Our Life As A Family Of Three

5 Years 10 Months Old

2012-01-29T14:03:00.028-05:00

Rocco is doing great in school this year. Mrs. Bond is currently working with his class on money and how much each coin is worth. He quickly picked it up. He loves learning and really enjoys school. On the way home from school (he often comes to my classroom at 3pm and we'll go home together at 3:30), we were talking about coins. I was asking him how many pennies were in a quarter, how much a dime was worth, etc. When I felt like I had asked him just about every combination that he could figure out, he asked me, "But mom...what about Mexican pesos?" That boy is something.

One afternoon he came in the bedroom asking me to tell him everything I knew about Abraham Lincoln. Since they were learning about pennies, Mrs. Bond had taught the class about him. I told him as much as I could think of...the Civil War, the Gettysburg Address, how I had gone to LMU University which was named after him, etc. After some hesitation, I decided to tell him that a really mean man killed that president. His eyes lit up and as he pointed his finger in the air and proclaimed, "John Wilkes Booth!" I nearly fell in the floor. And then a few days later he was using the word assassinated and pronouncing it correctly. He is such a little sponge for knowledge!

Rocco also enjoys writing stories. He is only in kindergarten, but he has learned how to spell many words, and those he doesn't know he will sound out. On his spelling tests he has made perfect scores and even earned extra points for the bonus words. He also knows how to capitalize proper nouns/beginning of sentences and punctuate. The other night at church he wrote me a story. It said, "Rocco I love my mom. I love my cat. Day is Suday. 2012 tomoro is Monday"

At night he plays a new computer game we got him for Christmas. It was just $3 at TJ Maxx and worth every dollar. The CD goes into the computer and lets him play all kinds of learning games on the kindergarten level. It is by Jump Start. His little character is a dinosaur, and he walks that little character all around the Jump Start world and earns gems by playing games with patterns, numbers, calendars, and words.

One of his favorite things he loves to do is for me to "call him into the ring" to fight different Nighloks. He takes his soft, sponge sword and beats up on these imaginary foes as if he is Kevin the blue Power Ranger.

5 Years 9 Months Old

2011-12-29T22:25:00.001-05:00

The little boy who used to be just into cars and trains is now into super heroes. That's what he asked Santa for this year. He is really into good guys/bad guys. On TV, he's been watching the Power Rangers; he even has the action figures, which his grandnana bought him for Christmas. Jason and I also bought him a few. Now he has the green, blue, red, and golden Power Rangers. He'll play with them and make kicking, punching, fighting sounds.

The little beanie baby next to him in the above picture has a story to go with it. All of his life, Rocco has never had a stuffed animal. I'm very allergic to them so we can't have them in the house. As we were cleaning out and organizing our rooms for the baby boy, Rocco found some old beanie babies that I had collected. He began playing with them...and even sleeping with them. Most boys in kindergarten may be over small toy animals, but to Rocco this type of toy is pretty new to him. His favorite one is Rhino.

At night when we say our prayers, Rocco rarely wants to pray out loud. "I'm saying my quietly." Within a few seconds he'll be finished. When I asked him if he prayed for anyone he'll sometime's say, "I prayed for the whole world." When I do get him to say his prayers out loud they are so sweet. He prays for various people in our family. Lately, he's prayed for God to give strength to his grandnana and grandpapaw. They have not been in good health. How sweet that he remembers them in prayer.

We're still Mario fans. That's probably Rocco's favorite way to spend time with me. He thinks we have to play it every day.

Christmas Day

2011-12-25T20:12:00.004-05:00

Rocco woke up Christmas morning to find that Santa did indeed come. He loaded up with super heroes & vehicles, a batman cave, racing motorcycles, a bb gun, some Monster trucks, Defiant trucks and ramp, a couple of books, and a Georgia bulldog stocking full of goodies.

As soon as he checked out his new toys from Santa, he wanted to open up his presents from us. This was his favorite part. Perhaps we need to ask Santa to wrap up his presents next year. :) He was thrilled to find that he had so many to open! A few of the presents we got him were Spiderman and Angry Birds pajamas, a Spiderman costume, Mario/Luigi jogging suit, Iron Man transformer, Kindergartedn computer game, and Monster trucks.

Rocco was so excited the next morning to see that Santa ate his Hershey bar / Oreos and drank his milk. All the reindeer carrots were eaten except for one. It was just nibbled on. Rocco decided that this particular one belonged to Rudolph. For some reason he wasn't as hungry as the "black noses." (This picture was taken Christmas Eve before we went to bed.)

I bought Jason some clothes, and he got me some things for the baby. We didn't have time for our tradition of eating a big breakfast because we had a worship service at church. Christmas fell on a Sunday this year. We headed to church for the 10:30 service. It was surprisingly crowded. Many came out to celebrate the true reason for the season...our Savior's birth! Here we are Christmas day after church.

We thought we'd go out for lunch, but of course nothing was open except for Hardees and Waffle House. Talk about a crowd! We came home to eat sandwiches. Gary and Carolyn came by to see what Rocco got for Christmas. For supper, the three of us ate our traditional breakfast. Great Christmas this year - so much to be thankful for...so many blessings!

Christmas Get Togethers

2011-12-24T21:52:00.001-05:00

Christmas Day fell on a Sunday this year. The Monday before the big day, Dec. 19th, we met at my in-law's house for our first Christmas get together. Gary, Carolyn, Tonya, Ben, Sydney, Drew, Jason, Rocco, and pregnant me were there to celebrate. Carolyn cooked a big, delicious meal with lots of yummy desserts. The kids were so excited to open their gifts. Nana and granddaddy & Aunt Ta and Uncle Ben spoiled Rocco with lots of great gifts. Here's a picture of Rocco in front of nana's Christmas village. ( My camera went dead within minutes of getting here. Tonya and her family weren't even there yet. So...you don't get any big family pic.)

Our next get together was with my side of the family. We met at my nana and papaw's house on Thursday night, Dec. 22. My parents, my brother and his girl Daelyn, nana & papaw, and my dad's sister (Aunt Katy) were there with us to celebrate. We decided to make things easy and just order pizza. My papaw has not been in good health, and we were just grateful to have everyone here this year. Being with family is one of God's biggest blessings, and I'm so thankful we were all together this season.

Our last family get together was at papa's house. Jason's extended family on his mother's side met there for a big celebration.

We draw names for this get together. After our big meal, everyone dives in to see who got their name. It was a lot of fun. Around 9pm we all headed out because Santa came that night. This was our Christmas eve family gathering. The kids were giddy with excitement!

Christmas Lights

2011-12-09T21:38:00.019-05:00

The ~~three~~ four of us (Jason, Rocco, baby Willis, and I) headed to Alabama tonight to enjoy some Christmas lights. First, we ate at a fish and grill restaurant. Afterwards we saw some lights at Noccalula Falls. I felt big and pregnant, and it was a little bit of a challenge at times to keep up with the boys. Baby Nitro (what we've been calling the baby since Rocco gave him the name a few months ago) and I have our own speed. . . and it's not a very fast one.

Last year, Rocco and I took my mom to Callaway Gardens to see the lights. We didn't make it there this year, and I'll admit Noccaula is not as nice...but to Rocco it was bigger than life.

He was so excited to see it all lit up. We rode on a train around the park to see the lights. After that we walked to find the hot chocolate. Thankfully they had a little swing we could rest in.

It was a memorable and fun night. We just love Christmas lights...even if it's just riding around looking at various homes which are lit up. Noccalula Falls was a great mini get-away.

Christmas Musical

2011-12-08T22:12:00.009-05:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year! That was the theme at this year's school musical. Kindergarten through second grade were those singing this time around. Kindergarteners opened up the musical. They sang Jingle Bells, Feliz Navidad, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

They even got to play the kazoos for one of the songs, Jingle Bells.

Working at the school has its perks. I was able to sit up front because I was in charge of helping kids with their forgotten lines AND I got to blow snow after the last song. Speaking of lines, Rocco had his first speaking part in a play. Before the kids sang Feliz Navidad Rocco had to say, "Hey! Do you know how chihuahas say Merry Christmas?....Fleas naughty dog."

Rocco and I had a good time preparing for the musical at home. I found Feliz Navidad on an old CD of mine and we listened to it in the car over and over. He would let it rip! Of course we also picked up a few other favorites along the way that he didn't get to sing at the musical, like Have a Holly Jolly Christmas and Rudolph. Rocco is on a big rhyming kick, so all season long I got to hear him change all the words. "Have a holly, bolly, brissmas" and "Tudolph the red nosed beindeer had a very shiny toe, and if you ever bawed it you would ever say it blowed."

Make no mistake, though. Even though he loves these silly songs he knows that Jesus being born is the real reason for Christmas! We rode by a manger scene one afternoon. "Hey mommy. Christmas is really about Jesus. It's nice that Santa comes and brings us toys, but that's not what Christmas is all about though." Smart boy!

Jason and I were at Rocco's musical, but he also had some special guests. My parents came. This was my mom's first time seeing my classroom. They also brought my niece, Daelyn.

Rocco's nana also came for the special production.

Rocco laughing at TV show

2011-11-29T21:08:00.000-05:00

5 Years and 8 Months Old

2011-11-29T20:48:00.001-05:00

Rocco has become quite the philisopher. The other day going down the road, he asked me this question from his car seat. "Mommy, how old is God?" I began to explain to him how God has always been and always will be. He is God eternal, and he doesn't have an age. "Huh?" was his response. Then he started to ask why people die. Oh, me.

Then the other day, once again from his car seat, he told me, "Hey mommy. God is daddy and Son. Jesus is God. That's interesting isn't it!"

That's pretty good. But what he said the other day made no sense and just made me crack up. "Hey mommy. I'm pregnant. I have a uterus."

The latest thing he and his daddy do (tackling and playing football is still their all time favorite) is watch a show on the Speed channel called Dumbest Stuff on Wheels. I don't care for the show because people on motorcycles, four wheelers, trucks, and the like are always having these horrible crashes. It sends Rocco into a roaring laughter. He gets so tickled that Jason and I just sit back and laugh because he is laughing.

And I can't believe we are back to this, but Rocco is watching the Wiggles again. His cousin (just turned 3) Sydney got him watching those crazy colored guys. Maybe he'll get tired of them again. But for now, he's memorized the Big Red Boat DVD and even quotes it when he's not watching it.

We're into singing Christmas songs. He has a Christmas musical next week so we've been working on several songs. He's really good at "Feliz-noddy-dot", "Rudolph", "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", and "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas". He's also learned "Go Tell It On the Mountain" at school.

He can say the books of the New Testament for you, and he knows the Bible verse, "We love Him because He first loved us."

I would say he is now glad that he has a brother coming soon. We all laugh about what to name the baby because Rocco can come up with some hilarious names. His latest? Georgia Bulldog Nitro Flash Jase Willis. Think it's long enough?

What are you thankful for?

2011-11-24T21:23:00.000-05:00

We were in the car the other day and Rocco told me, "Hey mommy. Will is thankful for the world." Will is a boy in his class at school. He and Rocco are good buddies. I asked Rocco, "Well what did you say you were thankful for?" "The American Flag and the United States of America. I love our country."

Pretty profound for a five year old.

5 Years 7 Months Old

2011-11-13T21:26:00.001-05:00

This month Rocco has really been into numbers. In fact, on our trip to Cozumel he came up with a game that he played every day. The game was to see who could say the biggest. Of course, he knew to win he had to be the last one to say his number; thus, he insisted that we go first. "Uh, 2,492," I'd say. Then, Jason would have to go. "3,000." Rocco would follow with something like, "5 million." He was sure to win. Once he learned the number centillion he used that number every time.

And when he talks about anything, he'll ask you, "What's your favorite part?" For example, he'll bring in something he's made or some toys he's playing with. He wants you to comment on what you like best about it. I think this is his way of just having conversation with you.

One day he blew me away with his knowledge of compound words. I didn't know he even knew what they were. But he did! He was telling me that homework, starfish, and T-Rex?? were compound words. I'm not so sure about that last one, but I'm still pretty impressed that he knows that two words can come together to form a new word.

He's also big into saying the months of the year. He has a little way that he goes through them - he says April "Apyeull." By now he know the right way to say it, but he does it just to get me going.

One fun thing he does a lot is to race me. He does it all of a sudden when I'm not expecting it. We'll be going in to get the mail and he'll say, "Race ya! On your mark, get set, go!" And just like that he beats me. I didn't even know we were racing. He'll just laugh as he runs ahead.

He knows now that his baby brother can hear him even inside my womb. Some times we'll be driving down the road and he'll say, "Hey, Baby Nitro. What ya doing?" (He says that we're going to name his brother Luigi Nitro. I don't think so. ;) At other times he comes right up to my belly and roars at this brother.
We are so blessed to have Rocco in our lives. Each month he brings more fun, laughter, made-up games, and just tons of happiness. God is so good to give us this handsome, smart, funny little guy.

New blog

2011-11-05T21:41:00.001-04:00

I'll still post here for a while, but since we're expecting another little one I thought I would begin a new blog. This blog is just for Rocco. If you want to know what's going on with us as a family of four, click on the link.....The Willis Four

Pumpkin and Halloween Fun

2011-10-31T22:34:00.001-04:00

We had our annual pumpkin painting/carving at Papa's house with nana, granddaddy, and all the cousins. After Sunday dinner, the kids hunted for candy filled pumpkins in the yard. Rocco racked up on some goodies!

Sydney and Rocco really got into the painting. They were the only two this year who painted a pumpkin. The rest of us were busy carving.

I chose an owl pattern for this year's pumpkin. I prepared the stencil work, and .....

Jason did the cutting.

And look at our end results. Blues Clues pumpkin was carved by Ben for Sydney. JJ and her parents carved the only 'real' pumpkin. Allison carved out the words "Trick or Treat", and ours is the last pumpkin on the right.

Drew worked on an All American flag stencil.

On Halloween day, Rocco dressed up as Luigi. I was Brainy the Dwarf. I know he wasn't one of the original dwarfs in Snow White, but all of the teachers chose a made up dwarf while our principal dressed as Snow White. Our assistant principal was the wicked witch. It was a lot of fun. Thankfully, I was able to go on Rocco's field trip with him. His class went to an assisted living home to trick-or-treat. His kindergarten class missed science, so it all worked out that I missed very little teaching while I was gone.

On Halloween night, we met at the bank at 5:30. Most of the cousins went trick-or-treating together. JJ, Drew, Chloe, Colston, Rocco, and Sydney walked all downtown to collect a lot of treats. Susan, Terry, BJ, Tonya, Carolyn, Barry, Allison, Jason, and I walked along with them. It was a fun night. Afterwards we went to Carolyn and Gary's for some hot vegetable soup, cornbread, and hot dogs. It was perfect for the chilly night.

