Chocolate...A Girl's Best Friend!

Mattie had her first experience with homemade chocolate chip cookies the other day. She has such a sweet tooth. I absolutely just love the picture below with her chubby little fingers studying her cookie.

Her eyes show you how tired she was but this didn't stop her from eating her cookie.

"smooshy" face....one of Mattie's new faces!

Let's Just Pretend

Am I really just getting to this? OK so this tells you the kind of week I've had. This is the first time in 15 years that I have been SO overwhelmed with the opening of a school year. As I have always said...I love teaching! It is all the other "stuff" that I can do without and we have a lot of "extra stuff" to deal with this year. With that being said, staying after school till five o'clock is unacceptable. I did it several days this week. And I still didn't get what I needed to get done for my students. I had to bring it all home for the weekend. I have a family and I have a life outside of school. I am a mommy and a wife first. So from this moment on, I have to leave it at the door. Life is just too short to worry about "the extra stuff".

SO here is my belated post. Let's just pretend that I posted this on Tuesday.

Caroline's first day of school. She was up bright and early! So excited about her first day of third grade. She loves her teacher, Mr. Perry. She says he is funny but serious and loves Goofy. We were excited to hear that he spent a lot of time at Roanoke Christian Camp during his childhood years. I think he will be a great match for Caroline.

Abby is now in the seventh grade! where does the time go? Abby was up bright and early too but didn't get ready until after I had left. I told her to make sure Daddy took a picture of her. Do you see a picture? This child of mine has now decided she dislikes her picture taken unless she can take it of herself. You know the "hold the camera backwards and take a chance that your face ends up in the frame". OK we don't have one of those either. Needless to say, she had a great day. I think she is more excited about her friends than any teachers or books. Let's face it. She's almost thirteen. However, we are so excited that the first grade she brought home was a 98! We are praying that this is a sign of good things to come!

Please Pray!

This weeks has been so tough for me with the first week of school. I am so behind on the blogs and postings.

This is a post that saddens me to write. One of our church family members lost their 4 month old boy on Tuesday. He had rolled over onto his tummy at daycare while in his crib. The daycare worker found him unresponsive. My heart hurts so much for this family. Sometimes it is so hard to understand God's plan. I just pray that this family may find peace and understanding during this difficult time.

Please pray for this family.
Here is her blog if you would like to leave her words of encouragement.

We Meet Again

Our playgroup met again this past Saturday. The kids enjoyed playing in the small swimming pool while the adults got to have a little time learning more about eachother. It was also very neat being able to interact with other children as well. Here are the pictures from our time together.

The Whole Gang

This picture was so funny to me! I was looking at everyone in the picture and then noticed Mattie. On the next picture, I zoomed in on the shot.

Mattie giving Caroline one big lick! So funny!

Special Exposure Wednesday

We took a picture today before Mattie went to her first official day of daycare. My baby looks so big!

Mattie's First Haircut!

We couldn't take it anymore! Mattie is getting ready to go to the daycare where I will be working. That in itself is exciting to me! I love the thought of my baby being at school with me. If I can't stay home with her, at least she'll be near me. Anyway, she has gotten into pulling everything out of her hair and this is what it usually looks like.

So I asked my dear friend Tracey from 4 my 3 Suns if she could just trim the hair from Mattie's eyes. This way if she pulls it out, it won't be in her face.

The first cut!

Don't move Mattie

All done! Tracey was a little worried that the bangs shrunk up a lot more than expected. That's ok. She is still very cute and the great thing about hair is that it grows!

I can see! Thank you Aunt Tracey!

New Friends and Laughter

Yesterday, Mattie and I got to finally meet some children from our area that also have Down syndrome. What an exciting day! We are part of a newly formed playgroup for kids with disablities. Our first playgroup date was a trip to the swimming pool for swim lessons. We will be getting together on Saturdays until the class ends. It was so nice getting to meet the other parents and their awesome children. We are looking forward to seeing them again on Saturday. I didn't get any pictures since I was in the pool with Mattie. Hopefully I will get to share some pictures in the near future.

So now that I've shared about New Friends, I can't help share a little bit of laughter.

My Caroline can be such a nut. The other night, we are finishing up with dinner. I mention that if we clean up quickly, we can play Pictionary. We clean up, hubby and I are chatting. Caroline comes running from downstairs so excited. She's jumping up and down, let's play Dictionary! Let's play Dictionary. And what does she have in her hands.....her brand new pocket dictionary for school. Exactly, how do you play dictionary? Too funny. Then today, we are leaving the restaurant and she grabs a toothpick. She informs me that the "Q-tip" tastes just like peppermint. That funny girl! I love this age!

Our Vacation: Dry Falls

One of the days on our trip to the mountains, we took a ride over to Dry Falls. I'm not so sure why it is called "dry" because you will get a little wet if you walk all the way down. This fall was really neat since you can actually walk right behind it. It was a beautiful sight! And how much did this amazing display cost? Nothing. It was free! It was one of the highlights of our trip.

Here you can see people walking down and behind the fall.

The girls posing. Mattie doesn't look thrilled in this picture, but she really liked the fall.

A picture of the fall from behind looking up.

My mom and brother with Mattie


Below is a short video clip of the waterfall in action.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our Vacation Part One

We had a really nice vacation. We went to Lake Nantahala in the North Carolina Mountains. It was about an eight hour drive for us. We literally almost drove the entire state of NC from East to West. It is absolutely beautiful there. I've always said that the best thing about NC are their mountains and beaches.

Mattie's entertainment on the way there.

This is the house that my mom rented for all of us to stay in for the week.

75 stairs up and down to the house and lake! I'm out of shape!

This was the view from our dock. It was absolutely beautiful and peaceful.

The girls jumping into the cool refreshing water! It was crystal clear.

More pictures to come later.......

We Have A Winner!

Well, we've returned from our vacation and are trying to get back into the swing of things. I will post more about the vacation later. In the meantime, it is time to get a winner for my giveaway!
We did this the old fashioned way. So here are all the names out on the table. We folded them and placed them in a hat.

Abby picked the name from the hat.

The winner is Lori from Banana Pants! Hooray!

But wait!! Since they are on vacation, I've decided it would be fun to have two winners!

Mattie did the honors this time and........

She picked Life with my Special K's! Hooray to them too!!

Thanks for everyone who participated. I wish everyone could have won!