Awards, Flowers and Swimming!

Friday afternoon, the boys had their awards ceremony to mark the end of the 2nd semester.
They both got awards for Excellence in Reading and Math.
Braden also got an award for Perfect Attendance.


Here's the flowers Jason surprised me with for our 10 year anniversary on Friday.


They are the prettiest flowers I've ever received!!

Saturday, the boys had football and we were so glad that my Ma Ma Dennie and Aunt Adele, who are visiting from Louisiana got to come and watch. We hope to be able to spend some more time with them before they have to go back home.

We are just worn out and beat down after all the moving and we have been SOOOOO busy with work... so we were bad and decided to skip church Saturday night. It was our off week from teaching and we didn't HAVE to be there, so we opted for family time. Then at the last minute, we decided to take the kids to see Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. They were really good. Rhett was so tired that he fell asleep during the movie. AND he peed on Jason! Here's the picture of poor Jason's pants after we got back to the car. Looks like he was the one to pee in his pants!!

Today, Sunday, we slept in a little bit. Well, I slept in until 8.. Jason was up with the kids at 6:30.
We all ate breakfast and then got ready to go to the pool. We were there from about 10:30 till 1:00. We saw some new friends that we've made, met some new friends, relaxed, got some much needed sun, and had a great time!




Praise the Lord, all my children ended up with their Daddy's beautiful complexion. They go out into the sun, and they turn brown. Here's my proof:

This is after only 2 1/2 hrs in the pool. Not the slightest bit red...she had tons of SPF 50 sunscreen on. She still tanned like this!! I'm SO jealous!

10 Year Anniversary

Today, I celebrate 10 years of marriage to my best friend.
On May 29th 1999 I made the best decision of my life. I am so thankful for my sweet husband. He is everything to me. My soulmate.

Here's some old pictures of us when we were high school sweethearts.
It seems like it was just yesterday.





Our Wedding Day

We took pictures before the ceremony. We made it special by it being only us and the photographer in the sanctuary. Jason was at the end of the aisle with his back turned to the door. I walked down the aisle and this is what the photographer captured right when Jason turned around and looked at me for the first time in my wedding dress.


This is my favorite picture from our Wedding Day. It was during our first dance at our reception. We danced to Elvis' "Fools Rush In".


I'm hoping time will slow down a bit for our next 10 years. It just went by way too fast! We have had so much fun together. We have never been in a fight. We have never gone to bed angry. We still hold hands everywhere we go and he still gives me butterflies. What more could a girl ask for after 10 years of marriage??
Absolutely nothing. Just more of the same. :)

Kitchen Helper

Gracie loves to help me in the kitchen and I let her from time to time. The other night, I made a quick dinner of chicken nuggets, mac and cheese and green beans.
She got her stool and stood at the kitchen island. Her job was to put the frozen chicken nuggets on the pan.
I went upstairs to help Rhett with something and when I came back down, I found Gracie with a mouthful of frozen chicken nugget and this:

We're In!

Just a quick update to let the world know that I'm alive! Barely...but I am still breathing, I think.
We have had a whirlwind few days, but you almost can't tell that we've only lived in our house for 2 nights.
Thanks to mom for driving over to get Gracie on Friday morning so we could attend our closing toddler-free. Yay! And for whisking her away for a night so we could work. Wow was it nice! But, as much as I couldn't wait to have a "break" for a day or so, I almost didn't know what to do without Gracie that evening when we were settling down for bed.
Thanks to Jeff, John, and Julie for helping us move stuff on Saturday. Jeff, not sure I could've kept the pace without your XM Radio Jimmy Buffet concert. Made me dream of vacation...Ahhhh...;)And John and Julie, the Squirrel Nuts, Deer Poop and Bear Poop that you brought to share sustained me all day. Everytime I passed the kitchen island actually. (You had to be there!)
Thanks to Ron, Rebecca, Tal and Lucas for helping us sort boxes and set up the upstairs kid-zone.
We couldn't have done it without all of you.
Thank you all SO much!!!!!!!!!
I also want to say thank you to my sweet little boys who have been understanding (mostly) of parents that haven't taken much time to play or hang out with them since we started moving in our new home. They have been a big help and have been enjoying their new space so much.
A big thank you goes out to my sweet husband who has stayed up late and gotten up early with me every day to hang things on walls, rearrange furniture, etc so that the house is just right. Where would I be without him??
We have a ways to go, but we're almost there!
We are VERY ready to relax and enjoy our new home.
Speaking of enjoying it, I cooked my first real meal (unless the cinnamon rolls out of the can Sunday morning count...) in my new kitchen tonight. I was on the verge of tears. The onions didn't help, but I really was holding them back. It was such a joy to cook in a kitchen that wasn't too small. There was room for Gracie to play and I wasn't stressed with her being under my feet the whole time. She had room and I had room. Ahhh... it's everything I dreamed of.
I have already come to love the house even more than I thought I would.
As soon as we have everything done, I'll post pics. Can't wait for yall to see!!

