Nats and Butterflies

Presley has just been soaring through Kindergarten this year! Yes, as a nat and as a butterfly! Last week, we attended her last NATS ceremony for the school year at Nat Williams Elementary. NATS stands for Nice and Terrific Students. Each six weeks students are awarded for good behavior, attendance, and effort. During the ceremony, the principal and teacher present the students who qualify with a NATS t-shirt. Each time they make it, they get a paw print added to their shirt. The fun part is that the parents cheer for their child and then get to put the t-shirt on their child. I am so proud of Presley!Mommy and Daddy at the ceremony with our little NAT!

Last Friday, she and her Kinderfriends soared through the entire building for Monarch Migration. She got to soar right through my classroom, too! Have I mentioned how much I love the fact that we are at the same school? I can't believe that her Kindergarten year will end in a few weeks. That means I will have a first grader!!! Okay, more on that later...can't talk about it right now!

Monarch Migration

My Son the Superhero!

I have become very educated recently on the world of superheroes. Until about three or so months ago I could have probably identified Superman, Batman, and Spiderman in a line up but that would be about as much as I knew about Superheroes, much to my husband's dismay I might add.

However, that was until my son woke up one morning, decided he was going to grow up, and trade his sweet stuffed animals he had slept with since infancy for little figurines wearing capes. Since the day I found out my second child would be a boy, mothers of sons have warned me with a smirk on their face about this day.

Until now, I have snickered in amusement at women tugging on the dirty little hands of little boys wearing cowboy boots with shorts in the mall. I may have even questioned a parent's amount of control of their children as they push their mask wearing sons in the grocery cart at Wal-Mart, explaining to every person they pass that this was all their sweet boy would agree to wear.

Yes, that was until now.

Now I am that mother.

Just this week the whole family went for a walk in our neighborhood with Grayson wearing his Superman suit, his cape, and his favorite green crocodile rain boots to top it all off. I didn't even flinch when passing cars would slow down just to get a good look. So far, we have succeeded in talking Grayson into wearing "real" clothes to school, but the minute we get home he turns into Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Aquaman, or Flash.

Last night he escaped the bathtub before Jim could get his p.j.s (Spiderman p.js, of course) on. He spent the next thirty minutes running around the house stark naked saying he was Flash. At least his costume was appropriate.

Where does he get this stuff? I'm pretty sure Jim or I have never told him who these superheroes are. It's funny how they are just born with this instinct, huh?

Here are some picture of my little superhero!

On our neighborhood stroll, we made our way to Mimi and G-dad's house. Mimi couldn't resist taking a picture of Superman before we continued on our walk.

It's especially fun when Spiderman puts on his very own little concert for us!

His very favorite superhero....Daddy!

Superman celebrated his third birthday with Uncle Coby who turned 29!

This superhero always comes to his sister's rescue! Aren't they sweet?

Better Late Than Never

Okay, so I have a ton of catching up to do. Grayson had a great birthday, and I still cannot believe he is three years old. We have been super busy since Easter, but it has been a good kind of busy for the most part...Anyway, I am what you call WAY BEHIND as far as blogging goes, so I will attempt to catch up over the next few days. I was gonna just do it all in one "shabang" (I apologize if that is just a Kelli word...all at once) but I didn't want anyone to go blind due to reading the computer screen too long, so I will just start with Easter. So, here we go, a brief (well, I will try my best to be brief....I do tend to ramble....such as now) summary of the last few weeks....
Easter was wonderful. We had a great time with family and friends. Although we did have 5, yes 5, Easter egg hunts, our family spent a lot of time reflecting on Christ's sacrifice and resurrection. Jim and the Heights Band provided an amazing time of worship the Thursday before Easter in which we focused specifically on Christ's death on the cross. Of course, we followed up with a huge celebration worship service on Easter Sunday praising God that He is risen and alive! It was perfect! With that we were able to spend time with our close friends and both my family and Jim's family in Lamesa. We even had a good ol' fashion indoor Easter Egg hunt at the farm (Jim's parents house) since there was zero visibility due to the yearly West Texas Easter sandstorm. Here is a few (or maybe more than a few...) pictures of the Archer's Easter Festivities....

Grayson's Easter Egg Hunt at Calvary PDO.....prior to his Easter haircut, I might add.

