I Live With A Lumberjack!

Earlier in the week, I noticed C and Grant (his cousin) pulling entire sheets of bark off of a pine tree right next to the playset.  I thought that very odd, so I went to see what was going on.  What I found when I got over there was SUPER CREEPY!  As the boys were pulling off huge chunks of bark, termites were streaming out everywhere....EEEEEEKK!  The next day after the termites cleared out (hopefully they didn't relocate to our house!) I went over to get a better look.  I took a shovel and barely touched the trunk and huge chunks of saw dust just fell to the bottom.

J was in Atlanta this week, so I showed him the tree Saturday morning.  He did some figuring and ciphering and decided to go ahead and take it down.  He's cut down big trees like this before - but normally with the assistance of my dad and/or brother-in-law.  Not to worry though...he had some muscle at his disposal this time too...me :)

This 40 foot tree came down with out incident or injury!  Go us (and praise the Lord :)!  

The only thing I didn't really anticipate was that once J got the chainsaw all gassed up he would go on a tree-cutting-spree. (He insists it was a matter of practicality - all the tools were out and ready to go...I say the power went to his head :)  At any rate, we also ended up taking down 3 very messy sweet-gum trees.  They weren't nearly as big as the first tree, but because they were "live" and hadn't been eaten up by termites, the logs were HEAVY!  Kinda confirmed to me just how trashed the first tree really was!

The Inevitable Question...

We are spending this rainy afternoon watching old family videos.  On one of the tapes, there is footage from when we visited my sister and Hayden in the hospital the day after he was born.  In that same footage, J shows me still VERY pregnant with G.

Of course - the natural question presents itself...

"Mom, how does the doctor get the baby out of the mommy's belly? Do you remember how the doctor got me out of your belly?"

I told him to ask Daddy when he gets home :)

This And That

A long time ago, J's mom gave C one of J's childhood toys...a "Bogglin."  C loves playing with it during the day, but insists that it be put away in his closet at night (the eyes glow in the dark :) 

Rarely a day goes by that C doesn't do something that makes us laugh...he's a total clown!  But the REALLY funny stuff is sometimes what he says when he's NOT trying to be funny.  Like the other day when we had this (very sincere) conversation:

C:  Mom, how do you NOT poot at the dinner table?

Me:  [trying my best not to choke on my food] Ummm....I'm sorry, I don't think I understand what you mean.

C:  Mom,  you don't poot at the table.  How do you do that?

Me:  I'm not sure what to tell you about that, Honey.

Lastly,  I wanted to share the latest fashions by G.  Today G is sporting fashion rain boots with coordinating Fancy Nancy knee socks and a "Cowboy Hat" (despite C's insistence, she won't be convinced that it is not a Cowboy Hat :) 

Classic G

Not a cloud in sight...apparently impending rain isn't a requirement for wearing galoshes :)

The dirtier the bathtub, the better the day

Class of 2011

C’s preschool Graduation Ceremony was Friday night.  I can’t believe that his first year of school is over!  It seems like just a few weeks ago I posted these two Facebook Status Updates:

September 3, 2010 - just dropped C off at his first day of preschool. I believe the walk there was the most quiet he has ever been…wondering how long that will last

September 4, 2010 - so, I figured out why C was so quiet on the way to school...just a day earlier my Dad was telling C that "every school has a principal and you don't EVER want to go to the principal's office because when Papa was in school the principal had a "rump roaster" for the little kids who got in trouble."

It didn't take C long to figure out that his preschool had neither a principal nor a rump roaster :) In fact, within the week C had become so comfortable in his class that his teacher found it necessary to develop a complete set of sub-rules just for C and his best friend (who happens to also be our neighbor).  They are as follows:

• no playing Star Wars
• no playing swords or guns (both of which were being constructed out of everything from railroad tracks to Legos)
• keep your hands to yourself

None of that came as much of a surprise to J and I.  After all, the primary reason that we decided to enroll C in preschool was so that he would begin to understand classroom rules before he got to "real" school.  

Preschool wasn't totally smooth sailing, but it was a great growing experience for C.  As we had hoped, he gained a much better understanding of acceptable classroom behavior.  He also learned some valuable lessons in friendship and the giving and receiving of forgiveness. He seems to me to be a much "bigger" boy than he was last September. *sniff-sniff*

The Graduation Ceremony was a really neat way to end the year and definitely showcased how much these little guys and gals learned and grew through the year.

They marched in to Pomp and Circumstance (which C referred to as the "Star Wars Music" when describing it to me beforehand :)

The program was primarily student-led.  Each child participated in some way.  C led the students and parents in the Opening Prayer (the Lord's Prayer).  I was proud for their class.  It was apparent that they worked very hard preparing, and honestly I thought each child did VERY well!

Here are a few pictures taken after the big event:

Grandma made it JUST in time :)

The preschool hosted a reception after the ceremony to give the kids one last time to say “good bye” to their teacher.  At the reception, the teacher gave each child a personalized scrapbook of pictures of him/her throughout the year.  SO cool!

I'm so proud of the big boy that my exuberant, fun-loving C is becoming :)

10th Anniversary

J and I celebrated our 10th anniversary last week!

On our actual anniversary day J gave me these.

What can I say...after 6 years of dating and 10 years of marriage the man knows me well :)

Saturday night we we wrapped up the celebrations by getting the kids a babysitter and going out for a WONDERFUL steak dinner!  

Happy Anniversary, Honey!  I love you!

A Small Visitor

The kids and I enjoyed babysitting Baby Zachery this afternoon.  It has been awhile since we have spent a lot of one-on-one time with an infant.  I knew G would be excited to "mommy" a real baby, but I had forgotten just how much C enjoys the little ones.

Zachery was asleep in his carrier when his momma dropped him off.  We just let him hang out there until he woke up.  In the meantime, C suggested that he "guard" Zachery.  Not sure what exactly he was guarding Zachary FROM, but C sat there and watched him for about 10 minutes before Zachary woke up :)

Once Zachary woke up, C laid on the floor and entertained him for a long time

Peek-A-Boo!

When I downloaded the pictures from today I had a bit of deja vu...then I remembered where I'd seen this scene before.  C's always been a sucker for the little ones! :)