Going Green...

my thumb, that is.

I've always had a black thumb. I can look at a plant and it withers up and dies. Honestly, if plants had feet, they would run far, far away from me.

But I'm determined to develop a green thumb. I want to make things grow and thrive, not waste away.

I've managed to keep this baby alive all summer long (in some pretty extreme heat, mind you).

And these beauties, they are doing pretty well.

So with all my outside success, I've decided to try a house plant.

There were some plants left after my Pawpaw's funeral, so I brought one home with me. We are going on a week of keeping it alive! I'm so good. Ha!

This isn't the best picture, but I really need to clean up the table it is sitting on so you can get a good idea of how it looks. But you get the idea, for now.

Have I just been lucky this summer? Or has my thumb really gone green? Only time will tell.

Any advice on making plants grow? And do you think that if I can keep these babies alive I could grow a garden? Or am I just being silly??

Home.

Home.

I've spent the last week away from home. I was surrounded by family and friends, so even though I wasn't physically home, I was home.

I went to visit my Nanny and some cousins last Thursday, for the day. I took a bag in case we decided to stay the night. We did. Friday morning I realized Jared needed to get away so I talked him into coming Friday night so he could actually relax (you know how it is sometimes hard to relax at home because there always seems to be so much to do).

Saturday morning I got a call from my dad - my Pawpaw had taken a bad turn.

You know how sometimes, you can't explain it, but you know that you need to do something. That was us. For some reason, I knew I needed to stay at Nanny's for a couple of extra days. I couldn't explain why, but I worked it out. That was God. He kept me there so I was so close when Pawpaw got so sick.

So Saturday morning Jared and I went down to the nursing home to see Pawpaw. I'm so thankful I was there. I was able to hug him and kiss his sweet head that day. We visited for a while before I had to leave to get back to my babies.

When we left, Jared and I both knew that Pawpaw wouldn't be able to live long like this. I will spare you the details, but it wasn't good. He had cancer that had truly taken over his whole body. Jared had to get home Saturday evening but we decided the girls and I should stay. I just felt like I needed to spend every minute I could with Pawpaw and Mamaw. So after I got the girls in bed Saturday night, I went back to see Pawpaw.

I sat in his room. I watched my aunt hold Pawpaw's hand, like only a daughter and daddy can do. I saw him, eyes closed, reach out for whoever was there. The nearest person would hold his hand, giving him comfort in such a miserable time. I just sat there, feeling so blessed to be able to be a part of this.

Sunday morning I went back after church. I sat there and prayed that he would hold on so my dad could get there (he had been out of town with some buddies and would be there Sunday afternoon). Again, I got the girls in bed that night and headed back to the nursing home. I spent that evening sitting in Pawpaw's room with my dad, some aunts and uncles, and some cousins, sharing memories. Blessings.

I woke up Monday morning to the call I had been expecting from my dad.

Pawpaw went Home.

I spent the rest of this week celebrating a truly great life with my family and dear friends. Pawpaw lived on this earth almost 91 years. He spent the last nearly 71 years loving my Mamaw. He was an ever faithful servant of the Lord. He spent his life working hard to provide for his family and taught them how to love and forgive and to work hard. He was a father to twelve, grandfather to 24, and great-grandfather to 45. He was proud of his family. He is now Home.

My heart is broken for my Mamaw and for all of us as we go on without Pawpaw here. If you wish, I know Mamaw could use a prayer or two as she settles back into "real" life without the Love of her life. We miss him dearly. And although our hearts are sad, we are all rejoicing because we know Pawpaw is cancer free, pain free, with a restored body in Heaven right now. Home.

Jared, Peyton, Me, Dad, Mika, Mamaw, Pawpaw, Laila, Whitney, and Brent at the Family Reunion this summer.

While I was missing home this week, I knew I was home because home really is wherever your family is. And nearly all of our huge family came together to honor Pawpaw. I'm so thankful that I live so close to Mamaw (a little over an hour away) and I am able to see her often. She loves my babies and they adore her. One day they will realize how blessed they are to have her and Pawpaw as great-grandparents.

Now I am home. Back to "reality". My body is exhausted. I'm slowly working on getting the house back in order, laundry done, dishes cleaned, phone calls made, groceries bought, blogs caught up on, emails answered, and on, and on. And most of all, I'm looking forward to spending this weekend with Jared and the girls, at home.

Six Girls and a "Van"

We had a girl weekend last weekend.

