling me accurately....if so, he got a "6 to 12 year old" dose. Should be fine. Sigh.

Did I mention that I witnessed a guy on a bike get hit by a car today? And the driver of the car zoomed off as fast as possible. The bike rider was fine. I rolled my window down and checked on him. Crazy world we live in, isn't it?!

Guess I was in the mood to type tonight. I mainly wanted to record a little about Mackenzie's birthday week. Kinda ended up rambling...He, he.

I will try to post about Mackenzie's actual party soon. She has enjoyed a wonderful birthday, and is eager to celebrate with her friends tomorrow. We love her and are very proud of her.

Bunnies in the Garden

2011-08-17T21:46:00.005-04:00

You have to look closely. Do you see them? Bunnies! There are two in the picture below, but there are four total. As we picked the garden tonight, something small, fast, furry, and gray ran so close to my feet that it almost ran across my feet! I almost screamed. I was not expecting visitors in our garden. As soon as I realized that the furry friends scurrying around my feet were tiny baby bunnies, I called for the kids to come and see. They came super fast and were super excited! The two bunnies that darted near my feet were the only ones we saw at first. Then, underneath the tomato plants, we spotted two more bunnies! Those are the two pictured below.
They were so very small and so fast, too!

You can see Mackenzie's hand coming in from the picture's left to pet the bunny. Josiah was able to pet one, too.

Josiah peering intently into the garden. Baby bunny is in the picture, too.

Josiah's hand reaching to pet a bunny.

This one was trying to escape up the rock wall area behind the garden. 3 of the 4 hid underneath the rocks and small Christmas shaped tree. 1 hid underneath another bush near the swing set. We were careful not to scare them away as we hope the momma will come back to raise them in our garden! :) We even think we found their burrow in the garden under some straw where our squash used to grow. How fun?! We even delayed bedtime to enjoy the bunnies. ;)

Kindergarten, Second Grade, Twins!

2011-08-16T09:24:00.011-04:00

It has happened. It is official. My kids are now ELEMENTARY age. No more "preschoolers" at our house. The formative years, by definition, are now complete. On to the next amazing phase that God has planned for our lives as a family. As I woke the kids up this morning, they were both excited. Mackenzie jumped right out of bed (unusual for her) and Josiah tried to stay in bed (unusual for him)! Once up and dressed for this first day of school, we headed downstairs for a special confetti pancake breakfast, courtesy of Aunt Jemima. Last night, as we laid clothes out for the week, the kids decided they wanted to match! Twins. I love it. I was happy to accommodate them by laying out khaki shorts and white polos for them both. How fun that they can match since the school uniforms are the same for both genders!

Mackenzie eagerly ate both of her pancakes.

Josiah was so excited (or perhaps a bit nervous); he ate only a few bites of his pancakes.

My baby boy, ready for his first day of Kindergarten!!! Where, oh where, has the time gone?! I am so proud of him. He is so smart and ready for this step. He is already reading, and I am confident that he will do just fine in Mrs. Haluska's Kindergarten class.

Posing for the camera. I had to take lots of pictures for the first day of school. Even more so since it is his first day of Kindergarten! Today is only a half day. 0745 to 1130 today. They stagger the Kindergartners this first week, so his next day of school will be Friday. Friday will be a full day, 7:45 am to 2:45 pm. What a big week for my handsome little man!

My beautiful baby girl. All ready for Second Grade! It is truly hard to believe she is in second grade already. She is smart, and she is ready. She has 11 of the kids in her class that she already knows. I am sure she will get to know the other 7 or so kids pretty quickly. Mrs. Scott is her teacher, and Mackenzie is excited about that, too.

Isn't she beautiful?! I love how you can see her two permanent teeth coming in already. She has lost the two front bottom teeth. Classic second grade look! I am so proud of her.

My "twins," all dressed alike and ready to head to school!

This picture captures their personalities quite well. Mackenzie, standing all proper-like; Josiah, standing all crazy-like. She is a rule keeper; He is an entertainer. Great combination for our family. Would not trade either one of them for anything! I am so thankful that God has blessed me with these two precious children. I am so thankful for the school they get to attend. Humbled by it all, and grateful for God's blessings. To Him be the Glory. Always.

My precious babies!!!! (Who cares if they are starting Second grade and Kindergarten...they will always be my babies!) We read the books, "Kindergarten, Here I Come," and "Love You Forever," last night at bedtime. Fun and sweet. Mrs. Haluska will read, "The Kissing Hand," to Josiah's class today. That is also a good book, but we don't have that one!

They sure where good to pose for pictures today! I love it.

One last picture on the door step before loading into the van.

This is the first time I have taken them BOTH to school at the same time and for the same amount of hours. Wowwie. Changes things on the home front. I am grateful for my job and the flexibility it allows me to have with the kids schedules. I have been able to stay home with them, for the most part, and I will continue to do so. I will be able to drop them off and pick them up every day. I will be able to work while they are in school, and be home with them when they are home. What a gift. I will still be able to use my nursing license in home care, too. Best of both worlds. Praise the Lord!!!

All buckled in and ready to roll! And, David is on call this week. Another blessing. When he is on call, he does not have to go in to work until 0930. He was able to be with us for our entire morning routine. How special is that on the first day of school?! All four of us laughed and talked on the way. I am so thankful that David got to be a part of that. He mentioned that he will not soon forget this day.

(We even had a date to McDonald's for coffee together, just the two of us, after getting the kids situated at school!) ;)

My two babies. Ready to enter the school. I was impressed that the Head Master was holding the door for everyone. I love the visibility of the administration.

I held Josiah's hand while walking down the first part of the hallway. I turned loose of it so that I could snap some pictures of the two of them heading towards the Kindergarten room! Can you believe that I did not even cry? I kinda surprised myself. I feel a peace about it all.

Mackenzie leading the way around the corner into Mrs. Haluska's room with Josiah right on her heels.

The sign above the door.

Josiah followed the directions, put his backpack in his cubby, and got his supply box out of his cubby. He was very intent on doing everything the right way. He got really quiet and serious when we entered the classroom. I could not get him to smile for the pictures after that! Very reminiscent of his first day of preschool. Too funny. He will warm up very quickly. He is familiar with the room and the teacher from Mackenzie's time in Kindergarten. That is a gift for him, indeed.

Standing by his cubby for me to take a picture.

Posing with Mrs. Haluska. We love her and are so thankful that Josiah gets to be in her class this year, too! I believe he will have a wonderful year.

I think he was ready to get the day started. There were just going to be a few other children there today, due to the staggered schedule, to allow the kindergartners more one-on-one time to adjust this first week. On Friday, all 16 kids will be there together. We are so happy that he has Mrs. Haluska! :)

One last picture of Josiah sitting at his desk before David and I headed upstairs with Mackenzie to the second grade classroom! I think Josiah was happy to have Mackenzie help drop him off on the first day of school. :) I love knowing they are there together, even if they are not in the same classroom lol.

My big girl. She is now upstairs! Second grade. That's a big deal, ya know?!
She led the way. David and I followed her up to her room.

Mrs. Scott is the new second grade teacher this year. She has 8 or so years of teaching experience. About half of that was in Florida. The other half here at a different Christian school. I think she will be great. Mackenzie seemed pleased with her after we met her at the Open House. I am thankful that Mackenzie is with several other children that she already knows!

My beautiful girl, at her desk, ready to begin her first day of second grade. It is a half day for her, too. Full days begin tomorrow. Second grade hangs backpacks on hooks instead of using cubbies!

Here is Mackenzie with Mrs. Scott, her second grade teacher.

Mrs. Scott has four children. Her oldest, a boy, is in 10th grade. Her youngest are in 4th grade. They are twin girls. She seems excited about the school year, so that is good.

I guess that completes this post. Major milestones at our house. It is a good day. I hope you all have a blessed day, too!

Catching Up

2011-08-12T10:44:00.004-04:00

The summer seems to be gone already. Back in June (12th through 18th) we spent the week in Maui with my momma, my brother, and my brother's wife. We all had so much fun. I was going to post LOTS of pictures from the trip, but somehow that just hasn't happened, lol. I figure I better type some of the highlights here while they are still fresh on my mind...and before another busy school year begins! :)

We stayed at Aston's Kaanapali Shores on Maui. It was fabulous! We had two bedrooms, a full kitchen and living areas, and two full bathrooms. We enjoyed a view of the pool, gardens, and Pacific ocean! Amazing. Maui is windy most all of the time. The rain forests on Maui are among the wettest on earth, receiving tons of rain per year. We drove part of the Road to Hana and stopped at Twin Falls for a hike, complete with splashing underneath the falls themselves! That made for some great pictures.

Another highlight of the trip was getting to eat at Mama's Fish House. Thanks to my mom, we enjoyed a meal that is beyond description. It was THAT good, folks. Extremely expensive, but totally wonderful! What a neat memory. We loved walking around the grounds at Mama's Fish House, too. Maui is simply gorgeous. Love the tropical beach areas!

Josiah loved hunting for hermit crabs, catching them, storing him in his bucket, and then releasing them. He still says, at least once per day, that we will be moving to Maui someday. He LOVED it, and he bawled when we loaded our luggage to head home on the last day of our trip. He could not stand to leave. He also loved getting to drink Coconut Milk from a real Coconut!

Mackenzie enjoyed all the swimming, and seeing a real Sea Turtle. She is a fish herself, and enjoyed the ocean with boogie boards, the pool with goggles, and our snorkeling tour to Molokini and Turtle Town. She says going on the boat ride was her favorite thing. A giant Sea Turtle swam up to the shore during our professional portrait session. It was amazing! We all loved seeing the turtle. Mackenzie also enjoyed the shopping in Lahaina and playing in the Banyon tree in Lahaina. Josiah loved climbing on the Banyon tree and all the swimming, too! He has learned to swim without floaties this summer.

Thanks to Evan (my brother) and Mia (his wife), we all enjoyed the Old Lahaina Luau and a professional photo shoot. The photographer was Mariah Milan, and she was amazing. Mia did a fabulous job of researching photographers on Maui and choosing the perfect one for our family. This was Mia and Evan's gift to my mom for completion of her doctorate in nursing this past December. They surprised my mom with the photo session. We got such great pics! What a neat gift for us all. Thanks, Evan and Mia! And the Luau was neat, too. Great food!

