My Heart

"To be a mother is to watch your heart walk around outside your body"

Every morning when I drop these 2 off at school I feel my heart walk off and into that school.  This quote is so true.  I love these two so very much!  I know they are right where God wants them and I send them off with prayers that they will change the world!

School Pictures

So I'm that really cheap mom that instead of buying school pictures just takes a picture of them.  I then put them up on the blog so we will forever have a record of their 3rd grade and kindergarten school pictures.   

Blogging Update

So you have probably noticed my absence lately from blogging.  Not something I planned.  I guess after 6 years of almost daily blogging I have finally run out of things to say!  Having both kids in school full time has limited what I have to post about.  I haven't been taking many pictures of what we do on a daily basis because we are so busy just trying to get everything done.  Both kids are also getting to where they ask me not to post some of the things they do and say.  I want to honor their wishes with that as well.  So I guess all that has led to the decrease in posting.  I am by no means stopping blogging but it probably won't be as often.  I will post about the big things we do but probably less about the day to day.  

This has been hard for me.  I have always wanted to blog 5 times a week and would make sure it happened.  If it didn't happen I would feel like a failure.  I am learning a great lesson through this - holding myself to a standard of grace not perfection.  My type A personality makes that really hard to do but I am working on it.  Jesus sees grace when He looks at me so I need to look at myself the same way!  

 And here is a picture of my sweet ones!  I write the blog so that one day they can look back and read about what their childhood.

Life Lately

We are still alive.  I know my posting has been sort of lacking lately but we are still here and doing great!  We have been spending many evenings at the soccer fields.  Lots of fun seeing our guy play some ball!

 We had to give Ben a hard time last Friday.  Fridays are usually for Auburn clothes but Ben accidentally wore LSU colors.  Oops.  Not a good sign when you wear clothes for that week's opponent.

 This girl...  What are we going to do with her?  She loves to play and gets so dirty.  We had to laugh at how crazy dirty she got!

 Friday night Matt and I were lucky enough to get a last minute date night thanks to my parents.  We were so excited to get some time to ourselves.  We drove over to Guntersville to eat at Top of the River.  We enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the lake.

 The weekend was pretty low key.  Spent lots of time playing and relaxing.  These boys did some crazy things on the swing set.  They crack me up.

 We also watched the not so fun Auburn game on Saturday.  Ben was ready to be sent into the game if they needed him and they sure did.  Poor Auburn.  It was sort of sad.  It is going to be a long season.

 Sunday we enjoyed even more time outside.  So thankful for some cooler weather.  We will take it while it lasts.

I guess that catches us up on what we have been up to lately.  Nothing earth shaking but it just us!

Grandparent Breakfasts

Ben and Kate have been up and out the door a little early the last couple of days due to grandparent's breakfast at school.  They were both so excited to get to show their grandparents their school.  So thankful to have grandparents so close by to get to go with them.  Mema and Opa went with Kate yesterday and Granna and Grandaddy went with Ben today.  They both had so much fun.  Thanks for being the best grandparents in the world!!

GORGEOUS Weekend!!!!

What can I say about the weekend other than it was absolutely gorgeous!!!  Well, it didn't start out great on Friday with a stormy afternoon so after school there was movies and impromptu sleepovers which is always fun.  

 Saturday we woke up to wonderful temperatures and beautiful skies.  The kids spent all day outside playing.  Well the boys took some breaks to play Minecraft but at least they were outside.

 Kate met a new friend on our street who is in kindergarten as well.  She fit in perfectly and the girls had so much fun playing all day.  They were so creative and had a blast!  While the kids were playing we were doing some chores around the house and then watching the Auburn Jacksonville State game.  We thought it would be an easy win but boy were we wrong.  It took overtime for Auburn to eek out a win.  It's going to be a long season...

 We continued our day of enjoying the beautiful weather by heading over to Bridge Street to eat dinner and enjoy being outside.  We bought the BeanBoozled jelly beans at the candy store then had a blast playing it!!  So many laughs and so much fun!

 The kids had a great time playing in the fountain.  Only one kid fell in.  I will give you one guess who it was...  Her name starts with K and ends with ate.  It was hilarious and thankfully she thought it was funny too.

