Saturday

I'm really trying to get back in the habit of blogging, but it is so hard to make time to do it and remember. I want to document our normal activities for the boys to have to look back on one day.  Today has been a very typical Saturday for us.  We almost always go out to eat breakfast on Saturday.  We normally go to Edgar's.  We like to sleep late, go to a late breakfast and then go to nice dinner together.  We normally don't eat lunch on Saturdays. In between breakfast and dinner, we do birthday parties, errands, or sports practice.  So, here is our day today:

 

We started the morning with breakfast and play time at Chick-Fil-A.

 

     Baseball season starts soon, and Andrew needed new cleats.  We went by Dick's.  Joey asked to have his picture taken in front of all of the "beautiful shoes." Ha!

Andrew and Dad found the perfect pair.  Andrew and Joey, y'all both wear size 12.5.  It is so nice that y'all can wear the same size now. 

It used to not bother me to buy for one and not the other, because the boys were so little and did not realize what was going on.  Now, as they get older, it really bothers me.  Joey did not need any shoes, but he got to pick a new pair.  He really wanted some that had "strings" on them, so he got his first pair of tying shoes.  Like I said, the boys wear the same size, so any shoe we buy will get a lot of wear. 

He was so proud!

Now, we are back home.  Joey and I are at home doing laundry.  Big Joey and Andrew went to a field to practice baseball in his new cleats.  We are going out with friends tonight to Hokkaido for dinner.  I love Saturdays!

Teacher of the Year Banquet

          This Thursday, Joey and I attended the Tuscaloosa County School System Banquet.  We rarely dress up and spend a night away from the boys.  Earlier in the school year, my school nominated me as the teacher of the year.  Every elementary school does this.  To apply, we completed lengthy papers about our teaching beliefs, current legislation in education, and our experiences.  I remember working during most of my Thanksgiving Break on the application.  From all of the elementary nominations, our system picks one overall Elementary Teacher of the Year and one Secondary Teacher of the Year.  In early January, I received an email that I was a semi-finalist for the overall elementary title.  I was shocked to get that!  My mom bought me a new suit, and I spent hours studying for my interview.  I've been Buhl's teacher of the year two times before, but I've never made it to the semi-finalist stage.  My principal was so supportive.  She did a mock interview with me the day before my actual interview on Jan. 15.  I was given half a day off to interview.  Before I left, she prayed with me in her office and gave me a sweet card to open before walking into my interview.  I was, in fact, named the overall system Elementary Teacher of the Year!  I told Joey it has been a goal of mine since starting my career.  I really can't believe it!

One of my best friends, Amy, came to the banquet to support me.

This is my principal, Vanessa Clay!  She is awesome! 


Sent from my iPhone

100th Day of School

Andrew and I have been in school together for 100 days!  Our school had a big celebration!  We dressed up as 100 year olds!  Here I am with my buddy!

He got so tickled every time he put his crazy wig on his head!

Andrew with his teacher, Mrs. Hick...we love her SO much!

Aprile Fields, Jill Jones, and me
Our school really is so much fun!

He had a new hat on at lunch. I think he was tired of all of the picture by this point.  He just wanted to eat his apple.  The table to the right of Andrew is where my class eats.  It is so cool that I get to eat next to him every day. 

Andrew wanted to bring a cake for his class, so we ordered this one.

The Tallywhacker Talk

           Joey, I got a call from your teacher today while I was at work.  That is NEVER good.  I could tell something was wrong, but she was hesitant to say what.  Finally, she spilled it.  Apparently, you thought it would be a good idea to show your tallywhacker to all of your friends...several times! :(  She then told me you were sent to the director for your behavior. When the director told you it was not appropriate to show your tallywhacker, you asked her if she wanted to see it AND showed it to her.  I asked your teacher if I could speak with you.  Your sweet little voice answered the phone.  You were so excited to get to talk to me. We talked about keeping your tallywhacker hidden the rest of the day.  I couldn't get mad at you, because you kept telling me how much you loved me, and I could tell you truly did not understand what all the fuss was about.  I hope you have a wild son who does stuff like this one day!

 

 

      Andrew, after your brother's tallywhacker incident, it was nice to hear your teacher say you were such a wonderful boy today. You had to complete a project for homework.  Your assignment was to record the weather forecast.   You take projects very seriously and want absolutely NO help.  Have I mentioned how stubborn you are lately?  You did a great job, and you were so proud of yourself.  

