First Day of 4yr Preschool!

Yesterday Maddie went to school for an hour to meet her teacher, see her classroom, and meet half of her class. She was such a big girl. I took her to her room, she gave me a hug and kiss and in she went. Since Mimi took her last year, Turner was always at Ney Ney's. I think he enjoyed going with us and understands that next year Maddie will go to Kindergarten, and this will be his preschool. When I picked Maddie up, she was talking a mile a minute and seemed to enjoy herself. I am so thankful that for atleast a little while, I will be able to take her and pick her up and be involved in everything. The kids went to Nonna's for one last weekend before things really get busy. Between Kevin's football and Maddie's soccer, we knew it would be a few months before we got back down there. Maddie loves being able to go to Savannah without us....when we aren't there, that means Nonna is the "boss". Apparently she likes it that way better. I can't imagine why:) So come Monday, things will begin to get a little hectic, but oh so much fun!!

1st Soccer Practice!

We started soccer last Monday and Maddie loved it!! Not only is she going to be our little athlete, but she is going to be competitive as well. She was so excited about going, and kept talking about how she was going to be the best and win. Now, I am all about her having confidence in herself. I want her to grow up believing in herself, but I also want her to be able to both win and lose GRACEFULLY!! I keep telling her that this is just for fun. It doesn't matter who wins or loses each game, we just want to have fun!! We will see how it goes. I don't have an athletic bone in my body. So I can guarantee that any game I ever played was strictly for fun:) (There wasn't very many of them) Turner enjoyed watching and had to be removed from the field a time or two. He just loves watching Maddie do different things and I can't wait till he is able to join in the fun!

We love our Underwears!!

As I was titling this post, Turner just pooped in his underwear, in the toy room. (The toy room is about the only room in the house that he poops) If he is in the toy room and being quiet, chances are good he is pooping! Other than just now, he has worn his big boy underwear the past two days at home without having an accident! We put him in a pull up to go to church and when he sleeps, but I think we are well on our way to being diaper free:) He has pooped in the potty before for us, so not real sure what just happened, but I am pretty proud of our little guy! He is pretty proud of himself as well-he really wanted to sleep in his underwear at naptime. I told him we would put some on as soon as he woke up-well he ended up sleeping with some in his hand so we wouldn't forget:)

I am not going to stress about this and hope that he continues doing well. We are going to be at home quite a bit this week and maybe we can get this done:) I am not rushing his growing up at all, but we will certainly save a few dollars when we are no longer buying diapers:)

Sweetness!

Just wanted to post a picture from this morning before church. I really love the outfits and think there is nothing cuter than having them match:)

Splash Painting!

The kids decided to make some artwork on Thursday with paint. We made the paint ourselves and then went outside to paint away. I am just loving the book from Mimi with all the different things to do. Who knew that dishwasher detergent, water, and food coloring makes paint?? I sure didn't, but the kids had fun making it! Turner painted for about five minutes and Maddie ended up sloshing paint on the paper with her brush. They had fun for a bit though, and that was the whole point!

Gymnastics Class and a Visit from Nonna!

We were so glad to be able to spend some time with Nonna last Tuesday and Wednesday. She came up Tuesday morning and we headed to the mall to do some shopping. Nonna bought both kids some cute things from Children's Place and then we headed to Chuck E Cheese!! We haven't been there in a while and the kids had a blast!!! We ate some pizza and the kids played a ton of games. After that we came home and got Maddie ready for her gymnastics class. She LOVES it!!! We are able to watch her but it is through a glass window. Nonna took some pictures but most were blurry. I am going to share some anyway:) Daddy was also able to make the practice, so that was a plus. We all headed out for ice cream afterwards. Ice Cream has been a treat we have been getting a lot of lately!! I think several times a week we head to either TCBY, Baskin Robbins, or YoLo's for a treat. I probably need to slow down on that-or atleast just get it for the kids and not indulge in two scoops with hot fudge on top:)

Wednesday morning we took the kids to Storytime at the Library. That was our third time to go and I am going to continue taking Turner while Maddie is in school. I just noticed this weekend how much Turner sings the songs that they learned there. They both really enjoy going and it has been a good outing for us. After Storytime we took Nonna to another of the kid's favorites for lunch-Mo's! We had a great two days running around and showing Nonna's some of the things we have been doing this summer. It was a great visit and can't wait for her to come again!!

A Few Firsts!

I have been trying to think of different things to be doing with the kids. We need things that are inexpensive to do, but new to try. Mimi gave me a book yesterday that has a bunch of things to do with your kids during summer break. So....our first new thing to do was to make homemade playdough. It was super easy, the kids loved making and playing with it, and it was cheap!!! We had to run to the store to pick up some extra salt and koolaid packets. So, for $1.09 we had a Sunday afternoon project:) The koolaid packets are what gives it color and makes it smell great. I was so worried Turner was going to start eating it, but he never did. Currently we have some purple and blue playdough and plan on making some more in the next day or so! Thanks Mimi for the book-I am sure we will be trying several more activities from it.

Another first for both the kids and me took place today. We decided to......wash my car!!!! Everyone that knows me, knows that I have a hard time keeping the inside of my car clean, and I have never washed the outside of it myself. Let's be honest....I don't know if I have ever taken my van to a car wash either. So, it definately needed some bubbles thrown its way and the kids had a great time! Boo Boo brought us some supplies over and suggested to Maddie that she squirt me with the water hose. Which she did.....and did.....and did-thanks Boo Boo, I 'll remember that:) So I now have a clean van and can start planning our next activity!

