Happy Birthday Seth

My baby, excuse me, big boy is 5 today. Such a bittersweet time for me. Of course, I love seeing Seth grow and change and mature, but on the other hand, it's hard to think about my babies not being babies. It sounds crazy and cliched, but it's true...time goes by so fast. It seems unfathomable that I gave birth to this beautiful, amazing boy 5 years ago..

Thanks Seth for being such a great kid. Thanks for all the fun times and the great memories. I look forward to experiencing many more. I love you so much.

Merry (late) Christmas!!

I'm late, but Merry Christmas!

We had a great one...celebrated with all the family. Got lots of good stuff, an IPOD and Itunes cards, watches, gift cards, clothes, $$$$. Jonathan and Seth got a trampoline...it's still sitting on my dining room floor, darn Santa being so lazy and not putting it together!

Celebrating at School

Seth and I went to school to have a little celebration with Jonathan's class. We took cookies and Kool-Aid coolers to share, as well as some fun goody bags. And as you can see, we are taking full advantage of Sonic. :) I took that for lunch.

This little guy started this new school the week after Jonathan. They have become close friends because they share that 'new kid' bond.

I love this idea...not wipies or hand sanitizer, actually washing hands. It's a cool device that lets several kids wash up all at once...it's right before the serving line. EVERY school should have one!

Shame on me for not looking...this is the only picture I got of Jonathan eating the lunch we brought him...caught him mid-blink!

Now for some happy stuff!

Unreal...

how time flies. It's been 9 years since my dad passed away. Like I've said before, it get's 'easier', but never easy. I always feel a little mopey on the anniversary (which was actually yesterday). It's a better day today. :)

Love you dad.

Happy Birthday Jonathan

Well it was yesterday actually, but I had some problems signing on to my blog. My big boy is 7!!!

We celebrated by having dinner with my parents on Saturday. They brought Jonathan some money (the boys KNOWS what money is!) and a cute card. We did some Christmas shopping at The Boardwalk.

Then Nathan's parents and brother came down for lunch on Sunday after church. My stepdad brought us a yummy, huge, smoked ham the day before, so we had that and I made my famous scalloped potatoes along with a 7 layer salad (oh and rolls). Jonathan got some paint and some cash from Ne-Ne and Pa-Pa and a cool puzzle from his Uncle Matt. The neighbors came over and we had Spiderman Birthday cake with BLUE BELL (yay, Blue Bell again...there's NOTHING as good!) ice cream. Then yesterday, we got Jonathan up early and he opened his gifts from us. A model trailer truck from Seth, some Matchbox sets (police station, car wash, and garage) that you build, a remote control helicopter, and a new scooter. We told Jonathan that he could pick anywhere for dinner and he picked Johnny's Pizza of course. He can PUT AWAY some pizza!

Birthday pics coming! Camera battery is charging. Sidenote: I need an extra battery for my camera for Christmas!

Jonathan LOVES his new school!

Jonathan told me his first day that he LOVED his new school...even better than the one in Massachusetts...which is saying alot! I really like his teacher (shown here) and I can see already that this school is awesome. It's a blue ribbon award school and everyone I talk to here says it's amazing and I'm believing it! One of my friends calls it a "Leave it to Beaver" school. :)

I'm really appreciating the fact that this school is so challenging. Amazingly, their curriculum is much stronger than the one in MA. Jonathan is catching on quite nicely. I was a little anxious about it, but his teacher says that he's doing wonderfully. She said that he will not hesitate to ask questions if he's confused or lost. She says once she explains it, he catches right on thankfully. I'm so proud of him and his love for learning! This school is so much more disciplined and strict, which again, I appreciate. And now, I really like that they were uniforms...makes it so much easier.

I'm also loving that they aren't so extremely PC!!!!!! We can actually say CHRISTMAS there! AND...Jonathan is even having a big Christmas party! :)

Thank God for leading us here and for allowing Jonathan (and Seth next year) to be in such a great school!

Thanksgiving at Mom and Tim's

Like I said, it's so nice being close to home. We were able to go home for Thanksgiving. We had a great time and great food. My stepsisters, Robin and Allison along with their husbands, John and David were there. All five grandsons too...TJ, Zach, Nathan, Jonathan , and Seth. Seth chowing down on some turkey!

Jonathan was so happy to be at De-De and Ke-Kah's!

Robin and TJ playing around. It had been a year since I'd seen TJ...he was about my same height and now look at him...see picture below! He's a giant!

The whole 'fam damily"! Except for Zach and Nathan who had to leave early to go to their dad's. David, Allison's hubby was MIA, don't know why?! LOL! Excuse my boys...they had had enough of photo taking!

Another neat tourist stop!

The arch in St. Louis...it's really cool to see in real life!

Lincoln's Home

I've always been fascinated by Abraham Lincoln...actually he's my favorite along with Ronald Reagan. So when I knew we were going to be traveling through Illinois during our move, I insisted we stop for a visit.

These were Abe's boy's marbles (one of the only original items in the home).

Thank you Lord for modern technology! :) Can you imagine this kitchen???

Another original, Abe's bed.

Saying Goodbye to Friends

We had our fairwell at the Rainforest Cafe with our friends, Beth, Nathan, and Kyle. We miss you guys so much!

Jonathan's Last Day of School in MA

Jonathan and Mrs. Marshall, his 1st grade teacher at Hanscom Primary School.

Jonathan's friend, John would not let go! So sweet.

Jonathan giving his goodbye speech to his class (and no, I couldn't fight the tears).

Saying goodbye to Mrs. Marsall (we miss her so much!).

I'm still alive!

Just very busy...finally getting my house in order and organized. I love it here!! I never in a million years thought NW Louisiana would be my favorite place to be, but it is! Love our house, our neighborhood, being so close to family, being so close to convenience (Sonic is 1.9 miles away!)! We love the new church we are visiting...already connecting nicely...all of us.

I'll take some pics of the house and post very soon. I'm having a blast decorating and organizing everything. It's so nice to have room again. :)