Mom (Mimi) and Nanny came to our house Thursday evening after mom got off work and we loaded all six of us in my vehicle and headed north. We were going to Sis's for the weekend to help her get her classroom ready for Open House tonight and school to start on Thursday. My Tahoe (or "Van", as Nanny likes to call it, haha!) was loaded down. We packed all of our stuff in and left only enough room for our bodies. No lie.

After making two stops on our three hour trip, we arrived Thursday night around 9:30. We checked into our hotel and unloaded ALL OF OUR STUFF. Oh my, I packed extremely light for me and the girls and we still had a LOAD!

But it was worth it. And I actually needed all the stuff I brought. Anyway, my packing triumph is not the point of this post....

Friday morning we got up and got going. We met Whit in her classroom so we could all get to work! We started a movie for the girls and gathered some books and such for them to play with and we started in. I'll admit, her classroom was not a pretty sight Friday morning. But we got things moved around and hung on the walls and it started to come together. And once the bulletin boards were covered, it magically transformed into a real classroom!

Above the computer desk.

The cubby hole area.

The reading corner.

Beside the whiteboard at the front of the class.

Hanging on her classroom door - don't want the kids to end up in the wrong class!

The other side of the cubby area.

Doesn't the bulletin board change the whole look? This board eventually got a Fancy Nancy added to it, of course I didn't get a picture :( It was A-dorable, though. Trust me.

The bright colors make it such a fun classroom!

This is the bulletin board outside her classroom, in the hallway. It eventually got cute little people put on it. Again, I didn't get a picture. 

She and I worked all day Friday. The girls went back to the hotel after lunch with Nanny and Mimi to nap and swim (lucky babies!).

We all met back up for dinner - Marketplace!!! Oh how I love their Strawberry Stack! I enjoyed introducing my girls to it - they loved it too. :)

Saturday started early and back in the classroom for a couple of hours. We finished some things up in there then left to go eat lunch and do some shopping! We just thought we had gotten rid of so much of the things we brought with us (we brought a lot of stuff for Sis and her room).

After a quick lunch, we hit up Sam's and then the mall. Peyton needs new fall/winter clothes but the younger babies are pretty much set. I love being able to pass down their clothes. I don't feel so bad about spending so much money on them because I know they get SO MUCH use! Anywho, we were able to find some cute, cute stuff for P.

We came home with more than we left with, I believe. We came home with skinny jeans for my big girls. Ha! They are ever so adorable. Some cute tops and down vests for the big girls. New shoes for Mommy! A license plate for Daddy's new ride. A new shirt for Daddy. Pig bookends that I couldn't leave in the store :)

Seriously, how cute are they? They have a new home on our media cabinet in the living room. Right now they are holding up picture albums, but that may change when I have some time to play around with it.

And finally, we came home with one more tooth than we left with!

I realize it is hard to see, but there are now 2 teeth in that precious mouth. 

It was a great girl weekend and I can't wait until the next one (we have one planned in October if we don't get to do another one before then). We had a lot of fun and got A LOT accomplished. I'm so blessed to have my mom and Nanny. They are SO GOOD to me and my family and we wouldn't know what to do without them. And I'm so thankful I was able to help Whitney. She was overwhelmed before we got there, but we buckled down and got her room fixed up. She made it through open house tonight and is ready for school to start Thursday.

Now we are settling into a normal, slow, not-much-going-on week. I hope it is a great one, for me and for you!

It Isn't Pretty....

but it works.

Today. I've been looking forward/not looking forward to it for a couple of weeks now. Looking forward to going to my sister's tonight to help her with her classroom. NOT looking forward to taking baby girl to the doctor this morning.

While doctor appointments aren't normally a big deal and are something I've come to accept as routine with all the babies and such, I always dread going when I have to take more than one of my girls with me. Nana and Aunt April are relaxing on the beach this week (I'm not jealous.... yeah, right!) so I didn't have my handy babysitters.

So this morning I loaded up all three girls and headed to the doctor. I did my best to be over-prepared. I brought out the BIGGER bag (my diaper bag is big, but this called for the bigger bag) and filled it with crackers, juice cups full of pink lemonade (a favorite around our house lately), fruit snacks, books, Barbies, and anything else I could put in there.

We arrive. I start unloading the kids and start walking to the door. I am carrying Mika in my arms. Huge bag over my shoulder. Two little girls holding onto my free hand. It isn't pretty. Six feet stumbling over each other, three hands tangled together. But it worked. We made it inside.

