Beginning of Mother's Day

Mother's Day morning began with my hubby getting breakfast for us and the kids giving me cards and flowers. I always love seeing their little faces when they give me gifts. They are just precious. Brock always asks "Do you love it?"

Time to get ready for church, we had missed sunday school due to sleeping late, and when it came time to get shoes on for Keira, the bad attitude began. She is having some issues with fashion and we don't see eye to eye on this subject. She needed to wear white shoes with her dress and of course, she wanted to wear black. I said "no" and then it started, the "these shoes hurt." Whatever! She just wore them to school the other day and never once complained. I told her to go find another pair of white shoes and she did, and once again complained. I know they do not hurt as they are a little big on her. Mommy and Daddy won this battle. I did not even put her hair up as I was so frustrated with her. Sunday mornings are some of our toughest mornings and I honestly think it stems from Satan. As a Christian, he wants us to fail, wants us to get so upset that we say "Just forget church this morning" and I have uttered these words several mornings.

After church, we went to Papaw and Mamaw Leffew. We attempted to take pictures and Keira again had a terrible attitude. I seem to never have any mother's day pictures with my kids. Brock did get his picture made with the grandparents, and then I was over it. She can easily ruin the moment with her attitude. With Keira we really have to keep her in line. Majority of the time she is sweet and obeys. But, in those moments that she thinks she is the boss and can be so rude and disrespectful, we have to bring her back down a notch. I know this will pay off as she gets older as we have seen progress in her the past year.

So, one day I can show her the above picture and we will laugh (hopefully). Happy Mother's Day to me!!

End of Mother's Day

The beautiful view from my dad and step-mom's home. We ended our day by visiting with them and finally had a happy girl.

Brock loves the fountains at their house.

Beautiful girl!

Awana Awards Night

On May 5, we had Awana awards night at church. Keira completed her second year of Cubbies and finished her book. She did so well memorizing Scripture and I began putting verses on the white board in our kitchen, so both kids will have a verse each week to memorize. I think this is very important to begin this early as you can so they can begin to have God's Word in their hearts and minds and that these verses stay with them. Keira amazes me at her recall and how she can memorize something so quickly. Seems like it takes me a lot longer to memorize things, maybe it is age or that I don't feel like I use enough brain power since I don't work outside the home anymore :)

I had the opportunity to be the Puggles teacher. This is the first yr we had this class in Awanas. It is for 2 yr olds. What an experience, and my biggest challenge was keeping them still long enough to do a 5 minute lesson. HA!! Brock and Kiersten were my only 2 Puggles, but 2 was plenty to start out with. Next yr, the number will increase. Puggles are full of energy, full of love, and full of fun! We spent half our lessons on creation and learned the simple facts of God made animals, God made trees, God made sun, etc and God made me!

Ballet I Spring Recital

On May 1 and 2, Keira performed in the Spring Dance Recital. She is in ballet and tap, so had 2 dance routines to learn. I am so proud of my little girl, because almost exactly a year ago she would not even get on stage for her pre-school program. For her to get on stage in a theater and do this is a huge accomplishment. She has come out of her shell since last yr. I have been amazed at her in this process. To watch her on stage was just beyond words for me. She was awesome! Grinning from ear to ear and loving every minute of it. My little girl...........

I got to watch the entire show on sat. evening and worked backstage on sunday afternoon. So glad I got to see the show, it was great! From ballet to hip-hop to modern dance, incredible. We have some talent here in our little county. I also admire the women who do the adult classes, some of which have kids in the classes Keira is in. I wish I had the ability to dance like them and perform like they do, but I will stay in the audience and just be a spectator.

Keira was thrilled that she had so many family members come watch her. Big thanks to all the grandparents, her great-grandfather, Aunt Pam, Aunt Teresa, Madison and Eli, Uncla Jared, and of course daddy and Brock. She is a very blessed little girl.

Tap I

Keira and Ms. Hannah

I absolutely loved Tap I costumes. Keira has done well in tap and loves her teacher. The teacher is very energetic and outgoing, she makes the kids laugh and makes it fun for them.

This was my first experience doing a dance recital, never in my life did I picture myself at something like this, meaning having a child in it and working backstage. I have seen a few dance shows of my family members. You really don't get an appreciation for all the hard work and time put into a show until you have been backstage among the chaos. It is crazy at times, people yelling for this and that, trying to get the dancers changed into the next costumes, making sure you have the correct color tights, correct hair piece in, making sure it is secure, making sure shoes are right, hair and make-up done just right, and the list could go on. One of the more difficult challenges with the younger dancers, age 3-5, is keeping them occupied until the end of the show for the final bows. Can seem like an eternity at this point. It was an experience for me and I am so thankful for all the other mothers who took the time to answer questions and help me as needed. I couldn't have survived without them. For us newcomers, it is overwhelming and we appreciated the veterans helping us. Without them, it would have been like sending the sheep out among the wolves. Thank you ladies for everything!!!

