First Day Being Twelve!

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Recent Highlights....

We have so much catching up to do! First, I thought I would combine a couple of posts and then it started looking like it needed to be a week in review and then two weeks and now highlights of the month seems more appropriate.

Let's go back just over a couple of weeks and pick up there. W found his John Deere overalls that Granny made him nearly two years ago and he put them on with his John Deere boots and added the John Deere pen in his front pocket to complete his ensemble. He played outside with MK and smiled at the thought of how good he looked.

A joined us outside with her guitar on her back and waited for Papaw to pick her up to spend some time together. There was her pinewood derby race car that needed finishing touches and guitars to play. MK was just happy. It was a great day for everyone.

Back to the timeline recap... there was the Pinewood Derby race. A's car turned out to be such a family affair. First there was the design, Papaw cut it out and sanded it, D put on the wheels and took A shopping for the paint colors, she painted it, I drew on some lines for her to fill in and the number she picked out. It needed a little more weight after the first weigh-in so Papaw drilled holes for some weights and they took it to the post office to make sure it weighed enough without going over. It was ready to race! Her car made it to the third round and it was a lot of fun watching the races. She said it was special getting it ready and spending the time with family.

Then we sailed into the week to get ready for Valentine's Day. MK and W had valentines to put together for AWANAs and there were class parties. W had soccer practice following a class party and could not wait to get home and go through his valentines.

Even though A's class no longer exchanges valentines, they made it up to them with a formal Valentine's banquet. She was beside herself with excitement and even said "Just think of how much fun we will have finding my dress!". I was just imagining it right then. I braced myself for the shopping experience but it went well. Luckily, the dresses we found for her size were modest and age appropriate.

W stayed with Papaw that evening and we drove A to the banquet. After taking some pictures, we headed to Luby's with MK. She was so thrilled... they have blue Jell-O. After a trip through Target, it was time to go pick up A. She was just elated and announced this was the best time she has had since camp last summer. Really? I am recalling other special moments since then but she is right it will be something she will always remember. I just hope she has fond memories of our time together finding her fancy dress.

Acorn Cookies and a Pecan Harvest

Yesterday it was so cold and felt more like winter but we are still enjoying the fall so acorn cookies seemed appropriate. These are butter-pecan cookies with some chocolate and pecans for their tops.

The recipe is always misleading with baking them for about nine minutes because the entire process from beginning to end was more like three hours! ... and for the children it was FOREVER ... but they are delicious.

It was late in the afternoon and dinner to ponder when A discovered the pecan harvest that had to happen. We have been watching over those pecans closely. In years past, the pecans must have fallen in the middle of the night as the squirrel family across the yard watched carefully and made their annual journey to STEAL nearly all of them. Not this year! We have been even more vigilant and had great success for our first day. There are still many that need to fall but hopefully the squirrels will be on the short end this year.

Here is A with some of our pecan bounty that we managed to scoop up. It was freezing outside but it was worth it!

One more reason to love fall!

Soccer Fun

This has been a busy soccer season for us. Just today, we had FOUR games! MK is ready to play with a team and I am thankful she is too young for now. I am not sure how we are going to manage when we have all three children with different practice times and game schedules. They all love to play soccer and I am grateful it is the same sport in the same season. We could have it sprinkled with different things all year long for each one and right now this suits us fine.

In the picture below A is playing in her first game today running with the ball.

Here she is after a toe injury in her second game but playing on.
The next picture is W playing with his team and going after the ball. For his age, the teams are made up of boys and girls.

W really is enjoying his first soccer season!
There is just over a week left in the fall season and a break will be great but they are already looking forward to soccer in the spring!

Back to Academy for a 6th Grader and a Kindergartener!

Last week, Academy started back and A was excited to be getting back to see old friends, meet new teachers and have different classes.

MK was holding on to W when it was time to walk him in. He usually holds her hand but it it was cute to see her keeping her little grip on him.

Here is our little man all smiles after putting his backpack down and ready to go to assembly.
His teacher showed him the way to go to assembly for K-2nd graders and it was in progress so he walked on in with his hands in his pockets. He was just too cool to be fazed by new kindergarten people and surroundings.

