Happy Monday

Ella took this picture last month. She occasionally hijacks my camera and ends up with some good shots. The pic is representative of what I am about to do. Nate is at preschool and the other two are at their co-op. This is my first Monday ever to have a day to myself at home. I am about to eat breakfast in silence. Then I will begin cleaning and straightening to music. I am looking fwd to this day. From what I figure, I will only have this luxury until mid-December when they are all out of school. By the time they all go back will be be in major baby prep-mode. So, here's to three months of Mondays where Mama can relax and regroup for the start of another busy week!

States and Capitals

For the past five weeks of school we have been "learning" and memorizing the states and capitals. So far we have learned the New England states, the Mid-Atlantic states, and the Southern states. In college, Chip and I (and Uncle Nick) had Economics together. Our teacher always gave extra credit on tests. It was always 5 questions. It was always the US states and capitals. I never really learned that in school apparently. And, during that whole semester, it never occured to me to study them and earn easy points on each test. Maybe knowledge of the the above scenario should have prepared me for the below conversation I had with Streed just this week, 5 weeks into school.

Me watching news.
Me: Streed come here and see this.
Me: Look, Harrisburg, PA is flooding.
Streed: Is that in America?
PAUSE
Me: (handled well) WHAT? WHAT HAVE WE BEEN STUDYING? THE US CAPITALS. THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. YES, ITS IN AMERICA.

Baby girl is 5!

Ella turned 5 this week. Jill said it seems like she has been 5 for a while. That is probably true. She is rather grown up in some ways for her age. We celebrated for a few days. Some friends came over for dinner and presents a week early becaue they would be out of town the next week. They brought kitchen items to go with the kitchen we bought her. She was sad at first when she opened their present because we had not given her our gift yet. But Chip quickly brought it in from the garage and ALL THE KIDS were thrilled!


We had her real party the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Poor planning on my party but I was planning around big brother's baseball schedule and wanted the party close to her actual bday. It was a sweet small party but with big fun! The big hit was Chip making shaved ice for everyone. (He helps out a friend at a shave ice stand ocassionally and brought some of the equipment home).
Originally the party was going to be at a pool. The weather was questionable so we changed it to our house. After shave ice, slip-n-slide, playing in the hose, eating and gifts, we all headed to the pool anyway and finished up there with cupcakes. She had a blast which is really the point!


And because we have out of town friends and family, she also has enjoyed receiving mailed presents and cards for a week. In the mail she got a Cinderella barbie, a necklace, a Crayola set, fun kitchen accesories and some money.

another girl

So we found out we are having another girl! This brought mixed reviews from all those attending the ultrasound. Nate quickly said, "I wanted a boy! We already have a girl!" Ella was thrilled! Streed had said all along that he wanted it to be a girl but once he found out it was he was a little disappointed. They are all on board now I think. Not that it matters what they think or what they wanted. I really could have gone either way. I wanted Ella to have a sister but would have enjoyed her being my little friend too. The baby looks healthy. She does not move a lot. In the ultrasound she had one hand behind her head and one leg tucked under her body. We almost did not find out the sex because of how she was laying. I hope she stays laid back after she exits the womb. Mama is tired!

truth

I know I should update. And I will. The truth is, I prefer the comfy chair in Chip's office, which means his computer, which means no pictures. So, when I post, which may be tonight, just know that I am sacrificing by sitting in a hard kitchen chair at my 5 year old laptop that I cannot move because there is no battery life and it must stay plugged in at all costs!

Tears of joy and other things

Today was the first day of the 2011-2012 school year. Streed is entering 1st grade and Ella is doing another year of K-4 since her bday is in September. However, I put her in the K-4 class at CommCentral so that she could get accustomed to it this year before starting Kindergarten next year. The selling feature for this decision was that her teacher this year would be her music teacher from her preschool last year. We just love Mrs. Karen and she loves Ella. Because Ella does not do so well in new environments I figured it would really help her to get used to a new school already knowing her teacher. Ella has not gone to Sunday School in probably 8 months because she does not know anyone. She attends church with Chip and Me. I am fine with this I just want her to grow in this area. As soon as I signed her up for this class I began praying for God to put a girl in her class that she would see at BLOOM (formerly Mom's N More that I attend at our church on Tuesdays) as well as church on Sundays. She has been really excited about starting school especially since her pink L.L Bean back pack arrived and we filled it with school supplies. She was a trooper getting ready this morning and heading into school. The change happened when we actually made it to her doorway. She immediately turned her head into my belly and said she wanted to be with me. We got love from her teacher and walked back outside to get her nap mat out of the van. When we got back to the classroom she entered in and we put all of her things against the wall under her name.
Then we began looking around the room at all of her classmates. She started saying, "That girl goes to my church...that boy Barrett goes to my church...I have seen that girl at church..." I was immediately overwhelmed (and am even now as I type) of God's faithfulness to my simple but important prayer. A friend saw me tearing up. She thought it was because Ella was sad. I explained to her what God had done! I tried to tell Ella but I got choked up. I did not want to make matters worse by my crying so I had to get it together. I kept asking myself if I was crying because I did not expect God to answer or that I was so grateful that He did. Maybe some of both but I think it was more that I truly felt His love for me and for Ella.

