But if I take a blogging break, who will I brag to?!

We spent last weekend in Georgia watching AAA play All-Star Soccer. The weather was awful! Between rain and the steamy humidity that follows a Georgia rain in 80 degree weather, I can't think of any worse weather to play (or watch!) soccer in! The girls looked like they had rolled around in a pig pen. I actually think that they kind of enjoyed getting that muddy!



AA's team remained undefeated until Sunday afternoon, when they lost the championship game, one to zero. can I tell you how proud I am of these girls?!? Especially my girl. It takes 6 players to play soccer, and that is all that they had on Saturday. No subs. The other teams all had at least 3 to 5 subs per team. Our girls kicked it up a notch and played incredibly hard.



Sunday's defeat was hard. They played well, but the other team was tough and had 12 players (6 subs). We were thankful, however, that one of our players showed up on Sunday so that we at least had one sub. (Not only did we have one sub, but we had a player who wasn't exhausted from playing so hard on Saturday - so it was great to see her!).



The majority of the girls cried. I'm sure that this was their first major defeat in their little lives. I didn't want to indulge AAA's cry too much because I want her to learn to accept defeat and not be a "sore loser." But when she wasn't looking, I fought back a few tears of my own. Not because they lost the game, but because they were so heartbroken (not to mention exhausted).



AAA ran off the field crying and ran straight in to her daddy's arms. I wondered at first if she was hurt, but I heard her sobbing, "I didn't play my best!" When M asked her why she didn't think she played her best, she replied, "Because I didn't get any goals." Of course he explained to her that getting goals or not getting goals doesn't equate with playing her best. We reassured her of how proud we were of her and L'il man even gave her a high-five and said, "That was even fun to watch!"



The good news is...they still received trophies and their picture was in the AU newspaper! That certainly softened the blow.

Headed to the beach for the next week and a half. More bragging to follow. :)

Taking a Break for a While...I'll miss you, blogging friends!

No Way!

There is NO WAY that my "baby" brothers graduated from high school last night!!!!

I can't believe it!

I swear it seems like "just yesterday" that they were born. I was actually 21 years old when they were born, a junior in college. At the time, I was in Tuscaloosa at the Univ of Alabama and my parents were in Sewanee, Tn., where my dad was attending seminary (mid-life crisis). I ached for those little babies! I was so keenly aware of my strong love for them. I often wondered if I loved them so much because I was really old enough to be their mother. I must have felt similar to how a grandparent feels when her grandchildren are hundreds of miles away. I called home all the time asking for the latest updates, milestones, and funny "Bo and Rett stories" (and believe me, there were...and still are...plenty of them!). I had their pictures framed all over my apartment. I missed them like crazy!!

I have so many awesome memories of those two rascals. They were six years old when they were the ring bearers in my wedding. I loved being able to show them off!

Watching them with their nieces and nephews has been awesome. I've told you before and I'll say it again... they will be the best dads! They are so comfortable and cute with little kids because they have had plenty of practice. Their nieces and nephews LOVE them and think that they are the BEST UNCLES IN THE WORLD! Just look at the pictures of them with their nieces and nephews - aren't they just the cutest uncles ever!

On a final note, when you're an 18 year old male, it's just "not cool" to be a twin. They both have their own set of friends, their own taste in clothes, their own talents, etc. They try to keep the "twin thing" to a minimum. Of course, the graduates were called out in alphabetical order, so Bo and Rett were side by side when they received their diplomas. And my sisters and I just couldn't help it -when they called out Rett's name, we yelled, "That's my brother!" And immediately after Rett's name, they called Bo's name. The sisters and I then yelled, "That's my brother, too!" I wish I could have seen their faces! They are good sports! We asked them later if they heard us yelling. Rett smiled and said, "Unfortunately."

