I did it...

Me with my gold tassel!

Last weekend I celebrated the accomplishment of a long time life goal. I graduated with my 4 year degree!! Woot Woot! I always knew I wanted to go to college. Education is extremely important to me. I had my life planned out in middle school exactly how it would go. I would graduate high school, graduate college, marry the love of my life, and have 2 kids a boy and a girl! No really... I have proof! I still have an assignment I did that shows that whole plan... even down to the years it would happen! (I told you I was OCD!)

However, God's plan was a little different for my life. I met the love of my life before graduating high school, graduated high school and got married. I started college but the baby itch got the best of me and I ended up dropping out due to a lot of medical problems.

Alot of people told me it was a big mistake. They swore I would never go back! I knew deep down inside I would... I just didn't know when.

When I finally decided to go back I still had people telling me.... being a student, full time employee, and mom is too much. You should just wait till your kid goes to school! It's too hard. You'll never make it! Then half way through that program I got the baby itch again and you can only imagine what people were saying when that happened. However, this time I was determined to finish.

I won't lie. I was stressed more than I had ever been before! I cried on a weekly, ok maybe daily, basis. I wasn't always the best mommy... spending time with my kids was often substituted for homework. My patience with my husband was extremely short! My house was almost never clean. But....

I DID IT! Not only did I make it through but I made it through with a 4.0! I graduated Summa Cum Laude and could never have been happier!

I know I couldn't have done it without the help of so many people! To all those who sent words of encouragement throughout my journey I say THANK YOU! You may never know how much it helped keep me going!

I would never...

Knowing that I grew up all over and one of those places happened to be Rochester, New York where 12 inches of snow is considered an average daily snowfall, I would never be giddy to hear that North Carolina might see a "dusting of snow" especially after I swore that I hated snow and never cared to see it again!

That being said... being the extremely organzied and scheduled person that I am, I would never bypass very important housework that needed to be done before going to graduation just to play in possibly only a 1/2 inch of snow with my boy! And I would definitely not take my 1 year old out in the wagon in that mess either! Why that would just be irresponsible!

Knowing that nothing got accomplished for the day and there were lots of errands to be run, I would never tell my husband just to go home after eating dinner and that I would do everything tomorrow....

Cause if I did that ..... I would be running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to clean up the house before my parents came, making my son vacuum the stairs for me and still trying to figure out when I'm suppose to run those important errands I told my husband I would do today! Cause that sounds just crazy... and....

So me!

Where's the line to see Jesus?

I'm very guilty of getting caught up in making sure the children see Santa, have the special Santa present, and getting the special stocking stuffers. It's gets me excited to be sneaky after the kids go to bed knowing that when they wake up in the morning they will be SUPER excited.

The other night at the mall I was blown away with two things. The 2 hour line just to sit on the jolly old man's lap and the cost of a picture with Santa! $25 here! And that's the smallest package you can buy! Gracious!

I can only wonder.... would there be the same kind of reaction to see Jesus?! I would hope there would be and more! After all... that IS why we celebrate CHRISTmas!!

Such a pretty song!

One of Megan's new favorite toys....

For Megan's birthday I knew she wanted a playhouse! She absolutely loves playing in them and I thought it would be perfect for when the weather got to be a little warmer! Unfortunately my kids have birthday's close to Christmas so there is no presents during the warm months! They have to ask for them now and then play with them later! Haha!

Anyway... instead of waiting till warmer weather.. my husband put together her playhouse while I was at school last week! I'm less than thrilled by it's current location and can't wait for it to be outdoors but.... my daughter LOVES it!!

After she woke up from her nap... I brought her downstairs to play while I folded some laundry. I heard some giggling from behind the couch and here is what I found....

A very sweet little girl with crazy nap hair playing in her house!

She was calling her da da on the phone...

Yeah for my new playhouse that daddy didn't make me wait for!

A Trip to see Santa...

