Celebrating a LAST

My mom brought it to my attention... I cannot even remember if it was a book, or a poem, or just an idea, but it stuck with me. We always celebrate the firsts... the first smile, the first laugh, the first steps, the first day of school. But, we sometimes bypass over the lasts... and it is those lasts that are just as, if not more special.

So I give you a last...




This is Silas' last official nap. I have always told my kids that since they make you nap in Kindergarten, in my house you will nap or have a quiet time until you go to Kindergarten, after that you are good to go. I did not even ask Silas to nap. We had a fun morning at the pool and everyone else was in bed, the two of us crawled into my bed to snuggle and watch some cartoons and we both dozed off. Silas, though would never admit it, loves a nap. This nap lasted over 2 hours. I have said it before, Kindergarten is going to wear this boy out, and I am going to miss our snuggle and quiet time (because mommy has been a push over this summer and have not really made him follow the offical nap rules). I don't think it has hit me yet that he is going to school. He is my momma's boy, he has my heart and we are just alike. Man, I am going to miss him.

TEN...10... ONE-ZERO...

I SO remember the day I turned double digits. It is big! So big, that I thought we needed to celebrate the 10 year life of my oldest son with something extra special for him. So, what did we do? Thanks to help from a few friends and family, we loaded up the car (just the 3 of us) and headed to see our favorite team play some ball. I do not think that we could have done anything that he would have enjoyed more. The excitement on his face and in his attitude was contagious.

We got up on Saturday morning, dropped off the kids with Gran and Papa (with Nommie coming to the rescue after dinner time) and headed out for our road trip. Thanks to a friend (that I used to babysit) we were hooked up with a room at the Omni Hotel in downtown ATL. The hotel in itself was fun stuff. It is the site of the CNN Headquarters so it was busy, busy!! We checked in, put our stuff up and headed out on a mission to get the field early for batting practice and dinner. We hit a snafu or two on the way (obviously looking like lost tourist) and were escorted by a "nice" escort to the MARTA station via Underground Atlanta (don't ask why...we had parking passes for the field, we just wanted the "experience"- so Brent says). After some needed handholding, water purchasing for dollar bills and some mustered up confidence we found the buses to the field and headed over. Sadly, it was raining so there was no batting practice, but the stadium was empty enough for us to enjoy the Braves Museum, some ball park food, and a walk around the gift shops. Right at game time, the sky cleared up and we headed down to our seats... we were SHOCKED!!!





Again, thanks to some friends we scored some AWESOME seats. We thought we were in the second set of seats. When we got there, we discovered we were ON THE FIELD. LIKE LITERALLY! We were just a few seats down from the visiting team's dugout. We could make eye contact with the Dodgers. We could touch the dirt on the field. We had to keep a continual heads-up watching for the ball. IT WAS A BLAST! Sadly, mom got sent on the snack run... and wouldn't you know that Daddy and Bay made the JUMBO-TRON while I was gone. OH Well, Mom always has to take one for the team. Bay appreciated his Dippin' D@ts so all is well. And in one of the last few plays of the game, a lefty hit a grounder up the third base line and it hit the wall right at our knees. Brent did try to dive for it, but could not quite reach it. The bat boy gave it to a kid several seats down, but word is that the Jones fam made it on TV showing the play. (good thing I reminded the boys that because of our location and all the camera's there would be no nose picking during the game =)

This Dodger (who had a great game) slid into third at his first at bat so hard that his pants ripped open down the side. I think I saw his panties (he he he) but he was too tough to change and let the breeze flow all game long. (the photo does not do it justice)
This was the Dodgers dugout... see how close. I am sure we made a fool of ourselves staring and pointing... it was so close we could see the bullpen on the screens in the dugout.
Do you know how big these cats are? We were excited that Heyward got to play... this is him on 3rd. He is a BIG man!

SO MUCH FUN!!! Our only regret was that our buddy Chipper Jones was out having surgery. He was JUST injured the week before the game and was not able to play. We hope that we still get one more chance to see him before he retires.

Back to life... back to reality...

(anyone else hearing a little EnVogue?)

School started back already for the year. The boys were excited to get back to school, but hesitant to give up our lazy fun summer days. We all walked into the school with our heads held high and our anticipation churning in our tummies. I made it without making a fool out of everyone, but had to have a little cry session after leaving Baylor. Do you even know how big 4th grade is??? For some reason the jump from 3rd to 4th is BIG, the kids look big, the classroom is "mature" and well, to be honest it was "my grade" when I was teaching and I can remember it like is was yesterday. So, having my own child in 4th grade was a wake up call to me.

