Southern Slang

When I was 12 my parents moved the family from Texas to Maine. We were in culture shock to say the least. I was a very shy little girl and the last thing I wanted was more attention for the way I talked. My teacher would call on me for EVERYTHING just to hear me talk. I guess I had the southern drawl thing going on pretty thick back then. I didn't like the attention so I consciously made an attempt to lose the southern way of talking. Now that I live here I wish I had kept it. Now I can't use all those southern terms without feeling self conscious. The one I don't use and feel the weirdest about is Y'all. I want to use it, I even practice using it - but I never do. The next best thing is for my son to use it - and this weekend he used it for the first time. I was so proud. He was outside playing with 2 friends (you have to be addressing more than 2 people to correctly use it) and he said, and I quote "Y'all come over here and hit that ball". Tears welled up and I was filled with hope. Hope that someday our house will be filled with southern slang.

It's over...

Big Red - Champions!

We went undefeated for the entire season!

I can't even believe it but we did.

Our final game was against the team we tied 12 to 12.

Guess what the score was today?

12 to 12

Can you believe that?

It was a very exciting game for everyone....Tyler did very well on defense today.

He scooped this ball up and dove to second for an out...the very next play was identical to it but he just missed the guy.

In the last inning he caught a pop fly at short stop then caught a guy running for a double play!

His first one ever all by himself!

He was very proud and so were we.

Every season needs to end with cupcakes

and trophy's!

Daddy actually got all choked up during his "speech" on Tyler.

It was very touching and Tyler can tell his daddy loves him.

Number ONE!

His biggest fan......Uncle Allen!

(Mimi and Papa too but they were not available for a picture)

I am going to miss this team very much but I am very excited to take a break from sports for the next few months.

What will fill our Saturday's?

Stay tuned....

Family Fun!

We have been so busy lately that we decided that since we didn't have ANY planned sporting, church or other activities planned we would have a family fun weekend.

Friday night started with going to the local Tarjay and picking a movie none of us have seen.

Tyler chose Speed Racer

We had a "camp in" in our living room

We made a huge tent out of sheets and chairs, gathered up every single pillow in the entire house and snuggled up tight to watch our movie.

We even made smores in our living room using our "camp fire candle"

It works and they were yummy!

Our plan was to sleep on the floor in the living room, Daddy made it until the end of the movie and then moved to the couch (wimp)

I actually was so tired I did fall asleep there in our tent with Tyler, then about an hour later I was awoken to the dog chewing very loudly on his bone. I chose to move to the bed and Tyler soon followed.

It was still fun!

Saturday morning we woke up and headed out on our annual trip to:

Tyler got to pick his pumpkin right off of the vine again this year.....
Daddy and I wanted big ones so we got one from the big yellow tent...
We always go on the hayride through the farm. This year the driver stopped where the cows were and threw them a pumpkin to eat. This cow came over very close to were we were. I didn't zoom at all, she really was that close! The driver of our tour was awesome. He stopped and explained how the farm works, who lives there, how they built the original house, why the kitchen was not in the house, what things were called, etc...During one of these stops we were outside the house and he was explaining how they built it, how they got water, how they bathed, etc. During this stop Tyler realized that people actually lived in the house. It was like a light just went on, he looked at me with fear (like we were gonna get caught or something) and said - mommy we have to go! People live here and they may think we are spying on them!

Even the lady next to us cracked up laughing.

They actually had corn high enough to call it a corn maze this year. At the end of it we got to go on a nature trail. We had never done that before and I think Tyler liked it the best!
It has been a great two days.

Church tomorrow and back to school on Monday!

Help!

My friend is also going through the adoption process. She has been waiting for a year and today she got the call! She is about to get a boy (3) and a girl (5)! It is the absolutely most perfect fit for their family! God is so good!

They need a little help. Going through the state you never know when you will get a call much less the age of the children. They are not going to have anything except the clothing on their backs. If you have anything that this family could use to help these children feel more at home please leave me a comment and let me know. I am so excited for them and they are going to love on these children so much!

Pray for the adjustment to go smoothly as they are scared and unsure of what is happening. Pray. Pray. Pray!

Conversation with Tyler

As I was getting a movie ready for him to watch he starts whistling a tune.

T: Mommy what was I whistling?

M: The wedding song.

T: Yup

M: You thinking about getting married?

T: Actually, "a girl" and I made each other a promise. When we get old we are going to find each other and then we will kiss.

M: Really?

T: Yup

M: So you will wait until you are old to do this?

T: Yeah, you have to be old to kiss.

Praise Jesus!!! One less thing I need to worry about right now!!

Baseball and Corn

Another Saturday, Another game.

This one was the best one all season.

We played a great team so we got to show off some skills that we have learned this year.

Our team really came together and played some great baseball!

We did win again - 8-2

Down the road from our house is the Rippavila Plantation. Every year they have a huge corn maze and for the first time since living here we decided to check it out.

This years theme was the solar system.

They give you a map at the begining and you go through the maze and locate each planet, constellation or fact about the solar system.

Tyler just had this in school about two weeks ago so it was great to see him tell us about each planet.

He knew the most about Earth. He went on and on about how it turns slowly and how half of it is covered up so we can have night time and how far away it is from the Sun.

