Been a long time...

So it has been way too long since I wrote a blog post so I will catch you up on a few of the latest happenings since Ella Beth's birthday....

Jack turned 10 in August. All he wanted for his birthday was cash. At the time he was saving for a lap top, but instead he bought an ipod. We were very proud with his decision to saving - over $200. It was a first for any of our kids.


Then in September we took a trip to Auburn for a football game. It was great. We had not been to a football game since the boys were babies. It was a very rainy one, but we all made it though and Auburn won!
In October we experienced out first broken bone, stay in the hospital and surgery. Will was playing football in the yard with some friends and broke his right femur. It was a spiral break that required a 14 inch steal rod to heal. He was a champ! Now, he is completely healed and will have the plate removed this spring.

Halloween shortly followed. Each of the kids carved their own pumpkins - Ella Beth had a little help. It was the first year for non-traditional pumpkin faces, but I think they all turned out great.We stayed home for Thanksgiving. Lee and two of the kiddos ate Thanksgiving lunch at the church. I stayed home with the sick third child. (It's been such a sick winter for us I don't remember which one was sick!) We had the meal for members and those in the homeless community in Jackson. Lee said it was really a great time for all involved.

Finally, we celebrated Christmas! We had a great holiday.

Ella Beth's Birthday

Ella Beth will soon be 5 1/2, so I thought it was time to let everyone know about her birthday party. ***Smiles***

Ella Beth had a build-a-bear party at Wacky Bear this year.

They played some games...


ate cake...


opened presents...


and made a bear.


Ella Beth had a blast!!!!

Coming Soon!!

Here's sneak peak at future post topics:

little mushroom

I imagine little fairies dancing around this mushroom!

That's Cool

Ella Beth is really enjoying kindergarten and learning a lot. Her teacher is having us make flash cards to help with learning how to read. She has letter cards, word cards, and picture cards with words at the bottom. Every day when she comes in from school she will tell us that if we don't do her flash cards Mrs. Taylor will be mad at us. So we try to do them each night.

Tonight while we read them she said something that I got a kick out of. One of the picture cards is of a necktie. She looked at the picture for a minute. Then, with her head cocked to the side and a grin on her face she said, "tie, I have a friend in my class named Ty." And then she snickered.

I think it is really cool that she is beginning to connect letters with words and words with things.

Calender

I have been getting more and more things on my schedule, so I needed a calender for my purse. I looked at target and the cute ones cost more than I wanted to spend, so I thought I could make one.
Today I ventured into the task of making a book style calender . I went to publisher and came up with a personalized style. Printed it out and then made a cover for it at my sewing machine. Here are the results:


Now to fill all these pages with my commitments. That may take a while :-)

Back 2 School

The kids have been back in school for about three weeks now. They have all been blessed with good teachers this year. I am very thankful!

Ella Beth is really enjoying going to school. The first day I drove her and walked her to class. She really wanted to ride the bus with the boys, but I wasn't quite brave enough for that. I did let her ride home on the bus. She felt so big! Every afternoon she is very tired and grumpy. It is starting to get a little better, but I am ready for the grumpies to end!

Will and Jack have jumped right back into the school routine. They haven't had quite as much homework so far this year, for that we are all grateful. Will has finished reading his first book for AR points this year. This is a great accomplishment for him (getting one read so quickly), so we are really proud. Jack is finishing some of his homework at school. We are excited that he is using his time wisely!I am thrilled that we are off to a great start! I hope you are too.