Christmas 2012

Jon Kent, Zoey and Nathan,

Merry Christmas!  We have had a blast this Christmas season.  Baking, wrapping presents, opening presents, spending time with family in Alabama and spending time together just us.  It was a good season.  Thank you for making so many memories with me.  Thank you for going along with my family gifts and seeming to enjoy the time spent together.  I really hope that you made memories, too.  Memories that you will be able to look back on and cherish.  I love each of you my babies and I am so thankful that God gave each of you to me as the most precious gifts I will ever be given.  I love you!

Love,

Momma

Happy number 6, Zoey!

Zoey,

Today you turn 6.  How exciting and sad.  You are quickly growing up and staring to spread your wings.  It makes me so proud to see the little girl you are and the woman that I can see you becoming.  Each little step you take is another day that I get to see you grow, learn, love, dream and live.  I hope you have had a wonderful and that your coming year is all you want it to be.  I love you!

Love,

Momma

Happy Number 7, Jon Kent

Jon Kent,

Happy 7th Birthday to my amazing, wonderful, smart, loving, caring, cautious, DS playing, Auburn loving, silly, playful, tenderhearted, basketball playing, little boy!  I hope your birthday was everything you dreamed and w hoped it would be!  I love you!!

Love,

Momma

Disney!

Jon Kent, Zoey and Nathan

Our first family trip to Disney!  What a time it was!  We had so much fun at all the parks.  I was so happy to see how happy each of you were.  Granted, there were times of whining and tiredness and down right bratty behavior, but mostly it was a great family time.  I'm hoping each of you will remember this trip for the rest of your lives and that it won't be the last time we go.  I am so thankful to have been able to see your faces when we first saw the "Walt Disney World" sign.  Oh how excited y'all were.  I hope I never forget how when you go off a ride that was really fun or even scary how each of you would talk 90 to nothing about the ride over and over.  It really was a great week and I am so very glad I got to spend it with you!  I love you all so much!!

Love,

Momma

Just you & me

Nathan,

We are into our second week of spending the day together while you older siblings are off at school.  Can I just say how awesome it's been?  I was a little nervous about it at first because I thought you would be bored and lonely.  But you have really surprised me.  You have become my little helper.  You follow me around and we just have a really good time together.  The past couple of days I have been pushing you in the stroller while I do my daily jog.  Then when we get back we grab something to drink and take the golf cart to the park.  We play there for about 30 minutes or so (mostly me pushing you in the swing).  Afterwards, we will drive through the neighborhood for a bit and come home to rest for a few minutes.  I try to get a few things done (fold clothes, straighten up, unload the dishwasher, etc) while you play with Nova or your toys.  Then we will do school (read, color, draw, learn letters, shapes, colors, etc).  After that we go outside to play or play inside.  Then it's lunch and nap time.  You nap and I try to clean the house or do whatever I can before you wake up.  Once you wake up we go pick up Jon Kent and Zoey from school.  Our days vary some here and there.  We may go to the library one day or run some errands another.  But whatever we are doing I enjoy doing it with you.  You have really surprised me with how agreeable you have been and how well you listen when it's just you and me.  I am cherishing these days, because next year you may be in preschool half a day.  I am soaking up every second I can!  I love you my Nator Tator.  And I am really glad to have this period of time with you!

Love,

Momma

First Day of School 2011

Jon Kent and Zoey,

Happy First Day of School!  Today, y'all both started back to school.  Jon Kent you are in the 1st grade and your teacher is Ms. La Manna.  You've had a hard time remembering her name and kept asking us to tell you your teacher's name was "just one more time".  I think you were pretty excited about your first day back at school.  You were a  little worried though because you only knew of one other person in your class that you knew from last year.  But that's OK, I know you will make new friends and have a great year.  As for you Zoey, you started kindergarten today!  Yay!  Your teachers are Mrs. Holliday and Mrs. Arrington.  You were hoping to have them since Jon Kent had them last year.  They were both excited to see you this year.  Which made my heart very happy.  You were so excited about school that you had a hard time going to sleep last night.  I was excited for you, too.

I hope that both of you have a great year in school.  That you learn a lot and make lifelong friends.  I love you both and I am looking forward to sharing this journey with you.  I love you!!!

