Pumpkins 2012

 I figured that before Thanksgiving, I should put up the pictures of our carved pumpkins from 2012! We got them from the pumpkin patch on Fall Break and we waited until the weekend before Halloween to carve them and have a family Halloween Party. We had Grandma, Grandpa, Savannah, and Zachary join us. It was full of yummy junk food and watching Igor and Hocus Pocus. It made me feel a little old to realize that Hocus Pocus came out almost 20 years ago. We had a little mix and match with our pumpkins this year. I carved William's, Matthew carved Lily's pattern on my pumpkin and also carved his own, and Savannah drew her own pattern and carved Lily's. Zachary helped take the tops off of the pumpkins and helped William and Lily get the "ew..nasty" part out of the pumpkins!

We lit them up inside and Lily had to get this little pose in before we moved them all outside.

Howdy!

 For our anniversary this year, Matthew took the whole day off and we decided to be tourists of Nashville. We had plans to go to the Grand Ole Opry House and the Ryman Auditorium to take tours, but the Ryman closed early for an awards show so we didn't get to see it. But, the Grand Ole Opry was awesome. We got to play on stage!

 Okay, not for real. This is a painted background with instruments that only have like 2 stings. We rocked it though!!

 We got to see where the members of the Grand Ole Opry get their fan mail. We also learned that their all in alphabetical order except for one.. Little Jimmy Dickens. They had to put his lower so he could reach it.

 Here is one of the many dressing rooms they had.

 This painting is in the "Green Room" where the performer's family waits.

And then we finally got to go on the stage.

 We got to stand on the legendary circle of wood that was taken from the side of the Ryman's stage. All the stars have stood or walked on this and they were able to have it even after Nashville was flooded. It was pretty cool to have stood where greats like Minnie Pearl did as she yelled "Howdy!" This was one of the trivia questions on the tour and I totally surprised Matthew by knowing who said that!

Matthew and I had SO much fun touring the Grand Ole Opry. We were the youngest people there. Matthew was worried that we would be the only people there to tour it, but much to his surprise, there were tour groups from Germany and France that were there. See? Told you it was cool, Matthew.

All we did was take a tour, but I'm pretty sure we'll be planning to go see someone play there soon. 

Henry Candy

 Matthew did some work for the Southern Ground Music and Food Festival here in Nashville. It's a two day event full of southern food and Country Music. Matthew got tickets to go to one of the concerts for free! So, we were able to see the Zac Brown Band live and MAN! where they fantastic live!! They had all sorts of booths selling cowboy hats, band stuff, and one where they were making wanted posters for free. Of course, we got in line. We got our picture taken, and then we had to come up with an outlaw name. I let Matthew pick what he wanted to name us and I really hate what he came up with. Henry Candy.. the lamest outlaw name known to man. The woman who printed it off asked if that was Matthew's real name. I just stared at her and Matthew, of course, said that it was.

 I wasn't able to get a good picture while we were sitting out on the grass, but I got this pretty clear one while we were walking back, exhausted, to our car.

 

The concert was on the Riverfront, so we walked over the bridge and I was able to take some fun pictures of Nashville at night!

I'm so glad we were able to do this. Especially for the cool Henry Candy picture.

Fall Break

 Having kids in school makes me realize how much I love having them home! I counted down weeks and days until Fall Break, which was a full week! We saw Hotel Transylvania with Grandma, Grandpa, Jamie, and Katie. We had a movie day at Jennifer's house. Not to mention that the kids and I went walking everyday in Jennifer's neighborhood. Some days we lounged around because there's no school, we can do what we want! The whole week ended with a BANG! We went to the Shriner's Circus with John and Krystin's fam where we saw some cool stuff. The coolest thing by far was the motorcycles. I think that was every one's favorite. But there was a guy shot from a cannon (which brought on the fear of, "I sure hope he lands on the net..."), women who were hanging/spinning from their hair, and cool elephant tricks AND dog tricks. It was a good experience for the kids to see the circus, but to be honest, I don't think we'll do it again.

 We went to the pumpkin patch (where Lily had her field trip) to pick out our annual pumpkins to carve.

