Memorial Day!

Can you believe it is already Memorial Day weekend? Didn't I hear that marks the start of summer? Believe me when I say I haven't forgotten about posting updates! It has been another busy week for our household. I just might surprise ya, though, by getting to some updates this weekend. Just in case I don't, I wanted to wish everyone a good and safe weekend. I will be spending this long three day weekend with those that I love and I wish the same for each of you. Thank you to those who unselfishly sacrificed their lives for our freedom, and may we all remember those countless men and women and their families on this Memorial Day!

Wow!!

Where to start? Where to start? I don't think I have ever gone this long without posting since I began this blog. Things have really been busy here. Drew is finished with basketball and has moved on to baseball. We have been to Riverbanks Zoo and to Myrtle Beach in the past 2 months. Mikayla has continued to be busy with dance and has danced at the Spring Fling. The school year is winding down and that is always a busy time. I promise to have updates coming soon, with lots of pictures. I had a fantastic Mother's Day, and we even went to Greenwood to spend the day with Nana and Nannie. It was great to see Susan, Kent, Katie Beth, Rob, and Claudia Grace too - we even got to watch Claudia Grace dance in her dance recital!! I apologize for the lack of posts, but when we are not out of the house, I have enjoyed spending every minute I can with Craig, Drew, and Mikayla! Look for updates soon...

A Camp Out - er In!

My friend Amy had surgery on January 21st, and I had mentioned having her children, Jadyn and Trevyr, spend the night at our house one night during her recovery. On Friday, February 6th when we left dance, I had 3 children in my van, and I was headed to pick up the 4th (Drew) from my mom and dad's house. From there, we headed to Chick-fil-a (the drive through of course, as I was not brave enough to take the four of them in there by myself) and then home for fun. The four of them enjoyed their supper of nuggets and waffle fries and then spent the rest of the night playing in their rooms. I really could not believe how well the night went with four children ages 4, 5, 6, and 7! They were well behaved, especially Jadyn and Trevry (my two were their usual selves), and they all got along very well - there was no fussing and fighting which shocked me because my two do that all the time. Our plan was to have popcorn as we watched a movie before bed, but the time got away from me. Instead we baked heart cookies and then watched the movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. All four children used their sleeping bags as they "camped-out" in our living room. Amy came to our house the next morning so that she, Jadyn, and Trevyr could go with us to watch Drew's basketball game, and then she took our girls to dance that afternoon. All four kids seemed to have a lot of fun that night, and it really wasn't all that bad for mama either (just a little tired the next day).

Mikayla was the last one to sleep, as usual.

By 11:00, they were all sleeping peacefully.

Then, on Saturday night, March 7th while her husband was at the race, Amy asked if both Drew and Mikayla wanted to spend the night at her house. I told her she was a brave soul for keeping both of them, but they both wanted to stay. So, Craig and I dropped Drew and Mikayla off (along with some pizza) about 5:30 that night and we enjoyed a date night!!

Drew's Third Year of Basketball!

So far, I've only posted Drew's first two basketball games of the season. To help with catching up (and because we are already into baseball season), I am going to post different pictures from the rest of the basketball season in this one post (instead of game by game like usual). Drew didn't hesitate to play in any of the other games after his daddy talked him into playing in the second game. He was the first one on the court ready to go. In fact, he didn't take a break very often the rest of the season. He played very well this year, scoring several baskets in every game. He still needed reminders to pass the ball at times, and he would get frustrated if he didn't get the ball on the throw-ins. Overall, though, he did very well, and by the last game even these two things had improved greatly. He had a lot of fun, and we sure had a lot of fun watching him this season!!

Drew and Trevor look to see how much time is left on the clock. Mikayla waits patiently for her brother to get his star after the game.
Drew is looking to pass or shoot!

Can you tell he's having fun?

Coach Ritchie (who coached his son on a different team) asked Drew if he wanted to play for his team during this game. They were short one player and didn't want to forfeit, and Drew agreed to help them out. Ritchie came by telling all of our fans, "you better watch out, we got Drew!". Drew knows Ritchie and his son Blake, so he didn't mind this at all.

One of my favorite pictures from this whole season!! Drew and Bryson celebrate after Drew made one of his shots!!

This is the only picture I was able to get of Drew scoring a basket this whole season. At many of the games, Mikayla and her friends Breanna, Emily, and Haley, were helping me take pictures.

