Sweet Gifts

I have a friend from college, who was actually my roommate freshman year, who has had a rough bout of life recently. She and her husband, who we (meaning Kim and I) think is just so perfect for her, have a blog (noahandjulieroberts.blogspot.com) that tells the story of their first precious miracle, Magdalena Grace. I received a text this morning, which I should have gotten last night but didn't, so I got up and turned the computer on. The blog post said JULIE AND NOAH ARE PREGNANT!!!!! I am so happy for them! Pray for them in this emotional time.

Soccer Star

PP and her friend decided they wanted to play soccer this year. When we lived in Lucedale, PP "played" soccer. She has barely turned four and basically stood on the field which was about an eighth of the size of a normal soccer field. So we don't really count that experience as cute as it was! So when we moved here I found out that you had to be six before you can play soccer. I can't say I was all that upset and neither was PP. It didn't help when a woman at the bank told me that her daughter played and it was rainy and cold almost the whole season. Oh I forgot.... the soccer season is in the winter which is REALLY cold here. Well, the next year PP said she wanted to play. I have managed to convince her for two years that she really didn't want to play. But of course this year I gave in. Last week was the first practice. It was freezing! I quickly decided I shouldn't have given in. But she really enjoyed it so I guess I can suck up the cold. The team, the diamonds, practiced four times last week and had the first game tonight. I should mention that our team is a totally new team, none of the players have played before.
Ok. The game.
For our first game we played the second best team from last year....great. The game started out a little shaky. The girls were very intimidated by the other team. But as the game went on the girls got better. PP is one of the fastest girls on the team so she was stationed in the mid field (I am new at all this soccer stuff so pardon the terms). The plan was for her to get the ball and run. She did really well. And that is not just a doting mother, several of the other parents said so too. Anyways, the poor thing ran up and down the field all game. Soccer is a very physical game and our girls weren't ready for the contact. They tended to back away when the other team pushed a little, PP included. She ended up tripping a girl from the other team by accident. Later in the game the girl pushed her down. PP says that the girl pushed her on purpose but she tripped her on accident. Then she said that she pushed her so hard that she flew in the air and hit the ground and then bounced and hit the ground again. Can you say dramatic? She did hit the ground pretty hard but not like that. She sat out for a few minutes. The coach and I proceeded to tell her to not let those other girls push her around. Oh I forgot the important part. She scored the only goal! That was before the pushing and tripping. She got the ball and ran it past the defenders and scored. She was proud and so was I. Needless to say she went to bed early tonight. We have another game tomorrow which will hopefully go better.
PS-I forgot the camera so I will take some tomorrow and post them.

Traveling Sisters

Today is the day that my sister, Jo, and GBE's sister, Jes, are leaving for thier study abroad experiences to England and South Africa, respectively. Pray for safe trips as they will both be on LONG plane rides over large bodies of water. Although I guess water is safer than land as far as crashing goes, since all the people on the Hudson River plane survived. O yeah...they both are supposed to start blogs for those of us stuck in the US to live vicariously through, but Jes is the only one who did. Shocker! It is on my blog list if you care to read. She is a great writer (journalism major) and photographer so I am expecting some good entries!
I am so excited for them. I had hopes years ago (more than I care to admit) about going to London for a semester. But, obviously I didn't make it. Our lives don't alway happen as we plan...a lesson I am continually learning. Anyways...I hope our sisters have a great time and bring me home something really cool!
PS- My brother Mi and I are going to England over Spring Break to visit! I am super excited for March!

Reading Fair Drama

I am sad to announce PP did not make it to the Regional Reading Fair. She did come in second place in the district Reading Fair (yay!!). This has caused many tears today. The principal at her school announced the winners at the end of the day. She was SOOOO excited! She jumped in the car beaming and said, "I AM GOING TO REGIONALS!". I said, "Really?". She said, " Yea...I got second" to which I replied, "O....". I knew only the first place winner from each category would be able to go to regionals but she didn't. And of course they didn't explain this to her at school. So here came the tears for the first time. Bless her heart nothing went right for the rest of the day. We had about four more breakdowns before bedtime. If this is seven I can't imagine seventeen!

