Little Lizey Lou

Lizey has had some excitement lately; last night she lost (daddy pulled) her 6th tooth, so she is officially now a snaggle-tooth. And can I just add that pulling teeth gives me the extreme heebie-jeebies?? Something about a dry paper towel pulling on a dry tooth is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I had to turn my head and stick my fingers in my ears and la-la-la in my head to block it all out until it was over. Thank goodness teeth do not have this same effect on Stephen :)

She looks very cute all toofless. But I'm a little sad for the day those big-girl teeth come in. She will never look the same :(

And she's been cheering for Upward Basketball at our church. She enjoys the practices, but they have to sit during the games and only do about 5 cheers the entire time (it feels that way, at least), and the rest of the time they play patty-cake and put their megaphones on their heads. But they are cute doing it.

Davis is just in it for the snacks.

And, she's been dancing. My, my, this girl likes to shake it. Her new favorite song is "I've Got a Feeling" by the Black-Eyed Peas. I think she learned it on the bus, and Stephen downloaded it for her, and we have a nightly dance party to it, which I must video and post soon. It has become our family anthem :) Here's her cheesing for the camera.

Bless her. And finally, a little Valentine love.

We're back!

Well, I'm a pitiful blogger.

It's been a LONG time since I posted, I know.

But moving in September and house projects and kindergarten and life in general rendered me worn out, just wanting to lay down when I had few moments of quiet. But I'm finally getting back on track, and will hopefullyget myself together and blogging regularly soon!

Here's a brief synopsis of the past 6 months in our lives :)

Pumpkin Patchin October. This is one of my favorite things to do all year.

Luckily, my sister Heather and her fam usually visit this time of year so the cousins get to go together. Here's Eliza, Howell, Davis, Cooper, and Betsy Hart.

Halloween. I'm still a dork for matching costumes as long as they let me do it. Poor Lizey woke up that morning with a high fever that turned out to be H1N1, but she was a trooper. NOTHING was going to come between her and some candy :)

We went trick-or-treating with Cooper and even the little guys figured out pretty fast how the game worked.

Christmas in Dyersburg. I LOVE this pick of the cousins. Here's Ellis, Davis, Eliza, and Owen.

Christmas morning. Ahhhh, the mess. And the excess. I'm determined next year to buy less. Much less.

And finally, last week we finally got a good snow. Well, a few inches of good snow with a 1/2 inch layer of ice on top, which made snowballs and snow angels a little dangerous.

But thanks to the abundance of large plastic tubs we have around here, we had plenty of lids for sledding. And a nice drainage ditch in the backyard that was just the right size for little guys.

Bless her. Lizey Lou was so excited to get out and play that she put on her hat and was out the door before I had a chance to fix her hair.

So, that's about it. We've done several DIY house projects lately, so more pics of those to come soon!

Eliza---big girl at school!

Last week Eliza finally started kindergarten, and she couldn't love it more! She was pretty anxious leading up to the first day, but once she got there, all those nerves disappeared and she jumped right in. On the second day of school, we had to drop them off at the curb instead of walking them in to their classrooms. She was very nervous about this, and I was a little nervous too as I watched her walk down the long sidewalk with all the big kids by herself. But when I picked her up that afternoon, she was VERY proud of herself, and was actually disappointed that when she got to the lobby that morning, her teacher was there to take her to class. She had wanted to do it ALL BY HERSELF. A phrase all too familiar coming from her, but a welcome one on this occasion :)

I didn't shed a tear, as I was just so excited for her and how much she was going to enjoy it. I just couldn't think of anything to be sad about as she starts this next chapter in her life. And as a friend said who has subbed in several special ed classes said to me recently, "What's there to be sad about when you are sending a healthy child off to school?" So true, indeed.

So far, the highlights of her days have been her beloved teacher Ms. Benson, going through the lunch line (CHOOSING what she gets to eat!), and learning how to check out books by herself in the school library. Sounds like fun to me!

Davis misses her a lot, and even cried on the way home after we dropped her on the first day: "Where's Wiza?? I wanna go pick her up!" But he's adjusting too, and has enjoyed some one-on-one time with mom, even if I'm not as much fun as his big sister :)

Riding to Jack and Back!

Yes, that's my super-studly hubby on his precious bike, a.k.a. our third child :) Seriously, I wanted to share an opportunity to support a cause with Stephen. He is currently training for and raising funds to ride in the "Jack and Back", a cycling fundraiser for the MS Society where cyclists raise money through sponsors and ride from Franklin to Lynchburg (the Jack Daniels Distillery), and back. It's a 2-day, 150-mile trek, and each year raises lots of money for MS research. Stephen's goal for this year was to raise $2,000 by the end of September, and as of now, he's over halfway there. Would you like to support him on this worthwhile cause? Click here to read more and donate! Thanks!

Canvas printing!

**UPDATE** I just realized that the coupon codes below are NOT for a stretched canvas like the ones I show below. They are just printed on a canvas but would have to be framed!


Last Christmas, I used this picture from our Christmas card and had it printed as an 18"x24" canvas when I got a 40% off coupon from Winflash.

And I fell in love. I LOVE the idea of printing a favorite photo on a large canvas, and making it a piece of art. So when Aunt Amy took this amazing picture at the beach last September, I wanted to do something with it.

I wanted to do something with scripture about walking, so I found this one below and loved it. I used my digital scrapbooking software, and made this.



