Counting down the days...

In our household, we are currently counting down the days... Counting down the days to the end of Isaac's 1st grade school year, to Alex's last day of school before our vacation, and I'm most definitely counting down my work days before we leave for vacation!

Isaac's first grade year began on a nervous note for me. He was starting a new school with all new people and teachers. I wasn't sure how he would react since his first two years of school were at a different school. But, he adjusted well and has had a great year! I am so proud of him and how well he has done. He has learned a lot and made many new friends. I am impressed with the quality of Isaac's teachers and the level of interaction I have been able to have with his home room teacher. She has been very reassuring and encouraging in light of all the things we went through with Isaac's teachers last year. I look forward to seeing how much he matures over the summer and seeing what next year has in store for Isaac.

Alex's first year of preschool is also coming to an end. He started preschool in January and is also doing a great job. We recently received his 'evaluation' from his teachers. I want to share a couple of the teachers' comments with you as they are definitely ones that make a Momma proud!

'Alex likes to interact with other children. He enjoys going to all of the centers in the classroom. He is very creative while playing in centers for example using blocks to make a guitar and leading his friends in a song.'

'Alex is well liked by his friends and teachers. He has a good imagination and likes to role play with his friends. He is a joy to have in class!'

In August, Alex will transition from the 'Owls' class to the 'Eagles' class. This will be the last step before he starts Kindergarten. I am looking forward to seeing how much Alex grows next year and how much he learns. But, over the summer he will be enjoying a 'summer camp' environment at school with camps focused on science, math, etc., and he will get to take field trips.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we are all really excited about going to the beach next week! Alex is so excited about it that he asks me every day when I pick him up from school if 'we going to the beach tomorrow'. I sadly have to tell him, 'No, not tomorrow. Just a few more days.' I also have to remind Isaac every morning that there a just a few more days of school and before we leave for the beach, and he gets a big smile on his face every time!

Until next time... Here is a picture of some of Isaac's work hanging in the hallway at school.

This week in review...

So, my week started out a little on the stressful side. Monday was a little rough because on the way to taking Alex to school he informed me that we forgot his blanket for naptime. He was very upset! I just assumed that he was correct and that we needed to figure something out. So, being a good Mommy, I frantically and immediately started thinking of a way to remedy the situation. So, I decided since we got his other 'school blanket' at Walmart that I would try to stop there on the way to school. I figured that would be faster than going back home to get the other one. So, I stopped at the 'closest' Walmart (there aren't really any close). We ran in the store as quickly as possible and thankfully he found one that he would be happy with and it was only $4. So, at this point, everyone was happy. Momma had saved the day, and we were on our way! THEN, when we got back to the car and I was putting my purse down in the passenger seat... I noticed something BLUE underneath the bag that I carry to work everyday. HMMM... ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! It was Alex's blanket that I didn't think we had! I was so mad! I was now going to be a few minutes late for work FOR NO GOOD REASON!

Thankfully the rest of my week went uphill not downhill. Clarence finished school on Tuesday and finished the work on his truck on Wednesday and is now sort of hanging out while he waits to start working when we get back from Florida. He doesn't actually have a job yet, but he will when we get back, right?! I have been trying not to stress too much about it because I know he is very talented and a hard worker. Any company would be glad to have him! He does have some good prospects, so I hope one of them works out. We have posted his resume on Monster.com, and his resume has been sent from the school to potential employers as well. I think he is planning to go around to the different shops to talk to them in person next week as well to get his name and face out there. Hopefully he can get something lined up before we go on vacation.

Speaking of vacation... I am really starting to look forward to our trip! We haven't been to the beach in 4 years! We used to go every year, but we just haven't been able to lately. Thanks to my wonderful parents, the boys will get the trip to the beach that they have been asking for since last summer. Alex has only been once when he was a baby and doesn't remember it. So, I am looking forward to his reaction. I am also looking forward to spending time with my little family and my parents for a few days. Things seem so busy all the time; it is going to be nice to take a break!