Rocco and Daelyn

2011-10-22T21:43:00.000-04:00

My mom and I met in the town where I went to high school for a photo shoot. We had two cute kids to work with...Rocco and my niece, Daelyn. Rocco is 5 1/2 years old; Daelyn is 2 1/2. Here's how some of the pictures turned out.

To Cozumel

2011-10-05T21:43:00.001-04:00

This Labor Day weekend, we headed to Tampa, FL and boarded Carnival Cruise Ship Inspiration for a four day adventure. This was my parents' first time on a cruise ship. They had a great time. (My dad enjoyed all of the picture booths we stopped at. We all bought too many pictures!) Of course this was Rocco's first cruise, too. When we got on the ship, he asked, "Are we on the boat?" I think at first he couldn't fathom that the big place was really one big ship. I was still in my first trimester of pregnancy, so I felt a little sick. Thankfully I didn't throw up the entire trip. That was a miracle, too, considering how we rocked back and forth. It was just a relaxing get-away filled with fun waterslides (Rocco enjoyed them - I couldn't go down ;) naps, our six o'clock dinner, and nightime entertainment. Sometimes we would go to a show; other times we were our own entertainment!

Of course we took in a few strawberry slushies along the way!

Our one stop was in Cozumel. The water was beautiful! We took a taxi to Mr. Sancho's Beach.

At this beach, we took in the ocean, swam in a pool, enjoyed the long swings, ate some nachos, and my mom even got a massage.

5 Years 6 Months

2011-09-29T22:15:00.000-04:00

At five and a half years old, Rocco is probably the coolest kid you'll ever meet. The other day he told Jason, "If you want to be cool like me, daddy, I'll set you up."

We are so thankful for how well he is doing in school. He is only one of the few that is taking AR tests. The Little Boat and Dear Dragon Goes to the Carnival are Margaret Hillert books that he's read. He's done really well on the reading tests in the library. He continues to do well on his site words (knowing about 80), and his newest math trick is counting by 10's.

One Sunday night, I was lying in bed sick. Rocco came in the bedroom, climbed up on the bed, and said, "Mommy, can I pray for you?" "Of course you can!" I responded. He proceeded to get on his knees, bow his head, fold his hands, and with his eyes closed he prayed a pretty lenghthy prayer that Jesus would make me better and that I would have a good day at work the next day. What he then told me reminded me of the book of Ruth. "Mommy, wherever you go I want to go. I want to follow you." My heart was pure mush by this time. He kept on,"Mommy, I just want to kiss you all day and all night. I want to kiss you all over and love on you."

And speaking of being sick, I finally explained to Rocco why I haven't felt so good lately. I told him, "There's a little baby growing inside my tummy. That baby will be your brother or sister." "WHAT?" was his reply. At first, he said he didn't want that. We would have to take the baby to another house, but within a few minutes he was kissing the ultrasound picture. I explained to him that the baby would have to grow for several months inside and then it would come out. A few days later he asked, "Will the baby come out of your mouth?" Oh, boy. We have so much to discuss and learn.

5 years 5 months old

2011-08-29T21:54:00.001-04:00

At 5 years and 5 months old, here's what Rocco is up to...

1)For the first time in his life, he has real homework. In the past he's enjoyed pretending to do homework in a pre-K workbook we had at home. Now, it's the real stuff. Each Monday Mrs. Bond sends home an assignment for each night. It's all due on Friday. His homework has been to write his letters & numbers on worksheets and to read 15 minutes at night.

2) He already knows almost every sight word for the coming nine weeks of school. I hope he doesn't get too bored.

3) One day at school, they were asked to finish the sentence, "I love....." I'm sure many kids said ice cream, recess, or a favorite toy. Rocco's response? "I love my mom." This absolutely melted my heart. Mrs. Debby, the parapro, told me about it. He said he loved his mom because she played games with him and gave him love. That just did something to me. I love that kid of mine!

4) He loves being carried on top of daddy's shoulders each morning on his way to school. Jason takes him every morning and even sits with him while he eats his breakfast. They have the morning thing going on!

5) He still sleeps between us at night. It took us a long time to have this boy, so I don't really care what anyone thinks about this. He's a great snuggler - he still gets upset if I turn over. He thinks I need to be facing him with my arms wrapped around him. And he still asks, "Be in my dreams, mommy."

6) I thought it was rather funny that he told his nana she could not come visit him at school on Monday's. According to him, he is really busy on that day. Monday is his day to go to music, PE, and science. Nana can visit any day...just not Monday.

7) One sweet picture I'm sure I'll treasure for years to come is the one he came home with the other day. He had to draw a picture of him doing something with a friend. He drew a picture of him and his friend "mommy" camping out. They were eating snacks. I'm so thankful he sees me as a fun mom and one that wants to spend time with him.

8) One game he loves to play is baby cheetah. He pretends to be a cheetah and I'm his mama. He eats gazelles and then comes cuddle up to me. I meow and roar at him. For some reason he's really into these wild cats.

First Week of School. . .

2011-08-06T20:50:00.000-04:00

and this is what he brought home on Friday. One big smiley face for a great week of excellent behavior. He stayed on the green light all week. According to Rocco, the green means, "You are good to go!"

First Week of Kindergarten

2011-08-06T20:23:00.002-04:00

School started back this week, and Rocco began kindergarten. He is at the same school as last year, and his former preK teacher is his kindergarten teacher. We really love Mrs. Bond and know that she is an incredible teacher. How happy and thankful we are that she looped up to the next grade. It's amazing how God worked it all out. Because of funding and the failing economy, our school was downsized to just one preK class this year. Last year we had two. Thankfully all preK teachers in our school still have a job - just had to move around a little bit. Turns out Mrs. Bond moved to kindergarten. With the exception of 3 new students and a few not returning (Cade, Jaly, Landon, Will S. and Angel), she has the same kids as last year. Knowing the kids in his class made for an easy transition. Not once did he seem nervous or scared. In fact, he was ready to be back at school.

Even though I teach at this same school, Jason took him to school every day this week. Some mornings Jason would still put Rocco on his shoulders as he walked him in (just like he did in preK). That's why he wanted his daddy to carry him to school. He feels like he's on top of the world on his daddy's shoulders. He knows that mommy can't carry him like that.

Each morning Jason would take him to the cafeteria and sit with him while he ate breakfast. Rocco felt more comfortable this way. On most mornings I would join them and eat with Rocco. Then, I'd make sure he made it to his class.

Being in kindergarten means that he gets to come to the science lab this year, my classroom. About a week before school started, I started talking to him about this. "What will you call me?" I asked him. "I guess Mrs. Willis," he said. Well, in fact on the first day of school his class came to science. Monday is their science day. And....he still called me mommy.

The science lesson was on the five senses. They looked at mystery pictures, matched up Jello-O flavors based on smells, pulled out matching textures in a feeling box, and listened to their heartbeats with a stethoscope. They were the cutest bunch of kids - and of course I had my camera ready to take pics of them!

Each day he carried his Mario book bag to school. He also had a Sheriff (police man) lunch box. Most days he ate lunchroom food, but one day Jason packed his lunch. On Friday's kids can buy ice cream in the lunchroom for $1. Thursday afternoon when we got home from school, he made sure we put the dollar in his pirate coin pouch.

5 years 4 months old

2011-08-04T21:40:00.002-04:00

This month Rocco went for his five year old check up. He was 41 inches tall and 31 pounds. The doctor said we need to encourage him to eat more, like fattening milk shakes before bed. He is growing taller, he just needs to gain some weight.

But let me tell you, there is a lot of personality and life inside that little body. There's a big sense of humor, too. The other day I turned around to see him in his car seat. To my surprise, he had lifted his sleeve and was smelling his arm pit. We both laughed and laughed. He's too little to have any odor there, but he'll do this just to make us laugh.

Another time, he made me laugh because he had turned on the TV by himself. He informed me that he loved to watch FOX news. That's what he was watching. (What? This must come from his granddaddy!)

Speaking of laughter, he still loves to crack up while I'm reading to him. I use all the funny voices (and even make up things for them to say based on their expressions in the illustrations). One of our new favorites is Baa Choo. This poor lamb named Sam can only say, "Baa -aaa." His choo won't do. This one really cracks him up when I change my voice to be all the animals that are trying to help Sam find the ending of his sneeze.

We are so blessed to have such a smart boy. Not only does he love books, he also enjoys learning. I counted how many sight words he knows. Before kindergarten starts, he is already up to 58 words! This summer we participated in the summer reading program at the library. Rocco read 14 hours with us, earning him lots of certificates to various restaurants and businesses in town.

At night, sometimes I'll give him "homework". I have him trace his letters in a book we have. He'll work so hard and when he finishes he'll step back and ask me, "Which one was my best one? Why? What is your favorite part about it?"

Monster trucks are still a big part of his play time. He told me the other day when he was playing, "I'm gonna raise the gauntlet and take this town down to the ground." I think he's heard those drivers talk a little too much smack.

After watching the new movie Cars II at the theaters (not once but twice), Rocco is also into Finn McMissile. He will bring in that car along with Lightning McQueen. He's the voice of Finn, and I'm Lightning. We have conversations this way. "Hey, what's going on Lightning?" Very cute...

Rocco also likes to pretend box. He takes his shirt off and just wears his shorts. He'll do some Tae Kwon Do moves (that's what we call it at least). Of course he has to take a break after each round and dry off with a hand towel.

This month his cousin Drew taught him how to catch a ball in his hand. They did this in the pool this summer.

I must tell you that Rocco has a little fan club. They two of his first cousins (both girls). Daelyn, my brother's daughter, lives over an hour from us but she begs to talk to Rocco on the phone. She calls him Geico. Whatever he does, she feels she has to do as well. Look at them being silly at mimi and papaw's house.

And Sydney, Jason's sister's girl, well when she finds out Rocco is in the house, she takes off running like a speeding bullet to greet him. She is so full of happiness and joy. She just loves on him and thinks he's the grandest.

There are so many things about Rocco that I just love. One of my favorites is just how loving he is. He'll still grab my face, turn my cheek around, and kiss on me. He'll ask me to love on him, and at night it is required that I cuddle and snuggle him. He still sleeps with us.

I've told him so many times before, "Rocco, I love you so much you just don't know how much it is. It's so high you can't even count it." Well, the other morning he told me, "Mommy, I just love you. I love you so much it is not even a number. It's all the way to the moon and back." Now that is a kiss from God right there. Thank you Jesus for the sweet child you have given us.

In Our Sunflower Field

2011-07-22T22:52:00.000-04:00

Daddy Goes on a Mission Trip

2011-07-02T21:45:00.003-04:00

Jason just got back from a week long mission trip to Cancun and Kantunilkin, Mexico. Seven high school/ college students from our church went, as well as Rick (our youth intern) and his girlfriend, Dallas.

They had a productive week there in Mexico reaching out to other youth. They poured themselves into the lives of those kids. Even though there was a language barrier, God allowed actions to speak loud. You can see the happiness in this little boy's face. He knew this American group really cared about him.

They led a sports camp in the Mayan village, and it was very hot there. There was not a piece of dry clothing left on their skin.

Mauricio is our contact missionary in Mexico - he transported Jason and their team aroud Mexico, stayed with them in the mission house, worked alongside them all week, and even interpreted for them. (He's the Hispanic guy in the blue shirt on the far right in the picture above).

God really spoke to the hearts of our youth while they were in Mexico, transforming their minds and attitudes about serving others and that it really doesn't take much material things to make you happy. They also began to see the importance of having quiet time with God.

Seven of the Hispanic children made decisions to follow Christ, too. It doesn't get any better than that.

We are so thankful for what God did during the last week - and we're so glad to have daddy back home!

The other day, Rocco told me that he wanted to be a missionary when he grows up. His daddy is definitely making an impact on him!

Sydney and Rocco in the Cold Creek

2011-07-01T16:16:00.005-04:00

One of the best things about living in our small town is that you can go any time down to the park and enjoy the fresh spring, cave, and creek. On hot summer days, there's really no better place to be. There are ducks and fish to feed,

water to wade in,

swings in the shade to relax in,

a stone path and bridges to walk along

and even a path to ride on. If you get too hot, there's a fresh spring to drink from.

So grab a friend and head on down to the creek. We did!

5 Years and 3 Months Old

2011-06-29T23:26:00.005-04:00

My Rocco is growing up so fast. He's still just 31 pounds, but he keeps getting taller. He's up to 42 inches now. While he can wear shorts 6-12 months (he has the cutest waist), he is in a 4T shirt. And let me tell you he is still particular about what he wears. If the shirt has a collar you can forget it. He'll only wear those to church, and even then he is ready to put a "play" shirt on as soon as we get home.

Although he is just 5, he has a personality sometimes of an adult. I guess this is because I never have really baby talked to him. He thinks he is a grown up at times. For example, while riding in his car seat one day he told me, "When we get home we are going to play Mario. That's the deal. Do you understand me?" Other times he's told me, "Mama you didn't 'listme' to me," or "You didn't obey me," if something didn't go like he wanted it to. I know he's just talking to me the way that I talk to him. He's learning that he is not the boss, and that parents don't obey their kids. It's the other way around.

This month he lost his first baby tooth. A new adult tooth was already showing through and trying to squeeze its way in. Mimi and I were there when the baby one finally came out.

Monster Jam is basically the only toy he is interested in now. I got his train set out the other day and he informed me, "Mama, I don't like trains anymore." A little piece inside of me cried. He's getting too big!

Now he does like little hand held gadgets. He pretends that a small compass is his clock. He also has a play knife that he hunts with. One night we had pretend wild animals in our bedroom, but Rocco took care of them for us. Rocco can turn a slinky into a pretend snake and a play phone into a real one that sends text messages. His imagination works really well.

I bought a new IPOD touch this month. He says that it is his, but he and I share it. The IPOD is his "smoking hot game phone" that he wanted. His two favorite country songs to jam to are Little Bitty by Alan Jackson and Big Green Tractor by Jason Aldean. Chris Tomlin's Our God is his favorite Christian song - that and the VBS soundtrack from this year's Big Apple Adventure. He can sing all these songs by heart - he does really well keeping up with the fast ones, too.

As far as food goes, his favorite restaurants are McDonald's, Sonny's BBQ, and Chic Fil A. At home, he loves Cocoa Krispies,toaster strudels, BBQ Pringles, gold fish, and gum (of course not all together).

And as far as what he wants to be when he grows up...one day he told me that he wanted to be a missionary. We talked about them a lot in Bible school, and his daddy went to Mexico on a mission trip. On most days, he'll tell you that he wants to be a Sheriff - he's really good at spotting them on the road, especially if they've pulled someone over. Of course he may be a musician one day - he really wants to be our church drummer. The boy loves music! Someone gave him a long rubber band one afternoon. He put it around his head as if it were an ear piece. He pulled out his guitar and jammed away with his imagination.

Lost Tooth and Last Week with Mimi

2011-06-25T19:11:00.008-04:00

At 5 years old, I thought he was a little too young to be losing teeth. So when he kept putting his fingers in his mouth, I would just tell him to stop and go on about our business. Little did I know he was feeling of a little bump. Jason found out that the "bump" was an adult tooth coming in. This explained why he had a new gap forming between two of his baby teeth. There was no room for it.

