Summers Out.........Schools In!

Well here are the pics form the kids first day of school! They all love school so much. They all love their teachers already! It is going to be a great year!! I am very optimistic!! :)








They all were showing off their new backpacks! :)



She is so excited about her new transformers lunchbox!! :)







My new Kindergartner!!! :(












Here is Shelby about to walk in to her new school!!

Summer......here and gone

Man it seems like yesterday the kids were getting out of school for the Summer!!!! Where did it go? Why is it seeming shorter and shorter every year? I mean I know ours are shorter now b/c we are "year round" but still! I guess a couple of weeks make s a huge difference! Oh well......now back to the grind of every day life with regular daily routines except for this year I am not going to know what to do with myself b/c my "baby" started Kindergarten! :( It is kind of a yay-boo for me! I am excited to see how much I can get done while they are in school all day with no interruptions but at the same time I am going to be lonely without the interruptions! I am not believing I have a sophomore, 8th grader, 4th grader, 2nd grader and a Kindergartner!!!!! OMGoodness!!!!! Where has the time gone????!!! I'm not sure who reads my blog but those of you that do and have young kids please spend as much time as you can with them whether it be reading books to them or playing a game with them or whatever it is that they like to do b/c it will fly by and you will look back and think....wow where did the time go! What did I miss out on when they were little? I try not to think a/b what I missed out on but I know one of the things that has convicted me lately is being on this big gray thing in front of me right now waaaayyyy too much!! I have to limit myself b/c after a while I look at the time and think oh my goodness it has been 3 hours! What could I have done in those 3 hours that needed to be done and what could I have done with my kids in those 3 hrs??! Anyway, Just please please treasure your kids with every moment you can now before they grow up and leave to have their own family! I am not even close to being there but these past few months I have really been thinking ab it a lot. Corey will be graduating in a few years and that will fly by and then he is off to college!!! Oh my!! I cant even think ab that now! He is the one who needs us more right now than ever! The teen years are the hardest and that has really shown this past year. I am praying it gets better this year but I don't think it will. Then we have a girl a/b to be a teenager! Oh my! Pray for me! Please! I need all of the prayers I can get at this point in my life! I absolutely love teenagers so don't get me wrong but boy do they test me sometimes!! If it wasn't for the attitude it would be fine but woah!!!! Hormone city!!! Even boys!!! Oh yes!!! He has been so hormonal lately!! He is a great boy though! I am very thankful for my kids and the way they have really proven themselves in school with their academics and sports. Corey with his grades and sports, Haley with her art! She is amazing! Riley with his reading!! Wowza?! He has been doing awesome!! Straight A's too for him! Kelsey developed a love to read last year and improved so much by the end of the year and Shelby went to preschool and learned all a/b her letters and numbers and learned how to write her name better! The girl can color like no other! Seriously, she stays in the lines better than most 4th graders! She is so particular a/b it. :) They each have something special a/b them in their own way! I love them all so much! I am so thankful for God allowing me to be their mom for this short time on earth!! I cannot wait until the day we will all be in Heaven rejoicing together for eternity!!!! All but Shelby have recieved Christ into their hearts so we are just waiting to be able to rejoice with her in that decision one day soon!! She is very smart so it might be sooner than I think but God only knows! They all got the teachers they wanted this year so we were very excited a/b that today when we went to register so it looks like we have a great year to come!! I am so looking forward to being able to spend more time at the schools this year with them helping out as much as I can! Goodbye Summer, HELLO Fall!!! Yay!! I am so ready for these HOT summer days to be gone!! :) Today is one of the hottest this year at 103!!!! HELLO!!! It has been a hot one! Well, I guess that's all for now, just felt like talking. :) I haven't been on here in a while so........ttfn!

My last Kindergartener

I am not believing my #5, Sheble, Chunka, "baby" is going to Kindergarten in 2 months!!!! :,( It all goes by way too fast!!! I have to say thought that I have tried my best to savor and cherish every minute with her these past 2 years while she has been home with me only. We have done a lot of things just by ourselves. I will soo miss her in August but I know God will take care of her just like he has all of the rest of my babies. Still doesn't mean the process is any easier!! We had graduation the other night for her and the poor baby had strep throat, which we didn't know until the next morning after I took her to the dr. She was complaining about her throat but didn't have a fever and it didn't look too awful so we went ahead and went to graduation and she did great on stage and everything until after the whole thing was over and she came up to me and started balling that her throat hurt! I was so proud of her for sticking it out!!! Sweet girl! We took her and she got a shot and was a totally different child the next day! :) So she got to go to her last official day of pre-k. They had water day but it was kind of chilly so she didn't participate much. :)















A few of her friends





They learn a lot about the fruits of the spirit!



Our director, Michele



They sang a lot of songs. It was really cute!


Getting her Diploma


Her awesome teachers, Mrs. Jennifer and Mrs. Ann







Bless her heart...she doesn't feel well!! :(


Grandmother being silly.


Shelby and Linzy

Milestones

Well our two youngest girls have had a few milestones, I guess you could call it. Kelsey lost her first tooth and Shelby got signed up for Kindergarten!! :( I am sad but happy all at the same time! I love watching them grow but wish to hang on to them for a bit longer every time they hit another milestone!

