Wild Man Takes on the Preschool

Today, Walker had his first day of preschool. We have talked and talked and talked about this day and all he would be doing for a while now, and he was super excited this morning. 

J and I both took him through the carpool line (as suggested by the teacher)  He was a little unsure since he didn't know the teacher who got him out of the van but his tears quickly turned to a giant grin when he saw one of my friends by the door. She said he grinned from ear to ear all the way down the hall. His teacher emailed me and said he was a "champ" today and did great all morning. He was so stinking cute when I picked him up and said "I had good day Mama."  He said his favorite parts were the cookies and the playground except that it was so hot. Thankful for a good day for my little guy!

Week 1--Check!

We have successfully survived our first full week of Kindergarten!  Ella Kate is L-O-V-I-N-G every minute of it and that makes for a very happy mama!!!  I am loving that between my mom and EK's teacher's instagram, I get to see little snippets of what my girl is up to during her day.  So fun!!!

Preschool starts next Monday for this little dude, so we have had some time to play together this week.  We hit up the CFA playground one day, and worked on our scooter skills a bit as well.  Bless him.  It's fairly obvious he has a big sister.

Wednesday night was the All Sons and Daughters concert at Christ United.  The worship was insanely good and we were excited to see some of our favorite Hattiesburg friends who made the trip up for the concert.

EK started at her new dance studio this week as well.  She said it was "just great." I sure do love that baby blue on my sweet dancer.

While EK danced, Walker and I stayed entertained in the van with the help of Barney.

Football is in full swing, so Thursday we went to check out the MRA vs Prep game.  The d group that Haley and I lead is made up of girls from Prep, MRA, and Madison Middle, so this was a super opportunity to see a ton of our girls do their thing! The weather was not terribly cooperative and we ended up leaving due to lightning.  We are pumped to get back into our weekly d group routine after Labor Day and look forward to getting to see our girls cheer and play all their sports throughout the year.  They are awesome!

Walker had his "Meet the Teacher" today.  When did he get so grown up????

He walked right down the hall with Ms Mandy after he found out she had cookies in her room.  So big!!!  We shall see how carpool goes on Monday!  We are so very thankful for MRA and the CUMC Preschool!! They love our babies like their own and are playing a huge part in shaping our little people's hearts.  They are all truly incredible Jesus loving women and we are so blessed to have them walk beside us as the "village" that will help us raise our kids.

One Final Summer Post

Summer has come and gone, so here is a little recap of how we ended our summer fun.  J and I went to Memphis for the night to see James Taylor in concert.  We gave him the tickets for his Father's Day gift, and we were super excited to get to finally go.  J is a big JT fan, and the concert did not disappoint.  It was a great night!

A couple of weeks ago, Walker decided he would start crawling out of his crib.  So, we converted his crib into his big boy bed.  Needless to say, we haven't slept in 2 weeks.  Thanks Buddy!!! Why of why can you not be as easy as your sister when it comes to staying in the bed???????

J has been in the process of renovating the youth wing and church.  We have always decorated the youth spaces at each of the churches we have been in, but this is by far the largest project!! Thankfully, J was able to enlist the services of a professional painter which was a HUGE blessing!!!  The kids and I plus several awesome helpers have helped add the finishing touches.

It wouldn't be youth ministry without pizza, right???? And seriously, how cool is the wood wall?

So, I'm pretty obsessed with some pallet crafts! I have some more projects in the works with them!  We are so very thankful for all the people who have given of their time to help make this space come together.  I want to especially thank my parents and Haley and Robert for giving up their weekend to build, hang pictures, move furniture, and chase kids around so everything would be ready for church today.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

And in other news, we got a fish.  I finally followed through with my promise to Ella Kate from 2 months ago when she got her kindergarten shots.  Meet "Rosie the Swimmer."  She goes by Rosie though.  My kids are smitten.  Hopefully we can keep her afloat.  J asked how many more fish were this color at the store and I told him this was the only one.  He may or may not have told EK that fish sometimes change colors as they grow older just incase a little switcheroo is necessary in our near future.  

First Day as a Patriot

Ella Kate's first day of Kindergarten was a success!!!  We got up extra early to allow for plenty of time for pictures and to get through the carpool line.

