Grades are In!

Brag Alert - If you don't want to hear how awesome my kids are, just skip this post!

We are so proud of our kiddos!  Once again, they both have managed to pull straight A's.  This isn't an easy task at a prep school, but we are blessed with smart kids.

Ra has learned how to manage his homework and studies without much if any help from me.  I help with projects and will quiz him if he asks me to help but otherwise, it's all on his shoulders.  It's a great way to see how prepared he is for middle school.  I don't check his work, just his grades and he's doing very well for an ADHD kid without meds!  I've been able to help him learn the tips and tricks necessary for his success in the classroom.  He knows what work needs to be completed first and I let him decided when he's going to start it - usually after about 30-45 min of downtime.  If we wait too long in the evening, his attention is spent.  It will be interesting to see how he does next year with football after school!  Hoping he isn't too tired to focus on his work.  Thankfully he's good about using his time wisely at school to get as much work done as possible so he has more free time at home.

Sissy has managed high marks while spending most of her free time at the gym.  We do a lot of homework on the weekends to get a jump start on spelling words and worksheets.  We keep a book in the car so she can get her reading done while we are driving to school or practices if necessary.  She's now in the gym 11 1/2 hours instead of 7 1/2 at the old gym.  Somehow she's finding a way to make it work.  She loves gymnastics but knows her grades come first.

We don't give them money for their grades because we expect them to do their best without any expectation of something in return.  Instead we take them out for breakfast as a celebration of a quarter of hard work.  They really look forward to going out to breakfast as a family because it doesn't happen as much as they'd like!  The biggest decision is will it be the Beach Diner or Metro Diner!  Lol!

Best Birthday!

After you hit 40, it's all down hill...or is it?  Sadly, I drown my iPad about a month ago but Andy surprised me with a new one for my birthday on top of buying me tickets to Eric Church.  The concert was Friday night and my Daddy surprised me while we were at Disney with a text message that was forwarded to me.  It was from Ken Church (Eric's dad) to Dad's friend, Jamie to my Dad to me stating that my Meet & Greet tickets would be at Will Call and that I should get there by 7 pm!

We got to Will Call and the lady started questioning me about the tickets.  She asked me who arranged them for me.  I replied "Ken Church."  She said "Who?" with a confused look on her face.  I said, "Ken Church, you know, Eric's dad?"  LOL!  Once she realized who it was that arranged it, she found mine right on top of the pile with my name and Ken Church's name on them!  Classic!

Eric was running very late that night so we didn't get a chance to chat or even get a legit autograph - we got pre autographed photos but that's okay.  We did get THIS:

When I met Eric, I told him Jamie Parsons said hi and his response was "Oh, okay."  Then after the pic, he tapped me on the back (like the light bulb went off in his head because, really, why would he expect someone in Jax to know Jamie) and said "Tell Jamie I said hi when you see him!"

Jamie is a friend of my dad's.  My parents went to Israel with Jamie and his wife Wilma.  I got to meet them at Christmas, a year ago.  As we were talking, he asked me what type of music I listen to and of course I answered, Christian and country.  He then asked who I like in the country genre.  On the top of my list were Jason Aldean, Eric Church, ZBB, Luke Bryan, Miranda Lambert, etc.  Come to find out that Jamie's son and Eric grew up together.  His son asked that Eric sing at his first wife's funeral and had Eric sing again at his second marriage to Wilma years later.  When I met Jamie and Wilma they had just had dinner at the Church's (with Eric's parents) the night before!  

When I was with my dad over spring break, I strongly hinted that I'd love Meet & Greet tickets for my birthday.  Well, my daddy delivered!  I was hoping for the M&G last June when Eric was in town for Country Superfest but Jamie was in Israel at the time and there wasn't a way to communicate with him.  I'm so thankful to the effort my dad and his buddy made to make this happen for me!  

We had awesome seats!  When I saw him with my friend Amy, we were in the pit dancing up close, but this was a bit better.  No one was bumping into me!

These Boots...Fabulous song.  All three times I've seen him, he takes a boot or two on stage for the song and then autographs it before sending it back through the crowd.

Devil, Devil - a great song about the evils of the music industry

A great guitar player on top of awesome vocals!

Sissy use to walk around our kitchen in Utah singing this song.  Not one of my prouder mothering moments, but secretly I loved it!

