Alyssa's Birthday

Ashley was a speed demon and drug Savannah around the rink

Savannah trying to get the hang of the ice skates

The two little ones waiting for the bigger girls to finish skating

The Birthday Girl!!

This weekend we celebrated sweet Alyssa's 9th Birthday on her actual birthday!  She chose to have all of her friends go ice-skating with her and then to finish the party back at her house with some yummy cake.  Although my kids struggled a lot with the ice skates I was super impressed with their willingness to try . . and with Savannah's determination to keep on skating with the ramp assistance.  Oh, and once again daddy came to the rescue with his "super daddy powers".  After running a 10 mile race early in the morning, he laced up ice skates and assisted the kiddos on the ice.  I was so thankful he was able to stand in the skates and try to help the kids.  Once again he gave more energy than he had all while never complaining about sore legs. :)

Happy 4.75th Birthday Preston!!

That's right, happy 4 (3/4) birthday to our Peanut!!  In his class at school they have a week long celebration to honor each child's birthday and well, since Preston has a summer birthday, they asked if they could do his celebration this week.  It worked out perfectly since his 3/4 birthday was today, the day of the actual party, that even daddy came for!

 Of course he chose Luke to be his buddy and sit beside him for the big celebration.  He loved every second of the birthday song, cookie cake, ice cream, balloons, and of course the birthday box!  He was covered with huge smiles the entire party, except for when he was blowing out the candle. :)

As you can see they all enjoyed the cookie and ice cream. :)  Afterwards he wanted a picture with JUST Lukie . . and then the girls started flocking for their own pictures too.

Finally it was time for the long awaited birthday box!  Preston has been talking for weeks about getting to choose a very special item . . and from the picture it looks like all of the kids enjoy seeing inside the special box!

 

Each day this week Preston shared a special book and toy that he loved.  His choices were:

Hot Rod Hamster Birthday Book & his orange dump truck

Hot Rod Hamster Book & his Thomas ride on toy

School Dog, Cool Dog Book & Uno Cards

Lama Lama Mad at Mama Book & I Spy Cards

 

It was such a fun week and he loved every second of the celebrations!

 

Blessed

Yesterday was a very rare day for me.  I woke up in the middle of the night and knew I was sick with some sort of stomach bug.  I was up pretty much all night, but tried to convince myself that it was something I ate or just an upset stomach because I never threw up.  So I got up like normal and decided to do a slow run to get at least 3 miles in before going to class.  Needless to say that did not help my health and by the time I got everyone out the door and arrived in class I was feeling pretty awful.  I can't remember ever calling out sick, but after 30 minutes of trying to teach I had to leave.  I got another teacher to take over and came home to go straight to bed.  After sleeping most of the day I realized that indeed I am truly blessed.

Blessed that a friend was able to take over my car pool duty and bring Preston home
Blessed that another teacher was able and willing to teach my class for me at the last minute
Blessed that Preston played solo for over 2 hours while I slept on the couch
Blessed that once Savannah got home she did her homework independently and watched Preston
Blessed that I had friends offer to take my kids to church for dinner and Wednesday activities
Blessed that Dave is content with microwaved fish sticks for dinner
Blessed that we had enough food in the house that I didn't have ot order out or go to Harris Teeter
Blessed that by dinner time I was feeling better
Blessed that I never threw up!

And the list goes on.  I'm just thankful that in the midst of such a rough day God reminded me that I truly am one blessed girl!  Now I'm praying that no one else gets what I had.  Yuck!

Bachmanns Date Night

On Saturday, after her last cheer leading game, Savannah attended her first Y Guides Daddy Daughter date night!  It was a fancy event . . . complete with  a nice dinner, dancing, flowers, and of course pictures with princess Ariel. 

 

Savannah & Dave ready to go

Savannah & Lilly at the Painted Pony Princesses table

Savannah & her date, Daddy

So while Savannah and Dave were on a date, Preston and I also had a date!  It was free ice cream night at Brusters (if you wear your jammies) so BEFORE dinner we each had our own full size waffle cone of the ice cream of our choice!  Yum!!!

Preston with his birthday cake ice cream, complete with eyes!

Enjoying our treats

Encouragement for Mama

It was a LONG weekend and I think both of my kiddos could tell mommy was still stressed on Monday morning. Dave worked super late Friday night, ALL day Saturday, and left right after church on Sunday for work again.  Plus he had a dinner "meeting" tonight . . and it's not even month end!  So after a weekend of running here and there, HT super doubles, mystery shops, a birthday party, lesson plans, cheerleading, and doing all of the regular activities solo (did I mention that Sunday was a nightmare at church since almost half of my teachers called out at the last minute)  by Monday I was still exhausted.  I have to give Dave a lot of credit for all that he does when he is home!  Anyway, to my surprise Savannah wrote me a little note of encouragement and left it in my purse for me to find at school.  I love that girl!!!

African Safari Night at PSE

Tonight the second graders at Savannah's school participated in African Safari night! They had to *raise* enough money to make the minimum *donation* but then were able to have a blast from 6-8pm at school tonight.  They rotated in groups through fun activities like face painting, African games, dance, drum making, etc.  Then the kiddos were able to enjoy a pizza dinner before heading home.  It was a challenge talking her into washing her face afterwards . . . but mama won that battle. :)

Uncle Mark Visits

Savannah was SO excited that Uncle Mark made the trip to Charlotte just to watch her cheer at the game today!  Afterwards she and Preston talked him into coming back to our house for brownies and a fun game of sequence. :)