Picture of the Week - 5/21/2015

It's almost time!  Hip hip hooray!  It's almost time!

We've made it through the band concert.

We've survived kindergarten orientation.

We've prepared and paid for the field trips.

We've attended 3 end of lacrosse season parties and appropriated gushed over a certain 5 year old's trophy.

We've studied for some finals and looked the other way from some assignments that were "forgotten".

We've celebrated some good year end report cards.

We've cleaned and shopped.

We've packed - and packed and packed.

We've written notes and crossed out to-dos.

We've cut the grass and plugged in the timers.

We've met with the house sitters and booked the doggie vacation stays.

We've made reservations for pre-cruise hotels and prepaid cruise parking.

We've gotten through mandatory football meetings and celebratory Goddard graduations.

We've finally gotten to the "1" on our homemade post-it note vacation countdown!

We are almost there!!!

Tonight we are going out to dinner to celebrate Quinn's completion of elementary school.  Wow!  2 middle school kids live in my house.

Tomorrow morning we will drop off the dogs, attend the 5th grade graduation ceremony, meet up with Berber and Pappy and head south.  I am ridiculously excited.

Don't look for a POTW next week.  We will be unplugged and unwound.

Happy early Anniversary to Bob.  (18 years on Sunday - but that must be a typo since we are way too young to be celebrating 18 years of marriage!)

Have a very safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!  And look for some fun Disney cruise recap pictures and stories when we get back!

Picture of the Week - 5/14/2015

Greetings!

Happy middle of May!!  Only 8 short days before we head off to vacation.  Anyone counting along with me?  No?  That's OK - I'll remind you again next week.

So some news from the week...

Spencer made the middle school football team.  He's officially a Vickery Creek Middle School Viper football player.  I am beyond proud of him.  There were 95 kids who tried out from the 6th and 7th grades.  The coaches picked 45 boys.  There were only 11 6th graders selected for the team.  He's in pretty elite company.  And it's a very proud mom moment when I realize how hard he worked to EARN this.  He's got football stuff going on all summer now and the season kicks off in early August with a trip down to Georgia football powerhouse Camden county for a scrimmage.  His games will be Tuesday evenings (and some Saturdays) through late October.

Spring lacrosse season is over.  Both teams lost in the first round of tournament play last Saturday.  It was a fun lacrosse season, but I think we are all a little relieved for a reprieve.  We aren't signed up for any organized sports over the summer (aside from football conditioning stuff) and I'm looking forward to more backyard play and time for ice cream trips to Chill Hill.

I spent the better part of Sunday packing for our trip.  The good thing is that I think I've finished the hard part.  The bad thing is that I've got way too much stuff - and it's all over my sewing table.  So my goal this weekend is to get everything paired down a bit and to start filling up suitcases.  Come next Friday morning I want to throw toothbrushes into a bag and hit the road - after the 5th grade graduation of course.

2 pictures for the day.  One is from a couple of weekends ago during Zane's first lacrosse scrimmage.  I was finally looking at the pictures and love this one.  I love that his stick is just right so you can read his name.  I love that his socks are just right so you can read "West Forsyth".  I love that the tape on his stick matches his strings.  I love the serious look on his face.  I really love the sweaty curls across his forehead.  I just love it!

Speaking of love...  I asked Bob for 2 things for Mother's Day.  One was an updated picture of my boys and the other was a clean van.  Now that we are done with sports and turf fields for a while, I figured we could take a minute to vacuum out all the little black pellets and destinkify the mini van.  That is totally a word!  Bob worked with all the boys for a LONG time (many hands does not always mean the most efficient process) and the end result is so nice!

The picture session was a little rocky at first...  we tried to recreate a picture on the front porch, but it was way too sunny and it was a bad scene.  We move to the back porch and magic happened.  All smiles.  LOVE my boys!!!  That picture is the best present I could have gotten.

Have a great week everyone!

Picture of the Week - 5/7/2015

Mother's Day is this weekend!!

In honor of this special day, I thought I would send out a little reminder for you to take a minute to recognize a special Mom in your life.  (If you think you don't have a special Mom to recognize, look around you.  I bet you DO know someone who takes care of people or someone who nurtures or someone who loves like a mom.  We are everywhere - regardless of our child-bearing status.)

Here's a fun little collages of the special boys who call me mom.  I couldn't be more blessed to call them mine.

And a special shout out to my mom for being pretty darn awesome!  I am so happy that we get to spend so much time together.  With each passing year I realize how precious that time is and wouldn't trade it for anything.  Love you Berber!!!

Go say thank you to your mom (or send up a prayer to her in Heaven).  A little recognition and a sincere "I Love You" beats flowers and candy and perfume any day!

Brief updates on life stuff...
- Spencer's last day of football try-outs is tomorrow.  They finish out the evaluations with an intrasquad game.  The starting lineups for this game were shared with the 90+ boys trying out yesterday.  Spencer is starting the game as a defensive tackle - as a 6th grader.  This is a REALLY big deal.  We are so proud of him!  He hasn't officially made the team yet (the team gets announced next week). but this is a really good sign that he won't be one of the ~50 kids who are going to be cut.  Stay tuned!!!
- This weekend is the last weekend of lacrosse for the spring.  We will have somewhere between 2 and 6 games starting on Saturday morning.  And then we are done with organized sports (not counting football conditioning if S makes the team) until the fall.  It's almost time to breathe again!
- The boys only have 10 days of school left.  Half of Quinn's days are filled up with fun 5th grader stuff.  Spencer has completely checked out of school with all his focus and energy on sports right now.  It's good that he doesn't have to worry about his grades...  And Zane is preparing to graduate from Goddard Kindergarten.  He's SO ready for the big school Kindergarten!  Last night he read "Giggle Giggle Quack" - by himself - from front to back.  Lookout Whitlow Elementary!

Have a great weekend everyone!  And be sure to thank a mom!  My biggest desire for Sunday is to get to chill out with my boys a bit.  A dinner with everyone at the table would be a luxury!  And to get a new picture of them all together and happy.  Cross your fingers for that last bit!  I'll be more than happy to share any successes!