Blessed Beyond Measure

Khloe Dawn

2011-12-02T00:09:00.001-06:00

I have a beautiful new niece. Her name is Khloe Dawn Lasenberry. I was so excited to meet her. She is the first baby since I've been a Mom to give me baby fever! I mean look at her really ~

Really how could she not?

I took some pictures of her two different times and she didn't want to sleep for me either time. She would be all relaxed and passed out then I would lay her down. . .but it made for some really cute 1 week old baby pictures. I can say when my babies were one week old I don't think I ever got to see their eyes!

She is beautiful!

Her Mommy made her this bow isn't it gorgeous!

She is amazing!

She is perfect!

We got smart and I let her Mommy feed her and then get her really good and asleep. Then and only then did she attempt to lay her down. If I hadn't been afraid of waking her up I would of moved her into other positions and move her hand out of her face. I felt as though I had tortured her enough though so I let her sleep!

She's so precious!

She is so peaceful!

She is so tiny!

Look at those perfect feet! Love them!

That sweet face! So pretty!

Oh and that tiny bow! I love this baby girl!

Oh and for those concerned YES she gave me baby fever but NO I do not really want another baby! I just need to find someone in Louisiana who has one that I can love on!

Visiting Grandparents and Meeting Newest Niece

2011-11-28T23:52:00.001-06:00

My Grandparents pretty much the best there are. I am so blessed to have always had them in my life. I do not take for granted that they are there. I can't imagine my life without them. There have been very few if any trips to Oklahoma since we moved that there hasn't been a drive to Moore, Ok to see them!

Here is Caden with his Great Grandpa Apple and My Mom, Grandma and 3 kiddos. I wish we could of had someone take a picture with me in it but that is okay I am thankful we have this one!

After our trip to Moore we headed a little further South to Norman, Ok to meet my newest niece Khloe. I couldnt' wait to get my hands on her and neither could Carolina.

I did not get any great pictures this day because there was no light. A lamp gave me the light in this picture. And a flash on the one above.

Isn't she beautiful though! So precious and perfect! God is so good to us!

Shoe Boxes

2011-11-28T20:19:00.001-06:00

On our way to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving Break I was talking with my friend. She suggested that the kids and I come to the church to help decorate some shoe boxes that needed to be filled and mailed via Samaritan's Purse. Most of the younger families make their own boxes and stuff them but some people donate money and everyone chips in and decorates and stuffs those boxes. I thought that that was a wonderful idea. So the kids and I headed to the church Saturday morning.

Macy, Caylea and Isaac taking a break from all the hard work to pose for me.

Carolina and Katelyn working on a box

My Brother in Law Aaron and Lizzie working on a project for their box.

Samuel made a tiger shark on his box :) If you know Samuel than you know that that fits him perfectly!

Caylea and one of her boxes

Carolina and one of her boxes

Caden and his only box :)

My kids made 5 boxes. I decided to pay for shipping them it's not much but I know it adds up and it is such a great cause. I have the tracking code so I will know where they end up. I think it was a great lesson for my kids to think about others that do not have very much. As a bonus they had fun decorating the boxes and hanging out with their friends they had not seen since July.

Little Indian's

2011-11-28T16:27:00.001-06:00

Some of the parents of kids in Carolina's class at school went up to help the kids make Indian costumes for their Thanksgiving program. While we were in the hall helping some of the kids paint the other children made these Indian's.

Carolina painting her Indian shirt for the program

Carolina with some of her friends working on their projects.

The day of the program. Carolina chose to dress up as a Pilgrim. Well I should say I chose to dress her up as a Pilgrim. In the end she chose to stay in that outfit when she had the opportunity to change.

Kindergarten Program

One of Carolina's thankful leaves for the thankful tree.

Thankful Tree

Happy 6th Birthday Carolina

2011-11-28T16:01:00.001-06:00

The weekend before we left to go out of town for thanksgiving we had a little Birthday Party for Carolina at the park. She chose a few of her best friends. It is so cute to see her having her own little friends. I have to say I am pretty happy about the friends she has chosen because all of their Mommy's are super sweet!

Here are the girls from left to right Brooke, Kathryn, Caylea, Caroline (Kathryn's sister), Carolina, Saniyah and Aubrey. Such little cuties!

The birthday girl Carolina

Another of Carolina and her friends: Brooke, Saniyah, Kathryn, Caylea, Caroline, Aubrey and Carolina.

Caylea enjoying some pizza :)

Love these girls!

Carolina had so much fun!

My sweet girl!

Caylea reading one of the birthday cards to the girls.