Then I asked him - can Earth sustain life?

No

Little more lessons on the planet Earth may be needed - or just a vocabulary lesson on what sustain means.

Catch ya later....

Have you ever....

Gone into the men's room in a rush to get a 2 year old to the potty before he pees his pants?

I now can add that to my list of things I have accomplished.

Last night during our weekly dinner with friends the 2 year old says "poppy, poppy". So since his mother was trying to eat and his daddy just sat there I snatched him up and ran toward the bathroom. I don't think I even looked at the doors. I walked into the bathroom in my rush of trying to get the little one on the potty so he could have success......walking past the two urinals on the wall should have been my first clue that I entered the wrong room.....but nope I just kept going to the one stall. (Men's rooms really only have one stall!)
I put the little guy on the potty but we were too late, his diaper was already wet and he wanted down. Bummer.

Then I hear my son and his friend come in laughing and say "Mommy, did you know you were in the boys bathroom?"

What

Now it all makes sense. The two urinals - Those are not for Mommy's to let their boys go potty while they go into the one stall.
The waiter - who kept looking at me very funny as I went into the boys bathroom but said NOTHING!

I was just very thankful that when I went in to this men's restroom - it was empty.

Sacrifice

Yesterday was the last day to sign up for basketball. We were well prepared to sign Tyler up and went in with that purpose. Basketball is just something Tyler does to keep busy in the winter months. He enjoys it but is not passionate about it like he is baseball. When we went in to sign him up someone jokingly said - "I had to take out a loan to sign my son up!" We just thought he was being funny - then we saw the poster with the prices.....7yrs and up $90.00. This is a joke right - I mean seriously $90 - for what? They get a t-shirt. We provide the ball and shorts and shoes. What on earth could cost $90? Charlie and I just looked at each other knowing that we didn't want pay that. So we asked Tyler.
How much do you like playing basketball?
I like it.
We know you like it but do you love to play?
No, I just like it.
That was it - our decision was made and we left - without signing him up.
In the car we offered up more of an explanation for him beyond the $90 fee. We have been talking about adoption with Tyler quite a bit but had not told him yet of our starting process with the 10 weeks of classes that we are now required to take. We explained it to him- with church, baseball, school and us having to take this new class we were not even sure we could get him to practices for basketball.
His expression just lit up and his response was - "That's OK - I don't need to play basketball because if I had practice then you couldn't go to your class. You need to go to your class to get my brother."
He doesn't even realize how selfless that was.....he just knows that somewhere out there is his brother/sister and he needs them to get home to us - fast.

The Home Run

We won.......again!

Our team is the best team in our league. I heard "it ain't braggin if it's true!"

Every single kid on our team LOVES the game of baseball and it really shows when they get out there to play. All of the parents are so proud of what they have accomplished this season....and it isn't over yet!

Tyler had an in the park home run, a base clearing triple, a single and one strike out today.

Not bad for a days work.

I finally decided at the end of the game to get up and try to get some pictures....

I happened to get the home run!

The hit...

Running to third... I can tell by the look that he is looking at the third base coach and I am sure praying that he sends him on home.
And he does...
Victory!
Go Big Red!

Happy Anniversary!

On mothers day 1991 Charlie popped the question....

On October 3, 1992 I answered it.
Happy 16th Charlie!

Here we go!

This post has been a long time in the making.

We are going to adopt again! We got the call today to start the process.

It took a while to see how we were supposed to do this. We almost went with an agency. We had all of the paper work filled out and ready to mail. It kept sitting on the table and I would say - oh tomorrow I need to mail that! I just never mailed it in. Then we heard about a group that met at church once a month for adoption support. The second meeting we went to I invited my friend - she needed to hear what this lady from the state had to say. She was going to foster to adopt through the department of childrens services- but not me....I didn't need to hear any of it because I already had my paper work filled out. Then Charlie kept asking questions and I kept thinking - wow he really is inquisitive. Good for him. I sure hope "my friend" is listening to these questions - it's probably stuff she will need to know. But not me.

Then God started showing me what He wanted. He showed it through Charlie - again. Charlie heard what the lady from the state said and he listened - unlike me. He said it felt just like it did when we adopted Tyler. So the only thing I had left to do was pray. I didn't hear an answer right away and really thought we were supposed to go through this agency that I had chosen. I tried to make it so - but I realized that isn't the plan.

We are going to adopt through the department of children's services - again. The social worker that called said she remembered us and our case, even though she was not our social worker at the time. She said "you were blessed." Oh she really has no idea how blessed! I know it won't be as easy as it was the first time. From start to finish it was 7 months and in adoption world that is amazing. What I do know is that with God in control of it - I will be given the perfect child/children and our family will be complete.

Nararator

Tyler's weekly assignment of writing sentences usually involves me defining the word he needs to write about.
Last weeks words involved writing stories.

He asked me what narrator meant. I told him it was the person telling the story.

Easy enough. His sentence: The narrator tells a story.

Great - not rocket science but a complete sentence. Can't argue with that.

The next day was my day to pick him up from school. He hops in the car and the first thing out of his mouth is - Mommy, God's a narrator.

He definitely understood what a narrator is.