Project Life January 29-February 9

 Bennett was on fire on the basketball court! He played so hard - it is so much fun watching him! He never scored, but he sure did try his best :)

 January 30 marked my 30th consecutive day of my Paul Bible Study that Tonya gave me for Christmas. I love that I've stuck with it - and I love what God is teaching me about his servant Paul.

 Last Thursday night, at the Cub Scouts bird night, we made bird feeders. We didn't put it out until Sunday, and it sat untouched for the whole day (well, except for the licks that Sadie gave it when we weren't looking :)  Early Monday morning, this little guy found the feeder. Within about 3 minutes, he pulled it up on the banister, then took off with it into the forest. We laughed about the party that he must have hosted back at his house!

On the 1st we had our 2nd God and Me class. We learned about how Jesus' birth was alike and different from ours. Bennett loves to participate by drawing and answering questions :)

On Wednesday, Angie, Mom and I went to At Home and I spent my Living Social coupon. Love my new goodies for my undecorated shelves!  

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One funny story - At the God and Me class last night Bennett and the little boy across from us got to talking about how there wasn't any room in the hospital, so Jesus was born in the stable. I explained that there were no hospitals back then, and they promptly wanted to know just HOW did Jesus get out of Mary's stomach. The other dad and I quickly and gracefully (ha!) said that we would talk about that later... 

Fast forward to this afternoon. I knew that I needed to tell him the 'non-c-section' way that babies were born, so I asked him if he wanted to know. He said 'yes' and so I quite simply and succinctly explained the process. He sat there a minute, and then turned to me and said 'So, how'd you figure that out?' I said 'Well, I just knew it'. His reply: 'So, you just didn't want to talk about it in public?' HA! Such a smartie.  I also love that this conversation tells me that he trusts me to tell him things. I mean, he assumed that I didn't tell him because I didn't know. I hope that we can always keep that kind of communication open!

 Ahhh. a night at home. Those are so rare these days!!

 The only thing on the agenda for Thursday night was pajamas and snuggles. Love it!

 On Friday, Brad and I made a quick trip to Atlanta to IKEA. I had big plans to take pictures, but this is all I took. It was a very successful trip!!

Saturday was another basketball morning, and then we had a birthday party in the late afternoon for Lewis. Bennett drove me around the go-cart track. I screamed the whole way... but I didn't grab the wheel. I had visions of 8 years from now ;)

The IKEA shelves!! They're not close to being done yet, but look at those legos! My dining room table it looking better too! 

 The note I put in Bennett's lunchbox. He always saved them, which I love! I know that one day  notes in his lunchbox won't be cool. I'm cherishing these days.

 When I returned from errands, Sadie had terrorized the house by pulling Bennett's lapdesk and all its contents onto the floor. She also got into the garbage. Bad dog! Can you see the guilt on her face? Yeah, me neither.

I love getting a gem like this in the school folder. Bennett wrote me this sweet (and funny) valentine. Love it!

In case you can't read it, it says:

Dear Mom,

You are soooooooooo awesome! I love you very much! You should know how awesome you are! You deserve a better reward that cleaning dog slobber! :) Dog slobber is a terrible reward for such a GREAT Mom. You are very, very, very, very nice. You should be proud of yourself. You are a great person.

Love,

Bennett

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Hope you are having a great week too! 

Project Life January 21-28

 Pa's birthday was on Thursday, but we got to celebrate on Friday at LaPaz. Lucky for us, Pa wore his new cold-weather hat. Shockingly, he was the only one in the restaurant this hat :) Love you dad!!

Saturday was an exciting day! We started with a basketball game (we won!), had lunch at Tazikis and then went to the Pinewood Derby. Bennett's car won the Racer's Choice! He was SO proud. (I was too!)

 Me and my boy after church. He's showing off his lego creation ;)

 Bennett had a dentist appointment Monday afternoon... he got his last spacer removed AND had no cavities! Yea!

Look how big he is... I remember his first visit to the dentist when he couldn't even get on that chair by himself. He still likes the videos that they show on that little screen on the ceiling ;)

 The 100th day of school was Tuesday! The best pictures for this day are of Bennett and his square dancing partner (I won't post those since I don't know her mom)... He danced with her for weeks and never knew her name. I introduced myself to her on Tuesday - and she is a doll!! (I think Bennett *might* like her a little too ;)

 Yes this is my house. No it is not clean.

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In fact, no flat surface is safe. There. I said it. 