Proof Caden was there :) lol

Everyone had a great time. It was a great celebration of 6 wonderful years with my Carolina. I love you sweet baby girl and am so proud of who you are and can't wait to watch you grow and grow for many many more years!

Skating Party

2011-11-28T12:39:00.001-06:00

The girls and I went to a skating birthday party for one of the girls friends Aubrey at the beginning of November. They did great for their first time skating. Carolina was making me laugh so hard because she kept jumping and then falling. The child has no fear. Leah (Aubrey's Mom) was helping the girls get around to start with. She is so sweet she just loves the girls.

Time to party!

Caylea, Carolina and Aubrey ~ Aubrey is in 4th grade. She rides the bus with the girls. Aubrey had Mrs. Miller last year. Mrs. Miller introduced Leah to me one day at the school and we hit it off. I really enjoy hanging out with Leah and the girls love Aubrey. God is so good to us giving us such sweet Christian friends.

After the party we went to Aubry and Leah's house and hung out with them and some of their family that was in town. The kids still didn't want to leave but eventually we had to :)

The day had started off with a garage sale. Christina a friend I met through Anthony's job came all the way from Marshall, TX to help me. It was fun but a lot of work. Not completely sure if I will do another one or not. I think Craigslist is a better way for me to go. Then donate what I don't want to sale. Anyways it was such a fun day.

Mrs. Mann

2011-11-15T23:50:00.001-06:00

Carolina had a student teacher in her class for the first 12 weeks of school. Her name is Mrs. Mann. She was so great with the kids and the kids love her! She has been back several days since her "last" day to help out with special projects. It is obvious that she loves the kids as much they love her!

This was from her going away "party". The class got her this blanket and a pretty picture frame with a picture of the class in it. She loved it!

Carolina and Mrs. Mann

Mrs. Mann was sure a blessing to Carolina and I especially as we adjusted to Carolina being in school. She will always have a special place in our hearts. I have heard her talk about substituting at Stockwell Place and I sure hope that that leads to her teaching there. I would so love that and I know many others would also!

Halloween

2011-11-15T23:16:00.001-06:00

On Halloween Carolina had her field trip to Papa Simpson's farm. When we got back to the school we passed out the kids Halloween treats. It was not an official party because the kids only get two of those a year. We all had a whole lot of fun though.

Carolina with her goodie bag and sucker from Mrs. Green.

Carolina working on a coloring page.

Caden was sick on Halloween and so he stayed home with Daddy. The girls had been fighting a cough/cold so we decided to go to an indoor carnival that some friends had invited us to. It was so much fun! The girls had a blast with Aubrey and I had a good time hanging out with her Mom, Leah and Dad.

Caylea playing some carnival games.

Carolina playing some games.

The girls got to ride a horse and a pony. They loved it so much!

It was a great night for us. So much fun!

Pumpkin Patch

2011-11-15T21:22:00.001-06:00

Carolina's first school field trip (well besides the fire station across the street from the school) was on October 31. It was to Papa Simpson's Farm which was a pumpkin patch. It was so fun! I rode down there with a couple of other "Mommy's"

Carolina's class saying "The Pledge of Allegiance " before the field trip. The do keep God in The Pledge! AWESOME!

On the way out to the bus :)

It is so great seeing my girls doing so great in school and making new friends but I have to say that it is also so great for me to get to make new Mommy Friends.

This little girl that is holding Carolina's hand her name is Aubrey. She lives right down the road from us. We can just walk to her house in 2 minutes. So fun!

This is Carolina on the horse tire swing being pushed by her friend and our neighbor Saniyah. We sure do love her and her family also!

Carolina's Kindergarten class. The teacher with the red hair on the left is Mrs. Green. The teacher on the right with the sun glasses is Mrs. Mann. She was the student teacher. However she finished her time the week after this field trip. However I have been up at the school several times since then and have seen her most every time. YAY! She loves our babies and she is such a sweet sweet lady! She doesn't have to be there anymore but she chooses to be!

Carolina and I on the hay ride! :)

Carolina and Saniyah

Carolina feeding some of the animals

Carolina and sweet Aubrey

Carolina chose a tiny tiny pumpkin too cute!

Carolina holding a "baby" goat

Carolina milking a cow

My sweet baby girl had a wonderful time on her first school field trip :)

Tyler Zoo

2011-11-08T22:51:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago I met an old friend at the Zoo in Tyler, TX. Elizabeth and I were buddy's more than 10 years ago. I went to church with her family. Her Mom Becky came along with us. I sure do love both of them and missed them terribly. It's funny sometimes after many years you kind of forget how much you miss someone!

