Bowling Party Slide Show!

Fancy Pants

"Look, Mom! I make cupcakes!"(with my oatmeal!) That just added to the insanity of getting Cully for school yesterday!

For those who are interested, my day did get better yesterday. I did escape to Kim's where I swam, talked to Maja, Heather and Kim and ate chocolate. Then we went to hang out at Crissy's, which is always fun! I always eat WAY TOO MUCH at those type of gatherings-just FYI.

Ansy in her new pjs. You can't read it, but her shirt says "Fancy Pants". That couldn't be more right! She's a supermom! Of course, she's just imitating me!

Very annoyed

Today has not been good. Yeah, I know its just 9:30am but I'm not an optimist. We started the morning bright and early with Cullen in a crying fit on the floor. We are all so sleepy. This "early to bed, early to rise..." thing is not working out so far. My motivation for homeschooling would be avoiding school mornings! Anyway, that's another blog!
I am hot and sweaty at 7:30 in the morning after I took a shower this morning, so I'm not a happy camper. We finally made it to school(late, but it is only the second day) and we go in and are stopped by the "hall monitor" who will not let us go to class w/o my hall pass. Why does this annoy me you ask? Because yesterday I go into the office with all smiles to get a hall pass and they look at me like I'm stupid and say "Just go take your child to his class." Today, however, I am looked at like I'm stupid and go get in line for my hall pass. I roll my eyes at the lady, which is probably the principal, and when I have my beloved pass I walk by her and she says in a patronizing voice"Thank you for getting your hall pass." I say nothing and walk passed. Good testimony-I know. I get him to class and we wait forever for his class because apparently I was supposed to take him to the gym-which I do not know where it is! He then decides he wants to stay all day, which YEA!, but I didn't pack him a snack. So we jump over that hurdle.

After we leave, I wanted to go walking, but we forgot drinks. So, I decide to go to AutoZone, because the other day my driver side mirror on the van just blew off. I wanted to get another because I can't drive without my mirror-it stresses me. We spent 40 minutes there after the 2nd person who was helping me got on the phone and ignored me(the 1st one told me they couldn't get the part) we just walked out! So, I went next door to Advance and they helped me quickly and politely, even though Ansley was throwing a fit because she wanted a toy. I drug her out kicking and screaming literally and we went home. What about now you ask? My daughter is in her bed, screaming like a wild puma. Hysterically. And I am venting to anyone who will read this entire blog! I really just want to go swim at Kim's, which is where I go and escape reality. We have planned on going there, but I must wait until the insanity dies down.
Pray for me and my stinky attitude!

First Day

Well, we survived the first day of school! It started off great, getting up bright and early to eat breakfast with my boy. There he is all cuddled up in his blanket eating a bagel. We made it through goodbyes and no one cried-not even me! (I got a little teary last night for a moment.) All morning, Ansy was so confused that we left him there and didn't bring him home("Mommy, where's Bubby?"), but after a while she enjoyed having me and the house to herself. I didn't really know what to do, I knew we would go get him at 11:30. I kind of felt like Forrest Gump, at the end of the movie when Little Forrest gets on the bus and Forrest tells him "I'll be here when you get back." and just sat back down at the bus stop. I just came home and sat down, staring blankly for a moment, waiting for 11:30 so I could go back and get him.

He was very excited, wearing his new SuperMan backpack and toting his nap mat with his name on it (yes, I'm a cheesy mom who loves monogramming and even made a name tag for his packpack out of scrapbook supplies). They took a tour of the school today and he was so excited that he tried to take me on the same tour when I picked him up. He had a great day, very tired now and resting in his room. We're looking forward to tommorrow, except for getting up so early!!!!

The Family of God

This morning Burt preached a beautiful sermon. It was from the passage in Acts 2:42-47, about the early church and how they set themselves apart and formed a true community of believers. Day by day, they devoted themselves to teaching, fellowship, meeting each others' needs, worship, prayer and meeting together to do these things and bond together. I feel like we have those type of relationships at our church, maybe not to the extent of these early folks, but as close as I've ever seen without it being a cult! When I get together with our church family, it is just that, family to me. I love it! And I feel that close to them and open with them and it truly is a work of God. He's let me be vulnerable and honest, while teaching me truths about myself and learning so much from the other ladies he's allowed me to be around.

