Random happenings!

Wow, now that school is in full swing I don't have as much time to blog. We have been so busy. Taylor is in her 3rd full week of school (is that possible?), Caleb has just started his first full week and Madison has completed her 1st week of preschool :) Everyone is really happy and adjusting very well. I am exhausted though....I need a few more weeks of summer and I just want to sleep during them :)

Taylor is really excited about riding the bus daily (and to be honest, I am enjoying it too). She is signing up for lots of extra circular things (this is the first year that she has done more than one thing at a time during the school year).

She is running Cross Country this year (her 1st day was yesterday and she was all smiles when I picked her up). She will practice on Mondays and Thursdays after school from 2:45 until 4:00 and have meets on Tuesdays at 5:00 at a couple of different places here in Knoxville.

She also is taking art lessons on Fridays after school (but it is held at the school) until 4:15. This is something she has been begging to do so she is really thrilled about that.

Of course she is continuing with Girls Scouts which will be every other Tuesdays from 3:00 to 4:30.

And Wednesdays are Church. Not sure where we are going to squeeze in homework (but we will b/c if grades start going down then these extras will be disappearing).

Caleb wants to do soccer and Taekwondo. We have a month of free Taekwondo lessons so we are going to give that a shot and Upward has soccer for his age. He has never done anything so this is going to be interesting and I am going to be even more exhausted.

Madison has adjusted so well to preschool. She wants to go everyday and is upset sometimes when she can't. This morning when dropping her off she put her backpack down and walked into her room, I didn't get a kiss, hug or even a "good-bye". I guess that is good but kinda made me sad that she is becoming so independent. She loves showing off her artwork when I pick her up....she has already made some things to grace the front of the fridge.

Her "kissing hand"



Her "spotty puppy"


For some reason she had been wanting to wear Caleb's jammies alot. Here they are dressed alike at bedtime....she is wearing Caleb's boxers and her matching VBS t-shirt



And on a final note, we have a new "baby" at our house....



Meet the newest member of our family....our 50" flat screen plasma tv that Matt won at work. Dr Pepper had a drawing last Friday for a few prizes with one of them being this tv. We had known about it for weeks and Matt had been saying "I am going to win that tv". I wasn't convinced but it seems he was right. He is loving it as are me and the kids. Movies are great on it, the Olympics were fun to watch on it (we TIVOed them so are watching them again), and even the cartoons haven't been too bad (though I have refused to let the kids watch Spongebob, I can't stand him on a small screen much less life-sized :) It was a nice surprise to win this nice of a gift. We LOVE Dr Pepper :)

Matt's weight loss is up to 40 lbs, I am so proud of him. Now I really gotta get on the ball, I can't have him being skinner than me :)

Madison's 1st day of preschool!

Well Madison went to school toady and you would have thought she had been attending all her life :) She was so excited. Normally she is a bear before 9 am but this morning she woke up with a smile....she knew she was going to school. She ate her breakfast, we got her dressed and fixed her hair without any tears (which is an accomplishment since all those curls tangle so bad)!

Standing outside the school (she looks so tiny)!


Walking into school like such a big girl :)


When we got to school she wanted her backpack on her back and her lunch box in her hand (no help from mommy). She walked right into the building smiling the whole way in. I was thinking this is great, I hope she keeps this up. We got to her room where there were a few children crying and clinging and I thought "ok here it goes, surely she will start clinging to me now!" Well she didn't :(

She put her backpack and lunch box up with some help from Caleb since it is his old room and he knew the drill and marched into her room! I was shocked and hurt :( Okay a little sad but not hurt, I am so glad she wasn't crying b/c it would have been much harder to leave her if she was. I didn't even get a kiss and hug bye. I had to call her back to do those things. She came back and gave me a hug and kiss and told me she would see me later :( I didn't cry, I didn't even get teary eyed b/c I was so proud of her.

When I picked her up at 1:30, she was happy to see me and tell me about her day. I think she would have liked to stay and play some more though :) She can't wait until Thursday when she can go back to "her school"!

There are a 2 more posts if you scroll down a little...I typed them a few days ago but only today was able to add the pics of Caleb's 1st day and Taylor in her flower girl dress :) My computer is "working" at least for the moment :)

Madison is going to school!

Tomorrow I take Madison to preschool for the first time and I don't think it will be nearly as hard as taking the other 2 (though I am sure I will still cry since she is my baby). I think things become easier as you go through it numerous times. It might also be easier since I know Madison is really ready to go and is going to be lonely at home with Caleb in school full time and no Carter to play with this year. She is really attached to me but enjoys having someone to play with besides me.

