Lately

This has been an eventful past week. Let me give you a run down of what has happened from Thursday to Thursday.

Thursday, April 21st: Dropped my second grade kiddos off for lunch and found out that our Johnny had passed away. Johnny was one of our second graders. While discussing brave Johnny with teachers in the lounge Kale shows up. Never a good sign if your husband shows up unexpectedly at your work. About ten minutes after finding out Johnny had died, Kale tells me that my Papaw passed away that morning. I wanted to go home, but stuck it out the rest of the day and Friday.

Friday, April 22nd: Field Trip! Any teacher or parent that has been a chaperone knows how tiring field trips can be! That night I had to pack all of our bags for the funeral. While packing, I had to take an unexpected break to hunker down in the closet with the men as the tornado sirens went off.

Saturday, April 23rd: Awake at 4 am and hit the road for Texas. This happens to also be the boys 6 month birthday! Arrive at Mamaw's and had some quality family time.

Sunday, April 24th: Happens to be Easter, but unfortunately was not celebrated other than church service. Papaw's visitation was from 5-8. Family went up around 4. Some more great family time.

Monday, April 25th: Funeral. Saddest day of my life. Thank God for my babies to bring sunshine in on such a tough time.

Tuesday, April 26th: Load up and head home. Hated, hated, hated, leaving Mamaw. I know she will make it though. I just hate that she hurts so much.

Wednesday, April 27th: Taught those kiddos! After a long day of "catch up" teaching, Johnny's funeral. Great celebration of his life.

Thursday, April 28th: Taught and then 6 month pictures! Here is a link to see the cute pictures. 6 month pictures, look here!

There has been a lot of heart ache in such a short period of time. Losing my Papaw is the hardest thing I've ever gone through. I have assurance in the strength of God, and I know I am not alone. Everything will be okay.... it is just hard right now. To be honest I stay busy enough during the day that my mind cannot wonder, however nighttime is rather hard. I am remembering all of the great and wonderful times that I had with my Papaw; and although those are happy times they still bring tears. It is so hard to let go. If you wouldn't mind, keep my Mamaw in your prayers. She and Pa were married 70 years. Only time can heal the loneliness she feels.

As for this weekend... relaxation! We are going to do our make up Easter festivities on Sunday. The boys won't care that we are a week late! Will post egg painting and hunting pictures later! I hope everyone has a good weekend. Be thankful for the little things in life!

-Stephanie

Night In

Tonight is just a normal, non-eventful, absolutely WONDERFUL night at home. Rony has been showing off his mad skills in his walker. The kid is a speed demon :) He goes backwards like no one I've seen. He has also found the love of Daphne tonight. I even caught the sneaky little kisser in action... tongue out and everything! Fletch was watching Wheel of Fortune with me, but I think he got bored! Asleep he fell. Tomorrow is Wednesday, which means the weekend is right around the corner. I can do it!

-Stephanie

Baby Einstein

So... Kale and I get the boys in bed and the house picked up in record time tonight. We just snuggled into bed to watch the end of a movie we started on Friday night. It seems that every night we get about five minutes into it before looking at one another and saying, "We will finish it tomorrow!" Then the snoring commences! Well, back on track... so we just snuggled in and decided to finish our movie. Kale pushes play and we hear, "Polar bear!" That's right, forgot the Baby Einstein was in there! Now the effort to switch out the DVD is too much. So... we sit and watch Noah's Ark. The life of new parents! Just great :)

Prom and Dogwoods

This weekend was packed! We stayed put Saturday morning and let the boys have some "at home" play time. I would have liked to go shopping or running around, but I knew the men needed some relax time. They had a great time playing with the dogs and bouncing in their bouncy seats.

Kisses

Saturday afternoon the boys got dressed up and took their very first prom pictures! Their date? Miss Amanda Denver. They all looked stunning in their skull and cross bone apparel.

