st george island part 1

Packing for a trip for a week at the beach (well to anywhere) for 4 kids is a practice in psychic ability of what they might possibly need since there isn't a Wal-mart for 2 hrs. I've become the person who needs some huge plastic thing that attaches to the top/back of the mini-van to fit all our stuff. Thankfully, my mom/dad had extra space in their mini-van. We had a snowstorm hit north Georgia on Fri Feb 12th which cut into my errands/packing by 3pm the snow was coming down in huge flakes, yards were covered, and the roads were getting slick. We (mom, me, aunt cathy) parked at the top of my hill and I cautiously walked down the hill to get my dad and pack my stuff for a sleepover at my moms. Which was a fun idea but I had loads to accomplish Friday from errands, finishing all my work, packing at my house but the lure of a fire, snowed in with my family won out. Our eating out turned into a quick drive thru Taco Bell. My parents live on a narrow road with a one lane wooden bridge so helped my Dad sand the driveway and curled up to watch the Olympics. Time well spent esp with my Aunt Cathy visiting.

valentine's day

I love all things holiday....esp with the kids. My mom was laughing that I decorated for V day soon after Christmas decorations came down. I love the kids get excited and we discuss the holiday. My friend came over and said "You sure like decorating for Vday" Yes, window clings, doormats, love and v-day signs, table decoration, heart shaped food for breakfast and for the kids' lunches at school all makes me happy. So in my effort to have a little teaching, Bible study life lesson with the kids we were discussing 1 cor 13 and how difficult it is to love fully with patience, kindness etc and love is choice sometimes that we do even though we don't feel like it..meanwhile Walker is making his faces, antsing around on the bed and I was fed up with behaviour and many warnings and to his surprise flicked him on the head (not in love :) ) Liv later on said, "geez, mom you might have had more patience with Walker to show love" So , I had to admit to her and apologize to Walker that he needed to have self control but I should have demon discipline with love and not in my frustration to have a teaching moment. Of course, did the extra decorations for actual Valentine's Day and their faces are so shiny and excited when they see it. I wrote in their cards this year and it seemed a touch Liv liked...she read hers and smiled and read the younger boys their cards. And, they got a kick out of doughnuts and candy for bfast although the mom healthy gene twitched a little inside me I think they will remember eating candy vs eating heathy that morning. :) They are healthy, happy, and safe....and loved

snow

I hurried home from work on Thurs. I was treating a pt on top of a mountain~the one I drive thru a creek to get to his house...but the view is worth it. The snow was covering everything so I cut his treatment short and headed back home thru the snow so my dad could also get home. The kids were out in the snow by 4:30 and we were officially snowed/iced in Friday morning when we woke up. Walker and Coleman were the snow troopers staying hours outside while I was fearing frost bite for them. They slid down the hill over and over exclaiming "this is the best day ever ...I'm glad I live on a hill" Sadly, I only went down the hill 3x and pulled arm/ab muscles I didn't know I had but I laughed more at the kids squealing as they plunged down the hill esp when they starting going down on the plastic play/slide cube...you'd have to see it to understand. We would go out 2-3 x day...even Caleb wanted to go out going to get his shoes, hat , coat..alll of which he tried to say and come back in for hot choc, games, movies. I feel like I gained 10 lbs in the 3-4 days we were in. It was nice to relax knowing you couldn't go anywhere...but by Monday afternoon...I took all 4 kids to Kroger and Walmart with Nana asking if I was crazy but we needed to see civilization again.

Caleb finally made peace with the snow and had a blast

We're back :D

Well , it's been awhile since I've put down some memories about the kiddos. We moved to Dahlonega over the summer and that was an adjustment. The kids started a new school and I believe God hand picked who they each needed. Olivia will have Mrs. Gooch next in 3rd grade but Coleman will start the looping process over