My Lizzie and I! She was very excited that she is now taller than I am! LOL

My scary baby boy!

Carolina my little photographer!

Elizabeth, Carolina and Caylea posing with some of the Boo at the Zoo decorations.

Becky, Elizabeth, Caylea, Carolina and Caden fed the ducks :)

My kids love her! Such a fun day!

Just loved this one! Can you see Caden's rottenness? :)

It was a super fun day and I have plans to meet them in Denten on my way home from Oklahoma after Thanksgiving and Christmas. Then in January depending on the weather we will meet at the zoo or somewhere else. So much fun and looking forward to all the future fun with my friends!

Painting Pumpkins With Friends

2011-11-08T21:28:00.001-06:00

Before Halloween we were invited to paint and carve pumpkins with our neighbors. It was so much fun. Caylea and I carved our very first pumpkin ever!

Carolina painting she may just be an artist! She did a beautiful job!

Sweet Caden was a typical boy and ran around the back yard playing with the neighbors toys until the very last minute while Samantha was cleaning up. . .then he decided he wanted to paint! LOL :)

Mino and Saniyah working on their carving pumpkin~ SO FUN!

Great job Saniyah! Beautiful!

This is Caylea and my first carved pumpkin! Looks pretty awesome!

Pumpkin Light Night

2011-11-05T23:53:00.002-05:00

Well I found out recently that Pumpkin Light Night at Stockwell Place is a very big deal!

I spent the afternoon with some of Carolina's frineds' Mommies setting up their class display. It was so cute! Look at those little owl babies that the kiddos made the week before! Didn't they do an amazing job?

Here is Caylea my Sweet Bumble Bee all ready to go!

Carolina the cutest little zebra around!

And of course BATMAN! :) Caden really wanted to be Super man but I could not find his size of costume. Batman was his second choice!

You might remember that Caden was batman last year!

Oh and the year before that!

If only he didn't make the cutest Batman!

My 3 ~ They smile because I say. . .if you look at the circle and all smile the first time we can be finished! They have figured out that I am serious and won't really stop until I get my picture. Love them smart little guys!

Here is part of Caylea's class display ~ I didn't take a picture of the whole thing. There were only two "scary type" themes this year. I think it's funny that we got one of them. We don't do scary so you can probably pick out her pumpkin. . .it's not scary!

Pumpkin Light Night was so much fun. We met our neighbor up there. Walked around with them and ate with them and some other friends. We continued to walk around and find new friends the rest of the night. Then we helped load it back up and went home to call it a night!

And to think I almost didn't go because Anthony was out of town! That would of been a shame! Hopefully next year he can go with us though!

I do not have a creative bone in my body so I took a ton of pictures so that next year we can have an idea what to do. I was at a loss so we did not turn in a pumpkin to be judged. Hopefully I am all together on the same page next year though.

Painting Pumpkins

2011-11-05T23:31:00.001-05:00

Caylea had to paint a zombie for her class project for Pumpkin Light Night at school. So I let all of the kids paint a pumpkin. They had so much fun!

Those are some sweet pumpkins :)

October 22, 2011

2011-11-05T22:03:00.000-05:00

So I am quite behind on my blog. I don't mean to be. I have just been so busy lately. I love being busy though so I am not at all complaining :) Just sayin'

On this weekend Anthony was out of town so the kids and I were finding fun stuff to do to keep ourselves busy. On Saturday morning we chose to go to a local church pumpkin patch. The kids had a lot of fun choosing their pumpkins.

Caylea bug chose one to carve! (our first ever!!! SO FUN!!)

Carolina chose one to paint. . .she wanted this one for the longest time. However it kinda grossed me out so I insisted on her choosing a different one! :) She complied ~ LOL (like she had a choice)

Caden also chose a bumpy pumpkin to begin with . . .but then again he had a different pumpkin every time I turned around! LOL A very fun place for a little boy!

My 3 most precious pumpkins! LOVE THEM!!!!

Fall Break

2011-10-30T14:07:00.001-05:00

The Saturday before Fall Break my family and I decided to take a walk in the trail in our neighborhood. We had a great time.

After our walk we headed back to the house to get ready for some company. We had a family over that lives in Marshall, TX (I think that is about 45-60 minutes from us). They were such a nice family. I think that Rod works for a oil field company and buys valves from Anthony (company). Christina is a stay at home mom. They had 3 kids roughly our children's ages. So it was fun. In fact I was telling Christina that I was planning on doing my very first garage sale next month. Our neighborhood is having a neighborhood garage sale. I have never been one on garage sale's having or going. However this seemed like a good idea. It wouldn't hurt to at least try it. Anyways I guess her and her family (they moved from Kansas about the same time we did) use to do garage sales all of the time. So she said she would help me. It should be fun :) (If I go through with it!!) It was so nice to meet them ~ I do hope we get together again soon :)

Monday that week was "Fall Break" the kids had a picnic in the backyard.