I am sure there is much more that I could type about the Maui trip, but for now, this will do! Maui is 6 hours behind us in time zones, so we all had quite the adjustment to make going and coming from that trip! Totally worth it, though. Thanks to my grandparents and my mom for making this trip happen, from airline tickets to lodging, for all of us. Wow. What a gift.

Other things to remember from this summer...Mackenzie lost her 2nd on July 24th, 2011. Our friend, Bill, pulled it just like he pulled the first one. Perfect!

On Tuesday, as in this coming Tuesday, August 16th, BOTH of my kids will start to school. Wow. Mackenzie will be in 2nd grade. How is that possible? And, Josiah will be in Kindergarten! I always thought it would be sad to see my "baby" start Kindergarten. Somehow, I think we are ready for this step! Mackenzie says she is a little nervous about starting back to school. Josiah says he is worried that no one will like him. I assured him that he will make lots of new friends and they will like him. He already knows one child, Lexi, in his class. He told Lexi yesterday, "You're gonna get to see me every day!" It was very funny. Mackenzie knows 11 of the 19 kids in her class this year already. Josiah has Mrs. Haluska and Mackenzie has Mrs. Scott. I am very pleased. School year, here we come!!!! :)

Just wanted to get those updates recorded before the school does start. I am sure there is much, much more that I should type, but for now, that will do.

David and I got to take a two night get-a-way, just the two of us, for the first time ever (since the kids were born) last week while his parents watched our kids. What a gift! Thank you, Zearl and Betty, for staying here with our kids while we enjoyed some one-on-one time.

Oh, and on June 11, 2011, Mackenzie was a flower girl and Josiah was a ring bearer in Aunt Mallory's wedding to Tom in Arkansas. What an honor for the two of them to be included in Mallory's wedding! How neat!!! We have some great pictures from the wedding, too, but for the sake of time I am just typing this post without pictures. Sorry.

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2011-06-27T15:32:00.001-04:00

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Josiah's 5th Birthday!

2011-05-24T19:20:00.008-04:00

What a week! It has been a great one, full of milestones at our house. You'll see from the previous posts that Mackenzie lost her first tooth this week. Well, Josiah has completed "preschool" and turned five years old, all in one week! I no longer have preschoolers at my house. I have elementary aged children! Crazy. Life is good and I am thankful. This post will recap some of our week.Josiah and "Kwali," his new Webkinz, on his last day of preschool.
Josiah receiving his certificate of completion from Mrs. Wendi, his teacher. He had his last day of preschool (MDO program Tues/Thurs) on Tuesday, May 17th. When his name was called to go up to Mrs. Wendi to get his certificate, he gave her such an enthusiastic hug that he literally knocked her over! Very funny. I love how freely she returns his hugs. She has been a wonderful teacher and such a huge blessing! We love her!!

Here is the whole class on the last day of preschool! From left to right: Sydney, Brooke, Ava, Josiah, Lexi, Callie, and Logan.

For his birthday party, Saturday, May 21st, Josiah wanted a "play date with friends and a pizza party." So, going off of his request, we invited "boys only," also per his request, for a play date and pizza party at our house. Shortly after mailing out the invitations to the boys from the 4 year old classes at school, Josiah decided he would like to invite Lexi, too, even though she is a girl. :) I talked to Austin and Lexi's mom. I am thankful she was able to come.

Here's Josiah and Logan eating Sam's Club Pizza with the Star Wars Cupcakes nearby.

David did a GREAT job of ordering the Star Wars cupcakes from Sam's Club for the party. When given the option of me making the cupcakes or just buying them, Josiah choose store bought ones. Sure was easy for me!

Uncle Zac was here to celebrate with us, too. We are SO thankful for all his help!!!! He just jumps right in and helps out in so many ways. We really appreciate his visit.

He lit the candles on Josiah's cupcake. Notice the Birthday Jedi Knight ribbon on Josiah? He spotted that at Target when we were buying the plates and napkins. He picked it out himself and was eager to wear it! I thought that was pretty cute. Surprised me!

Birthday Boy blowing out his candles!

Enjoying his cupcake.

Josiah, Lexi, Logan, and Mackenzie gathered around while Josiah opened presents. Uncle Zac is on the couch in the background.

Josiah has really enjoyed all his gifts this year!

Krista, Logan's mom, offered to take a picture of the four of us together. So, here we are. ;)
And, YES, I can still hold my babies. I love those cuddles from them both.

Josiah and Mackenzie with Uncle Zac. We have all enjoyed having him here!

Yesterday, Josiah got lots of packages in the mail! Above is a Star Wars Lego set from Poppie and Lili.

Another package....this one is from Granna and Z-pa...and notice the plastic snake from an earlier package! Ha, ha. Thanks a lot, Dad!

Opening new DS games from Granna and Z-Pa. He played them right away. Gotta love those EYES! Isn't he a cutie?!

Lego Pirates of the Caribbean DS game.

Cool packaging that pops from Mzee.

Boy squinkies from Mzee. Josiah was proud of those boy squinkies. Just like his sister's set, except these are made for a boy!

Earlier in the month/week, Josiah received cards and/or packages from everyone. I, however, neglected to grab my camera for each of the incoming packages. My sincerest apologies to those of you reading this blog who sent packages and aren't getting to see the pictures of his total enjoyment of the said package. Thank you all. He really has loved EVERYTHING! I just happened to have the camera handy and at the ready yesterday.

On another note, Mackenzie's last day of 1st grade was today! Her class party was also a surprise 40th Birthday party for her teacher, Mrs. Hatmaker. Josiah opted to stay home with Uncle Zac while I attended Mackenzie's class party. Fun times. Neat memories. Mackenzie received an award for the highest Grade Point Average in Phonics, Reading, and Handwriting! She received the top award in 3 out of 5 subjects. The Math award went to Raley and the Bible award went to a couple of kids that tied. I was so proud of her! And, thanks, Zac, for helping out with Josiah today.

Above picture, from left to right: Mackenzie, Savannah, Reagan, Kendall, and Alyssa.

As soon as David got home from work today, Josiah got to open his birthday presents from us.
Thanks for the wrapping paper, Zac!

Zac with Mackenzie and Josiah. He is one loved Uncle.

After Zac headed home this afternoon, we got a call from Geri and Trifon, our Bulgarian neighbors. They invited us over to their house so that Josiah could open a present from them. What fun! We were out the door in no time. Josiah got a Guess Who Star Wars game from them. We've already played it! I'd say he's had a HUGE birthday. He certainly has a lot of people to love him.

I just can't believe he is FIVE already! I am so proud of both of my kiddos. Josiah is so loving and hands out kisses and hugs freely. His manners have been those of a true gentleman as of late. He has a tender heart and is in tune with the emotions of those around him. He shares readily with others. He loves his legos, Star Wars, and pirates. He enjoys computer games, DS games, Wii games. He loves to cuddle and he loves being very active, too! He is 42 lbs and 44.125 inches. He is boy, through and through. He loves to catch worms and caterpillars. He is reading and surprises us with the signs he reads as we drive along the road. Mrs. Wendi reports that he was always ready with the answers in school. She says he at the top of his class with his reading skills. He has learned a lot of his addition and some subtraction, too. I am amazed at the questions he asks and how much he is learning at such an early age! We love to hear the funny things he has to say. He does keep us all laughing! He is a joy. We are truly thankful that God blessed our family with his arrival five years ago! What a delightful little boy! We love you, Josiah.We are so proud of you.

Mackenzie's Tooth-Pictures

2011-05-23T10:04:00.005-04:00

Last night I posted the video of Bill pulling Mackenzie's first tooth. Today I am posting the pictures. Below is the tooth that Bill pulled in my hand right after he got it out. Mackenzie opens her mouth to show off the gap!

Bill did a great job of taking these pictures for us!

Notice how far back the permanent tooth is in her mouth? That would be why her baby tooth was not getting any looser.

Mackenzie holding pressure to stop the bleeding. (And, smiling with delight and pride!)

I do hope the other ones come in under the baby teeth and push them out in the process. Otherwise, we might need Bill's assistance again in the future. ;)

Holding the paper towel in her mouth for pressure.

When we got home last night, Mackenzie wrote a letter to the tooth fairy. She found the little pillow I made for her over a year ago. She placed the tooth in the pocket of the pillow, on top of the letter, under her pillow.

Here she is in her room holding up the letter and pillow for the picture.

I zoomed in so you can read her letter.

Proudly pointing to the gap in her mouth.

Holding up her tooth and smiling to show the gap left in her mouth. I love this picture! What a milestone.

Her dainty hands placing the tooth into the pocket of the pillow.

Now she's ready for a visit from the tooth fairy! As I tucked her into bed at 9:00 pm last night, she excitedly began to tell me all about the tooth fairy. She told me what the tooth fairy did for her friends. She wondered aloud what the tooth fairy would do for her. She was overflowing with excitement. I wasn't sure if she would be able to sleep! She did eventually fall asleep. I also had NO idea just how much the tooth fairy does for that first tooth these days! Who knew?! Not me. What a surprise. David and Uncle Zac made a trip to Wal-Mart after the kids went to sleep last night. ;)

Sure enough, just like Mackenzie said, the tooth fairy DID leave sparkles on the bedroom floor! And big shiny stars, too.

In the middle of the decoration was a letter from the tooth fairy for Mackenzie, along with the keepsake box that Mackenzie has had since birth. It was a gift at a baby shower before she was born. She has always dreamed of placing her first lost tooth in that special box. Turns out that the tooth fairy even did that part for her, too!

Here's the letter from the tooth fairy. Mackenzie woke me up at 1:22 am to tell me that the tooth fairy had already come to her room. She was bubbling over with excitement. She said she found a dollar bill and a quarter in the pocket of the pillow, but her tooth was gone. I suggested we go to her room to check it out. So, at 1:25 am, she and I went to her room to investigate. We found the sparkles on the floor, the shiny stars, the letter, and even the box with her tooth in it! And, with the closet light turned on so that we could see, we noticed that the tooth fairy actually left a $5.00 bill and a Fifty Cent piece as a keepsake! (Rather that a dollar and a quarter like Mackenzie first thought in the dark.)

