What is wrong with this picture?

Two things:

1. My daughter is not wearing a shirt.
2. My son is wearing a skirt and heels.

Maybe that's three things.

Swimming Lessons

We began swimming lessons on Monday night. Another crazy hectic week for us.... why do I do these things? Mark says that I have the kids too "over scheduled" lately... but I've got one more week of work and then we'll be off for 2 1/2 weeks. I can't wait! I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, but I know that's probably not gonna happen either... if the kids sleep til 8:00 it will be awesome! And what am I going to do when I have to go back to working Fridays when school starts in late August????

So back to the swimming lessons.... We decided to sign Cooper up and see how he did on the first night and go from there... He's been pretty skittish around the water, but he is loving him some swim lessons now! My main goal was just to get him more comfortable in the water and I think we've definitely accomplished that. We've got one more week to go so we'll see how he is doing next week.

His teacher, Mr. Vallery, is trying to get him to go under in this pic, I think.... he didn't like that.
Here he is kicking and swimming to his teacher. A week ago he wouldn't have done this... he would get in the water only if Mark or I were in there with him. So he's not jumping off the diving board yet but he's definitely improved!
So I know you're wondering where Kam is in all the pictures?????? After all, she is the one who was so excited to take swimming lessons and wants to swim 24/7 (as long as she doesn't go under!)....

She did ok the first two nights until Mr. Vallery mentioned going under... then she got out of the pool and ran over to the bleachers and wouldn't leave my side. Then on Wednesday when I got there (Mom had to take them b/c I was at tech camp) she was hanging on to our computer guy at HSU, who she's never met before last night. She crawled all over every Mom in the bleachers giving a running commentary the whole time about not wanting to go under, etc. and "Mr. Vallery looking over at her." The child is not scared of any stranger, but is afraid to go under water. Go figure!

This routine started out funny but I was furious with her by the time we left. I told Mark that he could take her back tonight because I wasn't going to!!! So tonight she didn't want to swim so we didn't even make her get dressed. After some more commentary, she left with Mom to go meet Pop to eat.

We'll see how next week goes.... I think I wasted my money on her lessons!

Please Pray!

Please pray for our friend, Mallory Turner, who was in a serious car accident last night. Mal's Aunt Leah is one of my best friends and we have gone to church with Mal and her family all of our lives. They are all very special to us! Mal is 16 and beautiful on the inside and out! This is the update posted on her Aunt Sherri's facebook page tonight:

"Mal has a spinal cord injury and crushed vertebrae in her neck. She will have surgery tomorrow not sure of time yet. She is second surgery. They can not predict right now how much use of her legs she will get back but Mallory is strong and God is the great healer. Thanks for your continued prayers."

Please lift Mal and her doctors up in prayer tomorrow! Thanks!!

VBS 2009

Vacation Bible School was last week and it was such a blast! I worried that the kids and I would be crabby and tired with such a long week, but we made it great! This year's theme was "Crocodile Dock" and it was a hit. This was Cooper's first year to go and he loved it! Here he is singing and dancing with his Pre-K class.

Kam and her friend Abby at the "snack shack".... Kam's not a fan of nachos so they gave her some goldfish later on for her snack. Special treatment already!!!
Here she is during "gator games"... Mom even got in on the games one evening!
This was the closing program on Friday night. The music was awesome this year and I so enjoyed watching my kids sing and do the motions to the songs. Cooper has never been that into singing.... but he was singing like a BIG BOY and doing the motions while we were riding to school last week. I had to fight back tears because I felt like I was seeing another "first" for him.
That's Cooper on the very end getting down!!!

Mark took these pics and note to self: never ask him to take pics again! He was using Mom's camera, which isn't the greatest, but he sat in the very back of the church so there are no close-ups. Kam also loved the music and her very favorite thing was singing on the dock with Bro. Robert each night. She talked about it for days...
All in all, it was a great week! I think that I enjoyed it as much as the kids did.

Recap of Cooper's First Day at Preschool

It's never a good sign when you ask the teacher how the day went and they take a deep breath in and reply, "well...." My stomach immediately went into knots as I braced myself to hear about Cooper's first day at preschool.
I guess the most concerning thing was that he hit his teacher (or tried, I'm not sure if he actually hit her but he swatted at her, nonetheless). I can't say that was a surprise to me because he can be a rough little boy sometimes. Refer to earlier posts if you don't believe me!

He wouldn't potty for the teacher and went through all the Pull-Ups we sent. Consequently, he was wearing a pink Dora Pull-Up when I picked him up. Didn't seem to bother him and he loves Dora anyway.... but I digress.

He wouldn't eat lunch. Again, not a surprise to me at all. The boy can go all day long without eating.... didn't want to sit down for story time... but once he did sit down, he sat still for 4 stories straight! On another positive note, she said he laid down easily and took a good nap.

I have to admit I was a little discouraged after hearing all this but the teacher assured me that this was all normal for a first day. After all, he is testing his boundaries. He doesn't know the kids or the teacher that well so it's just a matter of learning the rules.