Drew and his team got snacks and were given stars (different colors for different achievements) after every game.

Drew looks for his teammate to pass the ball to him.

Mikayla gives her Poppi a hug (I think this is one of the times I had help).

Our guys played very well this season, in all nine games. We lost 3 of our games by 2 points each, and one of the games ended in a tie. In all of our other games, we won. It seemed like basketball season flew by this year, but hey, I can't believe it is already almost April!

What's that they say about March??

Wow! I can't believe it is already the end of March and I have not updated my blog once this month. In fact, I believe this is the longest I have gone without updating since I began this blog. Things have been busy around here to say the least, and you know when we are busy there is A LOT to post about. Hopefully, I'll get to share soon.

Mikayla has been busy with dance, and already has competed in one competition this year. She will be dancing two of her dances in another competition in April. Craig used his phone to video her dancing in the competition in February and I hope to upload that and pictures to the blog soon!!

Basketball season is over, and Drew (and mom and dad) is now busy with baseball. The Jamboree was Saturday and pictures were Sunday. He moved up to the Bantam division this year and is hitting off of a pitching machine that pitches 40 mph. He is also playing catcher this year (something mommy was not real sure of at first, but daddy and poppi assured me that he will be fine). Pictures and video (hopefully) coming of this soon!!

The school year is flying by...it is hard to believe we only have 45 school days left this year. We are really looking forward to summer and spending our days by the pool!! We are anxiously awaiting spring break next week, even though it looks like we will be plenty busy with baseball. We don't mind!!

I hope to elaborate on these topics and more...when I have a minute (I would normally be at school still, but we came home early because Drew is not feeling well and has a low-grade fever). Right now, I'm off to fold and put away laundry, vacuum, and get ready for supper.

Life sure is busy, but I'm lovin' every minute of it!!!

Award's Day!!

Thursday, January 22nd, was a special day for students at our school! Awards Day for the second nine weeks was just as special as the first! Each teacher planned an Awards Ceremony in their classroom. 2nd grade awards were at 9:30, so I attended Drew's first. I got to his classroom right at 9:30 and I could tell by his face that he had been worried I wouldn't make it. He said "I almost started crying cause I didn't think you were coming". I assured him that I wouldn't miss it for the world, but that it does take a minute for me to get from my classroom to his. After that, the smile never left his face!Drew goes up to accept his first award - perfect attendance.

Drew comes back to his seat with another award - Honor Roll. You may remember that he made straight A's the first nine weeks. The second nine weeks he had one B (in math) and the rest A's. I was very proud, but I also know that Drew is capable of straight A's all the time. He just has to set his mind to it...

Drew at his seat with yet another award - a music award from the music teacher.

After all of the awards were given out, my child leads some of his classmates in a Conga line - imagine that! I got the feeling that this was a routine occurrence in the class because before the line started I heard several students calling Drew's name.
Kindergarten awards were scheduled for 12:30, but I scheduled my class' celebration for 1:00 to give me the opportunity to see Mikayla. She had reminded me to "get there early". The first nine weeks my class was the same time but her teacher saved her awards for last so I could sneak in after I finished presenting my awards. Mikayla wanted to make sure I saw the whole thing this time...

Mikayla and her classmates wait patiently for their celebration to start.

Mikayla receives her first award - perfect attendance!Mikayla back at her seat with her second award - Most Caring! She also received a music award from her music teacher! I am so proud of her hard work this nine weeks!! All S's again on her report card - kindergarteners don't receive A's/B's/etc.

At the end of their celebration, Mikayla's class performed a song they had been learning about snowmen. I was at the door by this time getting ready to head to my class for my awards celebration. I did get to see the whole song.

I am so proud of both of my angels - my hope is that they always do this well in school!!

Where Does the Time Go?

Time with family and friends, basketball, dance, Weight Watchers, school/work, etc. has kept us very busy the past month. It hasn't taken long for me to get wayyyyyy behind with my posts. I'm not even sure I'll remember it all - especially the times I didn't have my camera. But I'll sure try, as I don't want to leave anything out!! Hang on to your seats - it has been as wild ride!

Snow Day!!!

