My two princesses

Landry won the Garland County Fair Queen pageant tonight and I am so happy for her! She's entered it twice before and got 1st runner up both times. But tonight she won! Yay, Landry!

Corley did great too. This was only her second pageant, and she got 1st runner up. Great job, Corley! Way to "paint your face", blow kisses, and "go night-night"!!!

Love you, sweet girls!

And a big thank you to big brother Jackson for hanging in there through it all! Love you, buddy!

The Big T-W-O

It's just past noon on August 25th. My Corley is officially 2!!! She was a little sad to be done with 1, then she decided that 2 wasn't so bad after all.

First Day of School

It's official. I am the proud parent of a Sixth Grader and a Fourth Grader.

We got up with plenty of time to deal with "first day" traffic AND get to school on time, but of course we didn't. Well, at least one of them didn't. Jackson made it on time. But then we sat in more traffic going from the Middle School over to the Intermediate...about 10 minutes worth...and the poor girl was late on her very first day. Thankfully, so we're about a hundred more kids so they didn't count it against them. Smart school.

Jackson got his schedule today, and he got Pre-AP Math and Pre-AP Science. Smart boy.

I went through the McDonald's drive thru for nuggets and fries on my way to pick them up because Landry is always says she's starving the second she gets in the car. And wouldn't you know it? The first thing she asks for when she climbs in the van? Food. Smart mom.

While the big kids were in school today, Corley and I went out to the farm to visit with my Aunt Julie for a while. She is so amazing. Several weeks ago, she took a turn for the worse and we all pretty much thought it was the beginning of the end. After much heartache, many tears & a whole lot of questions to hospital staff, the difficult decision was made to put her into Hospice care. She spent about a week in the Hospice unit of the hospital and then went home. Once she got home, she continued to do better. And would you believe that last Friday the Hospice doctor came out to her house for a check-up and he kicked her out!?! I've never heard of someone flunking out of hospice before! But leave it to AJ to be the first.

After I left her house is when I stopped at McDonald's for the schools-out-I'm-starving food. Before I pulled out of the parking lot, I fixed a little tray of one nugget and a few fries for Corley. I just recently took out one of the middle row seats in my van and moved the girls all the way to the back row. So I had to get out of the car and open the sliding door to give her her food. Done. Not a problem. I got back in, and off we went. Well, I guess I didn't give her enough food, because 5 minutes down the road she was begging for more. Now, usually that wouldn't be a problem. Whenever she needs something, I just reach back and hand it to her. But now she's clear back in the south forty, and never in a million years could I reach that far! And since we hadn't made it to the school yet, I didn't have Jackson or Landry there to help pass it back. So I had no other choice...I had to throw food at my baby. Yep, that's right. I just grabbed a French fry and aimed at her chest. For a second she looked at me like, "did you seriously just throw a fry at me, Mom?".

And then she lost it.

That baby laughed like I've never seen her laugh. And so I lost it too. We have never laughed so hard together. And I figured since the light we were sitting at was red, I might as well capture this joyful occasion with a picture. Then, as the light turned green, I set my phone back down, hurled a few more back at her, and drove off for the school.

After we got home, the kids got to play with their friends outside for a while and enjoy the not105•weather we've been having. I finished the evening off with a JA meeting, then milk and cookies on the couch with my hubby. All in all, I'd say we had a great day.

Back to school

So, I really do have good intentions of documenting my kids' milestones on this blog, but I just don't seem to find (make) the time for it.

Today we had Open House at all the schools. I have such mixed emotions every year at Open House. On one hand I am excited to see their new classrooms and classmates. Excited to see who we know in each class. Excited to meet the new teachers and see how much everyone grew over the summer.

But on the other hand, Open House reminds me that my kids are a whole year older. Starting a new chapter. Leaving behind the old last-year's hallway, in exchange for this year's newer, shinier, I'm-a-whole-year-older-now one. And it just makes me a little sad. Can't I just press pause for a while? Keep them just the way they are? It just seems like they are growing up way to fast, and in the blink of an eye they'll be graduated and gone. It makes me cry as I type the words. I know I can't stop time. I know I can't make them grow up any slower. But please God, help me to remember to enjoy each day with them and not get too burdened by the little things.

My sweet Jackson will be in 6th grade this year. How on earth do I already have a 6th grader? It seems like yesterday I was just bringing him home from the hospital. I remember us standing in the front yard under the "Welcome Home Jackson Lee" banner that our sweet neighbors, the Matthews, hung up over our sidewalk, yelling at my mother to take at least one decent picture on the count of three, and not on one or two. Never did get a decent one. That was a tradition that both houses next to us did every time a family member came home from a trip, college, etc. (hanging the sign, not yelling at their mother in the front yard.) I remember thinking it was so special that now WE had someone to welcome home! It felt like we had finally joined the club!

Our precious Landry will be in 4th grade this year. It will be her last year in the Intermediate building before she moves across campus to join her brother at the Middle School. She has three teachers this year...three! That seems like a lot considering she only had one last year. There were very few names on the roster that we recognized. I wish that there could have been at least one of her good friends in there with her. Oh, well. I'm sure our social butterfly will fare just fine.