On Friday we went to her school (which she is totally comfortable at since it used to be Caleb's school). We got to see her classroom and meet her teachers. We are thrilled that she got the 1 of the same teachers that Caleb had when he was in the 3 yr old class! She was really excited and wanted to stay (hope that is the same tomorrow). She has her lunch box packed, her back pack by the door and her clothes laid out like Taylor. She can't wait :) I am not sure what I am going to do with myself on Tuesdays and Thursdays will I am by myself but I am sure I will figure it out (I could go to the gym, get caught up on scrapbooking, etc).

Hopefully I can post some pics soon. I am taking pictures of everything just can't post any since my computer has died and I am using my in-law's new MAC and don't want to download all my pictures to their computer :)

Finally, a flower girl!

Since Taylor went to her 1st wedding (at least that she can remember) she has been saying how much she wanted to be a flower girl. She kept on and on about it :) I told her that I didn't have any friends who weren't already married so I wasn't sure she would ever get to be one. Well in October her wish will come true! My sister is marrying a wonderful guy named Chris and all 3 of the kids are going to be in the wedding :) Since this is my sister's 2nd wedding it is on a smaller scale. She isn't having attendants just 4 little flower girls and a ring bearer (that is Caleb's job). Last Friday we went and tried on dresses until we got the perfect one :)

Here is my beautiful Taylor finally getting to do something she has always wanted to do :)





Taylor's dress has an aqua sash while the other 2 little girls have chocolate brown sashes (Hope's colors are aqua and chocolate and if you know my sister this isn't a surprise as these colors dominate her decor at home)! Madison is wearing an aqua Strasburg and Caleb is wearing khaki pants with an aqua polo. All of the kids are going barefoot :) It is going to be so sweet!

Caleb's 1st Day of Kindergarten!

Caleb went to his 1st day of real school last Friday. I would have posted then but our computer decided to die on us so that wasn't possible, even now I am having to post from my in-laws computer :)

Caleb did great (much better than me). He was really excited to go that morning. He carefully picked out his clothes the night before and helped pack his lunch. He was a little hard to rouse that morning but since he isn't a morning person I knew that would happen. I carried him from his bed to the couch :( I got his breakfast together while he laid sleepily on the couch. Once he got dressed he started to perk up.

Then it was time to leave the house (something I didn't want to do). We drove to the school and finally found a parking sport. He walked in so big with his backpack full of new school supplies that he helped pick out and his batman lunch box swinging (and me choking back tears and saying "I won't cry while he can see me". He did hold my hand though and I am grateful for that small thing :) We sat in the cafeteria with all these other kindergartens and their parents waiting to be told to take them to their class. Fianlly we got "cleared" to escort them to their class along with a warning the we would be allowed to walk them to their class on that day and the next friday but that when school started full time on monday we would have to drop them outside like all the other kids! WHAT!!!! I sat there thinking to myself you have got to be kidding, there is no way he can find his classroom after seeing it 2 times! Apparently though they think he will b/c they are firm on us not walking them in :(

When we got to his room he was all of the sudden shy. He held my hand a little longer :) as we got settled in by putting his stuff up and then starting on a coloring sheet.
Then it was time for me to go. He gave me multiple hugs and kisses which I gladly took. His teacher informed me that he was going to be fine to which I replied "it isn't him I am worried about, it is me that isn't going to be fine." And I turned my baby over to someone else and walked out of his room :(

I didn't look back b/c I didn't want him to see me crying. As I walked down the hallway the tears were streaming down my face. I managed to find my car, even though I couldn't really see and there I finally lost it! I bawled the whole way home.

My car felt empty with him chattering away to me.

The house felt empty when he didn't come running to hug me (which he always did whenever I came home even if I was only gone a little while).

I couldn't wait for noon to come.

Noon came and Caleb came home (Matt picked him up b/c Madison had open house at her school). He had a blast and said his teacher was very nice and that he liked her. He is ready to go back and can't wait until Friday (this is nice right now b/c I am sure in a few years I will probably have to drag him out of bed b/c he won't want to get up and go to school)!

I have this week to prepare myself for him leaving everday. I do hope that this friday I can control myself a little better but if I was a betting person I wouldn't put any money on it :)

Taylor's 1st Day of School

Yesterday I sent Taylor off on her 1st day of 3rd grade :( I actually did better than I thought. I didn't cry (ok maybe I got a little teary-eyed but I waited until she got out of the car and I had pulled away from the curb).

She was really excited but also a little nervous. The school is much bigger than her old one and she was worried that she wouldn't make friends. She has to be at school at 7:45, we left our house at 7:15. Let me give you a little background, the school is close enough to walk too, in fact some of the older kids do. I arrived back at home at 8:10! This is ridiculous. There is 1 main entrance to the campus which houses both the intermediate school (grades 3-5), the middle school (grades 6-8) and the high school (grades 9-12). Everyone was trying to get in that main entrance and it was pure chaos!!!