On Tuesday, January 20th, Drew and Mikayla woke me up before my alarm clock went off to tell me that the ground was white. I immediately turned on the news to check for school closings. I was surprised to find that the two districts in our county that normally close before the others were on a 2 hour delay (we are in one of those districts), while the other 5 districts were closed. I told Drew and Mikayla that they might want to go back to bed just in case we had school. Mikayla took heed to the warning, however, Drew did not. I was not surprised about an hour later to see that our school district had closed as well. We didn't have much snow, but it was enough to cover the ground and our road. I thought I might get to go back to sleep for awhile since Mikayla had, but Drew had other plans. He was determined to get out in the snow to play. It wasn't all his fault I must admit - when it comes to snow I'm like a big kid. Drew, Mikayla, and I went out to play for about an hour after getting all bundled up. After coming in to warm up for awhile, Drew decided that he wanted his Poppi to come over and play in the snow with him. He called his Poppi, and not surprisingly he came directly over. (I'm not so sure why it is so hard for my daddy to tell my children "no" - he sure didn't have a hard time using that word when I was a kid!) Drew and Mikayla had so much fun playing with their Poppi and me in the snow - they didn't want to come in when it was time. Poppi reminded them that we needed to warm up, and I told them I needed to give Molly (our cocker spaniel) a bath. I think they were mostly sad because the snow was already beginning to melt. Drew and Mikayla (and mommy too!) is hoping for many more snow days this year!!

Drew and Mikayla were so excited to see the ground covered with this fluffy white stuff!!

Mikayla makes her first snow angel of the year - too bad there wasn't much snow.

Drew begins to make his first snow angel of the year. Because there wasn't much snow, they were both in the dirt by the time they finished.Poppi comes over to have a snowball fight with Drew and Mikayla!

Mikayla loves swinging on her swing set in the snow...

While Drew was determined to build a snowman - no matter how small!

Basketball Game #2

Drew's second basketball game of the season was this past Saturday, January 17th. All week long, Drew had been looking forward to this game. But when he woke up Saturday morning, he started saying that his stomach hurt again. I told him that he was fine and that he had to play. I don't ever make my kids do something they don't want to do (when it comes to extracurricular activities anyway), but they both know that once they sign up for something they stick with it through the season. Same with basketball...

I talked with the coach before the game and told him that Drew had a nervous stomach again, but that he was going to play. Drew's coach is not very forceful (which is a good thing), so when Drew told him he didn't want to play any in the first half coach didn't make him. Poppi talked to Drew after half-time and told him he was leaving if Drew wasn't going to play. Daddy also told him he wasn't going to waste his time taking Drew to practice every Monday night if he wasn't going to play in the games. Craig talked to Drew and finally made him go into the game at the start of the 5th quarter (they play 6). We were all excited to see Drew finally play his first quarter of basketball this year. He hustled the whole time, kept a smile on his face, and scored 4 points for his team. You could tell by his face he was having fun. He stayed in the game for the final quarter too, and was upset at the end of the game that his Poppi didn't get to see him play. He called Poppi on the way to eat lunch to tell him how good he did. The first two points Drew scored on a foul. At this age, if you are shooting and you get fouled, your team scores 2 points (3 if you make the shot). The other 2 points he earned by scoring a basket. Everyone went NUTS when Drew scored - all the spectators, Drew, his teammates, his coach, and even the coaches from the other team (friends from Upward and school)! We were all clapping and cheering loudly! Drew sure made me a proud mommy - and now that he knows he can do it, he will be out there every other Saturday!

Drew and his teammates get ready to play defense.

Drew hustles down the court to cover his man. He did a really good job of staying with him.

Drew and the other players look at the referee - Drew looks all sweet and innocent like "what happened?". Don't let him fool ya!

Drew hustlin' some more! I did not get a picture of him making the shot. Mikayla and a friend was helping me photograph - plus I was too busy watching the ball go in the basket and yelling!! I'm sure it won't be his last basket scored this year so I'll try to get a shot of one!

Dance Costume!!

Last Monday night at dance, Miss Andrea had the girls come into the waiting room to surprise us wearing their ballet costumes! They all looked adorable in their costumes, and the girls were super excited that they were PINK!! None of us had our cameras, so I thought I would have to wait awhile to share. I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Miss Andrea at school last week where she had attached a few pictures! Thank you Miss Andrea! I think pink suits all of them - what do you think?

Basketball 2009!

