February is here!

By now you've probably all heard my complaints about Wes's school work - I know you read about the AR situation... Well, more commonly I complain about his math assignments! It just blows my mind that his 2nd grade math would be difficult for me to understand! No jokes about my math skills ;) So, the other night I thoguht I'd take a picture of one particularly frustrating section of his worksheet. See what you think of this - I erased his answers on the 1st two so you'd have a chance to see what you think should happen and then left his answer to the last one to see what we ended up doing... No clue if we did it correctly though

In other news, Kim came to visit us last weekend and we had a really really great time! SOMEHOW, I managed to take a few pictures but none of them are of us! :) I tried to make her room really cozy and added flowers, etc...

She made her famous Chicken Cordon Kim and Chocolate Stuff, too! YUM! (as you can see, Wes devoured the chocolate leftovers!)

FLOWERS!

Man, our garden sure knows how to get a girl's hopes up! Check out these beautiful flowers blooming at the corner of our porch! If I had to guess, I'd say they're some type of hibiscus?? (Moms, am I right?)

Our daffodils are bright and cheery too :)

Wes's Adventures in C-Ville

Hello again! Things haven't slowed down much since my last post :)

Wes is doing well in school, but he did run into trouble with his AR stuff. It's the Accelerated Reading program where they have to read various books throughout the year and each book is assigned a point value. Once they read the book, they take a quiz about it - so they get a quiz grade and earn AR points... Well, his teacher told the students to take their time and read the book more than once so they would do well on the quiz... And she told them not to take the quiz until they felt ready because if they scored badly on the quiz she would move their clip (that's their trouble scale and every time you get in trouble, your clip is moved) Wes hasn't had his clip moved at all since we got here so he sure didn't want to have it moved because of a quiz... SO he decided to just keep reading the same book over and over without ever taking the quizzes :D Yep, that's right, he figured out a win-win situation and seized it! I thought this was just incredibly clever on his part :)

So, once we talked it over with Wes we were on track - all he had to do was bring his book home and we'd help him prepare for the test... He had chosen to read Fox in Socks by Dr. Suess...

If you're not familiar with that particular tale, click HERE

This story is about 2 guys who play a rhyming game - There is no plot and no action takes place.... When I read it with Wes I was immediately trying to think of questions to ask him so he could practice for his quiz. I didn't think my questions were any good so I called his teacher to find out what types of questions he could expect... She wasn't much help when she said, "They mainly ask questions about the book." >:\ Gr! So I asked her again and got more specific: "In this particular book there is no plot and only 2 characters, what types of questions can the quiz ask him about this book?" and She replied, "the quiz is on the computer and it's mulitple choice so they can choose their answer. It asks questions about the book they read." Nonetheless, we read and read and read some more and FINALLY, Wes was ready to take his quiz this morning - He came home this afternoon and was shouting as he walked through the door: "100! I made a 1-hundred! 100!" Ah! Success!

We have also been out there making new friends! Wes is really getting along with the little boy across the street, Makagan. His mom, Tiffany, and are thankful because that means WE get to hang out, too! We have taken the boys to the nearby park and to the movies and just to each others' houses, but I think the most exciting thing was that Wes was able to have his first ever sleepover! Tiffany and I took them to see Hotel For Dogs and then Makagan came to spend the night here :) They were really well behaved even though there was obvious whispering until well past 10 pm! The next morning they were all smiles watching The Lion King and eating Fruit Loops :)

And, since the park is so close to our new house - and so much fun, Brad and I took Wes there a few weekends ago ... and... well.... we had the whole place to ourselves....

Once Wes pulled the grown-ups away from the playground we checked out the swimming area and "mini-beach" - It looks like a really nice area and we will definitely go back this summer!

As we continued to drive through the park area and reservoir facilities, we found a pic nic pavilion and places to go fishing... Then we found a semi-dead end cul-de-sac with 2 verrry suspicious cars parked next to each other.... We quickly steered in the other direction, but not before Wes piped up from the back seat "This looks like a good place for a date! Plenty of places to park!" I gave Brad a look that told him he'd have a TALK with Wes before the teen years arrive!

