My graduate!

I would just like to say that there is no way my baby is old enough to be graduating from kindergarten!  He just started as a sweet preschooler last week! I remember that 1st day he didn't want any pictures taken, & he even stood on the sign I had made for him that said "1st day of preschool". 

1st day of preschool-Aug 2009

Last day of Kindergarten-May 2012

He was George Washington in the end of the year program!  He loves that hat/wig combo! Even wore it to Target the week after graduation!

 I have loved this school.  These are the 5 Kindergarteners.  They are all such good friends & Kirkland is very disappointed that he won't be going to the same school as any of them next year. We are already praying for him to meet some new Godly friends at public school.

He worked very hard on something called his "Number Roll". The school record was 3500 & he said at the beginning of the spring semester that he wanted to beat it.  He beat the record with about 2 weeks to go & then decided he needed the new goal of getting to 4000! He reached that goal too!  His teacher made up a fun song about Kirkland & his number roll, and he got this awesome trophy at graduation.  When he unrolled it, it was over the length of a football field! I am very proud of him for setting a goal & seeing it through!

Next stop: 1st GRADE!!

Planting seeds

Geoff asks Kirkland the other night at dinner: "What will you do when you first see Jesus?".  Kirkland rolls his eyes, as if to say "duh", and then says, "Praise Him!".

Charlie asked me yesterday what Jesus's phone number was.  He was excited, yet concerned as to why he didn't have a phone. :)

Sweet boys!

Kirkland's 6th Birthday party!

We had a fun time celebrating Kirkland's 6th birthday! It was a nice distraction from everything that had happened the day before. It's always a joy to celebrate your children! Kirkland wanted a Cars 2 party, so we had black & white balloons everywhere & tons of other fun decorations that I forgot to take pictures of!6 years old already? How did that happen!?

The zip line got a fun upgrade this year! You now have to climb a rock wall to get up to the landing to jump off!


Kirkland's favorite color is green & it was St. Patricks Day, so we all got to wear (clashing shades of) green! I love that Kirkland's present made it in to the photo! He had been asking for a scooter for months & he was quite proud!

T-Ball!

Kirkland's 1st t-ball game fell on his 6th Birthday! What a fun way to celebrate!I love his goofy pose! He was pretty excited!


Each kid gets to bat 2 times, and he got a hit both times! Woo hoo!

Christmas time is here!!!

Kirkland & Charlie have some serious Christmas spirit! We jokingly call them the Christmas Nazis. They do not rest until every decoration is out, every ornament hung, and all outside lights are finished. They can tell you exactly where each decorative item was last year, and they do not like it if I try to mix things up & put something in a different spot. ("Whoa, the nutcrackers belong over there!")

This is them "helping" us put ornaments on the tree! Notice the drop cloth under Charlie! That's to provide some cushion for all the ornaments that Charlie accidently drops! We've only broken 3 so far this season. And, only 1 during the initial trimming of the tree. (Amazingly, Philip has not been tempted by the tree at all! He just likes to look at it!)

Once fully decorated, Charlie really likes to touch ornaments & he especially likes to move them while Kirkland is at school. Kirkland walks in the door & instantly notices, and he gets SO mad! "Where is my snowman ornament?" I have no idea how he manages to memorize the exact location of every ornament. But, he does. Trust me! Try moving one a branch over & just see what he says!

Another favorite tradition is decorating a gingerbread house. They each get 2 sides to decorate. I guess next year, we'll have to do 2 houses when Philip wants to participate.

Kirkland made a smiley face with glasses on it.

Charlie likes to put as many pieces of candy as he can get on his side!

Too much growing up around here!

The other day, Kirkland decided he was ready to learn how to ride his bike without training wheels! Geoff ran with him until he thought he had his balance, and Kirkland did pretty good! When he realized Geoff had let go & he was riding by himself, he said "YES!" It was cute! This picture was taken about 3 seconds before he almost ran straight into me! (fortunately, I have quick reflexes!) We haven't quite mastered steering just yet. That will be the next lesson!

Sweetest.Boys.EVER!

Life doesn't get much sweeter than this!

Kirkland's future wife

Me: Who do you think you are going to marry when you get older?

Kirkland: Sara Jane Veal (Her daddy coaches with Geoff & she really is a great choice)

Me: Um, what if you don't marry her?

Kirkland: Then I won't get married.

Well o.k. then. Good talk.

Charlie on the other hand has a different approach with girls. He'll hug on all the girls he can. Kirkland noticed this one day & said, "Why does Charlie hug every girl? Does he want to marry all of them?" I didn't really know what to say. Charlie just likes the ladies!

Soccer Star!

Kirkland played soccer this year & he loved it! When we got in the car after the first time he scored a goal, he asked me, "Did I kick it in the right goal?" So cute! He plays in a league that doesn't keep score until you are on the 6 year old team, but our little perfectionist always kept score in his brain! It was fun to watch him out there. Hope to watch him compete for years to come!

Playing trains one morning...

I love Charlie's expression in this picture. I just had to share!

My little man is 5!

