Pictures

  It’s official !   I have too many kids !   I forgot one.   yes.  I forgot to take a picture of one child on the first day of school.

Granted, that child is the one that abhors having his picture made.  And had I actually MADE him do it, there would have been a fight.  But I do feel horrible that I forgot – and the sad thing is that I didn’t realize that Nicholas’ picture is not in here until about 10 min ago when I was uploading them. 

Ok, so here they are.  The first day of school:

Alli will actually start school next week.


Jacob is going into 2nd grade.               Samuel started Kindergarten !!

Nicholas went to MIDDLE SCHOOL !!! 6th grade.

Sarah started High School (sniff..14 on Monday) and Brittney is in 10th.

They say that they all had a wonderful first day.  Schedules were not perfect for either of the girls BUT it is fixable.  And unfortunately Samuel’s teachers husband had a severe car accident this morning and I fear she may be out for an extended time period (we are all praying for his quick recovery).  I honestly can’t believe how well Samuel has done – the teachers had to pull him off of Ralph the first 3 months of pre-K.  Jacob seemed to do just fine also …. there was a bit of concern since the elementary school is BRAND NEW and huge in comparison to the old school.  Nicholas didn’t have any problems mostly because they did a 6th grade orientation that lasted 3 hours on Monday night.  The kids went to each of their classes for 10 and then had hot dogs in the cafeteria.  EXCELLENT IDEA.  Sarah also had an orientation with a freshman picnic last week.  I’m glad these schools are getting smarter.

Tonight we decided to take all the kids out for ice-cream (could have paid my water bill with the $$ !!!! ).   And no, I didn’t leave anyone out this time, Sarah is babysitting, so we brought Caleb in her place.  Notice that the love-birds are too “special” to sit with the rest of the family.  LOL.

Night before

 
Twas the night before school starts and all through the house
The children are restless, fighting over the mouse
The computer is heaving from heavy summer use
The desk is broken, couldn’t take the abuse.

What should I wear is heard from every room
I’ve grown a foot. Will I fit in?  the anxiety looms.
Black shirt? Yellow shirt?  what about my shoes
JUST WEAR JEANS, it’s what I would choose.

Shopping for school supplies, no last minute deals
That one looked nice, but they said “no wheels”
Pencils and glue sticks, book bags are packed
The kitchen table is covered, all neatly stacked

Calm has come, the children are in bed
Mommy is sniffling, too much left unsaid
Out of her care every day for hours
No one left home to stop and smell flowers

Sleep won’t come easy to any involved
Yet it seems that nothing is to be solved
School time comes and summer must end
Maybe each one will meet a wonderful friend

Twas the night before school starts
Tomorrow they transform
Sleep sweet precious children
Quiet calm before the storm

Drive-by Blog

I shouldn’t be sitting here but I’ve noticed a few people looking at my blog that hasn’t changed in forever and figured I should at least update you guys.  I’m still around.  Who knew summer could be just as busy as the school year? I honestly only have time to hit the highlights.  I would love to come back and add pictures but I can’t promise.

June 5th – I took my annual Mommy vacation and flew to MI to see my dear friend Shannon.  5 days is just enough to miss my children and come home a refreshed mommy.  Shannon has 3 beautiful kiddos herself but I wasn’t responsible for them AT ALL !   LOL. 

I took the kids to see the pirates movie the next week and my BFF, Amy came with us.  They were in town from Memphis and it was SO good to spend some time with her.  The 2 of us went out alone that Friday night and ended up running into her very first love-of-my-life from high school.  She also got an adorable tattoo of 2 little lady bugs (to signify her 2 daughters).  Made me want another one – I will wait until fall though so I don’t have to worry about staying out of the water and such.

June 14 – Most of you know that I have dear friends all over the world thanks to the http://www.  My “imaginary” friends are awesome and it’s especially wonderful to meet them in person.  Anne, from Chicago, came to GA and we had a little get together with 5 of us total.  All of our babies were due in March 2005 and it so happens with this group, it was all girls.  We met at a friends house in ATL and the girls were darling together.  That is one pic that I will HAVE to add.

Fathers Day – I cooked breakfast for R and the kids served him in bed.  I then went to work at the coffee shop.  After that I drove Sarah to meet her Nana and got home pretty late. 

I work in the school office during the summer so I’ve been putting in about 12 hours a week there, sometimes taking the kids, sometimes leaving them with my teens.  It’s a little income to help out and the work is usually satisfying.  I think I’d prefer being a secretary to being a school teacher …. something about an immediate reward.

