Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Jolie is 5!!!

Well, it's official, we only have one "baby" left in our house.  I can't believe I can now say I have a 6.5 year old, 5 year old, and 2 (as of this coming Sunday) year old.  What has happened to these last 6.5 years???

Jolie Hannah is one of the most amazing people I have ever met.  She is kind hearted and loving.  She is smart, beautiful, and loves to laugh.  She loves to question things and figure out how things work.  She is one of the fastest thinking people I know and answer an answer for everything :)  I am so blessed that God chose me to be her Mommy.  I love that little girl so much and can not wait to see the woman she turns into.

Bless her heart she was counting down the days until her birthday.  She was so excited.  Friday (her birthday) I dressed her real pretty for school and dropped her off.





But she didn't know that Joe and I planned to surprise her that afternoon with a mini party at school.  As soon as I got off work at 2:00 I rushed home, got Joe and we headed to MCDP.  Her class was in another classroom so we put out plates, napkins, kool-aid jammers, mini-cupcakes, goldfish, and each kid got a an eraser that either looked like a animal or truck, airplane, etc.  We bought a balloon and put it at her seat.  Then Ms. Jessie went and got Jolie's class.  All the kids walked in and were so excited to see the classroom.  Jolie's little face lit up when she saw Joe and I.  We sang her happy birthday, she got to blow out the candles on her cupcake, and she and her friends ate and played with their new erasers.  When they finished up I got down on the floor and read them probably 6 or 7 books.  I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures from school or dinner :(

After that we cleaned up and headed to Bass Pro Shops.  She was so cute.  She kept walking up to random BPS employees and telling them that today was her birthday and she was five.  She was so darn cute.  After BPS we met Aunt Sheila, Uncle Quint, Caden, and Ansleigh at Mellow Mushroom for dinner, leftover cupcakes and some presents and cards from Grammy and Other Mama & Pap-Paw.  Joe and I gave her a cross necklace and matching earrings.  Josie got her a book and a purse full of goodies, Joel got her a Hello Kitty cup and a pair of sparklie knock-off Tom shoes, and Caden & Ansleigh got her some My Little Ponies.  This year she has been especially excited about cards.  She got one from the "Church Mouse" from First Pres and she has carried that thing around and not let Josie touch it.  The cards she got at dinner she put in her purse for save keeping.  Most kids could care less about the cards after their opeend.  Along with the cards, she stuffed everything she could into her purse and was ready to go to the Mall to get her ears pierced.  So we said our goodbyes to Josie, Joel, Caden, Ansleigh, Joe & Quint and Sheila, Jolie and I headed to Claires at the Mall. 

Jolie looked at earring options and new immediately she wanted the pink hearts.  She climbed up in the chair and did great.  She never cried or even said ouch.  It was so cute because later Sheila kept going on and on about proud she was of Jolie and Jolie responded, "You wouldn't have been proud of me if I had cried."  Sheila assured her she would have been :)









After Claires we headed over to Jolie's new favorite store, Bath & Body Works.  She walked in telling everyone that she it was her birthday, that she was 5, and that she had just gotten hear ears pierced.  The girls fell in love with her and wanted to give her the sparkle treatment for her birthday.  They gave her a special sparkly lotion to put on her legs and then found some sparkly lip gloss for her lips.  Jolie loved every second of it.





After the Mall we took her for some frozen yogurt.  All in all I would say she had a fabulous birthday. 

On the way home from dropping Aunt Sheila off she and I somehow got into a deep discussion about God.  She made a comment that he is everywhere.  And I said yes, he is always with us no matter what.  And she said something about being sad, and I told her that God is with us when we are sad and that if you ask God to give you a hug if you sit real still, you can feel him with you.  So the next thing I hear is, "God, I want a hug."  She said, "Mommy I don't feel anything."  I asked, "Are you sitting real still?  Sometimes you have to close your eyes even."  She waited a few seconds and then said, "Mommy I feel him.  He's soft.  God, Mommy needs a hug.  Mommy can you feel him?  Isn't he soft?"    Oh, how I love this precious little girl.  I know God has big plans for her. 

I'll end with Jolie through the years:
(I apologize, they started out in order, but then towards the end they are not)





                        
































Thursday, September 20, 2012

Mustang in Training

Joel is thriving at MCDP.  He will repeat anything you say to him, loves playing with his new friends, is learning his colors, shapes, numbers, letters, and like his sisters loves to learn new things.  His biggest milestone at the current time is giving up his paci.  Tuesday the teachers told us they would really like for us work on taking it away from him.  I thought long and hard about how we could do this.  Joel loves Browning.  So Joe and Joel walked outside and gave his paci to Browning so that Browning could sleep better at night.  He cried for it a little bit Tuesday night before we put him to bed but once we put him in his bed, he never cried for it.  The next morning was a little harder.  Joel loves his paci and lovie aka "Chops" first thing in the morning like most people love coffee.  He cried and fussed for it, but I reminded him that he gave it to Browning and started talking about his friends at school and he never said another word.  They did have to give it to him at nap time yesterday but as soon as nap time was over he gave it right back to his teachers.  Last night he did fine at church without it, but had a little trouble going to sleep.  I ended up rocking him (which of course I don't mind at all, be still my heart), and this morning he only fussed a little.  I'm sure each day will get easier, but I just can not believe how much of a big boy he is or that he will be 2 in 10 days. 

I don't know about y'all, but when I hear people talk about a place or a person, I like to picture that place or person. It is always interesting to finally meet or see a person after hearing much talk of him/her/it.  I talk quite often about MCDP and now I finally have pictures of Joel's classroom. They are the "Mustangs in Training" because the mascot for the school system the kids are in is the Mustangs.  They recently redid the classroom to make the room for the younger class they just added.








This is a picture they texted me yesterday.  He got a hold of the director's (Ms. Cynthia) drink and started sipping.  His little hands around this huge cup crack me up.