Happy Birthday Grandmama!

Today is my mom's birthday and although we celebrated it on Sunday I wanted to take this space to tell everyone what a wonderful person she is. My mom is the best mom and Grandmama out there! She has done so much for our whole family and is a blessing to us all. I know that she is my spiritual mentor and I look to her and see a Godly example of a wife and mother. All the grandkids ADORE her. Paxton and Lorelei fight over who gets to sit with Grandmama because she makes them feel so special! She reads to them, feeds them, plays with them, lets them play with all her things (bracelets, gloves, wallet,vacuum cleaners) and just loves on them! Today I am taking her out to lunch and dad is taking her to dinner so, mom, I hope that you enjoy your day, we love you so much!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!! Below are pictures of Grandmama with some of her grandchildren: Lorelei, Paxton, Nathan and Luke.

The Final Product

For all you readers out there (all 3 of you) here is Paxton' school project that you have so anticipated seeing! It took me quite a while, even though it doesn't look like it, because I didn't have enough room for everything I wanted. I am pretty pleased with the end result. Although, what took me a couple hours, probably would take most of you creative moms out there a few minutes!! When I showed Josh, he was like, did Paxton help you? I said "no way, it was hard enough for me to do by myself." Then it kind of occurred to me that this was more of parent project then child. I saw the other kids' projects today and they were really good too. People go all out when the teacher says "Get creative." However, funny story, I did see Paxton's teacher send one back home with a mom this morning. She told her to try harder! Ha! That poor mom, she didn't realize that she was in a class with a bunch of perfectionist mothers. No, but really, her wouldn't have looked right with all the others up there and I think she realized it after Ms. Cathy showed her some of the other posters. Anyway, I guess I have officially done my first school project now- hey I am doing good in pre-k 3. Oh wait, I am not the one who is in school!

If you can't tell, this is actually just 1/4 of a piece of construction paper, so I really didn't have a lot of room. Other kids posters squeezed pictures on every ounce of the paper but I just didn't have the right pictures to do that. So if you can't tell, this poster is supposed to be about Paxton and his family- what we like to do, etc. So I have Disney World and ticket stub (because my kids are absolutely obsessed with Mickey since we went there this summer), the Beach (Paxton is always saying he wants to go back to the villa, which is where we stayed this summer), the family Spartan picture and ticket stub from the game, the Grandmama and Grandaddy picture (he loves them to pieces, sorry to Lala, Pam, Von, Granny, Matt, Jessica, Luke and Nathan, I just couldn't' squeeze that big picture of us all on there- but you know that Paxton adores you all), My Gym picture in the ball pit, and then I have a picture of Paxton holding his Bible that he got when he graduated from the nursery (he loves to carry his Bible to our Bible study- he says "This is God's word."- I love it) So I thought these things overall encompassed who Paxton and his family are. Of course there is much more to him and us but I though that hit the highlights!

A "little" family gathering

Today after church we celebrated my mom's birthday even though it isn't until the 29th of September. We went over to my grandmother and aunt's house and had a little party. Of course as I have mentioned before, our "little" family gatherings can become quite wild at times with 4 children that are 3 years old and younger, but they are oh so fun! I was trying to take some family pictures for Paxton's school project due this week. He has to have a poster about him and his family. They are making a quilt of all the kids' posters in his class. So needless to say I have been trying to take lots of pictures that show who Paxton and his family are. I will have to post the final product later (if it ends up looking good). So until then, here are the family pictures from today. By the way, not all the family is pictured here: Matt, Jessica and the boys had not arrived yet for this group shot.

Lorelei with her two great grandmothers: Lala and Granny

The First Cousins: Nathan, Luke, Lorelei and Paxton. I took like 8 shots and I didn't get a single one with all four looking at the camera.

Here, you can see the boys are doing the motions to the wheels on the bus. Grandaddy and Grandmama were singing behind the camera in attempt to get all of them looking and smiling at the same time, oh well, at least they look cute and are having fun!

Uncle Matt and Lorelei: Ridin' a horsie!

A new event in our family: The tissue paper throw! The kids love to get the tissue paper from the presents after somebody's birthday and throw it around the room until it is everywhere and in a million pieces! Of course Lorelei mostly just wants to eat the tissue paper: good fiber right?

This is Paxton after having a little time out in the car . . .

. . . and this is daddy after having time out with Paxton in the car. It really is funny, even though the humor in it may be hard to see right now!

Standing in the need of grace

Ok, just a couple of cute stories today about Paxton. Last week, Paxton was in time out in his room and we were quite upset with him. When Josh went upstairs to talk to him he opened the door to hear Paxton singing, "It's a me, it's a me, it's a me O Lord, standing in the need of grace." (Yes grace, not prayer, I was confused -to my girls that I sent the email to) We didn't even know that he knew that song much less sing it at a very appropriate time. He was definitely standing in the need of some grace, but hey, aren't' we all?

Next, we have been trying to help Paxton be more positive. I imagine most three year olds go through the negative "I don't want to, I don't like that, I don't need your help, etc. etc." stage. So we are trying to get him to be more positive. So we taught him and talked with him about the verse "This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it." And I tell you, he says it all the time now and his attitude has really changed. Even his preschool teacher spoke about how great his attitude was yesterday! A lot of prayer and God's word can make such a difference even in spirit of a three year old!