 

 This farm has so many fun things to do! William and Lily went through the hay bale maze a couple of times. We listened to a man playing the banjo, we saw all of the animals and William actually touched them! There were so many pumpkins to choose from, but I'm pretty sure we got some good ones.

Now that Fall Break is over, we're counting down days for Thanksgiving break. It will be here before you know it!

The Haps: William

 William has been super busy since school started! He absolutely loves his teacher and does an incredible impression of her. He also has two girlfriends again this year. One of the girls does know and the other one doesn't know yet. But he thinks both of them have beautiful smiles.

 William completed his first ever project in school. He had to make a timeline of important events in his life. We went through some pictures and he chose to do a baby picture, one from when he broke his arm, one seeing Thomas, and one from the very first day of first grade. William then had to present it in front of his class and talk about his life.

 William went on a field trip on the same day Lily did! I was super bummed that I couldn't go with both of them, but my dad was able to go with William. And I honestly think William had more fun with Grandpa! They both went to the Morning Glory Apple Orchard. They got to taste fresh apple cider and William picked an apple off a tree. He was excited to show me his cool apple cup too.

William has also started losing teeth!! He lost his very first tooth and got $2 from the tooth fairy. Since then, he has already lost another and has one on the top loose too! 

The Haps: Lily

 Little Miss Lily is fantastic! School has been such a great thing for this little one. After about the first week of school, Lily started missing being at home with me and she would cry about going to school. I had lunch with her a couple of times before I realized that visiting her was too hard. Lily's teacher came up with a solution to stay at the school after having lunch with Miss Lily Lou until school got out. We love this and it has become a weekly thing to have lunch with my kids once again! Lily has gotten into the routine of school and looks forward to going everyday. 

 I was able to go with Lily and her class on a field trip to the pumpkin patch! This was her very first field trip and very first time on a school bus. She's big stuff now. It was a lot of fun to go on a hay ride, pet some animals, pick a pumpkin, and the kid's got to pump water out of a well.

Lily is excelling in Kindergarten. She knows her letters, letter sounds, and all 40 of her sight words. She loves writing and coloring. She is a hard worker when she wants to be and we are so proud of her accomplishments. Lily loves her new friends at school and loves being in the same class as Taylor. When she comes home from school, she tells me about her day, is excited to show me the work in her folder, and sings me songs that they learned. And of course I love that she does. 

Remember Us?

So.. It's been a few months since I've posted! What have we been up to? A LOT! But I figured it might be best to start with the now and do a full update later.

First of all, this past week was crazy! I was able to finish making William and Lily's costume in time for the Trunk or Treat last Saturday and could breathe a little easier after that.

Last night, we went Trick or Treating in Jennifer and Kyle's neighborhood! My kids had so much fun going around with their cousins Zachary and Savannah.

 

Lily was a black cat/cat woman.

 She sure loved dressing up in her outfit and MAN, did she ever fit the part. This costume transformed her! She's got the cat poses down.

 William was the Green Ninja from Ninjago.

 He was a little apprehensive about wearing his mask, but he came around to it. He just didn't want people laughing at him. William loved the rest of his costume and he was very proud when people knew who he was and asked "Where's Lord Garmadon?" When taking pictures, he kept doing ninja moves, not poses. I know their blurry, but I couldn't help but share these little delights!

 

Halloween was a lot of fun and William and Lily are already putting their minds to work deciding what they want to be next year!

It Begins

 Last night was the school's Meet and Greet the Teacher night. We already knew the teachers that William and Lily were having, so we made them treats for a Welcome Back to School!/I'm So Glad You're My Teacher! kind of thing. When I decide to do something like this, Matthew ALWAYS says, "Oh.. you're one of THOSE moms.." Well, whatever. Appreciation is appreciation people. So, I made the teachers cake pops and the kids decorated them. They had so much fun and the treats were a big hit.

Today starts the days of all days! School.

This morning, we woke up bright and early to get ready. No one complained. We got dressed, teeth brushed, shoes tied, and breakfast eaten all in perfect time. We were out the door right at 7. Yes, school doesn't start until 8, but first days are the worst traffic-wise.

We took the annual first day pictures..

