Ur & Whobody

You probably haven't spent much time thinking about pronouns & how useful they are, unless you're in the habit of watching Elmo, who always refers to himself in the third person (which can get kind of annoying after awhile-no offense, Elmo). Around our house, pronouns are all the rage with our 3 year old. And not just any pronouns, mind you. No, Evan has created his own that have proven themselves to be quite useful. They are, respectively, "ur" & "whobody".

ur: a contraction formed by the pronouns we or you and the verb are; "Where ur going, Mommy?"(are you); "Ur going to Target after naptime." (we are)

whobody: pronoun used when you don't know who the person is you are referring to; can be singular or plural. "Whobody going to cut down that tree, Mommy?" "We are going to give that candy to whobody." "Whobody's car is that?"

Go on, try them out. You might find them to be quite helpful! We've certainly caught ourselves starting to use them :).

Extreme Home Makeover

Okay, so maybe our house in Jackson didn't get leveled to be replaced by a four story on our half acre, but it did get a facelift with new windows, paint, & shutters! Thanks to the deacons for approving some much needed home improvement projects on our house (which the church owns and is located right behind the church's property). I had fun picking out the colors and am quite pleased with the results!

Who doesn't love a little before & after?!

Before (taken in the fall when we first moved here):

After (gray paint & new shutters!):

Next week the bathroom is getting a facelift, so I'll be sure to post pics of the transformation!

Another year older

I am one of those people who happens to have a birthday close to the holidays. I have often been pitied by those (ahem, my husband) with coveted spring or summer birthdays, but truthfully I've never minded the fact that my birthday is just a few weeks after Christmas. I can probably attribute this attitude to the fact that my parents always did a great job of still making a big deal of my birthday, so I never felt "cheated" out of attention :) (heaven forbid!).  In fact, my mom still makes a big deal of my birthday by having a shopping & lunch out day with me and my sister while I'm home for the holidays. That tradition has become one of my favorite days of the year!

Thankfully, my husband and boys (with Daddy's help of course) still make me feel cherished on my special day. This morning I was treated to banana pancakes (yum!), and have received a present at every meal!

Today I am 31 years old (safely still in my EARLY thirties) and I cannot adequately express how thankful I am for the blessings in my life. I have an incredible, loving husband, two adorable sons, a wonderful extended family, supportive friends, and an awesome church family. I don't deserve any of these blessings but am so thankful that my heavenly Father has chosen to give me so many wonderful gifts.


Speaking of wonderful gifts, here are two of mine (taken at Nana's house at Christmas):

Once a Teacher...

I have been a teacher since my youth (just ask my younger sister-my sole pupil for many years!), and I was blessed to have been given the opportunity to pursue a career in public education for 6 1/2 years in Georgia. Although I am now staying home full-time with my boys, it's not surprising that I've wanted to keep my foot in the door with teaching. Thankfully, I've been able to do that with Redeemer's afterschool tutoring ministry since moving to Jackson over 2 years ago.

Redeemer has had an afterschool program for many years now, and when I first moved here, I was able to get involved with curriculum development. My friend Christina and I now co-lead the program, which is a huge blessing. She handles the administrative duties since she has a business background, and I handle the curriculum for our K-6th graders, as well as tutor training.

We currently have 24 students and 24 tutors who meet weekly during the school year to work on reading. It's been amazing to see how the students have improved with this one-on-one help. I get the priviledge of reading with each student to assess their reading level, so I get a first-hand look at how they have improved throughout the year.

I love this ministry dearly, and it has been a great door for families in our community to become a part of our church. I also love how this ministry is gospel centered in that the students get to hear a Bible lesson prepared by our awesome Bible teachers (Mrs. Beth & Mrs. Betsy) each week.

Last week we had a really fun Christmas party. The students got to decorate sugar cookies, make ornaments, drink hot cocoa, and listen to the Christmas story. Let's just say this teacher-nerd had a little too much fun creating a centers/rotation schedule for the event...ah, once a teacher, always a teacher!


Check out some pics of the party:

Making some ornaments!

Zoe & Mary Claire having some fun

Bible lesson with Mrs. Beth

Johnny & Thompson enjoying some hot cocoa

Giddy up! Evan's three!

Last week, Evan turned three years old! We celebrated with a Backyardigans/cowboy birthday party (got the idea from free online printables- check it out, moms, for some cute, creative, FREE stuff!) at his favorite local park with some of his friends from church. Thankfully the rain held off just long enough for our cookout/play time!

I planned to upload some pictures of the party tonight, but I just saw that my sister uploaded pics to her blog today (and her camera is MUCH better than mine), so please take a minute to check it out! Thanks for saving me some time, sis :).

Farm Family

Last year, Evan cried when he had to wear his costume to our church's fall festival. This year, he was thrilled that he got to wear his costume twice (school & church) and practically dragged us out the door to get to the "Halloween party" as he called it. Since both of our little ones were farm animals (cow & horse respectively), Ryan & I thought it would be fun to dress up (and I use that term loosely) as the farmer & farm lady (as Evan referred to me). We had a great time!

Levi's not too sure about having a cow for a brother!

Melt My Heart

The past few weeks have been a bit tough around here living with & disciplining a moody almost three year old...but then, when you least expect it, the clouds break and God gives you an angelic moment to hold on to! That moment happened this morning at our house. Evan woke up a little too early, so he hopped in bed with us for a little bit. He pointed across the room at our wedding photo and said, "Mommy's a princess!"

He wanted to hold the picture, so I handed it to him. He just kept staring at it and saying how mommy was a pretty princess. He didn't even want to get out of bed when we got up. Below is how we left him (and he stayed there, gazing at the picture, for at least 15 minutes!).

Ah, what a sweetheart. I guess we'll keep him.