What I do all day

So what does little Lorelei do all day while Paxton is gone to school?

I read! Lorelei loves her books. She dumps them all on the floor on daily basis, well more like an hourly basis. The one she has in the picture is a book on opposites. This is her favorite book right now. She can point to pictures and say happy, sad, long, short, fast, hot, cold. She is too funny when she wants you to read her a book she turns around and starts backing into your lap. Yesterday I was sitting all the way across the room and she turned around and backed her way across the room and sat down in my lap.

I feed my baby dolls! I got Lorelei some new baby bottles for her dolls with the pretend milk and juice in them. She loves to "wok" her "baby" as she says and feed them too.

I put on my hats! Lorelei has a little obsession with hats. She loves them and always wants to wear one, unless of course I actually want her to. She is saying hat in the picture. Her favorite hat is her "Mickey hat", which is actually her Minnie Mouse ears hat but she doesn't say Minnie yet.

I sit with my "daddeee!" Ok, she actually does this when daddy comes home. She asks for him all day and she has finally learned to say "daddy wook," during the day. She gets so excited when she hears him come home at the end of the day, it is so cute!

I love to be me!! Lorelei is very friendly and smiley to everyone. She waves and says "Hi!!" to people in the store or where ever we go. She is at such a fun age because I can tell she is learning so much everyday. I can tell her to go get something for me or to do something and she comprehends and does it. She also sings "A B C," well that is as far as she gets right now. She can count a little (two and then nine and ten) and she has learned "circle." I think back to all that has happened with her and I know we are so blessed that she is doing so incredibly well!

Football Fans

On Friday night we went to the first football game of the season. We cheered for the Spartans! We got the kids all decked out in their fan attire. Lorelei was sporting a new cheerleading outfit along with some cute new Nike's her daddy bought her. We had a great time at the game and thanks to grandmama and grandaddy, Josh and I enjoyed it even more. Paxton sat with them most of the game (a couple of rows down) and Lorelei went back and forth. Lorelei was exhausted by about 8:00 but we made it to half time and then went home. As we were walking to the parking lot Paxton said, "Mama, I am really tired!" Wow, one of the first times he has ever admitted to being tired!

Paxton and Lorelei's "pre-game" attire. I knew that if I dressed them in their outfits for the game too early, they would mess them up. I was right! So these were there pre-game outifts for the day.

He LOVES it!

Well Paxton just finished his first week of school. He absolutley LOVES it! He went three days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 9:30-1:00. This is a new school for him as last years didn't go so well. It was more of a morning mothers day out kind of thing and wasn't really structured. So we looked for a good preschool and with help from my dad found this one. We didn't think we could get in but it worked out and we are so thankful. Josh and I prayed and prayed about the school we would choose and then the teacher. With a last minute switch of teachers on open house night, we feel GREAT about Ms. Kathy and Ms. Tammy. I could not have picked better. At least so far he loves it. I love the structure of the class and the curriculum they are doing too! Everyday, he runs to give his teacher a hug and barely looks back at me. I have to step in to say goodbye and he's like "yeah ok." But I would rather it be that way then him crying everyday. He has a new backpack and matching lunchbox and he looks so cute walking into school with it on. Paxton is learning and having so much fun and just seems so happy!

He is also taking karate at the school on Wednesdays after school. He looks so adorable in his uniform! He is not as sure about it right now but I think he will grow to love it. I will post more about karate another day. Anyway, I just got a few shots because there are a ton of people there and holding Lorelei and dropping him off can be difficult.

Ms. Kathy and Ms. Tammy and Paxton on Meet the Teacher day

Working on a tower with some new friends (didn't catch the friends in the pic)

"Please, don't leave me here by myself!!!" Lorelei doesn't know what to do without Paxton. I have a new little mini me. She follows me around the house all day and will not play in the playroom by herself. Oh dear, we will have to figure out a new routine without big brother at home.

"See ya later, mama, no really you can go now."

My new karate uniform . . .

. . . my new karate moves!

Bowling 101

About a week and a half ago I took Paxton and Lorelei along with some other moms and kids from my Sunday School class bowling. We thought it would be fun and we went in the morning so it wasn't very crowded. I told Paxton all about it and he was pretty excited. We had two lanes to ourselves so each child didn't have to wait a long time in between turns. They of course had the bumpers up and they also had this cool ramp that the kids could roll their ball off of. Paxton only wanted to use the ramp because he could make the ball roll faster this way. The kids did great for a while but then they started getting whinny. Lorelei also took a nose dive off the step where the lanes are. We had a great time but it was difficult to watch Lorelei and keep her from picking up balls that were way too heavy for her and keeping her from falling off the step (oops! I guess I messed up that one!) and keeping her from running down the lane after the ball. It was an experience that I am glad we had but also one that I will save for a few more years down the road!!

Check out my bowling shoes!

The high scorer! Ok, maybe it was the bumpers and ramp, but still good aim!

I'd make a cute bowling model, wouldn't I?

Pushing the ball, if only she could have followed the ball to the end.

All this bowling makes me want to take a nap!

The bowling gang: Paxton, Wyatt, Nathan, David (he just ran out of the picture) Lorelei, and Luke.