For the Grandparents

For the simple fact that grandparents live just too darn far away and she wanted hers to see this...

Picture This...

Cate and I went into Old Navy yesterday trying to pass the time until we could pick up Towns. She's always been particularly interested in the dog mannequin that's at the front of the store. More specifically, she likes to sit on it and pretend it's a horse. But yesterday something else caught her eye...

A girl just her size! She asked me to take a "pitcha" (picture) of the two of them. I told her I didn't have my camera - I really didn't have it with me and I was also trying to get her away from there. That was a disaster waiting to happen. She wasn't buying it. She asked me to take one with my phone since I didn't have my camera. So I did, and as I'm trying to get her to take her hands off of her new friend, she knocked her over which made a horribly loud noise. As I was trying to (unsuccessfully) get the thing back on its stand with Cate wanting to help, she knocked the girl's head off. This was a problem on several different levels. First, it sends my two year old into hysterics having just witnessed a decapitation. Second, in all the commotion we accidentally kicked the girl's head which went rolling under the check out counter where at least 83 people were standing in line. I mean, can you imagine?! The joys of raising a child like my Cate Bug are immeasurable! And things like this happen on a daily basis. I just don't tell you about them all because you'd be way too envious of how easy I have it...

First Day of Kindergarten!

This is the last time I'll mention the word "kindergarten" for the rest of the school year, I promise. This is all mainly for me so I don't forget any of it, so I apologize for boring you to tears. I sort of hid the post about the day Towns went to meet her teacher so you wouldn't have to endure any more...ha!

This morning she hit the ground running and was ready before 7:00. School doesn't start until 8:30, and she doesn't play the waiting game very well! She said her goodbyes to Bebby, and not long after that we were ready to roll...

When we got to the church, it was a must that we get this picture...

Ahhh, memories...
This is the 4th year that she's had her picture taken in front of that sign on the 1st day of school!

We took lots of snapshots before going inside to her class for the first time...




She has to sign in every morning which makes her feel so big...

With her backpack in its spot, she was ready for school to begin...

I bought that little heart back during Valentine's season for the sole purpose of having it for when she started school. She thinks it's so neat that she's got a little piece of my heart there with her every day. :) Give her a week and she won't think it's so cool anymore I'm sure. But for now she loves it.
She was quite ready for us to hit the road. But Cate wasn't ready to leave her. After we walked out she looked back one more time...

Something must have clicked in her mind because she realized what was going on and didn't like it one bit! She ran back to the door and wanted to retrieve her sister...

Towns' classroom is just inside that door, and when I told her we had to leave her there for the morning she stood there trying to catch any kind of glimpse she possibly could...

Talk about breaking my heart! I didn't cry all morning long - I had to stay strong for Buggy! We met a few other moms at Panera Bread which helped her feelings...a strawberry smoothie and a chocolate chip cookie did the trick. And of course, we went straight to Target afterwards.

The hours between 8:30 and 12:30 seemed like years, and Cate and I were just as excited to finally see her as she was to see us...

She got a Tip Top today (they get their pick of a silly hat if they do something nice for someone)...

She got her Tip Top for helping Mrs. Lindsay by pushing in the chairs around the table without being asked. Sweetness!
Cate and I thought she deserved a little 1st day of kindergarten treat so Bug wrapped it up for her...

I wish you could hear the way Cate says the name of that movie. It's something like "Beberly Hills Cookawawa" and makes us laugh hysterically every time. Towns and I have asked her to say it approximately 743 times this afternoon and she's yet to figure out why we think it's funny!

With the 1st day under our belt, I think we'll survive from here on out. We'll find our new "normal" and go with it! So proud of you Townsy Wownsy...what a big girl you are!!!

Meet the Raiders

Friday night was Meet the Raiders at the high school which is always something we look forward to. It gets football season kicked off in a very peppy sort of way...

See all those cheerleaders? Seems like hundreds of them and I love it!
B's on the freshman squad which is in red, the JV is in black, and varsity is down at the end in white.
Cute pictures from the night...



B and her number 1 fan...