Shelby Farms Park

I took the kids to a fairly new park on Friday at Shelby Farms. We had been hearing a lot about it and I was excited to give it a try. I was a little disappointed. It is a neat park, with several different areas that have different themes. I think most of it was designed for kids a little bit older than Maddie, and a lot older than Turner. Maddie did have fun trying the different things out, but Turner spent most of the time saying he was sweaty and wanted to go home:) I did get some cute pictures and I am sure we will go back....one day!

The Wiggles-My Saving Grace:)

Turner has never been very interested in TV. If we could get him to sit down for ten minutes to watch something, then we were doing good. Well, now that I am home all the time it is nice to be able to have a few minutes to get something done. We have found something that Turner will watch-he loves, adores, and has even given up his cooking fascination for......The Wiggles!!!!! It is the silliest, goofiest show, but we now own three different ones and he dances, sings, and wiggles with the best of them! I can even shower and get ready in the morning without a peep from little man. I don't know how long this will last, but I will take it while I can:)

Maddie Rae's Activities

The title of this post looks so strange to me-I never write out Maddie Rae, we call her that at times, but never write it. Anyway, I am posting this so that in a few months I can look back and remember why I am so tired:) I have always said that I didn't want the kids doing too many activities at once and that I wanted us to be able to spend time at home as a family at night. Well....that was when I was working and probably during the off seasons of football. Since we never see Kevin anyway, and I am at home for now during the day, things are about to get busy. In two weeks, this is what our schedule will look like:
Monday's-School
soccer practice
Tuesday's-Gymnastics
Wednesday's-School
Choir and Mission Friends (church)
Thursday's-Daddy's football games
Friday's-NOTHING
Saturday's-Soccer Game
Sunday's-Church and REST

Turner's schedule will include being drug around with Mommy to watch Maddie in all her activities. That poor boy's day is coming and when it does.....we will be SUPER busy!! I hope we are not about to be doing too much. I don't want Maddie to be overtired, but I want her to be able to experience different things to see what exactly she likes. Another change that was just made is gymnastics. Until last week, we were still planning on doing dance. But she started talking about gymnastics again and last night we gave it a try. She loved it!!! If next year she decides she wants to do dance again, then we will. We can't afford to do both, and I don't think we can fit anything else in our schedule anyway.
I feel like we are entering into a new phase with the kiddo's, and while I am excited, it makes me sad how fast the time has gone. I will be posting lots of pictures from school starting, gymnastics, and soccer soon!!! For now, I am going to enjoy the little bit of downtime that we have left. Tomorrow I am keeping Bailey and taking the kids to storytime again. I am taking my camera this time and will post pics tomorrow:)

Gifts of Love-Woodwork and Feathers!!

This is a little bit of randomness but I wanted to share in one post. First of all, Meg's is into the feathers. She has pink and purple feathers in her hair. Maddie fell in love....with the feathers. Meg's, being the super aunt that she is, ordered Maddie some feathers for her hair. She now sports the pink feathers as well. She is four....and so proud. I don't know how long we will keep them in, but they make her happy, and she does look pretty cute.

Another story I wanted to share is about a sweet sweet man at our church that makes things with wood. Last year he made Maddie a picnic table and gave it to her. It is the cutest thing!!! I think he meant for the kids to be able to have picnics on it, but it is a little on the small side. It is however, perfect for her babydolls to have a picnic. So, we keep it at Mimi's and Maddie colors and plays with her dolls when she is over there. Last Sunday he had another surprise for Maddie. He made her a rocking cradle for her babydolls. He was so excited to give it to her and she loved it! He saw Turner taking everything in and asked us to follow him to his house. He told us he had something he wanted to give Turner as well. So we hopped in the car and went. He comes out of the house with an adorable blue rocking chair!! Both kids love it and it stays in our den where they take turns sitting in it.

This is not a friend of the family or someone we have known for very long. It is just a very sweet man who cares about our family and children. He has showered them with love and it is another reason I am so thankful for our church home and the people in it. We are so blessed!

Storytime at the Library!

I kept London on Wednesday and decided to take the kids to storytime at the library. Maddie has been wanting to get her own library card (like Calliou) and it seemd like a good day to do it. It has been so hot this week, we haven't even really gotten in the pool. It was nice to have an indoor activity to do. The kids seemed to really enjoy it! They were read three books, sang songs, and made a craft-a dog puppet. Even Turner and London sat still the whole time and paid attention. It was nice to be able to sit back and not be the one entertaining for 45 minutes:)

After storytime, we got Maddie her first library card and she picked out four books! I am not sure she even looked at the covers, she was just going through the shelves and grabbing them. Mimi met us up there and was a big help after storytime! Telling three kids 4 and under that you have to be quiet in a library can be amusing. Turner doesn't really know about being quiet, but he did ok. It was a fun way to spend the morning though and I plan on taking the kids more while I am at home!

Shelling Peas and Sophie turns Three!!!

We spent a lot of last week in Savannah. Kevin started back to school and football this week, so it was a perfect time to go. It will probably be a few months before we get back there. The kids swam a lot, played with Brayden, and we all were able to visit. Friday we went to Dee Dee's and Landis's for a fish fry. I love it when they cook fish-it is the BEST!!!!! After we ate the kids went on the porch and shelled some peas. They did it for a long time....I kept waiting for them to come in and they never did, so I joined them. Can't say I have ever shelled peas before....it was kind of relaxing and fun! We actually took some back to Nonna's and Da's that night and the kids worked on them some more.

Saturday they had a party for Sophie at Nonna and Da's. They had a waterslide bouncer that brought out the kid in everyone!!! It was a Tangled themed party and I am glad we were able to be there. Sunday Maddie and Brayden went to church with Nonna and after lunch we headed home. It was a good way to end the summer for Kevin before he headed back to work.