Catching Up Again...

Here I am catching up again...

Friday, May 11th was our 10 year anniversary. Joe and I have known each other and been in a "relationship" since we were 13 or 14, so we have been together 16 years total, but ten years in a marriage is pretty good these days. I have the best sister-in-law who told me I was going to bring the kids to her Friday night so that Joe and I could go out. We weren't going to go out since we have our beach trip in June, but she told me I didn't have a choice in it. Who can argue with that!! So Joe and I went out to dinner and then we went to downtown Prattville and walked around. It was beautiful. The fountain, and the creek, the lights in the old downtown. We had a beautiful walk.

The kids also had a blast playing with Caden and Ansleigh. And Aunt Sheila even took the bigger kids out for some yummy dessert.

While Joe was at work Saturday morning the kids and I took Nanny and Other Mama out to breakfast for Mother's Day, and when Joe got we went up to his Grandmother's to visit with her. It was a good day of celebrating special women in our life. Sunday the kids and I went to church and after Joe got home the kids gave them their presents. They were all so thoughtful. That night Josie finished up her Awana book at Awana.

This past Friday was Jolie's end of the year program at school. Joe took off work to be there. She had been practicing so hard her songs for the program, "Skidamarink," "In the Lord's Army," and a song they call "Tootie-T-Ta." Joe recorded it so that I could see the program. She did a great job singing. After the program Joe and Jolie came and met me for lunch. It was nice for us both to have that one-on-one time with Jolie. After that Jolie and Joe went to my dad's to put new brakes on the van. When I got off work I went and picked up Josie and she and I had some one-on-one time grocery shopping. That evening the girls and I went to Caden's year end program at school. He also did a great job and was the cutest lion in Noah's Ark there ever was. He did so good singing and reciting his Bible verses. We stuck around to tell him how proud of him we were and I think it meant a lot to him that the girls were there. I love how close they are growing up. Joe and Joel didn't go b/c the program started at 7:00 p.m. which is about 30 minutes past Joel's bedtime.

The next morning we got up and walked a couple blocks to the tractor pull. The kids had a great time looking at the animals, looking at the tractors, playing in the kid area which consisted of face painting, go fish, digging in the sand, darts, putt-putt, and two bouncy houses (ALL FREE!!).

 After walking around and getting sufficiently hot we supported the Elmore Methodist Church by buying some hamburgers and hotdogs and sitting down to cool off and eat. After eating we walked home to put Joel to bed before we had to leave for the crawfish boil with our friends from church. We had a blast. There was tons of food, tons of people, and the energy was so much fun. Jolie ate 3 platefulls of crawfish. I think she impressed some grown men that were there.

Sunday was a busy day. We went to Sunday School and about 30 minutes of church and then snuck out to meet Rebecca, Angie, Quint, Sheila, Cande, Ansleigh, MeMaw and Paw-Paw at Mellow Mushroom in Montgomery for MeMaw's Mother's Day lunch. The food was great, but the fellowship was better.

After lunch we headed home for about an hour of quiet time. We had to be back at our church by 4:00 p.m. for Josie's performance with the children's choir.

As soon as that was over we drove straight to New Home for the girls' Awana Ceremony. They both received awards for finishing a book. Other Mama, MeMaw, and Paw-Paw came to support them too.

 (The big ball of hair walking away from the table is Jolie receiving her Cubbie award.  She didn't stand still long enough for me to get a good picture.)

 Josie receiving her to ribbons.

This week we have been crazy cleaning. A woman from church is coming to our house Thursday to keep Joel because his daycare is closed. That is also the day of Josie's award day at school. I am taking off that morning to be there.

Joe is busy at work because this weekend is Greenville's big tournament. He tells me he doesn't have to work this weekend, but we shall see.

We don't have any plans for the weekend except Annaleigh's birthday party Sunday afternoon.

Next Thursday is Josie's last day of school. I can't believe it. This year has flown by and she has learned so much in one year. That weekend is the weekend of our beach trip. I can't wait. I think I'm most excited about the sleep :)

Catching Up for March, April, and a Little Bit of May

I have had several people ask me lately why they haven't been getting my blog. The answer- I haven't written one since the end of February. So I'm only a little over two months behind. The site I use to do my blogs was making changes, and it just was not worth it trying to fight it so I just didn't write any new posts.

In all honestly I can't remember everything that has gone on in these past two months. So this is what I can remember...

Josie had a Dr. Seuss week at school in March and Jolie had a Dr. Seuss day:

The girls' Spring Break they spent with me at work, one day with Joe so he could take them to the dentist, one day with Aunt Mona, and one afternoon with their friends from church Stanton and Jo. It was a good week for them.

I know I missed Easter:

I know I got photo evidence of one of my children watching TV. The girls will not sit still long enough to watch TV unless you tell them they can watch a movie instead of going to bed. This night Joel was entranced by the movie "Cars."

I know both girls had field trips to the zoo. I went with Jolie and Joe went with Josie.