I worked and worked on that tooth. My mom and I even took him to the dentist hoping he would pull it. He just told us all was well and that it would eventually fall out. The gap would not be a problem later.

On June 16th, Jason, Rocco, my mom, and I were just enjoying our morning on the lake in our boat.

While Jason fished, I decided to work on that tooth some more. I made a lot of progress and felt it really getting loose. That's whenit started bleeding.

We'd tried so many things - days before I'd even read a book to him, Bruce's Loose Tooth, and I tried to pull the tooth out with a string. It worked for the moose in the story, but not for Rocco.

Well, after our boat ride I worked on it some more. Rocco was glad to oblige because his daddy promised him a new Monster Jam truck when it came out. He was also expecting some money from the tooth fairy. I decided to pull one last hard time. It came - but not all the way. Rocco was a little panicked, "It's stuck!" Well, we couldn't have that tooth stuck and big man in a worry - so I pulled it out. This time all the way! He never even cried! Here's his new smile.

I'm so glad my mom came down. She definitely needed some time away to relax. She had to take some time off of work due to sickness, so I told her our home and time with Rocco could be her therapy. It did her a world of good. She spent about 3 nights with us. One day we went swimming. My mom basically watched Rocco and me go down this slide over and over. She wasn't really up for it herself.

But she did have a blast with Rocco in the shallow end.

I guess one of the favorite parts of my trip was riding the golf cart and picking blackberries. Then, we put them in hot pancakes the next morning. That was one delicious breakfast!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom 6 21 11

2011-06-21T13:27:00.000-04:00

Breakfast with Granddaddy

2011-06-21T09:05:00.002-04:00

With nana gone to Florida with Ben, Tonya, Drew, and Sydney, we decided to have Granddaddy over for breakfast this morning. Rocco, Gary, and I had a delicious breakfast in our kitchen. Late last night I picked some fresh blackberries, and I used them this morning in our pancakes. Hot syrup and butter made them even more delicious. Sausage, bacon, eggs, and coffee were also served. What a special morning!

More Fun in the Sun

2011-06-11T21:47:00.002-04:00

Rocco and I headed up to Mimi and Papaw's house. My mom had been very sick with a bacterial infection that landed her in the hospital Memorial Day week. Thankfully, she was well enough to come home. Still not feeling well enough to return to work, I figured Rocco and I had some work to do. It was our job to cheer Mimi up. She went outside for a while to watch us have a blast playing on a slip and slide and kiddie pool. Watching your grandkids have fun - now that's therapy!

When my dad saw the grandkids struggling a little to get some speed on the slip and slide, he had a great idea. Papaw's are good like that. He pulled out the extra large tarp and lathered it in bubbles. And after that, well we all had plenty of speed. Daelyn, Rocco, and and I flew down it.

Daelyn had to add her touch.

And here's my dad's version of having fun in the sun. You like his new tractor? It's an antique.

Slip and Slide

2011-06-07T20:15:00.001-04:00

You know what I love about summer time? Doing anything you want when you want. Drew was staying at nana's today, so we called to see if he wanted to come slip and slide with us. When he came over, we combined two slides together for double the fun. The warning label said, "For ages 12 and under only." Drew barely made the cut off, and I was way past it. Regardless of the warning though, all 3of us went down it; I don't know who had more fun.

Later we decided to cool off some more in the water...this time in nana and granddaddy's pool. Check out the smile on nana's face. I'd say she loves hanging out with her grandsons!

And check out his latest pool trick. With legs that limber, he's found that he can do the split against the wall. He walks around the pool like this...on the edge! I tried it and fell backwards in the water. I'll leave tricks like this to my 5 year old.

Summer is fun. Yes, Life is Good!

Tee Ball Awards

2011-06-03T21:15:00.005-04:00

What a season! Team Triangle Storage was undefeated! (But then again...we never keep score). Our team did a great job this year though. Being his second year to play, Rocco was much improved in his ball skills. He could flat out hit that ball. He ran faster this year, too.

Tonight was the awards ceremony for all of the kids' teams. Rocco's team went forward and Jason, their coach, presented them with their trophies. They were cute with a baseball on top and the words "T Ball". Hot dogs were served that night,

and everyone just enjoyed getting their moment of recognition. Here's a picture of Rocco and his best buddy, Will. The first picture was taken this year. The second one was a year ago when they first played ball.

And as if you didn't already know this, we sure are proud of our son!

5 Years and 2 Months Old

2011-05-29T17:21:00.011-04:00

The months just keep flying by, and Rocco continues to make us laugh and smile at his silly little antics. Just a few weeks ago, Rocco told me something that grabbed my attention. "Me and Emily got married." "You did?" I asked, hoping he'd tell me more. "When did this happen?" "During work time. I put a ring on her finger." he said. "Who all knows about this?" I wanted to know. With a little sly grin he said, "Emily." He concluded his little conversation with me by saying, "Well, I'm Emily's wife." How cute is that? I had to explain again to him the difference between a husband and a wife. There have been several times in the past where he has told me, "Mom, you are my wife." I only pray that one day he will have a wife who loves him as much as I do!

Around our house, we drink the no pulp orange juice (per my husband's request). The other day, I decided to buy some with high pulp, just for me. I gave some to Rocco one morning, and I noticed he wasn't drinking it. "Drink your orange juice." I told him. "But, mom," he said with some disgust, "I think it has paper in it."

Recently, there are just three things he wants to play. He's often telling me, "You have three choices: Mario, Sheriff, or Monster trucks." If I tell him I need to fix breakfast right now or that I need to fold clothes, he'll say, "Well, that's not a choice." One game that I did make up with him is "Rocco's Healthy Shack." We cut up pretend fruit, veggies, and bread for our customers. All the food we serve is fresh and healthy. We use this same food when we serve our criminals in jail. I think Sheriff is probably his favorite game that I made up with him. We get our toy guns and go patrolling through the house. When we find a criminal we yell for them to get on the ground. Rocco handcuffs them, and he leads them to his bedroom (our jail). His closet is our office. That's where we sentence them to their time, write out their tickets, and open the mail any inmates get from their families. For meals, they only get bread and water, no "fancy snacks." Sometimes we'll have special appreciation parties for our policemen. We'll bring in popcorn or ice cream and watch a movie. No movies for criminals! If they are caught pillow fighting, lights go off. We don't put up with any nonsense in our town!

We have entirely too many Monster Jam trucks in our house! I know because I have to be Scott Douglas, the announcer for the sport. Rocco expects me to describe each truck and talk about it as he races them around the living room.

After about the 10th truck I'm tired of it...but he has 35 trucks. He will absolutely crack you up acting like Scott himself. "Brought to you by Advance Auto Parts; keep the wheels a turnin' AND by Built Ford Tough Blue Thunder....It's Lupe Soza's Advance Auto Parts Grinder!" He just goes on and on and ....

Rocco had his first time out for breaking a rule. This came at like the second to last week of school. He's such a rule follower, it really surprised me. He was running in the hall with a couple of his buddies. When he was assigned to time out by Mrs. Caldwell, he happily said, "Ok, where do I go?" At least he didn't cry. He was just matter-of-fact about it. He served his time and went on...obeying the No Run rules of the hall.

The other day he put his fist in his hands and said, "Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!" When I asked who taught him that game he told me that JJ did. That's his fourth grade cousin who he hangs out with when school is over sometimes until I'm ready to go home. JJ is also Mrs. Caldwell's daughter. Mrs. Caldwell is Jason's first cousin.

Rocco can finally spit well. That's a big deal because we can use big kid toothpaste now. And speaking of teeth, Rocco insists that he brush his own now. We have a little step stool he uses. After he finishes, he expects me to smell his breath.

He's really getting too big for his britches (I bought him new swim trunks the other day...size 12 months). He informed me the other day that when he gets to be a big kid, he wants a "smokin' hot game phone." That blew me out of the water. I laughed and laughed. He was referring to an IPOD. I think he's watched adults too much lately, because when I ask him to do something he'll grab his pretend phone and say, "I need to check this text message first," or "Somebody's calling me on my phone right now." He's just too growny.

On his end of year test, the one they give for pre-kindergarten readiness, he scored 101 out of 103. The only 2 things he missed were knowing how many syllables 'dinosaur' had and being able to cut a curvy line with scissors. He is so ready for kindergarten. In fact, on Awards Day, he earned the Exceptional Reader Award. Each classroom had a Citizenship Award for a boy and a girl. Rocco earned it for his class. And he also got Most Eager to Learn. We couldn't be more proud! He said that the Citizenship Award was his favorite because it had stars on it. Rocco was so excited and proud about his 3 awards.

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T14:00:00.001-04:00

For years I prayed and waited for a baby. Look at him today. He still fits just perfectly in my arms. He was made for us, and I'm so thankful God answered my prayers. Above and beyond anything I could have ever imagined, God gave us the most handsome, loving, witty, intelligent little boy.

For Mother's Day, Jason gave me another year of Maria. She is our maid. When I woke up this morning though, Jason had left some other gifts in a bag on top of the bed. He was already gone to church, but Rocco was there beside me just waiting for me to wake up and open them. What was inside? A beautiful necklace (I have it on in this picture) and....an alarm clock! Pretty funny gift for a mom who is often running late wherever she goes. ;)

5 years and 1 month old

2011-05-01T12:59:00.000-04:00

What a personality our Rocco has at 5 years old! He is a big package of confidence (with his arms crossed and a look that says, "I'm the coolest kid you've ever seen.") He's full of spunk and a love for Monster Trucks. He's become quite the announcer. When he plays with his toy trucks I'll often hear him say, "Whoa! What a combo!" or "What a save, Superman!" One of his favorite sayings is, "Oh, that's gotta hurt!"

Beneath all that rough & tough attitude, there's still a sweet, loving boy. At night we'll be lying in the dark and he'll sweetly ask me to "snuggle and cuddle" him. Sometimes he'll still say, "I want to rock." Sometimes during the day, he'll just stop playing, come over to me, and say, "I want to give you some love." Be still my heart!

The morning time is Jason's turn at some loving. Even though Rocco and I are at the same school all day, Jason takes him almost every morning. While I'm getting ready, they wrestle and love on each other. Jason goes through this morning pep talk with him,too. It goes something like this. "Who's daddy's boy? Who's the cutest kid? Who's the smartest? Who has confidence? Who does daddy love?"

Jason is also the one who fixes our son's faux in the morning. I can't seem to do it like daddy does. When Jason brings him into school, Rocco rides on top of his shoulders. Rocco feels like he's the big man on campus!

At age 5 Rocco can really get his praise on. One day coming home from church, he and I were jamming to Chris Tomlin's "Our God Saves". I looked in the back and he was raising his hands in the air. He must have been doing some sort of motions with his hands to the song. He's seen me do this in the car, and he's also done some of this in the kids' choir at church. He loves this song, and he requests it just about every time we get in the car.

Rocco loves music and he can tell you which instruments are in a song or when they join in. He has an ear for drums, guitar, and the strings. Speaking of instruments, he loves to jam with his guitar. When I go to church to practice with the musicians on Sunday morning, he'll grab some pencils and tap out the rhythm as if he's our drummer. One Sunday morning he brought his own guitar and joined in with me.

Spring Break

2011-04-25T23:57:00.006-04:00

Last week we headed north for a 5 day vacation in Crossville, TN. What's there? Not much. With our vacation points, though, we were able to secure a week in a nice condo. The area is mostly for retired folks. We did manage to find a few things to do - most of it outdoors. Our first adventure was on a miniature golf course. Little man enjoyed golfing - I did too until Jason beat me.
Next we went to a nearby horse farm. Rocco was too young to go on a trail, but he was able to do a "pony ride". Pee Wee, the farm hand, suited him up in a helmet. We checked out all of the stables and read all of the horses' names. One of them was "Sydney" which was really cool - that's Rocco's first cousin's name, too. This was his first time riding a white horse. Her name was Freckles. Rocco was so relaxed and at ease his entire ride - a natural. The only other horse he's been on is Liberty, the black one that belongs to our neighbors.

The indoor swimming pool was Rocco's favorite. It was olympic size, and all of it was no more than 4 feet deep. He was so proud of himself because he could "swim" backwards in his life vest. There was also a basketball hoop that we played with. When his daddy held him up, he could score!

The resort where we stayed was really large. The main reason people go there is to golf. It was surrounded by several courses. We did find a few playgrounds, though, and we played pirates. Jason was the shark, while Rocco and I were tough guys on the ship. He eventually caught us.

One afternoon we just had family craft time. With our modeling clay we made some funny looking creatures. Rocco cracked up - laughing and laughing about how silly they were. Mine had some big 'ol lips.

Rocco and I spent a good bit of time working on our Mario skills. We took the Wii game with us on our trip. Sometimes we would play while daddy took a nap. We all enjoyed nap time, though. Jason and I even took turns getting massages.

One day we went on a pontoon boat ride. Jason and I agreed that this was our favorite part of the trip. A retired man - an exCoast Guard -was our driver. He gave us the tour of the lake and all the beautiful homes. He even let Rocco get a turn at the wheel. It was so relaxing.

The last adventure we went on was the BIG tree house. This place had to be the largest structure ever built around a tree. . . make that several trees. Although it wasn't the safest structure, it was neat to go up inside. I make Rocco hold on tight to us - there were cracks between the wood, missing boards, and rotting furniture inside. Still, it was fun to explore this big place. A chapel was inside, and I think people still meet there for services. Attached to the top of the big tree house was a long rope from which the most redneck built swing hung. Duck tape secured the old lawn chair to some not so sturdy twine. Have you ever seen such?

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T20:51:00.009-04:00

Easter this year was beautiful. The spring weather was warm and windy. The most beautiful thing about is all was what it means to me as a Christian. The death of Christ meant that my sins could be forgiven by the power of His blood. The resurrection of Christ meant that I have the promise of life. Not just here and now, but the promise of eternal life. My Savior is more powerful than the grave - more powerful than death - more powerful than all the forces of evil. My Savior is the risen Lord. Easter is important.

This Easter season, Rocco and I attended a passion play at a local church. It was the first time Rocco had been to one. The church did a great job presenting the life of Christ - from His birth to His resurrection. I talked with Rocco before and during the play, explaining to him that Jesus is real but the people in this play were just acting. He got it. He also got the fact that Jesus is more powerful than the devil. "They just couldn't keep Jesus in that tomb!" he exclaimed.

On Easter Sunday, we had a lot of music at church. The choir that I'm a part of sang. I also sang a solo, "Draw Me Nearer", and I played the bass guitar. The youth choir sang as well as the senior adult choir. Jason preached afterwards. Following the service we had a few pictures made of our family and friends. Here are a few of them.

