Star of the Week

After many months of waiting for her name to be drawn, Presley finally got to be the Student of the Week in her class! On Sunday, I helped her make a poster "All About Presley" to share with her classmates. She was so excited to show everyone her poster...it was so cute!

Another neat thing that happens when you are Star of the Week is "Warm Fuzzies." Throughout the week, her teacher allows each student in the class to come up to her desk and say nice things about the Student of the Week. Her teacher then types them up and puts them all in her "Warm Fuzzies" bag. Presley couldn't wait to get home and read her Warm Fuzzies. She also informed me that she can keep them in a safe place so she can read them when she is sad and lonely. Some of the things her friends wrote were adorable....Here are some examples.

Presley's teeth are so shiny.

She helps me build nests at recess.

She plays with me in centers and is very creative with Legos.

She chases boys at recess, and I run with her.

She looks good every day. (A young man in her class wrote this...hmmm)

(Her daddy wasn't too excited about those last two!)

Some of the things she brought for show and tell were her favorite stuffed animal, the photo album of her favorite place (Family Kamp), the jar she decorated and puts money in for our Compassion International child, and a letter we recently received from Luana (Brazil), and her favorite book. Today, she came running into our room holding something in her hand. "I know what I'm taking for show and tell today!" And she proudly held up a tooth! Yes, she finally lost her first tooth, and actually pulled it herself! Of course, I let her take her tooth to school....she was just so excited about it. I'm sure her teacher loved that! :)

This is a great opportunity to brag on my beautiful daughter. These are some of the wonderful things going on with Presley.

1. She is doing so great in school. She is reading well above a Kindergarten level, and I am amazed at the work she brings home. She has a great teacher who has taught her a ton!

2. She gets up every morning right when her alarm clock goes off, goes into the bathroom and gets completely dressed, brushes her teeth, and then comes into our room to tell me she is ready for me to fix her hair. I don't even go into her room in the mornings! Is this amazing or what????

3. She is super sweet to her little bro. Even though he annoys her to no end, she still makes a huge effort to play with him. She is so encouraging to him when he does something good. (I think this is going to be a huge help when we start potty training Grayson this weekend!)

4. She loves Jesus. Who could ask for anything more?

Thanks for reading about what a Super Star my Pres is!

Confessions of a Very Blessed Woman

I have a confession to make....I have been doing a lot of senseless complaining lately. Anyone that has had even a brief conversation with me lately would certainly agree. Yes, it has been a very stressful, busy, exhausting week. Yes, I am tired, and with good reason. However, as I was sitting in church this morning, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I am incredibly blessed, no-- way more than incredibly blessed, yet I have been doing a lot more complaining than praising God over the last few weeks. Why is it that small, trivial things can get me so stressed out, cause my frustration levels to sky rocket, and take my mind so far away from positive things? It makes me so mad at myself. Although I have not yet had to face a major tragedy in my life, I have faced trials that scared me and drew me closer to God because I knew that everything that mattered rested in Him, and that He was big enough to handle anything. Shouldn't it be the same way with even the little stuff? I think I know what happens with me....I think I can handle being in control of the "little stuff." Why bother God with something I can handle on my own, right? WRONG! All that "little stuff" adds up, and before I know it, I'm not handling it....I'm stressed out, frustrated, and complaining.
This morning, in church, we were singing The Desert Song. The lyrics during one part say
All of my life,
In every season,
You are still God,
I have a reason to sing
I have a reason to worship
It talks about life being in a dry season, a season of weakness, a painful season of trials, and a season of harvest and favor...No matter what season of life I am in....I have a reason to sing and to worship. Yes, even when I am complaining about the senseless itty bitty stressful things in life...My prayer this week is that I would remember this simple idea....That I would not spend the majority of my conversations with people talking about how stressed I am or how I wish certain situations were better than they are, but that I would spend my day with thoughts and words of praise for what God is doing, has done, and will do in my life. I have many, many, many reasons to sing every minute of the day and to worship Him with everything I do. So, with that being said.....I'm off to start my day with Less Complaining...More Praising!!

It's Been A While....

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since I last posted. Believe me, it is not because I don't have anything to blog about. My life has been CRAZY BUSY this month. So goes the life of a teacher this time of year, I guess. We are half way through February already....Where has the time gone?