 And Lily was excited to participate this year..

 But these pictures melt my heart. (They had to make sure they were showing off their lunch boxes!)

William remembered where his new classroom was. It's a straight shot all the way down the hallway from the front doors. One of the last in the hallway. He knew the drill already. He put his backpack in his locker, lunchbox on top, and sat at his desk. Yep, DESK. This is new for him and he was excited to have his own desk instead of a table. This morning, while I was tucking in his shirt, he told me that he was so excited to meet his new friends. I have no doubt he'll have new friends in no time.

After we gave William and hug and a kiss, Lily and I grabbed hands and walked to the Kindergarten hallway. Lily's class is at the end of the hallway too. The Ladybug Room. Lily has been looking forward to being in the Ladybug Room and was excited to put her ladybug name tag on her school shirt this morning. We were the first in the room. She remembered where her locker and her seat was. She put her backpack and lunch box up and sat down to play with the play-doh. She is at the blue table and thought it was neat that William sat at the same table! But before you knew it, who showed up?

 Lily is SO excited to have her cousin Taylor in her class. AND they sit right next to each other. After they got situated and started playing, I was old news and cramping her style. I gave her a hug and kiss, wished her a happy 1st day of school, and I walked out of the school leaving my 2 kiddies in the hands of two amazing teachers. I'm very excited to volunteer in both of the kid's classes.

So, How am I doing with all of this? Well, I am okay. See, I think that while the school thinks they're slowly adjusting the kids into school, they're really doing me a favor. Today is only a half day. That's only a little over 3 hours of them gone. That's practically nothing, which I think is the reason I haven't cried today. I'll be leaving in just a little while to pick them up. And something else I've learned about myself is that I cry all the way leading up to the first day of school and then by the time the first day rolls around, my eyes are dried out.

But, Monday is the first full day for both of them. I won't know what to do all day. Will my eyes still be dry? No promises. 

The Lists

4 boxes of face tissue

2 containers of Clorox wipes

1 container of baby wipes

1 box of gallon Ziploc bags

1 box of Ziploc sandwich bags

24 Ticonderoga #2 pencils

1 spiral notebook

1 composition notebook

8 Expo dry erase markers

1 hand sanitizer with pump

2 pairs of Fiskars 5" scissors (blunt tip and pointed tip)

cap erasers

3 highlighters

1 box of Crayola classic color markers

1 8 color Crayola water color pack

24 Elmer's glue sticks

8 boxes of 24 count crayola crayons

2 bottles of Elmer's glue

Not to mention dress code clothes, backpacks, lunch boxes, and a thermos for each kid.

Between 2 kids... I think we have plenty of school supplies.

We are only down to hours until school starts. We're off to meet the teachers tonight and I don't think the kids could be more excited.

A Week Away

 Lily is my girl. She's my pal. My shopping companion, movie watching companion, play date. This past year while William was in school, I have been busy being with her. This summer has been so much fun having William home and I have been soaking up every minute, forcing the memories into my mind and the feelings into my heart. Next week, everything will change. We're on the brink of turning that last page in this chapter with both of my kids.

 Today was Lily's Kindergarten Orientation. We picked out what outfit she wanted to wear and layed it out last night. Every detail down to the pink jewel earrings and hello kitty necklace. She was so excited to wake up this morning and get ready to go. No fussing, which is a miracle. When we got to the school, we saw familiar faces from last year. And of course, Mrs. Saunders was so excited to see Miss Lily and talk to her about being in her class. We went into the library for the presentation and Lily was glued to me. When it came time for the Kindergarten students to leave, she held tight to me, not wanting to go. Oh, how I wanted to just let her stay with me, but I knew she needed to go. Mrs. Saunders grabbed her hand, and out she went to be evaluated while I stayed and listened to what was required over the next year.

When everything was finished, the kids all came back into the library, carrying a sucker. I spot Lily down the hallway with her head held high and a huge smile on her face. She met up with me, grabbed my hand, and couldn't wait to tell me what she did. Things changed in her confidence and I can feel in my bones that she is going to love school.

I'm proud of how brave this girl is. I just hope we can both keep our chins up next week!