The Bus Stop and Clemson Homecoming

We finally got it together this year and have an established carpool with two of our neighbors. It is one of the greatest things ever!! At first, I have to admit that I was a little hesitant about the idea...turns out, I am somewhat of a control freak and the thought of letting someone else be in charge of getting my children to school on time and picking them up on time was a lot for me to swallow; but after intense counseling and some mild drug therapy I was able to let it go...okay, maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but it was hard.

Shelby and JP waiting for the bus

JP, Addi and Shelby waiting for the bus

The funny thing about that picture is that Addi's mom, Jessie, is the "bus" driver. She was the only one with a car big enough to fit all 5 children in so she drives the children to school in the morning. Addi sometimes runs over to our house to catch the bus with Shelby and JP.

Friday after we picked up Shelby from school we headed up to Clemson for our annual unofficial family reunion. This year Pratt got to go with us and we were so excited to have him!! Friday night we enjoyed our traditional dinner at Don Pablos complete with queso dip and then headed to the hotel to get some good z's for the fun day ahead. The first night Shelby and Pratt shared a bed because I thought that she would sleep pretty still and Pratt would be able to get some good sleep, and JP and I shared a bed because I knew that anyone sleeping with him wouldn't really sleep at all as he is pretty wild in his sleep. Well, turns out that neither Pratt nor I got much sleep that night because when you put someone in bed with Shelby she has to have her feet on you the entire night. She also had a bloody nose during the night because the air was so dry. Both children were wide awake and excited for the day at 6:30 so we got up and got going. After a brief meet up at Matt's apartment we went downtown to get parking and make our way to the stadium. Along the way we stopped at Bowman Field to check out the floats.

Jennifer, Shelby and Lauren in the mouth of the Tiger

JP and Shelby at the Taylor's tailgate

All JP wanted to see that day was the band. He kept talking about it and talking it about it all day. Finally the hour had arrived that the Tiger Band made it's march through campus so we ran to get a good spot when we heard them coming. I wish you could have seen JP's face. It was a mix between wonderment, awe, and terror. I don't think that he anticipated that it would be so loud. When all was said and done he said, "I only like the drums. All the rest was too loud."

Group Shot (mom, we can photo shop you in)

JP was so tired on the way back to the hotel

It was a really fast weekend, but it was super fun. The children did great and were on their best behavior. It is a special weekend for us because we know that every year we get see Aunt Sally and Uncle Jack. We also always have a wonderful time visiting with Uncle Matt, his roommates and their families!!! Can't wait for next year!!!!

This last picture has not much to do with the title of this blog, but I thought it was too cute. JP is really loving school this year and is learning so much. His teacher is really into healthy eating and the environment so he is eating a lot of food that he wouldn't touch with me and he is learning about rain forests and all sorts of other things in addition to his work that he is doing. Today he came home and made a rain forest for him and Pratt to go in and here it is......

His teacher is growing a rain garden next to their classroom and I am sure that they have been talking about it at school. It is so much fun to watch him and see him be so excited about school and talk about what he is learning.

Boys vs. Dirls (girls)

At lunch today I was asking JP about his day and who he played with on the playground and it went something like this:

Mom-"Hey JP, who did you play with on the playground today?"
JP-"I played with new friends." (This was a nice thing to hear since everyday until today he has told me that he plays by himself because he doesn't like anyone in his class)
Mom-"That's great! What did you play?"
JP-blank stare
Mom-"Did you play with your buddy Cassidy?"
JP-"Mom, Tassidy isn't a buddy because she's a dirl (girl). Boys are buddys and dirls are (pause), dirls are dirls."

Pictures from the Lakehouse and Tennessee

In order to get adequately caught up on the blog I am just going to post some pictures from our trip to the lakehouse and to Tennessee during the month of September. We had such a wonderful time on both of these trips and it is hard to believe that it was nearly a month ago that we took them.

Shelby and JP are totally in love with their cousins Reed and Grant. They had a dance party on Saturday night and during the day on Saturday they threw a surprise birthday party for JP.

Papa John, JP, Grant and Shelby at the Dance Party

Grant and JP waiting for the surprise birthday party

Reed and JP at the surprise birthday party

And the pictures from the Lakehouse. Shelby decided to choreograph a dance for Grammie and I to watch. She took Papa, Pratt, JP and Gracie into the other room, showed them what to do and then started the show. It was so cute. She stood at the door and told each one when it was there turn. It was a big hit and I am sure we will see a rendition on Broadway one day.

The Show

Shelby in deep thought at The Goat

JP not in deep thought at The Goat

That's my girl!