Quick little trip

After tax season is finished, we take 2-3 days and have some family time doing something new. Last yr we went to Chattanooga for Thomas the Train and also the TN Aquarium. This yr, since we purchased season passes to Dollywood/Splash Country, we decided to go to Dollywood one day and then the following day go to the Ripley's Aquarium, the kids wanted to go b/c they have seen the penguins being advertised. I figured we better go ahead and get daddy to dollywood and get his photo id, due to it not being his favorite place to go, and since he probably will not make it back to the park until Christmas time :) I did try and talk him into going back w/o kids and getting our friends to go and actually ride the adult rides and do things we want to do all day. He did agree with that idea!

We stayed at the Christmas Inn in Pigeon Forge, love this place! Mamaw and I stayed with the kids back in Nov. while the men went to Indy. We highly recommend this place if you want to try something new. I love all the Christmas decorations and such! We also stayed at the RiverStone Resort last fall also (condos), and liked this place also. Behind the Dixie Stampede on Dollywood Lane. Just thought I would throw that info out for anyone interested.

Brandon and I decided we like the TN Aquarium better, but Ripley's is good also. Just so much more in Chattanooga to see. But, the kids had a great time and that is all that mattered. Brock wanted to know why the penguins didn't do "tricks", he highly expected them to be doing something other than standing and just looking at us. Keira had told him they would be skating on ice and such, so I guess he got his hopes up. Silly kids!

Spring Fun

We have enjoyed the beautiful weather and being outside. The kids love it!! Makes me wish it was this way yr round.

Storytime

One evening before Papaw and Mamaw went home, the kids wanted them to read books to them. Sweet moments!

Upward Soccer

Keira played AYSO soccer last fall and we thought we would give Upward a try this spring. So far, so good! I like that only 4 play at a time and no goalie and they have to kick outside the blue arc at the goal. I love that they do devotionals with the kids every practice and at games. Keira really loves soccer the best of the sports she has tried so far. We decided not to play t-ball this yr, and would have went back to the church league she played in last yr. They only played 6-8 games, can't remember now, and it was free. Plus, soccer and t-ball games are at the same time on Sat. mornings, so......

I am thankful she doesn't want to do t-ball yet, I really don't want to be at a ballfield almost every night of the week and then on saturdays at various times. I have had people tell me I should sign her up, no thanks. Plus, she likes soccer better than t-ball, I guess b/c you get more action. She can play when she wants to, I am not forcing her to sign-up for anything. Next yr, Brock will be able to play, so we will probably go to the church league again and have them play at the same times and same field, if they want to play. Brock wants to play everything so bad already and it is hard to explain to him why he can't play yet. He thinks he is as big as the other kids.

Keira told me on the way home after the soccer game, that a girl on her team told her she had to be 7 yrs old, not 4, b/c she was tall. Her teammate is 6 and Keira is just a little bit taller than her, so in her thinking, Keira must be older than her. No one has ever said anything to Keira before, so I guess this must have got her to thinking about her height.

Tea Party

Keira went to her first tea party/birthday party this past Saturday. What a beautiful day it was!! The girls got to decorate hats, decorate cupcakes, and then sat down at a beautiful table. Blueberry tea was served along with cookies, cheese sandwiches, and p&b sanwiches. The girls had a great time. It was fun to watch them.

Brock got to go spend time with Papaw Woody as I did not want to take him to the tea party. I can only imagine what that would have been like. He was thrilled to go over to Papaw's and play. I think it is good for him to get one-on-one time with the grandparents as Keira seems to "hog" or "control" the times when they are both with them. Brandon picked him up and they got some father-son time, which they always enjoy.

After the tea party we went home and changed clothes and went to another birthday party. Keira had a blast at this also. They had 2 inflatables and she just enjoyed playing outside with all her friends. She wasn't ready to leave when I told her it was time.

We were all tired after a super busy day, we started out with ballet and tap from 9-10 first thing sat. morning and it was non-stop till bedtime. Needless to say, everyone was tired. What a good time with friends today!!

Celebrations

Daddy's birthday was on Feb. 22 but we celebrated on the 21st after church with a birthday dinner at Papaw and Mamaw's. Due to tax season and daddy working 7 days a week, it doesn't leave time for much of anything as a family. The kids picked out 2 gifts for him. Brock could not wait and kept telling him that he bought him a video game, so we ended up giving him his gift early. Keira waited until the birthday dinner to give him hers. Keira was dressed in her cheerleading outfit and decided Brock should wear it, which he happily did. Oh my, if only daddy was home on this day, his son would not have been int his outfit! LOL!!!

On March 2, my grandfather turned 88!! The Duncan's gathered the Sunday before his birthday and celebrated. Don't you love how my daughter smiles, she cannot simply smile.

Brock receiving his first gun from Papaw Ronnie!! Brock cannot wait to go hunting, he talks often about it. He even asks me if I am going, and my answer is always " I don't think so." I cannot shoot Bambi's mom or dad. He picked out a hunting game for Brandon and he loves to play it with him on the PS3. We see deer out and about and he always says he has to tell papaw and daddy so they can go hunt them. Love him!!