Onward Christian Soldier

Jesse played one of my favorites, Onward Christian Soldier, during Pine Level's Fifth Sunday Night Sing on March 30, 2014.  He loves playing at church and I am so proud of him for using his God given talent to glorify Him!  Blessed indeed! 

How Great Thou Art

Pine Level held a fifth Sunday night sing on March 30, 2014.  Trey played and sang How Great Thou Art, although you have to listen very carefully to hear him singing.  I am so proud of how far he has come and I am even more proud that he loves to use his talent to praise our great God!  Thankful for my blessings!

Color Me 5K

Six months ago, on September 30, 2013, I walked into my first Weight Watchers meeting and began my weight loss journey.  I have never been a fitness nut or an exercise guru so the idea that I could eat pretty much whatever I wanted (as long as I stayed within my points allotment) and not exercise and still lose weight appealed to me very much.  I embraced my new way of eating and before I knew it I was eating lots of fruits and vegetables and swapping out heavy cream in recipes with fat free yogurt.  I would exercise (mostly walking) a few times a week but nothing too strenuous and since I was losing weight I didn't feel the need to step it up.  Unfortunately, by the middle of February I was feeling restless and tired of the same ole same ole with my recipes.  And I was very ready to STEP IT UP!  Thankfully, I have a good friend who has been using BeachBody products and workouts for the past year and recently became a coach.  She challenged me to buy one of their challenge packs and take part in her March Lighten Up! Fitness Challenge.  I bought the 21 Day Fix workout and nutrition plan as well as some shakeology. I have yet to embrace the nutrition plan, I like the points system with Weight Watchers and it works for me so I'm sticking with it.  However, on March 4th, I began the workouts and the shakeology.  The workouts are a lot more intense than workouts I have done in the past, and they definitely push me which is a good thing.  I can most definitely tell a difference and more importantly being a part of the challenge group gave me accountability and helped re-inspire and re-motivate me towards my weight loss and fitness goals.  I am proud to say that during the month of March I lost 5.8 pounds and 13 1/4 inches overall.  This brings my total weight loss to 42.4 pounds and I am just a little less than a pound shy of being at the half-way point of my weight loss goal!  I am so excited!  To finish out the March Lighten Up! Fitness Challenge and to celebrate a successful six months with Weight Watchers I decided to complete my first 5K on March 29th!  It has been a dream of mine for a while now but I never really thought I would do it.  Thankfully, I had lots of support...Mama and Trey came along to take photos and cheer us on, Jesse was excited to do it with me, one of my best friends also did it with me, and one of my new Weight Watchers friends was there too and offered me so much encouragement!  I am so proud of myself and my Jesse!  It was not easy but it was a great experience and I am very much looking forward to my next one in May!

Ready to run!

Me & Steph!

Here comes the finish line!

Yay!  We did it!!!

So proud of us!

And so proud of us too!

My favorite photo from the day!

After race snack with Tait.

After the 5K, while we waited on the awards to start, the boys enjoyed a dance party!

 

March Snapshot, Part 3

We love Truth Be Told Art down here in south Georgia!  On March 22nd, Pine Level's Heart and Home hosted their first party and as expected it was a wonderful time!  I love having artwork that my boys and I have created hanging in our home and I love that it has God's TRUTH written on it!

While Jesse was at soccer and I was at the Truth Be Told Art party, Trey was competing at DPA.  I absolutely hate that I missed his presentation but he had his cheerleaders there and Da assured me that he did a fabulous job!  I made it to the awards ceremony and am so proud of him for placing first in the flowers, shrubs, and lawns category.  Cora Jane also competed and placed first in the highly competitive history category!  I'm so proud of these Tyre babies!!!  Later we all met up at DQ for some celebration before heading out to watch our friends perform in the 4H Clovers & Company performance.

On March 25th our homeschoolers participated in a drug and internet awareness program.  Scott Manning, an investigator with our local police department, did an excellent job showing the kids what to be aware of and telling them the dangers.  He spoke to all the kids first, and they all got to see first hand what to watch our for.  My boys were most amazed at how much drugs can look like candy and I don't think I have to worry about either of them taking candy from strangers.  After the first hour, we took the younger kids out and he spoke in more detail to the older kids.  It was a very intense talk and Trey says he now understands why I won't let him have a facebook account or a phone which has removed, at least for now, one of the friction points in raising this almost teenager.

During February and March Jesse participated in the 4H knitting club and we both learned to knit!  Ahyee also got a knitting refresher and it took all three of us to finish Jesse's scarf in time for the fashion show on March 25th!  While I have my doubts that he will ever knit anything ever again, Jesse is oh so proud of his scarf and I'm oh so proud of him sticking with it and getting it done!

Jesse also participated in the "Plug into Nature" poster contest.  His poster shows many plants and animals that are native to Georgia.

Jesse is loving some soccer and I'm loving watching him.  I missed his March 22nd game, so I couldn't wait to watch him strut his stuff on March 27th!

March also brought us a lot of progress on our home!  It's nearing completion and I can't wait to get outside and get everything all cleaned up and ready for summer!!!

March Snapshot, Part 2

While it is true that church, 4H, Scouts, and all the boys various lessons keep us hopping throughout the month, our most special moments are those spent with family.  We are thankful that March was sprinkled with some very special family moments.

On Sunday, March 9th, we had our second annual Tyre Cousins Reunion.  The kids had a blast swimming, catching fish, playing with worms, and paddling boating!

Of course our favorite March family day is March 12th, the day our Lord blessed this earth with our wonderful Daddy!  Treats from the Blueberry Barn, dinner at Olive Garden, and yummy ice cream cake were the order of the day as we celebrated Daddy's 39th birthday!

