The Great Debate

We are really struggling with the decision on whether or not to send Aidan to Kindergarten in the Fall. He is in a Pre-K class now and his teacher is a retired kindergarten teacher with 25+ years experience. We had a conference with her in October. The funny thing was that I totally prepared Jim that she would say he wasn't ready. To tell you the truth, up until that conference, I didn't really know what he knew. He has never wanted to sit down and "learn" with me. He's so different from Avery. Avery loved doing flash cards when he was little. He loved everything about learning his letters, shapes, numbers, etc. He even enjoyed making a game out of learning his personal information- address, phone number, etc. Aidan wouldn't do flash cards with me if his life depended on it. I'm hard pressed to get him to recite the alphabet. So when I tell you I didn't know what he knew prior to speaking with his teacher, Mrs Harris, I had no idea.
So I walked in to the conference in October fully expecting that he would NOT be attending kindergarten in the Fall. I had convinced Jim of that as well. Imagine our surprise when Mrs. Harris went on and on about what he knew, how well he does socially, and that he was absolutely ready for school. Then... she looked at his birthdate and said, "Except that he's a boy and has a summer birthday."
I've received a lot of information about why you shouldn't send a boy with a summer birthday to Kindergarten when he turns five. It gives him an extra year to mature and it will make him one of the oldest in his class. Let's face it, for boys size matters and the extra year could mean a huge difference in physical stature, especially in high school years.
We go back Monday afternoon for our final conference with Mrs. Harris before Kindergarten registration. I'm interested to see what she has to say now. She was Avery's Pre- K teacher as well and as stated previously, has a wealth of experience as a retired kindergarten teacher.
Here's my question, "Should there be this blanket statement applied to all boys?" Can there never be any outliers?
There are so many things we've looked at- scenarios we've played out in our heads of what will happen if we send him and what will occur if we don't. I have to tell you that socially, Aidan is much more ready than Avery ever was at five. I think that is just a difference in personalities. I'd love to hear opinions. And if you can answer what you would do, I'd love to hear that too.
What would you do if your son had a summer birthday and was by all accounts "ready" in all aspects for school other than the fact that his birthday falls in the summer?

What's The Scoop

I absolutely love Netflix. Its affordable, hundreds of movies at your fingertips (some you can just download and watch), comes directly to your mailbox, and there is never a late fee. That late fee part is huge for us since we are horrible at getting rented movies back on time. I'm embarrassed to say that there have been times when we could have purchased the movie for what the late fees cost us. Oh and I almost forget- there is no contract- you can cancel any time.
A couple of months ago I thought about canceling our membership just for the sake of tightening up our budget a bit. I never got around to it and I'm glad I didn't. For under $20 a month (there are cheaper plans), we can have any three movies at our house at one time, keep them as long as we want, or return them as quickly as possible and continually have new movies rotating in and out. If you haven't checked them out, I'd highly recommend it.


My husband and our neighbor and friend coached Aidan's Indoor soccer team at the Y. We had seven kiddos on our team ranging from three to five years old. None of them had played an organized sport. Just to get a plug in, if your child hasn't played a sport yet and you want a calm, low key introductory to the world of sports, this is the way to go. The season was six weeks long, it was relatively inexpensive as sporting costs go, and it is very laid back- more focused on getting the kids acquainted with the sport and with playing on a team rather than winning.
Ashley and I thought it would be great to give our players something at the end of the season, especially since none of them had ever played before. I went online in search of trophies not expecting to find any inexpensive ones. But, I did. We got these very cute inexpensive soccer trophies for our team for $3.95 a piece with free engraving up to 40 characters. The shipping was less than $10 and we received them within 5 days of placing our order. The kids LOVED them. I think the more you buy the cheaper the price so if you are in need of trophies, plaques, medals, or any other kind of award, check out Crown Awards.

Photo Tag

I borrowed this from my friend Karen's blog.

Go to your 6th photo folder

-Pick the 6th photo and post.





This is from our October trip to Chattanooga. We were in Ben and Jerry's in downtown Chattanooga and Avery was playing some air guitar to whatever was playing over the intercom and just having fun.