Love,

Momma

Surgery Duo

Zoey and Nathan,

Monday you each had umbilical hernia surgery.  It went well and you both have been recovering since.  It was a pretty basic, simple surgery.  A small "smile like" cut was done right inside you belly button to push the hernia back in and then a few stitches were placed to close it back up.  Besides being sore and sleepy y'all both came home just fine.  I have always heard kids bounce back quickly and I believe it.  Both of you are already wanting to run, play, jump, wrestle ride bikes, play soccer, etc.  Most of which you can't do until we get the stitches out. So I guess the hardest part has been keeping y'all still and calm.

I am very proud of how both of you have handled it.  You have really surprised me with how you have taken this whole thing in stride.  I love you and I am glad we have this behind us.

Love,

Momma

Zoey you lost your 1st tooth!

Zoey,

It finally happened.  The day you have been waiting for since Jon Kent lost his first tooth.  Your first baby tooth has finally come out!  And of all places, your tooth fell out while we were in Alabama.  AND you lost it at Granny's house.  You were very excited!  This just shows me that you are steadily growing up.  While I will miss you being little I wouldn't want to stop you from growing.  You are doing such a great job and becoming a wonderful, loving little girl.

You have waited a long time for this, baby girl, so enjoy it!  And enjoy the $5 that the tooth fairy left for you!!

I love you my toothless little girl!!

Love,

Momma

Off to 1st grade

Jon Kent,

Last night you graduated from kindergarten.  You were grinning from ear to ear.  You and your whole kindergarten class (about 100 of you) sang songs and danced all around.  My favorite one was the bee song.  "Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz".  Very cute.

You received your certificate of completion for kindergarten, an owl award for learning all your lightening words and a music award (I was especially proud of the music award because I would love for you to grow up and have a love for music).

After the ceremony we took pictures and then went out to eat.  Your choice.  You chose Arby's.  Then we came home and let you and your sister open your graduation gifts.  You got a new DS game while your sister got a new scooter.

I hope you will remember your graduation forever.  I know it's only kindergarten and you will have high school graduation  and then hopefully college, but it's still a big deal.  It means you are learning and growing and living.  It was a big day in my book and one I will remember always.

I love you Jon Kent and I am so very proud of the little boy you are and the big boy you are becoming!

Love,

Momma

Too Cool for Preschool!

Zoey,

Today you "graduated" from preschool.  It's so hard to really believe that a whole year has gone by and you are already through with 4K.  I can't believe next year you will be in kindergarten.

Today you and your class did a cute "Under the Sea Adventures" program.  Y'all were very cute and adorable and you did so well!  I cried, but "shhh!" don't tell anybody.  I was just so, so, so proud of you!  You got several awards.  You got an award for know all your upper and lower cases letters, an award for getting all "S"s throughout the year and you got a ticket to Six Flags for finishing the reading program.  Again, I am just too proud for words.

I just want you to know that you are growing and learning in leaps and bounds and I couldn't ask for a better daughter than you.  I love you so very, very much and I am looking forward to seeing you continue to learn and grow.  I love you with all my heart, baby girl!

Love,

Momma

You and your class

You and Miss Eskierka

You and Miss Pitts

Tie them shoes baby!

Jon Kent and Zoey,


Y'all have both mastered tying your shoes.  Jon Kent, you have been sooo close for so long and finally have put it all together.  And just in time, too.  Not one whole day later, Zoey you learned how to tie your shoe.  You patiently allowed me to show you and then just copied what I did.  Now, Jon Kent.. you had to figure it out on your own.  You would let me show you, but then you would have to do it on your own. You just rather figure things out for yourself. No shame in that!  There were a few times we thought you had it, but that last step of getting that last bunny ear through always got you.  But you didn't give up!  I am so proud of you for sticking with it!  Zoey, once you learned how to tie your shoe you were eager to show your teachers at school and all your friends.  You came running to the car telling me all the friends you had helped that day tie their shoes.  My little helper!  I am very proud of you, too!

Yay for my first two babies learning how to tie their shoes!!