We had one very happy little girl at our house this morning. She showed her brother and her Uncle Zac, too. Her daddy got up in the middle of the night to go admire it with her, too. Today, I'm confident that she is enjoying showing all of her friends at school! Fun times. Huge milestone. Congratulations to my little princess.

Josiah cracked me up today, too. He is already wondering if he'll get sparkles on his floor or maybe even his bed when he loses his first tooth!

You'll have to watch the video from yesterday's post to see the tooth actually being pulled. Perhaps tomorrow I will get Josiah's birthday post done! Hard to believe he will be five years old tomorrow.

Video of Mackenzie's Tooth!

2011-05-22T21:06:00.005-04:00

It finally happened! After being loose since early March, Mackenzie lost her first tooth. The permanent tooth came in behind the baby tooth, so the baby tooth was loose but not getting any looser. It was definitely time for the baby tooth to be out, but try though I might, I was unable to pull it! After seeing the video of our good friend, Bill, pulling his daughter's tooth, I made a plan. ;)

At our Bible study group tonight, I asked Bill if he would mind pulling Mackenzie's tooth. I asked Mackenzie if she wanted Bill to pull her tooth. Next thing we knew, Bill had Mackenzie's tooth out on the second quick attempt! Mackenzie was SO incredibly proud. I am so thankful to have it out. David is thankful to have it out, too. He says he doesn't "do teeth."

Mackenzie is delighted. She has enjoyed showing everyone her tooth, the gap in her mouth, and retelling the story of Mr. Bill pulling her tooth. The funniest part of her telling the story is when she mentions that Mr. Bill saved us a lot of money because now we don't have to go pay the dentist to have it pulled. LOL. I guess she heard us talking about that, but I never expected it to be a part of her telling the story. So funny.

I have to say, too, that Mackenzie was incredibly brave. She has wanted to attain the "status" that goes along with losing a tooth for several months now. How cool that she can now show off her new gap tomorrow at school, just before the end of first grade! She has only 2 days of school left for this year. Nice timing to get to show her teacher and her friends. Had this event happened in early March when we first discovered the tooth to be loose, I would have cried as it is such a huge milestone. My baby girl is growing up! However, after almost 3 months of being loose and not coming out even though we tried to pull it, I am truly thrilled right along with Mackenzie!

Thanks to Bill and Cindy allowing us to use their camera at their house tonight, we have the above video! I so appreciate their willingness to be a part of Mackenzie's huge milestone! How fun that we were able share the big event with so many good friends. Uncle Zac is here visiting, too, so that is special, as well.

Cindy loaned us the book, Silverlicious. It is a cute book and perfect for tonight! We read it together, Mackenzie and I. Then, as I tucked her into bed, she excitedly told all about the tooth fairy's upcoming visit to our house tonight. Needless to say, we are all excited!

I have some really good pictures of Mackenzie at Bill and Cindy's house right after the tooth was pulled, and I have some cute ones of Mackenzie preparing her pillow and letter for the tooth fairy. I hope to get those uploaded and posted tomorrow. For tonight, I am tired. The video will have to suffice! Enjoy. :)

Church on Easter Sunday

2011-04-24T15:04:00.004-04:00

After hunting Easter eggs in our yard this morning, we headed to church. We had an extremely difficult time attempting to get Josiah to look and smile at the camera. So, these are the best pictures that we got today. The four of us.
The four of us, plus Chris, Autumn, Egypt, Chris Jr., and Arrionna.

David and me.

Mackenzie and Josiah

Beautiful Girl

Our traditional Easter picture taken on the bench at church. Too bad Josiah refused to look at the camera. Ha!

Us girls, coordinating in our black and white dresses.

Zoomed in on us.

Josiah ran into the picture at the last minute, totally unexpectedly. Mackenzie blinked, but I had to post it anyways.

Handsome, busy little guy climbing the tree.

That concludes our Easter posts. Praise be to our Lord for a risen Savior. What a gorgeous day it is to celebrate the fact that our Lord has risen and reigns forever!

Easter Morning

2011-04-24T14:40:00.005-04:00

Easter morning began early at our house. The kids just could not wait! Here is what they found at our door, from the Easter Bunny.
I loved watching the two kids sort through the contents of their baskets.

Josiah holding up his miniature Zhu-Zhu pet.

Mackenzie holding up her miniature Zhu-Zhu pet.

Not too long after sorting through the baskets, they were ready to head out the door in search of eggs!

Mackenzie was on to the bunny's trail. She quickly found several eggs!

Proudly displaying her eggs.

Josiah ran in a different direction and gathered lots of eggs, too.

Most of my pictures of him are a blur. He was moving fast!

Mackenzie found a huge purple egg in the mail box, and behind that one was a huge green egg. She removed the pink one and called to Josiah to come and see! He reached in and gathered the green one.

Inside Mackenzie's big egg was a set of Squinkies. She was delighted!

Inside Josiah's huge egg was a Lego Ninja set. Those were two excited kids to find a egg with a toy inside.

Josiah gathered eggs from the flower bed.

Woo Hoo!

What a loot!

These sure were hidden up high!

He found another one.

They discovered that the Easter Bunny had left dollar bills inside of four of the eggs. They were so cute trading eggs so that they each had their favorite color of eggs.

Inspecting the eggs while still in the yard.

Josiah opening an egg in the yard.

Holding up some prize eggs at the end of the egg hunt this morning.

Mackenzie and Josiah saying good morning to Tanner through the fence.

Our Bunny Cake

2011-04-24T14:24:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, in keeping with our family tradition, we made an Easter bunny cake! I cooked the cake on Friday and let it cool overnight. Saturday morning, with pajamas still on, I iced the cake and Mackenzie decorated it. Josiah was not interested in helping, hence fewer pictures of him in this post. Mackenzie did a GREAT job of coming up with the idea for the bunny's face. She created it all by herself.
She even did the yellow icing decoration on the pink bow tie all by herself. She did a mighty fine job of creating a bunny! I was impressed with the candies she choose and the layout she created. It really was fun to work together on the bunny cake.

My attempt at getting Josiah to pose for a picture with the finished cake....silly boy!

Sweet girl, all dressed and ready for the day, posing by the finished cake.

Me and my girl.

Time to dive in! Yummy stuff. ;)

Got a picture of him smiling! Guess the cake was yummy enough that I got a good picture after all.

Sweet little guy. We all had fun eating the bunny cake!

Another post in the making of pictures from today's egg hunt and church pictures, too...to be continued. Happy Easter, Everyone!

Church Easter Egg Hunt

2011-04-18T11:53:00.004-04:00

Yesterday was our church Easter egg hunt. The kids were so excited! Above is Josiah, Mackenzie, Lauren, and Allison. Josiah being silly with his basket on his head just before the egg hunt started.

We wore long sleeve clothing as it was cold! Maybe this coming Sunday, for Easter, we'll get to wear more traditional Easter clothing. ;)

Josiah hunting eggs on the playground.

What a basketful of eggs! We shared some of the ones he found with other children that did not find as many since there was a 12 egg limit per child.

He was very proud of all his eggs.

What a cutie!

Here goes Mackenzie! We were a little late to her egg hunt as we were finishing Josiah's hunt. They are divided per age group in different areas.

Mackenzie inspecting an egg.

My sweet girl.

I like this one of her on the hillside.

Josiah loves climbing this tree.

So I figured I'd snap a picture of him in the tree!

Precious girl. A bit disappointed as she found very few eggs (4 or 5, I think) and noticed LOTS of eggs in other children's baskets. She is a rule keeper and has trouble understanding why other people do not follow the rules...remember the 12 eggs per child. We tried to explain to her that it was okay. She would have a great Easter, and at least one of the other kids who did find a lot of eggs may not have as much for Easter due to his family circumstances. She was still disappointed. So, we pulled down eggs from the attic and let her count them out for an egg hunt at our house during H2H (Heart to Heart Bible Study Group). She enjoyed that and it seemed to make the day better for her!

I am so thankful for Easter. We love the celebrations, but the fact that our Lord Jesus died on the cross and has risen from the grave defeating death for us all is nothing short of AMAZING. For this I am eternally grateful. May you all have a blessed Easter!

Easter Eggs!

2011-04-02T20:12:00.005-04:00

Yes, I know that it is just the first Saturday of April, and I know that Easter Sunday is still four weeks away, but we have all four been looking forward to dyeing Easter Eggs for a few weeks now. We could not pass up a gorgeous day and the opportunity to dye eggs together. Yep, it's early. That just means we might get to do it a second time even closer to Easter! ;) My two precious babies dying eggs together. Mackenzie still has not lost that first loose tooth, but I'm guessing it will be out within the week. I am treasuring the last of the pictures with her full set of baby teeth intact. Another milestone in the very near future. Sigh. Josiah passed his Kindergarten screening with flying colors. He received his acceptance letter this week in the mail. When I asked him what his "self portrait" looked like, he was quick to explain to me that he drew our whole family, all four of us, including the puppy, Tanner! My two "babies" are certainly growing up. I am proud of them, indeed. I pray that they serve the Lord each day of their lives. Here's Mackenzie, dreaming up what color to make this egg!

Josiah, with a white egg in hand, ready to place it in a color of his choice.

One of their two kits had glitter in it. Mackenzie enjoyed the glitter.

I love the expression on Josiah's face in the above picture! He's "too cool" as he checks on his yellow egg.

Another angle on the sweet expression on Josiah.

Two funny kids!

So sweet.

David enjoying the eggs, too!

Checking patiently on that yellow egg.

Ta-Da!

I LOVE the way Mackenzie designed an egg, by herself, that matched her colorful shirt! Very cool idea. Very talented girl.

Pretty Easter Eggs.

Above is Josiah's completed set.

Above is Mackenzie's completed set.

Mackenzie's set is at picture bottom and Josiah's is at picture top. You'll notice two eggs missing from the two dozen. Yeah, Mackenzie ate those even before we dyed them! LOL. She has really enjoyed the hard boiled eggs in our fridge. I wish Josiah liked to eat them, too. We sure do have a lot to eat! I am thankful for the fun times together. I love the colorful pictures that come so readily during the Spring time with flowers in bloom and Easter eggs! I hope you are enjoying the colors around you, too. We have an amazing Creator, that's for sure.