Rocco and two of his church friends, brothers Will and Weston

Following Sunday worship service, we headed to Gary and Carolyn's to eat lunch. Tonya and Drew had made a cute bunny cake. The dinner was delicious, as usual, and the kids headed outside after we had eaten. Nana blew bubbles at them, and they also played on the swingset. Later they got the tricycle out and even some yard tools. It was a beautiful day to be outside.

The field in front of Papa's house was filled with clover. We had a photo shoot there this Easter season (just me with my camera - and Jason complaining about all the bugs). Rocco sure was cute out there surrounded by all that clover, though.

The Sunday before Easter was Papa's Sunday. All of the cousins, aunts, and uncles met after church for dinner. We had our annual Easter egg hunt. This year we went up the hill to our house and had the kids find eggs in our yard. I love this picture of the kids out near the pond.

When it was all said and done, Rocco received tons of candy and goodies from his cousins, an Easter basket from his nana and granddaddy, and a basket from his mimi and papaw. We're good on candy until Christmas!

Trucks

2011-04-16T21:08:00.005-04:00

Yes, you're seeing right. All of those toys are trucks. . . and those aren't even all of them! The other thirty something we decided to leave inside. This afternoon Rocco and I brought out most of his big trucks and just played in the driveway. The weather was warm and breezy - just like spring should be. Some of the trucks were remote control; others did flips and tricks. Many of them came from his birthday party.

Yeah, trucks were all over the place...and we had ourselves a time!

And I love this one....bare feet. I told him he had them, and he didn't like it. He even argued with me about it. Then, I explained that I wasn't saying his feet were like a bear's. He'd never heard of such ...

Five Years Old

2011-04-04T22:04:00.000-04:00

Rocco is five! Here's what's happening lately in his world.

He still loves Monster Jam Trucks. In fact, that was the theme of his recent birthday party. At night, he chooses one to sleep with. Since they aren't the most cuddly things to have in the bed, we've convinced him to set the truck above his head on the bed rail. So each night that's where Blue Thunder, El Toro Loco, or Predator can be found. Of course he's up to about 32 trucks now. He lines them all up a certain way by the couch in the living room; he's very particular about this. If one is missing, he will ask where it is. He used to do this with his 5o to 60 something Thomas trains. His little memory is something else!

When I lie down with him at night to go sleep (yes, he still sleeps between us), he wants me to face him. If I turn over he doesn't like it. Rocco loves to cuddle! And right before he falls to sleep, he'll ask me, "Mommy. Be in my dreams." I think that is about my most favorite things he says to me.

Rocco continues to learn a lot about God and the Bible. The other night Rocco and I were having a discussion about false gods. The librarian at church mentioned to me that his class had come in there and that Rocco had some great responses to their lesson on Daniel. I wanted to find out just how much he knew the other day. He told me that statues "can't answer you. They can't walk with you or hold your hand." I thought that was pretty good. I asked him how many gods there were. He was sure of the answer. "One. Not two. The devil wants to be god, but that'd be too much gods! That's just how life is." That last remark cracked me up. He's such a little man and so growny at times.

The other day he was playing with his little sheriff car and pretending to pull over bad guys. He informed me, "Don't say I didn't mean to to the Sheriff because Sheriff don't care!" How funny...yet true!

Whenever I practice my bass guitar, Rocco will go and get his jamming guitar. He rock and rolls through the house. One afternoon, he was giving a pretend concert. The funniest part is when he quit playing and yelled to his make believe audience, "Thanks folks! Thanks for coming tonight!"

Regarding real music, his favorite is Casting Crowns. And the song he requests over and over in the car is "Until the Whole World Hears." He sings his heart out on that one!

And the hair in the picture above is his latest. It is a faux hawk. He wanted a real mohawk, but Jason told him he couldn't do that until he moved out and started paying his own bills.

As far as toys go, Rocco enjoys his Monster Trucks, CARS, and Mario on the Wii. He and I have played that game so much! Jason doesn't play this game with him. Rocco told me it was because "daddy's not a fan of it." Little man knows all about ice bullets, helicopters, penguin suits, and the different canons that warp you to various worlds. We usually come home after school and play it.

One of the latest things around here happens to be our new cars. Rocco didn't understand why we were getting rid of the Tahoe (back in Feb.) Now, he says he doesn't miss it. He really likes mommy's new Honda Accord. And a few months later, daddy got a new car (2006). Rocco and daddy really like sporting around in this BMW!

Rocco's 5th Birthday Party

2011-04-03T23:46:00.002-04:00

5th Birthday Party

2011-04-02T21:08:00.000-04:00

This year's theme was Monster Jam. From the monster truck cake

to the freestyle arena in our garage,

we had it covered! Kids raced remote control trucks and rolled them around obstacle inside the dirt arena. God blessed us with a beautiful spring day, and the kids really enjoyed playing on Rocco's swing set, trampoline, and riding around on all of his motorized toys (Power Wheels, wagons,

toy tractors, scooter, bicycle, and even our golf cart). Friends from school and church as well as family came out to enjoy Rocco's big party.

Play Ball

2011-03-20T23:06:00.001-04:00

We had so much fun at Papa's house today. All the family ate after church - this is our usual every other Sunday. But then we went out in the front yard to play ball. Even baby Sydney got in on the action. Some of my best memories growing up were the times spent with my cousins. Now, Rocco is making some childhood memories he'll treasure for a long time. Memories with his cousins!

Enjoying the Country

2011-03-19T21:51:00.007-04:00

In the country. That's where we live. Way out far from the city. It took a while to get used to. Growing up I lived in a neighborhood, and I could be on the interstate within 5 minutes. Major stores and several restaurants were close by. Then, when I married Jason, I had to grow accustomed to living out in the sticks. If you go outside and holler, your neighbors probably won't hear you. Then again they are there when you need them. And, yes ...it takes a while to get to Walmart. Going out to eat is a decision we make only when we're up for the 20 minute drive, and if you ever really need to go anywhere big you'd have to drive a good 45 minutes to reach an interstate...but I love it. We have a pond on our land, and we can fish anytime we want. There are trails for riding golf carts or four wheelers. It's not odd to get behind a tractor while driving home from work. I pass cotton fields, pastures with horses, and green acres covered with deer or turkey. And they say you can find some really good looking cowboys out in the country, too!

Since today was our last day to really enjoy playing outside before spring break came to an end, Rocco and I decided to have some fun outside. We went for a ride on our golf cart all through the trails. I took this picture of the view. That's our house behind the trees in the top right corner. I love this view. It's one of my favorite spots to overlook.

While we were on our ride, our neighbor told us that he would like to give Rocco a horseback ride for his upcoming birthday. We gladly took him up on the offer. It was a beautiful day for it!

Rocco was a natural. He rode a gentle horse named Liberty. This is the same horse that he rode when the Carlson family were visiting with us. This was his first ride, however, outside the coral. Mr. Allen took him for a long ride all the way around the pasture and through the trails behind his house. Rocco really liked that part because it looked like a "secret hiding spot". Mr. Allen led Liberty and I walked beside Rocco. Little cowboy just sat up tall, all relaxed, and never quit grinning. Carolyn happened to be working down at papa's house that day, so she joined us. Here he is enjoying the trails.

After the ride, Rocco fed Liberty some apples. Then, we were off to see the baby goats. This little fella was just 3 days old and very curious about Rocco.

Within a few short minutes, Rocco had a new friend who wouldn't stop nibbling on him!

Yes, we had ourselves a big time at our neighbors. We finally decided it was time to move on and go back to the trails in our golf cart.

We met Jason as he was coming home. He had some work to do on the farm equipment.

So we hung out with him and just enjoyed spending time as a family...living out in the country.

That afternoon we had a family picnic by our pond, and we went fishing with live minnows. I hooked three and they all got away. Jason and Rocco caught all the fish!

Spring Break 2011

2011-03-18T23:16:00.003-04:00

This entire week of Spring Break Rocco and I have just enjoyed spending time together. Jason was gone Mon - Wed on a trip to the Yucatan to scout out a mission trip for our church youth. This meant we had a few fun nights with nana at our house!

Our morning would begin around 8:30 or 9am. As soon as he woke up he would say, "Mario?" And to be honest, we played that game way too much this week. He quickly learned how to use his game controller. In fact, he helped me beat the cartoon dragons at the castle levels on several occasions. If he thought the levels were too hard he would just put himself in a bubble. At other times I'd carry him on my shoulders. I was Mario; he was Luigi.

Other than that, we played in his upstairs playroom for a few hours. We'd just go from one toy to the next, stating how we hadn't played with this or that in a long while. It was good to play CARS again. The most fun thing we did was a game I made up with Mater the Greater's launch toy. We put tiny cars inside and shot them across the playroom, trying to made them land in different buckets. We laughed and laughed at this game, especially when I did the funny voices for the cars who feared their perilous fate.

We also rode the golf cart on our land. That's the wonderful thing about living in the country. You can go outside with no make-up, in your pajama pants if you want, and just ride around the trails. As Rocco and I were circling the house at a pretty fast speed, he raised his arms up and said, "Spring Break - In the House - And everywhere else!" He loved the fact that he didn't have school. He still says he's not ready to go back.

Our small park in town is absolutely a beautiful place. It's so peaceful there. We went one day and pretty much had the entire place to ourselves. He wore his helmet as he rode his scooter; I had to help push him a little on his bicycle. It was a great workout for both of us. When we finished the scooter, bicycle, and playing on the swings/ slides, we refreshed ourselves with fresh spring water. He told me, "Mommy, we are living it up!"

The park has a nice pond with fish and several ducks. The birds are like pets; they'll come right up to you for food. Rocco and I fed them a few peanut butter crackers, and they lapped it right up. I believe the most fun we had at the park was a simple game Rocco made up. A very small waterfall proved to be the perfect place to race sticks. He loved watching them go over the dip. He got really tickled at the globs of algae that trickled over the edge. We called them slime balls and gave them all names. The big one was "Granddaddy slime ball" and the little one was "Sydney or Daelyn slime ball." Pretty much everyone in our family came over that rushing water in the form of slime. Oh the fun you can have with a little imagination!

He also got a small science lesson out of it. I found that it was the perfect time to talk about buds (which he thought was funny because it sounds like butt). He's such a boy - but he does take it all in like a sponge.

We've also talked about God this week. We worked on his Team Kid Bible verse. He can say it for you Rocco style. "And this is the commandment we have from God. If you love God you will also love others." This is from I John 4:21. Great verse! Oh, if we could just apply it the world would be a better place! I've also talked to Rocco a great deal about telling the truth. I've told him that Jesus is the Truth, and He wants us to tell the truth. The devil is a liar and God's enemy. Rocco knows that there can only be one God and the Devil can't be Him. He also knows - this is Rocco's lingo now - that one day God will punish the Devil for being mean by "burning his bootie." And, finally, he knows that Jesus is on our side and that He is much stronger than the Devil so we have nothing to worry about.

Good Behavior Party

2011-03-11T00:28:00.001-05:00

Rocco's good behavior earned him the privilege of attending the school party this afternoon. The big highlight was snowcones. As you can see, most of the kids had blue or red tongues and lips. They danced around to music in the school gym. Check out Rocco with one of his buddies, Zack.

I really enjoy Rocco attending the same school in which I work. I'm able to see him experience so many different activities throughout the school year. I'm so blessed.

Mom's Breakfast

2011-03-09T22:25:00.000-05:00

This morning was a special event at school. Mom's Breakfast. This was my first one to ever attend as a mom. I was super excited to spend it with my Rocco. They served biscuits, gravy, sausage, eggs, and peaches. It was pouring down rain this morning, but to my surprise it was still very crowded. Just shows how much a mama really cares - rain or shine we'll support our kids!

Dr. Seuss at School

2011-03-09T17:17:00.000-05:00

During the month of March, we have an event called Read Across America. Rocco's class celebrated by reading books like The Cat in the Hat. Every day of the week had a different dress up theme. On Wednesday, the school dressed up like their favorite Dr. Seuss character. Most kids were Thing 1 or Thing 2 or the Cat in the Hat. Rocco was a pirate. Don't ask me which book that comes from, but he sure did like it! That's what he wanted to dress up as. He just didn't understand why he couldn't take his sword to school. What's a pirate without one?

Four Years and Eleven Months Old

2011-03-01T22:59:00.001-05:00

Our little toddler is turning more into a big boy each day. He does big things now, like play video games. Our newest thing is Mario Brothers on the Wii. He knows his mama is a sucker for it. One night when he asked me to play with him, I told him to ask his daddy. He said, "Well, daddy is not really a fan of it." That's true. Mario has become a mama and son activity. It's a cool game because we can play it together, and when it gets too hard for him my character can carry him on my shoulders. I love playing with him because he laughs the whole time. Some of the video guys look like they're wearing diapers. "Mommy. My little man cracks me up." We both just laugh and laugh.

He continues to like music with a good beat. We went to a youth rally one night, and he jammed on his daddy's shoulders as the band played. His favorite music right now is a Christian group called Casting Crowns. We'll be going down the road (in my new Honda Accord!) and he'll say, "Casting Crowns, mom!" Once I put it on his favorite song, "Until the Whole World Hears", he'll say, "Now that's what I'm talkin' bout!" Then, he'll start rocking his head up and down as he sings the words. Since we traded in my Tahoe, Rocco can't watch videos/DVD's anymore while we're traveling. He wants to listen to some "rock and roll".

He still likes to snack, especially after school and right before bed. The latter drives Jason crazy. When it's bedtime, Rocco will start wanting a little snack. "Son, it's time for bed not time to eat." I know one day after school he ate a lot of gold fish crackers. I told him to stop or he wouldn't eat much supper. His reply? "Well, mom they will move over to the left side of my stomach, and my supper can go on the other side."

We are so blessed with our little man. He's full of life and so much joy. He's learning a lot about God and the Bible through Team Kid and Sunday School at church. One day when he was helping me prepare for my lesson, he saw a flannelgraph character. It was an angel dressed in dark gray with a mean face. "Look, mom! He's mean! Who is he?" I told him it was the devil. "Who is the devil?" This was our first conversation about the enemy. He didn't seem to understand why the devil didn't like God or why he was mean. He is still so young and innocent, so many things yet to learn. He will quickly tell you what a missionary is and without a doubt he knows that Jesus loves him more than anyone else.

Tee ball starts up again this month. Jason is the team's coach. I'm looking forward to this season!

There's a Pirate in our House...

2011-02-26T11:00:00.003-05:00

And he's the most handsome pirate I've ever seen. We've been sword fighting this morning. He chopped off my finger, jabbed me in the bootie, and sliced part of my head off. He's one tough pirate!

Four Years and Ten Months

2011-01-29T22:38:00.005-05:00

Monthly update:

1) Rocco is really into Monster Trucks. He has about 15 of them, and he loves to race them. He'll ask Jason and me which one we think is going to win. After we tell him, he'll run them all over the floor and announce a winner. Usually it's the one that mommy wanted to win. ;) The other day I took his power wheels to church so he could ride it around in the parking lot. Evidently he learned something from watching Monster Trucks because he went around and around in circles exclaiming, "Look, Mommy! I'm doing donuts!"