Streed walked in like a rock star. He has several friends in his class from last year so he was excited to be back with them.

I love our co-op. I love that I am able to stay home with my kids. It is a sacrifice both financially and mentally, emotionally etc but for us it is so worth it. I love that Chip can read the Old Testament to the kids at night while saying words like "donkeys and asses" and they do not giggle, because they have not been exposed to that yet. I do not know how long we will be a homeschool family but for now it is for us. I would not have it any other way.


"Captain Crab" (that's what his shirt says) stayed with me. We played a little, laughed a little, met a friend to play a little, but mostly I was able to get some stuff done. He will start preschool after Labor Day so the next few Mondays it is just me and Nate Nate. After that, I have every Monday to myself from 9-2. I have not had this since I had kids. Hallelujah!!!

Sweet Sissy

For years now Ella's hair, although gorgeous, has been a thorn in my side. It could be gorgeous with a daily shower, deep conditioning, thorough brushing etc. Seeing as I don't do that to my own hair daily, it wasn't happening to hers either. Therefore it would have a constant matted mess in the back. She refused to have it in a pony tail which did not help matters either. After playing for 3 hours on an inflatable water slide at a birthday party Chip and I decided it was time to tackle the issue at hand. Sunday after church we did our deep conditioning ritual and brushed out all of the tangles, including the severely matted area. She and I headed outside with scissors and went to work. What was left was an adorable little short hair cut that I did not think she could pull off. In some ways she looks older and in some ways I feel as though I have my baby sissy back. I have not seen her hair this short since she was 2 years old. Here are some before and after shots. She could not stop smiling all day yesterday!

new additions

I bought two chairs this week for $30 a piece. They are great chairs, very southern with cane backs. All I have to do is change the fabric on the seat cushions. And I think to save money I am just going to use leftover fabric from my couch. They make my den look so much better. All we had until now was couch seating. I may paint them one day but for now they look fine how they are. They can be totally changed up for years to come!

Baseball in Bryant

Baseball is a big deal here! That is an understatement. Not being from a sports family nor from a small town, I don't know how it compares with other places. All I can say is that they take it seriously. A mom told Chip last Fall that "this is when they decide if they will play college ball or not!" Chip said, "Really, I wasn't thinking anything about college when I was 6!" Chip could not coach Streed's team this Spring so he recruited a friend to do it and he helped when he was in town. Our little team was sweet! Does that statement tell you of their skill level? We finished probably 10th out of 14 teams. That's right folks, 14 teams of 6 & 7 year olds!

Streed loves the game! That too is an understatement. He talks about baseball all the time. He talks about his team for this Fall, he talks about rules for the Fall such as bunting and stealing, he talks about his uniform for the Fall etc. I have to cut him off sometimes and tell him to talk to his Dad about it. I hate to squish his excitement but I can't take it. And I don't know the answers.

All-Stars are a big deal here! That too is an understatement. You would think that at the end of the season the best kids would be chosen from tryouts. Not so much. About a month and a half before the season ended the selected All-Star coach put together a "tournament team" to play in a few tournaments before the real season ended. They practiced in addition to these kids' normal team practices. Streed was not recruited for this team. But, we asked a few weeks before the season ended if Streed could practice with them in case he wanted to actually try out for All-Stars. They agreed. The head coach coached with Chip in the Fall and Streed knew a lot of the kids on the team. I took him to two practices that lasted 3 hours each. Yes, Ella Nate and I braved the ball park and no bathrooms and other bratty kids for those 6 hours. Chip took Streed to two other practices. After those 4 practices we helped Streed decide that All-Stars was not for us this year. This team literally practices 4 nights a week for 3-4 hours a night! And plays tournaments every weekend. Chip is becoming good friends with one of their coaches and he has said numerous times they were disappointed Streed did not try out because he would definitely have made the team.