Drew had his first basketball game of the season on Saturday, January 10th. He has been going to practice every Monday night since the end of November, and he has really enjoyed it. Poppi has been taking him to practice because Mikayla's dance class is the exact same time on Monday nights, and I can't be in two places at once. Daddy said Drew does very well - listens, cooperates, makes a lot of shots, and works well with his teammates. I'm sure it helps that Bryson is on his team!! Nanda and I set it up that way for carpooling. Nanda has offered to take Drew to practice for me any night that I need her to. After hearing both my dad and Nanda talk about how well Drew does at practice, I was shocked to hear him complaining of his stomach hurting before the first game. He said "mom, what if we are playing that big boys team?" Right then I knew he was nervous, and that was the reason for his tummy troubles. I reminded him that he would be okay - this is his third year playing. The closer we got to the church, the more upset he became. When Poppi got there, Drew was all but in tears. He ended up sitting on the bench the whole game because he was "sick" even though his coach and ALL of his teammates all but begged him to go in the game.

This is where Drew stayed during the game (when he wasn't in the bathroom), and I was a disappointed mommy. Please don't misunderstand - if he was truly sick, we wouldn't have even been there. I knew, though, that once he entered the game he would be fine! He earned the white star on Saturday for "most Christ like" which made mommy super proud!! His coach said even though he didn't feel up to playing he sat and cheered on his team and was an example for others. On the way home, Drew assured me that he would play in his next game.
Mikayla, on the other hand, enjoyed the social aspect of the game just fine. She, Breanna, and Emily had fun talking, dancing, playing, etc. Mikayla decided she did not want to cheer this year after running through the smoke at the end of last season. This was fine with mommy since she takes tap, ballet, jazz, and clogging and her cheer practices would have conflicted with her dance class on Monday night. I thought she would be upset once the games started and she saw Breanna cheering. She hasn't gotten upset or even mentioned anything about cheering!

Fun Way to Ring in the Year!

My friend Nanda called to see if the kids and I wanted to go get lunch and see a movie with a group of friends on Friday, January 2nd. I knew the kids would LOVE it, and since I enjoy getting together with friends anytime, I told her we would love to go!

We met Nanda and her two children, Bryson and Breanna, Traci and her daughter, Emily, and her cousin, Morgan, Loretta and her two children, Philip and Elizabeth, and Angie and her two children, Maddie and Dawson at Chick-fil-a for lunch at 11:30 and then decided on which movie we would go see. Did you get all that?? That made 5 adults, including me, and 10 children, including Drew and Mikayla - what were we thinking? It actually was WONDERFUL, and a lot of fun!

All of the kids were very well behaved at Chick-fil-a - even though we took up four whole tables. They played on the playground for awhile after we finished eating while us girls got to talk. Then we decided on which movie we would see (Bedtime Stories) and headed to the theater. The kids were very well behaved during the movie as well. Mikayla, Breanna, Nanda, Traci, Morgan, and I sat on one row, with Loretta, Elizabeth, Maddie, Angie, and Emily sitting directly behind us, and the boys (Philip, Bryson, Dawson, and Drew) sat at the top because the theater was so crowded. I was a little concerned at first about the boys being at the top without an adult, but they were fine! It was a good movie, I think the adults enjoyed it as much as the children. The children were all extremely well behaved. In fact, you would have never guessed we had 10 kids with us unless you counted, and that is saying something, I think!! We can't wait to do this again!!

Fun At the Park!

Since my friend, Amy, was off of work on Monday, December 29th (I know, I'm going backwards again but I forgot to take my camera and Amy so graciously emailed these pictures to me!!) we planned to get together and let the kids play. We decided that we would get lunch and meet at the park to let them play. So Drew, Mikayla, and I went by McDonald's to pick up some lunch (chicken nugget happy meals for them and a bacon ranch salad with grilled chicken for me) and then we headed to the park to meet Amy, Jadyn, and Trevyr. As we were leaving McDonald's I got a call from Amy saying that the park we had planned to take the kids to had a sign on the fence saying closed for repairs. Not to fear, there are 2 other parks close by, and we decided on one of them. Once we arrived, we found a picnic table where we could all enjoy our lunch. The weather was nice, a little windy, but nice.

After we all finished eating, the kids ran to play. When Amy and I weren't up playing with our little ones, we were doing our usual - talking! We all had so much fun and we ended up staying for more than 2 hours. The kids surely slept well that night!