This song holds great memories of a very dear friend who I miss terribly.  She's someone I love and wish I could see more than once a year.

Of course he had to end with Springsteen.

We had so much fun.  I love going to concerts and seeing the artist play their music live - the way it was intended.  I'm so lucky that I've been able to attend a lot of different concerts in my life.  I've seen A LOT of country and Christian concerts, as well as some rock, pop artists.  Andy and I both love music and it feeds our souls.  Funny how a melody sounds like a memory, like a soundtrack to a July, Saturday night...

Thanks Daddy for the best present ever!

World Showcase

Today at school was the first grade country presentations on individual countries.  They call the event "It's Our World" Extravaganza.  The kids learn about a country, find answers to questions from their teacher, decorate a doll to look like someone from that country, present their country info the the class and the parents, then share food from that country.

The night before I started baking a traditional Norwegian wedding cake called a Kransekake.  Andy's friend from work is Norwegian and he gave us the molds for making the cake.  The cake tastes a bit like an almond flavored cookie.  These were my test rings to make sure it turned out alright before I started on the project.

Here they are baking.  I had to make numerous rings for the cake so it took me a while to get them all baked.  I had to make the middle sized rings separately from the inner and outer sized rings on the mold.  It wasn't difficult, but it did take most of my evening.

The next morning I had to ice, stack and decorate the cake.  The pictures I saw had mini flags all over the cake so I printed some on cardstock and used toothpicks.

There were foods from all over the world.  This cake was almost completely gone by the time everyone was finished eating.  Sis took some to school today in her lunch because she liked it so much!  You can see the chocolate bar that Aage gave Sis for her project.  There wasn't ANY of that leftover!  It was really good so I can see why it was gone quickly!

Here she is giving her presentation.  She was a bit nervous but did a great job.  Some of the kids were so quiet you couldn't hear them or stumbling over their words.  My advice to Sis was not to worry about the Norwegian words because no one else would know if she pronounced the correctly or not!  She had a lot of fun doing this project.  All the decorated dolls from the different countries were posted around a globe outside in the hallway.  They were all very creative.

Gymnastics Update

Well, last night Andy went to pick up Sis from a FOUR hour practice.  She only did 2 1/2 hour practices at her old gym.  She handled the 3 hour practice on Tuesday like a champ, but last night resulted in some tears midway through practice.  Sissy told Olivia that she was sad because she missed mom.  Olivia is so sweet.  She took her out for a snack and a chat, then let Sis play for a bit and then she rejoined the girls for practice.  Olivia was super sweet and called me right after Andy picked her up.  She wanted to make sure I knew what happened and how she handled it.   The girls on the team brought Olivia over to talk to Sis instead of teasing her because she was sad.  Some of the girls on her old team teased her because she was the youngest instead of building her up and including her.  How awesome is that?  The head coach actually took the time to make sure that my kid was happy to be at practice instead of acting like a drill sergeant!  She stopped coaching to spend some one on one time with my kid.  THAT alone validates this switch to the new gym.

Olivia told me that last night they spent some time at the end of practice letting the kids try new skills on different pieces of equipment.  The kids got to choose where they wanted to go and then taught them skills from the advanced levels.  Sis was doing more level 4 skills on the bars last night - she hasn't even competed as a level 3 yet!  They really keep it fun for the kids as well as helping them get use to advanced skills in a safe environment so that when they do need to perform the skills, they aren't scared of them.

If my kid is going to spend so much time away from me, I want her around these coaches and kids.  I can't tell you how much it warmed my heart to hear how much the kids and coaches cared about my baby.  She came home happy and bouncing around.  Olivia told me that Sis kept giving her hugs all night and said that Sis is her new favorite kid on team!  This move caused me some stress and anxiety but God has shown me once again to trust his plans.  Sis loves her new gym and her new coaches.  I'm so excited to see how God uses her in this new situation.

Pray For Sis This Week!

She is starting her new gym tonight.  She's so nervous about it, especially because her friend there is still out of town and won't be back till Thursday's practice.  Tonight is a 3 hour practice.  Tomorrow is a 4 hour practice and Thursday is a 2 1/2 hour practice.  She also has practice for 2 hours on Mondays.  It's 11 1/2 hours of practice a week - and I thought 8 hrs/week was a lot!  She did move up to level 3 at this new gym which is why she's there so much.