When I went to pick her up she was smiling :) She had known someone from Aunt Hope's church and there were 2 other girls from her old school who had also transfered in :) Plus she had already made friends with some kids in her class! This is a huge load of my mind. I don't have to worry (or at least not as much as I was)!

Then this morning I did the unthinkable, something I swore I would never do.........I put her on the bus :( She was so excited! I was so sad :( Here she is getting on the bus





She didn't even look back :(

I informed her that she was to sit up front by the driver. Tomorrow morning I plan on getting out of my car and introducing myself to the bus driver (I didn't this morning b/c I had on my pj's/house shoes). I can't wait to hear how it was. When I was going over the bus rules while waiting for the bus she gave me this look (insert eye rolling) and said "Mom, I know what to do. I have ridden the bus before." I wanted to tell her that field trips don't count b/c there are teachers/chaperones on the bus then but I kept my mouth shut, smiled and told her that I knew she knew how to act :) She is really growing up :(

I never thought I would do that, I said I would never do that. My mom even offered to take her to school every morning so I wouldn't have too. See the problem is Caleb has to be at school at the same time and his school is at another campus. I can't be at 2 places at the same time. One child would have to get to school really early especially with the traffic issue. I hated to do that. There are a few good things about her bus though....it picks up at 7:00 at the bottom of our street, there are only 3 stops after ours and they are all off our main road, she is only on the bus about 20 minutes and if she decides to ride home in the afternoon she is the 4th stop so she is home at 3:00 (she gets out at 2:45). This is faster than me picking her up! I am not letting her ride home at least for right now but we will see.

Random thoughts and pics

Our last week before school starting has been packed with things to do and has flown by way too quickly :(

I am not ready but also really ready for school to start!

We have spent the last week doing some back to school clothes shopping, getting those last minute school supplies and swimming as much as possible.

We met Caleb's teacher/saw his room yesterday and he is much more excited now than before. There are alot of kids at the Primary school which only houses kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades (don't have official number but last year they had about 1400 kids in those 3 grades). His room has a monkey theme and his teacher is fairly young (this is her 9th year to teach). She seems really nice and was very understanding that Caleb was nervous about going to school (he was excited when he was gong to Cedar Bluff).

Today we met Taylor's teacher/saw her classroom. If I thought Caleb's school was big hers is HUGE, I am not exaggerating either! Her teacher is young too (this is only her 5th year of teaching and the last 3 have been teaching 3rd grade at Farragut). She was really excited about this year and the kids learning and she also understood how Taylor was a little apprehensive about going to a new school and one that was so big (there are 18 3rd grade classes with 20 students in each one, that is a lot of 3rd graders).

I forgot my camera both times so have no pictures of any of this. I will get pics of the 1st official day of school.

Now to brag some on Matt...he has lost 35 lbs in the last 6 weeks! He looks fabulous :) He has a "manual" job that pretty much consists of a 8 hr workout. This is not a job he hopes to have for very long but it has come in very handy since he had been wanting to lose some weight. We took a before picture but he won't let me post it yet...wants to lose a little more. None of his clothes fit anymore. If he doesn't wear a belt he looks like those kids you see with their pants below their butt with underwear showing :) I am so proud of him and also a little jealous. I think I am going to go work with there for a few weeks :) Just kidding... I am just going to start exercising here at home.

Well this post has been all over the place tonight....exactly where my mind has been the last week. I will end with a picture and question:

What is this?





A. Last night's dinner

B. A burnt offering

C. Something to be consumed during a Survivor challenge :)

D. Nobody knows

11 Years!

Eleven years ago today I married my best friend! I knew from the 1st time we met in 9th grade that there was something special about him. He is so many things. When I think of the passage about love in 1 Corinthians I think about Matt, he embodies love (or at least in my eyes). He is so many things...christian, father, husband, brother, son and friend. When we started dating our senior year it didn't take long for me to realize that this is who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with (and to this day I have spent 1/2 of my life with him). We weren't the couple that everyone thought would last once school was over but we showed them :) I can't imagine anyone else by my side as I walk through this life! He is my best friend! These past 11 years have brought many things to our lives both good and bad. Our marriage is stronger than ever! I say this not to brag that we are the "perfect" couple b/c we aren't. It is just an huge accomplishment that I am extremely proud of since in today's world marriage isn't thought of that highly most of time.

Here we are in the beginning (our senior year of high school)



11 years ago (we look so young here)



And here we are today :)




While scrapbooking our life I found this quote that I just love

"Grow old with me! The best is yet to be..." Robert Browning

Matt, grow old with me! I love you more than I did 11 yrs ago. I am proud to say that you are my husband and the father of our 3 children. I look forward to spending 50+ more years with you by my side. I look forward to the things God has in store for us. I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else. I love you!