Mackenzie's Field Trip

2011-04-02T18:15:00.002-04:00

Last Tuesday, Mackenzie's First Grade class took a field trip to Mayfield Dairy Farms! Above is our attempt at a group picture...ha, ha. She is 1 of 22 kids in her class. Before we toured the production areas, where the milk jugs are made and filled, we all had to don red hair nets. Mackenzie was embarrassed about me posting this picture, but I think it is gorgeous. I had one on, too. We all did! It was a requirement for the tour.

Mackenzie standing in line with her class after the tour ended and prior to boarding the bus.

If you look closely, you can see Mackenzie in the middle window next to Savannah. Mackenzie is holding the yellow toy ice cream cone, to the left. It was a big deal to get to ride the bus! I rode with 4 other moms. We chattered away and really enjoyed the trip, too! :) I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of such a fun day.

Random Updates

2011-02-21T20:59:00.002-05:00

This is my random update post! Mackenzie is cutting her 6 year molars. She is almost 6 1/2 years old and now weighs 50 lbs and is 47 3/4 inches tall. Josiah is almost 4 3/4 years old and weighs 41 lbs and is 43 3/4 inches tall. They are growing like crazy! Josiah is learning to read real sentences and brings books home from school. He is doing great with his reading and will do well in Kindergarten, just like Mackenzie did. I am so thankful for their ability to read! They both still have some cute words or expressions that are priceless and I'm sure they will correct or outgrow soon, but one Mackenzie said recently was in reference to Josiah in Aunt Mallory's upcoming wedding, "ring barrier," instead of ring bearer. Too cute. She is looking forward to being a flower girl in Aunt Mallory's wedding in June. I have a list...somewhere...of a few other things the kids have said lately that are certainly worth recording; however, I can't seem to locate the list tonight, so I guess this completes my random post! :)

I will say that both kids were out of school today. We. had. a. blast. They have always wanted to tour a Dinosaur Museum that is not too far away. So, we loaded up for a spontaneous trip to the Dinosaur Museum today! On arrival, we discovered that it was closed and is relocating. No worries, they picked Wonder Works as another place they have always wanted to go inside. After touring Wonder Works, we headed to the Nascar Go Karts next! I think that was my favorite part of the day. Both kids are tall enough to ride the smallest cars on the smallest track. They loved it! This was their very first time to do that, too. Then we went into the Stride Rite outlet. Lo and behold, they had a half off their lowest price sale going on today! We bought 3 pairs of Stride Rite tennis shoes (regularly about $45 each) for a grand total of $32. One pair was $12, one pair $10, and one pair $7. Josiah has shoes for starting Kindergarten in the fall! Couldn't pass up a deal like that, and he will eventually grow into the ones we bought for him. ;) After a little shopping, we headed home for supper, baths, and bed. I loved our spontaneous day. The one thing that would have made the day just perfect would have been David. We missed him as he was at work. We do, however, appreciate the work he does for us! I am so thankful for my precious family. I pray that we may glorify the Lord each day.

Mackenzie's Valentine Party

2011-02-14T20:10:00.004-05:00

Today was Mackenzie's Valentine party at school. I have fond memories of my own childhood Valentine parties, and I was excited to get to be a part of hers today. I pray that my own children develop a wonderful set of memories from their growing up years as well. Here's Mackenzie enjoying her Krispy Kreme doughnut among other yummy things!
Here she is going through the line to get her food at the beginning of the party.

This picture is mostly just an overview of the classroom, but if you look closely to the left of the picture, you'll see Josiah sitting in a little chair playing his DS game. He was a perfect little angel at Mackenzie's class party. I was so proud of him! Usually, younger siblings are asked not to come. This time, however, for an hour long party, I opted not to ask and just to take him along. I was so incredibly proud as his behavior was far superior to several of the first graders there! LOL. He's only 4 1/2 years old. Yep, I'm bragging. No, they are not always little angels...so I'll take this opportunity to brag!

Now to brag on Mackenzie...she noticed Josiah sitting by himself playing his game. She walked quietly over to him and invited him to bring his plate and chair over to her desk. She said he could sit next to her. She had noticed that his plate of food was propped on a chair nearby, and she thought it might be easier for him to use her desk top than the chair. My momma heart melted. Totally melted. He told her, yes, he would like to sit by her. He stood up. She carried his chair. He carried his plate. They sat down together to enjoy their Valentine snacks. I almost cried. Again, I am bragging. These moments help to balance out the knock-down-drag-out fights, ya know! ;) Sigh, they are great kids and I love them dearly. I am proud to call them my two little Valentines. :)

Here's a picture of Raley, (I have to ask Mackenzie the name of the little girl and update this), and Mackenzie. Raley is the little boy she "likes." However, she informed us that when Raley proposed to her, she said no. I love it! Cracked me up. Kinda early to be proposing, don't ya think?! Such a fun story, though. Guess it boosts a little girl's confidence level anyhow.

Mackenzie and Reagan. You'll notice Mackenzie's cheeks are covered with a red rash. She has Fifth Disease, also called Parvovirus B19. (Not related to the parvo virus that is extremely harmful to animals.) Common childhood illness. No treatment needed. Highly contagious for anywhere from 7 to 20 days. That's almost 3 weeks. Get this: you are contagious BEFORE you break out with the rash. LOL. That means you are spreading it before you even know you have it! Once the rash appears, diagnosis is easily made, and you are no longer contagious. Ha. So, while you'd do a double take if she walks by, you're really at no risk of catching anything now. ;)

She did have the classic mild runny nose, complains of headache, general complaint of not feeling well, etc, leading up to the appearance of the rash, but how in the world would anyone recognize those vague symptoms as Fifths Disease until that classic lacy patterned rash appears! The rash spreads from the face to the neck, chest, back, and arms following that lacy pattern. Things like stress or heat can flare the rash up brighter, and the rash may continue to come and go for a few weeks, even though she is no longer contagious.

Now, we're just watching Josiah to see if he gets it. Something like 50% of kids get it. Once you've had it, your body will have antibodies and will never get it again in the entire lifetime unless you're immunocompromised. That's nice.

Mackenzie was embarrassed about it, but I think she'll be just fine! I told her to tell her friends that she'll be just fine and she is not contagious. She was pleased that only one friend asked about it today, and two teachers asked about it.

Okay, enough about Fifth's Disease. We had a GREAT day! We are thankful for our health.

I am thankful that I got to attend Mackenzie's Valentine party, and I am looking forward to Josiah's tomorrow.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

(Now, I'm signing off to spend the rest of my Valentine's Day with my Valentine...David!)

Cherokee Caverns

2011-02-05T16:30:00.003-05:00

Today David, Mackenzie, Josiah, and me all enjoyed a guided tour of Cherokee Caverns. This was the kids very first time to ever enter a cave. Needless to say, they were awed! They had lots of questions about caves recently, so what better way to answer those questions than to take them on a tour of a cave. We were delighted to discover one in our area that is only open to the public a few times per year. It was open today from 10 to 4 and we headed that way.
The kids complained that the flash on the camera was too bright, so this picture is the best one I got of them. :) I thought it was kinda cute anyways, since you can see them standing near David during the tour.

Here is the "Capitol Dome" in one of the great rooms of the cave. Pretty amazing.

The black fuzzy thing in the middle of the above picture is a bat in hibernation. This particular kind of bat sleeps alone rather than in groups like some other kinds of bats. There are 14 kinds of bats in our area. Only 7 of these kinds live in caves. One bat can eat up to 2,000 mosquitoes in one night! That's insane. That's about 1/2 of the bat's body weight. I'm impressed. We have bats that fly around our neighborhood in the summertime. I like them as I know they help control our mosquito population!

When asked what their favorite thing or most surprising thing about the cave, both kids said their favorite part was seeing the bat! Mackenzie mentioned that she was surprised at how big the cave was inside. Both kids really seemed to enjoy it. We did, too!

We also got to meet the man who owns the cave and the property it is situation on. He talked to the four of us at length and seemed happy to have a captive audience to hear all about the cave's history and the bats. He was a neat man, full of information. One other random tidbit: The Christy Series has a scene in a cave. That was filmed in this cave! We really enjoyed that part as I love the Christy series.

Tanner

2011-01-26T09:59:00.003-05:00

Seems as though I never did blog about Christmas! I have SO many wonderful pics of time with family during the holidays, that I never did get any of them posted. Sigh. Maybe I'll do a random Christmas post sometime when you all least expect it! Ha, ha. For now, here's an update about Tanner, our Cockapoo born October 1, 2010 and delivered to our family by Santa Claus on Christmas morning! I LOVE this picture of David, Mackenzie, Josiah, and Tanner, too! :)
Tanner weighs 14.8 lbs now. Not really sure how big he'll be when full grown...maybe around 25 lbs!?! We took him in for his first grooming at our vets last week. He needed a bath, nails trimmed, and hair trimmed (esp around his eyes!). When I went to pick him up from his "spa day," LOL, they had a bandanna on him. The kids LOVED that.

So, naturally, we decided to grab the camera and take some pics!

It's funny that we've had so much snow this year. You can see some in the background of these pictures, even days after it actually snowed. Fun times. Busy times! Sorry it's been so long since I've found time to post! Hope all is well with everyone out there.

Bedtime

2011-01-05T20:44:00.003-05:00

As I tucked Mackenzie into bed tonight she said, "Momma, I wish people could marry animals. If we could, I'd marry Tanner when I grow up! I love him that much." So sweet. I love hearing those precious thoughts.

As I tucked Josiah into bed tonight he said, "Momma, have I ever seen a real rocket ship?" I answered that no, he has not. He proceeded to tell me, "Someday I am going to build a rocket ship. A real one. And I'm going to take you and Mackenzie in it so that you can be the first girls to walk on the moon."

My sweet kids. Too precious. Just random thoughts as I tucked them into bed tonight. Just wanted to record them.

School Christmas Party

2010-12-27T18:11:00.005-05:00

On December 17th, Mackenzie had her school Christmas party. Due to snow and ice in the area, both kids were out of school most of that week. They only went to school on Wednesday and Friday, which means Josiah missed the whole week since he only goes on Tues/Thurs! Poor little fellow missed his class party due to school being canceled. He did get to participate with Mackenzie's class, though, which was wonderfully fun!Mackenzie at my cookie decorating station. Thanks to Hannah, the older helper, I was able to walk around the room and take pictures while Hannah helped the kids at the cookie station! I did make the cookies (ahem, thanks to Pillsbury) and other parents provided the icing and sprinkles.
Josiah was delighted to get to decorate a cookie, too. :)

Both my kids at the cookie decorating area.