At Cub Scouts we climbed prayer mountain to 'listen for birds'. At night. In the cold. Brad was 'busy' at work. Have I mentioned that Cub Scout nights are my favorites?

On Friday, Nana was the Mystery Reader in Bennett's class. I'm not sure how, but we kept it a secret and Bennett was really surprised :)

Brad and I had a date night on Friday night! We saw 'The Kings Speech' (fabulous!) and had a great dinner at Stone's Throw. I'm thankful that we still like each other ;)

Project Life January 10-20

 SNOW! I mean, ice. It was exciting to wake up to another change in the landscape. I didn't brave the ice, but the boys headed across the street to the park.

 2nd picture for the 10th... GO Auburn! He only stayed awake for the 1st 20 minutes of the game, but he was dressed out for the occasion :)

 Poor Sadie. She has become terrified of her kennels downstairs, so I thought I'd try getting a new one. No such luck. She won't step foot in this kennel either :( 

 Even a late start to school doesn't make homework any more interesting!

 When did it become ok for my son to have shoes the same size as mine?? As far as I know, no one asked me if this was ok...

 Brad gave me some beautiful flowers for my birthday last weekend... apparently, R4-P17 decided to hang out in them - I also found Obi Wan Kenobi on the other side :)

I'm taking Beth Moore's lead and am attempting to memorize a new Bible verse on the 1st and 15th of the month. This verse was the one from Jan 1-14. I did it! 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. These words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the way, when you lie down and when you rise.' Deuteronomy 6:5-7

 The boys heard that the trophy was going to be at Ac@demy on Sunday night, so they took a little trip to see it. Of course, they bought a few goodies too :)

 I hurt my back on Saturday, and was so glad that we had planned a pajama day for our day off on Monday. Bennett was goofing around, and this is the only picture I snapped on the 17th.

 Bennett is the team leader at school this week. We filled the estimation jar with legos. Wanna take a guess at how many legos are in there??

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And yes, he does wear AU apparel all the time!

 Look who got a new haircut! From my guy, Rony :)

Isn't he handsome? I've done the date in orange... he'll like it that way!

We got progress reports a day late this week, but Bennett's report was super!!

Hope you are having a great week!

January 9, 2011

The 9th was a special day. It was a day to celebrate our Papa, Marvin Ray Boothe. He went home to be with Jesus on December 30, and we had his Memorial Service on the 9th. 

I am lucky to be able to have all of his and my Granny's pictures here at my house. I worked on them a few years ago to get them in order, but Papa got sick and we were never able to get all of the stories about those pictures down on paper. That's ok, though. As I look at the pictures, I can see what a wonderful man he was and what an exciting life he and Granny had together.

 These are just a few of the pictures of my Papa. This is the display at his service. It was a nice service with about 50 of his friends and family in attendance. The preacher at his nursing home gave a wonderful account of his life - his service in the military, his heroism as a pilot, his leadership at UAB, his dedication as a husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. 

I will never forget seeing one of his friends from the nursing home as he rode on his scooter into the chapel. As he passed the large painting of Papa, he saluted. It brings me to tears as I type. What a fitting way to honor someone like my Papa. I don't know any other man like him. I doubt that I ever will.

Here we are on Christmas Eve 2009. He had rallied from his broken leg and was able to get out a little bit. I'll always remember him like this. Surrounded by his family was where he was happiest. I'm so glad that he is at home in heaven with a new body. I'm sure that he and Granny are dancing just like the used to at all of their fancy parties we've heard so much about :)

When Bennett heard that Papa had passed away he was so sad that he hadn't gotten a chance to thank Papa for his Christmas present. Monday he wrote a thank you note and asked me if we could mail it to heaven. 

It's wonderful that we don't have to mail letters to heaven, but just speak these words and God hears. I have assured Bennett that Papa knows how much we love him. This note makes me smile :)


Papa taught me quite a bit. I was lucky to have him close-by when growing up. We got to spend a good amount of time with Granny and Papa. I am thankful for those moments.


- Papa taught me the value of working hard to accomplish anything that I set my mind to. I have an old autograph book from 2nd or 3rd grade that Papa signed. In that book he told me that he expected me to be the first female US president. I didn't quite attain that goal, but knowing that he believed in me meant the world. In everything that he did, he gave his best. 
-Papa taught me to take care of those you love. He returned to his childhood home to take care of his father when he became ill. He took care of my Granny when she was ill. He was strong and didn't think twice about putting his life on hold for those he loved.
- Papa knew how to have fun. I've heard so many stories and see wonderful pictures of the fun that he and Granny had. Hard work and making time for fun need to be coupled, don't they?
- Papa taught me that giving was important. He gave to his family and friends. He gave to charity. He was a good tipper (when the service was up to his expectations :)


I hope that I can pass these qualities on to Bennett. I was blessed to have Papa in my life.