Her friend is someone from school and church.  They met in Pre-K 4 and they are in the same class at church.  I know how much her presence calms Sis being in a new place.  She's on her own tonight and tomorrow.  I think she's excited but last night there were some tears because she was scared.  Every new experience is scary but thankfully when I dropped her off, she was smiles.  There is an older girl from her former gym who also use to go to her school before she quit to homeschool and spend more time in the gym.  Knowing her has helped calm her nerves too.

It's going to take time to get use to this new schedule and extra hours in the gym.  Please pray that she can handle the amount of time in the gym, get enough sleep, have enough time to get her homework completed so her grades don't slip, and that she forms new friendships with the girls on team.  I know there are a large number of girls on team who go to our church which means those kids come from families with the same values.  I'm hoping she forms some life long friendships.  The head coach at the new gym is incredible and I really like her coaching philosophy - probably because she reminds me of myself as a coach.  This gym is well organized and communicates well.  The coach and I were texting while I was in Disney last week.  She was super excited for Sis to join their team.  That fact alone helped Sis to feel more at ease.

Praying things go smoothly tonight...I'll keep you updated as the week continues.

First Grade Fun

I totally forgot to post this fun field trip that the first grade took in February!  Marineland opened back up and the kids got a chance to go see the dolphins and sea turtles!  What a great trip!  Our kids are so lucky that they take such awesome field trips.  I guess that's a benefit of sending them to a private school.  They took some fun ones in Utah too!

Sissy and I had a great time checking out all the sea life.  The turtles were so big!

But our favorite was seeing the dolphins!

We got to see them do some tricks.

Sissy is so lucky to have such sweet little girlfriends at school.  

These three are the musketeers.  Always planning something!

I also forgot to post pics from their USA Centers for President's Day.  Sis is all prepped for our trip to DC this spring.  She can recognize all the buildings and can't wait to see the museums.  

Her teacher is so sweet.  She loves history too and has instilled this love in my child.

I am so thankful for my kids' school.  No school is perfect and there are things I wish they did differently (the pains of being a teacher and a parent) but it really is a good place for our kids and I can't think of a different school here in Jax that I would rather send them to every day.  They have the sweetest teachers who really do model Christ-like behavior to our babies and in the end, to have adults who pray for my kids and help teach them about Jesus every day, that's what is the most important thing.  

Spring Break 2015

What a whirlwind week it was for me and the kids!  We traveled much of the southeast in just 9 days!  The kids had half days before break started so I picked them up from school on Friday and we headed  straight to North Carolina to visit my parents.  Ra wanted to go to the Toby Mac concert in Asheville on Sunday so we made a long weekend of it and stayed with my parents since they only live an hour away from Asheville.

I think this was the first in a very long time that I have gotten to spend my birthday with my parents!  It was so nice to be spoiled by them.  Mom made birthday cake for me and had a gift waiting when we arrived.  She also spoiled Ra with some GF apple crisp and GF brownies.  She's getting good at making special treats for him and he totally appreciates it.

It rained the first day we were there so the kids enjoyed playing games and with all the toys at Nan & Pap's house.  Sunday it was nicer so we took them to the park to play and burn off their energy before we headed to Asheville.  We had dinner at Tupelo Honey, which came recommended by a few of my friends then walked down to the Civic Center/US Cellular Center for the concert.  Ra got a Capital Kings shirt and a flag and Sis got a Toby Mac poster.

Here we are waiting for the show to start.  We were on the floor in the 11th row!  Yes, they are spoiled, but it's Christian music that they LOVE, so I say spoil them as much as possible to keep the positive influences in their lives!

I love watching my kids singing, worshiping and praising God.  We had so much fun seeing Capital Kings, Mandisa and Toby Mac.  Great show!

Capital Kings is one of Ra's FAVORITE groups.  He was really bummed they didn't play longer.

See why he loves them!

Next up was Mandisa:

Toby Mac!

Sis took a short snooze - until TMac started singing Eye On It really loud and she was quickly up and dancing with me and Ra.

Some old skool - J Train!

His new hit single - Beyond Me

The day after the concert we headed up to West Jefferson to hang out at my parents new cabin.  The kids had the BEST time.  I wasn't surprised though.  My kids are camping junkies.  They have both been camping since they were very little - I think Ra was 2 his first time and Sis was 18 months old.  They love playing in the woods and using their imaginations.  They had so much fun.  They only came inside for food or the bathroom!