Mackenzie and Josiah eating M&M's at the Bingo station.

Thanks to another Mom for snapping this picture of Josiah, Mackenzie, and me.

Mackenzie, Savannah, and Mackenzie B. Aren't they cute?!

We had so much fun at the party together. Later that same day, we loaded up and headed to visit relatives for the week leading up to Christmas. I am so thankful that I was able to be there for the party, and that they did not miss the party due to the weather. We did enjoy having snow days that week, though! More updates coming soon about the trip to see family.

On a random note: Josiah has some cute words that I want to record on here so that I don't forget them. He says "exstruction" instead of construction. Like exstruction vehicles. When talking about football, he always says "flootball." And in reference to Indiana Jones (such as Indiana Jones Lego Wii game), he says "Indi-indi-anna Jones" every time. So cute. I don't correct it, either. They learn too fast and I don't want to rush that growing up process!

Wonderful White Christmas

2010-12-26T21:30:00.003-05:00

I have many, many blog posts to be done, but for now, I will just post about today. Sometime soon I hope to post about the kids Christmas parties at school, our time with relatives, and our Christmas Day. For now, suffice to say it has all been so wonderful. Below are some pictures from today of the kids enjoying the snow that has fallen over the past couple of days. Not just the kids, but Tanner, too! :) All of us enjoyed the snow.
Santa Claus brought Tanner to join our family. Oh what fun we've all had with Tanner, our new 12 week old Cockapoo! Mackenzie has bonded with Tanner and takes care of him just like a good little momma. She thinks of his every need and obviously loves him. She is so proud of him and wants to show him off to everyone. She spent some time on the phone today calling people just to tell them about Tanner! A proud little girl.

And Josiah, well he loves to play with Tanner...and Tanner loves to play and run from Josiah! They do make a funny pair playing together. Both kids are very good with Tanner. Tanner obviously loves them both.

Tanner in the snow. What an amazing past couple of days! More to come about the past week and a half as I find time to do more posts. For now, at least this post provides some pictures for those of you requesting them! :) Love you all.

Snow Day

2010-12-13T10:53:00.003-05:00

Last night as we drove home from Red Lobster, where we had stopped to celebrate our 10th Anniversary, we realized that we might have stopped for a little too long on a snowy night. The roads went from clear to covered in less than one hour. We drove slowly toward home. We saw other cars on the roadside and we could feel the slick road beneath our van tires. We opted for the flattest route home and drove carefully. Even so, we made it about half way up the big hill, about a half mile from home, and slid back down the hill into the ditch. We were able to point the van in the downhill direction, driving slowly forward down the hill. We parked the van on a flat residential road nearby, donned our warm coat and hats, and hiked home! We are so thankful that we are all safe and nothing happened to the van. We are thankful that we were so close to home that we were able to walk the rest of the way. And, we are thankful for SNOW! :)This morning, the kids were delighted to find a winter wonderland waiting for them.
I just love pictures of my precious children playing in the snow. I am so thankful for the outlet shopping that enabled us to have snow suits to keep the kids warm.

My beautiful baby girl.

My handsome little man.

Enjoying the snow in the backyard.

Digging in the snow in the front yard.
After enjoying some time outside, we came in for the classic cup of hot chocolate. I am so thankful that school is out today. The change of pace is such a blessing in our busy world today. I think the Lord smiles down as He pours the snow into our lives, knowing full well that it "interrupts" our routines. What a blessing, indeed. I am thankful for the interruptions that give us more time together to enjoy God's changing seasons.

Pray that those, like my David, who have to be out on the icy/snowy roads due to work, will be safe. Thank you!

Miniature Gingerbread Village

2010-12-10T21:46:00.005-05:00

Well, this picture is out of order, but suffice to say it is Mackenzie's masterpiece! Josiah ate his before I could get a picture of the completed master piece.

At Wal-Mart today, we found a miniature gingerbread village kit. As you can see from the picture below, it came home with us! :) Mackenzie, Josiah, and David built really cute miniature gingerbread houses while I oriented a new nurse via email and phone. I think they were having more fun, but I'm so thankful for the flexibility of my job and I really enjoyed hearing them in the room next to me. I had fun stopping long enough to snap pictures, too. :)

Up close of Mackenzie diligently decorating her gingerbread house.

Up close of Josiah eating his cute gingerbread house! As soon as he completed his house, he pulled the gum drops off as he does not like the taste of them. Then he ate it!

My sweetie working on a sweet little gingerbread house.
I do love my family, and holiday traditions are so much fun. :)

In the past, the kids made a gingerbread house with Granna and Z-Pa, but this Thanksgiving was packed with activities already so that one got skipped. Mackenzie was asking to make one, and the miniature kit seemed just the perfect ticket!

Christmas Parties

2010-12-07T21:31:00.003-05:00

We had a day full of parties! My new job's Christmas party was following our case manager meeting at lunch today. We laughed so incredibly hard during the gift exchange. Fun times. Then, we enjoyed being guests at my new boss/Josiah's best friend's parents personal Christmas party. I was honored to be included among their friends and family. The kids had a blast together. And, a special visitor came... Ya know, I think this picture of David, Santa, and me turned out pretty good!
Here's Josiah and Mackenzie with Santa at the party tonight. Mackenzie asked Santa for a puppy, which is what she's been asking for all along...Josiah was a hoot! He asked Santa for everything that he could think of, which ranged from a long list of Star Wars characters to a variety of Legos, such as Atlantis and Star Wars. I loved their original thoughts to Santa at The Fantasy of Trees, myself, where Mackenzie asked for a puppy and Josiah asked for everything the puppy needs.

I snapped this picture in route to school this morning. Yep, we had a wintry start to the day full of Christmas parties! How cool!!! He, he. ;) It was 20 degrees as we headed to school. The snowflakes pouring from the sky were just gorgeous. Too bad it didn't stay around longer. Maybe we'll get some more this winter! God's design and changing of the seasons is nothing short of amazing.

What a weekend!

2010-12-04T17:50:00.007-05:00

My dad and Lisa arrived on Thursday evening for a visit. Grandparents day at school was on Friday, and Mackenzie had called and invited Papa and Lili to join her for that and for the Christmas program, too. Indeed, they came and we all had a wonderful weekend. Above is Mackenzie lined up with her class on the way into the auditorium, ready to perform.
They performed on Thursday night and Friday morning. I snapped this picture of Josiah folding his precious hands in prayer at the beginning of Mackenzie's Thursday night program. I loved the sunglasses he was wearing inside the auditorium while praying. Too funny. Too precious.

An overview of the entire group, Kindergarten through 2nd grade.

Savannah and Mackenzie after the performance.

Avery was "Lucky Star," dressed in green. Just above Avery's head, in the choir, is my Mackenzie. The kids all did such a GREAT job!

After the program, we spent the afternoon and evening at Dollywood. Fun times.

We got several great pics of Lisa, Josiah, Mackenzie, and my Dad.

(Lili, Josiah, Mackenzie, and Papa or Poppie)

And since I could not make up my mind about which one I liked best, I uploaded them all!

Josiah and Poppie

Dollywood has beautiful Christmas decorations. I do believe that is my favorite time of the year to walk around up there. Quite magical.

Poor ducks. Josiah loved getting to chase them!

We got to ride The Polar Express in 4D! So fun! (David was still at work when this picture was taken, or he'd be in it, too. We missed him, but we were glad he could join us later that evening.)

Mackenzie and Papa (far left) riding the Shooting Star.

Mackenzie and Poppie

Lili and Josiah riding the Veggie Tales roller coaster.

Josiah running to the next ride while Mackenzie and Lili talk about the rides together.

Josiah, Lili, and Mackenzie on the Scrambler.

Mackenzie and me on the swings.

Dad and Lisa in front of the Carol of the Trees area.

Lili, Mackenzie, Josiah, Papa

While they were here, we celebrated Lisa's birthday with her. The kids decorated her cake all by themselves! I baked the cake and put the layer of chocolate icing on it. The kids did ALL the rest by themselves. Mackenzie did the pinkish color, including the writing. Josiah did the yellow. Pretty good, huh?! Certainly decorated with love. :)

Lili blowing out her candles.
We had a fun weekend, full of activities. We are thankful for family.

Thanksgiving Week

2010-11-27T09:20:00.007-05:00

Our Thanksgiving week was a wonderful week packed full of activities. Seems I uploaded the pics backwards order, so we'll start with the most recent events and work backward through the week! :) Above is the annual picture from the Fantasy of Trees. I am so pleased with it!
Here's Josiah talking to Santa.

The kids enjoyed visiting with Santa so much that I had to call them onward in order to allow other children a turn with Santa, too! How different from the years when the kids were afraid of Santa.

Zac took this one of the four of us at Fantasy of Trees. I love it!

Here's Granna, Z-Pa, and Mackenzie and Josiah.

My two precious babies. Aren't they sweet?!

Uncle Zac with Josiah and Mackenzie.

Mackenzie

Josiah wanted his picture taken on this rock at Dollywood, so Mackenzie jumped in, too!

While at Dollywood, Granna and Z-Pa let the kids go "mining" for arrowheads! They loved it, and they found 6 or 7 arrowheads. That was a highlight of the day, I do believe.

Granna, Z-Pa, Mackenzie and Josiah with the arrowheads.

Earlier in the day, as we entered Dollywood, the kids got to feed the ducks.

Fun times.

Two sweet kids enjoying the ducks at Dollywood.

Candid pic of the kids with Uncle Zac at Dollywood.

Uncle Zac, Josiah, Mackenzie, Granna, Z-Pa

Here's our table set for Thanksgiving Day!
I do enjoy having Thanksgiving at our house.

A humongous THANK YOU to Betty for all the work she did in the kitchen to prepare for Thanksgiving. I helped, but she surely did the majority of the meal.

More food. What a blessing, indeed.