We then went for another walk on the trail. This time I let the kids play and run off of the trail. They loved it.

I later learned from some Mommies at the school that there are copperhead snakes there hiding under the leaves. ACK!! I was letting my kids run through the leaves and jump off of big tree's onto piles of leaves.

As I am sure you can imagine we have not been back to the trail. . .we will see if I brave it again now that I know of the danger!

Oh also Caylea got stung by a bumble bee for the first time that day. . .no fun :(

Terrific Kid and Owl Babies

2011-10-30T13:11:00.002-05:00

I am not doing an awesome job of keeping up with the blog lately. Since this is my way of scrap booking for my kids I better get to work.

Anthony and I are so proud of Caylea her first nine weeks in public school she got the Terrific kid award at the Honor Roll assembly. She did not make honor roll this 9 weeks but that may soon change. Love that lady and her very sweet heart. (that is when she is not giving me that attitude that I am quite sure is a payback of some sort from my childhood)

Carolina's class did owl babies for their class display for pumpkin light night. Now I knew that pumpkin light night was a pretty big deal by the display that we made however I really had no idea just how big of a deal it was. A bonus is that it really was so much fun! More about that later.

Here is Carolina working on her owl baby pumpkin

Here is her owl baby. . .green and sweet

Carolina signing her name on the poster that was displayed by the display

That day was a lot of fun for the kids. Also I had a lot of fun meeting new mommies and now some friends. The last year meeting new people has been few and far between. Our church is small with no young families so even though I love the ladies there we just didn't have enough in common to hang out outside of church. The school decision for us has been a blessing for so many reasons.

Fire Station Friday

2011-10-18T23:43:00.004-05:00

Friday morning Caden and I got up and went to the school. I changed my stapling day to Mondays because Friday's are so crazy with other activities. While I was stapling one of the kids in Caylea's class Mom's came up to me and introduced herself. We had a nice little chat. Before our next place to be Caylea's friend Layla's Mom and I had a nice little chat. Then we headed out to help with the Stallion Store.

Friday was AR party day and those kids who met their AR goal got to go jump. For the Kindergartners it was for a "perfect report card". I missed Caylea's jump time and almost missed Carolina's being at the Stallion Store.

I got there in time to grab a few pictures. She had a blast!

After the Jump Party it was time to head across the street for a Fire Station demo and tour. Here is Carolina and one of her best little buddies Kathryn waiting for it to start.

Right before it was fixing to start. There was an alarm. The Fire Truck and Men got called out. We waited for 20-30 minutes for them to come back they said it would be 15 minutes. It took them longer though so we headed back to the school.

Here is the truck leaving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zqBVEQ8H_I

Carolina and one of her best buddies Aubrey

Here is Aubrey, Carolina and Saniyah while we were waiting :)

I love being one of the room Mom's in Carolina's class there are 6 of us total I think. We have meetings and so many plans for this year. It is nice to finally be meeting more people in our kinda new state.

Bounce The Day Away

2011-10-18T23:13:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday the PTO held a reward party for the kids. It had to do with a fundraiser they had. I volunteered to go up and help supervise the kids.

Carolina had a lot of fun. She only wanted to jump in one of the bouncers though. So she waited in line to jump in that one over and over again. Such a cutie!

Carolina and one of her best buddies Aubrey.

The Kindergarten, First and Second jumped for an hour. Then the Third, Fourth and Fifth the next hour. I loved it when the kids did the line dance! These are still the smaller children. I was manning a bounce house during the older kids jump time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9RiEAXfBes

The smaller kids again. I just thought this was cute. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6jPXnG7By0

Caylea and one of her best buddies at school. This is Layla. Friday while I was up at the school stapling and collating Layla's Mom came up to me and introduced herself and we talked for a little bit. It was so nice to meet her. She is a very nice lady and from everything that Caylea tells me Layla is a very sweet young lady. I prayed about it and was so worried about Caylea finding a good friend for her. I don't know why I worried about it though. I knew God had total control of the situation and that we were making doing what He wants for our family.

Caden got to jump with a few of the other small siblings in between groups. He wasn't sure at first but then he loved it and was so happy! Of course by the end of the 2 hours he was making me carry him around and laying his head on my shoulder. He was so still and relaxed I thought he had fallen asleep a few times.