On March 14th the Lord blessed our family again with the birth our newest little "cousin", Lucy! 

Our family keeps growing and on March 15th we were honored to welcome one more new member as my little cousin Miranda married her high school sweetheart.

Aunt Dot and Aunt Esther visited for the wedding too!

Spring time around here always means early mornings and late nights of fishing!  On March 20th, a late afternoon trip to the pond after soccer practice resulted in these two monsters.  Jesse is smiling so big because he caught the biggest one!  Jesse also told me that I better not "waste his fish by making catfish stew".  According to him, any fish that isn't fried is wasted...in other words don't go baking my fish or putting it in any stew.  (Side note:  Mommy also caught a keeper fish on this trip!)

Friday, March 21, we celebrated our Philip again with swimming, fried fish, fried shrimp, and ice cream cake at Grandma & Da's!

On March 28th, my boys finally got the boat in the ocean for the first time in a long time, and although reports had been that the fish weren't biting, they proved everyone wrong!  Their biggest haul of the day was this huge sheephead and it took all three of my boys to get it in.  Jesse was super proud and again told me not to waste his fish by baking it.

I love spring time, when the weather starts getting warmer and the days start getting longer, and we get to spend so much time with family!

Sweet Hour of Prayer

We love our church and are so happy that they encourage children to take an active role in our services.  My boys are always excited to take part and Jesse jumped at the chance to play the evening offertory hymn on March 2nd.

March Snapshot, Part 1

I'm always amazed when I look back over our month of photos at just how busy we have been.  I really shouldn't be.  If you looked at my calendar you would see that it is crammed full with piano, art, and horseback riding lessons; Scout, 4H, and church activities; soccer practice, as well as plenty of family time.  March was just as busy as every other month, and as always seems to be the case, Scouts and 4H kept us hopping.


We kicked off our month with a clean up day at the Boy Scout quanza hut.  The hut hasn't been used in many, many, many years but we hope to start using it as our meeting place soon so on Saturday, March 1st we all gathered to start cleaning out and cleaning up!

At our March 4H meeting, Jesse presented his second report of the year.  His first one back in October was on wolves.  This time he was inspired by our trip to Callaway to talk about birds of prey.  He worked really hard on his speech and his posters and did an awesome job!

Saturday, March 8th brought us the Annual 4H Chicken Show.  The boys friend, Mason, spent the night with us on Friday night, so he showed one of our hens too.  All three of our chickens won...Jesse won "Longest Tail Feather", Trey won "Prettiest Chicken", and Mason won "Smallest Hen".  They were all so proud!

One of the things that Jesse had to do to earn his Wolf Patch in Cub Scouts was to plan and cook an outdoor meal.  So after the chicken show we gathered at Papa & Ahyee's so he could grill us some hamburgers.  They were so tasty and he had a blast making them...although he did get a little impatient with how slow the grilling process is.

In order to advance to the next level in Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts, both boys had to learn the proper way to raise and lower the flag, how to properly fold the flag, as well as other flag etiquette.  Therefore, on Tuesday, March 11th, we gathered at the Veteran's Memorial to practice, practice, practice. 

We also kick off Upwards Soccer season in March and Jesse couldn't wait to start playing.  This is his third year and you can really tell that he's improving.  He was extremely tired at his first game on Saturday, March 15th because he, Trey, and Daddy had spent Friday night camping with the Scouts, but he still played hard!

So I Cut My Hair...

I wanted a new summer haircut, and I wanted a pretty big change to go along with my weight loss, so I decided to cut off all my hair and donate it to locks of love.  It's taken some time to get used to it but I really like it!  I think I may keep this style for a while.

 

Trey's First 5 Mile Hike

I finally got a photo from Phil & Trey's Valentine weekend campout at General Coffee State Park.  This was taken on the trail of their 5 mile hike.  

 

February Snapshot, Part 3

On February 21st Trey presented his CPA project on Bonsai Care.  He received 1st place in the Flowers, Shrubs, and Lawns category and will proceed to DPA in a few weeks.

The last Saturday in February I was finally free to enjoy a girls day in Savannah.  We usually hit Jacksonville for our girls days but I have wanted to try the Melting Pot forever so we decided to change it up a bit.  Boy was it worth it!!!  Everything was absolutely delicious and I can not wait to go back...especially now that I know that they have a restaurant in Jacksonville!

On February 27th, Trey competed in the Milk Make contest at our 4H office.  His healthy fruit smoothie earned him 3rd place overall and  1st place in technique and presentation.  He now has a new found love for smoothies and makes them for breakfast several times a week.

One of the things that Jesse had to do to earn his Wolf Patch in Cub Scouts is visit a historical landmark in our community and talk about it's importance.  We visited the Veterans' Memorial and found Pa Hut & Papa Tyre's names under the World War II section.  We drive past the memorial all the time but I had never taken the time to stop and really look at it.  I'm so glad that we did.  I'm so proud of all our family who have and who are currently serving our country in the military and I loved passing on some of the stories that I've heard all my life to my boys.

One of my favoritest things about this month is that we are finally getting siding put on the house!!!  We've lived here for over a year without siding and I couldn't be more excited that it's finally getting done!!!  They have been working on it every weekend and it won't be long until it's done.  Then it will be time for me to get busy tiling the front porch and painting the old wrought iron furniture that's going up there.  The furniture was a Christmas (we think) present to my grandparents from my great grandparents around 40-50 years ago!  It has been in my grandparents' yard for as long as I can remember and I can't wait to give it a fresh coat of paint and get it on the porch!!!  I can see it all done in my mind and I can't wait till my vision is a reality.