Special request

I knew that as school got going that I wouldn't blog as much, and it has been that way so far. Things are going good with Brayden and I. He is going SO good in school. I couldn't be more proud of him! This school year has been more challenging than last year, but day by day things in my classroom are SLOWLY getting where they need to be... not for a lack of trying! I will post more once I actually sit down and think about it!

One specific piece of news that has been on my heart over the last week: One of my dearest friends since 7th grade (BBC - she knows what it means!) had a precious little boy last Wednesday. Tuesday night at exactly 11:15 Jennifer called to tell me that she and her husband, Josh were on the way to the hospital to have little Tucker. I hadn't heard from her by Wednesday at 8:15 and I knew she wouldn't have hesitated to call me, so I called her. She told me that little Tucker had a tough time just before he was born and during the delivery. She had a healthy pregnancy and was so excited when I talked to her, so I was in total shock when she filled me in on the details. Tucker was born with some complications but is hanging in there each day. I ask that each person that reads this blog, or happens upon it, rather you know me or not to pray for Tucker Helton. His kidney function is not very strong and he needs to potty. Right now, this is what he needs to focus on doing. I know that God will work all things in his time and will bring all of the glory to him. I would like for everyone to pray for Jenn, Josh, Kadence, Tucker and the rest of the family. There is a blog set up www.tuckerhelton.blogspot.com for more information.

Thanks for all the prayers! We should not take anything that God has blessed us with forgranted. Everything we have is a blessing from him and we should praise him and thank him daily for what we have.

Watch Out David Beckham!

Brayden is starting soccer this fall. He had his first soccer last Friday. It was, well... interesting! He did a good job for it to be his first practice. They worken on kicking the ball with the side of their foot and doing smaller kicks so that they can control the ball better. He tried hard, but was worried about people being faster than he was, so then he would kick the ball as hard as he could so that he could "win." When it was time to go Brayden got upset and wanted to run some more. He ran several more laps around the field. He was very hot and sweaty, but he had a blast! Here are a few pictures.

Tomorrow is the day...

Tomorrow I start my second year teaching 3rd grade, well, really my second year teaching period. I moved classrooms this year. I am now INSIDE the building! Yay! It was a huge undertaking to go through all the stuff that was left in the classroom and then move all of my stuff in. It took several weeks, but finally, it is all complete. I will post pictures later. I couldn't have done all of the work without my parents, cousins John and Jake, some help from Joey who works for dad at the farm, as well as a few other people. A huge "Thank you" to everyone who helped or gave me words of encouragement. I am excited about this new year and even though I am going to miss the summer, I have missed being around all the kids! And with the way that things are going in our economy I am very thankful to have a job!

Tomorrow Brayden begins his second year of preschool. He will be in the 4 year old class/yellow room. He is very excited to be in the yellow room. His teacher is the same teacher he had last year, Mrs. Laura. He adores Mrs. Laura and excited to see her. His other teacher Mrs. Michelle is teaching another class, and I know he is going to miss her.

This week Brayden will begin soccer. I have gotten his soccer shoes, shin guards, and socks... that was interesting since I know nothing about soccer! I am so excited about him playing. I will post some pictures of that as soon as I get some!

So, as you can see this week starts several new adventures for Brayden and I. We are excited and I hope to have lots of good pictures to come!

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Brayden and I would like to wish a happy birthday to my dad today! Thanks dad for all the help and support that you have given both of us! We love you!!!

Puddle Jumpers

This summer our church preschool department has done several activities that the kids could participate in. I have posted some pictures of Brayden and his friends at the water features in Bridge Street, Maggie Moo's Ice Cream, and from bowling. Brayden had so much fun at each activity playing with his friends and I enjoyed meeting new people, and chatting with old friends while the kids played. Brayden is not a child that will run through the water and get soaking wet, he is usually scared to get wet, but I was proud of him that he played and was wet at the end of the day! After playing in the water the kids went to Maggie Moo's for ice cream. I have posted a picture of Brayden and his friend Emery Claire posing next to Maggie Moo's and being silly. Emery Claire is the daughter of my friend Emily. Emily babysat my sister and I when I was in middle school. Now we have children that are close to the same age and Brayden and Emery Claire are great friends. It's so neat to think that Emily was at one time my babysitter and now I consider her one of my best friends, that our children are great friends, and that we now watch each other's children. I'm blessed to have her and her family as friends. Today we went bowling. I never thought about it until we pulled up at the bowling lanes, but Brayden has never been bowling! He was so excited! He did really good and had a great time socializing with his friends. He did pretty good, he scored over 80 in his first game. I was very proud of him. After the first game he and the rest of the kids were over bowling (as you can see on Brayden and Landon's faces in one of the pictures) but after running around for a bit and a quick snack, all the kids seemed to perk back up. It has been great to have these activities to do! I am thankful to our preschool directors for organizing them.

Finally Time...