I know his teacher Mrs. V and she assured me that he would be fine. She's stubborn and she'll hang in there with him. That's what I love about her! She'll go head to head with them... believe me, she had to go head to head with Kamdyn on more than one occasion!

Of course, I had to ask her if Cooper was the wildest kid she had ever had....I know I shouldn't ask questions like that but I can't seem to help myself.... but her answer was a very emphatic "no," which made me feel better.

Kamdyn gave me and Mom a running commentary (hand motions and all) of how he did which was, coincidentally, word for word what she heard Mrs. V telling me earlier. Except she did add some other details. She said she heard a "lovely noise coming from the kitchen and it was Cooper crying!" because he didn't want to wash his face after lunch....and he would only eat applesauce, etc. Mom and I were rolling at dinner listening to her.

This morning, he went right in to class and sat down with the kids to get ready to sing. Mae (the owner) pretty much told me the same thing Mrs. V did yesterday.... it's just a matter of getting used to the rules and that he would be fine. She did add that he was "beautiful" too... I bet she tells all the moms that, but I loved hearing it!!!!

And, gee, I don't know why I thought that my kid would be perfect on the first day.... look at him at Vacation Bible School last night! More on that in a future post. Let's just say that I think a few preschool workers have earned extra stars on their crowns this week!

And on another note, will someone please tell my husband to pick a camera! These pictures stink!

Cooper's First Day at Mrs. Mae's

Today was Cooper's first day at Mrs. Mae's Preschool. We've been waiting on him to get potty-trained all summer long so he could begin going, but he's been on his own schedule. Imagine that! I began taking him in with me more this summer to pick up Kamdyn so he could get used to being there. I've not taken him in much in the past because he always screamed and threw a fit. I was afraid Mrs. Mae would never take him if she saw him act like that every day!

But last week when we went in he just ran right in and parked himself in the floor with the kids. Mae just looked at me and said, "he's ready to be here, isn't he?" So we decided to start him 2 days a week because the potty training is still not 100%.

We had to stop and get Mom's camera so I could take some pics this morning. Obviously, no one wanted their picture taken!
I finally got them to smile and look at me. Kamdyn has been so excited about Cooper going to school with her. She has asked me every day for the last week when he could go. Mark and I have tried to tell them that they can't fight at school like they do at home. We'll see how that goes!
Here's Cooper waiting on me to get Kam out before we went in. We usually have to redo Kam's hair on the parking lot every morning before we go in.These are not the poses I hoped for this morning... they just wouldn't stand and pose for me so I just started snapping.
Cooper doing his "happy dance" before we went in...
Here I go... I'm such a big boy now!

Every morning the whole group of kids assemble in one room to talk and sing before going to their individual classrooms. We tried to time it where we missed that this morning but it didn't work out. So while all the other kids are singing, Cooper just walked in and started playing.
He did come and give me a hug and kiss before I left to go stand in the hall and watch him through the window.
Mrs. Vanessa took him to sit with his class and he actually sat still and watched everyone sing. He sat by a beautiful little blonde-headed girl...Daddy would be so proud!! Mrs. Mae introduced Cooper to everyone and I could see him smiling. I left right before Kam's class was dismissed because I was afraid she would throw a fit if she saw that I was still at school.

I have a confession to make. When I pulled up to my office, I decided that Cooper was my last baby and that today would be his only "first" day at preschool so I turned around and went back to watch him some more. Mrs. Mae said that when Kam's class was being dismissed he did ask if he was going with "Kam-man" but she explained he was staying with Mrs. Vanessa and he was fine with that.

I watched him through the window playing with another little boy at a center. This was a concern for me because he's not used to having to sit and play without getting up... but he seemed to do fine. Mrs. Vanessa was sitting beside him and he was smiling and laughing (a little too loud, but I'm sure that will get better too).

I'm hoping and praying that the rest of the day will go as well!!!

Airport Drama

About 3 weeks ago, I had to go to Washington, DC, for a work training. I was very apprehensive about going because I had to go alone. We went to Heber for the weekend to visit and Mark and the kids were going to drop me off at the airport on Sunday morning on the way home. I thought it would be fun for the kids to come in and see me off (at least to the escalator since that is as far as anyone not flying can go now). The kids loved the airport when we took Mark a few months ago and it would give me more time to spend with them before I left.

While I was standing in line to print my boarding pass, I heard familiar crying, so I turned around to see Kam sobbing in Mark's arms. She kept saying, "what have I done? what have I done?" This is not the airport scene I imagined.... So I got checked in as soon as I could and headed over to grab my baby and soothe her the best I could.


By the time I got her, she was sobbing, "this is terrible!" over and over. So, of course, I was crying by this time. My baby didn't want me to leave and I felt awful for leaving her. Cooper was oblivious to the whole thing, which is good, because I coudldn't have handled two sobbing babies at the same time.

As I was trying to console Kam, I looked over at Mark who was just shaking his head and mumbling, "you two are such drama queens." What??? I didn't start this scene but how else was I supposed to act when my child was acting this way. I reminded him that he would have reacted the same way had she done this when he went away several months ago.

Several more minutes of drama ensued before I finally had to leave to go up the escalator to security. I waved like an idiot as I rode up with tears in my eyes thinking how traumatized my child was and how it was just going to be the longest week for both of us.