Random

2011-10-18T22:23:00.002-05:00

Caden loves to go to play golf with daddy. Really they just go hit range balls and I think practice putting sometimes. Either way our little guy loves hanging out with daddy doing pretty much anything!

I took this picture at church a few Sunday's ago when I had children's church. I took the kids outside to play after we finished up our lesson. This is Saniyah, Carolina, Faith and Caylea. What pretty little ladies they are!

The Saturday before last when OU played Texas Anthony invited some of his work buddies over for the game. One of them brought their little guy Alex. Alex is 4 just like Caden and they really hit it off! I can't say I enjoyed the game but I enjoyed the company and the beautiful day!

A picture of Caylea, Carolina and Caden after school one day. With the exception of Caylea they are all loving the idea of homework! HA HA!

Caden and I decided to try out the trail last week. We loved it so much we have been back a few times now with the girls and even once with Daddy. I will post the really pictures in another post. I just wanted to kind of get caught back up. I hope to start blogging more often again soon.

2011-10-06T23:18:00.001-05:00

Last swimming day this year was last Thursday. September 29, 2011 This was also (from what the weather man said) to also be our last 100 degree day this year! YAY! Can't say I am not so so happy about that! I am very happy with the cooler weather we've had this week! A lot of walking and bike riding is in our future. Also next week I am going to check out our neighborhood walking trail. I haven't been yet and we've been here over a year so I think it's time. I read online that it's paved so I can take Caden's bike and maybe even the dog's we will see :) Our neighborhood pond is drained because of a broken dam. I am not worried about it. . .less mosquito's right?!?

Anyways here are some pictures from our last swim this year. We really enjoyed the pool the last two summers! I am so proud of all 3 of my swimming babies and I can say swimming lessons are defiantly in their future next summer!

My pretty girl . . .however did we get so blessed?

Piggy back ride across the pool :)

My silly bear! (Our neighbor calls her Polar bear~I think it's pretty cute!)

Sweet girl just enjoying her relaxing day at the pool. . .not too busy. I think one other person was there with us for a short amount of time.

I wanted a smile and he wanted this first. . .that was fine with me! I love it!

Caden and Daddy

I can say the kids are defiantly not happy to see the swimming end. This is when we told Carolina no more time to get out :(

Hanging with My Boy . . .and Girls

2011-10-06T22:50:00.000-05:00

I love getting to spend my day's with my son! I am so blessed to get this time this year. When the girls first started school I felt Caden and I would be board without the girls and home schooling to do. So at first I busied myself volenteering at the school and church as much as possible. I was then wearing myself out. Being outside of the house all/most of the day, coming home and not having time to take care of the things that needed to be taken care of, then having to make dinner and do homework with the girls (and Caylea had several hours of homework to begin with ~ I think this was an adjustment issue and she has figured out how to use her time more wisely because thankfully her homework is much much less now). Then cleaning, making sure uniforms were ready and packing lunches. It was all just too much! I took a step back and decided to reevaluate what was going on. I now volenteer at the school on Friday's. Stapeling and colating, everyother friday is snack day and twice a month they have stallion store (they break up the grades). I help every snack day and only some Stallion Store days. I also decided to have lunch with the girls still but alternate weeks instead of having lunch with both of them on the sameday. There will be days and weeks I spend more time helping out at the school (and church) but it's not every week.

It has been so great for Caden and I. I can get the house cleaned really well each week. Caden and I have time to play trains, play doh, games, color, go on walks/bike rides and many other things. He is so happy to get all of this attention. He gets super excited when Daddy is at home working also. I don't think he could feel much luckier.

Here is Caylea working on some of her homework yesterday. She has really turned a corner! Grades were so great last week all A's and B's YAY! The grading scale here is much different than what I am use to. If Caylea makes between a 93-100 that is an A, 85-92 is a B, 74-84 is a C, 67-73 a D and of course anything lower than a 66 is a F. I am really happy with how things are turning out. It took her several weeks to catch on, use her time wisely, learn to concentrate at the school oh and I think the hardest part for her is that she had to learn to use her brain. With Abeka all the worksheets were just so easy. It never really required her to really think and be creative. I think the 3rd grade year would of changed that but not the 2nd grade. She had to build up some confidence on the AR testing. She takes a test after every book she reads and well my daughter loves to read. I easily get 4 or more e-mails a day with her AR score on them (I did sign up for this). I am not sure if she was not comprending it at first or if the tests themselves she just didn't care to think about. Whatever the reason that has changed thankfully :)

My precious Carolina. She is doing great at school. She easily knows 15-20 sight words now. She can sound out smaller 3 and 4 letter simple words also. It is so much fun to watch her. I wanted to be the one to teach my children to read (and I could have). However I am fine with this also. We work on her "homework" a few nights a week. Really at our choosing her teacher just sends home a packet and we choose the nights. Carolina loves it! I take her completed work out of her binder each and night and look at it with her and tell her how proud I am of her and how great she is doing. She is so happy to show me all that she does at school. It is really the cutest thing!