I know we've been to some birthday parties:

I know we went to the Fly-In and Peach Park on our way to see Joe's grandmother in Alabaster after her surgery:

I know Jolie took up offering for the first time at church. She did really good for only being given a ten to fifteen minute warning that she was doing it. She has done it a couple of times since then and continues to get better. I was so proud of her.

I know I gave Joel a hair cut the other night and we finally turned his car seat around. Your are supposed to leave it rear facing until they are one or twenty pounds, which means we could have turned it around way before he turned one, but I read that it is safest to leave it rear facing as long as you can. Plus at that time the girls were in the seat behind him and he could see them. (We have since moved Jolie to the seat beside Joel b/c of Josie and Jolie fighting/fussing.) Well the poor guy was getting cramped with his feet pushing up against the seat so we decided to turn his car seat around. He loves it.

I know we went to the Bass Pro Shops in Leeds on our way to a birthday party.

And this is just a really cute picture of Joel and Jolie both in his coup car:

Those are the highlights. Right off I can't think of all the day to day things that happened. I will update you on everyone though.

Josie: At 3:00 p.m. today Josie will only have 16 more days as a kindergartener, then she will be a first grader. She had done awesome. We could not be more proud. She is reading, doing math, writing, and soaking up everything her teacher tells her. She has another wiggly tooth, the one beside the one she lost. She had a bad fight with some monkey bars this weekend and busted her mouth and lip, but didn't knock any other teeth loose, thank goodness. Josie has her awards ceremony at school on Thursday, May 24th. I can't believe the school year is almost over.

Jolie: Jolie has one more year at MCDP because her birthday falls about 20 days after the cutoff date. She is loving being in Ms. Jessie's class and is learning everything she needs to get ready for kindergarten. I've seen a huge improvement in her writing here lately. The girls got bunk beds sometime in the past month or so and she claimed the top bunk. She has done great with it and their room has so much more room for them to play. Jolie has her end of the year program on Friday, May 18th. She has been practicing really hard.

Joel: Is 19.5 months old and his learning new words every day. He can say "sit down," "stop," "choo-choo" (he says it every time he hears the train close to our house), and a lot more. I've heard him say "Josie" or some form of it a couple of times, but he has not said Jolie's name yet. He is all boy and loves playing outside. In fact, no matter how red his face is from being outside, if you try to take him in, he'll scream and cry. He is still a little snuggle buddy and such a sweetheart.

Joe: Joe applied for an Alabama Power job a month or so ago and passed two of the tests to be weeded out for interviews. Shortly after passing the second test we found out that for some reason they were going to have to start thet whole process over and they would be reposting the job. Well to date they haven't. He is going to put in an application with Hyundai, and anywhere else someone lets us know of. He worked a crazy month or so and was hardly around, but May has been a little better.

Jess: I'm doing good. Trying to keep my head above water. I'm a little nervous about this summer. I'm having to pay someone to keep Joel some days while Ms. Debbie is out, we will being paying extra for Josie to attend MCDP all day, plus registration fees, plus from what I've been told school supplies will be around $100.00 (The PTA offers boxes of school supplies already made according to each grade's list, but that does not take into consider the teacher's own list.) So if we can manage the summer with all these extra costs we will be doing good. I worry about everything though I guess that is my job. I know God will provide though and worrying will do nothing to fix it. One of us may have to get a second job though, ha.

Friday Joe and I celebrate our ten year anniversary. They have definitely flown by. We we go to the beach the first weekend of June to celebrate. My former boss has a condo that he lets me use once a year, so I thought what better than for an anniversary trip. The girls will stay with Other Mama and Pap-Paw and Joel will stay with Memaw and Paw-Paw.

Sunday is Mother's Day. Joe works this weekend so I'm a little sad he won't be around much for our anniversary or Mother's Day but it is what it is. I'll at least be with my beautiful blessings and the reasons I'm called "Mom" on Sunday. I never really knew or understood unconditional love until I had Josie. And with each child my heart has grown. God must have been crazy to entrust these precious beings to me, but for some reason he did, and I love him all the more for it. They are amazing and I pray every day that we will always be a close family, I pray for their future spouses, I pray that they will love and serve God, and I even pray for my future grandchildren. My cup runneth over.

I am also so thankful to have my moms, mother-in-law, my grandmothers (and Joe's), and all my aunts in my life. I remember Maw this Mothers Day, but know that she is looking down enjoying watching her family grow in leaps and bounds. These women have all taught me so much and I pull a little bit of who I am from each one. I thank you for what you mean to my children, and am blessed beyond measure for the love and support I/we receive from you.

The end of July I turn 30. I have been joking with Joe that he has had a woman in her twentys these last six months. (He turned 30 in January.) But I think I'm ready to say goodbye to my 20s. I've always felt older than my age so I think I'll fit in real well with the 30s.

Well I think you are caught up for now. I'm sure some of you are regretting asking where my blog has been.