Another Weekend Gone

We had another busy and fun weekend. I'm so tired I'm just getting around to posting about it!
Friday at 9am, Rhett graduated from Kindergarten!! Me and Gracie, and Daddy and MeMe all got to go. It was held at the Har-Ber High Performing Arts Center (not sure if that's what it's actually called... but that's what it was.) He looked so handsome and I fought back tears the entire time just thinking about how grown up he has become since school first started. He was right in the middle-front and center- of the group on the stage and he sang every single word and did every single motion. To say I'm proud of him would be an understatement.
Here he is before school: Daddy and Gracie Rhett getting his certificate from Mrs. Wiegel Daddy and Rhett Mamma and Rhett Here's a video of the kids singing and signing God Bless America. Talk about holding back tears. I had goosebumps. Those kids did such a great job. And the music teacher...wow. That whole group of kindergarteners sang many songs and they all had motions. I just can't believe how great they did. I am so proud to have my kids at their school. It is so wonderful. This is as far as my camera would zoom...Rhett is right in the middle in the black pants, light shirt and red striped tie. Kind of right above the teacher's head.


Saturday was football....er....mudball games. Here's Rhett after his game. He was like a little pig- rolling around in the mud.
I didn't get any pics of Braden. He had spent the night with a friend on Friday night and he was tired and just not into the game much. He played the whole game though, and hung in there. We decided to give Rhett's team 1 more try and they were much better. We actually almost won the game instead of it being a blow-out for the other team. Our fans sat on the opposite side of the field, so we didn't have to worry about any verbal altercations. The coaches did a much better job of staying positive. We'll see how it goes for the rest of the season.

We were at the football field for almost 5 hrs and then we went home to eat a quick lunch and let the kids rest for an hour and then we were up getting ready for church.
Jason and I were on the schedule to teach, so we had to be there at 4:40. After church, we went to Denny's (kids eat free night!) for a nice "brinner" as Braden calls it. That means breakfast for dinner:)

We had plans for a nice surprise for the kids on Sunday, but we didn't let them in on it until late on Saturday because Daddy and I didn't know if we were up to it. But, we decided to do it and worry about being tired later.

So, we got up early and headed to Tulsa on Sunday morning to take the kids to the zoo! Our season passes are good until next May, so we plan to get as much use out of them as possible. This is already our 3rd time to go since March!




In the rainforest:


There were real bats hanging above the fruit bat cage. Ewwww...


I took several nice flower pics. It was just the most gorgeous day ever. 72 degrees and sunny with a nice breeze. Couldn't have been a more perfect day.



I always love seeing the giraffe.

As we were leaving the last exhibit for the day, Braden sweet talked his Daddy into riding on his shoulders because his legs were hurting. I'm pretty sure this will be the last time this ever happens. Braden weighs around 90 lbs now I think! Sure comes in handy to have a strong husband!


We had a wonderful day. We didn't hurry at all and we saw everything we wanted to see. We left home around 8:30 and we were back home by 5:30 or so. Just a perfect way to spend a beautiful day.

On the agenda for this week is: PACKING! That's right.... we're getting the house! We even worked it out so we can close this Friday morning instead of waiting until next Tuesday. So, this very well may be the last post for a little bit. I've got so much packing yet to do and then we'll be moving... I'm glad it's a long weekend!!
Here's a sneak peak of the house with more pics to come later. I started working on a post of pics but haven't ever finished it yet!

Last Weekend was Krazy Busy!!

Friday was the Mother's Day Luncheon at the boys' school. Jason was working, so I took Gracie with me too. She did ok for a while, but there were so many people and it was a little wild. As it got closer and closer to naptime, she fell apart a little more and more. But, the boys were glad to see us and we had a nice lunch with each of them, so it was totally worth the effort!
First, was Rhett at 10:30am.


Here's Rhett and his teacher Mrs. Wiegel. He LOVES her. And so do we!

Next, was Braden's lunch at 11:20. I only got the one picture, because Miss Gracie was a little upset from this point forward...


