Happy 13th Birthday Kylee!!

A Mollie Memory....

At any point during the day it doesn't surprise me if I feel a little hand tugging on my shorts or on my shirt when I am sitting down. Some little ones have special blankets, babies or animals that they snuggle with when they are tired or simply need a little comfort, but my sweet Mollie just needs a loved ones shirt to do the trick. As far back as I can remember even as a small infant when I held Mollie she has always found my shirt sleeve and puts just one finger under it and she seems to be in heaven. I have always loved the feel of her sweet hand up against my arm and knowing that this is all she needs at the time to relax and comfort her. There have even been times when I am washing dishes or doing something around the house and it is past nap time and she will come lean up against my legs and put her finger up under the edge of my shorts and her eyes roll back in her head. I love it! It is so sweet and I hope she always knows that my shirt sleeve will be there for her comfort no matter how old she is!

I know it is a small memory, but it is one that I will always cherish and never want to forget!

Better late than never

These are a few pics of the kids that Allison took at the lake last weekend. A little late I know. I finally figured out how to get them from snapfish to my computer to my blog. I realize that I'm really behind in the computer world!

I absolutely love these pictures and this is exactly the way I want to always remember my sweet ones. Thanks Allison:-)

School Days

Today we are starting our second year of homeschooling. My sweet Kylee is in the 7th grade and Payton will start the 2nd grade. Wow, where does the time go?? School supplies and books have been bought, lesson plans have been made, and we are ready for another year of learning and hopefully a lot of fun! I'm really excited about the year ahead. I feel like I know a little bit more about what I'm doing, but it truly is a learning experience for all of us:-) I hope that with our choice of homeschooling I can offer my kids a great one on one education and days full of laughter and love. Well see how that goes??:-) I am truly blessed!

Mollie's pet pig???

Mollie came in from the front yard the other day with this. I asked her what it was and she said, "My pig!". I looked at it and I guess I can see it???? O well, I cleaned it up for her and she has loved on it, covers it up with her blanket and makes the occasional "oink" sound talking back and forth to it. As I am writing this she is pointing to the the picture saying," my pig, my pig". I love a two year old's imagination! This is exactly why I started this blog, so that I could remember all the small things that I know I would forget otherwise.

Our Atlanta trip...

John and I took the kids to Atlanta last week for one last fun trip before school starts. We only stayed for two days, so we had to pack a lot of fun into a short amount of time. We arrived in Atlanta Thursday afternoon and went straight to the Georgia Aquarium. This is what I was most looking forward to. The kids loved it , and we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the world under the sea. We ended the day with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. YUM!
Friday morning we headed to White Water for the day. The kids and I had never been to a water park, so we were in for a treat. We were amazed with the amount of different slides there were. The bigger kids of course rode everything including the new Tornado ride. I volunteered to sit that one out with Mollie. I feel like I'm getting old! I remember being fearless as a teenager and making fun of my mom for sitting out and saying that she couldn't handle the big stuff anymore, and now my stomach turns just looking at some of the new rides. I did get up the courage to ride several slides and had a blast playing with the kids. As for my little Mollie, she strapped on her life jacket and hit the kiddie slides and would have jumped up there with Kylee and Payton if she could have. We had a blast and made a lot of good memories!
I enjoy these times that we can get away just the 5 of us, and l look forward to visiting Atlanta again soon. Maybe next time we will have a navigation system so that we don't get lost everywhere we go:-)

good times with good friends

Payton had some of his best buds over this week. I can't believe how much these boys have grown. Jackson made the comment while sitting on the couch, "We have been friends since we were born!". I love the special friendship they have. They fight like brothers sometimes, but quickly get over it and again are back at play.
We enjoyed grilled hot dogs and Cheetos (sorry moms) for dinner. Then we had evening of horseplay, gameboys, movies, and we can't forget the fun trip to Brewster's for a cup of ice cream with gummy worms on top. Good times with good friends.
Unfortunately Braxton could not spend the night because of a rough night before battling allergies, so we were thrilled that Jackson was able to party through the night with us.
I am so grateful that these sweet boys are in Payton's life. I told them that I wanted them to stay good friends forever and one day their kids could be getting together for a spend the night party!