I must mention that Saturday mornings around my house are not meant for blogging. Saturdays are usually spent cleaning my incredibly dirty house, or at least attempting to hit the "high spots." It has always amazed me how my house manages to get so messy when we are not even home except for a few hours at night. Yes, Saturdays I wake up with the dread of cleaning/straightening up my house. But not today. Want to know why I have time to blog on a Saturday morning? That is because when I came home from work yesterday afternoon my house was spotless and smelled of Pinesol. My sweet Valentine had someone clean my house while I was at work....Ahhhhh, so sweet!

So, this morning Jim and I took our little sweeties out for a Valentine Breakfast and now I am able to update my blog for anyone who might be interested....And so, a few random pictures. Random is an understatement. This month we have captured pictures from our Batman (Grayson), Robin (Jim), and Bat Girl (Presley) adventure (Um, I don't know what else to say about that....), Superbowl preparations (We made fruit pizza--check out Grayson's tongue), snow pictures (okay, so I know we didn't get any accumulation, but it may be all we get this year!), pics from the celebration we had for Jim since he is now a Licensed Professional Counselor (You go, baby!), and Presley's School Valentine Party. Oh, and the last one is of the mysterious picture of Jesus on the back of a United truck? Do you see it? (This one may warrant a post all its own at a later date...) Enjoy....

I told you they were random! I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day!

****UPDATE--Look about a 1/2 inch above the d in United. It is just a faint image of a face, but I think it looks like Jesus. Am I the only one who sees it? That may be even weirder.....

Lions, Tigers, and Bears...Oh My!

My family and I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and a day off on Monday to head to the zoo! If you have never been to the Abilene Zoo, you are truly missing out on a great activity for the family. We asked our sweet niece, Lindsay, and our brave nephew, Kirby, (he had to sit in the middle of Presley and Grayson's carseats...YIKES!) to tag along with us. We had a blast. It was such a beautiful day!

Argh! Pirates!

Everything went fine on Friday. I was home taking a nap by 10:00 that morning, and I have felt fine for the most part. Thanks for praying for me! I must tell you though, that my kids have the most amazing, most incredible, daddy in the entire world....and I get to be his wife! I never cease to be amazed with the fun things he comes up with to entertain the kids...especially when he knows I could use a break. One of his most recent activities had us ALL searching for the pirate loot, walking the plank, and yelling, "Ahoy, Matey!" Let me tell you, this mama can't think of anything cuter than Grayson marching around with a bandana on his head, an eye patch, and a hook hand, wrinkling his brow and saying, "Argh!" Presley knows all the pirate lingo and makes sure we know that the pirate's booty is not really a bad word. Our latest treasure hunt had us searching the house for hidden pieces of the treasure map that had to be taped together and led us to where X marked the spot. We enjoyed a treasure full of Skittles....good times. Beware--My pirate family is looking pretty scary in these pictures!

I Never Expected...

Today started as a normal Monday. Well, all except I didn't have to go to work today. I got up at 6:30 and got ready for the day. As always, at exactly 6:42, Presley's alarm clock went off, so I met her halfway in the living room and herded her to the bathroom to get ready. Then I drove her to school and dropped her off. You see, the only thing different about today, was that I had a doctor's appointment at 11:00. This meant I couldn't take a half day off in the morning or the afternoon, so I had to take the whole day off. While at first, I found this timing kind of frustrating, I thought I would make the most of it. For once in my life, I was able to take Grayson to his PDO class at Calvary and actually meet his teacher (my mom usually takes him). After that, I had big plans...clean my house, do a little window shopping, have lunch with my wonderful husband, and squeeze in a little doctor's appointment in between.
I never expected that I would find myself sitting in two separate doctor's offices for hours on end waiting, waiting, waiting for them to call my name or step into the office. I surely did not expect that after waiting a grand total of 1 hour and 20 minutes (not counting the 30 minutes in the lobby) in the cold, sterile office, sitting on that stupid paper they put on the bed that my new doctor would come in and schedule me for surgery in four days. Yeah, totally unexpected. I never expected that at 2:00 (this all started at 10:45) I would be having a pre-op appointment at North Star, having blood drawn, and given instructions about what to do the day before surgery. I was told I have endometrial polyps, and I need to have surgery to remove them as they have been causing some problems. So much for cleaning, window shopping, and lunch with my wonderful husband....I didn't even eat lunch at all.
So I admit, I am scared to death. I have never had surgery in my life, never been put under, never thought I would blog about this. My doctor assured me that 99% of the time these things come back benign, but they will have to go through pathology testing. The procedure won't take long, and it is outpatient. Recovery should only be a day or two, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but I am feeling kinda wimpy about the whole thing. I know this is soooo minor compared to the things many of you have gone through, but I am asking you for your prayers this week. Please pray that I would have peace about the whole thing as it approaches so quickly and that it would go smoothly. I pray that this procedure will cure some of the problems I have been having. Thanks for praying for me....it means the world to me.

