bringing home a baby puppy dog...

This week we decided to add an addition to our Trio.
A gray standard poodle puppy.

A little background.....
Jackson has been talking about a sibling. All of his friends have siblings, he is lonely, a sibling could be his friend, etc.
Those of you who know our family on a personal level, know our (my) story. I was never supposed to get pregnant, Jackson was a preemie and weighed 2lbs 11oz at birth, and I had a hysterectomy 2 and half years ago at age 30. There is more to our story but I will save the details for a later post. Needless to say...a sibling is out of the realm of reality for us.

So we decided to get the next best thing...a boy's best friend...a puppy.

We knew we wanted a poodle because of Jackson's allergies and the fact that they don't shed all of the place. And we knew we wanted a big dog. Our 120lb lab, Buck, passed away almost 2 years ago. We are finally ready to start looking for a puppy.

I called a breeder my parents have gotten their Bichons from and guess what....
she had puppies that are 1 week from being ready for their new homes.

Without a second thought, we drove an hour to JUST LOOK.
"Jackson, we are JUST LOOKING at puppies. WE ARE NOT bringing one home. They may not have anything that we like. DO NOT GET ATTACHED TO A PUPPY."

Hehehehe....30 mins later, a deposit paid, and an appointment to come next weekend and pick him up.....

We are in love with our new baby "Beau".
Registered name will be "Jackson's Bowtie Buddy"

My mother told me I spelled Beau wrong----the teacher in me knows that, but the Southern Belle in me doesn't care. His name is "BEAU".

I promise to post lots of pictures of Jackson and Beau next weekend.

Now for the work ahead----cleaning and puppy proofing our house so we can
bring home a baby puppy dog!

Never Forget or Always Remember?

I will ALWAYS REMEMBER where I was on September 11, 2001.
Not just on the 10 year anniversary...I think about it whenever someone mentions the Events of 9-11.

It was our planning period at Sue Cleveland Elementary. My grade partner and friend Amanda always listened to her radio during planning time. She heard about the first plan crashing into the World Trade Center and thought it was a joke. She came next door to my room to tell me and we turned on the TV to figure out what was going on. The first image we saw was the plane going through the second tower. Images began to replay on the screen. The only thing I remember is being confused. And numb. And fear.

Then reality set in. Our classes of 4th graders would return to our rooms in a matter of minutes. As a teacher our job is to teach but also to protect. In my confusion and disbelief and fear.... life went on in the safe little bubble of my classroom. My students had NO IDEA that the world had changed.
Parents began to pick up students. No recess that day. Everyone had bus and car duty. No adults talked about what was going on. Our job was to protect the children in our care until 3:00. I really don't know what I would have said to my students that day. I didn't understand the magnitude of what occurred.

It wasn't until I left school and heard the radio and TV reports---did I KNOW what had happened. I had no idea that a third plane had crashed. That all the airports were shut down. That my brother had been sent to the International Airport in Miami to cover the story. That I needed to go get gas in my car because prices were rising and it was being rationed. I had been in my bubble all day long. I almost think it was better that way. I could digest it all at once and try to understand the big picture instead of taking small bites through out the day. Darron was ready to turn off the TV and I was glued to it. Asking him a ton of questions----I am sure my students were at home asking their parents the same things.

Darron and I were startled awake by the sound of military helicopters and F-16 jets flying over our house in route to the Oconee Nuclear Station. (We would not find out until the morning where they were going and why). The sound of jets zooming over head is a distinct sound. One that brought fear and a sleepless night.

I prayed for the families who lost loved ones, I prayed for victims, I prayed for the ones who had not been found, I prayed for the leaders of our country, I prayed for the emergency workers in NYC, I prayed and prayed and prayed.

One of my favorite books is titled September 12. It was written by a group of elementary students and won the Scholastic contest and was published. The children wrote about how on September 12 they knew it would all be ok. (they had homework, and recess, and 2+2 was still 4). I read it every year about this time because...

I WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER.

Super Mommy Saturday

Let me start of by saying I did something totally out of the realm of normal for me. And I am proud of myself.


Our Sunday School class had a tubing trip to Green River Cove planned for toady. We did not sign up to take Jackson because D and I had an auction (go figure) in Columbia tonight. On Thursday night, D and I decided that I really didn't need to go to the event with him.