Ariel view of the pies. I made the chocolate and pumpkin pie, Betty made apple and cherry, and Uncle Dale (Betty's brother) brought a lemon meringue and chocolate chip pecan pie! The kids had specifically requested chocolate, pumpkin, cherry, and apple. That was funny. We made them all and were happy to have Dale join us for Thanksgiving. The kids were admiring the pies that Dale brought. Josiah exclaimed, "Wow! A spike pie!" When he saw the meringue. Too hilarious.

One last food picture from Thanksgiving Day. We had the four of us, David's parents, David's brother, David's Uncle Dale, and our two neighbors from Bulgaria, Geri and Trifon, all together for Thanksgiving at our house.

Even earlier in the week, on Monday night, David and I went on a date...just the two of us. Thanks to David's parents for keeping the kids so we could go out. We enjoyed dinner at The Flatwater Grill. It was fabulous. The walls of the restaurant are glassed in windows right on the lake. What a date!

One morning, while David and I were both at work for a few hours, the kids got to make things with the Easy Bake Oven and Cupcake Maker, thanks to Granna and Z-Pa's help!

Both kids thoroughly enjoyed Uncle Zac, though I think most of the pictures are of Mackenzie with Uncle Zac. Josiah latched onto him and was quite the little shadow for Uncle Zac! I don't think Uncle Zac minds too much. ;)

And even earlier in the week, on Sunday, November 21, 2010, was Zearl and Betty's 40th Anniversary. We got them this cake to celebrate with our H2H group that evening at our house.

A wonderful week. Good company. Good visit. Wonderful memories made.

I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving, as well.

Deer & Hayrides

2010-11-19T09:42:00.004-05:00

As Josiah and I drove from our house (in a neighborhood) to school yesterday, this is what we saw crossing the road! 3 Beautiful deer!
We paused long enough to take some pictures from the van.

They really blend in with the bushes in the above pictures.

Then they heard another car coming and all 3 ran! What a fun and unexpected surprise on our way to Josiah's hayride.

In the above picture, I waiting with the kids for their turn on the hayride. From left to right: Josiah, Logan, Ava, Me, Callie. Callie kept calling me, "Friend." It was hilarious. She kept saying, "Friend, will you sit with me?" Josiah was quite happy just to hang out with his friends and know that I was there. He's a confident kid. I am thankful that I was able to be there with him and his friends.

Above is Josiah's 4 year old Mother's Day Out class. Left to right: Lexi, Logan, Josiah, Callie, Mrs.Wendi, Brooke, and Ava. That's really his whole class! Only 6 of them. I love that as each child gets so much wonderful attention.

Zoomed in on the group.

Here's Josiah's class with those of us Momma's who were able to attend. In the back, from left to right: Logan's Mom, Lexi's Mom, Me, Mrs. Wendi (teacher), and Brooke's Mom.

Lexi's family provided the hayride experience for the kids. Allison, Lexi's Mom, drove us all around the school parking lot! :)

Lexi, Logan, and Josiah enjoying the hayride.

Logan and Josiah on the hayride with the school in the background.Incidentally, Mackenzie's classroom is in the building you see pictured in the background! I am thankful that both kids are near each other in proximity during the days when they are at school. I am thankful for a good school environment. Such a blessing!

The kids each made a fall leaf picture frame craft before the hayride. I had fun helping Mrs. Wendi with the craft. Since I had a camera, she asked me to snap individual pictures of each child. We then had the pictures printed while the kids were in school that day and by the time they went home, they were toting a frame with a picture of themselves in it! Cute idea. I had fun taking the pictures, though I'm certainly not professional. Above is Josiah's individual that is in his frame.

Here's another group pic of the whole class: Mrs. Wendi, Lexi, Ava, Brooke, Callie, Logan, and Josiah.

Mrs.Wendi, (back row) Lexi, Ava, Brooke, (front row) Logan, Callie, Josiah.

Cute kids. Fun group. Fun times!

Work & Play

2010-11-10T15:32:00.004-05:00

Today was a day when I needed to spend a little bit of time at work, and since the kids are on fall break, they came with me! I am so incredibly blessed to have joined a wonderful team of over 300 nurses in this area this past July. Then, in September, I received a phone call. Suffice to say that I said yes and am now a part of the case management team with the same company! What an unexpected blessing. While I was there today, I was included in the Christmas Card photo.
Each year, the management team sends out a Christmas card to all our patients in this area.

I was excited to get to be a part of that this year. Not everyone was able to be there. There are about 20 case managers and a handful of office staff. We are obviously not all in the above pictures, but it is a fun group!
After we were done in the office, the kids and I pulled through Sonic and headed to a wonderful park.

Mackenzie stopped long enough to pose for a picture.

Josiah did, too.

I love this one of the kids at the top of the huge slide.

Mackenzie at the bottom of the huge slide.

Josiah at the top of the same huge slide. This gives you a little perspective about just how huge this slide is. It is certainly the biggest slide I've seen in quite some time. We all enjoyed our time together today. The kids enjoyed seeing where I work, as well as our time at the park. I had fun showing them off to everyone.

On a funny note...Josiah kept singing today. He has been singing, "Jingle bells," a lot lately. After our trip to the park, we headed to Kmart. All through the store he sang, "There's smart, and then there's Kmart smart! Mom, you're Kmart smart!" Then he'd sing Jingle Bells for a while and begin the process over again. Suffice to say that he brought smiles and laughter to a lot of strangers today. While at Kmart, we found very nice Zhu Zhu pet costumes on clearance for $4.99 each. Josiah excitedly began to pull down his pants to reveal his underwear and exclaimed, "Mom! I think these are Zhu Zhu pets on my underwear!" Oh, boy. He keeps me on my toes. Through our laughter, Mackenzie and I had him pull his pants back up. (He only had them part of the way down, not all the way to his knees or anything.) I explained that he has ground hogs on his underwear, though they do look a lot like Zhu Zhu pets. Funny guy.

Halloween

2010-11-03T21:12:00.004-04:00

In all your spare time, to see all the updated posts, you'll actually have to scroll down to the bottom of the blog and click the "older posts" button. That will take you back further...like to the other posts from the last part of October. Ha. ;) We enjoyed Halloween with our dear friends. As you can see, the four kids had a blast trick or treating together in their new neighborhood! From left to right: Mackenzie, Lauren, Allison, and Josiah.
A couple weeks ago, Josiah announced to us that he intends to marry Allison when they are all grown up. I love hearing the kids thoughts and plans. Somehow, on the heels of that announcement, I caught this picture and HAD to post it! Allison is putting on chap stick, and Josiah's expression is priceless. This picture is a classic.

Here's Mackenzie and Lauren. It was colder, so I suggested that Mackenzie wear her jeans under her outfit to keep her warm. I'm glad she did!

Four precious kiddos: Allison, Josiah, Mackenzie, Lauren

Here's our whole gang on Halloween night. Cindy, Bill, David (and me behind the camera) with all four kids.

Mackenzie as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. (Notice she put a small white dog in her bucket as Toto!)

Josiah, Clone Trooper from Star Wars, showing off a piece of candy!

Checking out his loot!

Can you see how full his bucket is? Some people were even handing out full size candy bars! Generous neighborhood, that's for sure.

Mackenzie and her overflowing bucket!

Checking out her loot.

My tired boys, ready to head home after a fun evening of trick or treating with friends.

Then Josiah surprised us by jumping onto David's shoulders. Cute pic! :)

And on that note, I'm caught up! That covers the month of October. Whew. Busy month, but wonderful. Full of friends and memories.

Disney on Ice

2010-11-03T20:50:00.006-04:00

We have a tradition of attending Disney on Ice, and we all really look forward to it each year. That said, this year's theme was Princess Wishes. That made it even that much more exciting! We attended the pre-show and were able to view all the princesses' gowns and other personal items, as well as meet Cinderella! Very cool. The above picture was in front of Snow White's section of the pre-show.
Belle's section of the pre-show. (Belle is Mackenzie's favorite.)

Guess the camera flash was a little bit bright. I snapped this one just before the show began.

David took this one for us. Josiah insisted that the flash was too bright and he did not want any more pictures taken.

This captures the kids faces as the show began! Can you just feel the excitement?!

Josiah's interested and intent profile. Notice the twirling light up dragon toy in his lap. He loves that thing. Light up toys were very popular there as they do look neat during the darkish show. Mackenzie also got a spinning light up toy; hers is Tinkerbell related.

Minnie Mouse!

If you look closely at the above picture (or maybe click on it to make it larger) you might be able to see the bubbles pouring from the sky! Very neat underwater scene from The Little Mermaid.

Classic Cinderella arriving in her horse drawn carriage.

All the princes and princesses came out together for the grand finale! The above pic is just of the princesses.

Here's all of the princes, princesses, and Tinkerbell in the middle.

Mackenzie after the show.

Josiah showing off his dragon toy after the show.

Fun times. Good memories. One more blog post to go, then I'm all caught up! ;)

Trunk or Treat

2010-11-03T19:08:00.012-04:00

A week ago tonight was Trunk or Treat at church. The kids had so much fun getting to dress up, participate in all kinds of activities, go to class, and gather candy in the parking lot after class. Dorothy from Wizard of Oz and Clone Trooper from Star Wars.
Aren't they precious?! :)

I love the ruby red slippers we found at Target for my little Dorothy. Kinda makes the outfit!

This is the pose she had seen on the front of the costume package when it arrived in the mail. Had to add it to the blog post, of course!

Close up of my sweet girl.

My little Clone Trooper

I loved this pose!

But this one's pretty great, too! :)

Josiah, Mackenzie, and Me...a proud Momma.

We were in the church parking lot getting ready to head inside.

David holding a clone trooper. Somehow, that seemed picture worthy to me!

All the Star Wars kids at church. Quite a big group. From left to right: Josiah, Sam, Will, Dylan, Anna, Owen, and Joe.

Mackenzie, Aurianna, and Egypt.

Mackenzie and Lauren.

Owen (Yoda) and Josiah (Clone Trooper).

Mackenzie paused during the activities long enough for me to take a picture. :)

Here is one of the activities. Hysterically funny to watch! They have a race to see who can finish eating the powdered doughnut faster. The tricky part is that someone else is holding the doughnut on a string and you are not allowed to use your hands!

Here's Mackenzie enjoying the doughnut.

Taylor (Wendy from Peter Pan) and Mackenzie racing to eat their doughnuts.

Too funny!