So life goes on. I commented to my mom that I was surprised that she didn't cry at their graduation. After all, these are her babies. She has been raising kids for 42 years! Anyway, when I said, "Did you even cry?" She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "Are you kidding?!?" Can you imagine being "sixty something" and raising not one, but TWO, teenage boys?!? Yeah...she didn't cry.

But here's to the best brothers and uncles in the world! Go get 'em, tigers!

Field Day!

This was my first Field Day as a mom. And it hasn't changed a bit since I was a kid! Tug-O-War, Three-legged Race, Egg in a Spoon Relay, Partner Carry, Wheelbarrow Relay. Yes, it's exactly the same as I remember! And it was AWESOME! Way to go, Coach!

50 yard dash:


Partner carry:

Tug-O-War:

Sponge realy:

Let's mess with Ms. Tiffany!

(Ms. Tiffany has no idea the precious little darlings are giving her bunny ears!)

Sponge relay:

Team Shumate! Tug-O-War!

Wheelbarrow race:

Will and his classmates cheering on their team:

Sponge relay:
I love this picture! Boys are great!

Tomorrow is Water Day, Wednesday is First Grade Luau, Thursday is Hickory Dickory Park, and Friday is IT! Yes! Welcome Summer!

S. O. S.

AA's birthday party was Friday night. Kit Kat tried to stay up and "hang" with the older girls. She did a pretty good job but finally fell asleep around 11:00. Of course she was up at 6:45 the next morning. Which meant that she was incredibly fussy all day Saturday.

She cried and whined all day long. She finally came downstairs around 3:oo in the afternoon, crying because "Nobody will play with me. They all want to play school and I don't want to play school and now I have nobody to play with." I told her that she needed to get her blankey and lie down in my bed. She stomped off, wailing the whole way to my bed. When I checked on her, she was sitting straight up, crying, because, "I'm not tired. I don't want to lay down. I just want somebody to play with me. And I don't want to play school. We always play school."

So I sat down with her, said a really quick prayer for patience, and gently explained to her that being a good friend means that sometimes we play what our friends want to play.

You can imagine that didn't go over very well.

So I suggested that we say a little prayer and ask Jesus to help us be a good friend.

You CANNOT imagine the drama, crying, gasping, and genuine sobbing that this produced. It was like I opened the floodgates. "Everytime I talk to God or Jesus, nobody ever talks back to me. (Sobbing). If I lose something and I pray to help me find, I still can't find it! (More sobbing!) I don't feel any different after I ask God to help me. He never talks back! (Gasping for breath). He never listens."

Gulp.

I just wanted to scoop her in my arms and rock her like a baby. How do you explain to an overly dramatic 5 year old that God "does too!" listen to her prayers. She has always been my little Prayer Warrior. I have always said that I would want to be KitKat's friend because she prays for her friends by name every night. And if I have a friend who is expecting a baby, that unborn baby is also prayed for every night.

I held her and asked God for some quick guidance. She wanted answers and she wanted them now! I told her that God ALWAYS listen to her prayers and eventhough we might think he isn't answering our prayers, He always hears them and He does answer them, just not always right then and not always the way we think that He should. I told her that as she got older, she'd learn how to "listen" to God. I explained to her that God gave us the Bible and it tells us everything God wants us to know.

I have no idea if she understood what I had just said. My heart burned with passion to "reach" her.

She simply looked at me and asked, "Does that mean I have to go play school?"

Um.


I'm STILL speechless.

Half the problem is that I still have some of those same questions that she has. But I suppose I've learned to accept that I'll never know all of the answers while I'm on this side of Heaven. But I know that one day I'll get to ask him all of my "why" questions. I've certainly had my fair share of "dry spells" where I feel like God isn't listening and I "don't feel any different" after I pray to Him. But my faith keeps me going back to Him. I know He listens. I know He loves me. I know He hurts with me.

I just want my KitKat to know it too!

Groovy Birthday!

Roasting marshmallows: Bottle cap jewelry - end result (blurry picture!):

Time for a boat ride:

Ready, set, jump!