Stunting is something the girls have been into since long before their big sister was a cheerleader. B is really good at it and they love playing cheerleading with her...

They ask to do it all day, every day. To ease my job of being a base during the day when B isn't here, I came up with this which seems to satisfy them...

Paint cans work wonders!

Is it just me, or does it seem like we're a little ready for football season to hurry up already?!

Kindergarten Meet 'n Greet

Thursday night I went to a parents' meeting for kindergarten at church while J held down the fort. Up until several weeks before Towns was to start school, we still didn't know where she'd be going. We signed her up at every possible place just to buy ourselves some time. J & I tried to weigh the pros and cons between private kindergarten at our church and public school. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I did a lot of praying over this one. Even though I really wanted her in public school, it seemed like it wasn't the right choice. I went rounds with the Lord over it. I've come to the conclusion that whenever you try that, you'll always come out having learned a thing or two. That was certainly the case in this situation. All I needed was a little faith that He knew what was better for her than her own parents did - I had to learn that the hard way. Now I have such a peace about this year and what's in store for her. And sitting at that meeting Thursday night listening to her teacher and the school director talk about the upcoming year was just what I needed. It became crystal clear. I guess it's true what they say - sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees. She'll be going to school in a Christian environment which is important to us. I know we can't keep her in a bubble forever, but for now we can! I'm in no way knocking public school - it's all I ever knew and is where she'll be next year. But for now, this is what seems to be the best fit for her.

When I saw this verse in the information slide show, it sealed the deal for me...

Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3

The next morning Towns had a date with her teacher and the class for a meet and greet. She took her school supplies and put them away...


She filled out the getting to know you card...

It was hard for her to fill out her card because she kept eying this little gem...

Towns and Mrs. Lindsay...

Mrs. Lindsay took some time to tell the class about herself. When she pulled out pom poms and told them she used to be a cheerleader, she really caught Towns' attention...

They'll be learning "popcorn" words which are sight words in beginning reading, so they got to shake a bottle of popcorn kernels to try to find their name which Towns thought was neat...

Found it!

Towns and Emma...

They're the only 2 girls in their class, and I have no doubt they'll be taking good care of the other 4 boys!

Can't wait for August 18th...that's the big day!!

Always A Party

This one's going to kick off a long line of kindergarten talk from a mama who's about to release her first born into the wild. I know, I know. It's just kindergarten. But in my delusional, sentimental mind it's like she's going to college. I'm debating on whether or not to tell you that her school is only 4 short hours a day...at our church. Now you're really laughing, and that is perfectly fine. She starts school on the 18th, but we've had her school supplies since the middle of July when we received a packet full of school information in the mail. She and I couldn't really contain ourselves, so we caved and went school supply shopping well in advance. This was the day I'd been dreaming about for 5 1/2 years. I had a hard time coming to grips with the fact that it was here! I detest going to Wal-mart, but being that Target had been ransacked we really had no choice. We went down her list item by item and had the best time checking each one off after it had been placed in its special spot in the cart. I had a feeling we'd share the love of school supply shopping, and oh was I right! She meticulously picked the best box of crayons, bottle of glue, etc. as if she was trying to make it last as long as humanly possible. She's a girl after my own heart!

We started with scissors...

Then crayons...

And markers...

For some reason, she had a hard time picking out glue...

We got folders, pencils, glue sticks, and lots of necessities and then she organized them the best she could...

After the main event, I took her on a dinner date where we talked about how fabulous kindergarten is going to be...

I'll give you one guess as to what the McClendons did later that night.
If you were thinking we had a "First Time Ever School Supply Shopping Party" you'd be correct!
We had lots of unnecessary sweets...


And celebrated Towns being initiated into the big girl club!

{Question: do you ever wonder what our husbands must think of us as we take pictures of food we've cooked and such for the ever so practical purpose of showing it to the world? Just wondering. If I were a fly on the wall I'd think of my own self as being rather crazy.}

The other day the school girl was doing a little of this when the doorbell rang...

She threw some clothes on (because sometimes I do clothe my children) just in time to catch the UPS man delivering a little surprise to our doorstep...

A new backpack and lunch box!


