Friday's photo...

Favorite. Picture. Ever. :-)

Buddies and TKD

Ford has gotten himself a new little buddy. Caleb Shamblin is the newest toddler on his "buddy" list. Every couple of weeks, Caleb's mommy (my sweet friend, Brittany Shamblin, read her blog here) and I try to get together and let the boys play and to give us some "adult conversation" time. :-)

So, today we decided we'd take the boys to Mound State Park in Moundville, Alabama. They have just recently completed a multi-million dollar renovation to their museum, and we felt like we just HAD to check it out! So, play date at the Mounds it was!

Here is the only picture we got of the boys together inside the museum. It's a terrible picture but it just so happens to be the best one we got of both the boys in front of this amazing display of a Native American wedding ceremony. They were overjoyed as you can see. :-)

Ford gladly posed in front of the Moundville high ruler (i have no idea if this is actually the proper term), the air to the Moundville high ruler, his mother,

and the medicine man preparing for the upcoming wedding ceremony.

Caleb and Brittany in front of the same statues.

Everyone had a great time overall, but Caleb was just NOT real sure about the projector Native American telling his story about becoming a religious leader in his tribe (can you tell I was REALLY paying attention?). I tried to capture the anxiety on his face, but he kept looking away everytime he saw me hold up the camera...as if to say "Shame on you lady for taking a picture of me in my time of distress!" Sorry Caleb, but your mommy was laughing, too! ;-)

After a trip through the gift shop, and a tomahawk and a stuffed frog that "ribbits" when you squeeze it later, the buddies were happy (and H-O-T) again, outside!

Aren't they cute? ;-)

In all seriousness, Alan and I will definitely go back, without the kids sometime, so we can browse and read all the displays. It really is interesting and I really do enjoy history (Ihaveabachelorsdegreeinhistory).  ;-)

~~~

Not to be overshadowed, Logan has been taking TaeKwonDo all summer and just recently completed his first test as a Tiger Cub and received his yellow belt. :-) He was very proud of himself. Here are a couple of pictures from his belt ceremony.

Kindergarten!!!! and 2 year preschool...

Logan has been in kindergarten for over 2 weeks now and I can honestly say, without any hesitation that he LOVES it! He comes home excited every day and eager to let me know he has "stayed in the green" all day! Only twice has he come home and told me he had been "in the yellow" that day: the first day of school and 2 days ago. So, I am a pretty proud mama. :)

Logan went to bed the night before the first day of Kindergarten crying himself to sleep. I was pretty stressed out about his first day, #1 because he is my first born and I cannot believe he's starting big school already and #2 because his teacher is on maternity leave for the first 6 weeks of school and he's starting out his grade school career with a SUB! So naturally, when he broke down and turned into an inconsolable mess when he layed down to go to sleep, my nervousness shot through the roof. I truly believe God woke me up at 4 am the first morning of school JUST TO MAKE ME PRAY about it....and you know what? He whispered something in my ear. Seriously. You know those people who talk about "hearing the voice of God" in their ear when they are praying and seeking God's will? Well, I heard it. He said "Trust me." I still tear up everytime I think about it...I'm getting all choked up now. So, I did. I trusted Him..and everytime I would start to worry again, I would just stop myself and remind myself that HE told me to TRUST HIM. Logan woke up the next morning in a GREAT mood, walked into his classroom, sat down, started coloring his sheet, and kissed us goodbye when we left. He did cry, he didn't beg us to stay, he didn't even LOOK at us when we walked out the door. It couldn't have gone any better. On the way to school that morning, he repeated something in his "on the way to school prayer" that I had mentioned to him the night before...I had told him that if he gets scared at school, he could pray, and God would always be with him. So when he said his prayers that morning he said "God, I know if I get scared at school today that you will be right there with me." It was a really precious moment and I'll never forget it. It is SO true what they say about your emotions as a mother of a kindergartener, you never in your life feel more proud, sad, nervous, happy and excited than you do that first day of school!

Ford started preschool, two half days a week, and he couldn't have been more excited! He has hit the ground running every day since and can't wait for his 2 days of school!

Here are a few pictures from the first day of kindergarten and preschool:

 Eating breakfast on the first day of school.

 My sweet little kindergartener.

 Me and my boys on their first day of school.

 Heading out...

 YES, I took pictures of him walking all the way to the car...I even took some video of him. :)

 A little blurry but you can still see that sweet Logan smile.

 Saying his prayers on the way to school.

When asked if he was going to pray, Ford said "No I not. I coloring."

 "I MISS MY BUBBA!"

 "I can go play in the gym now?! SEE YA!"

 Walking in to school with Daddy.

In his seat, ready to start his first day!

Logan and me on his first day of kindergarten, August 10, 2011.

AND...here he comes! YES, I TOOK PICTURES OF HIM COMING OUT OF SCHOOL ON HIS FIRST DAY, TOO. ;-) Must document everything. :-)

His face was all red and he had been crying when I picked him up. It had been thundering while he was waiting for me to get there and he got upset. Broke my heart! :(

But, thankfully, he had a GREAT first day! :)

Getting back in the game!

Today I decided it was time to get back into the blogging game. With Logan starting Kindergarten, it seemed only appropriate to jump back into blogging so I can keep you all informed of my mental state each day he's gone. ;-) Seriously, though, with so many changes coming so quickly in our lives, I feel like I have done my family an injustice by not keeping a journal or scrapbook of the big things (and a lot of the small) things going on. So, that being said, I am going to first recap our B.U.S.Y. summer and then move right into our new school year!

We had an extremely busy summer! We were gone so much this summer I felt like I needed to introduce myself to our close friends our first Sunday back at church after missing several in a row. Our busyness was voluntary, of course, and while we had a great time all summer, it will definitely make me rethink being that busy again next summer. Because I'm TIRED!

We made several trips to the beach this summer, some with kids, and some without. We had Vacation Bible School, a Bachelorette Party, and LONG road trip to Wisconsin! Here are a few pictures to recap our summer, and that will just have to do.

We spent some time at the lake this summer....

We went to see Zac Brown Band in concert with our friends, Nick and Kacy...

The boys spent a lot of time playing in the sprinkler to cool off, because this was a H-O-T summer!

We got a kitten, and then lost her....actually, I'm almost certain that pesky hawk that has been waking us up every morning at 6 a.m is the culprit... :( Sad day.



We spent some time in Florida playing on the beach...

Here are a few of my favorites of the boys this summer playing in the sand and ocean :)



 It was fun spending a couple of days in Rosemary Beach with the Diaz family!

Then we headed NORTH to Wisconsin to finish out our summer at an airshow in Osh Kosh...
......stopped in Louisville, KY on our way up and spent a few hours visiting our friend (and FAVORITE babysitter), Melanie (aka Mel-Mel; Miss Melanie)!! It was SO good to see her and spend some time seeing where she is going to school. Boyce College/SBTS have a beautiful campus.

Alan and the boys had a great time looking at all the planes. We took my dad with us and he was a good sport going with me to Green Bay one of the days so I could finally visit the Green Packers' stadium, Lambeau Field. It was a great experience!

We saw LOTS and LOTS (and LA-HOTS) of airplanes.

 Here's a picture of our entire group that went to Wisconsin. We felt very honored to be a part of what was probably the last camping trip the Mizzells will take together. :( On the way home we stopped in St. Louis and visited the famous Arch of St. Louis. It was interesting....I hate heights.

So that about sums up our summer. We came home and got Logan ready to start kindergarten! BIG DAY! My next post will be about Logan and Ford's first day of school!