Here is Caden doing a preschool workbook while Caylea is doing her homework. He is pretty big stuff you know! Oh I have to share this. We had our window's open several days this last week. On Saturday Anthony left the back door open while he was grilling. Bad idea lots of flies decided to join us for dinner! I HATE fly swatters because they are gross and squish bugs onto my house! NASTY! So I bought some fly paper and if a fly comes into my house I hang it and soon he will be on there. Well Caden saw a few of them on there the other day so he took a chair over to where it was hanging and said to the "dead" flies. "You better tell your friends to stay out of our house" So funny I just had to laugh at him. Then today there was another fly in our house. Caden went over there and said "I told you to tell your friends to stay out now he is going to get stuck too". HA HA! Very true son!

Another cute story while I am on a role. There is a little boy in Caylea's class that from what Caylea says does not like any of the girls. You know a tipical 8 year old boy. Well Caylea says he says mean stuff to all of the girls. Nothing horriable just being bratty. Well today Caylea told me on the way to critter co. "Jake did not say one mean thing today to anyone Mom" I said really that is great! Caylea then said "It's because I prayed he would turn into a nice boy" I got such a good feeling about that in my heart. I hope and pray he continues to be a "nice boy".

Unedited pictures again. . .maybe one day I will replace them but probably not.

Critter Co

2011-10-06T22:12:00.001-05:00

The kids have been asking to go visit the animals at Critter Co. They have been being so good this week we decided to make a trip today.

It was so much fun to watch the kids getting to pet the animals. Here Caden is and I didn't realize until I looked at the picture that it appears he was pinching the rabbit. I hope that it just looks like that and he didn't hurt it. It never jumped or anything so I think he didn't. . .maybe?

Caylea and a bunny love! So sweet!

Today is the first time the kids held hamsters. I remember loving hamsters for several years as a teenager. However I also remember getting bit a few times also. So even though at Critter Co. hamsters are out to hold I never wanted to pick one up or want the children to hold one. They asked some young ladies sitting on the floor holding hamsters and rabbits to help them. Carolina and Caylea did well. I didn't get a picture of Caden because when she went to place him in his hand Caden moved his hand and said "He tried to scratch me!" lol

We had a great time but of course we left with the kids not understanding why I don't just buy them a puppy, bunny, hamster exc. . . Anthony and I are discussing a way the kids can possibly earn a rabbit (or something will be decided upon a lot of research) in the future. We will see but for today. . .a visit to Critter Co. has to do :)

I think Brandy and I would of been in heaven had we had a critter co. when we were younger! I really remember loving my hamster :)

(these pictures are not at all edited. . .I just needed to get blogging. . .at least they are from my camera and not my phone this time :)

We Are Still Here

2011-09-24T22:36:00.000-05:00

The week before last was The Scholastic Book Fair at the girls school. It was so much fun going with them and helping them pick out books. I enjoyed helping set it up before. My favorite part was while working in the library hearing the teachers come in with the children and how they spoke to them. All of the teachers I heard just loved their job you could really tell. It was so awesome.

So Carolina chose a puppy book. On one page it has a puppy and on the next page that same puppy is in a cute little outfit. This book is truly right up Carolina's alley. Every time I turn around Misty and Tiger are in an outfit also! LOL

Caylea's book fair day. I missed because it was early and I wasn't feeling well. I had lunch with Caylea later that day and I took her to the fair after we were finished eating. She chose a cute little kitten book. I let both of the girls chose a book for the classroom also. They were so excited about this :) Such a fun thing!

Caden has been such a good little helper. One day at the school Caden and I helped the school counselor package up the t-shirts and hoodies and deliver them. I wore flip flops that day and I was so sorry. We walked around that school all day and I learned my lesson and now wear tennis shoes every time I go to the school just in case. This is not why I went to the school this day. . .lol I had helped set up the Book Fair early in the day.

Caden and I are really enjoying our days. The weather is still warm in the 90's around here on most days however the mornings are nice and I will take low 90's over way over 100 any day! Oh goodness how I love fall and am so ready for it! I am going to miss the pool but that is okay it's worth it!