After pictures Kale and I had the pleasure of going to the Lincoln Day Dinner with Grandma, Granddaddy, Dorothy, Kenny, Sara, and Eric. It was fun to hear all the history, eat great food, and get dressed up!

Today we had a lazy Sunday. Kale played percussion at the second service. The boys had eaten in the nursery during Sunday school so while we waited for daddy to get done playing the boys snoozed on momma! My arms were so tired!

After church we all took a looooong nap! How nice it was :) Then we went to Mamie's for dinner to celebrate Jake's 16th birthday. You can't go wrong with family and good food on a Sunday afternoon. As we were leaving we snapped some cute pictures in front of Mamie's beautiful Dogwood. Easter is right around the corner!

Well, Fletch isn't feeling too hot. Say a little prayer for him. I'm sure he will be getting better soon. Everyone have a great week.

-Stephanie

Family Fun

Tonight was a "normal" night! Meaning... got the boys, fed them dinner, had family time, and big people dinner is in the oven! So glad the week is calming down. For tonight's family time I broke out the model magic. I thought the men would love the feel of it squishing between their fingers! I was right. We had a great time playing together. Daddy was Anderson's play date and I got to be with Fletchman.

Listening to directions.

Looks yummy!

Tastes Yummy!

Dad's no fun! He took it away!

"You want me to touch WHAT?"

Happy boy!

Love it in my fingers.

-Stephanie

Hubby to the Rescue

Well, today was the beginning of a "marathon" of a week. Monday- conferences from 4-7; Tuesday- conferences from 3-6; Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday ITBS testing! Mom stayed late today with the boys until Kale got home. Thanks mom :) Tomorrow Mamie and Renee will pull the late shift until daddy arrives. Thanks in advance Mam and Renee!

Today was a busy and slightly stressful day. I think my main problem was that I knew I wouldn't be home until late. Therefore, less time with my boys. Made me a bit cranky. Well, to make the day a little better I received these BEAUTIFUL flowers from the most wonderful men in my life. I LOVED reading the card from Fletcher, Anderson, and Kale. It was the coolest thing.

Kale was solo on dinner duty tonight. He said the boys ate like champs. When he went to get a warm wash cloth to clean them up he came back to Fletchman rubbing his face with his bib. Yes, on his bib was cereal. Yes, on his face was the cereal from his bib! Here is a pretty cute picture of the incident!

Now, we are all tuckered out. Boys are snuggled up in bed and we aren't far behind. Tomorrow will be another long day, but it will be over soon enough! I looked at pictures of the blog a lot today. Helped the day move on seeing those sweet faces.

-Stephanie

Easter Shirts and a Sunday

Yesterday, the boys and I went to Hobby Lobby to get material to make Easter shirts and Easter baskets. Kale and I decided that even though this is the first Easter the men HAD to have baskets... since they can't scoot or run to collect eggs, we decided to go small and simple. After all, this is the last "small and simple" Easter we will have for many years! We saw so many cute baskets that we wanted to get, but we decided colorful pails would work just wonderfully this year. Next year the rascals can help pick out what they would like to have! Here is a look at what we decided on. We stuck an A and a F on them so the Easter bunny would know the difference.

We also worked on little Easter shirts last night. We stayed up extra late to get them all finished for church today. I thought they turned out pretty cute. One is a truck carrying and egg. The other is a choo-choo with an egg.

We got the boys dressed this morning for church and then this happened. Thus resulting in another outfit change!

Silly Momma, didn't screw the lid on the bottle all the way!!

After church the men stopped by to visit Lolly and Pop for a little bit. Then we stopped by Tonka's house, and now we are home. Boys are napping and Kale an I are enjoying the beautiful day. Windows open and fresh air flowing! Daphne is also fond of the wonderful breeze.

When the boys wake up we are going to go out for a walk. Maybe that will be a whole new post! Have a wonderful Sunday everyone.

-Stephanie