Meanwhile, in other fun news - We finally have our awesome new furniture! It took an act of congress to get the old ones taken away, but finally our living room is all pulled together! Check it out:

The month of January means 2 very important birthdays :) Brad and Mr. Herb both celebrated in style with a yummy cake and most of the family all around! I made Brad his own cake before we headed to his parents' house for ... more cake :)

Don't look now, but I think Mr. Herb just unwrapped some Dark Chocolate!

Oh and what do you get for a guy who doesn't want everything? Gourmet PB&Js ;)

And, lastly, I am still on the job hunt - I have called several places and no one has an opening for me. I did call a bridal store today and I have an interview set up for Wednesday, but I think they need a part-timer for nights and weekends.. That won't work for the Wes schedule but maybe they have some other schedule in mind. We'll just wait and see what God has in store ...

In the meantime, PLEASE keep praying for me and for all three of us :)

Three Christmases

Well, the Christmas season has already come and gone. This time was particularly special to me because we were in our new home for its first Christmas - and more than that I was just thankful to have Brad back under the same roof with us! In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I really enjoyed spending time in the kitchen with Wesley. I always love to bake before holidays and this time, I really felt like I had the time to go all out! We travelled a bunch and spent more weekends away than we have at home so the time really flew by - and now, I can't believe we're already 7 days into 2009!

SO - to recap our Holiday travels -

I think the Ladies' Banquet at FBC Fannin is a fun, meaningful way to kick off the Christmas season and seeing all the elegantly decorated tables puts me in the Christmas spirit! Mom and Kim really outdid themselves this year and they're already planning for next year when we have a new fellowship hall to decorate!

Of course, decorating my own tree is something I look forward to from Halloween to Thanksgiving! This year, Wes noticed that there is "too much purple" on our tree so I might have to *gasp* incorporate other colors sometime soon....

And, as I mentioned, I enjoyed LOTS of baking with my little kitchen assistant - not all of our projects were as trying as the gingerbread house though some were more "hands on" for Wes! or should I say "hands IN" ?

Another weekend, Brad and I headed up to Tennessee to see his lovely cousin, Stephanie, marry her super sweet fiance - I didn't take my camera in but I really wish I had! She was a beautiful bride and the ceremony was chock-full of wonderful, sweet, thoughtful touches! The thing that really stood out to me was their decision to have everyone sing "The Church's One Foundation" together as Stephanie walked down the aisle and again when the newly-married couple made their exit - What an awesome experience that was!

While on our way home from Jackson, TN we stopped in to see the Shiloh National Military Park and I was really impressed by the monuments and the information there - Unfortunately, it was freezing cold and windy so we weren't able to fully enjoy the tour and see all that there was to see.

After that trip, we had little time before Christmas was upon us - We did squeeze in some couch shopping and we found the set we ended up ordering (no photos until they're in our living room!)

And before we knew it, we were headed to my parents' house for Christmas eve!

In my family, the tradition is to camp out in the Big Room and then Christmas morning we all wake up and open gifts! Well... we all started out in the Big Room and Wes was (naturally) insanely excited to have his Granny and Papaw and to know it was Christmas Eve... He chatterboxed until after 11 pm! Finally he got settled down and people started to drift to sleep.... Fast forward to Christmas morning and not everyone woke up in the Big Room... Some people migrated down stairs to the couch and to the guest bedroom... It was a mysterious phenomenon that I can't explain, but there are those who know what really happened!

Needless to say, it was a very groggy morning but once we saw Wes and Connor eying their stacks we all were ready to rip open our gifts! In a flurry of papers and ribbons and bows, all our gifts were opened and we all examined each others' gifts - I think I am most excited about the GPS's that Kim and I received. Anyone who knows me knows this is JUST what I needed now that we're in a new town! :)

After the gifts were open, it was time for breakfast - and at about 9 am, we ate Turkey and dressing and the whole 9 yards! haha It sounds crazy but it was divine! I loooove my dad's fried turkey!

Then, before we knew it, it was almost 1 and time to head to Brad's parents' house for... LUNCH! We had more turkey and yummy veggies and spent time with Brad's family.