Just as I was listening and thinking all this in my mind, I thought about how hard it would be to leave this comfortable, loving place of likemindedness(is that a word). I started to wonder if I'd be bummed out to go to a foreign mission field and it wouldn't be the same and could I maintain these relationships I hold so dear. Then he talked about the church in England. He said how those Christians are like this in so many ways, because they truly are all they have. There's no petty arguments and people just leaving their church for one down the street, because there's not one down the street! They are a family and Europe is so dark spiritually. You really know who's sold out for Christ and who's not. That excited me! It gave me hope that I may be apart of a community somewhere else. The family of God is a special thing because I can have more in common with an Somali Christian than a blood relative who doesn't know Christ! Its one of the perks of being a citizen of Heaven-brotherhood around the world!

From the Mouths of Babes

Here's what I'm been noticing lately: Cully is starting to act like such a big boy. He has his moments where acts two, but the 5 year old moments are more frequent. A couple of days ago, we were outside watering flowers and when we were going inside Ansley made a huge mess on the porch. I let them in and told them I'd be in after cleaning up and he came back out and said "Mom, I'll clean this up. You go on in with Ansley so she won't get scared." And he picked it all up and made the porch look so neat before coming in. He's learning to be a little gentleman. We are also amazed at his heart! His prayers are so sweet, better than a lot of adults! He prays for his family and friends, thanks Jesus for dying on the cross for our sins, preparing a place for us in Heaven, for all He gives us, etc.. just bringing me to tears. It just shows me how much these little ones take in at church! Thanks to those teachers out there that tell the story of God's goodness to this generation. They really are learning and God is using it in their little hearts!

Ansy prays too now. You can make out"Thank you much...Beex, Corin, Silas, MiMi and Pops...(dots are for unrecognizable words)AMEN! I really need to get these sweet prayers on tape! She looks around to and tells on Bubba if he has his eyes open-"Momma, Bubba's not praying!" She's a hoot! She is a little person with a big vocabulary!

Today, Cully was asking all these outrageous requests that he knows I'll say "No" to. Why do kids do that? Its just setting themselves up for disappointment and makes me feel like a terrible mother for always saying "NO!". He's asking questions like "Can I eat cake and ice cream for breakfast?" (as if my child needs more sugar to make him hyper) and "Can we go to Alabama Adventure today?" ( he starts asking for that at 11:00am). So after the 50th time of asking for cake this morning and hearing me say this over and over, Ansley looks at him and says (pointing her finger at him and in her deep authoritative voice) "No! Eat breakfast!" She's a little Mommy too. I could go on and on about the funny things my kids say, but you have to be here to see it and no one else will appreciate it as much as I do.

Well, I must go rest now. Tomorrow Ansley moves up to the 2 yr old room. We no longer have a baby in the nursery! No more toddler room. Our babies are growing up!!

Cullen is 5 yrs old!!

Yesterday was Cully's 5th bday. We had a small party on Sunday, but yesterday we made the whole day special. We dropped Ansy off at Mother's Day Out and went to Burger King to eat lunch. Then, the two of us headed to the mall-Build-A-Bear Workshop to be exact. I figure this is the last year he'll want to do something like that. He knew right away which bear he wanted, gave it a heart, stuffed it and quickly found him a SpiderMan costume. When it was time to name the bear, I thought that may take awhile, but to my surprise he already had a name picked too! Scott. That's a cool name, right? So he typed his birth certificate (with a little help) and we had to buy Scott some underwear for when he's not wearing his costume. It was a good Mommy/Son day. Later, we took some friends bowling and ate supper and cake at the bowling alley. You haven't lived until you've seen bowling in slow motion! By the way, the children were beating the adults for most of the game. They had bumpers so the ball wouldn't go in the gutters. That's what we'd keep reminding ourselves, so we wouldn't feel like such losers!

I can't believe my baby is 5 and starts school in a week! I suppose I should be glad that my children are growing and progressing like they should, but I'd rather put bricks on their heads to keep them from growing!