Another summer tournament team (mainly 5 year olds) needed a few players to fill in one weekend and asked Streed to play. We figured,"Sure, that would be fun for Streed. Who cares that Chip will be out of town from Thurs through Saturday and would only able to take Streed to one of three practices and make it to only one of three games." So, we (the kids and I) took him to practice. I was in shock the first night. Two dads were coaches. But, their wives (really one of them) really was the coach. And she was crazy. Apparently she played softball for 14 years and this qualified her to YELL A LOT at the kids, mainly her own. It was kindof comical at first. But she was literally crazy. This was why on facebook one day my status said to keep my mouth shut if I could not say something nicely. Chip and I don't like any of the coaches yelling at the kids but she was to another level. She demanded way too much from her 5 year old. Never once did she say good job. It was always a criticism. I almost pulled Streed out of the 2nd game that Saturday because of her. If we did not have to play that Sunday I was going to say something. Chip came with us that Sunday. He made me hush once when I wanted to defend Streed. Later in the game Chip literally said outloud, "She is a stupid woman!" After I quit laughing, I looked at him and said, "It's hard to sit out here and keep your mouth shut isn't it?" After that Chip went and stood near the fence as close as he could get to Streed and coached him from the sidelines. He told him the opposite of what those coaches were saying and Streed made lots of outs. He was playing short-stop and caught 2 pop-ups and 1 line drive against the 6 year old All-Star team.

Here's the little sweetness in his Bryant Blue!

Well I feel better.

Well, while I am on the subject, and just to give you a better picture of "Baseball in Bryant", here's another story for your reading pleasure. After this you will wish you lived in a small town! So, I (along with Ella & Nate) took Streed to one of these practices again. This was probably Fri night before the tourny started on Saturday. We were all getting set up on field 1. All of the kids were there. I was setting up our chairs in the shade and getting my Subway sandwich out, along with all of our water bottles. So, three chairs, dinner, water bottles etc. 10 weeks pregnant and very hormonal. I see this other coach whom I don't know walk up and say to his team, "We can't practice on field 2 so we will just practice on 1." I am confused because we are on field 1. I watch him march himself onto the field, past our coaches and kids and set up their equipment. One of the mom's asks what he is doing since we are obviously on this field. Without stopping what he was doing he said, "There are no sign-ups for fields. We are 8 year old All-Stars and we take presedence over yall. We are practicing for District!" I immediately started CRYING and called Chip at his conference saying, "I hate this place! I hate Bryant baseball!" Everyone was furious and we did have to pack up all of our stuff and change fields.

Ok. No names were shared. I just wanted to give a little glimpse into the life and times here in good ole Arkansas. And yes, we miss Louisiana terribly!

where to begin?

My mind ocassionally does rattle off blog posts. Somehow though they never make it to the actual computer. It is July. It is hot! We are finished with baseball for a few months (another post needed here!). We have been continuing to "do school" throughout the summer, mainly working on reading. I just can't see how a 5 or 6 year old who just finished Kindergarten can take off 2-3 months and remember anything once school starts the next year! Reading is still challenging for Streed but seems to be getting easier if we go really slow. So, I want him to be as ready for school as he possibly can be. His co-op starts back Aug 1st. Here they are back in May making some trapazoids during Math!



We did join a pool. The first week it opened Nate and I did swimming lessons every morning and then we would stay after and swim till lunchtime. He loves the water but was not really into lessons. Go figure, he and Ella are very similar. She hated swim lessons last year till she decided on one of the last few days that she would swim by herself along the steps. Nate did not do that but he did start swimming on his own a few days after class ended.

Here he is swimming by himself, face in, eyes open!
There were days in class he would not even put his face in. Now he jumps and jumps in the shallow end and rarely wears any type of floatie.
Oh yea, back to the pool. It has been a lot of fun. All of the families from our community group go there as do a few firefighter families and some families we know from other places in town. However, it is so hot, that we go late in the afternoon/early evening. Ella and Streed love jumping off of the diving board!

Besides finding out we are pregnant with baby #4 it has been a quiet summer!