Every year since Gavin has been born I've taken him to sit on Sata's lap. He loves it. He's always been a people person just like his momma! So... I didn't hesitate to take Megan this year either.

Unfortunately.... Megan was not nearly as thrilled about this jolly old man as Gavin was!

Gavin could have talked to Santa all day! Telling him all about himself, everything he ever wanted... etc. Megan on the other hand.... she just wanted to get the heck off this strange man's lap!!

No family would be complete without a crying Santa picture right??

And no picture would be complete in this house unless everybody except Santa was looking away from the camera and Megan was crying!

Classic!

Merry Christmas!

Look "Who's" 1 ?!!

I know, I know. Megan's birthday has passed. However, like always, I'm just now getting around to posting the birthday party pictures!

1st birthday's are mainly for family so it only made sense that her birthday party be in Maryland where most of our family is!

So last weekend we headed up to Maryland  for as Gavin called it "Megan's owl party!" Thanks to the hard work of lots of people the party was a huge success! We started off by having the kids play at an indoor play museum called Greatwise Kids! This is one of Megan's favorite things to do! She loves to explore and play without having rules and limits! Then we headed over to the church that Matt and I met at to eat dinner and cake with our families! Pretty much everyone from our immediate families (I think Matt's brother Chris was the only one who couldn't make it) was there! Dinner was spaghetti , Meg's favorite, and Matt's mom and Uncle Phil made some totally AWESOME cakes! (Did I mention that part of it was my grandmother's pound cake recipe... one of my personal favorites?!) Meg's was all about the cake and refused to share hers with anyone! She also found out after the pinata that chocolate bars taste fantastic! Definitely not a trait she got from her momma! It was really nice to celebrate our precious little girl's birthday with everyone!

And now... here are the pictures

Aidan says "Cheese!"

Climbing on the rock in the space area!

Playing in the playhouse

Eating spaghetti

Megan's very own  mini owl cake

The big owl cake!

The pinata!

Playing with the cousins!

Cake! Yummy!

Sorry Kendyll, none for you!

With Aunt Nen after her bath... look at those curls! Just like daddy!

Opening presents!

And here is the slideshow I made for her... It's about 15 minutes or so!

A Message from Santa...

A message to Gavin from Santa...

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/S6xjS8aRaNZJVn8K1Q1dTw


A message to Megan from Santa

http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/guest/27NdBNc55EpR1vZRo0BTZw

I made the news...

Mount Olive News that is.....

The story of Megan's near arrival in the middle of class was documented in the Mount Olive magazine and on their homepage.

Check it out at http://www.moc.edu/

I'm pretty important I guess.... (more like they probably didn't have anything else to write about but hey! It will be a nice addition to the baby book!)

Happy Birthday!

I can't believe it's been 1 year since my little girl was born! It doesn't seem that long ago that I was on my way to the hospital certain that I would end up having my baby on the side of the road! But since I've already cried like 3 times... I'll spare anymore details of this special day so that I won't start to cry again!

Happy Birthday to my Meggie Moo who gives me a new reason to smile each day! I love you more than words can say and I am so blessed that God gave you to me!

My baby 1 year ago...

What's that little baby up to these days?

Well...

* She loves to sing "Da da da" all the time but she still loves Mommy the most :)
* She loves the doctor playset but hates actually seeing the doctor! Hmm...
* She still has NO teeth!
* She loves to stand up and walk around everything but still is too lazy to actually stand and try to take a step
* She is a climber! There is nothing she won't climb!
* She sits in the big bathtub without a bathseat and LOVES it!
* Her favorite thing to do is go through a play tunnel
* Can finally face forward in her carseat making car trips a lot easier!

And a couple pictures of the birthday girl today...

About to open presents and very excited about ripping paper!

Eating cake! Yummy!

Crazy girl!

Loving this song lately...

There's No Place Like Home....