My girl and I having a crazy time :)

Caden and I enjoyed some games one morning last week. I think his new favorite is Hi Ho Cherry-O :) So fun we played it several times and then the last time he lost and said "Okay I am done Mom I want to play something else." I was like great :)

The girls are so happy our neighbor Saniyah is now riding the bus with them! They love it! It's so cute and on mornings Saniyah's mom doesn't have to rush to work I get to have a nice chat with her after the girls leave and while Caden is still asleep! Woot for Mommy time! Not to mention now that my girls ride the bus and Caden sleeps until 8:30-9:00 I have time to come back in make breakfast and read my bible study. I also feel back to sleep one morning when I had a headache and woke up feeling much better! AWESOME!

Wednesday after school I had a meeting in Carolina's class for the room mom's. I am so thankful how it has worked out this year. I am room mom in Caylea's class however Carolina's class has several room mom's. YAY! So it's no big deal when I miss the two times Caylea has class parties. I really feel I need to be in Caylea's room at least this year to see how works out with the food allergies. Carolina's class has a whole lot of fun things planned this year including several field trips. Caylea has quite a few field trips also planned for her.

Thursday Carolina's class had an Apple sample day. So several of us mom's met up at 1:00 to help set it up and just help with the kids. It was so much fun. Caden was with our Pastor for the day so I got to focus on helping. I am so thankful that our Pastor has a special relationship with Caden. I have real pictures from this day that I will post and share . . .maybe tomorrow. . .but soon!

Friday was the Johnny Appleseed Activity day. This picture is from that day. I have real pictures from this day also. I will share those and talk more about it soon. It was so fun and slowly but surely Carolina is getting use to me leaving. She still gave me a hard time this day but I think it was a little easier for her. Caden had a blast up there also he even got to paint a picture with the kids. He is going to be so ready for Kindergarten next year. It is going to be no big deal for him!

The kids insisted on picking out their Halloween costumes already. Caden's needs to be taken back as it is too short. He is not happy about that but it has to be done. Caylea is a bumble bee and Carolina a Zebra. We will have to of course get accessories however I think the hardest part is done! Well mostly :)

I love that my girls are making some great friends. Carolina has two little girls in her class that's parents have already spoken with me about play dates. Aubrey lives just a few houses down across the street from us. (she is the reason Carolina wanted to ride the bus) and Kathryn's mom spoke to me about it Wednesday at the meeting. I just have to say I love all of the little girls in Carolina's class they are all so super sweet. Every time they see me they give me a hug and talk to me. Some of the boys do also but those girls are all just little angels!

I got a note in Caylea's bag last week and a little girl that rides the bus with Caylea and lives on the next street would like to have play dates with her. I sent her Mom an e-mail tonight. As I am sure most people who read this understands I am a little apprehensive about Caylea going to someone else's house. We will see how it goes I haven't said no~ I just need to talk with her Mom and see if she understands. Caylea is getting old enough she can usually spot things that are not safe. So she does have that going for her.

I think that that is it for now. I just do not understand where my time goes these days. It seems crazy to be so busy but also a very good thing. I am just not the type to be able to sit around all day. It depresses me so I find things to keep me busy. . .and It would appear as though I am good at finding them!

Have a great weekend!

Stallions For Christ

2011-09-15T23:23:00.000-05:00

Caylea came home from school today and told me that she went to "Stallions For Christ". I hadn't heard of this so I asked her some more questions. She said that she had the choice to go to recess or go to "Stallions for Christ" she chose to go to Stallions for Christ. I asked her what it was she said that they met with some high school students they sang some songs about God and then some of the high school students said some of their favorite Bible verses.

I am pretty proud of my little lady! I plan to ask her teacher if they will be doing this again and if so I would like a heads up. I would like to be a fly on the wall and take some pictures of this. I did read somewhere that meet me at the pole is coming up. We will be planning on attending this!

The girls are still doing great in school. Carolina has gotten on the bus everyday this week without me having to carry her on. I am so thankful for the bus! This has been the answer for Carolina's crying when I leave her. She has not cried one time (even with the insisting that I physically put her on at times). Carolina has also still not said anything bad about school. She absolutely loves it. That was true until today ~ It wasn't a really big deal to her. I think it was a much bigger deal for me. From what I can gather some little girl asked Carolina why she wore glasses. Carolina said so I can see. The little girl then hit her on the back, took her glasses off and threw them on the ground. Carolina said they were on the slide. Carolina didn't tell anyone until she got back into her classroom and then she told her teacher. Her teacher was not on recess duty. I e-mailed her teacher and will speak with her tomorrow since I will be up at the school anyways to help with snack and coke day. I was not sure what to tell Carolina. Anthony says we tell her not to hit anyone or be mean but if someone hits her to hit them back. I am hoping that the teacher has a solution that I am happy with. I know that kids can be mean. This probably won't be our last experience with an issue similar to this. I do not want to encourage Carolina to hit however I will not allow her to be picked on either!