Not only did we make it inside, but we made it through the appointment, shots and all! And I'm so proud of how good the girls were. It turned out to be a very good experience, minus the shots. And now we are all home, resting and packing for our little trip. And hoping it goes smoothly.

This is about how my life as a mother is..... It isn't pretty, but it works. 

Sneak Peek

For your viewing pleasure.

A peek at what I've done for Whitney's classroom. She wanted me to paint some canvases with some quotes for her room.

This is my favorite of the quotes. For some reason it makes me think of Winnie the Pooh... weird, I know!

All of the projects I've completed for her so far. I love the "K" - it is pink houndstooth print with a turquoise flower and a white flower on it. There is also a bag of magnets that I made for her which I LOVE!

And one last thing....

It is almost football season so I decided I needed to paint us a Hog for our front door! Woo Pig Sooie!!!!!

This is why I've been so absent from the blog lately. I've spent a lot of time on these paintings. I hope they look good in her classroom. I'll be sure to take pictures when we get her room decorated this weekend. 

Love.

I didn't know...

that when my sister got her first teaching job I would be working so much!

Sis called Thursday evening saying she got the job she had wanted. Then she went into panic mode. She is in meetings until Thursday of this week and has open house for the parents next Monday. And she has a bare room (well she's done a little over the weekend).

Since I'm so very protective of her and have always taken care of her, I told her not to worry. I'm going to help her on Thursday for a couple of days. I also have been making cute things for her classroom since Thursday when she called. I have been working non-stop on one project or another and that has left little time for the blog. I can't wait to show you pictures of what I've done for her, but for now that will have to wait. When I get it all done I'll take some pics and share them. Until then, I'll leave you with a list of  our projects.

Inspirational quote paintings - two done, three to go
Cute magnets - done!
Letter "K" for her bookshelf (her last name starts with K) - done!
Welcoming sign for her classroom door - done!
Crayon wreath - done!
Bulletin board - not yet :(
Curtains - not yet :(

She's doing her room in bright colors - pink, turquoise, orange, green, purple, black and white. I can't wait to see it finished!! I also have some other cute things I've made to show you, but I haven't had a chance to photograph them yet. Things should calm down after I get everything done for Whit's classroom.

Happy Monday!

Wednesday Memories

I have been meaning to record these things for some time and I've decided today is the day. Just a few things about my babies that I want to remember:

• Laila calls Pocahontas (the movie) Ocapomas! Absolutely hilarious.
• For some reason, the girls have decided to start calling Jared "Daddy Louis". That is his middle name and they've decided to put it after "Daddy". HA!
• The other night, Peyton introduced Nanny to my dad (they most definitely know each other) by saying, "This is my Pappy, James." Crack. Me. Up.
• Mika is trying so hard to imitate sounds, her little mouth is so cute as she tries to make the "M" sound and the "B" sound. Love her!
• Mika finally rolled over (yay!) and now the big girls have to show me every day how they can roll over. They are so funny. 

Ok, so I had grand plans for this list and I find myself completely exhausted and distracted while typing this post. So rather than draw it out for another 30 minutes or an hour, I'm going to quit now. When I'm done looking for Peyton's disappearing white sandals and I get my house cleaned and I stop sweating because it is hotter than fire outside, then I will be back with some pictures and such!

Love.

Oh my....

We have been a busy bunch of bees lately and I'm SO BEHIND on blogging. I haven't been reading or composing or commenting. But we have been having lots o' fun, so I don't mind being behind. In fact, right now I'm typing on the laptop, in the playroom, on the floor, with a baby sitting in my lap... so don't expect much of a post!

I have no pictures to add, sorry.

The girls and I spontaneously decided to spend last week with my dad. It was wonderful and I will take the time to post much more detailed posts of that week asap! We got to visit some family and some old friends that I haven't seen in FOREVER! It was a great time.

I've been asked to make some shower invitations and a party banner for some people. I managed to get the invitations in the mail today! I plan on finishing the banner tonight so that I can open up my week for some future projects that I hope to be working on. :) As soon as I'm finished with the projects, I'll have some free time to get caught up on the blog.

And a final thought for today.... Is anyone else ready for Fall? It is a cool 100+ degrees here and while I love sweating as much as anyone else (ha!), I'm ready for a cool down! To make my longing for Fall worse, my sister and I did a little shopping last week and I picked up a few things for the girls for the Fall. Now I'm ready to do some serious Fall shopping (within a strict budget) and get them all set for the cooler weather.

Looks like the girls need a customer for their kitchen, so its time for me to "eat" some play food. Hope you all have a great Monday.

:)