GNO

That's Girls' Night Out for us "old folk".

Last night, Emma had plans to go over to Mckenzie's house with a few friends to watch The Cheetah Girls: One World, and Mallory was sulking wanting to go with her. Instead, I called my friend Amy, and she sent her daughter, Brynna, over for a GNO!

Mallory knows Brynna from doing gymnastics with her and they are both 4 years old. I felt sorry for Brynna because Mallory kept asking, "what is your name again" all night long....Sometimes she would call her Jenna, sometimes I would call her Brooke (her sister's name)...she probably thought we were a bunch of DOE-DOEs!!!

They had a great time together. The first thing they did was put on their LIPSTICK. We all know you can't go on a GNO without lipstick on!! Then we had pizza, popcorn, and brownies!! Oh, and coke too!! Sorry, Amy, I hope Brynna didn't get a tummy ache!!

Then we turned on the Cheetah Girl movie and they danced in their cheetah attire...they both had some great moves!!

Mallory had a great time with her friend and forgot all about her sister....Thanks Amy for lending your daughter!!

First Day Photos 8/18/2008

I love the first days of school. The new clothes, fresh haircuts, new materials...it's all so fun to me. In fact I had the hardest time sleeping the night before. I felt like those kids in the Disney commercial that were "too excited to sleep." I'm paying for it, however, 2 days later...My body is exhausted. I took a bunch of back to school photos. I hope you enjoy them. I find myself taking pictures for several days after school starts because I like their outfits so much!! In case you are wondering (and I must brag on myself), I DID make Mallory's dress. I am so glad my mom is willing to stay up into all hours of the night with me as we work through the instructions...it always seems so easy at first until you start sewing the pieces together. This dress happens to have a LINING!! I have never put a lining in before and I must say that I am really good with a seam ripper! But I was determined to finish the dress for my sweet little girl who went to bed asking, "are you done with my dress yet, mommy?" I couldn't let her down. Thanks mom for your guidance and for not letting me give up!! I love you!!

Here is my crew on Monday morning...




Robby is in the 9th grade!!! He wants to work with computers and networking...I think he would be great at this because he is not intimidated at all by the technical side of electronics.


Brandon is in the 6th grade, his last year of elementary school!! He drew a blank and couldn't come up with a profession this year.


Emma is in 2nd grade, my all time favorite grade!!! She wants to grow up and be a veterinarian. She is really into Bindi the Jungle girl and doesn't understand why we all can't be around the various animals like Bindi is.



Mallory is in her last year of Pre-K before Kindergarten....She has grown so much this summer! She wants to grow up and be a "fairy."



Dropping off Robby at the highschool. Come December he will be driving with a learner's permit!!



Brandon and Emma...a RARE photo of HIM giving her a hug...


Mallory and her Pre-K teacher...Mrs. Johnson, some of you may remember her as Mrs. Feagin. She has taught little ones for 30 years!!!

Emma and her teacher, Mrs. Lane. She is such a dear friend of mine and she is an awesome teacher. Doesn't she look sooooo young!!

Mommy and Mallory...I couldn't help but sneak peeks at her all day...She looked so darn cute!

Emma with her shoes on this time...I was rushing out the door in the earlier photo. Being a teacher kid you have to get up really early so we weren't able to go outside and get a photo...it was still a little dark! So here she is when Raleigh brought her to school...she was very excited about all of her new stuff!!

Another picture of Mallory in her dress??? Imagine that!!

Back to School Shopping

I can remember when Robby started Kindergarten and I was so excited to go to store after store to find SEVERAL cute outfits, NEW shoes, and school supplies to fill up the NEW backpack. Then I would come home and lay everything out and label crayons, pencils, and everything else that belonged to my little man. It was fun and I wasn't stressed. That was in 1999.

Present day, 2008, I have 4 children to shop for.

It's not fun, and I am stressed.

Brandon knows exactly what he wants. He has wanted a new pair of Puma's for several months and he was easy to please. We were on a mission to find the perfect pair of Puma's, and we located them with ease at Journey's. Robby has no idea. He knows what he doesn't want, but what he wants changes from store to store. I know what I want him to wear....FLIP FLOPS...you can wear them at the Highschool. I would wear nothing else if I were him...I could have bought him a black pair and a brown pair and he would have been set. Robby doesn't like flip flops...he doesn't like the feeling of his feet not being covered up. Robby doesn't like a flat shoe. Robby doesn't want a shoe that looks like a skate shoe. Robby doesn't like a round toe shoe. Robby doesn't want a shoe that looks "fuzzy". Robby doesn't want the same shoe Brandon has...it goes on and on. In fact, as of now on Sunday afternoon, he does not have a new pair of shoes (everyone else does). We are optimistic about stopping at Famous Footwear and finding the perfect Adidas. I went there last night with my mom and we took some pictures, with my cell phone, of the shoes they had and he seems to be excited about one in particular. I'm sure he'll start school tomorrow with a brand new pair of shoes that COVER his feet.

Then there is the "several cute outfits" issue. I told Raleigh I would not go school shopping next year unless I had $5,000 to spend...haha. Oh, did I mention I was trying to shop for 4 children on $700.00???

Side Note---I am thankful for having the money...I don't want to sound ungrateful...Especially in today's economy...Gas being at $4.00 a gallon, milk costing $5.50 a gallon, groceries in general are up almost 16%...And our cost of living hasn't increased enough to cover such inflation...So I do want to stress that I understand there are some families unable to get their children new school clothes, shoes, and supplies...I am thankful for my $700.00 allowance!!!

However, it's difficult for me to control the desire to "dress them all to the nines" and purchase every Billabong, Quicksilver, Hurley, Limited Too, and what ever else brand name piece of clothing they bring to me and toss into the buggy. Brandon was so funny because he said, "mom, I found tons of shirts (at Bealls Florida) and they are all 25% off!!" But 25% off of $26 and $32 dollars isn't the $8.99 price I like to spend on shirts at Ross ;)

Thankfully, I managed my money well (after returning a few pieces the next day) and all 4 children have several COOL and CUTE outfits, fresh new school supplies, new backpacks, and soon all will have new shoes. I am happy with the outcome (after stressing out Friday night for spending too much in one store) and what matters most is my sweet little dears are happy as well.

It wasn't quite as fun as it was back almost 10 years ago, but since it is still such an exciting event and time to get ready to start another school year, I couldn't help but smile and enjoy the moment of labeling all of the new supplies and laying out all of the new clothes.

My wish is for every child to go to sleep tonight with the excitement of starting school tomorrow keeping them awake!! :)

My favorite school picture

As the school year creeps around the corner, I can't help but be super excited for Emma. She is entering my all time favorite elementary grade. I can remember so much about my 2nd grade year. It went to Doctors Inlet Elementary School and had a teacher named Theresa Long. I met my very best friend the summer before I started 2nd grade, her name is also Teresa, and I decided at 8 years old that when I grew up I wanted to be a teacher. Of course I changed my mind over the years, but as you all know, I eventually fulfilled this dream and love the career I have chosen. I look forward to this school year and I know Emma will love her teacher since she is one of my very good friends and I had the pleasure of teaching her son last year in kindergarten.

Oh, and back to this picture, it has always been my favorite school picture. I even like it more than my senior year photo. I love the innocence of it I suppose. I can't wait to compare it to Emma's.