Whaddya Know? I Didn't Kill Them After All!

Sharing some spring flower photos with you.....Enjoy!

More of Him, Less of Me

When I started this blog, I purposed it to be a good, uplifting, happy one. Nothing you would have to concentrate too hard on. Just a place to share my life with those who for some reason might be interested.

So what do I do when I'm not feeling good, uplifting, or happy? What do I do? Do I stop posting until I feel I have something "happy" to post? Or do I just say I feel crummy and trust you all will keep reading anyway? I choose the latter.
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I spent a good part of this last week praying for something. More specifically, I spent a good part of last week praying for a specific attitude. And I'm still trying to figure out why I failed so miserably.

I needed to keep my focus on Him. I prayed to stay positive no matter what. I wanted to thank Him regardless how the situation turned out. And I definitely needed to remember Who was in control.

But just like an ominous gray cloud creeping ever closer, my attitude and thoughts turned negative, just as I prayed they would not do. I could feel it happening, and I was screaming on the inside to fight it, and I tried, but eventually I was no match. I was in a tornado with negative voices and thoughts swirling all around me, and I felt there was no way out.

Why, God? Why did I allow Satan to win this battle, again? I want a Godly attitude and I want Godly thoughts. I want to do Your will. That is why it hurts so bad when I fail so miserably.

Bottom line is that I need more practice implementing this verse:

"And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Colossians 3: 17 NIV

My Last Door of the Year

When I took the job teaching at this particular preschool, there was only one thing that intimidated me. Decorating my classroom door. I have to do WHAT????? I despise bulletin boards, much less entire doors; however, over the course of the year I have determined that it might not be as bad as I first suspected.

No matter, I am still glad this will be my last door change of the year. And it is one I am particularly proud of if I do say so myself.

The buses have little thumbnail pictures of each student headed off to the school they will be attending next year. They are headed off to Kindergarten. Can you believe I only have 8 students and there are 5 different elementary schools represented on this door?

For someone who dry heaves at the thought of doing anything really "crafty," I am just thrilled how this door turned out!

Fun-For-Some Fun Run

Here we are at the starting line of our 1 mile fun run. That's Gogurt in the orange shirt on the front row. That's me and Poptart a couple of rows back. (she's the one with the white hooded sweatshirt on and the only one on their mother's hip). Gogurt took off strong, but then he lost a shoe, and according to him, that cost him the whole race. He lost several seconds having to turn around and put his shoe back on. As far as Poptart, apparently no one told her this was a fun run because she never had one second of fun. She refused to get down and run or walk or do anything on her own two feet. So I carried her most of the way. Fun. As my daddy would say,"We were in it right up until the beginning."

Every child that participated (even the one that was carried) was handed a medal when they crossed the finish line. Here's Gogurt with his "serious running" face on or is it his "i'm about to hyperventilate" face? Not sure.

After the trauma from the race, Poptart decided she would get down and try to enjoy the rest of the day. Now this is what she calls fun.

Overall we had a very good experience at Ham Jam.

And I absolutely cannot end without giving a high-five congrats to my Mother who came in 3rd place in her age division for walking in the 5K (that's almost 4 miles!)! I'm so proud of her! She has inspired me to consider entering the 5K next year, walking of course, but walking 5K by myself would be better than carrying a 40-pound child a mile!

What's He So Happy About?

A few months ago Gogurt decided to write a letter to Eli Manning and the New York Giants. He diligently checked the mail for days upon days in hopes that Eli had written him back. But no such luck.......until today!!!!!!

I checked the mail, saw what was there, and stuck it right back in the box. I wanted Gogurt to find it himself. So when he got home from school, I casually asked him to get the mail for me. We were at the doors and windows watching his response. What you cannot see in this picture is him jumping up and down with pure, unbridled excitement.

I can honestly say he has never been that excited over any gift, even on Christmas morning. Santa Claus has nothing on Eli.

Inside that beloved brown envelope was a letter from Eli (not handwritten, but still), some autographed photos, a NYG sticker, and a refrigerator magnet photo frame. Pretty cool, huh? Gogurt sure thought so. He immediately wanted to frame the letter (it is now sitting on our mantle for everyone to admire) and he then plastered the NYG sticker straight on the door to his room. That'll be fun trying to get off one day.

Thanks to the Giants organization for making my son's day!

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Now on a completely different subject, the four of us plus my in-laws are getting up at the crack of dawn (okay, 6:30) to drive an hour to my hometown to be in a 1-mile fun run.

