My Kindergarten Graduate!!

It is SO hard for me to believe that her entire kindergarten year is now behind us!!  As I was growing up I always had people tell me those popular phrases, "you are growing up too fast," "you have gotten so big -you make me feel old," "time flies when you are having fun"  and there are MANY more!!  I never really understood what was meant by those phrases and thought they were crazy... That is until now, when I have a children of my own.  They have new meaning to me as a mom!!  It seems like just yesterday that I brought Anna into this world, and now I have watched her blossom and bloom into a smart, talented and beautiful young girl!!  Her daddy and I could not be prouder of her and her many achievements during her first year at school. 

Her kindergarten class' put together the cutest "Kindergarten Celebration" Friday the 27th.  They sang 9 different songs, shared some things they learned and Anna had a special speaking part as well.  They all did so good and it was very cute!! We want to thank Grammy, Grandaddy and Nanny for coming with us.  I have purchased a video of the show and will have it sometime this summer.  Let me know if you would like to see it.

Here are some pics we captured of her special celebration day...

 Her speaking part!!

Anna with her friends, Jillynne and Micah

 Her friend Jamyia

 Her "boyfriend" Weston

 Her kindergarten teacher, Ms Reesa

 Anna proudly showing off her Kindergarten diploma and her Citizenship award 

She received a Citizenship award at the closing of the "Kindergarten Celebration" from the principle of the elementary school.  It is awarded to individuals who had excellent behavior throughout the entire school year.  They use a "color card system" in the classrooms, and when a student is disobedient or disruptive they change their color card.  Anna (and a hand full of other students from the entire kindergarten class) was one of the recipients of this special award for not changing her color card ALL YEAR!!

Easter

Thought I would let you see how handsome/ beautiful the kids looked for Easter.  (This was Will's 1st tie and he knew he looked good!!)

We went to Grammy and Granddaddy's in TN for the weekend where we got to meet our new nephew, Sam for the 1st time.  (Lee and Mindy's son)  All I can say is one word... PRECIOUS!!!  (Thanks Mindy for letting me show him off!!)

The kids and their cousins had an Easter egg hunt and had so much fun...

With all the fun to be had on Easter, we did take time to talk about and acknowledge the REAL reason we celebrate Easter!!  It is a day that we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, our Lord and Savior!!

Will's 3rd Birthday Parties

I know that I am a little late with my posts,  OK ok--so I am ALOT late with a bunch of posts!!!  I have been scolded by many of you.  : )  I am going to attempt to do a quick post daily or so to get caught up on all that has happened with my precious family lately.

We had 3 different celebrations for Will's 3rd birthday this year...
The 1st was here at home on his birthDAY.  Here are some cute pics we captured of our celebration!!

 This is a puzzle that Granny and Grandpa gave him, we put it together 1st thing the following morning, thus the "silly hair".

Anna's ballet -"Spring Showcase"

Another semester of ballet has come to an end...

They put together a ballet routine for all the family and friends to see what was learned from class.  Steven took a video and I took pictures for the grandparents and other family who were not able to come this year.  I tried to upload the video but was unsuccessful...   : ( 

We got to go and observe her dance class...

Spring Showcase performance- she is 2nd from the left...

One of her friends from this semesters dance class...

Steven's 40th Birthday

Well, Steven is 40 as of yesterday!!  The kids and I had a few things up our sleeves for him all day long, and we had fun making his birthday a good one.  Anna and I took 40 different sticky notes and wrote different sayings on them.  For instance: Happy 40th, Dad you Rock, You're the best (even at 40), Over the Hill, etc... and we put them ALL over the house for him to find.  In the freezer, in his dresser drawers, in his lunch, under his pillow, on doors... everywhere.  He had a few chuckles finding them through out the day and he still hasn't found them all, 28 down and 12 to find.  : )  I also put the "Happy Birthday" song on sticky notes on him bathroom mirror.  (Not part of the 40 notes)  Anna and I each made a birthday poster board that we taped to the garage door for him (and all the neighborhood) to see.  I didn't stop there, I arranged with Steven's boss at work to come in and decorate his work area!!  After I dropped off Anna at ballet class Wednesday night, I went & decorated --it looked pretty good if I say so myself!  He and his co-workers got some good laughs from that.  Then last night, we went to Aunt Jean's for dinner, cake and ice cream.  When we were together, his phone went crazy with texts, facebook wishes, and phone calls with birtday wishes and later he told me that it was an all day occurance!!  So all in all, he had a really great birthday!!

