Beth is EIGHT!!

I cannot believe I have an 8 year old! ACK! Has it really been 8 years!

Beth is growing up...big time. Just recently I've started noticing an "attitude" change...friendlier, more patient with her little sister, and more helpful. Its nice. She is having her first slumber party for her birthday...this weekend. Lord help us! :-)

Good grief- how is it that we've already gone from this...

to this...

Happy 8th Birthday Beth!!

I'm so, so sorry!

I haven't blogged since January! ACK! I'm so sorry...if anybody cares...if anybody reads this blog anymore. Facebook has really taken over now, as my source of providing info to others. Again, I apologize...

But honestly, there hasn't been much to update everyone one. I'm not sure I've even taken more than 10 pictures since Christmas.

We've had a crazy 3 weeks. Kids Closet week (my LAST Kids Closet) was Feb. 27-March 6 and it was an insane week, aside from KC. I didn't post my usual pictures of my awesome "finds" due to the craziness that ensued that week, but I did pretty darn good!!

On Tuesday night, March 1, we discovered a water leak in our cold water line under our house and had to shut off the water until a plumber could get to us...

Our beloved 11 year old Bailey girl (our yellow lab) got very sick on Wednesday morning, March 2nd, and we had to put her down. Ugh.......

The "sickness" ruined our flooring in the house, so we were having to deal with carpet/flooring quotes on Friday, March 4th and making a snap decision on those quotes. It was NOT a planned remodel....but regardless, it was going to to have to happen ASAP.

The hardwood started going in last Friday. They SHOULD be done with the wood (and carpet in the bedrooms) by this Thursday/Friday. The girls bathroom is also getting retiled, because the current flooring in there is 1/2 nasty old carpet and 1/2 nasty old green tile. We are vacating the house for the week so the flooring guys can work as late as they want to at night. We've had to clean out all closets' floors and under all the beds...we've had to move all small objects out of their normal resting places...I had to unload the china cabinet...I had to paint 253 feet of shoe molding. Fun times....

On top of THAT, we were in the middle of a PLANNED exterior remodel and Bob sanded and repainted our front door and he hung new shutters this weekend. I will paint the ugly ironwork to match the door/shutters next weekend. We were originally going to replace the ironwork with colums, but alas, a rather large unplanned for reflooring project arose, and our budget went down the drain! So, a repainting they will get... I will post before/after pictures when everything is done.

The girls and I were able to escape for a bit yesterday to the Adventure Science Museum (Bob dared not leave home as UK played UF for the SEC championship at noon!). It was then girls' combined birthday present from my parents. Then we dropped off Grammy at the airport to meet my dad in Destin for the week...hence while we'll be at their house this week! It was a fun day and I think the girls enjoyed it!

3 weeks till spring break...we need a vacation pretty badly!

Nerves

I really have nothing exciting to report. Beth was sick all last week...blah. Just a nasty cold virus that wouldn't loosen its grip on her, so she got 3 sick days and a snow day - yeah!

Why did I title the post NERVES? Well....here's why....

I WAS nervous regarding Sarah's school choice for next year. Last fall I made the decision to go ahead and move her to full-day Kindergarten at the same private school where Beth is now for the 2011-12 school year. We will be moving her out of her preschool/kindergarten program she has been in for 2 years. Beth STAYED there for Kindy, so this will my first Kindy experience at this school, however, its the SAME teacher Beth had when she was in church Kindy, so I'm psyched about that! SO, basically, after 5 years and 2 kids, we are leaving our Church school. I wish I could say I was sad, but I feel and I know its time to move. I need the move for me. I need the girls to be at the same school. I need to remove myself from being so intertwined in the Church school. I am the Board Chairman. I am 1 of 4 Kids Closet Coordinators. I am resigning both those jobs in May. I need to pull Sarah out of Church Daycare. She will leave there in May, as well. Honestly, I need a separation between Church and school and daycare because the lines get crossed and fuzzy sometimes. I need my church to be MY CHURCH and nothing more. And that is all I will say about that without going into crazy details that don't need to be on the internet.

SO ANYWAY- I just found out out that Sarah will definitely make the cut for Kindergarten next year. She is on THE list and NOT the "WAITING" LIST!! Now I can RELAX!!

Bob has gone back to school to finish his masters degree in Occupational Safety & Health- 2 nights a week. Yeah -that makes me a little nervous, too. Not that he is going back to school- but gone two nights a week on top of his already busy schedule. HOPEFULLY he'll be all done by next Christmas!

Bob also got a great new potential client...I say "potential" because the contract isn't signed yet and we know better than anyone, that things can change and happen before anyone signs on the dotted line and that makes me nervous. Rates and dollar signs haven't been discussed yet, so...again...I'm nervous that it all works out okay because it really is a great opportunity!

On a different note- Beth had 3 tests yesterday and made A's on all of them -yeah!!

Holidays

Whew! What just happened!?!?

Did December come and go already? Holy cow! The holidays really flew by this year!

We obviously stayed busy, hence no blog updates for a month! Sorry!

Here are some of the best pictures:

Before Christmas Dinner at my mom and dad's house

Our family:

My parents and brother and sister-in-law:

Bob and Sarah Katherine:

me and Sarah Katherine:

Sarah's excitement over a gift! love the expression!

Christmas Eve morning at my mom and dad's house...girls going through their stockings:

Sarah finally got her Jasmine crown!

Bob can finally stop packing in luggage with MY monogram! :-)


Barbies from Dandaddy...


In Murray on a snowy Christmas Eve - Sarah w/ Aunt Becky and Beth w/Aunt Becky:


More fun in Murray:


Traditional reading of The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve before bedtime:


SANTA CAME!!!