Love,

Momma

Happy Birthday, Nathan

Nathan,

Today you turned three.  Sadly, it wasn't a happy day.  Well, it was happy.. just not a healthy day.  Yesterday, after a wonderful few days in Alabama (being spoiled rotten) you came down with a stomach virus of some sort.  You threw up all the way home.  Once we got home you threw up a time or two more and passed out for the night.  Minus a few wake ups to get some Gatorade you slept for almost 12 hours.  You woke up feeling only slightly better.  You managed to eat a few bites of breakfast, blow out your candles and open a couple of presents.  You didn't feel good at all though.  You laid around and when we went out to play you sat in my lap.  You finally gave in and ate a few goldfish crackers for lunch and went and took a nap.  But not just any nap.. a FOUR hour long nap.  You woke up again not feeling any better.  You asked for McDonald's for supper but only ate one small bite of chicken.  After we got home you laid around again until finally throwing up a good bit.  It's funny though, once you did that you immediately started acting better and even ate more than you had for the past two days.  You still aren't 100% yet.  That will probably take a few days, but you'll get there.  I am hoping that you will be able to really enjoy your party that we are having in a week for you.  Maybe that will make up for your sickly birthday.

Even though today was a different birthday than I wanted for you, I am still very thankful to have this day to celebrate with you.  To have you in our lives for three years now is an amazing thing.  You are the perfect baby to our family and you fully complete us. Thank you for just being you.  For being stubborn, playful, loving, energetic and just simply wonderful.  Your gappy smile and low pitched voice brighten my days.  Thank you for being my Nator Tator.  I love you and I hope you have a fun filled, amazing 3rd year.

Love,

Momma

Your Gramise

Jon Kent, Zoey and Nathan,

Today marks one year that your Gramsie, my momma went to heaven,  One year of each of your lives that she never got to see.  All the accomplishments and milestones that you have each reached in the past year she never got the pleasure of watching.  However, she got to see so much of your beginnings.  She loved each of you so very much.  More than I think I even knew.  You were her life.  She talked about you, bragged about you, spoiled you.  I grieve more for what you are missing by not having her in your lives.  How she would have added so much to each of your days.  If that is one thing I want you to do for me it's this.. Don't forget her.  Even if you only remember her by pictures or stories that you have been told.. hold on to them.  Cherish them and let your Gramsie live on through each of you.  I love you my sweet babies.. and so did she.

Love,

Momma

Snaggle

Jon Kent,

This morning you lost your third tooth.  Which is pretty amazing since you are just 6 years old and many of your peers have yet to lose their first.  Nonetheless, you are now a snaggled tooth little boy.  A cute one if I do say so myself.  You lost your first top tooth today.  Your front tooth.  It had been loose for awhile, but you wouldn't let anyone pull it.  So this morning while brushing your teeth I brushed it and "pop" out it came.  I was shocked and thrilled for you.  And you were pretty excited yourself.  "I get to put it under my pillow for the tooth fairy", you said.  You couldn't wait to go to school and tell your teachers and show your friends.  And the irony of it all is that you are learning about teeth in school right now.  You came home and called your granny and pawpaw and they were equally excited.  I sent a picture to all the family letting them know you had lost your tooth.

I am so thrilled for you.  I know it makes you happy to have the spot light for a bit.  Sometimes that is hard when you are the oldest of three.  But today you were it and I am so proud to be your momma.  Always am.  So enjoy the money from the tooth fairy.  Story has it that she gave you $20.  Something about not having any dollar bills and wanting to give you a little extra for your DS that you are wanting.  Good tooth fairy she must be.

I love you bubba, always and always.

Love,

Momma

100th Day of School

Jon Kent and Zoey,

Today was your 100th day of school.  Sadly though, Jon Kent you didn't get to go.  You had strep throat, which you seem to be getting fairly often.  It's gotten to the point where it doesn't really seem to faze you too much.  You are already acting 100% better, but seeing how it's pretty contagious, you had to miss the fun filled day.  However, your teacher did promise to save you some of the fun.

Zoey, you got to dress up as though you were 100 years old.  You giggled and smiled the whole time I was getting you ready.  You were so proud.  You loved every minute of it.  I have to say, I had a blast dressing you up and putting the powder in your hair.  It was just a really fun time.

Happy 100th day of school!!!


Love,

Momma