2) He no longer calls the refrigerator a fidge-uh-fator.

3) This month he started going to children's choir on Sunday night. He is the youngest and smallest member, but he is not the quietest. He sings his heart out. I love to watch him because he constantly jumps up and down when he sings. Reminds me of Tigger. In the car, he continually asks to sing the same songs that he knows from choir - Your Grace is Enough and Our God is an Awesome God.

4) At night he loves for his mommy to put him to sleep. I lay down beside him. If I'm not right up next to him, he'll say, "Snuggle and cuddle me." He continues to rub the mole on my face, too.

5) Rocco continues to be a sweetheart. I asked him the other night to pray for my heart because I was having a test the next day. He bowed his head and said, "Jesus, help mommy's heart to beat in the right place." After a little unsettling news a week prior at my cardiologist's office, I had to have a trans esophageal echo cardiogram. Thankfully, the news came back great. God continues to give me a strong pump and function after my heart surgery that was almost 11 years ago. The night after I had come home from the test, Rocco asked me, "Mommy, is your heart beating in the right place?" I assured him that it was and that Jesus has answered his prayers.

6) Little man is up to about 45 sight words now...and he's reading books! We are super excited!

Monster Jam Weekend

2011-01-22T23:37:00.001-05:00

Jason found out that you could ride a Monster truck in the TN mountains. He asked if I'd like us to go this weekend. Love my husband. He's cool like that. Spur of the moment and here we go on a weekend family get-away. Friday after school we headed up to Pigeon Forge, TN.

This was our first night staying in a Motel Six. We've been so blessed to stay in condo's on most of our vacations, but this simple place was clean, and I felt safe. For a little over $30 we found it to be quiet cozy. Saturday morning we woke up and headed out for an Apple Barn breakfast. I love Apple Barn! Aftwards we did a little shopping - my favorite? The Scrapbook Superstore!

Right down the road was a place where you could ride Monster Trucks. This is what we came for... the ultimate ride in a Monster Truck. We rode in Big Jim.

The driver took us over the dirt hill and around the loop 5 times. Boy was I glad when it was over. I screamed my head off, while Rocco and Jason just laughed. Little man loved it! We rode in the back of the truck - thankfully we didn't go full speed. The big hill was enough to scare me. Here I am trying to look calm. Oh the things you'll do for your kids!

It was really neat how it all worked out because we found out the real Monster Jam show was in town in Knoxville that night. We got on the phone and ordered our tickets right away. We even ended up with "Pit Party" passes, and Rocco was able to get some autographs from the drivers.

We couldn't have had any better seats. Six rows from the front - up close and personal to the biggest, baddest trucks! We had our "headphones" (as Rocco calls them), and were prepared though!

The show was loud! This was my first time at an event like this, and I had an absolute blast. Some of the kids around were just staring at me when I stood to my feet and started screaming with excitement. The highlights of the night were Spiderman's crash following his wheelie

and Predator's donut win. Even though we were inside a basketball stadium, the trucks found a way to race, crash, and spin out. Totally cool! I can't wait to go back - neither can Rocco.

Snowy, Wintry Weather

2011-01-10T18:30:00.007-05:00

At 9 o'clock last night it began to snow...just a little. When we woke up the this morning, we found that what the weathermen had been predicting had actually come true. It was a winter wonderland. Four inches! That's the most snow Rocco has ever seen, and it's certainly the most we've ever seen here at our home.

It wasn't just a special day because school was called off. Today was also Jason's 36th birthday. What a time we've had today. Thankfully Jason didn't have to go in to work; the roads were just too icy and snowy. The three of us were home together for the day, and living out in the country meant that we had lots of outside places to explore.

We started out around the front yard by pulling each other behind the four wheeler. Jason hooked up our brand new inner tube which I actually bought this summer to be used behind our boat. It served as a great snow tube though.

We even tried out a few hills with it. It worked...but not that good without the four wheeler pulling it.

So we spent the afternoon trying out all sorts of things as a make-shift sled. We just knew the slick kiddie swimming pool would work. It didn't. I tried some old piece of plastic, but it crumbled to pieces. The next one was the funniest. Jason crashed and burned on the flat stretcher. Later in the afternoon we finally realized what would work best. Jason took off the cover of the tube we'd been using and it flew down Elton's hill. That's me in the red!

I guess we rode around on the four wheeler for over an hour. We explored all the back trails of the flat woods. That's one of the perks of living out in the country. Our tracks were the only ones there...except for the few coyote and deer tracks/ scat that had beat us there. Jason tried to take us to nana and granddaddy's house, but the trail eventually came to a stop, so we had to turn around. When we got home, Rocco's feet were so cold. Believe me though when I say he was bundled up. He looked like a little muscle man with his overhauls all puckered out.
Jason built a snowman while Rocco and I warmed up inside. Since school is called off again tomorrow, I guess we will try to decorate him then. And you know who's going to be on Elton's hill again!

Texas, Here We Come!

2010-12-31T23:49:00.002-05:00

The week after Christmas, Rocco and I headed out to Frisco, Texas. Our purpose was to spend some time with the Carlson's. Maile is now 6 years old, but she was barely 2 when we first met her in Vietnam. Don and Kim Lan adopted her out of the same orphanage that we adopted Rocco from. These two little tikes have come a long way, both having the same adoption date back in March of 2007. We try to get together once or twice a year to let the kids play together. Just look at our two Asian beauties today.

We arrived in Texas on Tuesday, Dec. 28th, and Kim Lan took us to their home. While the kids played all afternoon, Kim Lan and I went shopping. During our stay, I was able to see her church, the kids' school, and her dance studio. That evening we went to Mr. Gatti's for some pizza and game time. Following our supper, we went to downtown Frisco to see the Christmas lights. The entire city block was lit up and synchronized to some music.

On Wednesday we went for a walk around their large neighborhood. The kids enjoyed riding their bikes, scooters, and hot wheels. Little man did really well pedaling for such a long distance. It wasn't long ago that he couldn't even reach the pedals, much less pedal them. Here are the kids (Maile, Rocco, and Maile's brothers - Joe and Sam).

Around lunch time, we all headed to Dallas to see the historic site where JFK was assassinated. We spent a good bit of time walking on the grassy knoll and seeing all the historic roads and buildings of that awful day that occurred 47 years ago. Here's the whole Carlson crew in Dallas right off Houston Street.

That evening Kim Lan and I went to a gym where we did some kick boxing. It kicked my tail. Here we are posing...trust me. I didn't lift all that weight. But if I did I'm sure my strong, Asian backup could spot me.

The next day we had a play date at McDonald's. And that night we went to a Vietnamese restaurant. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it. Rocco did, too. Our favorite? Jack fruit smoothie. The Carlson's and us weren't the only ones at dinner. Kim Lan's mother (pictured at far left) was there along with a good friend of Kim Lan's. Her name is Gloria. The cool thing about all 4 of us ladies is that we are all adoptive moms. Here we are with all of our babies - each one adopted.

Friday came in a hurry, and it was already time for us to head back to GA. I'll close here with double trouble. We have the best time when we get together. We've taken on Vietnam, GA, TX, Las Vegas and have decided we are going to tackle New York city next!

Four Years and Nine Months Old

2010-12-29T21:12:00.001-05:00

As you already know, Rocco has been reading simple sentences. Mrs. Bond, his pre-K teacher, began working with him recently during some of his nap time. While other kids are resting, Rocco and another student have been working on sight words. It seems he is one of the few ready to begin reading. Some of his words are up, we, red, big, is, me, and can. It's neat to watch him sound out the words. He tries to follow all the phonetic rules. He'll say, "ppp, ulll, aaaa, yuh. Play! Hey, mommy. You don't hear the Y in play." Pretty smart if you ask me. ;) I've taught him that when two e's walk together they make the long e sound. So, he also knows the word see and some other words like that. He's really excited about reading, and he still begs me to read books....lots of them. No matter how many I read it isn't enough.

Other than reading, we have another craze at our house. Monster trucks! It all started when my nana and papaw gave him a set of them for Christmas. The pack of 3 trucks also came with a DVD. These huge trucks that race, crash, jump, and demolish buses and trailers were all new to him. All it took was one time watching the 30 minute clips of this rough and tough crashing with some loud rocking music in the background and he was hooked! Here he is watching it with Carolyn, his nana.

When we went to Texas, he said something so cute that I had to remember to write it down. While traveling in the shuttle to the airport, I was talking to the riders and drivers about Rocco. I mentioned that this was probably his 8th time flying in an airplane. "By now," the bus driver remarked, "he's probably working on how many languages?" Without skipping a beat, Rocco replied, "I talk smack talk!"

Here are some other cute or smart things he's said recently.

"Hey, mom. A shadow doesn't have a mouth. So when you talk your shadow can't talk. And it can't smile."

"Truth is something you do right. Lie means you are in 'truvel'."

"A book has a spine. It holds the book together really tight so it doesn't fall to pieces. It has a front and back cover."

I was having tired pains from the end of the day, and Rocco said, "Mommy, can I kiss it?" He did so very sweetly. Then, he said, "Mommy can I pray for you?" He bowed his head and said, "Jesus, help mama feel better. Amen."

"Saturday is a house day. Sunday is a church day. The other days are school days." He then continued to tell me all the days of the week in the correct order.

His latest phrase is, "I promise," or "Trust me." For example, when he wants to wear shorts and a play shirt on a really cold day and I tell him, "No," he'll say, "I won't be cold, mama. Trust me."At four he already thinks sometimes that he knows more than me. Oh, brother!

I have to close with this picture because I finally was able to convince Rocco to get dressed up. No matter where we go, he thinks he has to wear a comfortable, cotton, short sleeved play shirt. He was real excited, though, when I told him that he was going to get to dress up like daddy one Sunday morning. These handsome guys took my breath away!

The Polar Express

2010-12-21T23:20:00.005-05:00

On this cold night in Decembr, we embarked upon an adventure like none before. At 7pm, we boarded a train in Tennessee. Daelyn, my niece, was there with us.

Our destination? The North Pole! Well, it wasn't the true North Pole. That would have taken hours. If it was the true North Pole then our train moved really fast because we there in 30 minutes. ;) While on our way, we listened to a lady read The Polar Express. Then, we were served Yoo Hoo's and a gingerbread cookie. By the time we finished our snack, we saw something magical. For a moment I felt like a kid again as I looked out the train window and found a large sign with dancing lights that said, "North Pole." And there he was. That right jolly old man...Santa Claus. He was waving to us. Within a few minutes the train came to a stop, and I was surprised to find that the big man with the red suit and hat was boarding OUR train. Rocco was so excited that he started burying his head in the seat, bouncing up and down, and telling me, "I'm too excited for this!"

Santa made his way past each child, giving them each a moment of his time, and then it was our turn. He stopped at our train seat, and Rocco sat on his lap and told him that he wanted a red, kitchen play sink for Christmas. Daelyn didn't speak to him, and she certainly didn't sit in his lap. I don't think she liked him very much, but as least she didn't cry.

All of the passengers were filled with excitement. After Santa left, our train began moving once more. This time we were headed back toward Tennessee. The trip had been magical and unforgettable, but what made it most special was that all of my immediate family was there. (Rocco is making some silly face here, but it's the only we got of all 6 of us. From left to right: Rocco, my brother, mom, me, niece, and my dad).

From Rocco's Mouth

2010-12-20T16:19:00.002-05:00

"Frosty the Snowman was a happy jolly toe and a button hose and two eyes made out of cold
Frosty the Snowman button and a hutton hose and two eyes made out of foal
Oh Frosty the snowman was a fairty tail they say and ..what's next?
but the children know oh the hat they found when they placed it on his head and he waved goodbye don't you cry I'll be back on Kiss-mas day. There must have been some magic in that old silver hat they found when they placed it on his head he tend to dance around. Oh Frosty is a happy jolly soul, and he waved goodbye saying don't you cry I'll be back on Kiss-mas Day!"

Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn't go? Ho, ho, ho, who wouldn't go?
Up on the housetop, down through the chimney with Shote Naint Nick."

Dashing through the snow, one horse open sleigh,
Laughing all the way, He, he, he.
Over the fields we go in a one horse open sleigh.
Ohhhh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way!

Rudolph you 'll go down in mystery!

"Mommy, who's my wife?"
I reply, "You don't have a wife."
"Yes, I do."
"No you don't." I say again.
"Yes, I do. Nana!"

Callaway Gardens

2010-12-12T21:43:00.000-05:00

My birthday is December 7th. Being born in 1976, I turned 34 this year. I decided I wanted to do a birthday get-away with my mom. . . and of course I wanted my sidekick to go, too. The three of us drove down Saturday morning. We took our time getting there; we had to stop along the way and do some Christmas shopping. What should have been a 2 1/2 hour trip turned out more like four, but that was the fun of it all. There were no "men" to hurry us around. ;)

I booked everything through Callaway, and the package included our one night's stay at the Mountain Creek Inn, the Fantasy in Lights show, a Christmas ornament, the breakfast buffet, and all day garden entrance. It was worth every penny we spent.

We arrived in Pine Mountain, GA, around 3:30pm. Once we checked in, we wasted no time getting to the Christmas village, a super large tent with shopping, food treats, gingerbread house with a train circling it, crafts, and even Santa himself! Even though Rocco had already seen Santa on his pre-K field trip to the mall, we encouraged him to sit on his lap again. A little reluctant, Rocco agreed. He was later glad he did so, because when he was finished Santa gave him a candy cane. I love his cute smile here. He's not wearing his cute Christmas clothes. He thinks he is supposed to wear a "play shirt" all the time. Play shirts, according to him, are all short sleeves and cotton comfortable. (So much for the cute outfit I bought him.)

Right outside the village there was a fun playground we took advantage of. I found a lot of pine cones lying around; I collected a big bag for my Aunt Katie who plans on doing some craft with them. We also found a mini putt putt course; this was right up Rocco's alley.

After the village, we went further up the mountain to view one of God's beautiful sunsets. It was very cold and windy up there, but the sight was breathtaking. Then, we ate supper at the Country Store. By the time we finished eating it was time to bundle up in our many layers and prepare for the trolley ride along the 5 mile trail of lights. Nothing I've ever seen even compares to the Fantasy of Lights that we saw. The trolley held about 60 people and was pulled by a big Ford truck. A speaker played a narrator's voice and neighing horses. It made it feel like you were in a horse-drawn sleigh. All of the lights were synchronized to music and many of them moved. It was beautiful. Many of the lights reflected off of the large ponds off of the golf course. Honestly any picture I took did not do what we really saw justice. We traveled through about 14 different scenes. My favorite was the Winter Wonderland scene. We were entirely surround by white lights and snowflakes; it was like a dream.