Project Life

This year I'm attempting to do a Project Life 'project'. I'm aiming to take 365 +/- pictures this year to document each day in our lives. Some of these days will not include a picture, but will have a ticket stub or school project, etc. 

I'm not going to worry to much about the 'quality' of these pictures. I'm taking most of them with my point-and-shoot or with my new camera phone. I'm not going to edit them very much. I hope you don't mind :) 

Here we go...

 We spent New Year's Day around the house putting up Christmas decorations. The only things left were the tree and the Rudolph's Village and the boys were a huge help! Bennett chose to help with the laundry... I still remember when he couldn't reach inside the washing machine to help :)

As an aside... the next day I said 'I'd really like to get this coffee table cleared off.' Bennett replied 'Ok, go right ahead.' Not quite the response I was looking for. I need to be more direct, I guess :)

 After church on the 2nd the boys began building... a new Lego set!! This one is Brad's Christmas present.

 On Monday, Nana, Bennett, and I headed to the mall to the Lego Store. Santa had left some boxes that Bennett could fill at the store and he had a little money that was burning a hole in his wallet. After a little lunch at the mall, we watched Secretariat at the Dollar Theater. Great movie!!

School started back on the 4th and Bennett began illustrating and writing his own Star Wars graphic novel. He's planning to send it to George Lucas :)

 That night at book club Rebecca treated us to a bubbly tasting. So much fun!!

 On Wednesday, I had 2 doctor's appointments, lunch with my friend Kim, and we had church that night. Bennett managed to work a little bit on the lego that still had possession of my kitchen table while sporting his Auburn jersey.

 Yea! A new haircut... which feels like a new me!!

 The real story on the 7th is that Bennett got a PERFECT report card!! That will be in my book for sure! After school, we helped his friend Eli celebrate his birthday.

On Saturday I celebrated my 36th birthday. Wow. I'm getting old :)  

Bennett finds it quite offensive to hear me say that I'm getting old... he insists that I'm not old at all. Sweet boy :)

December Daily - beyond Christmas :)

I don't know why everyone stops their December Daily albums on December 25. I mean, there are 6 more days in December, aren't there? It may be my OCD that likes to have things complete - but that's ok, right? 

I shared the 26th on the last post - the day after Christmas is just as much a tradition for us as the earlier fun of the month. Then, the 27th sneaks up and sometimes the doldrums sneak in. Does that happen to you? There is such excitement in the days leading up to Christmas, and then when the presents are opened and the plans are complete, I can be left with a feeling feeling a little down. 

This year I chose to embrace the slow-ness and relax a little. I know that the fact that I have a hard time being ok with relaxing is a hard thing for some people to understand. But it is true. Don't get me wrong - I'm not always productive - far from it! But, I am happiest when I have a project or something to do.

Anyway, the 27th brought a little more shopping for after Christmas bargains and then we met Brad's family for lunch. We had planned to celebrate his parents' anniversary the week before, but Bennett's sickness meant that we had to cancel. 

We were lucky to be able to include Chad in our celebration - all the way from Bahrain!

 After our lunch, Bennett wanted to go and buy a surprise for Brad. He bought him a Star Wars apron with is own money. Now they can match when they cook. Again, I love his giving spirit. 

 On the 28th, Bennett had a friend over to play and I just enjoyed the house and the decorations. I always love getting Christmas cards - and displaying them in the kitchen window is one of my favorite decorations.

 On the 29th we went to see Tangled with Nana. Super cute! I have the ticket stubs for my book :)

This is a picture is of Bennett's new tree for his room. This is the first year he's had a tree - and he LOVES it. It's fallen over a few times, but it has survived. There's nothing as great as going to sleep by the lights of a Christmas tree!

 On the 30th Bennett had another friend over to play and mom came over to help me begin to disassemble the Christmas decorations. Always such a bummer to take it all down! Bennett suggested that we leave it all up for the whole year. I thought about it for a minute, but then realized that as Elmo says, everyday can't be Christmas; that wouldn't be such a treat :) 

We rang on the New Year (at 9 PM) with friends at Inverness. Super fun time! We all danced a little and had a great time. 2010 was a great year - filled with blessings too numerous to count. We are excited to see what 2011 has in store for us!