Presley's kindergarten egg hunt

I am SO blessed to work at her school so I can easily attend her kindergarten events. Jim also came and helped "hide" hundreds of eggs.

Easter Sunday

My beautiful children....I love it when I actually capture a moment when they show that they really do love each other!

Easter at Mimi and Papa's house in Lamesa

This is a picture of Presley and Grayson with some of their cousins on my mom's side of the family. I have spent almost every Easter Sunday of my life with my Mimi and Papa, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Every year when I was little, all the cousins would line up on the sidewalk just like this before the big hunt. Next year, Camren will be ready to run with the others!

I love this picture of Pres. She looks so sweet here. Only minutes after this picture was taken she was slamming confetti eggs on everyone's head...She had a blast! Grayson did not care so much for sister whacking him on the head and getting paper all in his new haircut!

One of the most fun things we did was have an egg hunt with friends. Here are all the kids lined up ready to go. Yep, my kid is the one with the basket on his head....no surprise there! Stay tuned as I try to catch up over the next few days! I hope everyone has a great week!

April 13, 2006

Has it really been three years since my baby boy was born?? Grayson will turn three years old tomorrow! This time three years ago I was anxiously awaiting the first time I would see my son's face and hold him in my arms. I was enjoying the last few hours of feeling him move in my tummy and cherishing those last moments as a family of three before Presley would be so blessed with a baby brother. Wow....it seems just like yesterday. Three years later, I have a beautiful brown eyed boy who melts my heart and fills my life with incredible joy. This boy of mine is something else....always ready to go and full of energy, but always willing to crawl up in my lap and cuddle. Grayson has the reputation with teachers and family as being "very witty." I am constantly asked by those who know him if I write down all the funny things he says, and if I don't I definitely should! Grayson loves to be the hero, rescuing his big sister from the "bad guys." He loves to play with his "good guys", race Hotwheels, watch Dora, drink chocolate milk, and play baseball. He loves G-Dad's motorcycles, Mimi's house, Daddy's guitars, and Momma's kisses. (Well, maybe not LOVES the last one, but he is kind enough to put up with LOTS of kisses!) He sings a mean rendition of 5 Little Monkies Jumpin' on the Bed and can easily entertain a roomful of people with his funny expressions and conversations.

The third birthday is bittersweet for me....I am so blessed to watch this little boy turning into a big boy right before my eyes. He is becoming so independent and I look forward to all the neat things he will be able to do as he gets bigger. On the flip side, the third birthday is a farewell to the baby stage. He really is a big kid now. He rarely needs me to carry him anymore, he no longer needs me to change his diaper, he goes to the potty pretty much on his own, he gets his own goodnight drinks, he cleans up his room, he expresses his opinions (although not always appropriately) and so on and so on. Where did my baby boy go?

I thank God for this handsome, healthy boy He introduced me to three years ago. I thank God for Grayson's wonderful personality and witty sense of humor. I thank God that I can come home each day to a welcoming shout of "MOMMY!" a toothy grin, and hugs and kisses from my little man. I pray that he will love God with all his heart and that his desire will be to follow Christ. I pray that he would grow into a man of God and that he will be a Godly leader. I pray that as his parents, we will be good examples to him and point him toward Christ.

Grayson Jack Archer--8 lbs. 13 oz. 12:15 on April 13, 2006

Grayson's 1st Birthday

Grayson--2 years old

Grayson--3 Years Old

Happy Birthday, Grayson! We love you!

Conversations

One beautiful afternoon last week......
Grayson and I are walking towards the park playground equipment. He sweetly grabs my hand and says, "Mommy, I love you. Will you hold my hand so the wind won't blow me away?"

Thursday afternoon......
Grayson pooped on the potty (YES!!!), and he looked at me and said, "I pooped just for my daddy. He gonna be so proud of me!"

Friday morning...
Presley: (looking outside at the snow): Mom, I know how the weatherman knows what the weather is going to be.
Me: (expecting a scientific answer): Really, how?
Presley: When they go to sleep at night, God whispers it in their ear and tells them. You know how I know? God whispers in my ear, too. I can't see him though because he always stands behind me when he says something, but that's how I know it's him.