When the trolley ride ended, there was more! We stopped to watch "Twas the Night Before Christmas" light show and then "The Christmas Story" of Jesus. My mom treated us to some hot chocolate and funnel cakes afterwards.

Rocco loved it, and so did my mom and I. He kept saying, "I've never been to this place before. I love Callaway Gardens. I want to stay here forever!" I explained to him it was only a short time that we'd be there. "I don't like short vacations," was his reply.

The day we packed up to leave, we decided to spend some time at the gardens since it came with our package. The weather was so very cold, so we bundled up and visited the butterfly house, birds of prey show, and the many gift shops. The greenhouse we visited had a tall Christmas tree made out of poinsettias... and animals shaped from various plants. I'm so thankful we took this trip. It turned out to be one of my favorite weekend get-aways of all time.

Gingerbread Train

2010-12-04T22:45:00.004-05:00

Each year Rocco and I try to assemble and decorate a gingerbread house. This year was no exception...only this year we found a gingerbread train. We had so much fun adding icing and candy to this thing. He kept wanting to eat all the decorations on it.

This is what we started with...

By the time we added some leftover Halloween candy, we had the train covered in yummy, sugary treats. We even had a little candy bench for the passengers to sit on. Check out this cute little guy posing for his picture...

What's up with this expression?

Here we are together.

4 years 8 months old

2010-11-29T21:57:00.006-05:00

Rocco is growing up so fast. He will tell you that his birthday is March 29th and that he will be 5. "Let's not rush it!" I tell him. I want him to be 4 for as long as he can.

He is such a loving boy. Sometimes I'll say, "Let's just cuddle." And he says, "Ok!" He still loves to snuggle with me ( and he continues to rub the mole on my face ). The other night I had a hair trimmer near my face and he shouted, "Mommy, don't cut your mole off!" When I kiss him sometimes he'll say, "I just put that kiss in my mouth." And when he goes to sleep at night, he'll sometimes tell me, "Mommy, I just want you to stay in my dreams."

He's learned so much at school. He came home this month using the word aint. We quickly told him this was not a real word. It's hard to convince him when he is surrounded by friends at school that are real country. Now there's nothing wrong with being country, but we do want our son to learn how to talk proper. One morning I ate breakfast with him at school. I overhead a little boy in his class telling someone, "Go up ere' and gitch ya one." Oh me. His little sheltered world came to an end when he started pre K (not to mention all of the pooting sounds he thinks are so funny now.) Thankfully, we haven't heard of any misbehaving at school. He saves his newly learned "knowledge" for when he gets home.

One good thing he has learned at school is that exercise affects his heartbeat. The PE teacher, Mrs. McLean, taught him this. When he's been running, he'll stop and say, "Hey mom! My heart is beating fast!"

His number sense amazes me. The other day he made a joke when we were listening to a song, "Route 66." He said, "No, it's route 55. 44. 77. 88." He has the sense of humor of a gifted child. When I say, "I need to do this, but..." He'll say, "Butt! Did you say butt?"

He was working on the computer at his nana and granddaddy's house one afternoon. When I picked him up I couldn't believe what he had done. Without any help or ideas from anyone, he typed the numbers 1 - 100 on the computer. He did skip the 80's, but I thought that was pretty impressing coming from a 4 year old. There were no spaces between the numbers, but you could clearly see that he had typed all numbers 1 - 100.

One day, we was sitting in the back seat of the car and I overhead him counting by 10's. "20, 30, 40, 50, 60, ..." He went all the way to 100. I couldn't do that until 1st grade.

Okay, I'll stop bragging now. I'm blessed though. Extremely blessed to have such a handsome, sweet, and smart young boy.

Shutterfly

2010-11-23T01:45:00.004-05:00

Photography is one of my favorite hobbies. And especially since I have been blessed with the cutest little boy, I have a great subject to photograph. We had to wait 10 years into our marriage before we had him. So believe me, I don't just trust my photos to anyone. I use Shutterfy's on-line service for all of my picture development. There's several reasons why...

1) I don't have to go to a store and wait in line to use the photo machine. I download everything from my own home computer.
2) They store your pictures for free. There's no limit either. This gives me peace of mind knowing that if my computer ever crashes, I can rely on Shutterfly to hold on to my memories.
3) They have the neatest gifts! I've bought and or received mouse pads, coasters, desk organizers, Christmas ornaments, notepads, cards, calendars, prints (from 4 x 6 to 11 x 14), magnets, and even photo books.
4) They are always offering discounts, free shipping, and other incentives to shop with them.
5) It allows me to have my own personal website for photo sharing. Leave me a comment for the password.

My favorite gift idea has been the photo books. They are easier than scrapbooking. I made one of our foster children and gave it to their birth mom. She loved it!

This month Shutterfly is giving away 50 free Christmas cards if you blog about how Shutterfly has helped you with your photo needs. I've already purchased my Christmas cards from Shutterfly. I can hardly wait for the orange package to arrive in the mail.

I can always use more Christmas cards to send to our church family, so I'm looking forward to getting 50 free. Thanks Shutterfly!

Talking Smack

2010-11-21T23:28:00.002-05:00

Seems that our little Rocco can really talk some smack. He and his daddy were playing the bowling game on the Wii game the other night. Whenever Rocco would get a spare or knock a lot of pins down, he'd turn to his daddy and say, "How ya' like that?" Then, he'd wink at his daddy.

Jason commented that he sure wished he could get a strike. Shortly after that, Rocco himself got a strike. With a sly grin he asked his daddy, "Is that what you need right there?"

Rocco is Reading Sentences

2010-11-09T22:03:00.007-05:00

Rocco informed me that he had science homework tonight. Even though this was all pretend, I turned the computer on to the typing screen. He used the keypad to type several letters. He was so proud of his "homework".

I sat down with him at the computer to work on reading some words. A few days ago, Jason taught him that r-o-a-d spells road. He also knows the at word family. Many months ago we taught him all the names of the immediate family members. To add to all of this, I introduced a few simple verbs like have, am and love so that we could begin making sentences. And the rest is, well, history! He took off. We were beyond thrilled. He even yelled, "Mommy, I am too excited for this!"

You can see the sentences that he read in the picture above. He also read the sentences below.

"Rocco is sad. Dad is sad. Mom is mad. Nana is sunny.Granddaddy is glad. Drew is a cat. I love a big, fat cat. Mimi is fun.Papaw and I have a ball."

After we let Rocco read to his dad, we called Granddaddy & Nana Carolyn, his teacher Mrs. Caldwell, and his Mimi on the phone to tell them the great news. They were super excited.

He only stumbled a little. One of the greatest things about it was that he would stop to sound out the words. B (buh) i (ihh) g(ggg)...big! He was figuring out words that I would randomly throw in there.

This is major. Major! Rocco is reading! Thank you Lord for our 4 year old Rocco. He's handsome, sweet, funny, and smart!

4 years 7 months old

2010-11-01T11:51:00.000-04:00

At 4 years 7 months old, Rocco seems to be as picky as a teenager when it comes to clothes. Tears often come streaming down his face if it's not a "play shirt". He has certain short sleeves shirts that he likes to wear. If we put on a shirt with a collar, buttons, or even a long sleeve cotton shirt, he gets bent out of shape. And as soon as he gets home from school, even if he has on comfortable clothes, he goes straight to his drawer and pulls out a "play shirt" and his favorite red shorts. We have to keep them washed up because that's what he thinks he has to wear all the time. Oh me, I hope he grows out of this phase! I've bought him so many cute clothes, matching sweaters and shirts in the past, but now I have to really stop and think before I purchase anything. In order for him to wear it, I have to convince him it's a play shirt - and that's not very easy these days!

October Happenings

2010-10-31T20:27:00.001-04:00

I love October. Cool mornings, falling leaves, baking cookies, fall festivals, Halloween parties, and pumpkins everywhere! We still have the two foster babies, and we've been very busy. We went to the pumpkin patch. Yes. Me and four kids! Jessica, our 9 year old cousin, was the fourth kid. She was actually my helper. Most of the pictures I took there were on a disposable camera because my batteries went dead. The foster babies, Rocco, Jessica, and I picked out our pumpkins, went on a hay ride through a pumpkin patch, found our way through a hay maze, rode on kiddie tractors/ horses, and petted various farm animals.

Every year we paint pumpkins on the Papa's Sunday before Halloween. The kids also hunt little toy pumpkins the same way they hunt Easter eggs in the spring. They're filled with candy. All of the kids even decorate their own bags to put their treats in. And if this weren't enough goodies, most of the aunts and cousins put together candy bags for every kid. Yes, we love our kids. They're well taken care of with plenty of goodies on every major holiday. Plus it's another fun family activity for us to do after Sunday dinner. This is how our pumpkins turned out this year.

Rocco had his first school performance. At the PTO meeting held on October 28th, the pre K students sang three songs before the annual pumpkin painting. They sang I'm So Glad to be Here, There's an Alligator in the Elevator, and Pumpkin March. Jason was the videographer, and I was the photographer. We took plenty of pictures. Rocco did all of the motions and sang nice and loud. He wasn't embarrassed at all.

Following the performance, we got our family pumpkin and let Rocco paint it. Then, he ran off to play on the school playground with two of his best friends, Cade and Will.

On the Friday before Halloween, Rocco's class had their first big party. I took Capri Sun drinks and other parents brought the usual cupcakes and chips. The kids sat around and ate their goodies, then they went to the carpet to sing the songs again that they had sung at the PTO performance. After that, it was time for Trunk or Treat. All of the kids in Rocco's class, all 20 of them, had dressed up in a costume. (Rocco was a baseball player.)They were ready to walk around the parking lot and collect more sugary treats!

Several of the teachers dressed up this day at school. It was the final day for Drug Free Week, so Friday's theme was to wear your costume and not be spooked into taking drugs. I was Elvis. . . the girl version. While singing Blue Suede Shoes to one of my classes, my wig went flying off. It was hilarious - one of the teachers was videoing my and I watched it later.

On Halloween day, Jason's mom, aunt, sister and cousins met us with the kids at the local bank. After taking pictures of every one's costumes, we toured the downtown streets trick-or-treating together. It was so much fun, and the weather was beautiful. Rocco was a dinosaur. Drew always comes up with his own unique costume; he was the Ace of Spades this year. Sydney is almost 2, and she made the cutest GA cheerleader. Jessica was a 20's flapper, Colston was a clown just like his daddy, and the foster babies were Dorothy and the scarecrow.

Even though we covered a lot of ground that night, I don't think Rocco got that tired. That's probably because he did very little walking. He rode some in the wagon again this year and rode on his daddy's shoulders.

And even if I am his mom, I have to admit he was the cutest trick-or-treater I've ever seen.

Back from Jamaica

2010-10-09T21:35:00.007-04:00

We're back from Jamaica! Jason, Rocco, and I spent 7 days there for our fall break. Our resort, Rose Hall Hilton, was really nice. Our room overlooked a beautiful golf course and had a partial view of the ocean. Other than the beach, we also had one of the best water complexes in the Caribbean. It had a swinging bridge, lazy river, water falls, spewing fountains, 2 water slides, several hot tubs, and a large pool (one day I took a water aerobics class).

The small water slide was Rocco's absolute favorite. The large slide was too rough and fast for him. He wasn't tall enough to ride in the float for it. The other slide, however, was perfect for him. Every morning after breakfast, we would ride it about seven to ten times...I lost count. The slide was actually broken in 3 smaller slides that were all connected by little lagoon areas. One of the mini slides was enclosed in a tunnel; this one was his favorite. By the end of the week, he not only went down the slide by himself, he also landed in the pool without us catching him. He realized that his life vest would hold him up. Our tropical vacations are good for him. Each year he learns another cool trick in the water. In Cancun, he learned independence in the pool so long as he had on his life vest. Slowly he began to trust that he was fine in the water even if we weren't holding him; the life vest would keep him afloat.

The slide was his favorite, but the drinks came in at a strong third. Because we were all inclusive, the juices and daiquiris were "free". When we first arrived, he drank all of his welcome juice and mine. It was a mix of mango,pineapple, & ginger.. He drank his weight in strawberry daiquiris. And of course he was quick to snatch the cherries on top before anyone else could eat them. He was sweet though in sharing some with me.

Rocco carried his little football with him everywhere he went. It's fun to watch him mature and go through different stages. He rarely plays with his cars and trains anymore. Each night while I relaxed in the bed and watched some TV, Rocco and his daddy would wrestle. "Touchdown, Daddy!" Jason would yell. They would go back and forth fumbling and laughing. They also played football in the pool during the day. While we were at the resort, Rocco picked up another sport, too. Ping pong. He would beg us to play it. He was quite the player! We called him the "Ping Pong Bandit".

I am so thankful that we made it back home safely. I always get a big rush of patriotism and pride when we land on American soil. But I must admit, there are a few things I really miss.

1) In Jamaica, it was just the three of us. The foster babies that we are caring for stayed with a respite family. It was nice just getting to focus on Rocco and my husband again.

2) Cell phones didn't work there ;)

3) I rarely put on make-up and I wore flip flops and comfortable clothes every day. No name tag. No fancy work clothes. No schedule and no to-do list.

4) I loved just watching Rocco run around on the sand, chasing leaves blown by the wind and throwing rocks into the water.

5) All meals were cooked for you and there was never a mess to clean up.

6) I miss crab hunting on the beach at night with our flashlights and the warm, gentle ocean breeze cooling our suntanned skin.

Fall break was wonderful this year! Jamaica was a beautiful place, and we made a lot of great memories there. When can we go back?

4 Years and 7 Months

2010-09-29T21:56:00.001-04:00

I've seen a big change in Rocco over the last month. He's gone from loving trains and cars to being a little football star. Though he's never played on a team, he is a pro when it comes to wrestling around and playing "Fumble" with his daddy. Everywhere we go now he carries this little brown ball with him. It's just his size.

Another all boy thing he's into now is making poot sounds. I'm sure he picked this up from his school peers. Oh the joys of being in school! He puts his arm up to his lips and makes a long flubbing sound. Then, he proceeds with, "Eww! Stink!" Loads of giggles follow. Oh my! When will he outgrow this?

Rocco continues to be very particular about his clothing. He has his favorite play shirts and is very picky about which ones he wears. If he could have his way, he would always wear his GA jersey #24 shirt. Every now and then we do need to wash it. He doesn't seem to get this. He just wants to wear it all the time.

Having a 4 year old is so much fun. He's growing way too fast, and he's already informed us that he will be 5 on his birthday. That's not until another 5 months. I told him I didn't even want to talk about him turning five yet.

Foster Babies and A New Arctic Cat

2010-09-19T22:28:00.003-04:00

Depending on what moment you ask Rocco, he will either tell you he loves the babies that are with us or he may tell you he's ready for them to leave. He's been so good to them though, regardless of his mood. I will admit though that he is a little tattler. If any one of them is out of line for any reason, I can count on him to let me know about it. We've had this sweet sibling group for 3 1/2 weeks now. It's probably been the hardest thing Jason and I have ever done; however, there are moments here and therethat remind me it is rewarding.