So as to not post without any pictures, here are pictures of Clarence's final project from school. (It wasn't required, just something he has been wanting to do) His newly painted truck... Didn't he do a GREAT job!? He is still waiting for someone to pinstripe it for him, but I think it looks great!

the whole truck used to be silver, but he repainted the silver and added the blue to the top

I used to have a Sequoia this same color blue... I miss it sometimes ;(

My Mother's Day

I told Clarence all I wanted for this Mother's Day was a good breakfast, so we went to the Cracker Barrel Sunday morning. It took us a while to find one that had a line short enough for me to be willing to wait. The first one we went to had an extremely long line, so I told Clarence that we could go check out IHOP and see how long the line was there. It was even worse. So, then we tried one more Cracker Barrel and the wait there was only 30 minutes. I could handle that! While we were waiting Clarence took this picture of my boys and me. Of course they were being silly; they're always silly! That's why I love them so much! (They get it from their Daddy; he can always make me laugh!)

After a late breakfast we went to visit my mother. While we were at my parents' house, I took some pictures of her flowers. My mother enjoys growing flowers and has some really beautiful ones!

While we were waiting for our table at Cracker Barrel we got the boys wooden airplanes to play with later. Clarence put them together for the boys and helped them fly them at my parents' house.

Clarence helping Isaac wind his up for takeoff

Alex having fun with his... He was so excited when it would just a little distance! It didn't have to go far.

My silly boys again, sitting on Granny and Grandaddy's front steps

I hope all the mommies I know had a great Mother's Day!

Congratulations Graduate!

Today was Clarence's graduation from Nashville Auto-Diesel College. He started the program 13 months ago after he was laid off from the job he held at Ingram Book for 10 years. I am so glad this day has finally come, but it does seem like he started just yesterday. Clarence worked very hard and earned the honor of valedictorian. Today we were able to share in this special day with family and friends. I was so glad to see all of his family as I'm sure he was. My parents and our friends Kelli and Steve joined us as well. Clarence was presented with the valedictorian medal and delivered a great speech. He was nervous of course; there were over 300 graduates and their families and friends there... What would you expect?! So, here are some pictures from our afternoon.

giving his valedictorian speech



the grad with his valedictorian medal and cords for honors and perfect attendance

trying to get a picture with our boys, but as usual, they wouldn't cooperate...

Clarence and Me

Clarence and his mother

Jaylen (our nephew), Nana and Camden (another nephew), Clarence and his dad, Pops

Clarence with his sister Kim

Clarence with Ricky and Sharon, his aunt and uncle

Clarence with my parents

Clarence with Steve and Kelli

Me and Kelli

This soccer season may just be over...

Isaac's soccer game on Saturday was rained out, no big surprise there. BUT, considering this is what the fields look like today, this season may be over. I'm not as concerned about that as I am about the houses that are just around the bend in these pictures that appear to now be under water. As I see more and more images of how many people this flood has affected, I am very thankful that we can barely see any effects in our neighborhood of all the 14 inches of rain we received this weekend. My thoughts and prayers are with all of those people who have been displaced or trapped by all this rain.

there's a road, parking lots and soccer fields underneath all that water...

Thank goodness for the sunshine today, and I hope things dry out considerably before the next round of rain this weekend!

The Great Flood of May 1, 2010

I have never seen it flood like this! I've always heard about it, but never really seen it with my own eyes. We have had inches and inches of rain today! I'm not really sure how many, and they are still forecasting a 100% chance of rain tomorrow. This is CRAZY! Here are some pictures I took today as we tried to get home from West Nashville. We live in Antioch, so our main way to get home... I-24 was closed due to the flooding. We took a very round about way to get home, and encountered a few other streets that we decided we would have to bypass.

a road near the fairgrounds

one of the parking lots at the fairgrounds on the Nolensville Road side



Nolensville Road

the sky as we were driving from our house to Providence... a little hope of sunshine through all the rain and clouds