Terrific Kid

I knew moving during the school year would be difficult for the girls, but we didn't have an option. Brandon's company was being very generous to us regarding the move, and in order to take advantage of those benefits it was best for the girls to start school in Arkansas before we moved to Charleston. We prayed daily for the Lord to go before the situation & put our trust in Him.

Caylee has had a wonderful transition. She has a great class and has become quick friends with a sweet girl who also lives in our neighborhood. (Answer to prayer! We prayed very specifically for a neighborhood friend. Thank you, Lord!) There are several girls in her class who have common interests and it's made the school year very enjoyable for her.

Baylee, on the other hand, hasn't been so lucky. She hasn't clicked with anyone in her class and comes home defeated a lot of the days. She is such a sweet, sweet girl & it breaks my heart to see her hurt. We are so very thankful for her teacher. Baylee adores her and I don't know what we would do without Mrs. D.

Last month, though, Baylee was given a little encouragement. She was selected as the "Terrific Kid" in her class and it couldn't have come at a better time. She was chosen based on her character, responsibility, and because she is an all around good student. Just what she was needing -- reassurance!!

Waiting on the ceremony to begin.

Look at her stance! It cracks me up. I think she's standing like that to not tower over everyone so much. These girls are TALL!!!!

The ceremony was very neat. One by one, grade by grade, the counselor read a short letter to the student written by the teacher. It wasn't just a "You're the Terrific Kid, here's your certificate, get back to class" kind of ceremony. Instead, each student was singled out and praised for their outstanding achievement. I'll be honest, that made Baylee incredibly uncomfortable, but it was very needed. She needed to be reminded that even when she's having a tough time fitting in in her class, her behavior and character is being rewarded!

I have to admit, she's a pretty terrific kid. ;)

And because I want to keep it real, I have to share this sad/funny moment...

When Baylee was selected she came home with a paper explaining what it means to be a Terrific Kid and information about the ceremony. As she handed me the paper, before I could even read it, she said "I don't want you to come. You'll embarrass me". Lol!! What?! Are we already at that stage where she's embarrassed by me? I laughed and said "I'm sorry, but there's no way I'm gonna miss this!". And so I proudly took my big camera and camcorder and documented the entire thing. But I did so quietly. I didn't want to embarrass her too much. ;)

I'm back!

Hey, y'all! Guess who rejoined the 21st century and has a working computer again? Me!! Finally! Two moths computerless wasn't my idea of fun. I never realized how much I used our computer until I was without one. Hopefully that won't ever happen again! (I'm still working on my phone issues. Long story, but I think it's shot in the picture department. So sad. We even plugged it into this new computer and it didn't even recognize I had any pictures on the phone. I'm living in denial for the time being and pretending all my pictures are fine....)

February was a fun month. Valentine's Day and Brandon's birthday are always fun to celebrate and they're only nine days apart! Let's just say we barely finished the Valentine's Day sweets and then it was birthday time! Yikes! We were on sugar overload. Oops.

Okay. I'm going to do a review of February (I'll try to keep it short and sweet, but I have a feeling it might be picture overload) & then hopefully I can get back into a regular habit of blogging. Hey, a girl can dream, right? ;)

Valentine's Day

The morning started with homemade waffles (my dad's recipe) and I cut them into hearts with a cookie cutter. Very easy, very fun. After the girls were whisked off to school I had work cut out for me! I had to decorate the dining room, bake and decorate a cake (red velvet with classic cream cheese icing), decorate a few sugar cookies (I had been asked to make 50 heart shaped, unfrosted sugar cookies for the girls' classes to decorate for their party. Those were already finished, but I wanted to give each teacher a "real" cookie. And we needed a couple ourselves. Ha!), clean up the messes, do some dinner preparation, and get to the school for what might be the very last school Valentine's Day party. :( So it was a busy, busy day! But I did it!!

Our table. The theme was "Have a sweet day" and good grief there were a lot of sweets!! My favorite cookie, you can barely see it, said "BCBCB 4-ever". Ahhh! Love it!

