Spending Our Day With Friends

Kelly, Alex and Krista came over and brought AB and me lunch!! What a treat!! I love spending time with my girls...oh, how I'm going to miss them next year! We had a fun afternoon. AB and Alex played - LOVE HIS FACE!!

AB even sat still enough for Krista to french braid her hair. The sitting still part didn't impress me as much that she let someone mess with her hair. She HATES having her hair fixed! I love how it turned out, I need to learn this!!

We had such a fun afternoon just hanging out and talking while the kids played!

And slept.

There was some SERIOUS cuteness taking place in my house this day. Serious.

Sweet Summer Time!

One of my favorite ways to spend our time in the summer is going outside and playing in the sprinklers or kiddie pool. Well, our kiddie pool from last year has gone MIA and our play sprinkler broke. No worries, we can still have some good, old fashioned fun with the sprayer on our water hose!!

It does the same thing, right? I love watching AB run all over the backyard while I chase her with the hose. So carefree and fun!

I remember one of my favorite things to do was soak the slide and make it real slippery and slide down. Not only that, it cools things down because it's H-O-T!

Granted, we didn't spend a whole lot of time outside because the heat is just too much for that...but that's why going out in the backyard and playing in the sprinkler is so much fun, because when we've had enough we can just go inside (which by the way, where Landree was all nice and cool in her bouncy seat).

Here's to being a kid, playing outside and good, wet fun!

"Any man can be a Father. It takes someone special to be a Dad." - Author Unknown

Happy Father's Day to the most amazing Daddy I know! 

I am in constant awe of how this guy continues to love on, nurture and positively influence these girls everyday. He's so loving! They definitely never have a lack of kisses and "I love you's" from their Daddy. They get to hear how special they are to him all the time. As Austin's first Father's Day as a Daddy of two, he continued to show me how lucky I am that God chose him to be the Daddy to my children. I can't get over how lucky they are to have him.

I've said this before. I knew he was amazing when I married him, but I didn't know just how amazing he was until we had our girls. He's so hands-on with them. I never have to worry about him not being a part of every aspect of their lives. As if he wasn't amazing enough as a Daddy of one, when Landree got here, I am continually amazed at his balancing act of loving both girls. He knows the right times to take and spend with each of them. I don't have to worry about dealing with Landree's developmental issues alone, he's there with me every step of the way. How lucky we are.

Happy Father's Day, Babe. I love you so much and I love the confidence and Godly example you are instilling in our girls.

Love you!

20 Years Ago...

...I had the privilege of being a student in Mrs. Peterson's third grade class at Spring Creek Elementary, and last week, I had the privilege of meeting her for lunch. 

I remember being in her class, vividly. I remember how much fun she was. I remember her "tough love" approach to teaching. I remember the bug elections....teaching us about the campaigning and election process. I remember how it was between myself and one other girl to win the election. I took so much away from her class. I feel like my philosophy to teaching has a lot to do with what I learned from her. 

It was so much fun to see her again!!! I found her on facebook last year, and we kept in touch and she's been following my blog and keeping up with Landree. Having her meet my girls meant the world to me, and I'll cherish these pictures forever.

Check out LC's thumb in her mouth!

AB loved her, instantly!!

She was just the same and looked amazing! I felt she hadn't changed or aged at all! I sure do miss her and I'm looking forward to our next lunch date. Thank you, Mrs. Peterson for such a fun afternoon. AB loved you, and is telling everybody about her lunch date with Mrs. Peterson. Love you!

Today

I completed my last district training as a part of my team at Groves. Today, I said "see ya around" to the most wonderful team I've ever known. Today, I packed up the last box in my classroom to move it to a new classroom. Today, I am a stronger person because of it (You know...what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger). Today, I had lunch with these wonderful ladies. It was so much fun, I didn't want it to end.

No, this isn't my whole team, but everyone here means more to me than you'll ever know. Sweet Luana is taking my place. She will be the new teacher in Room K18. I have occupied Room K18 for the last six years. I have never known another classroom. I have never known another team. I have never known another school...and today, I said "good-bye" to all of those things. It pains me to think about it. 

Let me just take a second to tell you about my team. Let me tell you about these ladies that I work with. These ladies have never once hesitated to take over for me, plan for me, etc... when I need it. I can honestly say, these ladies love me. That isn't a compliment to me. That is a compliment to them. They love me because of the kind of people they are: caring, loving, supportive and loyal. Do you know how much they love me? When Dr. Slaten called a few weeks ago and said he needed a Kindergarten teacher at Whitt (and I was on maternity leave), my team knew this was my job. They knew this was what I needed to know. They didn't want me to go, but they love me enough to let me go. Next to Landree being in the hospital, this is the next hardest thing I've ever had to do. 

What can I say about them? I don't have enough good things to say. We've all been through so much together, and apart. We've all supported each other, cried with each other and loved on each other when needed. It's scary to think about starting over. I love each of them so much!

Oh, Kelly. What will I do when I don't see your beautiful face walk through that middle room to mine, anymore? 

Krista! Who am I going to text in the mornings to see if they are going to CFA?!?!?

