Good-Bye K3!

The day after graduation was celebration day in the preschool! It was time to PaRtY and Jesse was in super silly mode!

Vera Kate and Jesse on the playground

Jesse showing off his special graduation picture for Mama

Mrs. Weaver and Jesse on the last day of school

Jesse Graduates!

Jesse's first year of school flew by way too fast and before I knew it K3 graduation was upon us!!! Jesse practiced his songs for weeks...at school, in the car, in the tub, absolutely everywhere, and finally the big day arrived! May 18th...graduation day!!! The Under the Sea Graduation Production was awesome and I really wish that I could show you some video of Jesse's favorite song, ABC Jesus Died for You and Me, or the super cute Row, Row, Row Your Boat where the children had to row backwards to keep from going over the waterfall, or the new verse that the preschool teachers made up for The Lord's Army. I really, really, really would like to show off the whole thing. And I have the whole thing on video filmed with my new digital video camera that we got just for this occasion. It's a wonderful video that I've watched on my television. Unfortunately, I can't seem to figure out how to get this new digital video to play on my computer. Humph! And here I thought going digital was supposed to make things easier! Trust me though, graduation was a roaring success and my baby boy enjoyed every minute of it! He sang his heart out and really got into the facial expressions and hand movements of all the songs. And we are, of course, very, very proud of him!

Vera Kate and Jesse prior to graduation

Walking in

The pledges
Jesse was so proud the day he came home and told me that he knew all the pledges by heart!

My niece, Vera Kate, is standing just behind Jesse, and as you can tell, she really got into the songs too! We are so proud of both of preschool graduates!

Before receiving their diplomas, each student was asked what they wanted to be when they grow up. Jesse's response, "A race car driver!"

We were very blessed to have lots of family and friends join us for this special occasion, and I couldn't wait to get some Hinson sugar!

Daddy and Mommy with our BIG boy!

Jesse with Grandma and Da

Jesse with Papa and Ah-ee

Hinson, sitting up like a big boy!

And He saith unto them, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men."

Matthew 4:19

Happy Father's Day

My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

1 John 3:18

Our Sunday school lesson this morning came from 1 John 3 & 4 and talked about how we are to show our love for God through imitation of Him by showing love to others. I am so blessed to have a husband and father for my boys who sets such good examples for my boys to imitate. Thank you Lord for blessing us with this man to lead our family! Happy Father's Day, honey, I love you!

Trey's Fun Day

The end of school was at hand and it was time for a celebration! On May 18th, two days before school let out, the second grade headed to Cross Ties for a day of fun! This class has been blessed with some awesome parents who like to celebrate in a big way! I can take none of the credit, I just do or bring whatever I'm instructed to:-) It was a fabulous day, and I was blessed to spend it with Trey, his classmates, and all the other parents who have become wonderful friends over the past few years.

Ethin and Trey

We also had a celebration for Trey's classmate Andrea. It was her birthday and her Mama knows how to do things up right! We had pizza for the kids, and homemade goodies like lettuce wraps for the adults. Mrs. Fernando owns Sweet 'n Savory in Baxley and I can tell you the food is awesome!

Happy Birthday Andrea!

Trey, Ethin, and Annalise

This is the second year that we rented the big slide for our end of year party. However, last year it turned out too windy and cold to actually turn on the water. Not a problem this year, it was HOT!

Time to break out the water guns!

ACA's 2nd grade 2009-2010

What a fabulous way to wrap up a fabulous year! We can't wait to see what's in store for next year!

Paradise...at least for my boys

One of the things we lost in the warehouse fire was our tent and since we had our big camping trip coming up, we had to replace it pronto! So, after church on May 16th, we headed out to Savannah to eat some yummy lunch and hit up Bass Pro Shops. We ate at Carrabba's, a favorite of mine and Phil's. While there, we started filling Trey in on his heritage. My grandmother is 100% Italian and therefore Trey is 1/8 Italian. He decided that that must be the reason that he likes Italian food so much and he was very excited to let everyone know that he was part Italian, starting with our waitress (who received a big tip for being so attentive to our little motor mouths:-). And Trey doesn't pronounce it "Italian". Instead he says, "it-a-lin". Too cute! And almost a month later he is still talking about it and still convinced that's why he likes Italian food so much. Also, instead of asking for spaghetti for supper he now asks for "it-a-lin" spaghetti. Luckily, I'm a quarter "it-a-lin" so I make it just right! He's also very interested in the rest of his heritage and what foods that may lead to him liking. Yesterday he was eating some chips and cheese dip and he came up and asked me if he was part Mexican. You gotta love how the minds of these little ones work!

After our lunch, we went to Bass Pro. This is my hubby's favorite store, and fast becoming a favorite of the kids. And there is so much to see there that we spent a while just wandering around. We did replace our tent, got camp chairs, and let Daddy pick out all of his Father's Day!

Jesse loved the waterfall outside, but he was far more interested in looking at it than in taking a picture in front of it!

My first attempt at getting a photo of both boys!

Both boys were enthralled by the aquarium.

Still trying to get a good shot of them both!

The boys were also very excited about playing the hunting game. Luckily the game lasted long enough that both boys got several chances to shoot the deer!

All the excitement wore Jesse out. And note that he is snuggled up with Fishing Dog. Since camo puppy has the Bass Pro logo, which contains a big bass, on his foot, then he is obviously a fishing dog!

Fishing Dog and Jesse

**Disclaimer--All photos were taken with my phone and are therefore not the best quality:-(**

Out of the Mouths of Babes

I have to write these things down lest I forget...

"Mama, if you don't believe in Jesus you will go live with the devil. But I believe in Jesus. I don't want to live with the devil. Do you believe in Jesus Mama?" "I do." And he just nodded his head matter of factly and sauntered off. If only we adults would witness to people as readily as our children do, how many more sheep could we bring home to God's flock?

Anyone who knows us well, knows that all I have do to make my hubby squirm is to start talking about another baby. We recently found out that another member of our family is expecting...it seems like our family is just busting out with babies:-) I was saying that we needed a baby too and Jesse said, "But Mama you have a baby, I'm your baby. I wear underwear but I'm still your baby."

As we were driving up the mountain to Vogel State Park last week, Jesse exclaimed,"Are you glad God made these mountains. I am!" We spent one night and spent the following day walking everywhere and climbing up Brasstown Bald. Even when the boys had the opportunity to ride, they wanted to walk! About 9:15 that night we headed home and as you can imagine, the boys were snoozin' before we ever got off the mountain. Around Atlanta Jesse started talking in his sleep. "Mama, I'm tired of walking. Are these the last steps?" I just love hearing him talk in his sleep!

Last night there was a horse fly in our car which was freaking the kids out. Trey said, "Mama, horseflies aren't like regular flies, they bite people!" To which Jesse responded, "Do they only bite people who look like horses?"