Tie-dye fun:

Cheeeeeeese!

Making their jewelry:

Mommy and birthday girl:

Party Island:

Watch out, Mommy!

Cool cake:

Great idea, Holley, for hte peace sign!

I didn't plan it this way, but when AAA blew out her candles, the windmill started spinning!

We waited until the weather was a little warmer to have AAA's 9th Birthday party because she wanted to have a slumber party at the lake. Fun times!

We had 6 little girls spend the night. Although we tried like crazy to wear them out, they still didn't get to sleep until close to 1 a.m. But I think it's safe to say that they all had a great time. They went boat riding and inner-tubing, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, tie-dyed T-shirts, and made bottle cap jewelry. And all of that before 9:30 p.m. !

The cake was about the most fun cake I've ever made! Just looking at it made me smile! The girls thought it was too cool, especially when we cut into it and they saw that each layer was a different color!

No one was homesick and no one was hurt! That is what I call a successful slumber party!

They are still at such a precious age. No drama, no peer pressure, and no gossip. I wish it could stay this way!

Jillian Michaels is too my Friend!

Yesterday someone asked me, "I want to know what you're doing to get so skinny."

Yesterday someone asked me..."I want to know what you're doing to get so skinny."

Did you hear me?? Yesterday. Someone asked me, "I want to know what you're doing to get so skinny."

Woo- Hoo!!!! I hesitate putting that out here on the blog because when you see me next you'll probably think, "She doesn't look skinny." But the point is, someone really did ask me that!!

Today is Day 11 with Jillian. This is the honest truth - I have NOT stepped on the scale! I'm too scared to. I'm working my tail off (literally, hopefully) and if I stepped on that scale and it hadn't changed, then I'd start crying! I did wear a pair of jeans on Wednesday that I have never worn. They felt tight, but I wore them anyway. I could button and zip them and, I mean, really, that's all that matters. I met two friends for coffee that morning and I told them to tell me if I needed to go home and put on something different. They said I didn't, so I went with it.

So...if you're looking for a quick (but definitely not easy) workout with fast results, you have to check out Jillian Michael's "Thirty Day Shred." She's awesome!

And oh yeah - I'm still on Level 1 but my plan is to move to Level 2 tomorrow. Wish me luck!

And this little piggy stole my heart!

Today was PBL in L'il Man's class today? What is PBL, you ask? Why it's Project Based Learning, silly.
Oh - but what is Project Based Learning?! Well for L'il Man's class it was a 6 - 8 week long project on pigs. Project-based learning(PjBL):" is an approach for classroom activity that emphasizes learning activities that are long-term, interdisciplinary and student-centered. This approach is generally less structured than traditional, teacher-led classroom activities; in a project-based class, students often must organize their own work and manage their own time. Within the project based learning framework students collaborate, working together to make sense of what is going on. Project-based instruction differs from inquiry-based activity by its emphasis on collaborative learning. Additionally, project-based instruction differs from traditional inquiry by its emphasis on students' own artifact construction to represent what is being learned."

In other words, Will's class studied pigs for the last 8 weeks and presented their final project to their parents today. It was precious! They were all so proud of their hard work!

The grand finale was a play based on "The Three Little Pigs". After the grand finale, we pigged-out on pig cake and pigs-in-a-blanket!

(For the cake, I used pink strawberry icing, a SnoBall for the snout with two brown M & Ms as nostrils, pink Necco wafers and green M & Ms for the eyes, and one more SnoBall - cut in half- for the ears. I searched all over town for the SnoBalls and finally found them at the Spectrum near campus. This is a fun cake to make when the preschool classes learn about farm animals.)

In other news, we'll be celebrating AA's birthday tomorrow at the lake. Stay tuned...

Thanking God today for all 40 of those little piggies in my family.

Happy Mother's Day, Mimi!

Happy Mother's Day to the best Mom and Mimi in the world!