There's no place like home, There's no place like home. If only it were that easy right?
I wanted  needed a pair of these slippers yesterday! Why? I was at my house all day! The problem is... home is where your heart is and well.. yesterday...it was not North Carolina! Yesterday my sister had a beautiful baby girl and I couldn't be there. I mean of course I wanted to hold a brand new baby (who wouldn't) but that wasn't it. I felt like I needed to be there. For support, to help, for someone to talk to, to... just be what she had been for me for both of my children! And I wasn't :(

Of course there were several reasons why me going there was a little more difficult than her coming here. My kids are younger and I had no place for them, I had my last class before my final exam Monday night, my husband couldn't get off so I would be driving late all by myself, and money is just not there to make 2 trips up and down. Needless to say... I was a mess! All day!

Now while I don't think know that this was not the only reason for my breakdown it didn't make it any easier to get through the day. My life is on overload and I think I'm about to hit that wall! The last few months have been crazy with trying to plan and host a birthday party for my son, plan and host a birthday party for my daughter, finish school, and celebrate two holidays while trying to maintain the everday tasks!

I need to get away... I need some ruby slippers that take me where ever my heart desires... now... just where do I want to go and how am I going to get there?

A nice surprise...

Tuesday night I was given these beautiful flowers from my husband. It's the first time I've gotten flowers in more than a year! So... what's the occassion you ask? I dunno. I didn't want to ask! I decided just to say Thank You and enjoy the moment! After all... no matter what the reason... I probably won't get them again for another year! Oh well... flowers or no flowers... I love him anyway!

A Party to Remember...

I know... Gavin's camping party was 2 weeks ago! Hey... you gotta post when you can and lately I haven't had much time to do anything! Although, I refuse to do another party at my house again... I must say it was a HUGE success! A big thank you to all of you who helped me pull it off! I couldn't have done it without each of you!

The day started off extremely stressful! It rained all morning! Ahhh!! However, the skies cleared and we ended up being able to do everything we had planned!

It was the coldest weekend we've had yet (great planning huh?) but the kids were troopers! Here are just a few of the pictures of the "most awesomest" (Gavin's words) party he has ever had!

Eating dinner

Jumping on the trampoline in the dark!

Scavenger hunt for camping items

Musical chairs (or well... buckets!)

The pinata

Candy!!

A cookie cake

Hot chocolate, Apple cider, and songs around the campfire :)

Introducing....

The Ultimate Nose Sucker!

Ok, so maybe you aren't quite as excited about it as me! I can't help it! To anyone who knows me I am the nose sucker nazi! I can't stand to see snot running down my child's face and if they can't blow it out... I'll suck it out! All of it! Until I can't hear anymore! This could go on for almost 5 minutes. Can you imagine sucking someone's nose that long or even having your own nose sucked that long!?

Gavin must not have hated it as much but I didn't require the help of this handy gadget till Megan came along. You see... she hates to be restrained. In anything... in any way. With the help of this little "sucker" (haha, I just made myself laugh with that one!) I cut down the process by a crazy amount of time. It only took me like 1 minute to get what would have taken 10! And the best part... it even has a measuring cup! EWWW!

Gross for some but extremely exciting for me!

She gets that from her momma...No it's from her daddy...

Maybe it's both! Whoever it is though...one thing is for sure. I definitely have it. What? OCD (or CDO as I would like to call it because that's the way the letters should be anyway!)

It's true! I can't stand chaos. I need things neat! I like everything to have a spot. Different color highlighters, trays, folders, labels... I love it all! Office Depot and Staples are my dreamland!

I'm the Queen of lists and charts! It drives my husband insane! He just doesn't understand how someone could be so over the top about making things. So I don't know why he shakes his head in disbelief when he found a chart similar to this on the my desk...

I also don't understand why he wouldn't just assume that with such an important event such as my son's 5th birthday party this weekend that there wouldn't  be a typed one of these for each day of the week starting with Wednesday...

Complete with a computer generated map of the backyard as to how I want things laid out! I mean really? That's what I do... That's who I am...

A 100% control freak!!

Happy Halloween!

These are the best we could get from one who was sooo excited about dressing up and trick or treating and one who just wanted her costume off!