June 23 – Brittney had oral surgery.   Yeah … another one.  Poor kid had another bad molar and REFUSED the rootcanal after the devestation of the first one.  Since we knew we’d have to have surgery to have it removed we went ahead and took out her wisdom teeth.  My baby was SO swollen.  But she did GREAT with the surgery and is mouth-pain free for the first time in 2 years. 

June 26 – Brittney was BEGGING to see her Nana – guess I wasn’t giving her enough love and attention, lol.  So we packed the van and the kids and I headed to VA.  (Nana is my ex-MIL … I love her dearly and she is a SAINT to allow me to stay there with all my kiddos).  We spend a lovely 5 days at her house where I did as little as possible.  Sarah returned home with me and B stayed there. 

July 3 – I worked a couple days that week and then decided to hopefully beat the crowd and go see the laser show at Stone Mountain.  We got the kids totally loaded up (mine plus a friend and her 2) and the van wouldn’t start.  Ralph was smart enough to figure out that it was the starter.  We had to quickly rearrange the kids into Amys van and my Mothers van.  Ralph had to stay home and work on the van as I had promised it to a friend for the week starting the 4th.  Stone Mtn was PACKED beyond belief..  We found a spot low on the lawn, watched the show, enjoyed the HUGE fireworks show and had an overall good time.  The mountain brush caught fire and they had some trouble getting that out but it never was on the news.   We got home before midnight so not bad.

July 4 – We cooked out at my Mothers, just relaxed all day.  Had homemade ice-cream, roasted marshmallows, stayed late. 

We had a nice relaxing weekend.  I worked long on Monday and Tues I went to Dalton to get Britt. 

Today I’m taking B back to Jasper to see Caleb who has been working there all summer.

Friday night we are leaving for FL for a week.

Gas prices are KILLING me in my 12 miles to the gallon van.

School is coming too soon.

Oh, I joined the Y.  Have plans to WALK (and maybe a little jog) my first 5k in September.

Videos

I was able to upload videos today (thanks to Ralph for upgrading my computer).  Do not feel obligated to watch as they may only be interesting to a loving mother….

WARNING: MY VIDEO SKILLS STINK.  YOU MAY PREFER TO LISTEN and NOT WATCH.

 

Sarah’s very first piano recital (she’s only been playing 7 months)

http://video.xanga.com/xangavideoplayer.swf?i=785400&m=673a9&xt=1

And her 8th grade Chorus concert which was “History of Rock-n-Roll”  3 small clips:

http://video.xanga.com/xangavideoplayer.swf?i=785409&m=a1d6f&xt=1http://video.xanga.com/xangavideoplayer.swf?i=785424&m=ef02e&xt=1http://video.xanga.com/xangavideoplayer.swf?i=785414&m=df771&xt=1

Brittney has been taking voice lessons for 7 months with her High School Chorus Director.  This is a small clip of the ending of the song:

http://video.xanga.com/xangavideoplayer.swf?i=785402&m=acade&xt=1

And then a fun fun song from the mixed chorus:  (this will only appeal to those of you who have a tolerance for choral music)

http://video.xanga.com/xangavideoplayer.swf?i=785378&m=bc373&xt=1

And Nicholas at 5th grade graduation:

http://video.xanga.com/xangavideoplayer.swf?i=785474&m=c67ad&xt=1

 

Jacob and Nicholas (be sure to read other posts from today)

Jacob’s award ceremony was at 8:30 AM … I arrived my usual 10 min late and it was OVER!!  short and sweet I supposed.  He got a BEST COMPUTER award, hugs from his baby sister and cute picture with his teacher.

 

Nicholas had a more formal graduation from 5th grade and an after-party on the playground.

I forget how very blonde he is until I see him in a crown (back row middleish).

 

The actual pictures of him getting his diploma are a bit weird.  I have a new camera and had a constant shutter so there are like a series of 10 pics on one frame.  Weird but cool.  So I didn’t put them here.  This is Nick’s class doing some kind of Tiki dance with sticks.  It was WAY cool and I hope to incorporate it into my music class next year.

Mrs. Smallwood has been AWESOME for Nick.  She has really challenged him and made a lasting impact on his life.

And just a couple from the playground.

The girls’ stuff…

  Alli had an end of the year preschool celebration.  Unfortunately I don’t have pictures of the formal ceremony – they are on my mothers’ camera.  That took place the night that Sarah had her first piano recital (which I also don’t have a picture of because I took short videos and I can’t get them to load from the camera onto the computer….grrr) and the night that Brittney sang her first solo (will get to that later).

