The most inportant decision She will ever make!

Ann Elizabeth has been taking a class at church called First Steps. She has really expressed an interest in learning more about Christ and being baptized. We attended the class with her every Sunday morning for 4 weeks. She was thrilled to be in there and was very energetic in answering question. Her teacher Ms. Lee was FANTASTIC. She explains everything about Jesus and how we are made in his image, his dying for our sins, everything....so wonderfully and so simple.
On the last Sunday you have to fill out an information sheet and express that you have already made a commitment to Christ or that you want to.
Walter and I never doubted that she knew about Christ, but I just wasn't sure she had even "prayed the prayer". She sat at our kitchen table and shed the tears of a sweet child as she told us that she had asked Jesus into her heart...and then she prayed it again...almost like she wanted to make sure. We cried with her and reassured her that she didn't need to do it more than once that once she had prayed it, she was good!
The next day was Sunday and as her class teaches, she has to make the decision to go up front and hand over her information card to Dr. Poplin, our Senior Pastor. Well....she was so nervous, but she didn't hesitate one bit to walk right down to the front of the church and hand her card over! I was sooooo proud! It also happened to be the same day that her friend Carsen was baptised and her teacher Ms. Maye was in the church with us. Such a special occasion that we will remember forever.
Her big day of baptism will be June 5, 2011. It will surely be a celebration!!

Walter's 5th birthday Party

Walter's Star Wars themed 5th birthday party was at Sports Connection. He was very specific this year on who he wanted to invite. Just boys, with the exception of a few girls. It was hard to explain to him that if we werent inviting the whole class then he couldnt really talk about it at school because we didnt want to hurt anyones feelings. He is so sweet and really tried to keep it quiet....until he told everyone about the cookies that he was giving out for favors. He cracks me up!!
So for his party he chose mini-bowling and the jump room. All the boys...and the few girls had a great time.




All Walter's boys!


Sweet Olivia!!!

Walter gets his Camo belt!

Walter has worked so hard at karate and we are so proud of him. He is increased his rank every 2 months since October and double increased his rank on one of those months. He really tries his best, and his behavior has really improved also. This last belt he got was his camo belt and he was thrilled. Next up...camo with a patch!

My sweet boy turns 5!

My sweet baby boy turned 5 today. I can not believe it. He was so excited going to bed last night and even more excited when he woke up this morning. He is such a pure joy. He is such a well mannered, polite, considerate child. His teachers love him and today one of his teachers said that he has all the girls after him...they even fight over him. I would fight over him too...he is to adorable.
This year is a big year for him. He has already earned his camo belt in karate, he starts t-ball this week, will continue to take swim lessons and hopefully really enjoy the pool this summer. He will also start Kindergarten this fall. Wow! I can't believe it. I can't believe that 5yrs ago we lived in Charleston when he was born, and that for his 1st, 2nd, and 3rd birthday we lived in 3 different cities. Also, it snowed every year on his 2nd, 3rd & 4th birthday. Thank goodness no snow today in Charlotte.
He is growing up so much. He loves God and talks about heaven all the time. He is constantly singing and playing. He is some compassionate and wants to make sure that everyone is "ok". He makes me so proud to be his Mommy. He loves Star Wars, Legos, Bay Blades, Nerf guns, basketball and football. He is my heart and soul and carries my heart around with him.
Walter, Daddy and I are so proud of you and how much you have grown over this year. We are so excited that you love Jesus and really want to have a relationship with him. Continue to be who you are and grow to be a man of God. You are soooo loved!

1st sewing job complete!!!!

And it all began with this:




And then this:




To look like this:


To finally this:


And my little 50's girl herself!


Lots of love and emotions when into this outfit. It ended up being a little big on her, and I couldn't quite get the velcro/hook & eye closure worked out to be perfect, but she LOVED it and was super excited to wear it to school. I decided that it was fun sewing...so now onto the next project!

What are weekends are made of!

Weekends around here have consisted of cheer and being lazy, riding bikes when we can and just taking a break to enjoy each other before the busy spring begins. Our weekend are filling up fast so it is nice to be able to hang low for a while. Ann Elizabeth cheered this year for Upward at our Church. She loved it and I really enjoyed being a coach to the girls also. 20 1st and 2nd graders and 5 coaches..and it took all 5 of us to contain these energetic girls.



Me and Ann Elizabeth at Cheerleading through Upward!


Our sweet friends next door, Katie & Samantha.

