1st six weeks Awards

At the end of the first six weeks of school, Peaster does an awards assembly for each grade level. They started this last year, and I got to go to a couple of them for Brenna. I especially enjoyed the end of the year one when she won the Golden Paw award for Integrity. The Golden Paw award is given to one (or two) outstanding students for each six weeks in each class. It is chosen by the teacher and has a different criteria each six weeks.
This year, I got a text from Macie's teacher saying that Macie Claire was getting the Golden Paw award for her class for the first 6 weeks! I was so proud of her! I also knew she would get perfect attendance since (knock on wood) the girls haven't missed any school yet.
Brenna was also due to get a couple of awards..... SO I knew I needed to be at their ceremonies. Brenna's was that morning first thing, so I knew I could swing that one. But Macie's was in the afternoon during my class, so I had to pull some strings and as a favor of another teacher, and I was covered to go to hers too!
Brenna, as always, was excited to see me at school and waved non stop when she got there. I even got a hug! I was so proud of her for getting a perfect attendance award as well as A honor roll! Only two kids in her class got A honor roll, and she was one of them! Way to go Brenna Grace!!! Not sure where this kid gets her brains.... cuz it isn't from her Mama! ha! I was totally happy just sailing through school with a passing grade.... any ole passing grade would do! But this kiddo has got it going on! Especially in Math. It's her best subject, even though she will tell you it isn't her favorite.

Headed to get her perfect attendance award. 

3rd grade perfect attendance! 

My A honor roll cutie!!! 

I loved how proud she was of herself. It melted me! 

Macie's award ceremony came later on in the day. Nina was able to take off for an hour or so and go to that one with me! YEA!! I was so glad she could come! Next time we will plan better and she can go to Brenna's too.
Macie is a whole different kiddo when it comes to school.... Normally she is clinging to me and wants all of the attention. But at school it is totally different. She will glance over at me and, if I am lucky, will grin at me. But she will not go out of her way to come over and hug me. I think she is scared of getting in trouble. Which is funny- because at home, getting in trouble doesn't bother her in the least! Maybe I should get some pointers from Mrs. Boecker! haha!
So Macie walked in and kind of smiled at us when I TOLD her to, but that was it. She acted all shy. Oh that girl. One day I will figure her out. Maybe. BUT I was so proud of her none the less. She got her perfect attendance first, then got the Golden Paw for Positive Attitude. I am so proud of this chick! She was so timid last year and cried the whole first month of school when I dropped her off. So I was very concerned about how this year would go. But she has done great! She loves school and loves her teacher! I can't wait to get a chance to be in her classroom at some point and watch her interact with her peers.

I had to MAKE her smile. Lil' toot! 

Perfect attendance! Yea! 

How sad is it that the first thing I noticed is that she didn't have on the cute sandals I dressed her in, but rather her yucky pe tennis shoes! 

Showing off her Golden Paw AND perfect attendance awards. 

Finally- a real smile! 

After the ceremony, they went out to the hall to take pictures of the Golden Paw recipients. I went out there to get her picture and had to basically hold her there to get one! She was ready to join her class and didn't have time for Nina and I! Oh this girl. 

I was one proud Mama! Maybe Daddy will not be on shift next time and can come too! 

Gettin' Dirty!

After I painted the girls faces a few weekends ago- they asked to do it again. But this time I was feeling brave- either that or I had lost my mind- and I let them paint each other's faces!! It SOUNDED like a good idea. 

Brenna was a good sport! I would have been a little more nervous than this if Macie Claire was holding my head and coming at me with blue paint! 

Then they switched! 

Beautiful! 

But I don't see "face painting" going on their resume's any time soon. 

From there they moved on to digging! It was a fun Saturday evening spent at home doing NOTHING but having fun. I loved it!! 

I asked Brenna what they were doing. She said "we are digging holes! Then we are going to fill them up with dirt!" 

Ummmmm. Okkkk... Whatever floats your boat child. 

Then it was on to sidewalk chalk! Because when you are already filthy dirty- sidewalk chalk is the obvious next step! 

Macie's self portrait! 

And Brenna's self portrait! 

Notice that the colors of her clothes are even accurate! That's my girl! Details. 

Pops and Memaw ended up coming over to do a little back porch sittin with us. So the girls decided to draw them too! 

I was pretty impressed! Their clothes are accurate, and check out Pops' mustache!! I should have had the live versions pose with their portraits! 

And last but not least- Mommy and Daddy! 

Check out Daddy's crown! (And absence of a neck!) and my tiara. 

The artists and their masterpieces! 

After this- things took a turn. A messy turn!!! 

The paint was found, and more body parts were then painted. But this was the point in the night where I decided "as long as they are having fun..." 

And fun they were having!! 

Messy fun! 

The final (photographed) event of the evening was a bicycle built for 2! (Or not) they giggled and squeezed and rode on this together. I loved it. Little girl belly laughs... Best. Sound. Ever. 

The last event was not photographed for obvious reasons. As Pops and Memaw were driving off- we stripped the girls down and hosed them off! They were THAT dirty!! I loved it!!!! 

Days like this are what memories are made of!! 

September 11th weekend

I love the weekends! Who doesn't? I love spending time with my family and making memories. 

On September 11th, the girls and I decided to go to the Roo football game. And as luck would have it- they were passing out free foam fingers! 

They had a blast dancing with Hadley! 

Josh was dove hunting that weekend- so it was just us girls. 

Saturday was Tia's birthday party. They were SOOO excited!

Macie requested I straighten her hair. I sent pictures to several people, and Aunt Kim even called and asked who it was!! 

She looks so different! 

Tia's party was a blast! 

I sure do love these 3! 

Lots of little girls.... 