And lastly, our baby Corley will be starting school too. I am filled with all sorts of mommy guilt about it. But I keep trying to tell myself that it'll be ok. That this will be a good thing for her. Being around other kids her own age will hopefully help her develop her language skills. Although she seems to be making great strides in that department as she is nearing her second birthday. I think she is going to love having other kids her own age to play with. And it's only two days a week. Surely we can survive that, right??? She just adored Open House, and didn't want to leave tonight. Let's just hope she has that same enthusiasm when mommy is walking out the door next week. Fingers crossed!

Christmas Day Wrap-Up

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Although, we had a bit of a rough start!! First of all, I have to say it was about 1:30 in the morning when I finally fell asleep. I just kept tossing and turning. Jackson woke up shortly before 3 am to go to the bathroom. When he saw that Santa had already come, he was overcome with excitement. So much so, that he proceeded to run through the house and wake everyone up yelling, "Santa Came!!". Ugh. It's wasn't even 3:00! We told the kids to go back to bed & that didn't go over so well. So we told them they could look at their Santa gifts, but no opening anything! We managed to hold them off until 6:00, and reluctantly, I rolled out of bed to see what the jolly old man had brought. Man, he must have thought my kids were really good, because the whole living room was full of goodies! I couldn't begin to list everything he brought, but here are some highlights. Jackson got a Hot Wheels car track that goes on the wall. It's really cool! ...A spiky backpack, a neat looking rc car Erector set and a couple pair of Crocs. Landry got an American Girl doll that looks just like her. She even has her ears pierced, parts her hair on the same side and has glasses that look just like Landry's. She's really neat. ...a Brittany Chipmunk with the Chipettes, a hair styling chair for her doll, and a bunch of other accessories. Corley got an adorable pink arm chair that's her very own size, a Weebles tree house, a broom and a slide. And let me tell you, that girl loves to slide! Then we were off to my Grandma's (Nana's) for a quick visit. She gave Jackson & Landry her notebook computer for Christmas. And let me say, that was a HUGE hit. They were completely taken off guard! Next, we were off to the nursing home to visit Jason's grandma (Granny Hazel) and give her her gift. We are so blessed to still have these two ladies in our lives. I love that our kids have Great Grandmothers. My great grandparents were long gone before I was ever even born. Our final destination was, as usual, my mom's. And can I just say how blessed I am to have her!! She ALWAYS goes above and beyond. The food was amazing...enough to feed an army. (Or at least enough leftovers to feed us for a few more meals!) The table setting was pretty with fresh flowers & her new table linens and charger plates. We opened gifts for several hours. No kidding. We did stop a couple hours in so we could eat, though. There is NO WAY I could begin to list everything she gave us, so here are the highlights. Everyone got a TON of clothes AND all new bedding!! Jackson and I got new drapes. And Landry got a ton of new pillows and accessories for her room. We don't have everything completely put together yet, but it's coming together great! We had a terribly fun day, and came home completely exhausted. Lucky for us, we've got a whole week off to recover!

Chick fil A

Oh, my babies are growing up on me. I'm sitting here at Chick fil A, a place my children have begged me to take them to for years. They beg to come here not just for the yummy food, but more importantly, the playground. It's not a very big or overly exciting playground. Just a slide, and a car, and a couple of interactive wall panels. Nevertheless, that thing could hold my kids' attention for hours! I have spent many nights when Jason was teaching sitting at Chick fil A, letting the kids play so I wouldn't have to sit home alone in an empty (by empty, I mean Jasonless) house. I told them we would eat lunch here today and they were excited. But a little less so than years past. They no longer want to play in the playroom, realizing they are way bigger than all the other kids. So what are they busy doing, you ask? They are using the Chick fil A WiFi!!! Man, times they are a changing!So my sweet little babies no longer want to come here to slide and play, but to surf the web. My only saving grace...I look down at my Corley, asleep on the booth beside me, and think of all the years to come. Looks like my Chick fil A playground days aren't over after all. Just on hiatus.

Christmas Parade

So, I was a Facebook holdout for a really long time. In fact, I kinda thought I'd never join. But, I did. I joined right after I attempted to start this blog. I once read a post somewhere that said something to the tune of "Facebook killed the blogging star." And you know what? They were right! I had all these really great intentions of keeping up with the cute little things my kids are doing & saying, but I can't seem to find the time to post once I get done checking facebook! Ugh! I really should try to do better at this. I think I would be thankful for it years down the road. So listen up, Gina. Must. Try. Harder.We went to the Christmas
parade tonight & since it was on a Monday, Jason got to come along too! It seems like most years it's on a Thursday & Jason always has to work. It was terribly cold & the kids (wearing layers & wrapped in two blankets each) kept complaining they were freezing. Poor babies. At least we made another memory. Freezing our butts off at the parade! It seemed really short this year. Or maybe it was that we stood more toward the middle of the parade route & where we usually stand near the end everything gets all spaced out. Sometimes there's even a few minutes that pass in between floats, cars, bands, etc. Who knows? But we did have hot chocolate & the kids got TONS of candy, so all in all, it ended up an ok night. I am so blessed to have three beautiful children and a husband that adores us all. (and does really sweet things like go get the van before the end of the parade and pick us up in a toasty warm car so we don't have to walk in the cold :) Thank you, Baby.