Soooo...what did I decide to do. Take Jackson and join our SS class on a little lazy, easy, relaxing tubing trip. BY MYSELF.

I drove the hour and half, winding through the mountain roads. Several times I didn't think my bus of an Expedition was going to make it around the tight curves. Jackson kept telling me to "turn mommy turn".

I knew I was in for an adventure when the employee with overalls, a dirty hat, and no shoes asked "Just the 2 of you?"

I successfully got our tubes tied together, got J onto his tube, and hopped on myself for a little float down the river. All was going well until the steep, rocky, and rough patch of rapids.

Let's just say, we had a little wreck and Mommy got stuck. I had to gracefully fall out of my tube while holding on to Jackson so he and the tubes didn't float off without me.
What did Super Mommy do? Stood up, held on tight, waited on a Daddy with our group to rescue me. I dried off some tears (Jackson's...not mine), plopped right back in the tube, and continued our little adventure.

A few more bumps and rapids, some tree branches, a big rock....you get the picture....and we made it back to the parking area after a 2 hour ride on the river.

We had fun (I think).....but next time, WE ARE TAKING DADDY with us.

Super Mommy is hanging up her cape for a while :)

Fantastic First Day

Whew....I forgot how tiring the first day of Kindergarten is.

I must say that I think today was the smoothest first day of Kindergarten that I remember.

I have 23 great kiddos. We are going to have a great year. I think I am going to love being back in the Kindergarten classroom.

Jackson had a fantastic day in First Grade.

The highlights (according to him) were having 2 recess times and making a 100 on his addition paper. "Mommy, I was supposed to use these animal crackers to count and add. But I can do it in my head so I just did it my way"

And so it begins....look at Mrs. Mims, you are going to have your hands full this year.

Overall, Day 1 was a SUCCESS!!!

Look out 1st grade...here comes Jackson!!!

I can't believe that Jackson starts 1st grade tomorrow.

Seems like yesterday I was dropping him off in daycare with Mrs. Phyllis.

He is excited and a little anxious.

He is scared of the new classroom and making new friends.

He is excited about having Mrs. Mims, going to the big playground, and sitting on the risers in music.

He picked out his own clothes (an orange shirt...woohoo). He wanted me to make sure they looked ok so he new friends didn't think he looked dorky.

I am praying that he has a good day. Change is sometimes difficult for him.

I am sure that Mrs. Mims will see some of his nervous, "I am uncomfortable", habits this week.

But I am also sure that by Friday, he will have settled into a new routine. In classroom full of love, laughter, and learning.

Let's just hope that 1st grade is ready for my boy.....Ready or not, here he comes.

Pictures Promised :)

All good things must come to an end...

I go back to work on Wednesday. Jackson starts school on August 16.
We are both ready for a "normal" routine (I think Darron is more ready than we are for us to be back on schedule). Life is easier for us when we are in a routine.

WOW...what an awesome summer we have had.
Family beach trip in June
Lake days with the family
Swimming, swimming, and more swimming
Disney World for 4 days
NAA Convention in Orlando for 4 days
Family movie nights
Play dates with friends
Being lazy and staying in our pjs until lunch time (yes we did that more than once)

This was the summer of no regrets.

I am very lucky to have a hubby who owns his own business. He had lunch dates with us, took time off to do special things with us, and let us come to work with him.

As summer ends and school begins, we are excited about the remaining months in 2011 bring.

Mmmm Mmmm Good

Mondays are now my Mmmm Mmmm Good days.

I love to cook. I wish that I had more time to cook the way I wanted to.
I wish I had a huge kitchen and state of the art appliances and cookware.
I do the best with what I have.

In the summer (because I have more time) I cook a lot more. Real meals---meat and veggies and bread and sometimes dessert.

Mondays are now dedicated to my love of cooking. Recipes I love, things I have concocted, and failures in the kitchen.

Today I made pickles. Jackson is grossed out because "It stinks!!!"
This is something that I helped my grandmothers and my mom do growing up.
I wish I had an old time recipe for pickles---mine from Cooks.com works just fine.

Today I made 1 jar of pickled okra, 1 jar of pickled green tomatoes, 4 jars of dill pickle spears for Jackson, and 3 jars of hot dill pickles for D and me. Mmmmm Mmmmm Good :)