About 5 minutes later, my cell phone rang. I thought sure it was Kamdyn calling to talk to me again. Nah... It was Mark calling to tell me that she was fine as soon as they got in the car and that she actually told him she was glad I was going on a trip. I think he made that last part up, but I was glad she was alright. We both survived the week. I made it home Wednesday night as promised (barely!)...

Ode to Billy Mays

Mark has always loved Billy Mays. So understandably he was way more upset about Billy's death a few weeks ago than the deaths of Michael Jackson or Farrah Fawcett the same week.

So it came as no surprise to me last week when I walked in the bathroom and saw Kamdyn dipping her washcloth in and out of the bathwater talking about how amazing Oxiclean was. I had to laugh out loud because she was delivering a hard sell for some Oxiclean laundry detergent... stains disappear, etc. We don't even use Oxiclean which made it even funnier to me.

I've heard her doing her little commercials several more times since then. I guess Mark was right about Billy Mays after all. And who knows? Maybe Kamdyn has a future in TV.... QVC or HSN, maybe?

Bounce House and Horses...

I'm trying to catch up on some of my blogging... mainly so I can record our summer because I drink too many diet cokes to be able to remember it all!

We recently had a family fun night at church where the kids got to ride horses and play in a bounce house and obstacle course. Kamdyn refused to ride the horses and Cooper wouldn't even go near the gym with the bounce house.

His fear of inflatables begain about 3 months ago at Kamryn's birthday party. Cant' remember if I posted those pics or not...We walked in the party place and the first thing we saw was a HUGE inflatable dinosaur on top of one of the bounce houses. It was over then! Cooper spent the entire party hiding in the party room under the table.

About a month later, we went to another birthday party at a different jump place and it was pretty much the same thing. I had to stand outside with him while he played with those stupid gumball/sticker/tattoo machines the whole time. So it occurred to me when we were pulling in the parking lot at church that this might not go over too well and I was right. Mark had to actually walk him outside and around the gym (rather than through the gym w/the bounceys) to get to the horses.

Pretty girl Hannah volunteered to ride with him. We weren't sure he'd stay on by himself.
She wasn't going to let him fall.
That is a grin you see on his face!
He loved the horseback rides and did not want to get off.Braxton, on the other hand, wasn't as keen on the horses. That's Cecilia riding with him...
I did what I do best at these things... I stood and talked while Kam jumped. I'm sure I see her standing in line somewhere there! We had family movie night last night. My kids only lasted about 45 minutes through it before they got restless. Cooper had eaten 4-5 cinnamon sticks for dinner from the Pizza Shack right before we went so I'm really not surprised he couldn't sit still! We left early (after swiping a cookie for Kam...otherwise, she wasn't going to let me leave) and went home to play outside and burn off some of the sugar before bedtime!

Fishing in Heber

I keep mentioning that my camera is broken, but I don't think I've mentioned that Mark lost my memory card with 600 pictures on it. I think I'm even more upset about it than when I lost my wallet 3 weeks ago. I'm still hoping that both will turn up eventually.

I borrowed Mom's camera a few weeks ago when we went to Heber for the weekend. The kids have been dying to go fishing so Mark and Papaw Sonny took them to Uncle Sprout's pond. It was at least 100 degrees but they were insistent on going... I toured Heber and found a great place to get a pedicure while they were gone.

I don't think Cooper actually caught this fish, but they tried to get him to help reel it in.
I predicted before they left that someone would get a hook in them somewhere and I was right. Mark got one in the thumb courtesy of Cooper.
Kamdyn and Uncle Sprout... she looks like she's just taking it easy while he does all the work.
Mark took these pics but I imagine that my kiddos are jumping up to run when Papaw Sonny brought that fish near them...
I think this pic probably sums the afternoon up... the kids sat under a tree in Uncle Sprout's lap while Papaw, Mark, and Sprout did all the fishing...
After the fishing expedition, we went to visit Nannie. Now Nannie loves all her great-grandkids but we tend to think she is partial to Kamdyn... she calls her the "little princess." LOL! However, she now has another princess in baby Kennedy and Kamdyn is happy to share that title!
Stephen told Mark the last time they visited Nannie that the first thing she said was, "where's Kamdyn?"
Cooper giving me instructions on how to take a picture...
Kamdyn and Aunt Dorothy....
I love Aunt Dorothy. The first time I ever met her was at my wedding shower in Heber. Mark came up to her, gave her a big hug, and asked how Uncle Mack was. She just looked at Mark laughing and said, "Mark, Uncle Mack's been dead a year." I think Mark could have died on the spot but she just laughed!

There's also the story of her bringing two goats to Courtney's office for a wedding present... that one never gets old!

I'm Still Here!

It's been a few weeks since I've posted anything new. It's been crazy busy for me lately and my camera is broken so I've not gotten good pics lately. I've been on vacation, to DC for a work training, and I'm leaving Tuesday to take 45 students to NW Arkansas for 3 days. I said all that to say that I promise to post new pics and stories as soon as I get back later this week. I know my 5 faithful followers will be glad to know this! :)