 We had such a good time with the Carlisles.  Thankful for so many wonderful friends!

Sunday we enjoyed more time with friends after church and more time outside.  It was just glorious!!

Armchair Quarterback

Ben has become quite the football fan this year. He knows all the plays and does a great job predicting what the next play will be (sometimes better than the coaches). He knows all the penalties (I don't even know that). He is into both college and pro games so he is loving getting to watch it lots!  We are excited to have another football fan in the house!!  

Wordless Wednesday

Labor Day Weekend

What a weekend!!  It was the perfect blend of things to do and relaxing.  Those are the perfect kind of weekends.  Friday night kicked off with a big sleepover with Evan and Addy.  The kids had been begging since school started to have a sleepover.  The long weekend was the perfect time to do it.  They had been counting down the days until the sleepover.  Right after school the fun started.  The boys went and played disc golf  while us girls went to the mall for some girl time.  The girls loved shopping at Claire's.  We went to dinner at Chili's and then came home for movies, WiiU and late night talking.  They had so much fun!!  

 Saturday morning it was pancakes and bacon for everyone and then a trip to the pool.  Although it is September and college football season it is still 95 degrees and really hot.  We enjoyed some fun time at the pool before game time!

 We made it back in plenty of time for kick off!!!  Love college football season and Saturdays that are full of football.

 Matt has been wanting to try his had at some serious BBQing.  So he got a pork butt and spent all morning smoking it and getting it perfect.  It was so yummy!!  I think he has a new job for all football games.

 My parents came over to join in on the football game fun and brought these super cute cookies.  Auburn did well and pulled out a great win.  So excited to see how the season goes for the Tigers.  We will be cheering them on all season.

 Everyone was worn out after the sleepover and full day.  Kate and Matt fell asleep watching some of the night football games.  To me that is the perfect day - all day football!

 Sunday after church, the kids went back to the pool for the afternoon.  We then had a impromptu dinner with our leftover pork with the McClures.  They then had us over for s'mores.  It was the perfect way to say goodbye to summer.  Even though we have been back in school for a month we are holding on to every bit of summer that we can.

Today was a very low key day.  Matt had to work so we didn't do anything special.  Just enjoyed sleeping in and being lazy.  Then got some cleaning and things done around the house.  I would say it was a great Labor Day weekend!

Rounding Out the Week

It has been a busy week.  Everything kicked into high gear and we were running around trying to get things done.  It is fun but tiring!  Ben had his first soccer games this week.  He is looking good out there and getting more aggressive!

 The kids said it was one of the best weeks ever at school.  Lots of fun things like "specials" and the book fair.  Everyone was smiling and happy to go to school each morning!

 Tuesday night was PTA and open house.  I had to laugh at the fact that LeeAnn and I are now PTA moms together.  We have been friends for 30 years and this is a whole new season of our friendship.  We are going to rock this room mom thing together!

 We are all ready for a fun weekend.  Lot of great things planned including the kick off of college football season!!  It's the most wonderful time of the year!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Halfway There

Our awesome boy turns 8 and 1/2 today!!!  How cool is that!!  He is such an amazing little guy.  We are so proud of him and how he is growing to become a fine young man.  Our tradition is to do a little interview on 1/2 birthdays so here is what Ben is like at 8.5.

• Who are some of your friends?  Micah, Evan McClure, Cody, Kyle, Ethan & Evan Morgan
• What is your favorite thing to do?  Play with Legos
• What is your favorite color?  Blue
• What is your favorite food?  Pork fried rice
• What do you like to do with our family?  Go on vacation
• What do you want to be when you grow up?  Engineer
• What makes you happy?  Cookie cake (he is obsessed with cookie cake right now and a silly 8 year old boy)
• What makes you sad?  When Kate breaks my Legos
• What is your favorite TV show?  Teen Titans Go
• What is your favorite movie?  Star Wars 2
• What is your favorite place we have been?  Denver
• Where do you still want to go?  Washington DC
• What do you think about before you go to sleep?  Whatever book I am reading
• If you had one wish what would you wish for?  To have a mansion
• What would you buys with $1,000?  Lego Death Star
• What is your favorite song?  Whip & Nae Nae
• What is your favorite snack?  Apples with peanut butter
• What food don't you like?  Spaghetti