Oh, how I'm going to miss them so! Don't get me wrong, I know where I'm going is going to be amazing, too. God lead me there for sure. I already love, love the team! They've been very welcoming and wonderful! It's just hard to leave what's comfortable and feels so right...but God knows what I need and where I need to be, and unfortunately, it's no longer Groves. I'm thankful. I'm thankful for six wonderful years with (most of) these ladies. I can't say enough good things about them and this team. Like I said, it's not "good-bye," it's "see ya around!"

Two Months Old

Landree,

You are two months old. Do you know what this means? That for a whole month you've been home in the arms of Daddy, Mommy and Big Sister. We've finally had the privilege of adjusting our lives with you in it - at home, where you belong. Hallelujah!! 

I'm so glad that in this monthly post, I can talk about things you are doing AT HOME and how much you are changing. First off, you are much more alert and awake for a good part of the day. I love your big, bright eyes. They seem to sparkle more than any eyes I've ever seen...maybe that's just because I've longed to see them that awake for a while now. You are gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. 

I find myself getting lost in your little face, just staring and staring. Oh. My. Goodness. I LOVE your face. Your sweet little face. One thing you've done from the get-go - in utero, too - is you love to sleep with your sweet little hands up by your face. A couple times over the last month, I've caught you in the sweetest poses with your hands by your face. It's absolutely precious. Look at this sweet little chubby-cheeked face you have going on here. Love it!

One of my sweet students brought you a present recently. It's a little pink pig lovie with your name embroidered on it. Already, you love that thing. I caught you cuddling with it the other day. Not just that, but your sweet little hands were so sweetly folded together holding your pig lovie. Melted my heart!!

I love your faces. You have so many. You have inquisitive faces, happy faces (although, no smiles, yet), bright-eyed faces, and confused, "leave me alone!" faces. I think the "leave me alone" face is probably my favorite. Your little eyebrows and forehead wrinkle. Cracks me up every time.

You've been eating SO well! You were discharged from the NICU on April 29th. At that point, they wanted you eating 2 oz. You sometimes eat as much as 5 oz now that you are home!!! I'm convinced that's all you needed, was to be at home. The only downfall is, you really only take a full bottle really well from Mommy. Even Daddy has a hard time to get you to take a full bottle. Although I'm very flattered, it does stress me out a little bit. Yes! I've been so impressed with your progress, we haven't even been back to the doctor for a check-up. I really haven't felt the need. Not even for a weight check. Last time we were at the doctor, you were nearly 9 lbs, so I anticipate you being over that for your two month check-up. You still have your reflux and some days are better than others. I can tell when it really bothers you. You have some fussy times of the day where your little legs  kick vigorously and you seem uncomfortable. It breaks my heart. It doesn't seem to last too long, so I think your medicine really helps. For the most part, you are sleeping through the night 5-6 sometimes 7-8 hour stretches. You occasionally wake up one time for a bottle, then usually go back to sleep. We've had a couple of nights where you didn't seem interested in going back to sleep. You will soon find out, if you haven't already, this isn't cool with Mommy. Mommy believes in a full night sleep...and then some!!! I'm hopeful that you will have as amazing sleeping habits as your sister does! You only fuss when your tired, wet or poopy or REALLY hungry. You don't cry very often, but when you do...YOU DO! You let us know about it. Yes, I have a feeling your going to be a lot more feisty than your sister is...good for you. I don't really care, I just want you to be you.

You are a snuggle bug. Oh my goodness. I've started this really bad habit with you (that I made very sure not to do with your sister - but things are different with you, since it took you so long to get home), I let you fall asleep on me or Daddy and then we lay you down. Either that, or you will start crying and fussing in your bed (which is currently next to me...I can't bring myself to put you in your room yet), and then I put you right next to me in bed, and you are fine. Oh, dear - can we say "SPOILED?!"

Yes, you are precious. You are already different from your sister and becoming your own little person with your own little personality. This is exactly who I want you to be. I just want you to be yourself, whatever that is. I love your sweet little demeanor and your demanding ways when you want to eat. Believe me, your screaming to eat is music to my ears! Especially seeing that you had no interest in eating the first few weeks of life. Bring on the screaming for that bottle!!!

I've loved this last month at home with you. Not one minute is taken for granted. I love having you here. Our family is complete with you in it. I so look forward to the months ahead. I look forward to your progress and watching you grow into a beautiful, beautiful little girl. You already are, and Mommy, Daddy, and Big Sister love you so much!!!

You are my precious, intentional, gift from God.

I love you!!

Mommy

Sisters

What a wonderful thing to have...a sister. Being an only child, having a sibling is foreign concept, so I love that my girls have each other. It makes my heart melt to see these two together. Even though only one of them can really grasp the meaning of a sister, right now. Watching them together is so much fun. I just sat back and watched them interact one day. I still have to monitor them really closely...since a two year old can get pretty handsy and scare this mommy a little, at times. How precious they are, though.

What fun these two will have when Landree gets older. I can just see it now, playing school, house, tea parties...oh, the girl fun never ends!!