The big "5" today

5 years ago my life changed forever. 5 years ago today I headed to the hospital to deliver my first child. I was so excited yet scared all at the same time! I had so many hopes and dreams for this little baby already. After an "easy" labor experience I was able to put my hands on this sweet baby boy...

From that day forward my life would never be the same! Gavin has taught me so much. I've learned to appreciate the little things, sacrifice for others, the importance of patience, and how to love someone like I never loved before.

Today I am just as much in love with this boy as the first day I saw him. He is all boy and he most definitely works my nerves on a daily basis, but he is mine and I wouldn't trade him for the world!!

So what's new at 5?

* He loves being a big brother (well.. most days!) He even tells Megan not to call him Gavin... his name is "big brother". I think it has something to do with his love of being in charge!
* He loves to play outside. It doesn't matter what he is doing just as long as he isn't inside.
* He's a smart cookie! Some of the things he already knows are all his letters and sounds, colors, shapes, how to spell his first and last name, his address, and phone number. He can even add!
* Daddy is still his favorite parent! No contest here!
* He is having his first sleepover birthday party in 2 weeks. He has been talking about this "camp out birthday" for at least 3 months now!
* He is starting to understand that there is never enough money! Haha!
* If there were only two things he could eat for the rest of his life.... right now he would choose... PB&J and strawberry toaster streudels!
* He talks like he is in his 30's.... this has been known to get him in trouble alot as well!
* He must be in everyone's conversation whether he was being spoken to or not
* He will never leave to go somewhere or go to bed without finding each member of the family to give them a hug and kiss :)


To my "big boy". Happy 5th birthday buddy. Mommy loves you more than you may ever know. Hope this year is the best one yet!

Vollmer Farms

Each year we go to the pumpkin patch. Last year I think we ended up going 4 times with all the birthday parties we had there! And every year... we always go to Hillridge Farms. It's a really nice farm with all the usual pumpkin patch stuff. But this year we decided to go to a different farm. I had been to Vollmer Farms with Gavin before and although it's a little farther out (and a little more expensive) it isn't nearly as crowded as Hillridge. I'm pretty sure just about everyone goes to Hillridge in this area!

Vollmer Farms also has more things to do than Hillridge. In addition to picking your own pumpkin sliding on the big tube slide, playing in the corn and the hay ride they have rat racers, a zip line, a big inflatable pumpkin that is like a trampoline, and a cow train! They have some other stuff as well but those seem to be the main attractions!

My kids had a blast. What were the favorite activities from my kids? Gavin loved the zip line and Megan LOVED the cow train!

Riding on the hay ride!

Megan and Daddy on the hay ride

Rat racers

Jumping the big pumpkin!

It's not easy to crawl in corn!

Where did Gavin go?

Riding in the "Moo Cow train" -- Doesn't Daddy look thrilled!? I'm pretty sure he rode it at least 3 times... the things you do for your kids!

And a video of Gavin's favorite part...

Some kids will change your life....

During the first year that Wake Forest Kids R Kids was open I had a little girl in my class named Lilly. Before coming into my class my director informed me that she wasn't just any ordinary kid and that her mother had requested to meet with me to go over Lilly's "issues". Lilly was diagnosed at 6 months with a severe dairy allergy. She was even contact reactive. The first part of the year I was scared out of my mind! I was afraid to touch her or even let any of the kids come near her out of fear they may have eaten or touched something dairy. As the year went on my fear was no longer there. I was definitely extremely careful but not crazy!

I came to love this little girl. We just clicked and she quickly became my little Lilly Lou! She is now in first grade and doing wonderfully. However, she now also has been diagnosed with a peanut allergy. Yesterday I participated in the FAAN walk to help raise money for individuals with food allergies! As I came to find out being her teacher, food allergies don't just affect the person with the allergy they affect everyone around them! I'm so glad I was able to be a part of this walk and even more excited that I got to see my Lilly Lou again!!