I love Christmas-time when all the generations can come together and this one was even more special because it was Macy's first Christmas! Brad's grandmother also made it special when she showered us all with beautiful crystal from her brother's store and lots of embroidered artwork and super-soft knit blankets! (she even made a PURPLE one for Brad and me) Wes especially loved his scarf and hat!

After the first 2 Christmases, we spent some more time with our families before Wes headed off to Brookhaven.

We headed to Columbia for New Year's Eve and spent time with Wesley's family. We were also there to help celebrate Grandmother and Granddaddy's 60th Anniversary! What a tremendous milestone! We really enjoyed being a part of the party and seeing all of our extended family, too. Plus Wes tried his hand at tree-climbing.... Why did he wait until he was all dressed up?

All in all, we had a WONDERFUL time seeing all of our families - I must say how truly blessed we are, not only to have so many wonderful family members, but also having 3 families who are willing to work together to allow us to visit all of them! I know some couples have difficulties juggling holiday time, but we are really, really thankful that our families all coordinate to make sure that we can spend time with everyone! That, in and of itself was my favorite gift -

But beyond that and beyond the time with family, and all the delicious food, and even better than any wrappable gift was the reminder that this Christmas, just like all other Christmases, was really a time to be thankful that Christ gave us the ultimate gift roughly 2,040 years ago when He submitted to God and was born in the flesh. We may have been busy shopping, baking and travelling, but if we had been too busy to remember the Real Reason for the Season, we would have missed out on Christmas altogether!

Thank you to all of my families for celebrating CHRISTmas with us! We love you all so very much!

Rained Out Snow Day and the Gingerbread House of Doom...

This morning started with SUCH anticipation! I got several phone calls telling me that Meridian was gonna have SNOW! Now, here in the south that is something worth getting excited about! School was cancelled and Wes and I were gonna glue ourselves to the window to await the snowfall...

Then, after a while, we needed some sort of fun diversion and I knew just the thing! We would decorate the gingerbread house his nana gave him! Oh visions of a Martha Stewart-esque, Sugar Plummed Gingerbread House filled my head! Wes was super excited, too, when he saw all the bags of candy that came with the kit :) I even got out the video camera becuase I just knew this would be a sweet Christmas memory to document :)

So, we get everything all set up and mix up the icing. Here we go :) First step, smooth icing all over the roof to look snowy. This took a little work and ended up looking great! Next step, criss-cross lines of icing on the roof and add little candies at all the intersections. Easy! No Problem, just pipe straight lines and let Wes add candies... For some reason, I was NOT prepared for how hard the icing would be! I think I gave myself a HUGE head start toward arthritis just pumping those lines! But, hey, the 1st half of the roof looked great and Wes loved sticking the candies in place. Then, I started working on the 2nd half of the roof... I had an even more difficult time pumping the icing out of its bag... THEN, with the camera still rolling, the icing tip popped right out of the bag and icing oozed out...

Ok, I didn't want to let that bother me... I paused the camera and went into action. I had to scoop out all the icing to put the tip back in... then I wrapped tape around it for good measure :) I corralled Wes and we went back to work. This time, however, it was extremely hard to get any icing to come out. A few moments later, the tip burst out AGAIN! I told Wes I might need a minute to figure out what to do next so he scampered off to his room. Hmmm... Next, I snipped out the corner of a gallon-size zip lock bag - Surely this would work :) It was then that I discovered WHY it had been so difficult to squeeze icing out before. The tip was full of solidified icing! No wonder it kept busting out! Ok, now that I have diagnosed the problem time to fix it! I cleaned it out and put it into the newly prepared gallon size bag. Here we go! The bag was a little unwieldy but I managed to pipe out about 2 lines before the seam busted! This time, the tip stayed right where it belonged, but icing oozed out the side of the bag... Great :(

By this time, an hour had passed and Wes could tell his mom was getting frustrated so he just kind of laid low. I cleaned out the tip and grabbed a quart-sized FREEZER bag... I knew those were pretty tough so I thought, "Ok, we're back in business!" I squeezed the icing from the broken bag into the new bag and away I went! The excitement was short-lived, however, when I discovered the icing was difficult to manage because it was all drying out... So naturally the tip dried out first and it popped out of the bag... AGAIN... Luckily, I was finally able to draw all the stripes on the roof before the bag malfunctioned... I needed a break from the icing bag so I grabbed a knife and looked for ways to decorate with the icing that had exploded out of the bag (before it, too, dried up) I was able to make a front door and a tree for the yard, but that was about all I could do without much precision involved....