in 4th grade next year. Coleman played fall baseball and had an awesome team/coaches. First year for player pitch so I think each boy got hit at least once. Coleman played catcher and 3rd and really liked playing catcher (since he has to pay attention ;) ) He also started Boyscouts and has had fun learning how to use a knive, go caving, cubmobile racing, build a doghouse. He says "thanks for signing me up for Boyscouts, it's one of my favorite things!" Olivia started singing in the children's choir and was part of the Christmas play singing and carrying one of the wise men's trains. Olivia and Walker have started Awanas and their ability to learn verses is amazing. Walker calls it his Awanas boyscouts and loves to do his Cubbie work/lessons and wear his vest on Wed. and earn patches. Caleb hasn't been much of a talker this fall with leaning more on grunting and throwing fits to demon his likes/dislikes. He was put into 2 yr. old bootcamp aroudn 18 months but would sit in time out and calm down. His first words were Poppa, bye, pappy (pacifer) dada, I wuv YOU. He understands what you say and will follow directions. We've have been deeply blessed during this transition and are so grateful for all our family and friends who have supported/cared for us during this time. Hopefully I'll stay more current and post all the (of course) cute happenings around here.

Walker

Walker was gone to Aunt April's house and came back with this creation. " I make Mommy happy?" and when I told him he was getting to go to Hastings Garden for playgroup he said " you make me happy too, mommy" Other "Walker-isms"..."What are you doing , mommy?" "I'm playing with your hair" "It's not toy hair-it's my hair" Asking me/paul/nana/april/poppa "What are you doin?" even though it's evident what we are doing...eating, driving a car ...so now we say "i'm flying an airplane, eating worms, shopping for groceries" and he'll grin and say "i'm playing in the dirt" and this goes back and forth either at the table while we are eating or driving. He is always asking "What are you doing?" and "Are you happy?"...over and over so we started asking him the same and his response is "Stop bothering me" or "Are you messin' with me?" Mother's Day was nice...sweet home made cards from all the kids , clean house , and time to shop.

End of the Year Activites

Wow~ we have been slammed with end of the year activites. I had alot of school volunteering projects to finish. I was able to do both publishing book/parties for Coleman and Olivia's class. It is a "big deal" I have found out for the kids/parents/memories but no one likes to sign up to do the work so since I have 4 kids the odds were I needed to figure out how to do publishing. Nikki (Jack's mom) helped calm me down when the first few (our boys ) books had the pages falling out. I didn't want people to ask "Who in the heck was in charge of publishing this year? These are horrible" B/c of course, I hate to lead....but I was with women who didn't like to be in charge either so still not sure how I became in charge but it went amazingly well for both classess andpages didn't fall out. Although, I did go home and hot glue 6 books that had some loose pages. The school had bought a new binding machine and the school bought a laminator like mine b/c our front art work turned out so well using it and I heard using the iron was horrible. Both parties went well with no complaints (at least to my face ) and no major typos...but I guess they could volunteer next year- ha. Glad to have the knowledge and next year will be a breeze. Paying my dues and I appreciate my mom and I'm glad I get to be involved and do projects like this. Coleman's book was "ABC all about Me" book and Olivia was "What I Want to Be When I Grow Up"

MY BOYS

Walker

Walker got a haircut at the end of April. He did great although i made the mistake of telling him one day when he said he couldn't walk b/c his legs were hurting did he want me to cut his legs off....well it stuck with him and he is always asking if the doctor is going to cut his ear off...or cut Coleman's throat off...b/c of a sore throat so he was worried it was going to hurt to cut his hair even though I have trimmed it at home. He tells everyone "me can no like you...me like my nana"...this includes strangers, his wonderful mother, his teachers so we are working on loving more than one person and not saying things to hurt peoples feelings. He told me "whatever" this week when he couldn't find his clothes on the couch and when I showed them to him he mumbled "whatever" and I said " what did you say?" and started singing "i'm so sorry...I'm so sorry". He's a little obsessed with my mom..takes the phone out of the room to talk and wants me to stay in the other room. When she comes to visit, he asks her the whole time "you staying at my house..you not going home" and when she does leave he cries and pleads "please , don't leave me nana. I want to go with you. I love you nana" I told my mom if you didn't know him you'd think he lived in an abused home but ususally 30 min. later he is ok and I'm his #1 as along as Nana isn't there...but she is always there in our discussions and only mentions her 30x a day..but i'm glad he loves her that much and that she is able to put up with his obsession. Coleman was like this but they lived in AR so she kept him for 2 weeks and he didnt' want to come home when he was around 3 so no telling how bad it would be if she had lived in GA when he was little. Olivia was always a mommy's girl..although she loved nana/poppa's she was noton the obsession level.