It now hangs in my living room. Actually, it's just resting on a shelf temporarily while our house in the market. One day, it will be properly hung. But I love to walk in everyday and read this scripture as a daily reminder for our family.


So I was very excited when I got some emails this week from one of my favorite online photo printing sites, Artscow. I thought I'd pass on these coupon codes in case you'd like to have some canvases printed yourself!

• $16.99 for TWO 16"x20" printed canvases, plus FREE SHIPPING!! I paid $50 for the ones above, so this is a HUGE deal! Coupon code: 1699CANVASB1F1


• $7.99 for TWO 8"x10" printed canvases, plus FREE SHIPPING!! Coupon code: 8X10CANVAS799

These both expire on July 31st. I'm thinking about getting these 2 photos (thanks again Aunt Amy!) done.

Do you have some favorite photos you'd like to have made in to works of art?

Please pray for Ian

If you have a chance in the next couple of days, please say a prayer of healing for Ian, a 17-month-old little boy at our church whose parents found out a month ago that he had a brain tumor. It was removed about 4 weeks ago, but has since grown back and was found to be a rare and and agressive form of cancer. He and his parents Jason and Anna are at St. Jude now for treatment, and Ian is scheduled to have a second surgery tomorrow to have the tumor removed again, and then will begin chemo treatments. Here is what his parents have asked specifically for prayer:

"Continued peace as we all face another dangerous brain surgery; that Ian will remain stable until his surgery on Wednesday so Dr. Boop can do the surgery; a miracle that will take away this tumor and cancer cells once and for all; a strong, healthy body for Ian that will be able to handle the surgery, recovery, and chemo."

We had a special time of prayer for Ian a couple of weeks ago at churhc, and he was running around playing and blowing kisses at everyone in the room. He is an angel, and it breaks my heart to think of him going through this. Sadly reminds me of a year ago when I was praying for little Joseph, who has since gone to be with Jesus. If you would like to read more about him and follow his progress, here is a link to his Caring Bridge page.

Stephen's best day ever

We've had such a fantastic June, just enjoying the lazy days of summer. Lots of swimming and playing outside (when the humidity isn't 99%). Unfortuntately, it's made me, well, lazy. So here's to catching up on blogging.

The title of this post may be a little misleading, as I'm sure our wedding day and the births of our children really rank up there as Stephen's best days. But, this day in particular came pretty darn close. In April, we headed back to our alma mater for the spring football "Orange and White" game. We paid a little extra to participate in a "Young Alumni" function (I think the "young" part was a stretch for us). Anyway, it was Stephen's dream come true: a tour of all the athletic facilities, including the football locker rooms and behind the scenes press rooms, etc. For Tennessee football fans of the caliber as Stephen, who get teary-eyed come every August when the phrase "It's football time in Tennessee" is muttered, this is a BIG deal. I think he actually got teary-eyed during the tour (sorry, babe). Then we got to watch the game from one of the luxury suites, and pig out on catered food. Much different from the tiny bleacher seat and hot dogs we usually experience on game day. But we had a fantastic time. It was the perfect spring day, and one I'm sure Stephen will be re-living for a while :)

Here are some pics:

Whew!

That title pretty much summarizes how I'm feeling right now. After an incredibly busy May, celebrating Davis's birthday, end-of-the-year preschool activities, new carpet, a trip to the beach, a trip to New Mexico, a bazillion showings on our house, I'm glad to settle in to June and a lazy summer. Here are some pics of our crazy May.

End of the year program at preschool--Eliza's class were crabs. Here she is with her buddies Hannah and Eden. Do little girls just instinctly know how to pose like that?

Our little Pre-K grad. It was so sweet---they called out each child's full name one at a time and said what he or she wanted to be when they grew up (a gymnast for Eliza). They walked across the stage and got a diploma. Precious!

Birthday boy!

Mr. Fireman. Big D LOVES firetrucks and firefighters.

We had a small, family party for Davis's birthday, with Mimi, Grandaddy, Aunt KK, Chris, Ann, and D's big buddy Cooper.

Cruisin' with his new scooter and helmet. Now he doesn't have to ride Eliza's princess scooter anymore or wear her pink helmet :)

A trip to the local fire station. The firefighters were so nice and gave us a tour of the station and let the kids climb in the big trucks.

Here's a little slideshow from our recent trip to Santa Fe. New Mexico's motto is "The Land of Enchantment", and I will say we were truly enchanted. The landscapes are amazing, and being able to watch a rainstorm happening 50 miles away is not something we get to see around here! We were truly blessed to be able to see this wonderful part of the country!

Eliza's Best Day Ever

Eliza declared yesterday her "best day ever." Here are the reasons she gave for her day being so great:

• Cinnamon rolls for breakfast (from a can)
• Getting to go to church
• Getting slushies with Daddy from Sonic while Davis napped
• Playing outside on the swingset
• Painting these pictures below for mommy

This is "lips for a kiss and footprints"

This is her caterpillar "Frances". She has starting collecting all the caterpillars she can find in the yard and is keeping them in a container. They are named Frances, Kate, Claire, and Clarice.

Sounds like a pretty good day to me!

The Bye-Bye Buggy

Just had to share these adorable pictures another mom of a child in Davis's MDO class took as the kids were on their way to their school Easter egg hunt. I think a bye-bye buggy full of precious children is about the cutest thing there is. You can tell Davis was excited by the looks on his face!