Our "pond" plus some

Well, we have had some crazy weather here in Nashville the last few days and it has caused some major flooding around town! I don't have any pictures of places flooded but the kids went out on the property yesterday and found this small pond in our very back part of the field. They had so much fun playing in it for a little while. Even the big kid went with them of course! I stayed in the house nice and dry. :) I know..... I'm a party pooper. :) Anyway, we were going into the garage yesterday to leave to go to the store and I saw that the floor was wet in one part of the garage and so we had to clean it out and get it dried up. There are a lot of antiques in there that would've gotten ruined so I am glad we saw it. We were planning on working on that today actually. The weather is beautiful today but Don is not feeling well for some reason so we haven't touched it but hopefully this afternoon we can tackle that again and get some things taken care of. We will see. The other pics on here are a cute one of Shelby that I just had to share. She always has some kind of cute crazy colorful outfit on!! She is so beautiful no matter what she has on1 :) And then there's the pic of me in all of my glory with the poison ivy on my face looking like a lion. LOL! I got a secondary infection on my nose and it all got so swollen!! :) It is much better but I cannot seem to kick the ivy!! UGH! I have been on a steroid and antibiotic all week and it is still not going away!! It is on my torso the worst right now and it is on some of my legs and arms. Lesson learned!!!! :/ Well hope you enjoy the pics! I have got to go finish painting the little girls bathroom!!!! It is taking me so long bc I haven't been able to stay on it!! Stay tuned for pics of that soon! :)

Game night

'We had game night the other day and the kids wanted to play monopoly. We haven't ever played that with them bc of the younger ones. They cant really play it and plus it takes so long to play so we decided to play with the older three after the youngest two went to bed. They loved it! Don, of course whipped our butts but it was fun and a very good learning experience for them. It took FOREVER!!!!! We were up really late. I ended up going to bed bc Corey and Don were still deep in it and I was so tired! Haley fell asleep on the couch and Riley ended up finally saying he was too tired and went up to bed too. Fun was had by all in the end though. We played for a few nights in a row.

Thrifty Finds

I have too many things to blog about so I am just going to start with this one and then add one a day or something. I have been doing a lot of Goodwill trips and I went to the Flea Market here in Nashville for the first time last weekend. It was HUGE! I LOVED it b/c it was like a huge garage sale but I only spent $32.Which is very good for me!!! I could have spent a fortune!! There were sooo many beautiful pieces of furniture I would have loved to buy!!! I found some great things that I loved and had to have. I was very picky. Some of the stuff there was so outrageously priced! I couldn't believe it!! I have become cheaper than I used to be though. Which can be a good thing! :) Anyway, the one thing I did splurge on was a cover for my new phone. I loved it and it was cheaper than any I had seen so I got it. It was $10. Everything else I got was like $5. One of my favorite things I recently got at a thrift store is a bench to go at the end of my bed. It is an antique and needs to be painted and reupholstered which I am VERY excited about doing!!! It was $25 and the guy wouldn't budge on the price b/c he said he just put it out. SURE!! UGH! But I thought that wasn't too bad for a piece of antique furniture! It is beautiful and I cannot wait to show you the after picture. Not sure when that will be but hopefully soon! LOL! I have also been getting a few things here and there at the Goodwill stores here. I haven't hit any other ones yet b/c honestly I don't need to right now. I have been doing a little spray painting at a time but haven't finished yet. I will show you what I got. I am going to go garage sale-ing in my own garage soon since the weather has gotten warmer. See when we moved in here with my Grandmother we had a huge sale and a lot of things didn't sell so it has been packed for 3 years now with stuff that I could probably use. My decorating style has changed a little since we moved in and since I have been reading all of these awesome blogs about repainting furniture and stuff my mind has opened up to broader things!! So....as soon as I can I am going to go down there and see what we can repaint and keep around for free!!!! Actually for the cost of the paint. LOL! Can't beat that though! :) Anyway enough talk enjoy the pics! :)





Isnt it beautiful! minus the torn nasty cover.



I mean look at the legs!!!


Isn't this the cutest little jewelry hanger!! It's going in my little girls room. One day they will have some jewelry to put on it! I couldn't resist! This was a flea market find.


another flea market find! Love these!


this was $2 at the flea market.


and this was $4 at the flea market. I should've asked him if he would take less but I didn't!


back to Goodwill finds.......


Love these 3 plates! for .99 each!!


look how beautiful they are!



big basket!


a tin wall hanging thing. LOL! I painted it heirloom white and it is beautiful. I am going to put it in my foyer I think.


I am not sure yet if I want to do something with this or not. I loved it b/c of the verse and it is a good heavy piece of wood with holes in the back to hang. Just a good solid piece. I may take the stars off and paint another verse on it. Not quite sure yet. It was 2.99 so hey.....


this is a candle holder thing for my long table. I think. Not sure where I am putting it yet but I will find a place.


This lamp was $2.99 without a shade. I will paint it and find a shade for it.


a few other things I got at Goodwill. Love the candle holders. planning on painting the yellow looking candle holder.


I fell in love with this tray!!!!! and cute little heart hanging thing.

So......as soon as I get some things done I will post after pics! :)