Mackenzie's Story

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

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!

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!

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!

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.