Because Rocco's done so well in sharing his space and belongings, I thought he deserved a fun toy shopping spree. When the two foster babies went to visit their family, I took him to Toys R Us. When it was just the two of us he said, "Mom, we're having a wonderful time, aren't we?" He does love it when it's just us, and who can blame him? That's all he's known.

On our shopping spree, I bought him a Hot Wheels parking deck. I also got him a new Arctic Cat. I knew he would love it because he has one similar to it that he rides at his nana and granddaddy's. At a birthday party he went to one once, he rode on one for a long time. Being a good "brother/ friend" to these children we have deserves a reward. So I bought this for him. And as usual, he was great about sharing it, too!

Rocco informed me that he was an "excellent driver" and he really was! The babies took turns riding with him. When one rode, the other pushed. They all had to get involved.

Yet Another Great Reason We Like Living In the Country

2010-09-11T21:22:00.003-04:00

Rocco and I were riding the four wheeler this afternoon. All of a sudden we spotted a very big turkey running across the hay field next to the cotton crops. We took off as fast as we could and chased that big bird. He outran us. . . so we found some Canada geese to chase next. They flew away to another lake as Rocco and I high fived each other.

4 years and 5 months old

2010-09-02T22:41:00.005-04:00

He's been in school for a month now, and he's loving it! He goes to PE, art, music, computer lab, Light span (learning games on computer), library, and recess. One day he came home telling us Cade was his friend, but he was a little bit mean. Within the next week he says this Cade is his best friend. Of course at this age, most of his classmates are his friends. He's actually been to 3 of his school friends' birthday parties.

Riley turned 4

Peyton turned 4

And Ferris turned 4...

The book he has in his lap in the picture above is the first book he checked out at his own school library. It is ShortTrain Long Train. We read it three times tonight. On Friday he gets to check out another one. Friday's are also big days because that is the one day they sell ice cream after lunch.

He's so big. Every day after school, he comes to my classroom and hangs out with the older kids who love to hide in my room (rather than go to afterschool care). He'll write his letters, watch TV, and eat his snack.

I think we've finally got the basics down. 1) Use the potty. 2) Turn in your morning folder. 3) Eat a good breakfast and lunch. . . . well, we're still working on this one.

Big Man on Campus

2010-08-19T21:22:00.003-04:00

Everywhere he goes at our school he hears, "Hey, Rocco!" Teachers, principals, small kids, even big fifth graders. They all know the big man on campus; that's because I work at the school he attends and most people have known about the "science teacher's son" since he came home from Vietnam. Most of the time, he just looks at people like, "How do they know my name?" After about a week, I think he's gotten used to it. The after school care kids have always liked coming to my room to "help" me. Now, they enjoy keeping Rocco occupied. After he eats his afternoon snack he asks me, "Now what can I do?" Thankfully, they help me find things for him.

I know so many people have prayed for Rocco's transition to school. I simply give God the glory for how smoothly things have gone. He LOVES recess. His second favorite, he told his dad was . . . recess, too. No, really - he also likes PE. He brags about the fact that he stops when he hears the whistle. (Evidently that's the important thing when you're teaching 20 three and four year old's in gym. . . knowing when to stop.) He thinks it's fun running in there with his friends. I'm sure the gym seems so large to him.

In art, his class just completed self portraits of themselves. I got to look at them all. Pretty funny to see how kids perceive themselves. Rocco was the only one to draw a unibrow over his eyes. Guess he's used to his daddy's and his big eyebrows.

As for computer class, he knows what to do. He's sat in my lap enough in our home office to know how to use a mouse, where the back button is, and what "Favorites" are. The computer teacher said many of the kids had trouble and kept getting stuck during class. Little man in his headphones just kept on going.

The music teacher cracked him and his class up. Our southern, down-to-earth, music teacher from Alabama has some unusual sayings. Rocco picked one up from him. "Well, hush my mouth!"

He has two classroom teachers that are doing a wonderful job with the class. Often I'll see their group going to and from the cafeteria or to another location; Rocco will just stop, put his hand up, and say, "Hey mom!" He's so big. He then keeps walking with his class. (I think they've had to work on him running to the front of the line. Being an only child, he didn't have the grasp of waiting, especially in a line. Now, I think he understands that he actually has to be behind others. Great life lesson!)

And to keep him motivated (you know like to use the potty at school, turn in his morning folder, eat well at lunch - the important stuff) I bought new racecars from Disney's CARS. Every afternoon, he earns one if he meets his goals. It's Thursday and he's earned 3 for the week! We're so proud of our big man on campus!

52 months old

2010-08-07T20:47:00.002-04:00

Fifty-two months. That's how old our little boy is now. And here are just a few things that he's into lately.

1) Dinosaurs. He knows every dinosaur in one of his books from home, Dinosaur Train. It's funny to hear such a little person pronounce all those names: T Rex, Diplodocus, Brachiosaurus, Triceratops, and Spinosaurus. Granddaddy aggravates him and tries to confuse him by asking, "Well, where's the Roccosaurus?"

2) And speaking of dinosaurs, Rocco loves to pretend that one is after us. "Hurry! There's a T Rex!" he'll say. We'll have to jump on the bed quickly. Every now and then a shark will be after us, too.

3) He continues to give me lots of loving. Now, after he does so he will say, "Don't tell daddy 'bout that cause he'll say (and he uses a deep voice here) 'That's my loving.'" It's so funny. When I laugh and laugh, he'll say, "Hey, what's so funny guys?" I'll tell him that he's the funny one. He comes back with this reply, "I'm not funny. I'm just an ol' fussy pot!" I don't know where he picked up this term, but he insists that we are all fussy pots. I think it actually means we are all happy.

4) During Sunday service at church one morning, Jason came down from the pulpit area while preaching and walked near the congregation. Rocco turned to me and asked, "Why's daddy off his porch?" Cracked me up! I told Richard, one of our deacons at church, and he said at least he wasn't off his rocker.

5) Just like any other boy, Rocco thinks that poots and burps are funny. We try to teach him proper manners and to say, "Excuse me." The other night at supper, I thought he was choked. Instead, it was a big burp that nearly took his breath. For hours he talked about that big burp. "That was the biggest burp ever!" I told him that even I couldn't burp that big.

Now this next part he came up with on his own - with his witty little sense of humor. If we're talking to him and we say something like, "I would like to do this, but. . . " he says, "Butt? Did you say butt?" He knows the differences in the but(t)s, and he loves to make a joke out of it.

6) This is a big age for Rocco. A stage where I'm having to let go just a little. He just started attending a Sunday School class for the first time without me. I've been his Sunday School teacher since he was old enough to attend one. He did great that first time without me. I was glad, but part of me missed him. And now that he's starting school, I'll have to let go a little more.

Where Did My Baby Go?

2010-08-06T23:24:00.002-04:00

How can three and a half years go by so fast? I've tried to document so many events of our little boy's life, hoping that time would go a little slower if I kept up with each little happening. But regardless, I literally turned around a few times and I went from riding to his orphanage to pick him up to preparing to take him to pre K. Part of me is so happy to know I've been blessed to have this beautiful gift to see grow up, but the other half just wants to cry because he's not a baby anymore.

He asked me today, "Mom, why do you call me a baby?" I had to explain to him, just like my mom did to me, that no matter how old or how big he gets, he will always be my baby. Sure, he's a big boy now, but I don't care if he turns 100 one day he'll still be my baby.

I rocked him tonight (Rocco's request). As we cuddled in the rocking chair, I sang him some of the same songs I've sang to him over the last 3 years (I Love You Forever, Mama Told Me So, Jesus Loves Me, Jesus Loves the Little Children, and Ba Ba Bush Ka) and he still felt small in my arms. I cherished that time, trying to take it in and hold it forever in my mind. Please time don't go by so fast. My teary eyes can't take too much more.

Rocco Is Starting School

2010-08-04T22:02:00.005-04:00

I'm not a mess. . . yet. Ask me Monday how I'm doing. That's when Rocco officially begins school. Tonight was just PTO Open House. Here's a picture of our little family (Jason's head was cut off by the kid photographer who took our picture - JJ- ha!)

Pre-K is already here for our little man. It's surreal. I mean we just brought him home from Vietnam not long ago. Now he's four and about to spend 8 hours a day away from us. Sure he's been away from me for that long before considering I've worked a job, but he's always been with Carolyn and Gary. Soon he'll be in a classroom full of some kids I don't even know who have been raised by parents I've never met. What will he do without us there? Who will open his favorite chips at lunch? Who will remind him to say his blessing before he eats? Who will insist that he say, "Mam?" instead of "Huh?" He'll be going to the bathroom without me to help him. Who will help him put his pants back on when he throws them off? Those are the kinds of things I worry about.

The good thing is that he's not away from family completely. One of his classroom teachers is Jason's first cousin. That puts my mind somewhat at ease. And another thing that helps me is knowing that I'll be there at the same school all day (albeit another hall over - but still I can check on him). Here he is with his teachers, Ms. Susan and Mrs. Bond.

I hope he won't bite on his fingers and get nasty school germs in his mouth. I hope no older kids bully him in the bathroom or in the halls. I hope he is secure in the love we have for him and know that we are coming back for him at the end of the school day. I hope he knows what to say when others notice he's not "white." I hope he is proud that he stands out in a class where there are no Asians. I hope he tells his teachers when he has to tee tee and doesn't wait until the last minute and suddenly whip it out at recess. Yes, there's a lot of things I think on and (I know I shouldn't) WORRY about.

On a more optimistic note, I'm very excited about Rocco's new school shoes. This was the last thing he needed before beginning pre K. I found these at a store in town today. They are size 8 and are "Jumping Jacks." I spent $50 on them, but I believe they'll hold up really well for him and be worth it in the long run.

I feel confident that Rocco will do well in his academics. He can already count to 100, read and spell a few words (toy, mom, dad, Rocco, and go), write some letters (A,a, C, c, D, G, M, O, o, P), and he can even "read" several books from memory. I believe he'll be reading books by the end of the year.

Here's a cute picture of Rocco in the school library. I hope he continues to love books the way that he does now.

July update

2010-07-27T22:13:00.011-04:00

So much for blogging about each day of summer. Here's a quick recap of how the month of July unfolded.

Rocco and I enjoyed snuggling in the morning, getting up later than usual, and doing whatever we wanted. Sometimes that meant playing outside on our new slip and slide. . .

Nana and granddaddy's pool is one of our favorite spots this summer. . . especially when Drew and Sydney are there.

One day this summer we were all there (Ben, Tonya "Ta", Drew, Sydney, Gary, Carolyn, Jason, Rocco, and I.) This was the first time since Christmas that we were all together at Carolyn's on Sunday dinner. We were there to celebrate Tonya's birthday.

On a few occassions, we had play date with friends. One day we went to Will Cox's house. Another day we went to Matthew Shoaf's house and played in the water.

This month Rocco has really gotten into Toy Story. He goes around the house saying, "To infinity and beyond!" In the morning he'll get on my back and say, "Ride like the wind, Bullseye!"

The fourth of July started out with a big bummer - Rocco and I overslept and missed the parade. The show went on without us. Jason, Tonya, Drew, Sydney, Allison, Colston, and Chloe' were on the tractor. That afternoon (July 3rd - Saturday) we celebrated my mom's 53rd birthday. We had a big cookout; I made 2 homemade cakes(peanut butter and strawberry).

On my mom's actual birthday, July 5th, Rocco and I went up there to spend time with my family. We had a lot of fun with baby Daelyn on the slip and slide and in the baby pool.

The next day, my dad and I took Rocco and Daelyn to the Discovery Kids Museum. Rocco didn't want to leave. It was a great place for them to play, explore, and even do crafts.

July is such a big month for birthdays. My mom, my brother, Jason's sister, and several of Rocco's friends celebrated their special days. We went to Waylon's bowling party. This was a fun party because Rocco was able to catch up with some of his tee ball teammates. Here's Hayes, Waylon, Rocco, and Matthew. Jason went with us and helped all the boys with their bowling game. They did really well with his help (the gutters were blocked off AND they had a ramp, too).

Jason, Rocco, and I also went to Jake Medley's birthday party. He turned 2. Is he not the cutest blonde headed boy you've ever seen?

I think this was one of THE funnest outside kids' parties I've ever been to. They had 2 pools, 2 slip and slides, and gators / bobcats for the kids to ride around in.

Being able to stay at home with Rocco had been such a blessing. We've done a few home projects, like organizing Rocco's closet and putting an entire kitchen / McDonald's playset inside it.

Rocco and I also took a special trip to Daytona, Florida, with my mom this month. We stayed at a really nice condo in an ocean view room for five days. We only ate out once at a seafood restaurant, and we did play miniature golf one night. The rest of the time we stayed near the pool and beach. Honestly, we were just beach bums. It was great not having to get ready or fix up to go anywhere. The place where we stayed had a lazy river, a kiddie water area ( our favorite), a water slide, 2 pools, and a little snack area where we bought some delicious pina colada and strawberry slushies. Rocco enjoyed getting his feet wet in the ocean water, but he played it cautious. He held on to our hands if he ventured too far, and when the waves would come in the shallow part, he would quickly get behind his mimi. For the most part, he didn't like the ocean water. I couldn't talk him into going out in it with us. What he did enjoy was playing in the sand with his shovel, mini excavator, dump truck, and a dart game I brought. He and his mimi enjoyed walking in the sand while I rode a few rough waves on my boogie board. My parents have been married for 36 years, and this was my mom's first long trip away without my dad. It was a first for us - a girl trip.

And I had to close with this cute picture of Rocco in my hat. On the long ride to Florida, Rocco did so good. Part of the time he watched Toy Story 1 and 2. His favorite is the second one because it has the horse, Bullseye, and Jessie in it. There's a part at the end of the movie where Woody loses his hat. Over and over, Rocco would quote that line from the movie as he played with his potato head toy. "Oh no! He lost his hat! What's a cowboy without his hat? Yee Ha! Ride 'em cowboy!" Here's my cute cowboy coming home with his hat. . . and a nice tan!

4 years and 3 months old

2010-06-29T22:52:00.010-04:00

Some things have stayed the same in the last month of Rocco's growth. He can amuse himself for an hour or so playing with his cars, pretending that there's "Trouvle" on a broken bridge. Often he'll get his trains together and they will have a meeting. If you give him his Disney Cars, he'll race for hours on end. And he still loves the color yellow, chewing gum, eating candy, and loving on mommy's face. He continues to go to sleep while rubbing my mole.

But this month Rocco has seen a few first's. He shot a paintball gun, rode on go carts, saw a movie at a theatre, earned a trophy, got on a mechanical bull, got himself up on the kitchen stool without help, went to potty by himself at church, and counted to 100! That's right. If you alternate count with him, he can go up to 100. Thirteen through eighteen is a little tricky, but he's doing great with his math. He also uses a calculator to add simple sums, such as 8 + 8 or 2 + 2. And he knows many of the sums for numbers that are added to themselves (5 + 5, 1 + 1, etc.)