Mikayla deciding if she really wants to try that!
Drew and Jadyn getting ready to play "hide and seek".
Jadyn and Mikayla take a break from playing to pose for a picture.

Drew tries to decide if he really wants to go on the monkey bars.

Look how pretty!! Look how handsome!!

Drew, Trevyr, Jadyn, and Mikayla play in the sand. This was the rare picture of Trevyr. He wouldn't be still long enough for his mom to get a picture - he is so cute!

Run, Mikayla, run!

Happy New Year!!

As I look back on 2008, I cherish the memories made, the smiles shared, the tears cried, and the joy experienced! I have been so blessed, and I thank God for my blessings daily. This year has not been without trials, but through those trials I have grown in my walk with my Lord. I know that everything happens according to His will and that His grace is sufficient. My hope for 2009 is that I continue to grow in my relationship with the Lord, and that everything I do (and say) be to His glory. I resolve to be the best possible role model that I can be for my children, and to set an example that I would be proud for them to follow. Happy 2009!!

Christmas Day!

After coming home to get out of our PJ's we headed back to Mimi and Poppi's house to celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. Each year, we alternate where we get together between my mom's house and her sisters' houses so it is not as overwhelming for just one of them. This year, it was mama's "turn". We had a lot of fun spending the day with my Grandma Nell, aunts, uncles, and cousins! Drew opens his gift from Lauren.

Mikayla opens her gifts with the help of her cousin, Samantha - Mikayla absolutely adores her! Please excuse the stain you see on Mikayla's knee - they had all just come in from playing football.

Santa Came to Mimi and Poppi's!!

After I finished making the potato salad and deviled eggs that we were to bring for Christmas dinner with my mom's side of the family, we went to Mimi and Poppi's house to see what Santa left over there. Santa has always left us goodies over there too, but this year my daddy didn't think he would until Drew reminded him that "Santa always does".

Drew and Mikayla were excited to see the couch filled with more goodies. Mikayla was glad to have Candy Land to bring to our house and Drew couldn't wait to play with his new Hess truck!

Drew shows off his frog - that has frog parts inside. Our little scientist got lots of things to keep him busy experimenting this year, including a rock tumbler and an animal habitat from his daddy.
Mikayla loves this big stuffed bear - it is soooo soft. She carried it around everywhere the whole time we were there.

Mikayla draws on her pad with her "magic pen".My sister shows my mom how to work a digital camera - my mom is so not tech savvy and really has no desire to be.Poppi helps put batteries in Drew's and Mikayla's Hess trucks.

Drew and Mikayla must have been some good little munchkins this year for Santa to be this good to them.

Santa Came, Santa Came!

Drew and Mikayla came in my room bright (well not even bright yet) and early Christmas morning proclaiming this very thing. When I saw that the clock read 5:04, I talked them into crawling into bed with me for just a few more minutes - it felt as if I had just closed my eyes. Probably the only reason they agreed was because they had already seen and been playing with all their new goodies. After just a few minutes we all got up, and they were thrilled to show me all Santa left for them!Drew plays with his Hot Wheels Dinosaur town. He also got some more Bakugan Rollers (I just learned to spell these - apparently we have been pronouncing them wrong as well!), a telescope, a bug maker, clothes, and a stocking full of goodies.Mikayla changes Baby Alive's diaper. This was really the only thing she asked for this year, but below you see she also got make-up, a Sharpay barbie and pink golf cart, more Pixos, clothes, and a stocking full of goodies.Santa also left a few goodies for both Drew and Mikayla - a new game for the Wii, a board game, a movie, and more Pixos.Drew played the new Wii game all morning, and hasn't stopped much since.Mikayla plays with her new Barbie and golf cart - she LOVED that it was pink, just like in the movie!Mimi and Poppi came over to see what Santa left at our house. Mimi helped put Mikayla's fake fingernails on while Poppi helped make her Barbie horse and carriage work. The fingernails were a little, er a lot, long for Mikayla and Mimi kept telling her she wasn't going to be able to do anything with them on. When Poppi asked her how she was going to eat with those long things on, she looked at her Mimi and said "let's don't put them on this hand, I'll eat with this hand." We all just died laughing - she's like her mama, that girl knows what's important!! She ended up asking Mimi to take them off of the hand that she had them on and decided she would save those for another day!
Drew shows his Poppi his new Bakugan Rollers. My daddy is such a good Poppi - check out that "amazed" face!