Pye Pye

Today (August 31st) would have been my grandmother's 99th birthday!  If only she knew how much I have missed her these past 6 years.  She passed away on September 19, 2005 around 10:30am.  A few weeks later I found out I was pregnant with Miss Abigail.  I have a feeling she had something to do with sending  my sweet little girl to me. 

Here she is on her 90th birthday--cuttin up with her friends! 

Pye Pye- holding a bottle of wine while Grandmama Lizzie & Miss Edith hold Corona's!

Samuel still talks about her and remembers her, even though he was only 3.  She loved Samuel and he loved her.  I remember the first time he went pee pee on the potty he was so excited, she was the first person he wanted to call....so she was the lucky one who got to hear the news first!

Here she is making Samuel laugh-(OBX Thanksgiving)

   

I saw this posted on facebook today and it is so true!  Oh how I wish I could pick up the phone and dial 478.472.8789 and have her answer!

Heaven--

I wish Heaven had a phone so I could hear your voice again I thought of you today but that is nothing new. I thought about you yesterday and days before that too. I think of you in silence, I often speak your name. All I have are memories and a picture in a frame. Your memory is a keepsake, from which i'll never part. God has you in his arms.. I have you in my heart.

First day of Kindergarten

This little girl was so excited for the first day of school!  She chose her outfit for the special day, and looked absolutely adorable!

Yay, it's the First Day of School!!!

 Twinkle Toes (she has wanted these shoes for over a year now)

 Practicing her splits on the walk up to the bus stop.

 Even though she's a big school girl now, she still likes to hold her Mama's hand~

 Our Beautiful Girl!

 Where's that darn bus???

 There it is....Hurry, Run!!!

 After a hug and kiss from her Mama, she got on the bus.....

 and never looked back!

**Her mama held it together until she stepped on the bus--thank goodness for sunglasses!!  There's just something about putting your child on a big yellow bus and watching it drive away!!  They were definitely both happy and sad tears.  I am so happy that the transition for preschool to elementary school has not phase her one bit- however- I will miss my little sidekick during the day!**   

And the school year begins....

Our Kindergartener & 3rd Grader

First Day of 3rd Grade!!

I can't believe it's that time of year again.  Samuel had a hard time going to sleep, I went in around 10pm and he was still awake and wanted to know how many more hours until school started!  He was so excited he could hardly stand it!  We went through the check list.....

First day of school outfit- check

New backpack (all black) ready to go- check

Lunch money- check

Samuel's new alarm clock set for 6:30am- check

Fast forward to 6:36am the following morning-- I walk in his room and find the alarm clock (beep, beep, beep) going off and Samuel sound asleep unaware that the clock has been going off for 6 minutes now. :)  With a little shake he suddenly popped up and started laughing when he realized he had slept through the alarm. :)

Sam was eager to get to the bus stop which meant we left around 7:15, the bus usually comes around 7:35.  We were one of the first to arrive, with us not being morning folks, we are usually one of the last to arrive and we usually have to jump in the car and drive to the bus stop in order to make it on time!  My personal goal this year is to walk until it gets realy cold.  We shall see how long it last. ;)  

Meet the Teachers

 The kids are so excited to be at the same school. 

The kids met their teacher's this afternoon. 

Here Samuel is explaining the "stop and go" bathroom sign in Abigail's classroom which was also his kindergarten classroom! 

 Such a big girl......sniff, sniff...The first thing Mrs. M said to Abby when she met her was,
"I remember when you came to my classroom for Samuel's conference, you were just a little baby back then"

 Samuel felt very comfortable in Abby's classroom...:) I think he is so excited to have her at his school!  He has already told me that he will sit with her the first day of school to make sure she doesn't get scared on the bus ride home. 

I didn't take any pictures of Samuel in his classroom....shame on me!  He has an awesome teacher, Mr. C.  This will be his first male teacher and we are thrilled!  He knows almost everyone in his class so he will feel very comfortable.  I cannot believe he will be in the 3rd grade! 

EARTHQUAKE

For a split second I thought Abigail had turned into Super Women......I had just opened our front door for her to come inside when she quickly slammed it harder than she should have..... right at that moment our entire house began to shake!  We looked at each other with an "Oh my Gosh , What the Heck is Going on" look and we immediately went to the laundry room to see if that was what was causing it, then we ran upstairs and looked in Sam's room, looked in her room we were dumbfounded.  It never in a million years crossed my mind that the shaking and rattling was in fact an earthquake.

You gotta love facebook--that was my source that confirmed what had just happened.  Well, that and the TV.  Friends from all over the east coast were posting that they had felt it.  We lost phone service for almost an hour.  I was able to get in touch with Tom via cell phone, who was in McLean on the 7th floor of his building.  I can't imagine what it must have felt like for him!  He said it was a scary experience.  Samuel was up the street playing with friends when he came running home and said he was climbing the Smith's fence and fell off because it started shaking badly.

The news reported it was a 5.8 earthquake which was a record tie for the most severe earthquake in Virginia's history.  It happened around 1:50 p.m.  Thank goodness there was little physical damage and we are safe.  Well, I can now cross that off of my bucket list.....not that it was really on there!:)

Thumb sucking

It's been about two weeks since I noticed Abigail wasn't sucking her thumb anymore.  Let's see if it continues! Part of me hates to see her give it up, just another sign that she's getting older, but if she has, at least she did it on her own!  I remember when I stopped, I tried sleeping in a glove, hot sauce, tape, etc. it was miserable! 

She still sleeps with her ellie's and blanket, only now she snuggles with them and looks like this.....

Scootering

The kids enjoyed riding their scooters this afternoon!  Samuel thought it would be fun to make his scooter extra small (silly boy) and Abby spent a lot of time practicing her fancy scooter tricks.  I loved watching them race and laugh together, I can't believe our summer is almost over!       



Are You Ready For Some Football???

I think if you asked Samuel that question right now, he would probably say "no" since he has had "conditioning" practice in 95-100 degree weather!  From now until school starts he will have it 5 days a week for at least 2 hours. 
We have seen tears, heard noises come out of him that we never knew were possible (Tom thinks he sounds like a dying buffalo, ha), but he continues to push through each day and knows that he will be in awesome shape by the time it's over!  We are looking forward to another fun football season with our handsome football player and our cute little cheerleader!

Dear Samuel

If you ever wonder why I take more photos of Abigail...just take a look!!  ;-) (kidding, of course)

When you see me with my camera, this is usually the face you give me!  

Thanks for always making me smile.....and sometimes irritated.  I wouldn't have it any other way! 

I Love You,

Mommy