Check out the pics from his special day...

 Anna's poster

 My poster

 Decorated his office

His bathroom Mirror

I am STILL HERE!

Disclaimer*:  Post could be unusually long with picture overload.  Read at your own risk. . .

Yes, we are still alive and well.  I know it has been a WHILE since I've made time to sit down and update our blog, just been busy with the kids and a few projects around the house.  Its been just a little CrAzY around here lately...

Last month we had a cheerleader in the house!!  Yes, Anna was a cheerleader at one of the Valley View High School games.  (Valley View is wear she attends school.)  She went to cheer camp one Saturday morning and was scheduled to have 2nd day of camp the following Thursday but it was canceled due to the snow. She had a BLAST!!  I think mom knew the cheers just as much as she did for all the practicing she did here at home.  She told me after she performed at the game that she now wants to be a cheerleader...  however we decided to stick with one thing at a time and for now it is ballet.  : )

The pics are a little dark but it was the best I could do with the camera I had and being so far away...

That is her waving...

 ...Shoot that ball in the Hoop, Hoop!!!



Steven and I have been tackling some remodeling projects in the house.  It all started when we were watching a show that we recorded where they remodeled a room and stripped wall paper off the walls and we both were suprised at how easy they made it look.  We did some research, created our own recipe for a wallpaper removal solution and we decided to tackle some ugly wallpaper of our own!!  (It was the wallpaper in our master bath that we have hated since we bought the house 9 yrs ago.)

Before we took the paper down...



TAKING THE PAPER DOWN!!!

 It was so easy, we let Anna help us rip it down!

After the wallpaper was removed...



The entire removal process only took a couple of hours to do, then it was on to choosing a new paint color... which I have to admit took about a week.  (Don't want to have to paint it again so we thought long and hard on choosing the right color.)

Steven spackled and sanded all the holes and needed spots & painted the ceiling then I painted all the trim and doors white then on to painting the walls... "Aeution" blue.

All three of us contributed on painting the walls!

 "This is so much FUN!"

I am happy to announce that the bathroom is now COMPLETED!!

Steven being silly- he just finished putting up the new faux wood blinds!

 (and happy that we are done with this project)

One project down and TWO more to go...

Remove border/ choose a color / paint

 Remove Wallpaper /paint

I don't know about you but we are ready for SPRING!!  Anna was out of school for snow only 2 days in January (for 2 different snows) and thought we were doing good until... 3 more snow days just last week!  We got snow on Monday the 7th and they went back to school Tuesday the 8th only to have yet AnOtHeR snow on Wednesday and Thursday.  Friday they were scheduled to be out of school for Parent /Teacher confrences, which of course were cancelled due to the roads still slick.  So I am thankful that Friday did not count as a snow day.  (They only plan 5 snow days into the school year and they are now all gone!)  We did have fun playing in the snow and staying home together. 

Wilson LOVES playing in the snow too!!!

Then coming in for some HOT CHOCOLATE and cuddling up on the couch and watching a cartoon

Anna even tucked in Wilson for a nap to help him warm up : )

I have temporaraly taken in a new kiddo during the week.  A good friend of mine asked me to keep her 4 month old, Saul.  Unfortunately, they will be moving to Alabama in the beginning of March.  : (  So I am enjoying the time I get to spend with Saul while he is here.  Breanna, his mom has LOVED the schedule that I have put him on so that her day can flow MUCH easier --He is even sleeping through the night for her now.  YEAH!! 

Little Saul Sleeping

 Steven likes to rock the little ones too!! 

For those of you who didn't know, I also keep another friend of mine, Courtney's kids -Jagger (2 yrs old in March) and his sister Layla (6 months old).  So with 4 little ones at one time, it keeps me pretty busy.  Will however loves having all the playmates in the house.  Jagger has become his best play buddy!

Jagger and Will

 Jagger and Will reading a book and playing cars... TOO CUTE

 Layla playing in the floor

And Yes, Jagger and Layla both have red hair as well, if you couldn't tell in the pics. 

OK, I think that is all for now... I promise to update more often!!  I do have several pictures to share from Valentines that I will post soon, so stay tuned...