Monumental

It's taken me some time to come up with a title for this post. Nothing seemed adequate. I think the one word does. We've had a busy few weeks; however, this post is about only one thing and its HUGE! Last Sunday Avery got baptized. If you've read my blog in the past, you will remember that Avery made his profession of faith last summer during Vacation Bible School. Why have we waited so long to have him baptized? We just wanted to make sure he knew exactly what that decision meant.
Our children's minister allowed Jim to do the "dunking." I love our church for so many reasons and this is yet another example. Avery is super shy and does not like for the attention to be directed on him. We knew it would be a struggle for him to be up in front of the entire congregation. Jim approached our children's minister requesting to be with Avery (we had seen another father baptize his son last summer.)
I will share some pictures from the day below. It was so amazing to watch. Have you ever had those times when you feel like your heart will burst- if you started crying you'd never stop? That was how I felt. I am not a crier but it was all I could do to contain the emotion. I did not get a picture of the actual act because we decided that Jim would take the camera to get pictures beforehand. I've tried our camera in big dark places before and the quality of the picture was not good. Jim got a good picture of Avery and our Children's minister. The church will mail us a DVD of the service.
We were so touched that Papa and Memaw came to visit. The boys loved having them here. Our good friends and neighbors, The Smiths were there and my sweet best friend and her family came also. I'm so thankful that my brother and nephew came and that Vickie was there as well.
My prayer is that Avery will grow in Christ each and every day.

Papa and Memaw come to visit.
Our wonderful Children's Minister and Avery right before his baptism.The White Waters Crew

Remembering My Momma

There are a lot of things I remember about my momma but none more vividly than the way she loved her grandchildren. I've done a post previously on my momma so I thought I'd take the opportunity today to post about her as a Nana. And she was a great one. She loved Will, Avery, and Aidan passionately and wanted them to always be happy.
My mom worked at Wal-Mart. She worked the night shift and often times she would show up at our door at about 7am after just getting off with an arm full of stuff for Avery (this was before Aidan came along or she probably would have had to have a wheelbarrow to bring it all in-ha!). I remember one year he mentioned to her that he liked Shrek. The next day, she had bought him every character, pajamas, a blanket, and t-shirts. She enjoyed being able to do that because she was able to do that at that point in her life. Our household budget was tight growing up so she really had to watch her spending with me and my brother. I think that's one of the reasons it gave her such joy to be able to do that for the grandchildren.
I remember her letting the boys have dessert before dinner. What? Was that really my mom or had something taken over her body. :) I remember her getting sad if they got disciplined. I remember how her face would light up when they came to sit in her lap.
Avery will tell you that his fondest memory with Nana are the times he got to spend the night. She would let him sleep with her and called him her snuggle buddy. Aidan remembers that she always read to him. Even when she was sick, before she became bed ridden, he would run up to her with a book and she would happily oblige.
The boys miss their Nana and Jim and I sure do miss my momma. Every time Avery and Aidan get a balloon, whether its from a restaurant or a birthday party, the first thing they ask is if they can let it go for Nana. The other night Avery and I were sitting on the couch and he asked me if I thought Jesus was coming back soon. I told him I didn't know but I sure hoped so and he said, "I do too because I miss Nana and want to see her." And we take great comfort in knowing that momma is with Jesus and that we will see her again.

What Kind of Girl Scout Cookie Are You?

Just some Wednesday humor. Leave me a comment if you take the quiz. :) You Are Peanut Butter Sandwiches / Do-si-dos

You are easy going and naturally happy. You don't need a lot to make you smile. You genuinely care about people and are a great friend. You're always doing your best to make the world a better place. Even though there isn't an immature bone in your body, you still are like a big kid sometimes. Why make life complicated when the best parts are actually quite simple? You enjoy the small joys of life.

What Girl Scout Cookie Are You?