That is, if the rain holds off.

Then we will stay and enjoy downtown and their arts & crafts festival, watch my niece play in the jazz band, and probably eat lots of unhealthy food 'cuz that's what you are supposed to do after running/walking/strolling a mile, right?

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Oh, and by the way, if you didn't notice, we have a new camera!! Thanks to a couple of very special people for helping us out with that! You know who you are!

Pictures!

My blog was going into picture withdrawal so I chose a few random pictures to share with you today.


This picture is of me and the kids back home where I grew up. My mom took the picture. My kids love getting out in the woods behind my parents house. The creek is especially inviting!

He was given the football for his birthday. I think he liked it.
I love this picture of Brad and Gogurt. This was Gogurt's first MSU football game!


And this picture explains itself!

I pray each of you had a great Easter! I know my family and I did. Had a little time to visit with family and friends and enjoy alot of good food. What could be better than that?

We are having a beautiful day here and my kids have been outside most of the afternoon. Poptart started coughing last night and informed me she had a "sinus ejection." Too funny!

Found out this morning that Brad's hometown had a tornado. Click here to see pictures of the damage.

Have a great day........

It's a Good Good Friday!

Since today is Good Friday, Gogurt is out of school. Thankfully, we all slept in this morning and got a little extra rest. A little glimpse of summer I would like to think. And the good thing is we'll get to do it all again Monday since there is no school that day either.

We are still in the market for a new camera. At our Easter Egg hunt and party at preschool Thursday, I was checking out all the moms' cameras. We want a really good camera but at a really good price.

Brad has an extra special reason to buy a really good camera, but I'm not telling you what it is yet. I will just say that he will be traveling somewhere in May, and he will DEFINITELY need a good camera to capture everything he will be seeing! I will post more about this surprise trip later!

I pray you have a blessed day, and may we all remember what Easter is truly about......

My Last March Madness Post (until next year!)

So the Tarheels won the NCAA Tourney. And now March Madness is over. I think my family will be in withdrawals.

I'm proud for them, really, I am. I'm glad to see Tyler Hansbrough get a championship. He came back his senior year just for this purpose and so I'm glad he reached that goal. And his brother played for Mississippi State a couple of years so we feel like we have a little "connection" to the Hansbrough family.

We stayed up and watched the ENTIRE game. And it wasn't even that great of a game. But we were determined. Poptart fell asleep during the second half , but Gogurt made it through the whole game! I couldn't believe it!

Congrats Tarheels...You guys really did deserve this championship.

A Picture-Less Party Post

The birthday party was today, and it was alot of fun. I'm a little bummed though. I have no pictures of Poptart at her party to share with you. None. My camera is dead. I will be able to get copies of pictures from my mom, but I have none on my digital camera to show you.

The weather was beautiful this year (thank God no tornadoes like last year!). The family came down and we had a nice time visiting with each other. It was very low stress, just how I like to do birthday parties.

Poptart and I made her birthday cake this morning (I wish I had a picture to show you!). I opt for the cheaper, albeit less professional-looking, cake. I don't think it really matters what it looks like, I mean, you are going to cut it in pieces and digest it. So you might as well have fun making it!

Poptart is fast asleep now in the new sleeping bag we gave her. Gogurt is asleep on the couch. He tried to stay up and watch the Villanova/North Carolina game, but he just couldn't make it.

Sleep tight, everyone.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPTART!

Poptart turns 4 today! She was born four years ago at 5:36 a.m. Brad woke me up this morning before he left for work and told me I looked better than I did four years ago at that time. Thanks!

I can't believe she's four. My baby. As I was tucking her in last night, I was telling her the story of her birth.

No offense to anyone who was there for her birth, but my fondest memory came when I was all alone. Brad came home to be with Gogurt, and I stayed overnight in the hospital alone. The nurses brought Poptart to me during the middle of the night for a feeding. They had rubbed her down with a good-smelling lotion, and I swear I could have consumed her. I felt total peace at that moment, just me and my newborn. No talking, no pictures being snapped, no nurses poking and prodding, just me and her in the silence. For a moment, the world stopped. In fact, there was no world outside my hospital door. She was finally in my arms, and I soaked up every peaceful moment of it.

Of course, Poptart does not care about all that emotional stuff, she just wants a party and a present. She'll be taking donut holes to her class today, and the family is getting together for a party Saturday.

I hope your day is a blessed one!