When all else fails...

Just post pictures of your kids!

Stupid Socks

I would be getting into big trouble using the word stupid in Gracelyn's book but oh well. I have a real dilemma with socks in my house right now. I am about to resort to Papa Sam's method to match up his pairs. He takes a sharpie and marks either the alphabet or shapes onto the bottoms of each pair that way he knows which sock doesn't have it's mate. Genius in my book... I am so tired of Mason wearing Cannon's socks, Cameron wearing my socks, me wearing Cam's socks. The only person who gets their own socks is Gracelyn because they are pretty easy to tell the difference... Pink with ruffles is a dead give away most times. :) I come up with all this on laundry day. Mondays are dreaded because we go through a mountain of laundry in a week. I do some loads during the week of course but Monday is the day to get it ALL done up... So now my couch is covered and my coffee table houses the folded piles! And after it is all said and done I always have 4-5 socks without mates. Or I might have had "help" and some get mis-matched.

All I ask is that you don't make fun of any of my family members when our heals are up on our calves or Cam's dress socks are actually my knee-highs! We are aware of our problems without you pointing them out to us!

Y

Blessed

I am thankful for so much in my life. Blessed is more like it, because I know that the wonderful things that are happening around me are not because I have done anything~it is God. So here is a very rough/random list of things that I am thankful to be blessed for.

• My growing relationship with God. I appreciate the word that He has written and the guide that it provides for my life. I fail miserably at being his servant but I relish the fact that he still calls me his child.
• Cameron~This man is beyond my knight in shining armor. He forgives freely, blesses me with his smile, and calls me sweetie always.
• Gracelyn~What a girly girl. I love her spirit and unique ways that are so different than myself. She has taught me that being strong willed is not a bad thing.
• Cannon~He is my firecracker. The new words that come out of his mouth amaze me. I love his latest-wrorry (sorry) He is independent and completely dependant on his daddy at the same time. I love that.
• Mason is sleeping through the night now and that is sweet bliss. He is starting to wave and gives kisses at the right times. What a joy.
• My family & extended family~You're the best!
• Church family (you really fall into the extended family category in my book)
• Friends~How lucky can one girl be? I know, I know, It isn't being lucky it is blessed. I agree whole heartedly... Friends make the world go round right?
• My job~13 kids keep me on my toes but I make it through with my co-teacher Teresa!
• My house. Although there are many days that I can tick off 5-8 things that I want to change I am grateful beyond words that it is mine to change if I ever wanted to.
• Living in a town that experiences each season. Now there are sometimes that I wish we could skip summer all together but I do love it deep down.
• Gifts that have special meaning and not just because I need a new shirt because my favorite has every kind of baby food on it mixed with some poop.
• Fluffy towels
• New chapstick
• Cell phone batteries that don't need to be charged at the end of every day
• Toys that do not need batteries
• A stocked fridge and pantry
• Great smelling candles
• Light bulbs that last more than a few months
• Good smelling coffee. I don't normally drink the stuff but I love the smell. Especially hazelnut.
• Being able to find a pen when needed and not having to look for 10 minutes because I hid them all from Cannon.
• Fresh flowers on occasions that aren't Valentines, Birthday or Anniversary dates.
• Sleeping past 8:00 am

I could go on and on so I better stop but you get my point. There are too many things in my life that I am thankful for. Some being more serious and important than others.

Another simple way to put it~

I love my life!

Y

The smartest girl I know

I met with Gracelyn's teacher today and it was awesome. I knew she was doing okay but I didn't have proof. Her teacher has never not one time sent a piece of paper home with work on it so I was beginning to think what in the world is up. Well today all my suspicions were put away and I found out that Gracelyn is just awesome and doing so well. She is very adamant here at home that school is not necessary all the time so I brought this concern to her teacher and she said that there was no problem at school and that she is very sweet. Well I knew that but it was good to hear anyways. As far as academics go, Gracelyn is right on track. She knew all her letters and sounds. She is starting in a new reading group and is loving math. So YAHOO she is right where she needs to be. I can't ask for more than that. Since her teacher bragged that she can count to 100 we have been hearing that countdown non-stop... UGH, Thanks Mrs. Dawson...

The thing that I am the most proud of is that Gracelyn invited her teacher to church. After all the school talk was over with she told me that she knew we went to church with the principal. (I was keeping that on the down low~been there done that with parents knowing the principal) But she said that Gracelyn asked her to come to church with her and then she found out that Doug went there too. So I think her family might come visit. They recently moved from Dumas and are searching for a church family. I was so proud of my daughter to ask her teacher. When I asked Gracelyn about it she said that she wanted Mrs. Dawson there because she loves her so much. AWWWW... I really love that about Gracelyn.

Aunt Kassie had her tonsils out today :( so she is on the mend at home. They kept pushing her surgery back in the day and that is always sooooo nerve racking. But she had her surgery at 1:00 and was walking through the door of the house at 3:30... that is awesome... YEAH!!!! I knew it would go smoothly. I know she will feel so much better once she heals and is back to her old self. Well not really her old self~ her new self. :) Get well soon Aunt Kassie.

Mason has two teeth and is starting to use those teeth so much.. OWIE! But we are pushing through and making it.

Cannon got a cool new do. Thanks Kami for the awesome haircut. I love it. He looks so handsome. He even has the sticking-up hair in the front that all the cool kids are wearing. I call it the Ator hair-do but you can call it whatever...

Have a great weekend.
Y

Footloose and 40!

My friend Angel had her prom last night. I got to go stag because Cameron was home with the kids... Now that sounds appropriate huh?? We had a fun time and really enjoyed dressing in our 80's garb.


I can't believe I am putting this on the internet but here goes nothing.

Teresa and I in our vintage dresses! How old does something have to be to be considered vintage?? That was my sister's prom dress from 1993! Teresa and Randall (AKA Don Johnson)Michele getting footloose

The prom queen cutting a rug

Carrie, Michele & Teresa

The prom queen & king

Finishing out October and jumping into November

I have wanted to sit down and blog for a few days now but time is just slipping away. Of course Halloween was fun and I want to show off our lion, elephant and ballerina we had running around here! Wednesday night we had Trunk or Treat at our church. It was freezing so we hung out in the foyer of the church most of the night. We did make our run through the trunks and got some good stuff! :) Candy is always a highlight for the kids. My little elephant wouldn't cooperate so I just decided to add a cute picture of him. He wore the costume to preschool but Wednesday night was a whole different story. He had it on maybe 5 minutes and cried the whole time. Oh well. Trust me he was cute!

Mason and Mommy

Jill, Alexis Melissa, Caroline, Me and Mason~such cute buddies!

Cannon and his cars!My beautiful ballerina! I made that skirt!!! My brave lion
Friday morning 36 women from our church loaded a big bus headed for Oklahoma City. We go to the Women of Faith conference every year. It was amazing!! Amazing Freedom actually was the theme. I was so in love with the speakers and worship. Amazing.... Of course the fellowship with the women is always fabulous!!!

Denise, Tami, Teresa & Kami at Spaghetti Warehouse Teresa and Kami Melissa, Renay & Amanda Patsy Clairmont was a speaker at the conference!! I loved hearing her speak!

Nicole Nordeman and the girls

And this is the Grand Finale!!! ENJOY!!!!! Mason is 9 months old now and he learned a new trick!! He has been perfecting it for a few weeks but I wanted to wait until it was fully mastered!!! He is such a big boy!

Y