The boys (Will, Sam, and Josiah) trunk or treating together.

The girls (Lauren, Allison, and Mackenzie) trunk or treating together.

Mackenzie receiving candy.

The boys.

All together now! Both Mackenzie and Josiah are in this picture trunk or treating.

Mackenzie and Lauren with Allison in the background.

Matt handing out candy to our crew. You can actually see Josiah and Mackenzie's face in this one! We all had so much fun that evening. Time spent with friends is such a blessing.

Now...I'm only 2 posts behind! More to come...

Turkeys and School Parties

2010-11-01T11:11:00.005-04:00

I am so thankful that I was able to swap out my one predictable day of work for a different day in order to be able to attend Josiah's Fall Party at school last Thursday. Since I was making the Oreo Turkey's for Josiah's 4 year old class, I decided to make enough for Mackenzie's class, too. They were not having a party that day, but Mrs. Hatmaker was excited to have the treats anyhow. So, the first picture is of the Oreo Turkeys that I took for Josiah's class. This second picture is of the whole flock of turkeys that I took for the 21 kids in Mackenzie's class! I was glad her teacher said it would be okay for me to bring them, as it is kind of a tradition for us. Mackenzie was pleased, too.
Here's an up close of the turkeys. We got the idea a few years ago from a Family Fun issue. Mackenzie was actually pictured in the magazine mail section with them one year!

The next set of pictures are of Josiah's class party.

Above is Callie, Logan, and Josiah. By the way, fall party day was also pajama day!

Logan and Josiah.

Josiah's whole Tues/Thurs MDO class. From left to right: Mrs. Wendi, Ava, Logan, Josiah (my little turkey), Brooke, Callie, and Lexi.

Another picture of the entire class together.

Josiah

Mrs. Wendi picked up my camera while I was handing out the Oreo Turkeys. I like this picture of Josiah, me, and the turkeys. :)

This one's my favorite!

Another mom made the spider cupcakes. Aren't they adorable?! Josiah enjoyed his plate full of treats.

This is Callie's mom, who made the spider cupcakes, reading a book to the kids.

Mackenzie's class had a day full of fun crafts, like decorating pumpkins, on Friday. They were allowed to dress up like farmers, hillbillies, Indians, cowboys, or cowgirls on Friday. It's kind of a story telling festival. Big day of fun, though it wasn't a day where parents were invited to attend. So, I took Mackenzie to school as usual. Poor kid. I was not creative enough to dress her up that day. When I dropped her off in her uniform, I quickly realized the whole class was dressed up! One little boy asked her, "Mackenzie, did you not want to dress up?" I was in the hallway and could not hear her response, but I felt horrible. She HAD wanted to dress up. I did not have anything on hand at home to use to dress her up, so I sent her on in uniform. Well, without Mackenzie knowing it, Josiah and I rerouted our morning plans. We headed straight to Target. I had no idea if I would find anything, but figured it was worth a try. Guess what?! Target had several choices of girly flannel plaid shirts! Perfect. I quickly made a selection and we headed straight back to school. I pulled Mackenzie out of class for a few minutes. She was confused about why I was there in the morning. When she spotted the shirt and jeans that I had found, she was delighted! Once "properly" dressed, she returned to class and enjoyed her day. She really had a good attitude about having been one of two kids not dressed up. I was pleased with her "it's okay"attitude, especially since I knew that she did, indeed, want to dress up! She says she was a hillbilly in her flannel plaid shirt! I love it.

I stuffed Friday Folders each Friday afternoon this month for her class, so I snapped the above picture of the class as I picked her up at the end of the day on Friday. What a fun week for both kids! And for me, too. ;)

Now I'm just 3 posts behind to have October complete!

Soccer Medal & Buddies

2010-11-01T10:51:00.003-04:00

I'm about five blog posts behind from the month of October, and today is already November! What a full, fun, busy month we've had. So, without further adieu, here's some updates. That's my little soccer player, Josiah, sitting with his friends.
He marched right up to receive his medal at the end of the season.

He's so proud of his medal! He vividly remembers Mackenzie receiving her trophy at the end of her one-and-only soccer season. He was so happy to get something special like that, too!

My proud little man. He had so much fun playing soccer, that he's already signed up for the spring season, too. I'm thankful for the opportunities the kids have to try new things, learn, and grow.

Here's an up close pic of the front of the medal.

Here's the back of the medal.

This picture is random, but I had to include it somewhere. The kids and I went to a pumpkin patch with Josiah's best friend, Kameron. Those boys had so much fun together. Last year, they were in school together. This year, they are not, but they still enjoy time together.

Josiah is now 43 inches tall and 40 1/2 lbs. Mackenzie is 46.5 inches tall and 45 1/2 lbs. I am shocked at how much they have grown over the past 5 or 6 months.

On the school front, Mackenzie is reading in the green group, at the top of her class. I am amazed at the huge words she is able to read. Josiah is now learning the blend ladders. He knows all the vowels and the sounds that they make. He is able to read any 3 letter word that follows the rules, such as cat, sit, run, cut, etc. You can asked him to spell any 3 letter word that follows the rules, and he can do it! Amazing. He hears the phonics and sounds it out and spells it accurately. I love to see him learning to read. He is proud, too, as he wanted to be able to read just like his sister. :)

Pumpkin Patch Pictures!

2010-10-10T13:42:00.010-04:00

This post was a week in the making, but better late than never! :) I will warn you, there are a ton of pictures. Our out-of-state relatives will enjoy all these pictures...the rest of you, well, sorry! ;) We went to the pumpkin patch a week ago yesterday with the Mease's. We all had such a wonderful time! I was so excited about how the picture of all four of us turned out. Thanks, Cindy, for taking it for us!

My little pumpkin, Mackenzie, holding a little pumpkin.

My little pumpkin, Josiah, holding (moving, it's blurry) a little pumpkin.

My two babies together when we just arrived at the pumpkin patch and were waiting in line to enter.

Mackenzie on a pumpkin.

Josiah on a pumpkin.

Two little monkeys hanging from the tree!

Josiah peering through the haystacks.

Mackenzie peering through the haystacks.

Mackenzie with a tiny pumpkin cradled in her hands.

Josiah with a tiny pumpkin cradled in his hands.

A gigantic balloon jumpy thing. Held in place by tons of dirt covering the edges. SO much fun! Look at the above picture of Mackenzie jumping toward David, then look at the picture below.

She's flying!

Josiah, Lauren, Allison, Mackenzie, and David on the balloon trampoline.

Josiah, Mackenzie, and Allison.

Mackenzie, Josiah, Allison, David.

Mackenzie and David.

Josiah, Mackenzie, Lauren, and Allison.

Cindy and Josiah. Josiah had just come out of the slide and was running to do it again.

Josiah coming out of the slide again.

Mackenzie driving the pedal tractor/car thing.

Bill and Lauren, Mackenzie, and unknown boy driving the pedal tractors.

Josiah driving the pedal tractor.

David and Josiah with the corn maze in the background.

Mackenzie coming down the slide.

All four of us in front of a kiddie hay bale maze.

I love this one of the four of us! Thanks, Cindy. We were on the hayride on our way to the pumpkin field.

Here we are in the field of pumpkins. I could not decide which picture I liked best for the blog header, so I played around with a couple of them.

Mackenzie picking out a pumpkin since we had a coupon for two free pumpkins.

Josiah deciding which one to choose.

David carrying the two chosen pumpkins!

Josiah and Allison in the field with the hayride wagon in the background.

Back on the hayride towards the main area.

Josiah, Mackenzie, and David going through the corn maze. David led the way and we made it through all 1.8 miles of maze! (The longer side was over 2 miles and we decided we'd best do the shorter side with the kids.)

Back home with the pumpkins.

I love this one of Mackenzie.

Josiah wanted his face painted while at the pumpkin patch. He chose camo. Pretty funny, but cute pic with his pumpkin, too.

Mackenzie's Story

2010-09-29T12:59:00.003-04:00

This past weekend, Mackenzie wrote a story. She used a notebook from Grannie and Papa New, and an ink pen. She even illustrated it! I am so proud of her. Here is the story: (The Caterpillar and the Butterfly: Once upon a time, there lived a little caterpillar. It went into his cocoon. The butterfly shared her cocoon.)
(because she had hatched.)

(After that, the butterfly flew away. The End.)

Below is the picture of the laundry basket mentioned in the previous post. The "Bolt" sign is the one Josiah made. He was pretending to be Bolt, the dog from the movie, in his cage! He made the sign by himself.

(Bolt is my name.)

I am so proud of both my kids. They are learning so much every day.

Josiah

2010-09-23T18:30:00.004-04:00

My Little Soccer Player
My little man loves to play soccer. I could not figure out which of the above two pics I liked the best (same pic but different effects), so I am posting them both! :)

Josiah, standing at attention and listening to the coaches' directions.

Josiah (in the black on the left) kicking the ball toward his goal.

He scored!!! He's directly behind the kids in yellow on the left. If you look closely, you'll see Josiah's brown hair and profile sticking out in front of the kid in yellow's head! The ball that is in the goal is in the one he had just kicked! Way to go, Josiah!

Here's another great big kick!

This came home from school today. Josiah knows all the vowels as well as their short and long vowel sounds. I am so proud of how much he is learning! That said, this particular paper just cracks me up. I love his teacher's sense of humor, too. :)

I zoomed in on the paper so you can see it better. Notice the "e" is perfectly upside down?! What a hoot. He is a very good writer and is doing a fantastic job of learning how to write all the letters in the alphabet. I was afraid if I did not take a picture of this one, I won't have too many other opportunities. He sits with me and practices his letters even on days when he's not in school. He does this by choice, mind you. He asks me to help him learn how to write. Tonight, after school, he sat down with a paper and a marker and asked how to spell "Bolt." Then, he came back and wanted to know how to spell "is my name." He did a great job of writing all those words. He hung his sign, that he made all by himself, on the laundry basket. It is his cage! He is Bolt, the dog from the movie we rented recently. I love seeing my kids learning to read and write.

Well, that's all my updates for now. Have a lovely day.

What a day!