For Sarah Katherine:

For Beth:

A WHITE CHRISTMAS!


The girls checking out their stocking gifts!

There is a back story to this next picture. Sarah is holding a bag of Pistachio nuts Santa left in her stocking. She obviously isn't nearly as thrilled about them as she is the lipgloss in the picture above.... She LOVES Pistachio nuts and will eat them by the bowl full. I teased her that Santa was going to leave her a bag of them and she did NOT think that was a neat idea for some reason! Well...Santa brought them anyway!!

Beth opening the gift from Sarah Katherine- MORE Rainbow Magic Fairy books!

...and the sister hug that came after!

I think I took this right after Beth gave Bob the gift she picked out and paid for by herself at her school's Santa Shop!

Bob gave Sarah a Zhu Zhu princess Castle. That darn thing was hard to find! It didn't come out in stores till Dec. 10th or so and I couldn't find it anywhere. I lost COUNTLESS auctions on Ebay for it and finally won one...only to discover it a few days later at Walmart for 1/2 of what I paid for it on Ebay! Errr...........Oh well...her expression made all that totally worth it!!

And Beth's big gift from mom and dad was an IPOD Touch....think she likes it?

I gave Sarah a new "round chair" as her old Dora chair was literally falling apart. She was unimpressed that it wasn't a toy, but got over it pretty fast!

And the day was topped off with snowman building in the back yard!!

Back to reality now!!

Regular Life

Life is moving along at such a fast pace it seems. How is it already Thanksgiving time? Holy cow!! I'm hosting Thanksgiving next week for lots of intown and out-of-town relatives and then I've GOT to get on to Christmas shopping. I have a few things for the girls...but I've barely even started. I need more ideas for Sarah Katherine...anyone got a great gift idea of a 4-year old. Her list is SHORT and Beth's is LONG....

Not too much to report on since Halloween. Bob's been hunting a lot. I'm trying to get a jump start on cleaning the house to get it ready for the holidays...doing a little bit every day. Yesterday I finally got around to hanging the girls' portraits (this is Sarah's....I have yet to take a picture of Beth's! oops)...

...and finally got all the hairbow-making junk out of my dining room! Carpets in the entire house get cleaned Monday...thank goodness!! I desperately need my upholstery cleaned too...but that will have to wait, along with all the other things like new shutters, new back door, new windows....oh the joys of home ownership. I'd really just like a NEW HOUSE....

We've made the decision to move Sarah to a new school for Kindergarten next year. While I've loved the program at our Church (3's, 4's and Kindergarten) and while Beth DID go to Kindy here, I feel its time to move on. I need both girls at the same place for logistics sake and my own sanity. I desperately need a separation of my Church and my kid's school, because sometimes those waters get very muddy. And I see no reason paying full-price for aftercare (daycare) when she'll only be in daycare from 12-3 each day, which is basically to eat and nap, which is no fun. We've told Sarah she is moving next year to be with Beth and she is excited. I feel better now that I've made my decision and honestly, a little relieved. I am trying to tell myself that although SK won't get to experience what Beth did in Kindergarten, that she will get to experience NEW things at her new school and that is great. They don't each have to do the same thing. Church is a 1/2 day Kindy program....new school is a full day Kindy program, which I think Sarah needs. Church daycare requires of all their 3's, 4's and Kindy kids and Sarah Katherine already doesn't need that 2 hours. Its playing havoc with our bedtime routine. She was up till after 9:00 last night (and her bedtime is 7:30!). I think I'll be a happier person, too....

Beth continues to do great in 2nd grade and got straight A's the first 9 weeks grading period. At mid-term of this 2nd 9 week grading period, she continues to maintain straight A's! yeah! She is an AVID reader and can read books so fast. She loves science...isn't a huge fan of math though, but she is doing well. (I wasn't a math fan either...still not!) She is an "elf" in her upcoming Christmas show and has sung me many of the songs and is quite proud of herself! :-)

That's about it folks...not much going on here other than regular life!

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 has come and gone (yeah!)..... Sarah went as three different characters...Princess Jasmine (class photo is the only proof I have that she actually dressed up like this, and I didn't even take it - pretty bad, huh?), a ballerina princess, and Tinkerbell...she's pretty indecisive sometimes! Beth chose a medieval princess, ironically the same costume I wore to a party last year.

Thursday- SK's Nursery School girls.... before they went trick-or-treating!

Friday night trick-or-treating downtown:

Saturday night for neighborhood trick-or-treating...

Day 5- Last Day and Cinderella Dinner

Last full day at Disney - time to do everything again that we wanted to! (Pirates of the Carribean pictured here)

...And....meet a few new characters! Beth FINALLY got to meet the fairies (longest wait of anything we did at Disney - 95 minutes!!) Pictured are Rosetta (in pink), Tinkerbell and Vidia (the "fast flying" fairy...and also the "mean" one!)

And we caught a little bit of the afternoon parade and saw characters we hadn't seen all week, so that was fun, too! That is Sarah on Bob's shoulders in some of these pictures:

The newest Disney Princess- Tiana and Prince Navene from The Princess & The Frog:

I think Sarah Katherine was a little tired on the boat ride back!

Then it was time for a little pool and waterslide before getting dressed and heading over to the Grand Floridian for the Cinderella dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

And Sarah FINALLY got to wear her princess dress!

Beth and I topped the night off with a quick trip back to the park to ride Big Thunder Mountian, Pirates and Jungle Cruise in the dark! Bob and SK played on the beach at Wilderness Lodge and the playground.