It rained all day on Friday, so Jason got to come home early. After school, we all loaded up and went to the mall to get all 3 of the guys' haircuts. Man, was the hair flyin' up in Mastercuts! They were some shaggy boys!
When we walked up to the chair to check on Jason as he was getting done, Gracie said, "Daddy, You a Cool Dude!" It was the cutest thing!
They all look SO handsome with their new groomed heads!
The boys had gotten gift certificates for free kids meals at Chick-Fil-A from school, so we used them and ate a little snack while we were there at the mall.
Friday night was Family Movie Night. We watched The Tale of Despereaux. It was very cute. Braden had read two versions of the book in school this year, so he had a hard time not telling us what was going to happen next. He did really good though. The boys must have been REALLY tired, because as excited as they were to finally be watching the movie, they both conked out before it was over!

Saturday, we were up bright and early, and left the house around 9:30 for football games. Rhett's game was first at 10 and then Braden's at 11:30.
Instead of calling it "Saturday Morning Football '09" let's refer to it as "Mud Bowl '09".
Here's my pictoral evidence:





Here's Jason's shoes after the game.

And here's Braden's cleats after the game.


You ought to see those muddy-used-to-be-white-pants now! I just got caught up on my laundry today (3 days later), but those pants are gleaming (almost) like brand new!
In case you ever have whites turned browns and you need some pointers, here ya go:
I rubbed a paste of granulated dishwashing detergent and water on them on Sunday(Yes, I forgot about them (or just put them out of my mind at least) until Sunday, so they sat with mud all night Saturday and that made it worse... Jason used the high pressure nozzle on the water hose and beat off all the mud he could, and then I started the process...)and then before I went to bed, I sprayed them down with a ton of aerosol Spray and Wash. Then I let them sit overnight and washed them the next day in hot water with granulated Gain detergent, Oxy granules and bleach. Rhett's came out sparkling the first time, but Braden's knees were a little dirty still, so I sprayed them with Spray N Wash again and let them sit all day and washed them in the Triple Combo of Whiteners again. They look awesome now!

I have a little dilemma about football, if you'll lend me your ear, and your advice.
Braden is very fortunate to have his dad as one of the coaches of the team. Everyone that knows my husband, knows that he is the nicest guy in the universe and everyone loves him. They have fun at practice and at games and win or lose, they tell the boys they've done a great job. Exactly what youth sports is all about. Kudos to the Panthers.
But... sadly, Jason couldn't help with both teams because practices and games overlap, etc. Braden's team needed help, but Rhett's already had 3 coaches in place, so that's why he's helping with Braden's.
Ok, back on track, here's my dilemma.
Rhett's team is the total opposite of what I described to you about Braden's team. The practices are an hour and 1/2 of the same thing over and over and over. They yell at the boys when they're not paying attention (Hello.....! How long do you think you can keep kindergarten boys' attention doing the same thing over and over?? Certainly not 90 minutes!!) Rhett hates going to practice. Usually by the time it's over he says it was fun when his daddy asks him, but he hates going and he does better than most, but definately loses interest about 1/2 way through. From what I can tell, he's not really learning anything and he's certainly not learning a love of the game, which it what kindergarten football should be about. That and having fun, of course.
I've been rolling along without saying anything until Saturday's game. The attitude of the coaches is no better, actually worse, on game day than at practice. They get easily frustrated and do alot of tugging on jerseys (dragging them into position). They keep score in this league (which I'm also against for Kindergarten sports) and we lost. The coaches had nothing good to say after the game. They were TICKED. No "good game guys" or "yall had fun out there", no nothing. Just holding their hats in their hands, shaking and scratching their heads. Mind you...... those sweet little 5 and 6 year olds just played football for 2 HOURS in the MUD.
The worst part of the whole deal is that the coaches wife got into a verbal shouting match with the other team's coaches wife. GIVE ME A BREAK! Our coaches were saying that the other team was cheating and that's what started it. I didn't see anything, so I can't confirm the cheating. But, it really wouldn't surprise me. Either way though, this is ridiculous!
Rhett has said he doesn't want to play anymore.
We've been involved in organized athletics for 6 years now and we have never let our kids quit anything they've started no matter what. We intend to make that a rule in our household.
But, this just might be the exception. I get sad and mad and frustrated all at the same time when I think about this. I just don't know what to do.
Honestly, I'm downright embarrased to be affiliated with this team (and quite frankly, the whole league, with Jason's team being the exception). We don't intend to participate in this league again because of the way the other teams and coaches act, etc. Let's just say it's not a classy outfit. There are 4 more weeks of practices for a total of 8 and 4 more Saturday games.
Give me your advice, please.
If you've ever tried to leave me a comment before and were unable to, I think I've fixed that problem. You don't have to be registered with google. Just select the Name/URL option and type your name in the box (you don't have to type anything in the URL box) and then follow thru with your comment.
I'd love to hear from you all.
Thanks for listening!