2010-09-12T19:51:00.007-04:00

For David's birthday last year, I intended to take him for a helicopter ride over the Smokey Mountains. The weather did not cooperate, however, so we postponed the flight. A year later, I decided it was high time for his present! ;)

On another note, for those of you who know the Robertson Family, our thoughts and prayers are with you. Kenny Robertson, a dear family friend, passed on from this world on August 31, 2010. He was 35 years old, just 3 months younger than David. They were friends since 4th grade. We visited his family in September 2003, while he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan, as a marine for our military. We never expected to get the phone call a week and a half ago from our families saying that his helicopter crashed, killing all 3 on board. He flew for a medical evacuation company in Arkansas. He was flying, and as best as people can tell at this point, the helicopter came apart in the air. Rotor blades were found a great distance from the actual crash site. Medical gases were on board, and likely caused the explosion that also took place. The two other crew members, a flight nurse and a paramedic, also died that Tuesday morning in route to rescue another person. Kenny is leaving behind his precious wife, Angie, a dear friend of mine, as well as their 3 children, Kale, age 9, Abby, age 7, and Archie, age 4 or 5. I mention this in lieu of the helicopter ride we took today. I would like to ask for everyone who reads this blog to please pray for our dear friends, the Robertsons. We are thankful that Kenny's life was lived for the Lord. I pray that his family receives the strength, peace, and comfort they need.

Here we are after the ride was finished!
Zoomed out so you can see the whole helicopter.

Mackenzie with her headset on enjoying the ride.

Josiah with his headset on enjoying the ride.

David took this picture of the kids and me. We were all in the backseat. I insisted that the birthday boy ride in the front with the pilot! :)

Above is a picture of Mount LeConte. Gorgeous views. Perfect weather. Visibility something like 70 miles. Amazing.

My man, enjoying the ride.

More scenic views of God's amazing creation.

My little man, all buckled in and enjoying his headset.

Two very excited kids!

This is my favorite picture of David. Isn't he handsome?! :)

Two precious kids during the flight.

My beautiful girl.

The view of Lake Douglas on our return trip. Did I mention it was a gorgeous day?

This is my favorite of the kids. Mackenzie and Josiah both figured out how the headset worked about half way through the flight. They were hilarious having a conversation between the two of them that all of us could hear as we flew. They LOVED flying. What a fun experience and neat memory for us all. Happy Birthday to my precious husband. I love you, and I always will. I am thankful that God directed our paths together. I am so thankful for you. May God bless you each and every day.

Happy Birthday Mackenzie!

2010-08-25T10:21:00.007-04:00

I stayed up late the night before her birthday baking and icing sugar cookies for her class at school. What I did not realize is that she wanted half a cookie iced in one color and the other half of the cookie iced in another color. I used the four colors she choose, but did not ice them "the right way." After staying up late to finish these, Mackenzie took one look at them on the morning of her birthday and burst into tears. Nice. All that work and no thanks. Not just no thanks, but tears of disappointment just before school! She went on to say, "Mom, all my grandparents always listen to me, but you and Dad never listen to me!" Great. What an attitude. What a start to the day. Ha. Good news. Being a school day, I just took her right on to school and placed her into Mrs. Hatmaker's care for the day! :) Somehow, that seemed like an idea that was in everyone's best interest. In her defense, she had been up past bedtime THREE nights in a row. She was exhausted. That certainly does not excuse her attitude issue, but it does help explain it. Never-the-less, I took my little birthday girl to school. She smiled and waved happily as she headed in for the day. After our morning episode, I had already informed her that I told Mrs. Hatmaker I would bring cookies for her class, so I would. I also informed her, however, that she did not have to eat any of them! I would be happy to give them to her friends. I am pleased to announce that by the time I arrived with the cookies that afternoon, she came running to the door to hug me and could not wait to hand the cookies out to her friends!!! Total attitude change. I was delighted to see that, as it could have been a long afternoon otherwise. I was happy to have my precious, sweet, baby girl back!
Here's my attempt at a teddy bear cake. Yeah, you can go ahead and laugh. It's pretty funny, I know. I did make it to her specifications, though. Light brown bear with blue eyes and pink in the middle of the ears. Okay. It was interesting. I had planned to buy a cupcake cake for her, but her face dropped a mile when I told her that. She really wanted me to make it for her, so I did. The cupcakes were easy to serve as you just pull them apart!

Here's Mackenzie in front of her class as they are singing Happy Birthday to her. I wish I had gotten a picture of her whole class. Good group of kids. Sweet girl enjoyed all the extra attention that being in school on your birthday gets you! They sang to her in Spanish class, she got birthday cards, and she even got a treasure box item. What a day! She told me everyone called her "Hey Birthday Girl," through the day at school. She obviously loved it.

We went straight from school to Build-A-Bear Workshop for her party. What a party it was! She had invited 18 kids (that includes her and Josiah), some from our Heart-to-Heart Bible study group and some from school. Here you see, from left to right: Madison A., Mackenzie, Lauren, Madison D., Savannah, Audrianna, Avery.

Here's the party group all circled up singing and dancing.

Here's Mackenzie using the pedal to control the stuffing for her pink bear!

Funny that Josiah ended up getting to go next! That was decided on by a game they were playing. Some of the kids had to wait a long time to stuff their animal, but they were all so very patient! Good group of kids.

Here's Josiah controlling the pedal to stuff his bear.

The whole group all circled up playing the game to see who would get to go next.

After all the animals were stuffed, each child got to make a birth certificate for his or her new animal. Thanks to all the parents who helped with this!

Here's the whole group! Generally speaking, from left to right: Back Row: Taylor, Dylan, Will, Mackenzie, Lauren, Madison D., Avery, Savannah, Audrianna. Front Row: Sam, Caleb, Madison A., Clara, Coy, Allison, Josiah, Holly

And Ava joined the group for this picture! She's in the front holding the gray cat. That makes all 18 kids.

Then we headed to the food court for cupcakes and juice.

Mackenzie with her cake. Thanks to Amy T. for grabbing my camera and snapping these for me!

Mackenzie blowing the candles out. (Madison D. and Dylan)

Opening presents. Thanks, everyone! She really got some neat things.
(Dylan)

Madison D., Dylan, and Mackenzie

Here's a pic of my sweet 6 year old birthday girl and me at the end of the day.

On our way home from the mall, she said, "Momma, the best gift you and daddy could give me for my birthday is my party." She truly loved and APPRECIATED her big birthday party. I am thankful her attitude improved so much by the end of the day. She is a sweetie, but she is not a morning person...neither am I!

Mackenzie, I love you. I am so thankful that God sent you to join our family six years ago. You are my favorite little girl in the whole wide world. I am proud of you, and I enjoy each day with you. May God bless you each day of your life as you strive to serve Him with the gifts and abilities that He has given you. I love you, Mackenzie!!! Happy Birthday, Precious Girl.

It's Josiah's Turn Now!

2010-08-23T22:44:00.004-04:00

The day has finally arrived when Josiah got to play soccer! He has longed for this day ever since Mackenzie gave soccer a try about a year ago. He was so excited that he got himself dressed and ready. That's impressive. I can count on one hand the total number of times the child has ever dressed himself. He really has no such desires typically, but this day was different. It was special. It was his turn! Sitting on the stairs attempting to get the soccer socks on! He did a great job of getting dressed.
...and the socks got on, too....with a little help from Daddy! :)

My little soccer player! What a cutie. :)

All decked out in his soccer attire, ready to play!

He's number 9. That's random.

He intends to be #1. He, he. He has been telling us all about how we're going to be so excited because he's going to kick the ball into the goal. Well, whether he scores or not, I'm a proud Momma! :)

The above picture is of the whole team. Josiah is on the far left. The main coach is in the bright orange shirt in the middle.

Zoomed in on Josiah and some teammates. Josiah was listening intently to the directions the coach was giving him. He did a great job of playing by the rules! Most of the kids really struggled to keep their hands off the ball. Josiah never once touched it with his hands at an inappropriate time. He really listened and followed the rules quite well!

My little man.

Sister on the side lines. After the practice and game were finished tonight, as the team ran through the tunnel made by the hands and arms of the parents, Josiah stopped when he got to Mackenzie (she was part of the tunnel), gave her a hug, and continued onward through the tunnel of arms. The other parents oohed and aahed. I loved it! It was sweet.

Smiling for the camera while taking a water break!

Nice kick, Josiah! :) He's a fast little guy. He did a good job keeping up with the ball and whomever else was chasing it, too.

I love the profiles of both my boys. ;) It was fun watching David out there with Josiah's team. I am proud of how well Josiah did, and I am glad that he is finally getting his turn, too.

Josiah's First Day

2010-08-19T21:50:00.006-04:00

Today was Josiah's first day in the 4 year old Mother's Day Out program. He will go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He's in the same program he was in last year, except this year he's in the 4 year old class and last year he was in the 3 year old class! He loves school, and I am so thankful that Mrs. Missi set such a wonderful tone for his educational career last year. I am pleased to announce that he has a wonderful teacher for this year, too! Her name is Mrs. Wendi. The above picture is of Josiah on his way to school today. He keeps us laughing, as I'm sure you can tell from the picture. ;)
He insisted on wearing his backpack in from the van. We got him a new backpack, but it sure is huge on his little self! I think he's pretty cute with it on.

Here he is, my handsome little man, ready to go inside. He saw the other children stopping to take a picture here, and he asked me, "Is that how we sign in on our first day?" To which I replied an adamant, "Yes," in order to have his full cooperation for the picture!!!

I love this picture of my little man walking into his classroom. He was so excited!

He found his cubby and hung his backpack up all by himself! He was a proud little fellow. I think he had been waiting for his first day back to school eagerly since Mackenzie started back already, too. He was ready for his time in the spot light! He was also ready for his routine.

Josiah with Mrs. Wendi. He had trouble keeping his eyes open as I snapped the picture. He said the flash was too bright...so his eyes are partially open in the pic! The first thing he asked Mrs. Wendi today was, "Do we get to play outside today?" He was already looking forward to recess! Good news, he did get to play outside. He even told me that he got to play with sidewalk chalk. He said he has a new friend named Logan, and he has 3 friends from last year's class in with him this year, too. His class has 7 kids total right now. I like that...he'll get lots of one-on-one time!!! He had a great day, and I am so thankful. I love my little man, and I am so proud of him.

I pray for a wonderfully blessed school year for him. I pray that he will grow to love the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength each and every day.