It's Wednesday !!!

This morning Taylor asked me, "Mommy, what day is it?"  I answered, "Wednesday"  She immediately replies, "Oh goodie!! I can go get my kite and it will go a blowin'!"  At first I was like, huh???  Then it hit me...it's Winds Day!!  Now she calls it Kite day :)

This week at church...

This week at church, I understood an awesome message!!  I love these kinda weeks, when a light bulb goes off in my head.  Don't be surprised if you read this and go, "well, duh", I am in serious need of understanding and flashing light bulbs..lol!

Our pastor, Kevin tackled the message, "Does God Care?" - How can a loving God "let" children suffer? Or "why" would he allow this suffering? Keven's explanation of this was amazing...

The suffering began WAY back, when Adam & Eve ate of the forbidden apple (Gen 3:17) "you shall eat of it all the days of your life".  And WE still are.  It allowed sin, suffering, and hatred to enter into our lives.   If we truly asked God to rid the world of suffering...WE WOULD ALL BE GONE!!  There isn't a single person in this world who hasn't hurt another person, whether it be physical, emotional, intentional, or by accident.  If we asked God to rid the world of natural disaster, we would be without hurricanes and tornadoes, but we'd also be without the weather that causes them... wind and rain, the sun, rainbows...we'd go back to being a void in the atmosphere, just like before creation. 

He did rid the world of wickedness once before...we have all read the story of Noah's Ark.  Back in Sunday School, it was a cute story about "saving the animals" during a big flood.  The part I didn't pay attention to back then, was the gory part of all who were washed away. God made a promise with the rainbow, to never again curse the ground for man's sake, nor will he destroy all creatures.  This to me, tells us that we are here and will have to deal with the sin that is all around us, but we can have Jesus in our hearts to pave our way.  He is there for us, he gives us the strength and the wisdom to endure all things.


Just a note first, this is totally MY opinion of the message, I am not quoting our pastor...this is just my note taking during church...just wanna make sure no one judges our pastor in case my "take on it" is not in accordance with the bible.


I feel sooo blessed to have pastors at our church, who can explain things to me in an understanding way :)

Walking the Dog

Taylor plays with her little animals everyday, she hauls them to the vet, IS the vet, cares for them, talks to them, AND TODAY....I thought, she was torturing one!! (not that performing surgery on them isn't! lol!) I see her with a choke chain around it's neck and she is dragging it around behind her....she wasn't torturing it, she was "walking" it!  I guess since she's not big enough to walk her own dog, she'll just keep pretending to walk her little animal babies!

which doggie would you rather walk?!?!

Just a note about our BIG dog, Sophie...she can be a pain in our backside much of the time, but she is so gentle and loving to Taylor...the other night, Sophie the beggar, hit the jackpot...Blake didn't want the rest of his meat, so it was hers!  Taylor was sitting on Sophie's back as the dog lay in the floor waiting to see if she got a bite of leftovers, Blake tosses it to her and since Tay is on her back, she refuses to budge, the meat hit her in the face, fell on the floor and she just stared at it until Taylor got up, then she jumped up and snatched it up...this dog will do ANYTHING for a treat, anything EXCEPT, buck Taylor off!!! 

Blake is Officially a 2nd grader!

Blake woke up early, too early, I had to get him to lay back down!  He was excited to get ready and go. He wanted to wear his Missouri Jersey because his big sister, Allison is a Mizzou freshman this year!!!  He happily took his shower and got dressed. He even fed and watered the dog, to stay on top of things!  He was very efficient, organized, and business-like all morning...weird!  I packed lunches and made us all french toast for breakfast, he was to excited to eat very much, and for the third time this morning said, "I can't believe I'm a 2nd grader already!"  but then he added with seriousness, "Time sure does fly.."  I immediately agreed as the tears rolled down my cheek...where DOES THE TIME GO? 

As we drove to school, his Dad called to wish him a great day and tell him that he is proud of him, he liked that. I offered to drive him up to the front door and he said that he didn't want me to have to fight the traffic, I promised him that I didn't mind, but he said to just let him walk from the crosswalk...off he went..I pulled off crying.  I have no idea why!! 

Little Sis had to be in the pic too!

ready to go with all his gear!

My boy is growing up

Yesterday, as we got his backpack ready and all the new paperwork filled out for second grade, he looks at me and says, "Gee, Mom...I'm sure gonna miss you. It's almost like I'm gonna be gone ALL day nowadays." I agreed, and told him that I'd miss him too. I thought that was sweet...I just love these little bits of my sweet boy that peek through, from time to time. They become fewer and fewer as he grows up, it seems.

Last night, I took Blake up to bed 30 minutes early to read, he gets to read to me now, so that was different, and as he read, I realized how much he has grown up just over the summer. As he reads his Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, he no longer pauses at big words, he reads like a little pro! I am so proud of him!

We had the best night ever, as he was reading, he got to this part of the book where the big brother tells the little brother that if he eats a watermelon seed, it will grow a whole melon in his belly, so he refuses to eat this food, claiming that it's just not worth the risk, then Blake and I look at the picture together and crack up laughing so hard we were both crying...the "wimpy kid" is standing there on the first day of school holding their books and he has a huge prego-looking belly!!!! I have no idea why I just wrote about this, but it made the whole night great...anytime you can laugh that hard together, it's a great time :)  He actually read ME to sleep, when I woke up 20 minutes later, I had to get him to put down his book and go to sleep...he was so "into" the book, he almost forgot to sleep...lol! 

