Busy Saturday

Saturday morning we left the house around 9:30 and didn’t get home until 9:00 or so in the evening.  It was a busy day!  We started the morning at Chick-fil-A for breakfast.  After breakfast we ran out to buy Reese and me jackets before it gets too cold.

Our first planned stop for the day was the Fall Festival at Reese’s school.  It was so much bigger this year than it was last year. There were tons of people and tons of activities!! 

Reese got a tattoo.

Ran in to her teacher, Mrs. Sandy.

Had a little snack.  Doesn’t Sam look so big sitting there with us?

While Lance waited in line for Reese to get her face painted (seriously we waited for an hour or so), I took Reese over to jump in the fire truck jumpy.

We finally made it to a chair for face painting.  This was Reese’s first time getting her face painted and she jumped in with both feet.  I thought she would just get a little small picture on her cheek but she saw a picture of a kitty-cat and wanted it.

She did such a great job sitting there.  The picture below is the first time she saw herself in the mirror.  Her reaction was a little like she was scared at first and then she got a big grin on her face. 

She loved it!!

Our babysitter was there with her roommate selling jewelry.  Reese was so excited to see her and could not wait to show her the kitty-cat face.

After our long wait to become a kitty Reese finally got to do more activities.  She LOVES jump houses.

This is the look of violence.  Lance was trying to take Sam’s picture and he wacked the camera with a toy. 

The hayride was a little edited this year because the little lake on the property flooded from all of the rain we had this week.  It was still fun though.

After the hayride Reese wanted to try to rope the mechanical calf.  I was so surprised that she wanted to sit on the fake horse.

Her form looks good, right? Ha!

And then on to the inflated obstacle course.

Our next adventure was on to Leah’s house to watch some of the Georgia v. Florida game.  They have a precious little kitten named Bojangles.  It took the kids  a little while to get warmed up to him but Reese finally would pet him and Sam chased him squealing around the house.

 

And Reese started getting tired.

From Leah’s we headed to dinner with Lance’s family to celebrate his Dad’s birthday.  Both kids fell asleep in the car and were a little cranky at dinner but we all had a great time. 

What a busy day!

Happy Halloween

Gymnastics Dress-Up

Today at gymnastics the kids were allowed to wear their Halloween costumes.  It was so cute watching them all dressed up. 

The girls in her class.  One boy was absent and the other had run off by the time we were getting this pictures.

“Pumpkin Patch”

Each year Reese’s school sets up a “Pumpkin Patch” the week of Halloween.  They set up a bunch of pumpkins and then the kids go to the “Pumpkin Patch” to pick out their own special pumpkin (this year it was inside since the weather has been yucky this week). 

Since they don’t wear their costumes to school, they were allowed to dress up like farmers because they talked about pumpkin farmers this week.  Reese’s teacher invited all of the parents to come and visit today.  I was really torn about going or not.  It was right during Sam’s nap time and I didn’t want him to be a distraction.  I decided to go and I am so glad that I did!  When I walked in Reese was so excited to see me and Sam. 

They picked out their pumpkins, took some pictures, and then went back to their classroom for some special treats.  I love watching them say/sing their prayers before they eat their snack.  It is so sweet! 

After snack time it was craft time.  They made a little farmer by gluing a shirt, overalls, and shoes on a cut out person. 

Once all the farmers were completed they played for a while.  Then it was show-n-tell time.  The class is split up in to three groups: red, green, and blue. 

Reese is in the blue group and they do show-n-tell on Thursdays.  For show-n-tell they can bring something that goes along with what they are learning each week.  This week they have been doing a review of everything they have learned (letters [M, N, T, D, F, H, A], numbers [0, 1, 2], colors [blue and orange]) so they were allowed to bring pretty much anything.  Reese chose to bring a dress-up necklace for the letter N. 

She was so excited to get to do show-n-tell while I was there!  When we left school I asked her what her favorite thing was that she did today and she said, “Show-n-tell with Mommy there.”

Friends from the 2 year old class and now the 3 year old class.

And this little guy did very well!!  He wanted to be part of the class and definitely made sure everybody knew he was there. 

   

I love visiting Reese’s class and getting to see a glimpse of what she is doing each day!

Shining the Light

Warning: I will be bragging on Reese in this post.  I never brag on my kids so I thought I would take this opportunity to do so.

A little bit of background: *We go to a church that is affiliated with North Point Community Church which is a huge, huge, huge church outside of Atlanta.  Our church is not nearly that size. *The preschool area is called “Waumba Land”.

