Our First Clemson Basketball Game

We ventured down to Clemson today for our first Clemson basketball game as a family.  It was a great game against Georgia Tech that ended up going into overtime . . and thankfully Clemson won!  The kids did great and we all enjoyed a beautiful day in Clemson, SC.

A Family Read Aloud

A couple of weeks ago we had some extra time between church activities and decided to go to the library on campus.  I picked up this book, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh, and decided we'd try to read it together as a family.  I know we've done read alouds before, but honestly I can't remember any of them because I'd always bail out leaving Dave to finish reading. :(  Anyway, this book totally captured that attention of ALL of us.  As we'd finish a chapter the kids would beg for another and I actually enjoyed reading to them!  If we read while Dave was at work we'd be sure to catch him up at dinner before we read another chapter.  Anyway, we finally finished the book!  It was a great story, but more than that we all enjoyed reading it together.

ICE Day 2015

I'm so thankful it doesn't take much snow/ice to make my kids happy!  We woke up this morning to the ground/road/trees covered in ice, but very little snow.  Savannah and Preston were SO excited!!  Once the first kid was visible outside my two were begging to go out and play.  I bundled them up as best as I could and out they went.  Two hours later I had to drag them in because their bottoms were soaked!

Over the course of time out I counted 15 different children that came to enjoy the super slope of our driveway with various sleds and tubes.  So now we are waiting for the (hopefully big) melting to begin.  We just finished hot chocolate and the kids are enjoying the Wii together.  It could be an interesting week as the lows are projected to be around 5 and 10 degrees with some more snow possible tomorrow.  One missed school day is fun for everyone, but after that not so much for mamas. :)

Giving & Loving on Valentine's Day

Preston loved his silly putty from Savannah

I'm not sure how I ended up with two children with such tender hearts and sweet giving spirits, but honestly I am so blessed in just watching the way they love to give to others.  As an example, just this week they received Valentine's cards from Grammy & Papa in the mail.  With each card came $10 and they were thrilled!!!  Preston immediately wanted to send them a thank you so when Savannah got home from school we sat down to write it.  Savannah started and wrote "I'm going to put it in savings."  Preston asked me to help him write his part and say "Thanks for the money.  I'm going to spend it!"  I got a good laugh until I realized just what he planned to spend his money on.  He had decided that he wanted to buy me a Valentine's present.  How sweet!  Even after trying to talk him out of it he was determined to do so.  I overheard Savannah and Preston talking and they were planning to buy me a necklace . . . but Preston also wanted to buy a blanket to donate to a homeless child.  Seriously, he was determined to buy both.

Finally Friday night we had a discussion about his $10 and did some math.  He knew the blanket he wanted was $7 so he realized that would only leave $3 for him to buy me a gift.  I told him to please buy something really small because I didn't need anything and would prefer for him to save his money.  By this point Savannah was on board with spending some of her money too so they talked Dave into taking them shopping.  Saturday afternoon after basketball they went shopping and came back with 3 amazing gifts purchased all with their own money . .. my favorite flowers (tulips) and 2 boxes of candy (runts and hot tamales) both nicely wrapped.  It really warmed my heart that they wanted to buy me something special and wanted to spend their own money too.

After I opened my gifts they each opened their small gifts.  Savannah was determined to get a special something for Preston from her treasure box at school.  She was disappointed that she didn't have enough tickets for Christmas, but had been planning to save them for a special Valentine's gift.  She traded 60 of her hard earned tickets to get Preston silly putty from the school treasure box.  Again, such a giving heart for an 8 year old!

We enjoyed an afternoon at home and treated the kids to a fun adventure at Chuck E Cheese for a good basketball season and Valentine's too.  Then it was Chili's for dinner and Cheesecake Factory with a good Redbox after the kids were in bed.  I not only felt loved on Valentine's but also proud to be the mom of such amazing, generous children.

Our Peanut is Growing Up SO Fast!

This week it really hit me just how fast Preston is growing up.  He's now insistent on taking his own shower (which he does a great job with), wiping his own bottom (which needs some work, sorry Preston), and doing just about everything else "by myself".  I can't decide if it's so hard to let go because I'm such a perfectionist and need everything done my way (a little OCD) or because he is all of a sudden really growing into a school age boy that is very independent.  

This week he had his last preschool Valentine's Party.  This is such a precious group of TKers . . . but again it's hard to think this is the last preschool party I'll plan.

 He also made his first basketball goal in practice this week.  He is a kid that is super determined.  After we (okay DAVE) finally got his Christmas basketball goal assembled last weekend, his skills really took off.  He has spent days practicing just shooting and shooting.

According to him he made over 20 scores Wednesday afternoon while Savannah was at running club!  Sadly he never scored during a game but he still ended the season with a smile.

 Preston with Coach Bryan

I have never been so impressed with a volunteer coach as I was this year.  Coach Bryan was so enthusiastic, encouraging, and great at his "job".  He was at every practice and game and not only was great at encouraging the team, but really good at coaching little boys who had never, ever played before.  It was amazing to watch their progress throughout the super short season.  At the celebration on Saturday Coach gave Preston the "Most Improved" award and he truly deserved it!  I just wish we had assembled the goal at home earlier so he could have had more practice.  BUT, never scoring didn't let Preston down.  He loved playing and learned so much.

 Basketball buddies: Cole, Preston, & Barrett

So here we are.  It's mid February and my little baby is not so little anymore.  With only 3 1/2 months of preschool to go, he is clearly growing up and getting read to head to big school.  I'm oh so proud, but a bit sad too!

Savannah's 3rd Grade Performance

For weeks all (okay, mostly all) Savannah has talked about is the big third grade performance.  We really didn't know what to expect other than some singing and dancing because it was all very secretive.  Parents weren't allowed to know even the songs that they were going to sing.  I have to say that I was highly impressed with the dancing and energy these kids had last night!

Each class had a different colored Juke Box T Shirt and stood as a class on the risers to the side.  They all sang the songs as each class came on stage and did the dance to their particular song.  It was awesome!  Savannah's class performed Twist and Shout.

I absolutely love our school.  I love the energy it runs on and the way they push students.  We found out last night that they are, again, the #1 elementary school in the STATE of NC!!