She got the giggle award…. silly girl.

Her wonderful teachers:

 

Brittney has been taking voice lessons from the Chorus teacher.  Again, I took a wonderful video clip that won’t load, but here is a picture of her singing.

Sarah

She has been taking piano lessons since October I think.  She has done incredible according to the teacher.  She has progressed into about a 2 year book in 8 months.  She played Amazing Grace.

She also had an 8th grade formal – Hollywood Theme.  She’s SO grown up.

And an 8th grade chorus concert which was themed Rock-n-Roll through the years.  From the 40’s to the 2000’s, it was really NEAT.

Samuel Pre-K Graduation

 My baby boy is getting so BIG!  He did a great job at his graduation ceremony. 

 

 

 

The Electric Slide … everbody cha-cha now

Sally the Camel has 5 humps … so ride Sally Ride

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

A family shot from graduation:

His wonderful Teachers: 

 

And they had an awards ceremony in their room the last week.  Samuel got the SWEETEST award.  He’s a lover for sure.

Catch up….LOTS

 The last few weeks have been SO crazy.  Since the last pictures posted, prom May 4, I haven’t STOPPED.  I’m going to do lots of posts with TONS of pictures just to give you all a glimpse.  You may need to just browse and come back in your spare time if there is any commentary.

SO ….

I took pictures for Calebs mom … Senior pictures and here are the two collages I made.  I will have to post graduation pictures after I get those from his mom.

 

Jacob turned 7!  (Where DOES the time go???)  May 5 was his bday and I can’t find his birth story at the moment but I will try to add that in later.   He wanted a Wii game and sadly those things are so expensive he had to forego a party …. but he got 2 fish and loves them. 

 

 

This is just a miscellaneous picture of an adorable 3 year old brushing her own teeth.   The Barney video taped to the mirror is an incentive to go potty….. hasn’t worked. ….sigh.

 

This is Lily!   She is 4 months old and the daughter of my school secretary.  Life has been hectic in the Trinity office over the last month so I’ve been volunteering to keep the baby.  GRIN!  She’s more than precious.

 

This is a rare moment in time ….. my family going out to eat.  Cracker Barrell on Saturday before Mothers Day.  They were all well behaved and it wasn’t too crowded.  And yes, that is my husband with us.

 

This is a sweet picture of Caleb teaching Jacob how to fish.  I love it.  It evoked some strong feelings which I wrote about on my other xanga site for those of you who are subscribed.  I will be glad to add those that want to read it, it’s a bit more personal info so I keep it private.

 

Well, there she is again. 

 

Prom night.

I swear that first picture took my breath AWAY.  She doesn’t look 15, she doesn’t look like a teenager at all.  That last picture, black and white, was taken just after Senior Walk at the Prom.  I went with all the other parents and watched them walk down the steps of the civic Center …….. WAY too close to a wedding ceremony if you ask me.  There was a lump in my throat for hours afterwards. 

I know I say it all the time, BUT …. my girls are SO good still.  They are honest and trustworthy and respectable.  I’m sure you get sick of hearing me brag about my kids, this is my blog though, hehehehehe.  Caleb and Brittney came home 30 minutes early, just because they had a long day planned on Saturday.  They had to leave at 5:30 am for a Chorus festival and after that they headed to Six Flags for the day. They didn’t get home until around 10:30pm.  And THEN on Sunday, their chorus teacher was moving and they both went over there and helped ALLLLLLLl day.  I’m surprised Brittney was able to get up for school on Monday.  But again, she is such a good kid and has been to school on time every day.

In other news:

Sarah auditioned for dance and flag corp for JHS Band.  Sadly she didn’t make it (we found out this morning).  The good news is that she got excited about being in shape, drinking water and eating healthier.  Her shape is changing rapidly and I have a feeling by next fall I’ll have to hide her in a closet instead of sending her to high school.

Nicholas visited the middle school today …. HOW can he be old enough to go to middle school?

Jacob’s 7th birthday was yesterday.  I’ll have to write out his birth story soon.

Samuel will graduate from Pre-K, cap and gown ceremony, this Saturday … expect pictures.

And Alli will “graduate” from 2 y/o preschool next week.  She’s getting to be such a big girl.

I’ve been on a spring cleaning rampage and I will maybe put pictures up after I get done redecorating.  I’m planning a HUGE yard sale for the end of the month.  All the baby stuff is going … sniff, sniff. 

Ok, time to get the kids – my quiet time is over. 

Pictures

None of these are great – the light outside was weird/hazy so I couldn’t get a good shot, but they both look wonderful.