Happenings

We've had a few happenings this past week that I haven't posted about so here goes. If you follow this blog, then you may have already seen the swimming lesson video from below. I'm new to the video posting as it took me a while to learn which way was fastest to upload to the internet. My new camera(Canon Rebel Ti 2) can video record and it is great! I haven't recorded much on it until recently. It certainly beats having to switch back and forth from a camera and video recorder. The fastest way seems to be You Tube.

Back to the swimming lessons. I also got some footage of all the kids screaming yesterday. Day 1 is the hardest for all kids as a lot of them scream the whole time. It was pretty comical. Day 3 usually gets better and by day 10 they are fine. LG did much better today and told my mom "she did excellent!". A trip to Pizza Inn is in the works for her efforts.

Jake had his last t-ball game last week. I don't have any still shots from the game, but he was fired up about the pizza and trophy afterwards.

One last huddle. It was a fun year!
And if you only KNEW what I went through to get this picture.....finally, I told them they could "spank me" and I got this. Yeah, it was totally worth it!
SO last Friday I decided to take the kids to the Alexandria zoo with my mom in tow. Let me preface this by saying that the vehicle I drive is pretty old(over 10 years...) but it's been paid for and I'm happy with it. The gas gauge, however, has been acting up lately and when I thought I still had 3/4's of a tank left...I was wrong:(. Perhaps I should have remembered that it was on empty, but I live 3 miles from where I work and just don't have to fill up that often. So about an hour into our 2 hour trip, we ran out of gas on the side of the road. BUMMER. 2 hours later roadside assistance gets there and gases us up. By this time my mom needed to get back to Ruston. This went over like a lead balloon, but after promises of a pet fish, we were good to go. We'll make another trip after swim lessons are over.

Landry Grace thought this detour was real fun at first!
Mom even found some sidewalk chalk in my car and got game of hopscotch going. We were very careful with them on the road. At this point, containing them in the car was no longer an option.

And here they are eating treats from LG's new Easy Bake oven. She didn't want a fish and chose this instead.

Jake's new pets: Mr. Alligator and Mr. Monster. Mr. Monster has already passed:/....

And last Friday my brother Brian flew in from Denver to see his girlfriend, Mandy. We got a chance to hang out with them by the pool on Saturday and then had them over for crawfish.

Below is LG is all her tooth-less glory:). We go to see Dr. Ward next week about getting replacements. My kids LOVE Miss Mandy!! She has such a sweet heart.
The whole crew eating some crawfish.
Tomorrow we are getting geared up for Landry Grace's dance recital. She has her first practice in Monroe on the "big stage" and is pretty excited about it. I am finding that she talks more and more about the recital everyday. Her performance is Saturday. This should be fun!!

Day 1 Swiming Lessons

Katie Caroline Ward

The church sermon this morning spoke of the Beatitudes. It certainly spoke to my heart because yesterday, Katie Caroline(she suffered from complications of Crohn's) went to be with Jesus. She was doing better but apparently suffered a major stroke yesterday morning. Many many of us are absolutely heartbroken for Toni, Will, and big sister Lainey and their extended families. Please keep this family in your prayers.

Summertime!

Jake is super excited about all the swimming we plan on doing this summer. LG could care less as she hasn't been in the pool yet and we've made 3 trips. Hope this changes on Monday when we start swimming lessons. Jake went through this last year so I'm thinking hers is a phase that'll pass.

Please disregard my extreme country accent. Consider yourself culturified today( and no, that isn't a word but it is now)!

TEARS!

I am adding some pictures from the weekend in this post, but my post title comes from our Spring Fling at WMS tonight. Jake and Landry Grace's school has loved them, taught them, and disciplined them for the past 9 months. I have an enormous amount of gratitude to each and every teacher and aide at the school. It was emotional moment tonight as Jake has come so far this year thanks to Mrs. Renee and Ms. Kelsey. They mean the world to me. I feel the same way about Landry Grace's teacher, Mrs. April, as well.