This morning......
Jim overheard this conversation between Presley and Grayson. They were laying in the living room floor watching cartoons.
G: Ew, sister, your feets stinky.
P: Hmmmm, let me smell them. Yep, they are. I bet your feet are stinky too. Let me smell your feet.
(She takes a big whif)
P: Grayson, your feet smell like pancakes.
G: Yeah, and your feets smell like sausage.

I Wish I Had a Pet Octopus

Strange title, huh? Well, that is one of the things Presley said this morning right after the nurse gave her the "sleepy juice" and right before they put her in a little red wagon and rolled her into surgery. God knew her mommy and daddy needed the comic relief at that moment! Anyway, Presley did great this morning with the dental surgery she had to have. I didn't realize it would be as intrusive as it was, but she handled it all like a champ. I tell you what, my baby is a tough cookie. She has been resting most of the day, but I think she will be able to fully enjoy her last official day of Spring Break tomorrow without too much trouble. Her friends will REALLY think she has shiny teeth when she returns to school on Monday. She even "lost" another tooth today. The anesthesiologist warned us that the breathing tube could dislodge her bottom front tooth which was just hanging by a thread, so we asked the dentist to just take care of it for us. (I really hope we don't get billed for that!) I bet the tooth fairy is extra good to her tonight after all she went through today!

On a side note, Grayson is doing AWESOME with the potty training thing. He hasn't had an accident since Monday, and even started letting us know when he needs to go. Yeah!! I have to admit I was doubtful after I walked into the bathroom on Monday afternoon to find my son wearing the potty seat around his neck....UGH! However, since then I have been pleasantly surprised by his progress. Hopefully, he will continue to do well over the weekend. We are taking it one day at a time. I hope everyone enjoys the next few days of Spring Break!

Follow Through...

I've always said that Jim and I have wonderful ideas and great intentions, but unfortunately, we don't have a lot of follow through. However, this Spring Break has been a week of following through with SOME of those great intentions.

1. We have always said that we wanted to have a block party in order to get to know the people living around us, and hopefully, enable us to reach out to our neighbors in some way. Unfortunately, we have always put this off due to the obvious awkwardness of inviting complete strangers to eat food in your driveway. Lately, however, we found that this neighborhood meet and greet was a necessity due to our social butterfly, Presley, who has befriended half the street. It's a good idea to make an effort to get to know the people who your kids are hanging out with right? So, the whole Archer clan went door to door down to all the houses on our street and the adjacent alleyway and gave out invitations to our neighbors to come join us for a hotdog tonight. We were pretty sure that it would just be us and my parents (because, of course, I begged them to come share in the awkwardness, and they obliged as they didn't want us to be weird alone.) However, it was a HUGE success! Eight families came and ate in our driveway and visited until it got too dark. Two families who couldn't come even came and introduced themselves and left us with amazing Italian sausage and some incredible desserts! Overall, I think we made connections with great people and brought our neighborhood together!

2. We started potty training Grayson on Monday morning and we are still sticking with it. I must admit, that I doubted myself in this one. I half expected myself to INTEND to potty train him, but with all the fun options of Spring Break, I figured my follow-through would amount to giving up and waiting until Summer. However, I am proud to say that, again, follow through has prevailed for the Archers. Has it been easy? NO WAY! Has it been better than I thought? Yes! We didn't have any accidents today, but we weren't exactly successful...does that make sense? How can a child go that long without using the restroom? I have completely new worries now.

3. I have also started a new Bible Study...one that I have been intending to start for quite some time. So I've started, now I just need to pray that I can actually keep it up and finish it rather than stopping on the 6th week. The outlook is great!

My list of good intentions is still very long...I intend to clean out the kids closet, clean out my closet, take Presley on a mommy-daughter movie/lunch date, make a drop off to Goodwill, clean my car, have lunch with some friends...BUT I'm off to a great start!

One last note, please keep Presley in your prayers on Thursday. She is having dental surgery at the SurgiCenter. Pray that she will be brave and not scared (right now, I am way more freaked out about it than her...I want it to stay that way), also pray that we wouldn't have to wait a terribly long time for it to begin as she can't eat after midnight on Wednesday. I am also praying that she feels okay after the procedure and can enjoy the rest of her Spring Break. While you're at it, please pray that the insurance company will pay for more than we were first told! I will keep everyone updated on these prayer requests!

I like this follow through stuff...I'm off to bed so I will be rested to start on that list tomorrow! :)