What's Your Cardboard Testimony

This is a long clip but one well worth watching if you have never seen it before. It never ceases to amaze me what God can do in people's lives. I only have to look at myself to see that. My church, Long Hollow Baptist in Hendersonville, TN did their own version of this a few weeks ago. The clip below is from a church in South Carolina. I think what is so powerful about this, especially in witnessing those who did this at my own church, is that often times as we go about our daily lives, we get into this mind set of thinking how perfect other people are or how "easy" their lives are compared to our own. Sometimes we can think that no one has anything as objectionable in his/her past as we do. We can see a person living full force for the Lord and think well of course she's a Christian look how "good" she is. And that my friend is what is so amazing. To know the struggles and sin someone was in prior to accepting Christ and to see that enormous change, the aftermath if you will, of someone's life after becoming a Christian.
I've been thinking a lot about what my cardboard testimony would be since that worship service. For these people in this clip and for the members at my church who shared their hearts, thank you. I can't imagine it was easy to put your struggles in bold print for all to see but what a testimony. What's your cardboard testimony? I hope to share mine soon.

What's The Scoop

Encores and More North Children's Spring Sale March 7th - 14th

Encores and More North Consignment sale is in my opinion hands down the best consignment sale in Middle Tennessee. It was the very first consignment sale I ever attended or participated in and I remember the first time Meredith and I dropped off our stuff to sell. I can't remember the year but the sale was in a little building in Greenbrier, TN or maybe that was Springfield- one of those little towns up that way. Years later, it has grown into a huge sale with hundreds and hundreds of consignors, new boutique items at big discount prices, as well as brand new gymboree clothes.
Having done the sale for several years, I can say that its also one of the best organized sales. Brea runs a tight ship and its like a well oiled machine. :) This year the Spring sale will be in Rivergate in the old Goody's building between Old Navy and Best Buy. This is her largest location yet and I can't wait to see how much stuff will be there. Seriously, I have found some of the greatest deals at this sale. The clothes are phenomenal and the toys - well you just have to go to see just how huge this sale is.
If you're thinking of consigning, or maybe you want to be a worker at the sale so you can shop early, or even if you just want to shop the sale when it opens, I encourage you check out the Encores and More North website for all the details.

As Seen On TV

I have to apologize to the few readers I have. I have been in a blogging fog since Christmas. I'm hoping to come out of it soon and get some better and more consistent posts on here.
For the time being, you'll have to settle for a little humor.
My boys crack me up! They are most definitely all boy. They love to wrestle, play video games, and anything Star Wars. So, I have to laugh out loud when the commercial for the Snuggie blanket comes on TV. I don't know if there is some subliminal message hidden in this infomercial or if whoever planned the marketing strategy is a genius but my boys are GLUED to the tv. And yes, my boys ages 7 and 4 want a snuggie! They've even picked out what color. I just may have to take advantage of that buy one get one free deal - oh and don't forget the book light special gift for free!!

Here's another one that makes me laugh. The Buxton Organizer. I almost ended up with one of these for Christmas. The boys had seen the commercial several times and asked Jim if they could get me that. Thankfully, Jim had the good sense to steer them another direction (if you've read my earlier posts, you'll know this doesn't always happen).

And here's one that I really would like to try. Its the Steam Buddy. Anyone out there have one? If so, does it really work?

And the great thing is that you can get each of these for the low, low price of $19.95. One last question- just who is Billy Mays? Did he used to be famous and now has been forever banished to the world of tv infomercials or is he just some guy who seemed to have started with advertising oxy clean and now has a corner on the market?

Happy Friday!

Lordy, Lordy Jim, Jimmy, James, Harve, Mike's 40!!

Today is my sweet husband's 40th birthday. We celebrated Saturday night with a small party of good friends. It was so much fun to get together without the kiddos. We played some fun games and even broke out Rock Band on the Wii at the end of the night. Thanks guys- we love you all!!
Here are some pictures from the evening. Mandy, of course as always, made an amazing cake that Jim got a good laugh from. I think the highlight of the night was Darrell's clue for Catch Phrase for the word as---teroid!
Ralph, Meredith, and Saundra- we missed you guys.
Mandy's awesome cake!Stacey, Ashley, Lori and Me trying to figure out the game Don't Forget the Lyrics.
Me, Dawn, Stacey, Ashley, and Lori after our Catch Phrase victory- girls vs guys.

Jim on the mic, Laron on the bass guitar and Jason on the drums with Mr Dennis listening in.

Ashley, rockin' it out on the drums. Thank you Hendersonville!!! Good night!

Happy Birthday Harvey- I love you!