Kay Kay greeted us at carpool this morning.  EK loved it...Walker cried for a good 15 minutes because he wanted to go with Kay Kay too.

Mom also snagged a couple of pictures of EK's class hard at work.

Mrs. Barham's Class 2014-2015

Sweet girl was all smiles when I picked her up in carpool.  She went through the play by play of all of their activities and said it was a great day.  She wanted to go back this afternoon and was bummed when I told her she couldn't go back until the morning.  I am so very thankful for a fabulous first day for my girl!!!!!

Twas the Night Before Kindergarten

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!!!  Ella Kate has been counting down the days until it was finally time for Kindergarten to begin and we have finally made it!!!  We went to meet her teacher Mrs. Barham this morning.  Everyone keeps saying that it is a super sweet class and I am so excited about all the EK will get to do and learn this year with so many new friends.  When we walked down to EK's classroom, I realized that it is the same classroom that both of my sister's were in for kindergarten.  I love that.  

(The building I was in got torn down years ago.  Tears.)

Kay Kay's room is just down the hall from EK's classroom, so we popped in to say hello.

After "Meet the Teacher,"  EK and I had a little lunch date and went to play at the Children's Museum for one last summer hoorah.

This afternoon, the K5 classes got together for a little party at the Reunion beach.  We met up with a friend of mine and her son who is in EK's class.  EK and Asher giggled the entire time and had a blast riding the golf cart to the party.

Mrs. Barham gave the kids some "Ready Confetti" to sprinkle underneath their pillows tonight.  Such a fun thing.

We got her uniform all ready to go and read The Night Before Kindergarten and then it was time to go to bed.  After all the festivities of the day, it didn't take long before sweet thing was cashed out and if I'm being honest, I'm not far behind her!!!  Tomorrow morning will be coming early for all of us!!!

See Ya Summer

Summer 2014, you have been a fun one.  Here are a few highlights from how we have spent our last few days of summer goodness.  Diane and Carolyn were in town for a few days and we so loved getting to visit with them at Papaw's.  The weather was unusually pleasant for this time of year, so we enjoyed getting to run around and play with everyone out on the patio.  Love, love, love when we are able to get together!!!!

My little crew went for ice cream and a little walk around the shops near Renaissance.  I just love spending time with these sweet people.

EK loved every minute of cheer camp.  She added (after I finished the other blog post) that her most favorite part of the whole thing was when the big football players came in and lifted all of the little girls up by their feet really high in the air.

We went to a birthday party at Pump it Up.  The kids had a ball.  They are SOOOOO different.  EK is so cautious and Walker is wide open! He really loved hanging off of the little cliff wall thing and then falling in to the pit.  He did it over and over again.  EK got to the edge but never could make the jump.

We had dinner with the Sykes crew after Kat had a soccer game in Madison on Tuesday night.  Good food.  Good friends.  Good fellowship.

We went to Christ United night at the M Braves game last week as well.  I am assuming that a baseball game was actually taking place, but J and I didn't see any of it.  The inflatables were much more entertaining for my little people, and we headed home after about the 3rd inning (I think.)  I did text my mom after we left and told her that our night at the game really served as confirmation that we indeed made the right decision to not get tickets to the State games this year.  Maybe we will be ready for that in a few years...just not this one!!!

We went to Columbus for the weekend.  J's mom and I had our semi annual shopping extravaganza to the opening of our favorite store Fashion Apparel.  We always have fun and it is kind of our "thing."  We found some CUTE things and the best part is they were all a GREAT deal!!!  Perfection!!!!  We went to swim at the Sykes house while in Columbus too.  EK convinced Hunter to lift her so she could better show us what they did at cheer camp.  And Walker, bless him.

We got to see J's grandmother as well.  The kids kept her quite entertained and she said she would be needing a nap after getting back to her house!

 My kids always LOVE spending time in the Nelson's yard.  Walker found J's old batting helmet and I could not pass up the photo opportunity!!!

This is our last week before we are in full swing school schedule mode and we have a couple more things to cram in before this summer is in the books.  This has been a good one.  Here's to hoping the second half of 2014 is just as great!