          As we do every Monday, we went to Paw Paw's house for family night.  The big boys love to play Mario and Joey loves to snuggle his mama. 



         On the way home, I rode alone with little Joey.  I decided to discuss with him one more time about keeping his tallywhacker hidden tomorrow.  We talked about how inappropriate it was to pull it out unless you are going to the restroom, the fact that we do not talk about tallywhackers to friends, etc.  I felt like he was really understanding me. At the end of the conversation, Joey said, "Momb, do you want me to show my friends my tallywhacker tomorrow...yes or no?"  Ugh!  I give up!

Andrew's ER Visit

        Well, Andrew, just when I start blogging, you give me something to blog about! I'm typing this as you sleep on my lap at the hospital. It is 1:32 in the morning. At dinner, you choked on a piece of Dreamland sausage. It scared us all to death, but you seemed fine. You went to bed but woke up a little before midnight struggling to breathe. You were so upset and making a crazy squeaking noise. You have calmed down now, and we are waiting on the X-Ray to make sure the sausage did not end up in the wrong place.

Sent from my iPhone

Let's try blogging again...

         I'm back!  Maybe!  So, I was upstairs tonight looking through my old blog books, and I got really sad that I stopped blogging for my boys.  I had forgotten so many of the stories I blogged about, and it made me really happy that the boys have their mama's words saved forever.  I haven't blogged in over a year.  I also ordered the remaining blog books that I had not had printed yet.  I'm going to try to blog occasionally. My goal is going to be to write more and post less pictures.  The images are not very good when the book is published, and I print our pictures for the boys anyway.  Here are some old blog books:

       The purpose of this blog is to preserve memories/stories/recipes for my boys.  I want them to be able to read things I wrote for them one day when they are grown men.  I also use the blog to share a few pictures, sometimes pictures that I wouldn't post on Facebook, like this one:

        Boys, this is y'all today! We went to one of your favorite restaurants, Newk's and then we went bowling.  Andrew, you are such a competitive little thing.  You would check the score after each bowl. Joey didn't even know the game had a score.  He was too busy dancing.  Pretty typical for y'all:)

To catch us up, I will do a quick "All About You" for each boy!

 

Andrew:



*You are 5.
*You go to Pre-K at my school, so we are right next door to each other.  I love seeing you at lunch each day.  You could have started kindergarten this year, but I decided to hold you back.  You were absolutely smart enough to start, but I did not want you to be the youngest in your class.  I am also in no rush to get you out of the house, and this gives us one more year with you at home before you graduate.  Yes, I am already thinking about that, son!
*You are incredibly smart.  You can read, do mental math that amazes me, and you can figure out anything.  I believe you have an engineer's mind like your daddy.
*You love Alabama football.  Your dad took you to Arizona for Alabama's 16th National Championship.   You remember all of the scores from the season and love to watch football games on television.
*Last year, you started playing baseball. You are pretty good when you try, but sometimes you are not really into it.
*You have a temper like your daddy...that's all I am going to say about that!
*You are beginning to really have questions about Jesus, Heaven, and salvation. You bring these things up a lot, and we have many discussions.  You have not committed your life to Christ yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened soon. 

Joey:
*You are 4.
*You go to a church based daycare.
*You have the kindest, most loving heart.  You probably tell me 50 times a day that you love me and that we are best friends.   You also love to brush my hair out of my face and say, "You're per-bect, Momb."  Yes, you add a "b" to the end of "Mom."
*You are obsessed (and that is really not a strong enough word) with Mario.  You would play the Wii all day if we let you.
*You enjoy fine dining.  I often pack filet mignon or shrimp for your lunches at school.  You really LOVE to eat!
*You are still in speech class.  Your speech is so much better!  Strangers are able to understand you now. I don't think you will have to do it much longer, but you are so in love with your speech teacher that I hate to stop it.  One of my favorite things you say right now it, "What clock it is?"  when you want to know the time.
*You have absolutely no interest in sports.  I asked you to play baseball this year, and you told me you were only going to that place (the baseball field) to eat the popcorn.  You are adamant that you will not play any sports, and we don't want to push you.

The two of you are insanely protective of one another.  You are best friends 90% of the time. 

Boys, I did print all of our pictures from 2015 out.  They are in a dark blue album for you.  I am so sorry that you do not have a 2015 blog.  Love, Mama