Happy Love Day!

Valentine's Day was great this year. My how things have changed in the years though. Our day consisted of school, karate and Cheerleading. Just a regular day around here. I was able to go to both of the kids parties at school and see all the valentine's they got and enjoyed a sweet treat with them. No matter what we did, I am just glad we were all together.


Daddy helping with the class Valentine's.


Our sweet treat the kids helped make.


Walter's last preschool Valentine party.


Ann Elizabeth's 1st grade Valentine party.


AE and her love....Miss Maye.

Mini High School Reunion!

Last night 3 of my girlfriends from Westminster Catawba got together for dinner. I was so nervous...I felt like I was 15 getting ready for the first day of HS trying to decide what to wear...crazy!
We graduated HS in 1995 and I am sure that it has been that long since we all have been together. It was great to reminisce about times in HS and remind others of what they forgot. I realized that after last night...keeping up with friends is super important. None of us could figure out why we never really kept in touch after graduation. Some of us would see each other periodically but others not so much. We never could come up with a good reason why we didn't keep in touch!
We did realize that after 15 years apart, we still enjoyed each others company and really hadn't changed that much. We have all just really grown up (thank the Lord for that). All of us are married and have at least 1 child. Crazy to think that we all use to run around and get into trouble and now we are all successful at what we do and are happily married with children.
We can't get back the 15yrs that we lost, but we can pick up from here and stay in touch. Even though times zones may separate some of us soon, we all promised to keep in touch...at least through Facebook, and get together again soon! Next time we want more of us to get together....we missed quite a few people but it was super fun to reconnect!

Us in 1995!




Us now...in 2011...we look fabulous!

Walter gets into Kindergarten at CCS!!!

I have never been so excited to get the mail yesterday and receive this letter! Our little guy got accepted into Kindergarten at Carmel and we are thrilled. He has worked really hard on learning his letters and numbers and writting them. His testing went super and he was so proud of himself afterwards. We love Carmel and hope that it will be a great experience for him like it has been for Ann Elizabeth. YEA WALTER!!! Kindergarten Class of 2011-2012!






The one line that says it all!

Walter and his Karate accomplishments!

Walter has been doing Karate for the last 6 months. We are so proud of him and his accomplishments. He has been working really hard and his hard work has payed off. His instructor Ms. Olver thinks that he is doing great and has invited him to be a part of an elite class. While we think that this is wonderful, we are going to wait until the fall and make sure that he is really into Karate. Plus....the summer is coming up and want to give him to time to play and have fun vs. being at karate everyday...and he is only almost 5.
He really enjoys it and even has started working with Nunchucks. He loves them. He had the kicks and the punches down and was getting a little bored, so this is right up his alley! So in the last 6 months, he has earned 2 patches and gone up 3 levels in belt rank....and at the end of February will graduate to another belt rank. We are so proud of him!!!!






Walter and his instructor after receiving his Orange Belt


Walter after receiving his Yellow Belt




Walter receiving his Yellow Belt with the Patch

Kindness

Showing others they are valuable by how you treat them!

Ann Elizabeth has started going to church on Wednesday night to Kid Jam. Once a month they have Fam Jam, where the family all goes together. Each month they have a character trait and this months was Kindness. As I sat with 3 little girls...sweet 1st graders who all cheer together, they got super excited about Kindness. They were told that they would be given 2 Crazy Bands (Silly Bands) each. One to keep for themselves and one to give to someone, totally out of the blue, someone who didn't expect it, not a "friend" or a popular kid. Maybe even one that was lonely.... as an act of kindness. Immediately these 3 little girls started talking between themselves of who they were going to give the Crazy Band to. It was so precious to sit and listen to them choose someone and then give the reason why they chose that person.

So, today AE came home and told me that she had chosen Wyatt to give the Crazy Band to. She said she went up to him and said that she wanted him to know that he was special and she wanted him to have the Crazy Band. She has such a sweet heart and is so tender.

We love our church and school....and this is just one more reason of why we send our child to a Christian school.

Ground Hog Day!!!!

Walter's preschool class learned about Ground Hog Day this week. So, on Monday this cute little critter was sent home and we were to sit it out on Wednesday and see if he saw his shadow. Before school we sat him in our yard...and no shadow did he see!! Thankfully all the other ground hogs had the same experience, so it's an early Spring for us!!!!





NO SHADOW did he see!!! YEA!!!