The girls at their parties. Caylee snuck into Baylee's class and I snapped this pic!

Brandon and his girls. Funny thing.... He bought the girls these frames for their rooms from the market in Charleston. Sweet, huh?

Except I had bought him practically the SAME thing!!!! Hilarious! Oh, and Bran bought me a gorgeous new canvas from my favorite local artist at the market. It was a Charleston themed gift exchange. Ha!

Dinner was muenster chicken, rice, corn, salad, and a roll. Mmmmm!!!

It was a very sweet day, indeed. :)

Brandon's 30th Birthday!

Bran has dreaded this day for five years. He just doesn't like the idea of being 30. I think it's something to celebrate, though!! I had big plans (and had we still been in Arkansas there would've been a big party!), but I kept it pretty low-key. The theme was simple: "Celebrate the life of Brandon throughout the years". I'm pretty happy with how things turned out. I hope Brandon felt extra special. :)

Poor guy. When he pulled up from work he had to have 30 screaming at him! Ha! Baylee also tied balloons to the mailbox and she also took this pic.

Of course we had streamers hanging down! His face kind of says it all. Haha!

I had tons of pictures out of Brandon from birth until now. I didn't have enough frames for them all, so at the last minute Baylee and I just slapped these on a picture I have hanging in the dining room. Spontaneous!

Here's a glimpse at the tower frame I had. Every picture was Brandon!! And look at his itty-bitty Peggs Panthers jacket draped over the side! :)

The birthday boy and his present -- our computer! So nice of him to share. ;)

Aww. It's us! I love that his high school football jerseys just happen to be the year he was born. 82! Went perfect with the theme! :)

Birthday dinner! He ordered brisket, au gratin potatoes, baked beans, corn on the cob, and rolls. It was yummy! Good choice by the birthday boy!

Look at all of those candles!!! ;) And see the picture to the right of him? That's Bran on his very first birthday!! So sweet. The cake, by the way, was just classic white. Again, his request.

So. There we have it. Two of the main highlights from February. Wowza this got lengthy. If you made it all the way through, woo-hoo!! This was a lesson to myself -- don't get behind if I really want to blog about it. ;)

P.S. - I just viewed this and the captions under the pictures are messed up. Sorry!

Good intentions

Remember when I started this blog & I wanted to actually follow through?! Yeah, I still have the desire. The problem? My computer went kaput in December & my phone is having major issues with the camera/photos. I'm basically back in prehistoric era. :/

I wanted to tell you all about our first Christmas here in Charleston (carriage rides! Thriller sleigh ride around the harbor! Breakfast on the beach! Mammoth Christmas tree! Hallmark movies!).

I had every intention of chronicling our cross country trip to Oklahoma & Arkansas in Vanna White (20 hours straight through! Lunch with sweet Sunday school girls! Driving, driving, & more driving! Much needed family time! More driving!).

I wanted to share our first new years eve here (lazy day! Church that night! Just the four of us! Fireworks that lit up our neighborhood!).

Until we can rejoin the computer world (can you say "next one will be a Mac!") I suppose my posts might be sporadic. And until my phone is fixed (appointment at Apple on Saturday! Yay!) there might not be pictures.

For now I shall say we are adjusting. The girls have a sweet friend in the neighborhood. Brandon is busy with work & loving it. I'm trying to find my place. We are still searching for our church - though we are focusing in on one. And we are going to the beach as much as possible. ;)

Life is sunny here in South Carolina. Even on days when my vision is clouded with fear & worry, life is good. So very good.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Mr. Rockefeller & Abe Lincoln

My girls have never been "girly". Yes, Baylee has always loved gold, sparklythings, but she loved getting inthe dirt just as much. Caylee thinks any slimy creature is the most adorable thing ever. They both refer to "their special place" as the very far corner of my mom and dad's three acres in Oklahoma. They crawl under a barbwire fence to get to the tree lined creek. They splash in the water, find turtles, and run back to the house covered in dirt. That makes them happy. They feel safe there. (I'm totally going to have to give their special place it's own blog post!)