Reese is a quick learner.  I think she is so smart (but I may be biased).  Each month at church they study a new bible verse/lesson.  A couple of months ago or so they were doing Joshua 1:9, “God is with you where ever you go”. They obviously do not learn the whole verse but pieces of it that they are applying to their lesson.  One Sunday we got in the car and Reese was saying her bible verse unprompted and I just had to record her.  I decided to send the video to the girl in charge of all of the preschool and just said, “She’s getting it!”  She wrote back that she loved the video and thanked me for sending it to her.  Fast-forward a couple of days, life has moved on, I have forgotten about the video.  I get an email from Kim saying that she has shared the video with several people and they have all loved it.  The girl at North Point wants permission to use it on their blog and wanted to know if I was ok with it.  I said “Go for it!”.  Fast-forward a couple of months or so and again I had forgotten about it.  Until yesterday.  I got an email from Kim sharing this link with me.  Not only is Reese’s video on there but the blog post is great!  I am so grateful for such a wonderful environment to partner with for my kids to learn about God. 

Right now Reese’s new Bible verse is from Deuteronomy 31:6.  If you read both of these verses, they are pretty much the same!  I need to get her on video saying this one because it is priceless!  She says, “Be straaaaaawng and couraaaaaaageous and do NOT be afraid. Deuteronomy 31:6.”  Sometimes she messes up the numbers.

We are also able to partner with Reese’s wonderful preschool!  One of the things she is learning right now is to “Shine the light of Jesus”.  At school they are learning about when they are kind, helpful, respectful, etc. that they are “Shining the light of Jesus.”  When they do something extra special like help a friend with out being asked and their teacher catches them, they get to flash a light (I think just one of those push lights) in the room.  It is so sweet to hear Reese catch people “Shining the light of Jesus”.  The other day we were at the park and I was a little frustrated with the way Reese was acting.  After a picnic and a walk we went to the playground. There was a special needs woman with a couple of little girls (maybe Reese’s age) who I think were her nieces. She pushed the little girls on the swings for a very long time.  Reese noticed her pushing their swings and said, “Look at that Mommy (referring to the woman) pushing her little girls.”  I said, “I know.  That is so sweet of her.”  And then Reese said, “She is shining the light of Jesus”.  In that moment my heart just melted and I thought again, “She is getting it!” 

I really do feel so grateful for Reese and our partnerships with her school and church.  I know that I could never teach her all that she is learning on my own.  And sometimes I am learning along with her. 

Blue Ridge Family Visit

Growing up I was very close with my cousins on my Dad’s side of the family.  We all were about the same age and didn’t live too far from each other (most of the time).  One of my cousins, Tricia, is 16 days older than  I am so we always had fun together.  We always did things together at family get-together’s, got the same Christmas presents, celebrated birthdays together, and went through many milestones together.  Going in to high school they moved to Florida so we didn’t get to do as many things together but we always were able to catch up when we were together.

This week they are spending the week in Blue Ridge so the kids and I took a day trip up to visit with them.  We had a great time together today.  Reese had a great time too.  I wanted to get some pictures of the kids together but Reese did not want to participate so I got the boys. 

This picture is deceiving. See the boys are about the same height and are the same weight (ok, so Haiden may weigh a little more) but Haiden is four, yes four, months younger than Sam.  Ha!  Can you believe it?

How precious is he?  He had so much fun watching the kids today.  He wanted so bad to be up and moving around with them.

I am so glad we were able to catch up with them and love on this sweet baby.  I hope we can see them again very soon!

Bathtime Fun

Tonight we let Sam enjoy a popsicle with Reese in the bathtub.  He always lunges towards her popsicle and tries to take bites out of it. 

He

enjoyed

 

every.minute.of.it.

 

And Reese had fun sharing this treat with him.

 

Bathtime is fun!!

Saying Sorry

At school today Reese's class read, "What Dads Can't Do". Then they drew a picture of their Daddies and told their teacher one thing their Daddy can't do. Reese said, "My Dad can't say I'm sorry." I giggled so much when I read that. What is funny is that she is the one that has a hard time saying sorry. She easily tells me sorry but for some reason it is a fight to get her to tell Lance or Sam she is sorry. She is so silly.


- Posted from my iPhone

80 Years Young

Today we celebrated my Papa’s 80th birthday.  He and his wife, Peggy, hosted a party for all of their friends and family at a manor in downtown Stone Mountain.  For his birthday present, all the cousins pitched in to hire a photographer to capture family pictures.  We had a great time visiting and celebrating our Papa.  Happy birthday Papa!!  We love you!

Becca, Papa, and me


me and Becca
 

Sammy
 

Superstar

Dad, Reese, Mom, me, Sammy, Becca, and Leah
 

The Reesey Bug and me
 

Lance and Reese
 

Becca and Sammy

*all images edited in Picnik

Sammy’s Laughter