Kirkland actually turned 5 over a month ago, but his mama is currently scatterbrained & rarely remembers to blog! :)

He wanted a spiderman party & the whole family got involved in pulling off a great party! My Aunt Wanda & Leighan made the webs on the cupcakes, My mom made all the other food & helped with planning, decorating, clean up & purchasing everything we needed (she really is the best!) Aunt Linda & Uncle Tom came over & put up a 10x20 ft web, a zip line, a tire swing, and an orange barrel rope swing thing...-it was all very fun!Everyone got to make a spiderman mask. Then, they went around the yard shooting webs (a.k.a silly string) at all of the "bad guys". Charlie preferred to drive around to look for bad guys!

Look at that happy smile!

I love how he is sticking his tongue out! Standing with him is one of his best buddies from school named Preston. Sometimes, they spell t.r.o.u.b.l.e!

The zip line was probably the biggest hit! All the kids stood in line & kept doing it over & over & over!

We know Kirkland had a blast because when it was over, he said he wants that exact same party again next year with the exact same people to come! :)

I never could have imagined how much fun I would have being a mom. The last 5 years have been such an amazing blessing!

Pre-K!

Kirkland was so excited this morning about going to school! He is still at the same school he went to last year & we love it! Charlie has been telling people all week that he was going to school this week too. Poor little man, with his September birthday, he actually won't start pre-school until 2012!It was hard to get a picture of Kirkland by himself this morning, because Charlie is used to having his picture taken with Kirkland, and he didn't understand why I wanted to get a "solo" shot. Grandmama came over to see us off & then she even met us for lunch at Chick-fil-A after we

picked him up for his "celebration lunch"! Charlie started sobbing when we pulled up to the school and he realized that Kirkland was going in without him. He kept saying, "I go school with Kirkland" and "Let me out". It was awful! Poor guy! We really missed Kirkland today.

What a big, sweet boy he is! His school is lucky to have him!

"blowing" bubbles...

So, Geoff & Kirkland are in the pool while Charlie & I are at the table enjoying a snack.

I think I hear Kirkland telling everyone around him that he is "blowing bubbles", but we are kind of far away so I'm not sure, but I see everyone smiling at him & I think "great!". He is practicing what he learned! When he screams over to me at the top of his lungs that he is blowing bubbles & I give him a big thumbs up & tell him "great job, keep it up!", that's when Geoff climbs out of the pool to tell me that he is actually telling people he is "Tooting bubbles". Nice...

Last of summer!

This summer has been the best! 3 months of fun with my boys! They were both old enough to really enjoy it! Oh, how I'm not ready for summer to be over. Maybe I should look into homeschooling so they can be home with me every day!

Pulling both the boys in the bike when you are 8 months pregnant is as hard as it sounds! They are heavy!!We are all about us some playground around here! My mom took me & the boys to the Jacksonville Zoo last week while Geoff was at football camp! The boys loved the water area & riding the train! And, feeding the giraffes was the highlight of the day! They were both doing so good we stayed about 5 hours! It was a great day!

Pigeon Forge

So, I'm a touch late with this post. But, July was just too much fun & I didn't have time to blog. Every year, my grandparents take our whole extended family on a vacation. Here are some pictures from Pigeon Forge, TN. We spent the days rock climbing, going on hikes, feeding ducks & going to the race tracks to ride all of the kiddie rides. The boys had a blast!

Summer is the best!

Waiting on our homemade ice cream! Yum!

Charlie's new room

We got Charlie bunk beds for his new room. He isn't quite ready to sleep in a big boy bed yet, so we've got a crib in there too until he's ready! (I can't even imagine the trouble that sweet boy would get in to if he roamed around at night by himself!)

Kirkland LOVES the top bunk & tells anyone who will listen that the top is his bunk. He asked me yesterday why he wasn't sleeping in there with Charlie. He didn't quite I understand that he's only going to sleep in there when we have company. (Or, have 4 kids!)

My sweet dad painted Charlie's room for us & painted the new playroom downstairs. Me & Geoff, well...painting just isn't our thing!

No filter...

So, we are at the Doctor's office for Kirkland's 4 year well child check. We are the only people in the waiting room with, I assume, a lesbian couple. One woman had VERY short hair. Kirkland & I are sitting about 8 feet away from her when he points & asks, "Is that a woman?". I try to casually say yes without inviting more questions about why she has boy hair, when he busts out with "Why are there 2 womans with 1 baby"? I just answered with, "You want a lollipop?".

In other news, he is in the 75th percentile for weight (41 inches) and between the 25th-50th percentile for weight (37 pounds). Doctor predicts he'll be long & lean. (We think he's going to be built like my dad)

We took Charlie for his 18 month check, and he's over 95th percentile for height (36 inches) & weight (30 pounds). (We do not predict that Charlie will be lean!)

Smart boy!

I asked Kirkland what he wanted to be when he grew up. Then, I named like 10 different professions trying to spark his interest.

After thinking about it, he said, "No, I want to be daddy".

Couldn't have chosen any better!

Bath time!

My boys LOVE them some hooded towels!