Sunday morning before church. Can you tell Daddy is thrilled?
After their singing debut in church with their choir teacher, Mrs. Amy. She is truly a special person and friend.
Darn it! These are all mixed up. The picture below should have been first. You get the idea how quick we have to be in getting these family photos. Especially when you're children are afraid they are going to miss something on the playground.
Posing for a picture with some friends. So proud of him for his achievements this year.
Landry and her classmates just before their singing began. Just love her!
The beloved Ms. Cindy!
Jake and our sweet sweet sweet Mrs. Renee. There is no other!!!
With her teacher, Ms. April
What a wonderful year it has been. Praying and seeking guidance for what next year has in store. Summer is almost here!

Events and Parties

We continue to have activities going on and I am just doing my job by posting some of our outings this week. Jake had his next to last game on Thursday and continues to enjoy t-ball. As he was rounding second and headed to third, the ball his teammate hit rolled right in front of him. Seeing this, he stopped and tried to field the ball. I got a good laugh out of it, but also know that his instinct kicked in to try and" get that ball".

Landry Grace's end of the year party was Friday at a classmate's house. She had a great time playing with her friends. We look forward to another year of Montessori next year.
Landry Grace in all her glory. She has certainly been going through a tough stage here lately with a "her way or no way" attitude. Hoping it doesn't stick around long.....
This picture was out of focus, but she had a blast sliding down the jumpee with her classmates and Ms. Cindy.
I caught some cute pictures at an Idea Place birthday party for one of Jake's classmates. Here they were doing the rocket experiment with Alkaseltzer tablets. The film containers shoot up pretty high and Jake thought this was great. We've been to a couple of parties here and they are fun. There aren't many options in Ruston for parties.
The reaction from Jake and Tullie. Love this, even though it's out of focus.
Jake had a great time. Landry Grace was scared to death. She also was not fond of the planetarium, our next stop. It was pitch dark and she was ready to G.O.
Ashley and sweet Madeline. We are going to miss some sweet families from Jake's class next year!
Jack and Jake getting ready to watch the planetarium show. Only 2 more days left with students and then we are done Thursday at lunch. So cannot wait to enjoy some downtime with my growing children.

Sweetness

*This is just a photo from my phone of the kids most recent picture. Not a scan and I don't intend to reproduce. Barnes took this picture during Easter. I thought it turned out great but oh my goodness, Jake looks like a little man in it. So sad!!

Ahhh.....

The afternoons in our household can sometimes be filled with tears and screaming on who is sharing and who is not. I have one child who would live in front of the TV if we let him and one child who could care less about TV. So after refusing to turn on the tube this afternoon, and after the tears had been shed, I found them totally entertaining themselves.....and not arguing. It was a rare moment:) and I had to brag a little. I'm so proud of the little people they are becoming.

Landry Grace "reading" to Jake.
Playing in the play room. *These pictures were not staged, I promise!

Countdown!

The countdown is on....to SUMMER! This is what I love about being a teacher! No schedules, plenty of free time, and of course vacations. This summer we have our annual beach trip planned. The only downfall is that Matt won't be going so that he can save his vacation days for our Disney trip in the fall. I say that's a fair trade. We are also going on a cruise to Cozumel with Matt's mom and aunt. This should be interesting with the kids, but from what we have looked at, there is plenty of stuff for them to do on board. If anyone has taken a cruise with children, please give us some tips!

Aside from summer plans, we have been busy with kids activities, Sunday school parties, girls night out, and so forth. I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

Landry Grace wore her outfit of choice to Jake's game Friday night. Can you tell she is thrilled? She was in rare form that night, petty skirt and a gatorade mustache to go with it.

Family pose after the game. Jake is loving t-ball and I think Matt has had a good time being his coach. It's safe to say we will probably be doing t-ball next year too even though he has the option to do pitching machine.
I filled up the fire pit in our backyard with sand and the kids have enjoyed playing in it.
I found this picture in my junior high year book. Year:1993 The little girl sitting on the table is my team teacher year. I am the one in the middle with a bottles worth of hairspray on my bangs. Fun stuff!
And last Thursday we had a silent auction to benefit the Wildflower Montessori school in which Jake and Landry Grace attend. They only have this auction every other year and I must say that the auction was quite impressive. Many people came together to put on this event. Jake's class project was the bookcase you see below. All of his classmates put their artwork together and it turned out great. I left the auction early for a girl's night and Matt got in a bidding war with a friend of mine over this item. Let's just say we made a very generous donation to WMS this year! But it was for a good cause. In 2 years we hope to buy Landry Grace's class project.
This is also Mrs. Renee's(Jake's teacher) last year to teach. She is so wonderful and will be missed in the classroom by many. We have enrolled Jake in her art camp this summer and the theme his class will be working on is Eric Carle books( the Hungry Caterpillar and the Very Angry Ladybug are 2 of his books). He should have a lot of fun.