:( Sooo... back to the drawing board... I added a little water, started a new bag and tried again. I don't even REMEMBER what happened to that bag, but when I had to move the icing for the 4th time I thought I'd try the original bag that came with the kit. It was all sticky and wrinkled up but it had also been the most manuverable. I rinsed it out and cleaned out the icing tip and filled the bag. Since the roof was complete, I only had to worry about decorating the outside of the house. I tried to draw a window, but the icing was too watery :( It dripped and slid and made my window area all mushy. I dried off the tip and tried again... This time, SUCCESS! Now, I admit it wasn't the most beautiful window but it did look like a window! I remembered that the kit's examples had little window boxes with flowers.... Surely I could do that, right? Well, I tried it and they came out looking pretty cute. I was all pleased with myself. I called Wes back in to see! He was impressed (and relieved that I wasn't fussing at the icing anymore) SO he helped me decorate the rest of the window and then we made a wreath and a walkway leading to the front door! By then the icing was drying up again and it was time to clean up the tip if I was going to decorate anymore. I thought about adding windows and decorations to the sides of the house, but quickly realized that we had done enough for one day. Wes was pleased with how it looked and, surprisingly enough, so was I.

I chatted with Wes about the house and we both agreed that next year nana might have to decorate the house instead of us! When we were finished cleaning up, I thought I could at least get the finished product on video and have Wes show it off.... And he did a great job... As I was about to turn it off he said the house had turned out great, "even though we were so frustrated.. all because of my nana!" oy! Ok, so my image of the Chrismtas memory to record and cherish forever didn't quite pan out... and our Snow Day turned out to be snow-less and rainy... The kitchen was a wreck and when I spotted myself in a mirror, there was icing in my hair...

All told, it was a very stressful 3 1/2 hours, but at least we do have a cute Gingerbread House to show for it....

Yes, We are ALL MOVED IN :)

Behold, the Happy Homeowners!

We are finally able to say goodbye to our crumbly old home and hello to a beautiful new home! Not only were we pleased to pack up and move out, but we're also thankful to be done with Brad's commuting! Needless to say I am glad to be done with packing but you know that only means the UNpacking is there to fill that void ;) We actually loaded and unloaded the truck on November 21 - with MUCH thanks to my parents, Brad's Parents, and Wes's Nana and Poppy for their tireless efforts both Loading and Unloading the truck - ALL IN THE SAME DAY! Without such an awesome crew, this would have been impossible! Then, the 2nd phase of moving began. Brad and I really put all our energies into getting settled quickly and I think the house is really coming together! We have MOST of the boxes fully unpacked and everything is being put into its proper home. The kitchen, I think, is completely set up and I can tell we're gonna really love all that space! We never had enough room to all be in the kitchen at the same time and now we can all be baking and not step on each others' toes! How cool is that?!

Lastly, We have been working on decorating our home. As some of you know, I've collected lots of artwork over the years .... Well now that I can finally hang it up and see it all together I really feel like this is OUR HOME! We've also gotten to put up our Christmas tree and it just looks gorgeous! I'll leave you with a sneak preview of the decorations... You can't see the WHOLE tree until our Christmas cards are sent ;)

It won't always be so messy, but here we are surrounded by BOXES!
Anyways, we've been very busy with more than just moving in :) This past Sunday, we tried out our first church and we really liked it! Actually, it turns out, the pastor is related to some friends of ours! Hmm, maybe it IS a small world afterall! We really enjoyed the atmosphere and the people at the church and the Sunday School class just seemed to welcome us with open arms and everyone was just SO friendly! It's a small church in a small community so almost everyone instantly recognized us as Visitors and made us feel so welcome! What a great experience!



In other news, Wes started his first week at his new school yesterday and we can already tell he's loving it! We took a tour and he was really paying attention to all the details. Then, when it was time to go into his new classroom, he waltzed right in and joined the other kids seated on the floor! I really think this is gonna be the beginning of an awesome new chapter for him! And check out how SHARP he looks in his uniform: