Boy Scout Campout

This past Friday night we went on our first "family" campout with boy scouts. Vince and Carson had gone once before, just the two of them, but since Vince had to leave early Saturday am to go to work, we all went this time, so that Carson would be able to participate. We had the best time, my parents were so sweet to come over early Saturday am to help us fish, although we did not ever catch any!!! But we had a great time anyway.

Prayer Request

for those of you who know me personally, you know I can do some talking, just as I can do some typing.
I've been debating on whether to even mention this but I feel like I need some prayer for this matter. I've struggling with for a little while now.
Last year Carson went to kindergarten at Calvary and what a year. A year I will NEVER forget, so many memories. And to be honest, the plan was for him to go on to first grade this year until around March. At his parent/teacher conference, his teacher asked me if I had considered holding him back, which I had not although I knew he was one of the younger kids in his class. After more talking, praying, talking with other moms of boys, other moms who had made the same decision we decided it wasn't a bad idea. Somewhere in that decision, the thought of homeshcooling came up, which I had never thought of or considered before. This was so hard for me. I wanted to know without a doubt I was doing the right thing. God is amazing and I had to pray myself up for so many things. Example, calling the school to tell them he would not be coming, picking the right cirriculum for us, having to hear everyone else's opinion, etc. God showed me so many times over and over at the beginning I had done the right thing, in books we read, in topics we studied, in conversations we had, in fun things we did, it was obvious. And so, MY plan was, I'll do this, this one year and then send him to public school. We'll, low and behold the year is coming to an end and what in the world is going on???? I have NO idea what direction we are suppose to take for next year. I'm praying that God will be so obvious to me again, that I will completely trust him in this, and that my eyes will be open to every sign he sends me to make the right decision. I want my children to learn as much as they can and to be in the right place. And I can honestly say, often times I doubt myself that I can be the "teacher" they need to teach them those things, and if I can, how long can I? So, without a clear answer, I would like to ask, especially you homeschool mom's, that when you are praying for specific things that you would pray for me, that we will be able to make this decision, knowing it's God's plan for our family (and not just MY plan), whether it be to continue homeschooling or go on to public school.

Random things...

I guess for some reason I think I have to have pictures to post to add a post..... but I don't so I thought, I'd just write.
Lots of surgeries have been taking place at our house recently and we still have one to go. Vince has had surgery on both eyes now, hoping that he would not have to wear glasses anymore or contacts, which has not been the case. But his vision is better. He was off work for 4 days with each surgery, but is back, has some temp. glasses and is doing good.
Today, Carson had oral surgery to remove his extra tooth. Thank you Dr. Chrisman!! He was such a trooper and I was so proud of him. I had the day all planned out to handle it all by myself... I would wake Emilia up and try to let Carson sleep until right before we left, feed her breakfast, so he wouldn't have to watch or smell, since he couldn't have any, get her dressed, then get him up, brush his teeth, get him dressed and out the door. All that went as planned. Then I'd take her to school, take him to get his allergy shot and then we'd go on to the oral surgery clinic, maybe a little early, all still going as planned. Vince didn't think he'd be able to get off or leave so early in the am but wasn't sure, so I had just decided I'd be there alone. We did get to the clinic a little early, signed consent forms and were soon called back. They got Carson all situated in a chair, and talked him in to wearing the little gas mask. About that time, the assistant said we had a visitor,,,, guess who.... it was Daddy and were we happy to see him. Vince had been able to leave the hospital to come over for a little bit. He was there when Dr. Chrisman started Carson's IV and until he got sleepy. Then we went to the waiting room to wait.... and my sweet mom showed up. She thought I was going to be by myself and wanted to be there with me, if I was. So we all stayed until Carson's surgery was complete and then we all went to the Recovery room to wait with him. Precious was not the word. I wished so bad I had had my camera. He was laid up in a recliner, leaned back, IV in arm, BP cuff on other, licking his lips, eyes jerking from the ketamine and continuously winking at me!!!! I love this little boy!!!!!! When he finally could talk, he looked right at me and said, "mama, why do you have four eyes?" All I could do was laugh. Vince was able to carry him to the van for us and get him all situated and then it was to Shipley's for lemon filled donuts (his favorite) and donut holes. Nannie picked Emilia up from school and they hung out in Tupelo for a while and Carson and I headed home. He laid on the couch for a little while and then got up to use the bathroom. After that, he was good to go, playing games on the computer and then outside. He's a great patient. Now we have his surgery at Lebonheur next Friday and hopefully we're done!!

Trip to the dentist....

Today Carson and Emilia had their six month check up at the dentist. They both walked right in and the hygienist informed me that they needed to obtain Emilia's first set of bite wings, so to the xray chair she went. She sat like a big girl, smiled at me and had her pictures taken. Then she was to the sink to brush and later to the chair to have her teeth cleaned and checked. At this time she required me to sit at the bottom of the chair and hold her hand and from that point on, everything was fine. No cavities. While this was taking place, Carson was being the big boy he is and getting his bite wing xrays as well as his first panoramic xray to make sure all his permanent teeth are where they should be. I could hear the dentist talking about something to the hygienist but couldn't quite understand him and thought, I'll check on that when Emilia is all done. He then called me over to look at the xrays. When Carson lost his left front tooth, he actually had to loose two to make room for one to come in. He lost his right front tooth the end of December and still doesn't have his permanent tooth in! I just assumed that he would again have to loose two teeth to get one!!! Seeing how the "little" tooth has just become loose, I figured it wouldn't be too much longer. Well, little did I know. The child has an EXTRA tooth!! And not only that, it is curved like a hockey stick and is wrapped under the real tooth that needs to come out. So, poor baby, has to have oral surgery. He's not too excited about it either. I called when we got home and set him up for a consultation and we'll go from there. Hopefully it won't be too painful and he won't remember a thing!! At least that's my prayer for the little fellow.

No Training Wheels!!!

Saturday I had to work for a little while and we had planned to take Carson to the 100th Birthday Celebration of Boy Scouts at the mall. I was at work a little longer than I had planned and called Vince to see if he just wanted to meet me there, he just kept making excuses about me coming on home and when I got here, this is what I saw in the street!!!! Vince had been outside working on pruning our crape myrtles and Carson had asked him to take his training wheels off. Vince said the next thing he knew our little man was riding up and down the street!!! Never did have a wreck!! Thank goodness. I was so excited that I came home and glad I didn't act ugly about the reason why - you just never know :):)

(just a side note for anyone that is concerned - we DO have a bike helmet and it is REQUIRED!!!! he just told me it made his head look big for the pictures, I know, not a good excuse, but just took a few without it)

Family Reunion

Playing in the bathtub
Carson & Jack

Our family on my mom's side

With my grandmother

My only living grandparent is my mom's mom who lives in Sevierville, TN. We try to go and visit at least every 5-6 months and sometimes we make it more often. This year, in January, my brother and his family, my parents and my family all went for a family get together with my grandmother, her living siblings and their kids, grandkids and great grandkids. It was nice to see my mom's first cousins and their children that I grew up playing with and now for OUR children to get a chance to play together as well.

This is the first time we have all been since my grandfather passed away about 10 years ago, so since our families have grown we decided to rent a cabin this time. We normally stay at my grandmothers house but didn't think she could handle 11 more people. The cabin is only about a mile from her house and so it was very convenient for everyone to hang out there. The kids LOVED it. It had lots of room with a game room and hot tub. They really enjoyed the hot tub until the thermostat got stuck on HOT and the water was BOILING!! Thankfully the maintenance crew was quick to respond and repair it but in the meantime the jacuzzi tub was a fun place to play!

Homeschool Valentine's Party

The Girls

The Boys

Our salt dough hearts

Emilia Painting her heart

Carson & Chip (a.k.a. Arnold)

Carson & Emilia

The week of Valentine's Day our homeschool group met at our church for a Valentine Party. I had volunteered to be in charge of this one and what a week. Vince ended up having outpatient surgery on Tuesday, I was already scheduled to work all night Tuesday night and could not get out of it, Vince had to be back at the doctor's office at 8:15 that Wednesday morning and the party started at 10:30!!!!! Thank goodness my gracious charge nurse let me leave around 4 am so I got about 3 hours of sleep, my mom had thankfully spent the night at our house b/c of the crazy, unexpected schedule, and offered or agreed to go with me to the party to help. After taking Vince to the doctor, I came home to finish getting ready and we were on to the church. I had gone earlier on Tuesday before Vince's surgery and decorated, thank goodness b/c I didn't know when I would have any other time. There wasn't much to it but we all had fun. We played Valentine Bingo - which gave the kids an opportunity to practice their numbers, find your matching heart mate, each heart was cut in half with a different pair of scrapbooking scissors and there was also a Bible verse on each one related to love. This gave you two ways to match your half up with someone else, knowing the Bible verse and looking for the same design. Then we all painted salt dough hearts with ribbon as hangers. I had also baked these on Monday since they had to bake for a whole 2 hours and then cool. I have to say they turned out really cute but they sure were a pain to make, the dough was a mess to get to roll out consistency!!! Not sure I'll do that again... and then we had our usual homeschool lunch of PIZZA. Thanks to my mom and Ms. Vanita Billingsley for going to pick this up for us. Ms. Vanita also made the cupcakes and my sweet friend Angie made goodie bags for all the kids.

Each child also brought their on Valentine's to share with their friends.
A tiring (for me!) but a fun, fun day!