Here they are shooting bad guys.  They were playing army and were using sticks for guns and grenades!

This is mom and dad's new cabin.  The cabin was known as Big Rock - the huge rock to the right is also what their cabin is built on top of - there is evidence of the rock in the basement!  They didn't blast the rock, just built on top of it.  I guess they are like the wise man who built his house upon the rock!

Sis got a little cold so Pappy offered her his sweatshirt.  I loved that he still has a WCU sweatshirt!  Brought back memories!

Finding trails in the woods.  I didn't realize how much they missed hiking.  Here at sea level is not as much fun as it is in the mountains.

Practicing his sniper skills.

I loved this cute bird house!  The cabins have quilt squares on their exteriors.  It reminded me of their version of hex signs!  Can't wait to see which one mom chooses for their cabin.

Love spending quality time with my mom!  I miss her so much.

I really didn't want to leave - neither did the kids.  The fireplace was so nice and cozy.

On the way home the skies were beautiful.  They looked like they were on fire - this picture doesn't do it justice because I wasn't able to capture the vivid colors enough.  There were oranges and reds as well as yellows.

The next day we packed up and headed for home.  We were home for less than 15 hours before loading back up and heading out on the road again.  

When we got home it was almost 90 degrees so I had them take a dip in the pool to burn off their energy while I got unpacked and some laundry done.

This time we headed to Disney World with Sissy's best friend's family!  We rented a house for all of us to stay in during our trip.  It was awesome to have so much space for 2 adults and 4 kids.  Thankfully G's brother is the same age as Ra.  They are in the same grade at school but haven't ever been in the same class.  They got along really well on the trip so it was a win-win!

When I turned around and saw these two holding hands on their way into Magic Kingdom on our first day, my heart melted.  They love (and fight) just like sisters and have a very special friendship.

Hope this isn't a glimpse of their future!

Help me Mom!

The second day we spent at Epcot.  We were there all day long and the kids had so much fun!  They did the Agent P scavenger hunt through the United Kingdom, caught a 360 glimpse of Canada, said hello to Alice in Wonderland and Mary Poppins, ate dinner in Germany, tasted Coke from around the world, etc.

Here they are in Innovations earning money to go to college.  Future roommates?

Saving more money for college while Ra supervises.

Epcot was a huge hit with all 4 kids!

It was also the Flower & Garden show at Epcot.  The flowers were gorgeous but my allergies didn't enjoy it!

K found her favorites!

She loves Lady & the Tramp as much as her momma does!

All made with flowers...Seriously?  How do they do it?

 Ra and G designed their car together for Test Track.  They did a great job!

Here is Sis showing off her car design.

 They loved playing inside of the aquarium and being eaten by Bruce!

 A trip to Epcot isn't complete without a stop for food and drink in Germany!

Trying to keep up with the drummers!

On Friday we headed to Hollywood Studios.  Here are Ra and A getting ready to get on the Toy Story Mania ride.  

These two were busy building twin Lego mini-figures at the Lego store in Downtown Disney after a long day in Hollywood Studios.

The kids had a blast together.  They all pin traded, hunted Hidden Mickey's, rode rides together, learned new things about countries and science, saw shows and made great memories.

The next morning, Lynn and her kids headed home early while me and my crew headed back to Hollywood Studios to ride our favorite coaster - The Rockin Roller Coaster.  We rode it twice because we got there early and it was only a 15 minute stand by wait time.  We also had an early fast pass so we rode it twice in a row!  We are adrenaline junkies and can't get enough of roller coasters.  Lynn and her kids aren't crazy about them - at least she and A aren't.  G loved Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom and probably would have ridden the Rockin' Roller Coaster with us if the line wasn't so long.

Here is my baby girl devouring a HUGE donut while we waited for Ra to ride the Tower of Terror.  She's so darn cute!  Love this girl.  She's my buddy.

I think I need a vacation from my vacation.  It was a lot to do to make it work - lots of driving, packing clothes and food, long days, little sleep, etc. but I'm so glad my kids got to experience it.  I'm also glad we have 2 months until our next adventure and that Andy will be along for that one!  I'm grateful that our kids are use to being on the go and are up for anything.  They adjust well to any environment pretty well. I love taking them on adventures and seeing them experience new things.  These two are seasoned travelers at a young age.  I hope they never stop seeking adventure!