We don't have the luxury of three acres on the outskirts of town here in South Carolina, so the girls have to make due. There is a pond in our subdivision and in these parts of the country ponds mean alligators. That thrills their souls! Our backyard is also drastically smaller than what we had in Arkansas. This has led the girls to get creative in their outdoor adventures.

Enter Mr. Rockefeller & Abe Lincoln.

While playing outside a few weeks ago Caylee managed to capture two tiny lizards. I'm not sure how she did it, but she did it. She was ecstatic. From time to time Brandon's dad will catch a lizard for them and they ooh and ahh over it and let it go. From the moment Caylee caught Mr. Rockefeller she was in love.

Caylee immediately began begging to keep her new pets. I could see the pure joy in her face so I obliged. She got a plastic bin from some Halloween pretzels we purchased at Sam's and made it their home. She found some pine needles, leaves, tree bark, and grass and did the best she could to recreate a natural habitat. We even bought reptile food for the little things once they decided to stick around for awhile.

I always knew in the back of my mind the lizards stay at our house would end tragically. And it did. Caylee was good to keep them in the garage if it was going to be cold over night. (Yes, even in SC we have had 30 degree weather!) She said they needed to stay warm because if they were outside they could burrow in the dirt to find warmth. They could do that in their plastic cage.

And so, last Saturday morning Caylee went out to check on Mr. Rockefeller and Abe Lincoln. (I'm still not sure where she came up with those names. And it's funny because Abe was the tiny one and Mr. Rockefeller was a lot longer. Ha!) She took them outside and was going to reach in and grab Mr. Rockefeller when she discovered he was no longer alive. She was heartbroken. Tears started streaming down her face. She started blaming herself for not taking better care of them. It. Was. Sad. And then she looked for Abe Lincoln and he was gone too. I'm telling you, this girl has a heart for all animals. She was beside herself.

So what did we do? We gave them a proper burial and funeral, of course! Brandon started digging, I grabbed my camera, gave Baylee the video camera, and the four of us stood in our backyard and said goodbye to our reptile friends. I cried along with Caylee. It was sad. She would come home from school, scoop up Mr. Rockefeller and tell him all about her day. They were quickly becoming best friends. Sadly, Caylee had to say goodbye before she was ready.

We may have only had them for a short time, but the memories will last forever. Rest in peace Mr. Rockefeller and Abe Lincoln.

Let's try this again...

Hey there!

I have these grandiose ideas that I will be this magnificent blogger and become the next Pioneer Woman. You know, sit down one day and start a blog and the next thing I know I'm crazy famous, have my own show on Food Network, have a traveling book tour, yada yada yada... But let's face it. I don't have the best reputation when it comes to blogging. There were the xanga days, followed by my first dip into blogger, but for some reason I was always so hit and miss. Don't get me wrong, I always think "I should blog about this" but then I don't. In my head I think if I put it on Facebook and "document" it, that kind of counts as blogging. But it doesn't. It's totally not the same. I can't fully capture a moment in a status update or a picture upload from my iPhone like I can if I take the time to sit down and tell a story.

I love to read blogs. I read into the lives of people I know personally & grew up with. I follow people who I've never met, yet through blogging we are now even Facebook friends. And, like any good blogger does, I creep on strangers on a daily basis. I look at their food, their craftiness, their decorating... Sometimes I think we're friends. But we're not. And I have issues. But that's a completely different problem...

It's my goal with this blog to one day look back and see what our lives were like at the end of 2011. We just moved to the beautiful Charleston, SC a month ago, Brandon is in love with his job, I am fortunate to be a stay at home mom, and the girls are 10 years old -- still my little girls, but on the cusp of turning into young ladies.

Like it says in the book of James "How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog--it's here for a little while, then it's gone" (James 4:14 NLT). Not to be a Debbie Downer about death, but life is so short and time flies by. With each passing year it seems to be moving faster and faster. I can't go back, but I can take the time to slow down long enough to capture all of the fun and silly, serious and hard moments of our lives.

We're the Beaver's. And we have many tales to tell.