MK looked so alone when we walked back to the parking lot so I thought I would make it up to her and take her for a treat before going to storytime. This picture was just too cute not to include. Here is MK fresh as a daisy from her nap that afternoon and ready to spend time with her W and A.

Braces are off!

A had her braces taken off yesterday and she was so excited. She just completed "phase one" and will wear a wire retainer for one year before going back in full braces. Here she is the night before they were taken off and laughing her sweet laugh.

Here she is this morning!

Our beautiful A!

Back Home!

A came home from camp yesterday and we were so glad to see her. She said she had a great time and some of the highlights were the zip-line (harness and rope, down mountainous hill thing), swimming, lake fun and games with her fellow campers. There was a praise band that led worship each night and she went on and on about that too.

All in all, she had a blast and I am thrilled she did!

Missing A

A left for children's church camp on Wednesday morning. She was so excited. I mean extremely excited and I was thrilled for her to embark on her four-day, three-night adventure at her first sleep-away camp. We loaded them up, said a group prayer and they were off. All was well... for a little while. They would be driving three hours away and stopping for lunch. After A was on her way, we had some errands to run and headed home.

Rewinding a bit...before we dropped A off, we stopped to pick up a phone card. We were told cell signals were very low and not a good option but they had one pay phone with long lines. I knew she would endure the lines to call so we picked one up.

Back to story... A called about five hours after I last saw her and was upset, in tears, and just wanted me to know how terrible her cabin was. It was apparently dirty on the floor, the mattress was obviously used and the level of nasty there was more than she could take. She said all the girls were complaining... how lovely...(praying for the moms that are there).

I did not feel like we had given A the idea that it was some sort of resort but her expectations were apparently high. She said they would be going to dinner soon and then I knew they had worship and bible study until late that evening before she would be back to the cabin. So...I waited and waited. She did not call that night so I was hopeful.

I woke up feeling a bit anxious about A and her being far away for the first time with no family. I waited for the phone to ring.. and it did.. just not her... ALL DAY LONG. I really did not get a lot accomplished while I waited for her to call. ... and then it happened about 5:30 p.m. ... SHE CALLED! I was so excited she even commented on my excitement. Then I was all questions... how was she? did she sleep well? was she having fun? .... and then I let her talk.

She said she was having a blast. She did say in the middle of the night she was homesick and one of the moms was awake and she asked if she could move to a bunk close to hers (I was getting misty-eyed at that point), and she was having FUN! She did sound tired and I imagine that lack of sleep and exhausting fun was catching up with her. I was so thrilled she called and then said she may call later!

So I waited... and waited... and she did call back late last night. D answered the phone then so he was able to speak with her. She talked to him for a few minutes and then ME. I was thrilled to hear how much fun she was having.

They have a little gift shop there and we made sure she had some money so she could get herself something. I was a bit suprised when she told me all she had gotten for US at the gift shop. She is such a sweet girl and I miss her so much.

Here is a picture of her all ready to go on the journey to Children's Camp!

Vacation Bible School

Early in June, we had VBS at our church and it was a lot of fun. Just like last summer, I led a big group of preschoolers (two being my own). In my humble opinion, this by far is the toughest group to lead. My memory is short, hence two years in a row. For all the extra work those sweet babes need it is always a huge payoff spending the time with them and seeing how much they learn and have fun in our wild week of VBS.

This was A's last year at our church for VBS since she finished 5th grade. She is already looking forward to helping next year though. She always had her hand up during assembly and was usually the one who recited the memory verse for the day. Toward the end of the week, the director asked for someone to pray and A was the only one who volunteered.

On a side note, over the years I have heard many prayers A has given in front of a large group and I am always struck with how brave she is and how the words she speaks comes right from her heart and seemingly so easily. One of the reasons I admire her so much for doing it is because I am not sure I could have done that and do not recall volunteering to voice a group prayer when I was a child. It warms my heart and I just love seeing her stand up for Him without hesitation.

I do not have a picture of A at VBS but here are MK and W having a blast at Cosmic City VBS!