Sympathy

Please remember the Johnson and Roberts families in your prayers. They are both friends of mine who have suffered the loss of a child this week. Pray for the happy repose of Libby Kate Johnson and Magdalena Grace Roberts.

Christmas Cookies

Last year my friend and I decided to make cookies for our daughters teachers and principals. We had a marathon baking day. We made cookies for EVERYONE! It was exhausting. My friend, C, is not a baker and she vowed to never do that again. Well to my surprise a few weeks ago she said, "Hey! Do you want to make cookies again?" I laughed and said yes but I thought you didn't. So we made cookies.

This year we got smart and decided not to try to do it all in one day. The fact that we did not have an open weekend helped too. Anyways, we also decided to bake the bare minimum...only teachers and co-workers no principals, support staff and activity teachers. Between us both, we went from about 25 tins to 10 tins. On top of the tins we also made bags for the students in each classroom. We decided to make five different cookies: Christmas tree (almond flavored sugar cookie), chocolate chip, snicker doodle, sugar and peanut butter kisses. We also make two cupcake platters one for our teachers/co-workers and one for the daycare. The first night we went shopping and made the rice crispies and pretzel sticks for the kid's bags. The next night we made the doughs and baked two of the cookies. We did the sugar cookies first so the girls could paint the icing on them. The actually used paint brushes and runny frosting which worked out wonderfully. The next night we finished the rest of the cookies and the cupcakes. We baked about 300 cookies in two night! Needless to say we were exhausted by the end of the week. We did much better this year although it was a long week for both us and the girls....especially baby C. She was so patient with us not paying attention to her and the big girls did an excellent job being "big sisters"!

The platter for teachers/co-workers

The platter for the daycare

The Infamous Reading Fair Board

The day before Thanksgiving Break, PP told me the reading fair board was due the Tuesday when we returned to school. For those who do not know, a reading fair board is basically a book report on steroids on a science fair board. I had never heard of it until we moved here. Technically PP is not required to do one but I think it is important for her to begin to participate at a young age so she will want to later on. Anyways....we went to a local place to get the board on Thursday with the intention of working on it that weekend at my parents house. As usual plans changed. PP ended up going to Mimi and Papa'a house to celebrate Thanksgiving with Adam and Aunt Sarah and Trey and Grace. She had a good time but the board did not get done. We still didn't have a book to do it on! So Monday GBE, PP and I were going to Mobile. First we had to get haircuts. GBE got a trim and PP ended up getting about four inched cut off. The verdict is still out on her hair but she LOVES it! Then GBE's uncle called and asked him to go hunting....no Mobile. PP and I went to the library to find a book so she could go ahead and begin reading. She chose Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It is an adorable book. We ended up in Mobile on Tuesday so the board was going to be Wednesday. Well....we had a dentist appointment that morning. When we got home we had to make pies for Thanksgiving at Mimsy's (GBE's mom). So the board was pushed back again. I did get the supplies though. So while dinner was being prepared and I was at Hudson's, GBE, PP and Mimsy started on the board. A good deal was done but nothing was actually on the board. So on Thursday (My Birthday!!! Yay!!) PP and I worked on the board between helping Nana cook. Poppy helped secure the perfect branch to the board, PP made more food to fall out of the sky and Mi helped type the questions and answers. He is so meticulous, he was perfect for the job. Mimsy also made pancakes and bacon which looked awesome. Right before Thanksgiving lunch the board was as complete as it would get before traveling home. On Sunday when we all got home, PP and I glued the finishing touches on the board. It was all ready for school on Tuesday. So we returned to school on Monday. When I picked up PP she said guess what, the board isn't due until Thursday! I could have screamed. All that to get the board finished before the Egg Bowl and we had all week! Oh well, it is super cute and done ahead of time, a first for us!