Privilege

Wishing all of you who are mothers or plan to become mothers or are expectant mothers a very Happy Mother's Day. Also, I am thinking and praying for those of you who have lost a baby and maybe are trying to have another. I have accomplished a few things in my lifetime, but nothing compares to being a mom. I can honestly remember NO ONE telling me just how hard a newborn would be. What an important, life changing role in every way. I can remember some dark days when I found out I was pregnant again and Jake was 4 months old. Couldn't talk to many people about that because it would look as though I was ungrateful for a new life growing inside of me. There were more dark days with a newborn and 12 month old. Days where I was barely treading above water.

Oh Lord, how you knew all along what YOU were doing. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU for these blessings. The 2 most precious gifts from above. Thank you Lord for grace, for loving me on days that I probably don't deserve it. Thank you for all of those "I love you too, Mama" that I hear on a regular basis. Thank you for the caring words that they are already learning. The eyes that see everything, soaking it all up. May I strive to be the best mother that I can be. I pray that they learn righteous ways and learn more than anything to be little servants for God's kingdom. Yes, we fall short on most days but we are striving to so our very best.

And thank you to my mama, who sometimes had to make hard decisions for me when I was younger. For times when I wasn't grateful, I am sorry. So many life lessons I did not learn until I became a mother myself. All the sacrifices. Thank you, Mom, for that! I am so blessed to have my parents so close by. They help our family so much.

Below are some of my sweetest shots lately. I love my pictures. But I love my babies and husband so much more. Thank you thank you, Lord, for the privilege of being a mother and parent. And thank you for grace when I fall short.

Teeth Are Overrated

We had to be in south Shreveport at 7:30 this morning. We left the hospital at 1:30. It's been a long day but once again Landry Grace proved to be a tough cookie. The dentist had to pull 2 teeth, one being a top center tooth, did 3 root canals, and capped 6 teeth. Dr. Wallace said we might not want to replace the missing teeth with fake ones, but I gently told her that yes, we would:). Hey, we've gone without hair so I consider this missing teeth stuff to bring us somewhat "full circle". But she is otherwise fine. Thank you for your sweet comments on the previous post. I really appreciate your prayers!

Big Day.....

Landry Grace's big day for her teeth capping procedure is tomorrow bright and early in Shreveport. Please say a small prayer that she will be fine with the anesthetic and come out of it OK. Jake has already had 3 pretty major surgeries and did fine, but I always have that fear.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous hand. Isaiah 41:10

Blessing and Priorities

So here lately I have had a hard time getting motivated about blogging our family fun while there are others I know who are struggling. Yes, I have done it anyway, but tonight I want to focus on those who are on the mend and those who are in critical condition.

The first sweet little girl(hopefully you've been following Mandy's blog already) and about Harper, 5, who has has a terrible bout of pneumonia. Mandy is an incredible writer and I would not do her story justice. So please hop on over and take a look, but while you are there, please lift this sweet family up to our Lord. They still need your prayers as Harper is on her way to a full recovery. She is on Landry Grace's class at school. This has been a prayerful learning experience for LG as she has been asking to pray for Harper. Hopefully we have taught her a little more about what prayer is and can be. We love you Harper(and Cauley family!).

The next little girl is Katie Caroline,6. She lives in Benton and I know her mom, Toni, from a few Bible studies we did together when we lived there. She has been battling the diagnosis of Chrome's disease and now has vasculitis. She has been in and out of Dallas Children's for a good month now and is currently in the ICU, suffering from multiple seizures and 4 strokes, I believe. There are so many people praying for her as she tries to regain consciousness. Please please please remember these families in your prayers tonight.
There are so many things that we take for granted. Trying to remember that all the time.