I will post this weekend about our week and the Book Fair it was so much fun! I just wanted to make sure not to forget to post about Caylea's Stallions For Christ experience! Love that little lady she pretty much rocks in my book! (actually all three of them do!)

Labor Day Weekend

2011-09-08T22:05:00.001-05:00

We had some great company for labor day weekend! Anthony's Aunt Patsy came to visit us. She got into town on Thursday evening. Friday after the girls got on the bus we headed to natchitoches, Louisiana. That is where the movie Steel Magnolias was filmed. Also the Cane river is there. We really enjoyed our trip. I will post my pictures at another time I am posting this from my phone so these are the only pictures for now. It was a beautiful morning and we loved hanging out with Aunt Patsy! I am pretty sure Caden felt like king for the day.

Friday night we broke out the old wahoo game! Caylea played on her own team she is such a great little game player she actually won the game!

Saturday night was the first OU game. Anthony grilled some delicious food! It was great for Anthony to have Patsy to watch the game with. I can sit in the living room with him but it's obvious I am not really into the game -sorry babe-

Caden feel asleep in his bedroom floor with the remote in his hand. I had to take a picture - he is so funny!

Patsy sang at church Sunday! I think it was the perfect song for the day! I wish I had recorded it- I had planned on it and then I just forgot :(

Sunday night the kids sat with us in church because I had nursery and mine were the only ones there.

Monday morning Anthony, Caden and Patsy got up early and headed to Longview to the train station. Caden got sick there and ended up running a fever and sleeping most of the day. Thankfully he woke up fine Tuesday and so far no one else has picked up his bug.

The girls and I headed next door to Saniyah's birthday party. It was a wonderful birthday party. My girls had so much fun! The love Saniyah so much! I also have lots of real pictures for this also. I will share soon.

I have been so incredibly busy! It's hard to believe how busy I am! I would think with the girls in school I would have all of this free time. However between things with church, cleaning the house, volunteering at the school, normal household things like grocery shopping and taking care of Caden all my time is used up.

Caden and I headed to the school before 830 yesterday for a PTO meet and greet meeting, after that we had a stallion store volunteer meeting, we then stapled and collated for a bit before lunch with each of the girls.

I was so excited I spoke with Carolina's teacher and she thought Carolina would do okay if we stayed for lunch with her. Carolina is doing great since taking the bus. I think my taking her to school just caused too much anxiety (that and she just needed the time to adjust). When she rides the bus it's "oh there is the bus time to go". Her little friend Aubrey lives down the street at the next stop so it works out wonderfully!

Having lunch with Carolina meant that Caden and I were at the school til after 1. We came home and had 2 hours to chill before the girls got home.

Wednesday nights are kinda crazy. I don't see how working moms do it. We start homework 30 minutes after Caylea gets off of the bus. Then it's go go go till bedtime! I guess it's not called humpday for no reason!

Kids running around after class on Wednesday night! It was so beautiful!

Caden and a member of our church's grand daughter Cassidy. She is so cute and such a little smarty!! I really think she sounds much older than 4! She calls her grandmother "dolly" love it!

Since yesterday was so crazy I vowed to relax today. I did do some laundry and mopped the floor this afternoon while chatting on the phone. (ha ha such a rough life huh?) However this morning Caden and I took a nap and played the wii! Lol loved it! Really loved that he slept longer than me so I got some super duper quite!!!

I got an email this morning asking for volunteers to help set up the book fair this morning. I wanted to go I really did but in the end decided not to. It wasn't much notice and sometimes you just need to know that it's best to take a day to chill. I emailed her later and told sorry I didn't make it but to let me know if they needed help tomorrow. They do so Caden and I will head up there in the morning.

Next week is going to be super busy! Monday I am helping with the book fair during Carolina's classes time. Tuesday we are getting trot shirts separated and organized and Wednesday is my normal stapling and collating day and lunch with the girls. (going to see if I can change this day I think)

Not all weeks are going to be this busy ~ I think this is all so good for Caden to. He is already comfortable with the school. He really likes the girls teachers and lots of other people up there. So many people up there talk to him. We are still planning on putting him in a mothers day out I just haven't called yet. :)

Well that's it for now I think! Hope you all are having a blessed life! I know I am!