From My Heart to Yours

With all the buzz about both of my sisters having baby girls of their own, our family is estatic.

So, I dedicate I this song to ALL generations of women in our family.

This song holds a very special place in my heart.

I hope it does for you, too.

Until then...

Watching and Waiting

Since I've started feeding the birds around here, as to be expected we get other types of guests. Such as squirrels. Akira and Gennie have become bird watchers as well. These pictures catch them doing just that. You can only imagine what's going through their heads. These are my interpretations. "Wait for it....

..NOW!"

Notice the squirrel in the background.

Aren't these great?

Until then...

Just us girls

With me not working yet, Shelby and I spend a lot of time clowning around. This can be the result in some cases.

These are the times that I hope she remembers the most.

I know I will.

Until then...

It's hard to believe

If you 've been keeping track, not only was yesterday Shelby's first day of school, it also marked that Larry has been living in Greenville for one year.

The funny thing about that is I've been here for three months and I know more about and how to get around here more than he does.

And so it has begun

The count down is over.

The pictures have been taken.

School is now in session.

Shelby Jo is in First Grade.

Wow.

Our morning started at 6:30 a.m.

With my first cup of coffee almost finished, I woke Shelby up to start her day.

She jumped up without fighting me and got dressed.

Brushed hair, ate breakfast, brushed teeth.

And we were off.

School here starts thirty minutes earlier than back in Augusta (8:00), so we left home about 7:40 to get to school a tad early so we could walk her to her classroom.

The school faculty said we could do this for this first week then we drop them off at the curb in front of the school.

Shelby walked right in her classroom, found her desk, and proceeded to color.

After we left her, the PTA was hosting a "Sip And Sob" for the new parents of Pelham Road Elem. So Larry and I went and checked it out. They had coffee, juice, and doughnuts. It was basically a meeting to suck you in to volunteer in the school. The PTA here is like Warren Road. Hungry wolves looking for fresh blood. I explained to them that I was going to be working during the day and couldn't spend a lot of time at the school, but would be more than willing to do things from home. Send snacks, cut out things for the teachers, etc. I told Larry that should hold them off for a little while. ;)

Something told me to look behind me at one particular moment. As soon as I did I saw Shelby, another student, and a teacher walking in the lunchroom. She was carrying a piece of paper. In school thirty minutes and is already running errands. I think we may have some student council material in our midst! She has always been a doer and willing to help out.

School got out at 2:30, so off we went several hours later.

We bombarded her with questions about her day.

Her answer, "I don't remember."

Well, I'm sure more information will eventually come out.

It IS just the first day.

Until then...

Another Me

Not sure if I'm really ready for this

After counting down all summer, a new school year is about to begin.

Shelby is about to be a first grader.

We met her teacher today.

Mrs. Caudill is her name.

She seems very pleasant but then they all do at first, right?

I have always considered Pre-K and Kindergarten to be like preschool. I mean it's school but not SCHOOL. I hope that makes sense. But once one reaches first grade it's the real thing. That's when you get real letter grades, no more naptimes, and you begin to do real math.

Being a parent, this a huge milestone to conquer.

The changes I have seen in Shelby are becoming more obvious everyday. I mean, she's becoming interested in BIG kid stuff.

High School Musical.

Hannah Montana.

What kind of music she wants to listen to.

What earrings she's going to where today.

Picking out her clothes by herself.

I can't even begin to think what my parents went through. When they realized that this person that had needed them for everything up until this point pretty much changed in the blink of an eye.

If this is how I'm feeling now, what's it going to be like in just a few years when she's ten and going to sleepovers?

I'm really hoping that I can be the mom that she can come to. To talk, go shopping, be her friend but not cross that fine line and forget that I'm her mother first and foremost.

Ok.

This got a little deeper than I wanted it to.

Here's a couple of pictures of her classroom.

I think the room is still in rough draft.

There should be better pictures on the first day of school.

Until then...

Catchey, Don't cha think?

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Pleasant Day

Saturday, my sister Jessica and her husband Scott came up to Greenville for the day to visit. Without my knowing they also brought mom. And yes, I cried.

We went to lunch at a deli called McAlister's followed by a tour to my favorite spot in Greenville. The Falls Park on the Reedy and the Children's Garden.

It was a great time to catch up with family again.

Gennie and Weezer getting re-acquainted

Shelby loves her Aunt Jess

Larry and Mom seeing the sights

The three of us

Jessica and Scott

Mom, Jessica, and Me

Mom giving Pooh a hug

Weezer and Shelby in Mr. McGregor's garden

(Create your own caption. I'm a loss for words.)

All we needed was Dad, Greatmother, Mark and Ashley.

I'm glad that they came and got to see where we live. It really felt good.

I'm excited to get back home next month for Dad's retirement.

Until then...

I see you

Just how many Gennies do you see?

Until then...

Look!

I am so excited about who has come to visit me!

I didn't think or hadn't seen any evidence of hummingbirds being in this area until the other day. I was sitting here in my chair and looked out to see one trying to get nectar out of a fake flower that was in one of my windchimes.

In a panic I left Shelby down at Maddox's apt while I ran out to Target to hopefully get a hummingbird feeder. I so scared that since he found out that the flower wasn't real that he would leave and not come back.

About an hour after I hung the new feeder up, he finally came back. I am so estatic! Just ask mom. I called her not knowing what to do.

On a another note. I made a bird feeder out of a 2-liter bottle. I wasn't sure how it would turn out or if the bird's would look at it and think, "You want me to eat out of THAT?"

Well the cardinal's do anyway.

Until then...

Catching up

The past few days have been a whirlwind.
Saturday we went to Carowinds with some new friends we've made. We hadn't been in a couple years and it was fun as always.

Fun until we found out that they had raised the heights limits on some of the rides.

We had boarded the train to the Carolina Goldrush (the equivalent of the Minetrain at Six Flags), buckled in and ready to pull out of the station when they singled Shelby out for a height check. Now two years ago she rode this ride and no one said anything. Do you know they threw her off the ride because she was a 1/2 of an inch too short. 1/2 of an inch!!! Larry and I were livid. I told the woman on duty that she had ridden it in the past and she smarted off at me and said that the heights had changed. The part that really ticked me off was when I looked at the rest of the train there were three children smaller than Shelby.

Larry finally got to ride his favorite ride. The Wheelie is what he calls it. Not certain if it's the right name though. The past couple times we've gone to Carowinds it's rained by the time we get to it. He was very happy.

Carowinds at sunset

______________________________________________________
Sunday and Monday were used to recuperate and to catch up on housework. _____________________________________________________

Tuesday came with a special treat.

My best bud Tenisha came up from Augusta with Justin, Nic, and Kaitlyn.
Nic was Shelby's classmate in Mrs. Lyles kindergarten class at Warren Road.

Justin is Nic's older brother and Kaitlyn is their younger sister.

We had a nice time catching up over lunch followed by going to the pool for a little while before they headed back to Georgia.

Shelby and Gennie giving Nic the tour .

Justin

Kaitlyn

BFF

Nic

Until then...