I love that smile

Reality Check

Today I had a moment. I was at the gym working out with my gym buddies and at the end took a moment to myself to finish up my workout when, wham!!! all the sudden it hit me...I am getting old! I have a house, a real house with a mortgage payment. I have two children; two children, not babies or just one child, but two children who are growing up and are in school 5 days a week! I am not in my twenties anymore, I am 31! Did I mention that I have a real house with a mortgage payment?!?!?! Oh my goodness, when did that happen? I must have lost track at some point because I don't remember it or maybe this is all a dream and tomorrow I will wake up 17 again.

Truth is, the time has gone by so fast because I love my life!! There are times where it is challenging and there are times where I want to act like a 3 year old by throwing a hissy fit because I am not getting my way about something, but all in all, I truly love my life!!! I love my husband more than the day I married him and I love my children. I love my friends and my community! What a blessed life I have!

Still Life by Shelby

About a week before Labor Day weekend Pratt was looking at his work schedule and discovered that he had the weekend off so we decided to take advantage of this rarity and head up to the lakehouse for one final swim of the summer. It was a great trip and we of course had a blast, and I will post more pictures about that later. Right now I want to take this opportunity to explore Shelby's fascination and love of photography. It started while we were in Belize earlier this year. She wanted to take pictures of everything so we let her use the camera a few times while we were there. For her birthday she got a children's digital camera and has been taking pictures ever since.

One day while we were hanging around in side for a little break from the sun and water she asked if she could use my camera to take some pictures. Later that night I decided to look through to see what she captured and was tickled at the amount of pictures she had taken and what she deemed worthy of picture taking. These are just a few of what captured her eye; there are probably about 20 more, but I couldn't fit them all in.

I may have to give her my camera and get a new one:)

First Day of School 2010

The first day of school seemed like it took forever to get here this year. We were all ready to get back into a daily routine and have a little structure for our days. Don't get me wrong, we love the lazy, hazy days of summer, we love lounging around in the morning with nothing to do and nowhere to go and being able to say "hey, lets do ______ today."; but after a while that gets old and boring and there is just no possible way you could go to the pool one more time. So our time finally came. The night before was filled with a lot of excitment and anticipation.

This year is going to be different for us as both children are out to school 5 days a week and I have started a little part-time job. I actually have to set the alarm in the morning to get up before the children in order to get things going before they wake up so we aren't late...yes, you read that right, I set the alarm to get up before the children. No worries though because in every week there is this day called Saturday that I can linger in bed a little longer.

Shelby was really excited to get back to see all of her friends and to be the oldest in the classroom. She was also excited because our neighbors daughter was going to be in her class. After I picked her up I asked her how her day was and if she helped Addi with anything and she said, "I wanted to color with Addi, but the teachers said I had to finish my math and language work first so I didn't get to color with her. But I wanted to color with her." It was just so funny to me because now she has responsibility and has to make sure she gets work done before she plays.

JP had a great first day and we had absolutely no problems with him getting out of the car. It was very relieving for me because last year everyday that I brought him to school he put a fight when it was time to get out of the car. When I picked him up he was so excited and talked my ear off about his day.

I have a feeling that tonights gonna be a good night, that tonights....oh wait, didn't mean to go there...I have a feeling that this is going to be a great year!!!

Gymnatics

Shelby decided that this fall she wanted to do gymnastics. After making sure that is what she really wanted we drove out and registered. Of course, I was so excited and immediately had to remind myself not to live my life through my children (you know those parents who do that and they are so annoying) because I loved gymnastics when I was growing up. I took it for about 6 years and always dreamed of being in the Olympics, but when I realized how hard those athletes had to work for that I quit and gave a try at swimming and after a few years of swimming they started wanting us to get up early to practice before school started even in the winter!!! There is no way I was getting in a pool in the winter, especially in the morning before school, so I quit and then once I got to high school I enjoyed playing several different sports; but enough about me....back to Shelby.

Anyway, I wasn't able to be here to get her ready for her first day so I left that up to Pratt. Evidently it didn't go very smooth. First there was a melt down over her hair. She is very particular about how you brush it and when you brush and what you do with it after you brush it so the first fight went down over the hair. Then when they got to the gym Shelby decided that she didn't want to leave her daddy and had a melt down over that which ended with the coach holding her hand and basically dragging her away. So much for all the enthusiasm that was around leading up to this day. In anticipation of the smiles that would be on Shelby's face as she prepared for her first day I asked Pratt to take some pictures and instead of a smiling, excited little girl; Shelby gave us her angry teenager look....oh dear, makes me wonder what her teen years will be like:)

Last week went much better and I am sure that today will be even better. She is more excited now and when I dropped her off last week she didn't even think twice about going on in and getting started.

Just wanted to do a quick update on my mom...she is doing wonderfully! The surgery went very well and she came home last Monday from the hospital. She is recovering nicely and the doctor called to say that the biopsies came by negative so that was great news because we got confirmation that the cancer hadn't spread!!! In a few weeks they are going to do one round of radiation just to be certain that they get it all.