Just like her Big Brother

After Blake's Meet the Teacher, we decided to show Taylor the playground.  It seems like no matter how slow we walk, she is always barely keeping up from behind...

notice, Blake's slow gait....Taylor is running and never catchin up!

the beginnings of the teaching...

After slowly folding her little fingers in just the right way, she finally
looks like her Big Bubby!!!

"Oh yeah!!!"

Really gettin it!!!!

It took her a bit to get it down, but I must
say...anything she does...she does
with all her might!!!

2nd Grade Meet the Teacher

Today was the supply drop-off day at Blake's school.  It's a great time to meet his teacher, even though he already met her at the end of last year.  I love that his school does LEAP day, where they "leap" forward into the next year's classroom...it really takes away the anxiety of the unknown...I always wondered what teacher I would get or who would be in my class! 

"I'm half excited for school to start and to be
in second grade, but the other half
of my is bummed that summer is over"

His new teacher is Ms. Hakenewerth and super nice!

He has been talking about having his own "real desk" all summer!  He says
that it's just like the middle school desks...he couldn't wait to organize
 his supplies in there!  At the top, it had a big sticker with
 his name, a ruler, and some other school reference goodies!

I feel really great about this new school year!  I do wish I had a few extra days to prepare around the house, but oh well :)   I was really impressed with his teacher, she was super friendly and made sure to address each student and parent and give us all some one on one time...I can't believe he's in 2nd grade !!!!

My little Angel

Taylor found her Angel costume in her fall clothes and insisted upon trying it on before Halloween...it's adorable!  She wants to wear it everyday though....

It's true, she is my little angel!!  I just love this little girl, I love her little voice (although it's not so cute when it's whiny!), I love her little dances, I love the way she sings her songs, I love her silly faces, I just love her to pieces...she can sure drive me crazy, but I just can't quit kissing her!  She's my little Angel :)

End of Summer Dad's Day

Billy took an extra day off this week to spend some time with Blake before summer is over...it has gone by so fast!  Since he has to work so much, it's hard to find days that can be spent just having fun, so he decided to have an End of Summer Day, just to spend with Blake and do some Father Son stuff.  They started to morning off with some golfing.  Blake really like golf, we may let him take lessons!  He was actually pretty good :) 

gearing up to hit the course!

Taylor was a bit bummed that she couldn't
go and be part of the father son stuff
but at least she made it into a pic!

 After golfing, they had lunch together and then decided to do Blake's "other" favorite thing....go bowling!!!  They had fun there too...they are both really sore tonight, but it was worth it...I think we should make it a family tradition!

Summertime

Our summer was spent relaxing in the sun, swimming in the pool, visiting parks, and hanging out with friends.  It went by super fast...

relaxing by the pool

happy at the park

Blake and Kanin crawling around

Taylor and Gracie in the sprinklers

Got wet!!!

dinner and dessert via firepit

Taking baby swimming

Blake, Seth, and Luke

we did school- time this summer, with workbooks

dance recitals

Tracker Parade

Daddy invited the kids to ride in the Tracker parade in South county. The kids were all for it! They had a great time...

Blake is Cashin In

Unless Blake is saving up for a specific item, he really doesn't take an interest in money at all.  He likes to do things to earn it, but then just puts it in his wallet and it stays there for months, without him giving it a thought...I wish I could do that! 

He earned $10 this week...first he started out with
$3 and told us that he was gonna be "cheap"
so that he could save it!  Then at church that
same morning, he happily handed over one of his
dollars to buy Taylor a donut, so Daddy said he would
pay him back double!  Then he tried on all of his school
clothes @ 10 cents/item, then he helped me tag items for the
kids sale coming up...what a great way to cash in!!!

The wallet is very special.  It was given to Billy by his Dad, Bill.  Bill was a trucker and had it made with his initials engraved in the leather.  "THAT" is why we had to find a boys name with the same initials as his Daddy, we wanted to pass the wallet down to him!!  Therefore, Blake Wayne Sullivan was named after his Dad, Billy Wayne Sullivan!  It actually worked out great, because I have an older brother named Wayne too...figure the chances of that! lol!



He finally has enough to buy the 5th Diary of a Wimpy Kid book...he has
read 4 of the books this summer!



Second Grade Supplies

This year's school supply list was easy!  We had most of it already and Blake is still cool about using stuff that doesn't have to be new or fancy...

We bought the cheapest plain binders, folders, and notebooks...
he got to decorate them with his favorite Lego stickers and
customize his binder with his drawings!

First Time Bowling

Today I got to take the kids bowling for their first time!  We went with our friends, Karen, Luke and Seth.   Blake had been talking about this adventure all weekend and the time had finally come...

Getting our shoes on...the kids LOVED them,
Blake couldn't stop moon walking in em' !

Blake's first throw

Taylor's first roll, with a ball as big as her, she insisted upon doing it
herself the first time!

Actually, she did great...I'm gonna use a ramp next time!

I love it when her big brother helps her

the boys all dancing to the music

Blake's "face"  he's rockin it!!!

Taylor making a silly face by the operation guy!

The gang, heading in to play laser tag!