Brenna spent the night, so Macie and I invited Graddy to dinner! 

I wished she liked him. 

It was a fun weekend! 

Daddy came home on Sunday, and we were all ready to see him!! 

Another Fun Filled Weekend- And Memaw's Birthday!

The following weekend was another fun filled one!
Friday night was spent with steaks, adult beverages on the back porch, and GRADDY! Doesn't get much better than that to close out a week! But...pictures??? What pictures??? Oh well....
On Saturday, Josh set a large brush pile on fire to get rid of it and needed me outside in case he needed help. So I set the girls up to paint since it is their FAVORITE thing to do! After they finished, I thought "I'll paint their faces!" They love to have their faces painted, and I knew we were going to be showering soon anyway. So I pulled up an internet picture of a butterfly and attempted it with the colors I had out already.
Yep- I'd say I nailed it!!

Poor kids. 
That night, Emily put together an evening at the winery for Becky's birthday. Elvis was the entertainment. :) Josh decided to join in on the fun (he really just went for the wine and cigar), so we dropped the girls off with Aunt Kim for the evening and had us a little date! It was a fun time just visiting and sipping wine. Josh and I eventually left and went to eat dinner. But again... Pictures??? Geez. I gotta step up my game!
On Sunday, the girls and I went to hang out with Aunt Kim for the afternoon.
First stop- Mommy's nails!! We sent this picture to Aunt Jana who was walking in the Susan Koman 3 day in honor of our MeMawMom. We were telling her how much we love her and how proud of her we are!

She has no idea how many tears I cried knowing she was doing that for my Mama. 
From there we picked up Aunt Kim and went to lunch and to WalMart.
I was shopping for some stuff for the girls, and found these on my phone later......

Never leave your phone unattended when these two crazies are around!!
Monday night, we went to Pops and Memaw's for dinner to celebrate Memaw's birthday with the kiddos.
No celebration with kids around is complete without cake and candles, and Aunt Emily did an amazing job picking this one out!! Other than the BLUE ICING! yuck. This chick doesn't do blue icing. Luckily my children have a cool Aunt Emily, or they would never get to experience the joys that come from eating blue or black icing and showing everyone your teeth! ha! I guess that's what aunts are for. (Sorry Wyatt- I will teach you other fun things.... but the joys of blue or black icing will not be one of them!)

Her 3 biggest fans all loved singing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Memaw and helping her blow out her candles!

Before we cut the cake, I made Pops and Memaw pose for a picture with their grands! But with Wyatt Pope..... good pictures are hard to come by!

Luckily we did manage one good one!

Happy Birthday Memaw! We are all so lucky to have you as a part of our lives. You bless us in more ways than you could ever know. Love you so much!!!!

A step in the healing process

After Mom's graveside services in February, I had absolutely no desire to go back to the cemetery. I have never been big on visiting cemeteries. Just not my cup of tea. I think it is an older generation thing.... or maybe I am wrong. Maybe other people visit cemeteries. I don't know. But I do know that for me, my Mama isn't at that cemetery. Her body may be buried there, but SHE lives on. She lives in Heaven, and in my heart, and in my memories. I don't feel "closer" to someone when I am at a cemetery. I feel closer to her when I look at pictures, or think back on fun things we did together, or read her comments on old facebook posts. Those things bring me closer to her.
But back to the cemetery...
I had had no desire to visit since February 21st when we left after the service. We had all gone and picked out her headstone. That part didn't really affect me. It was hard- don't get me wrong. But I have a way of removing myself from a situation. I just do the task at hand and move on without really thinking about it. And that is how I picked out her stone. But the cemetery was a place I had no desire to go to.
When the stone was set, Josh went and was there for that. I kept saying I needed to go and see it, but kept putting it off. And finally, on Labor Day weekend Josh suggested we go, and I agreed.
Brenna initially decided she did NOT want to go. Tears were shed. I finally got her to tell me that she would be too sad and miss her MeMawMom too much. Well- cue tears from both of us at this point. So- she and I cried together and decided to go and get balloons to send to MeMawMom in heaven! That made things a little more fun.
We stopped at the Dollar Tree and got balloons and flowers and were on our way.

First thing Macie said as we drove off was "you should have gotten 2 balloons for each of us Mom! Papaw needs one too!" Melted my heart!! I convinced her that since we were sending 2 to MeMawMom, that I bet she'd share. 

I prayed for peace and courage all the way to Dennis. I even called in my prayer warriors. It must have worked, because I did much better than I anticipated. 

The girls loved that there were horses standing there when we drove up. This cemetery is in such a peaceful location. 

This sight melted me. Josh helped them put the flowers next to MeMawMom. I don't know how I got so lucky with this guy. He supports me in ways I don't even deserve. 

Since we had to move some flowers that Nina had put out, we relocated them to Peper, Manaw and Papaw (my other Papaw). I enjoyed talking to the girls about each of those people- who would loved these two to no end. 

The girls were excited to release their balloons up to heaven to MeMawMom. (And Papaw)

They watched them until we could no longer see any traces of balloon. They told MeMawMom hi and they loved her. 

This is where my courage took a nose dive. Pretty sure Josh saw it coming. He took the girls to the car and gave me some alone time. 

This would be where I lost it. I stood there for a minute and just walked away. Mom isn't there. She's sitting my Jesus. She's playing cards with Papaw. She's rocking and talking with Mamaw. She's drinking an endless supply of strawberries n creme frappuchinos! She won!! 

Does that my heart hurt less? No. But does it make the pain easier to bear? Yes. 

Josh met me at the back of the car so that I could have my "this isn't fair!" moment.  I cried. And then a little voice said "mommy? Are you ok?" To which I replied "I'm good baby girl." Because when a 5 and 8 year old love you, you are always good!