Life Lessons Learned at School

Last Friday, Avery had her first ever "Field Day" at Ingleside. I had to work, but Bryan went and watched. Apparently it was the sweetest thing ever. The children were such good sports - They cheered for each other. They were graceful when they won AND when they didn't. They tried their best and didn't give up. They learned some valuable lessons about teamwork, perseverance and sportsmanship. I am so thankful for Mrs. Heather and the Ingleside Preschool Family for teaching my children these things. Avery said that she had such a great time, and the pictures make that obvious!

A "Tutu"rrific Birthday Party!

We had Avery and Brynn's ballet party today, and it was so much fun! The weather was absolutely beautiful for a party, and the girls had such a great time. They all were adorable dressed up in their tutus, and they had fun doing "Babydance" and dancing with 2 REAL ballerinas. The pictures pretty much tell it all....

So SWEET!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Mommy & Daddy with the Birthday Girls!

Grandma Shirley and PaPa

Grandmommy & Grandpapa

Let's do first position....

Scarf Dance!

Look! It's a flower!!

Even Asa is having a good time with all these girls!

Ballerinas, Kayla and Catherine came and taught the girls a dance.

Showing off what they learned...

All of the girls

Beautiful cake by Cory Knowlton!

Brynn! Get your fingers off the cake!!!

Make a wish!

Opening presents with Nonna

AWWW! Is it over already?

Happy Resurrection Day!

Here are a few pictures of the family from Easter yesterday. I thought some of them turned out so cute that I just HAD to post them. My favorite one is the "stairstep" one of the kids. Asa was just standing there, and Brynn (on her own) got behind him. Then Avery hopped in the back and I started snapping! I couldn't believe that we got such a cute pic of the 3 of them and it was completely unplanned and unposed! What an unexpected blessing!

DRAMA Don't Work on MAMA!

Yesterday, Avery pulled the funniest/saddest manipulation tactic I have ever heard her try. I took away her Resurrection Eggs for the day because of something she did to Brynn. Then, within about 10 minutes, she wanted to watch the Mrs. Pattycake Easter video and do the eggs along with it. I said no, reminding her of her punishment. She huffed off to her room, and then the REAL drama began…

Now, she was back in her room all by herself, and I heard her start ranting in this half crying/half whining voice. She was saying so much that I turned on the monitor to listen, and this is just PART of what I heard. I missed the whole beginning, and once I started listening, she said so much that I couldn't even remember it all! She was saying all of this completely to herself because I had closed the door. (I think she was hoping I'd hear it all and be so sad for her that I'd change my mind and let her play with those eggs after all!) This is some of what I actually REMEMBER hearing...(words in all caps were spoken with extra emotion.)

"I am SO SAD right now. NOBODY likes me and I don’t have ANY friends – not Carlie, Lilla, Anna, or Reagan (these are all the girls in her class @ school)....not Mommy, Brynn, Daddy, or Asa… The only person who is my friend is Baylor (her cousin)…SHE is the only person who is NICE to me because EVERYBODY else is mean to me. I wish I could go live with HER family….but THEY don’t have room for me….I wish I could just DIE and go to heaven to be with God and Jesus and all the other people that died like Pops (my grandfather) and Mrs. Patricia's dog who gotted killed in the fire (our neighbor's house caught fire last fall)…And I don’t have ANY pretty things. None of my CLOTHES are pretty. I don't have any pretty DOLLS, no pretty CLOTHES, no pretty TOYS…and I can’t even FIND my pretty lamb that I gotted for Easter" ...and on and on and on!!!!

It was COMPLETE drama from beginning to end. Needless to say, I had heard about enough when she got to the "no pretty clothes or toys" part, so I had to jump in there and have a “chat” about trying to manipulate me using this type of drama and that it WON'T work. We talked about how the things she said were not true at all, but were used to try to make me feel sorry for her and change my mind about her punishment. I told her that there are plenty of children in Africa that would love all of her toys and clothes, and if she doesn't appreciate them, I'd be glad to ship them to some children who would. We talked about how God put her in the perfect family and that if she died we would all be so sad. She got the message and was fine after some hugs and kisses (even though she still couldn't watch Mrs. Pattycake and play with the eggs).

All I could think is that I hope this isn’t a taste of the teenage years! I must confess it broke my heart to hear her say those things. But I know she didn't mean any of it, and I better get some thick skin because I'm here to be her Mom and not her friend! I am hoping that MAYBE she will learn now that this won't work on me and won't even try it as a teenager. Parenting is SOOOO hard sometimes...especially the discipline part!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Brynn!

Today is special for 2 reasons - it's Easter Sunday, but it's also Brynn's 3rd Birthday. The picture above was taken when she was a week old. My, how she's grown up! Brynn is my "life of the party" child. She has been into things since she could roll over! There is not a day that goes by that she doesn't make me crack up laughing about something. She is so vibrant, spirited and full of energy and brings such joy and enthusiasm to our family. Today, we made cupcakes for her to take to school tomorrow and had a little family party after supper that she enjoyed immensely! Happy Birthday, sweet girl! Mommy loves you!

A Day at the Zoo

On Saturday, April 4, we took the kids to the Atlanta Zoo, and they had a super time! We couldn't have done it without Nonna going with us - we are able to play man to man instead of zone defense. It was fun seeing the animals for the first time ever through the eyes of the kids. The girls were amazed to see in real life, animals that they'd only seen in movies and books. They loved the pink flamingos (Brynn screamed at the top of her lungs, "Look at that bird's tee-tee bottom") after seeing a bird go to the potty. I kept my distance and was like, "Whose child is THAT?" The gorillas and the orangutans were particularly playful and fun to watch. Asa rode a merry go round for the first time. There was also a new parakeet exhibit that opened the day before we went. There were hundreds of them and they would come down and eat off of seed sticks that you held out for them. Brynn LOVED that! There was so much more to do and see than I expected, and I couldn't have asked for a better day!