Baylor has grown and changed so much this summer. I am so proud of the BIG BOY he is becoming. I think he will enjoy his year and will excell as he usually does.

Callan was easy, breezy. He got a teacher that we have had before. His teacher for 2nd grade is who Baylor had for 1st grade. I think she is going to be a great fit for him. It is going to take a while for him to make his own mark (honestly it is going to take about 15 minutes for his teacher to realize that he is nothing like his brother) but he is excited and was already comfortable in the class before I walked out the door.

NEXT STOP... Kindergarten.

Stand UP

Well, we have accomplished step one to "Operation Cruz Walk before September 7th" (when Mom's Day Out begins). He has decided to just stand up on his own. He can stand there for quite a long time. He can also lift this one little leg... and set it back down.
In fact, he is so confident in his standing, he has taken to swinging the bat while he stands (or in this case a marker that is assuming the role of bat for swinging purposes).
** I mean when you have spent more than half your life at the ball field it is only natural that one would immediately want to swing the bat upon learning to stand... right? Notice... LEFTY!

Bane

I started not to post anything on my blog, but then I thought about it and wondered how I could not. Bane's life has a great purpose and everyone deserves to know him. I do not know what the weeks, months, and years ahead will hold for his sweet family. But I do know that they have HOPE.

Bane was only allowed to be on Earth for 9 short months and though our human brains cannot understand that, our heart of faith knows He has a plan.

Click Here

SICK

I have no idea what invaded our home but from the time we left for Orange Beach on July 13th until August 12th. Someone in our home was sick. It hit everyone but Brent and Silas in some form or another. We all recouped in time to head back to school on Thursday, but it seems like we got "jipped" out of our last week of summer vacation.

Here are a few pics of the absolute nothing-ness that has been going on in our home.



Window markers make for a fun activity!

Channeling my inner sassy pants

I have not shared many of my recent adventures lately because I figure most that still come here come for pictures anyway, but this one was just too good not to share.

So, yesterday I had a dentist appointment and there was a good local consignment sale I wanted to hit up, but the two were like 3 1/2 hours apart. Brent graciously allowed me to run some errands between so that I would not have to go, come back home, and go again. I had a baby gift I wanted to go get and had in mind what I wanted to get so I headed into a local upscale baby and children's boutique. I decided that since I had some time I would look around and found some cute little shoes on sale. I went in after a baby bracelet, but these just screamed cute and I had to have them. So I go to check out and I ask her if they could make it cute for me (free wrapping). She looked me in the face and said "No, honey, you bought these on sale. We don't wrap our sale items for you." I hung my head in shame, feeling embarrassed that I had asked and feeling like a "pretty woman" type in an upscale shop. I took my gift and left. I went to the car and decided to call Brent to see if I got my feelings hurt and my panties in a wad for nothing. I was ready to take them back and he agreed with me. So (at closing time- I was pushing it) I marched myself back into the store handed them my gift and told them I would have to return them. When she asked me if something was wrong with them I said...
"No, I just bought them 10 minutes ago. But, it hurts my feelings that you would not wrap them. What I came in after was cheaper at full price, but I saw these and knew I wanted to get them. I have shopped here for over 10 years and spent a lot of money here. Many of the people I know tell me that your shop is too snooty to shop in and I have told them that it was not true. Well, today I can no longer tell them it is not true. I realize you have your policies, but I just felt like I needed to return them."

She apologized, explained the policy reasoning (which honestly if you break it down does not make sense), and told me she would be glad to wrap them. I told her that it was a matter of principal at this point and I did not want to ask her to break policy. I am not sure what really happened next but she again very sweetly apologized and insisted that I take the shoes as a gift from the store for who I was giving them to. I tried to resist, but took them in the end.

I know it was a simple thing, I know to let the little things go. I usually just turn the other cheek and walk away. But, sometimes in life you get tired of being the carpet that everyone walks on. You get tired of just taking things as they may be, even if you do not agree. I was not asking for a fancy package. I was asking for a gingham sales bag and pink tissue paper. The older I get, the more I am trying to stand up for what is right in my mind in all aspects of my life. If I am not willing to stand up for the small stuff, will I be able to stand on my rock if the big things come my way?