It's finally time to post some pictures from vacation. Brayden and I went with my parents to Sandestin, Florida. We had a great time. Brayden loved the "big boy" pool, it was really the kiddie pool, but it made him happy. He also liked trying to catch fish and building sand castles. I was glad that he would get in the sand because the first time he ever went to the beach he did not like the sand and would not put his feet in it. Brayden also got to tour the Ft. Walton Fire Department thanks to Fireman Doug. The fire station was right next to a place we ate for dinner so while we were waiting on a table we got to tour the station. Brayden drove go carts. He talked about it almost the entire time we were at the beach, and was looking forward to it so much! At The Track, the place where we played putt-putt and did all the other activities, they had mini go carts for little kids. Brayden was JUST tall enough to drive the carts by himself. He was so excited and I was a nervous wreck. Dad assured me that it was okay but I made it clear that I was not a fan of the idea of my precious baby getting into these go carts. When it was Brayden's turn to drive he gave the lady his 2 tickets and walked over to his car. He checked the car out, buckled his seat belt, and was ready to go. Now, these go carts did not go fast at all, and Brayden was too worried about looking at who was behind him to actually drive the go cart. He caused 2 traffic jams, and at one point all the other kids (there were 4 kids total driving) had lapped him and were actually behind him but 1 lap ahead of him. In Bray's mind he was winning. As he past the place where mom, dad, and I stood, Brayden looked behind him and as he drove away we heard "hahaha," almost like a villian from a cartoon. He was that excited that he won. He had the best time and it was a great trip. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

Pictures from Thomas and Friends

Brayden and I went to see Thomas and Friends Live on Stage with our friends Amanda and Billy Sims. These are a few of the pictures from our big day. Brayden LOVED the show and was very excited that we went. He smiled, sang, and danced through out the performance. No stage show is complete without a few things to remember it by so Brayden got a Thomas watch and a blue Thomas and Friends t-shirt. He was so excited about them that he wore the shirt at nap time this same day and then wore it the following day, even slept in it that night. He did not want to take the shirt off. I am glad that he had such a great time!

Summer so far...

Brayden and I have done several things this summer. We have played putt-putt, played with friends, attended birthday parties, watched new movies, survived Chuck-E-Cheese, enjoyed the Freedom Celebration at church and explored Botanical Gardens. Our next "biggies" are Thomas and Friends on stage and vacation, all next week. Brayden is SO excited to see Thomas on stage so I am sure we will have some great picutres to share once we are back. In the mean time here are some pictures of our trip to Botanical Gardens (we went on the hottest day of the year), one of the two putt-putting adventures, and Brayden with his friend Trever at the Freedom Celebration.

I would also like to thank all of the people that I know that are currently in the military, or have been in the military. We are blessed enough in our family to have several people that have served our country and are still with us today! I cannot imagine the day to day struggles and sacrifices that these men and women endure in order to protect our country. Although times can be hard and can at times be tougher than we would like, God has blessed us all beyond measure to live in such a wonderful, beautiful country! Happy 4th of July!

Happy Father's Day!

Brayden and I would like to wish a very happy Father's Day to Dad/da, Grandaddy, and Pop-Paw. Brayden and I have been blessed to be surrounded with such loving and supportive men in our lives! We love all 3 of you and hope you have a wonderful day!

The winner is.....

BRAYDEN! Bray won first place in the pies and cakes division in the cooking contest. He was very excited about his accomplishment! I asked him if he wanted to be a chef now since he seemed to be so good at cooking. He told me, "No. I still just want to be a fireman and wear a coat." We then discussed why he couldn't wear a fireman coat outside since it was about 95 degrees out. I am very proud of my little cook!

An attempt

Well, I have made a post and I have gotten a cute little background. So far so good. I think I can improve on it, but for now this will work. If any of you have any ideas, pointers, or hints to pass along they are welcome! The background is for Brayden, other than the cute things he does it is his contribution the the blog, although, he is asleep and has no clue what his contribution is. I will show him when he wakes up, and given the past few nights, let's hope that it's not until 7.

Brayden LOVES firetrucks. He loves everything about them. I had his 4 year old pictures made in full fireman gear with a real firetruck. When he saw the firetruck coming up my parents drive way just so he could have his picture made he clapped his hands, grinned really big and said,
"This is SO cool!" I was happy for him. I wish that adults would get so excited over little things. I get excited when I see 18 wheelers carrying animals. Sure I know it's going to take the animals so that they can become food, but hey, I think it's cool to see a load of chickens/cows/pigs going 70 mph down 231/431. It's just not something you see everyday. So, the firetrucks are for my sweet boy that convinces me and others in my family each day that something is on fire and it must be put out NOW! It doesn't matter if you are eating dinner, nor does it matter if you are in the middle of an important phone call. It has to be put out and it has to be put out NOW!

Brayden is going to school 3 days a week this summer because 1. )he loves it, 2.)there are other kids to play with, and 3.)so that he can keep somewhat of a routine, and when August comes he won't have to start from scratch. The theme for the past 2 weeks at his Big Boy School has been cooking, although since VBS was last week and over the weekend we found out that he has strep, I have no clue exactly what is going on at his school. I called the director of his school to let her know that we had not jumped ship and yes he was coming back on Wedensday since that is the magic day that he is better (according to the doctor). Apparently with this cooking unit there will be a taste test on Wednesday. So, tonight Brayden and I made our own little dessert. This is how it turned out ( here is my attempt at loading a picture. Let's see how it goes.)

Yea! It worked! We are calling them mini red, white, and blue pies. Yummy!

Let's give this a try

A lot of my friends have blogs for their kids and all of their blogs are just so cute, and I want to be "in" with the times, so I am going to try this thing out. I am going to try to be a "blogger" and share all of his funny moments with everyone. I am sure my family will thank me as well since this will give me something to run and do as soon as Brayden does something that I am sure no other child has ever done or said, and will keep me from running to the phone to call my parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, friends or anyone that I can think of that might not be busy at the moment. You can all thank me later!!!!