On a lighter and sweeter note....One of my favorite sounds in the whole world is hearing Presley and Grayson laugh TOGETHER. Tonight my house was full of laughter as they were playing their first independent game of Hide and Seek. Presley's hiding skills are much better than Grayson's. I love it how he cannot wait to be found, and so he makes it pretty obvious. I love it how Presley knows right where he is, but pretends that she can't find him for a little while. She told him he was such a good little hider. It is such a precious site to see them playing together and loving on each other. I hope your houses are filled with laughter this week!

Toughest Job in the World

Sigh...I am having one of those days. You moms and dads out there surely know the ones. The days when you feel like a failure as a parent. Okay, that's a bit drastic, I guess. I think I know I'm a good mom. I have so much love in my heart and soul for my kids, sometimes I seriously think my heart is going to explode. Sometimes it actually does explode in the form of tears of joy just spilling out or a laughter erupting from deep inside that I can't control.
It all started with a cavity. Presley complained of her tooth hurting last night, so I automatically thought we might be getting close to a visit from the tooth fairy. Kindergarteners lose teeth, right? Well, as I got a closer look, I saw that to my fear, shock, and horror, my daughter did not have a lose tooth, but a big black spot on her tooth. Unfortunately, as I looked closer I saw not one spot, but three! Even as I type this, I know that it probably sounds ridiculous to some, but I feel personally responsible. Yes, we make sure Presley brushes her teeth every night and day, but how did her mother let those cavities get there?
Secondly, I know that it is inevitable that my children are going to make mistakes very, very frequently. However, sometimes we get into a nice swing of life, when all is manageable, and then BAM! We are reminded that parenting is the toughest job in the world. Tough for so many reasons. Again, there is that feeling of personal responsibility for how they act, how I choose to discipline them, and how I am going to make it all better. I know that it is my job and Jim Bob's job to teach our children that while we all make mistakes, there are consequences for the choices we make. Sometimes those consequences require tough love. Sometimes I have an easier time with this than others. It is difficult to see my kids make bad choices, but it is even harder to discipline them while trying to explain that you love them. I mean, come on, how can I LOVE them if I'm taking their favorite toy away until their behavior improves? How can I LOVE them if I am making them go to time out, grounding them to their room, or giving them a spanking?
Don't you think that is how God feels about us? This afternoon, I watched Jim take our sweet kiddo into his arms and just hold her as she sobbed and sobbed because she had made a bad choice and knew there were major consequences to come. I watched him wrap her up with all he had and let her cry on his shoulder. The consequences were still to come, and they both knew that. Her daddy's heart was breaking even more than hers was, I know this for sure. I imagine that when I make a bad choice, that God's heart is breaking. Often, I come to Him, just like Presley came to us, and I say I'm sorry and ask for forgiveness. Often there are tears. I imagine my heavenly father crying with me, forgiving me, but allowing me to suffer the consequences of my choices. Yes, because he loves me.
I feel as if I am rambling, and could go on forever, and if anyone makes it to this part, thanks for letting me be honest about my parenting thoughts and my daughter's cavities. My prayer is for all parents who have had "one of those days" lately. I also thank God that while parenting is definitely hard sometimes, it is also the absolute most rewarding, most incredible, most important job that I have.
Thank you, God, for the gift of my babies. Help me to lead them in the way they should go. Help me to show them your love and teach them to be more like you. Lord, help me to be more like you.