The Best Time of the Year

A House Divided!

I know that the best time of the year is really Christmas, but to most Southerners (myself included) college football season is stiff competition! We started the weekend off right... we had one of Daddy's friends and his wife over on Thursday night to watch the first game. On Saturday, Our dear friends Jennifer and Jason and their boys came over to kick off the SEC action. We had a fun morning hanging out and watching football. After they left, we got settled to watch the Alabama game and boy was that exciting! It was a fun day with a lot of special family time... hopefully the first of many weekends to come!

ROLL TIDE!

Nascar Daddy

The "Professional" Driver!

This past weekend, my hubby and I had a night away to go to the Dallas Motor Speedway for him to drive a real Nascar car. Now that Aflac has a race car, there are lots of promotions and contests to get everyone involved. J's office ran a contest last quarter and those that qualified got to go up and take 10 laps with an instructor around the track. J was really excited and had a great time. I have never been to a race let alone a race track and was surprised at how big it was. It was quite an experience and although I am not really a racing fan, I enjoyed being there with him. Several of the wives went, so we got to visit while we watched and waited. We went up the night before and went out to dinner and enjoyed some adult conversation! Every once in a while it is so nice to get away and spend some quality time together.

That's J in the 31 Car!

Preschool

Today was N's first day of preschool. He is going to a new school this year and we are all very excited about it. It has been a very big decision for us as parents and we have prayed a lot about this choice, but feel like this is definitely where God wants N to be. He is going to a Christian school and will be going 2 mornings a week. The K4 program is very structured and acts much like real school, therefore, it is not as long as last year. He has to be there at 8 AM! (early!) and I pick him up at 11:15.

He has been very excited about his new school and we have tried to instill in him a lot of happy expectation. We drive by it and have taken him there for the open house. We went yesterday and met his teacher and saw his desk and he got a t-shirt (this was his favorite part of course!) He was very upset when we left open house because he wanted me to leave and him to stay at his "New Big Boy Pweeschool!"

This morning we put our new schedule and responsibility chart into use and everything went very smoothly. He got up and made his bed, had his breakfast, brushed his teeth, and got dressed without a hitch! ( We have been practicing on his responsibility chart for the last week.) The only bump in the road was when he wanted to wear his new Batman socks that we got yesterday at the dollar store to school. Thankfully he compromised with me and left them on his bed so that he could put them on as soon as he got home!

Daddy went with us to school and M watched in amazement. M followed him into his class and around to his desk. I was concerned that M would be upset, but he handled it well. N was very excited that he got to stay and did very well.

As we were walking out, J said to me that he was happy that it had all gone so well and there hadn't been any tears. I told him that I knew there wouldn't be any tears because N was so excited about this day. J said, " I wasn't talking about N. I meant tears from you!" I have to admit that I was a little sad seeing my little man go off to preschool. I do get a little choked up when I realize that this is my last year and that next year he will be going every day. Next year at this time, I am sure I will be a mess!

Deep Questions

N has been asking a lot of deep questions lately. Here are a few:

• "Mommy, how did Jesus wawk on da watuh?"

• "Daddy, who made Jesus and God?" Well, N noone made Jesus and God. They have just always been around. "Daddy, I tink da angels did it. Not one ov dem, but five. Count dem Daddy. One, two, twee, door, dive."

• "Mommy, does Jesus know how to swim?" Yes, buddy Jesus can do anything! "Dat's right Mommy, but Jesus didn't want to swim cuz he didn't have his babing soup. Dat's why he walked on da water instead!"

Sunshine

Yesterday I was sitting on the couch with both of the boys watching a movie and M was all cuddled up to me... (He is my cuddler!). We were holding hands and he was resting his head on my shoulder... it was wonderful! N was on the other side of me, but we weren't touching. I put my arm around him and said, "N, please come sit close to me and cuddle. I would love to cuddle with both of my cuddle bugs (this is a name I often call M)." N looked at me and said very matter-of-factly, "Mommy, I don't want to. You can cuddle with M. He is your cuddle bug. Not me, I am your sunshine!" with a big grin on his "shining" face!

My mom sent me this picture and I have loved it! It just captures a wonderful candid moment between Mommy and Her Sunshine!

Goodbye Summer!

Today was my last day to keep Hayden and Cam. I pretty much let them rule the roost for the day and make our schedule. We went to Dairy Queen for lunch (which is a hugely popular spot here for all of my friends at home that are confused by this!), swam all afternoon and did not take naps... except for M of course. A freight train could not have kept him awake! We had a fun day and it was the end to a lot of fun memories of the summer. I really enjoyed keeping them and I hope they enjoyed being here!

Big Boy Responsibilities

In an effort to prepare myself and N for the new school schedule we will start next week, we have been talking a lot about responsibilities. It is hard to believe that he is old and big enough to handle things on his own, but I have to admit I am ready! We bought a responsibility chart and made tasks for him to complete each day to get a star. At the end of the week, he must have 30 stars to get a reward.

He is really cute and excited about his jobs. He has been doing really well with making his bed, getting dressed, and brushing his teeth. We are still working on the cleaning up his room and picking up toys... He would much rather prefer Mommy to have this Big Boy Responsibility!

On the Road Again!

I snapped this picture before we left and I wanted to post it. We are on the road again headed back home. We have had a great trip and so enjoyed catching up with all of our friends and family. We will miss everyone!

One last time...

Before we left Sunday morning, the boys wanted to have "one yast piddow fight" with Bob-O and Gracie. This is kind of a tradition between the four of them and the boys love it! (So do Gracie and Bob-O I might add!

Of course, the pillow fight always becomes a tickle / wrestling match in the end!

Grandfathers

My boys have been very blessed to have not only grandparents in their lives, but also great-grandparents. My Poppop came down to visit from Washington, DC for the week and we enjoyed spending time with him. Poppop is quite remarkable. He will be 94 next month and is still extremely healthy. He works out every day (at the body shop as he calls it), and plays golf regularly. The boys only get to see him maybe once a year so it was nice for them to spend time with him.
N and Poppop enjoying conversation and watermelon!

Missing Friends

We had a get together with some of our friends Friday night before we left town. We miss our friends back home so much, but what is neat is that when we get together we haven't missed a beat. It is like we saw each other last week even though it has been a few months.
We had a great time with the Harris', Helton's, and Holland's... We had a huge waterslide, BBQ, a Pinata, and a dance party! With 10 children ages 4 and under, it was a little chaotic, but fun and full of excitement!

N had a great time on the waterslide. M prefered to lounge in the baby pool!

The kiddos had hotdogs outside.

After dinner, everyone took a swing at the pinata... The daddy's eventually had to intervene to actually get the candy out!

The girls led the dance off, but some of the boys eventually joined in!

While some prefered to eat cookies...

Daddy had fun catching up with his friends.