Now that is excitement!
It just so happened that the next day was the day she had to go meet her teacher and drop her supplies off in her classroom, so we checked everything off our list to make sure nothing had been forgotten...


It was all present and accounted for, so she packed it in a bag to take to school the next morning...

If you're completely over the whole kindergarten subject, take a vacation from this one because I've got lots to cover between now and the first day of school! :)

Like A Kid In A Craft Store...

This morning Towns woke up with one thing on her mind...Hobby Lobby. If you know her, you know that craft stores rank up there with Disney World, birthdays, and everything else she holds near and dear to her heart. The other day she, Cate and I were playing a game where if we could pick one place in the world to go, where would it be. Her pick? Hobby Lobby. And for some reason she felt that today was the day we needed to "stop in and see if they have any Christmas decorations or crafts out yet". To see the excitement in her sweet little face as she was talking about it was the very reason I agreed that we'd waited long enough to start getting in the Christmas spirit. :)

Turns out that she was dead on...the aisles were filled with Christmas crafts and decorations! And as we went up and down and every last one of them, she'd find something that would make her squeal so loud I had to ask her several times to take it down a few notches. She oohed and aahed over all of it. After today, J and I have come to the conclusion that she couldn't be any more like me and Cate couldn't be any more like him. It's wild! We settled on a few Christmas ornament projects, glitter, fun colors of paint and new brushes. I mean, she's so into this that I'm thinking that a subscription to the Martha Stewart mag should be the first thing she gets for her next birthday. {I've asked for it for myself for the last couple of years, but no one ever thinks I'm serious.} If you need more evidence of her love for all things crafty, here's proof. The other day at Target, the girls wanted to go off with Bethany by themselves and when I found them this was what Towns had in hand and was dead set on getting...

Not a toy. No new outfit. But a craft magazine?!
Do you see that pine cone tree? We're all over that. Oh, and the best part about the magazine is the holiday owl garland. Towns and I decided that it's the cutest thing we've ever seen and is #1 on our list.

Before we ventured out to Hobby Lobby we spotted something pretty neat...

A perfectly in tact bird nest that had fallen from the tree in our front yard!
Cate couldn't figure out why there were no eggs in it...

It didn't take long to divert their attention back to crafting, so they safely put the nest away and hopped in the car. We stayed in Hobby Lobby for at least an hour and a half before we finally made it back home for a little of this...

The girls declared the egg carton/paint pallet trick the coolest thing they'd seen in their entire lives...


Towns with her pumpkin...

I gave them plenty of time to create what they wanted to, but I couldn't resist having them make this little treat me...

Next they painted wooden Christmas tree picture frame ornaments...

Nothing says Christmas like a little glitter and glue!

We eventually ran out of things to paint, so we resorted to painting kitty faces...


Raise your hand if you never ever want to grow up and will stay little forever just to keep your Mommy happy...

You know how to make a mama proud! :)

A few weeks ago I was talking to my mom about my grandmother selling her house and downsizing. My first question was where her front porch swing would go if that happened. It didn't take long for her to figure out where I was going with that, and a week later it had a new home. It's the swing I fell asleep on every night of my childhood. I'd get my pillow, blanket, and my Pop and he'd swing me to sleep. It brings back such sweet memories, and I'm both shocked and grateful that my mother's sisters haven't swiped it from my house yet. It's probably because they don't know it's here. Those women have sticky fingers when it comes to pictures and keepsakes of my grandparents. It's a bit of a running joke that started with my aunt Melissa stealing a picture from my mom's house of my Granny and Pop from when they were "courting". In the picture they're sitting in front of my old elementary school - where my mom and aunts went to school and where my grandparents first met. Ever since then, we know to put those valuables away when we have family gatherings. Obviously my mother forgot that rule of thumb when we were there back in July. I'm really enjoying lots of old pictures she hasn't figured out are missing from her house.
The girls on the infamous swing that's soon going to be sanded and painted black...


We painted, glittered, glued, and swung our hearts out until the only thing left to do was this...

What are we going to do with ourselves when everyone is back in school and we can't do this all day, every day?! We're soaking up the last few days we have left!