When it comes to letters, he is just as smart. Since he can recognize all of his alphabet letters when they are capitalized, we've been working on the lowercase ones. Rocco also knows many of the sounds that the letters make. Jason, Carolyn, and I have read to him a lot this summer. In keeping up with the time, we documented over 400 minutes of books read. He racked up on rewards from the library. The great thing is that after I've read to him for an hour he still asks me to read another. One of his favorite books is "All Aboard the Dinotrain." He's recently learned what a T-Rex is. He also likes books about Grover, probably because I read a book to him about Grover going to school. Throughout the entire book I referred to him as, "Grover Rocco." Now whenever he sees him on tv, he says it is him.

I am hopeful that reading will come very soon for him. Not only does he know his letters and sounds, but he's a great rhymer. He rhymes all the time, from sunup till sundown. "Cupcakes, mupcakes. Gum, shmum. Rocco, taco. . . ." He's also good at breaking syllables apart. While playing with his Cars, he'll tell us, "Say Oc. Say tain. Say gain. Say Octain Gain."

The other day I was on the computer. He came and sat in my lap, like he often does, and looked on the screen. "R-O-C-C-O. Hey mommy! Is that my blog?" Sure enough it was. (He calls the computer a "re-pooter.")

He's so observant, too. I took him shopping with me for groceries the other day. He was riding in one of the race car buggies. A few aisles over I noticed that he had a big bag of sugar in his hands. When I asked him where he got it, he told me, "Over at 5." I looked up at the signs, and underneath aisle 5 it said, "Sugar." He hardly misses anything!

Anytime he sees a picture and he's not in it, he questions where Rocco is. He hasn't gotten the concept of time real well in that there was once a time on earth when he wasn't here. That is a little confusing to him when I tell him he wasn't even born in Vietnam yet. "Well, was I with Jesus?" he'll ask.

Rocco is a snacker. If you're not careful, he'll snatch any cherries you have. He'll beg for chips, and when he gets them he'll eat half of the Pringles stack if you let him. You can always tell when he's been snacking because he leaves chip crumbs like a little rat. He has discovered a new candy that he really likes. Mike and Ike. He calls them "Miky dud Ikes."

What makes Rocco happy or excited? A new Cars shirt, getting a new train or car, when you agree to play a game with him, going swimming at nana and granddaddy's pool, and gum.

Mostly recently he's been calling me mom instead of mommy. He shortened things up a bit and decided he is Roc and daddy is dad. We'll see how long this lasts. Rocco is always coming up with new ideas and games. When we're on tile floors, he reminds me to stay on the water and not touch the lines. He'll also slowly close his hand and say, "Get my hand before it closes!" If I don't get him, he's "stuck in the mud."

I believe he has only child syndrome. Several weeks ago I was on the phone; he didn't like it. He turned to me and said, "Pay attention to me." He talks so much, but every now and then he'll stop and say, "Are you listening to me?" Hopefully one day a brother or sister will cure this!

When it comes to clothes, Rocco likes to be comfortable. If you try to dress him in a shirt that has a collar, he'll tell you that he wants to wear a play shirt. And when I do have him all fixed up for church or going out to eat, that little stinker will untuck his shirt right after I've tucked it in. If I'd let him, he'd wear his pajamas all day long.

Whenever he goes to sleep, whether it be for 9 hours at night or a 2 hour nap, he calls it a nap. He'll say, "Am I going to take a short nap or a long nap?"

While trying to teach him the books of the Bible the other night, he stopped me at First and Second Corinthians. "Mommy, like t-ball?" We laughed together at this. He heard me say 1st and 2nd. To him, those were bases.

And finally, Rocco is so aware of his surroundings and directions. He'll tell you, "If you turn there, you go to Nana's house" or "That's where t-ball is...." He knows what street he lives on as well as his grandparents, Will's, and Matthew's street. On a funny note, after his first movie theatre experience he asked me, "Mom, how do you get to this place?"

Adoptive Mom's Big Trip

2010-06-24T11:38:00.000-04:00

Kim-Lan and I have a special bond. We both adopted our children from the same orphanage on the same day. You could say we went through the final stages of labor together and were there for each other's delivery. Here we are over 3 years ago anticipating seeing our babies for the first time in Vietnam.

In the past, Kim-Lan and her family have come to Georgia for a visit. This time, we left the kids and husbands at home. We met up in Las Vegas for four days of unforgettable fun. It was great just having some girl time - although I have to admit being away from Rocco for the first time was difficult. I was definitely glad to see my little fella on Thursday.

As a quick recap of our trip, we took in two shows. We saw Legends and Cirque de Soleil's "O" water show. Watching the Fountains of Bellagio at night was one of my favorites. We also saw the Mirage's volcano dance and spit fire to some cool drums. Walking the stip was an experience in itself; we hung tight to each other. It wasn't too scary, but I admit there were some weirdo's that we passed. I figured if we'd made it shopping in Vietnam in the midst of a language we didn't know and vendors constantly tugging at us, we could make it in Vegas.

I played my first (and probably my last) slot machine. As for drinks, we found that the cherry with cream soda Icee at Walgreens was the best! During the hot day, we took in a tour of the Hoover Dam and another day we went to Red Rock Canyon. Seeing the desert was unbelievable! We also had fun just trying on clothes in a boutique in Harrah's and cutting it close to get to our tours and shows (literally running through Vegas to make it on time).

Kim-Lan and I crammed as much in as humanly possible in those 4 days. We did manage to relax at the pool for a few hours though. Each night we'd go to our hotel room, try to talk, but just fall asleep from exhaustion.

I'm so grateful that God allowed us to meet on our adoption journeys and become such good friends. Through the long process of adoption I knew I would gain a child, but I had no idea I would also gain such a good friend in a fellow adoptive mother. Her friendship is truly a blessing.

Nana and Granddaddy's Pool

2010-06-18T00:33:00.002-04:00

This is where we've been spending our time a good bit this summer. The pool is cool, clear, and blue. Rocco plays it cautious and will only jump to you in the water if you promise him he won't go under. He wears his life vest, holds onto a noodle, and kicks all over the pool. Every now and then he'll get out and throw in a torpedo or dive stick, but for the most part it is very hard getting him out of the pool once he's in. Nana and granddaddy join in on the fun!

Playdate with Good Friends

2010-06-16T23:43:00.001-04:00

Rocco and I had a playdate with my best friend from high school and her 3 children today. Samuel and Rocco don't get to see each other too often, so when they do get together they always have a blast! We met them at the park for some play time.

Rocco is such a cautious fella. He wouldn't go down the slide without putting his feet against the metal. This ensured that he would go extra slow. Not Samuel. He would slide on his back, no skin touching, so that he could go as fast as possible. At other times he'd go head first. My friend, Heather, would slide down with her youngest two kids. George just smiled, but Lillian got really tickled. I laughed just watching her!

It was so hot, we decided we all needed to cool off with some ice cream. I just love this photo. All three of these kiddos are blessings through adoption!

After our nap, we woke up to a great surpsrise. Daelyn, my niece, was at mimi's house! We headed outside for some more slip and slide fun. This was new to Daelyn, and she wasn't so sure at first. When the water first came on, she toddled away as fast as she could.

After a few times down the slippery slide in a float pulled by her daddy, she was sold on the idea!

Mom had fun just watching her grandbabies playing and sitting around on the picnic table. That's how mimi's are!

My brother showed Rocco how to use his first Nerf gun. If anyone knows how they work, it's Tyler. He grew up playing with all sorts of water / Nerf guns.

Happy Birthday Dinner

2010-06-15T23:35:00.001-04:00

I am blessed with THE BEST grandparents in the world. Growing up they spoiled me with so much attention (I was the only grandchild for 11 years), took me out shopping or just to eat, let me sleep over and play all day at their house, and supported me in my every endeavor. They are still a big part of my life today. It was an honor to take them out to lunch today at Red Lobster. The occasion was my nana's birthday. (Her actual birthday is June 8th, but since we live out of town we had to celebrate a few days late.) Nana and papaw enjoyed this much needed and deserved day out.
There's nothing like grandparents. Rocco calls her "Grandnana." I've always called her "Nana." I think it's perfect because she is his great-grandmother and she's definitely grand! I'm always telling her she's beautiful. If you knew her, you would see she's not just beautiful outside but inside as well.

Slip and Slide

2010-06-14T23:25:00.005-04:00

My it's been years since I went down a slip and slide. The great thing about having kids is that you have a good excuse to do crazy stuff like this again.

After shopping this morning with Rocco, we went to visit my family for a few days. One thing we bought was a slip and slide. I think we got our money's worth out of it in just one afternoon. My brother rode on it like an old pro.

We also brought up our small pool and filled it up at mimi and papaw's. Tyler was the only brave one to get in the cold water with Rocco. From here, they got the water guns and soaked my mom and me. So much for my mom not wanting to get wet.

I don't think I've ever seen Rocco and my brother have so much fun together. They played for a good hour or two outside. They dried off by riding on Rocco's scooter and singing, "You can't catch us we're the gingerbread men!" My mom and I just worked in her flower bed (pulling weeds - probably catching poison ivy ). There's nothing quite like summer time!

My Anniversary & Papa's Garden

2010-06-13T22:51:00.002-04:00

Ten years ago today I survived open heart surgery. And I'm still going strong! Just last week, my cardiologist said that my valve repair was holding up great! I truly thank Jesus Christ for every heart beat He's given me since that day.

My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise. Psalm 57:7

Jason's side of the family gathered at Papa's today for Sunday dinner after church. Once we finished eating, I put the kids to work. The garden needed watering. Papa had an old barrel that catches rain water. We walked from the barrel to the garden several times toting jugs of water. Papa would have been proud of all that hard work, but he would have been surprised at how soon we tired. Within 10 minutes we were ready for a water break. You can tell from their faces they were hot. Rocco took off his shirt and Colston soon followed. Here's they are crouched in their favorite hiding spot. We have the cutest kids in our family!

2010-06-12T23:34:00.001-04:00

Jason and I embarked upon fostering parenting earlier this year. We've had four girls come through our home thus far. In order to keep up with rigorous standards, we were required to take additional training. I took a CPR / First Aid class today; Rocco had a play date with my mom.

When I returned, he informed me that he had had a blast with mimi! They read books, played gator golf, Candyland, doctor, the spider web game, AND worked a Thomas the Train puzzle. They were busy the entire time. When I got home, they were hiding from me upstairs. She is such a fun mimi!

Later that afternoon, we went to our favorite Japanese steak house for dinner. A friend from church was turning 17! Yeah, Tyler! His family are good friends of ours. Rocco and Molly are sweet friends from church. She was one of the first girls to ever give him a kiss.

Swimming in the Hot June Weather

2010-06-11T22:01:00.001-04:00

Friday is Jason's day off; we enjoyed the day together swimming at nana and granddaddy's pool. Gary and Carolyn weren't planning on getting wet. Their intentions were just to sit by the pool and watch us. Rocco had other plans.By the time he finished blasting them with the water gun, they were nice and cooled off. He got them good and wet!

Tonight was the last night for VBS. Below is Carolyn with Rocco and his "guh-luh friend."For our closing night, the kids quoted the Bible verse and sang the songs that they had learned for their parents. Rocco's group of friends were more into taking off their cowboy hats (and even hitting their friends on the heads with them) than they were into singing their songs. They were a sight.

It was a wonderful week. God's Word was sown into young hearts - several children accepted Christ as their Savior - we raised money to help local foster children - and the kids and adults had a great time learning about Christ!

Delicious Muffins, Painting, Nature Ride, and More VBS

2010-06-10T21:39:00.009-04:00

Rocco and I started the morning by making some muffins with fresh blueberries. Rocco ate an entire one and was asking for another!

Then, we had some craft time with the new ABC stencils I bought at Michael's. When things got a little messy, Rocco didn't like it. He wanted a paper towel. . . fast! I encouraged him to keep painting and we'd clean up at the end. Eventually he agreed.

Once he painted his random letters, we chose characters from some Thomas the Train stickers to match each letter.

Soon after our craft, we headed to the farm to meet granddaddy; he was watering the cows. When we arrived, we got on the four wheeler and headed to the pond to feed the big catfish. Then, Rocco and I rode around the farm. We found a turkey feather, some black-eyed Susans, Queen Anne's Lace (granddaddy called them "Kiss me and I'll tell ya"), and a few blackberries that were ready to be picked. Both of us really enjoyed our nature ride. Later we showed granddaddy all of the treasures we'd found. It was very hot, so granddaddy gave us some cool drinks and snacks from his fridge at the farm.

After tonight there is only one more day of VBS. Rocco has really opened up this year; he has so many friends. Not once this week have I seen him acting shy. In his class, he hasn't depended on his nana. He plays with his friends during recreation and really gets down dancing and singing during our final assembly. Below is Rocco and his girlfriend (in the green shirt) AND Will with his girlfriend. Good grief! ( I think 4 is a little too young to be having a girlfriend. . .) They are all having a blast this week!

A Day of Great Things

2010-06-09T23:12:00.008-04:00

I ...Love...This....Man.....

Dr. Pearson has been my heart doctor for about 14 years now. I trust him more than any doctor I've ever had. When we moved to South Carolina, I drove 4 hours and paid full price (my insurance didn't carry over to GA), just to see him. I've never told him this, but my cat is named after him "Tiger Vincent." It may seem crazy to you, but I still love this man. After all these years he's moving his practice. I'll be following him even though my drive will be a little bit longer than usual.

Speaking of my heart, I have to give God all the praise for how well I'm doing. This June marks 10 years since my open heart surgery. I'm doing GREAT. The fact that I'm doing so well is a testament to the awesome, mighty God I serve.

After my doctor's appointment, Jason and I went to the new pizza place in town, Johnny's. We both devoured our stromboli's. Delicious!

The other great part of today was the fact that I got my cell phone back. Yesterday I chalked it up as stolen, thinking I'd probably never see it again. In fact, I had the service suspended. Later that afternoon, someone at Verizon called to tell him my phone had been turned in. Not only was it amazing that it was found in the parking lot, but it was a miracle that a person would go out of their way to drive to the store and turn it in. I was so thankful I didn't have to buy another phone.

Carolyn was watching Rocco for us today, but I picked him up after lunch. He and Sydney were having a big time running around the beauty salon while Tonya was getting her hair cut. Those two are the cutest pair!

The absolute BEST part of today was helping out at VBS tonight. I was able to share what salvation means to 1st - 4th graders during mission time. This little girl was ready to give her life to Christ. Seeing the transformation in her life was a miracle. God is awesome! There's nothing any better than when someone accepts Jesus into their heart and accepts His forgiveness for their sins. Rocco had a BIG time at VBS. He certainly has come out of his shell. Carolyn is in his class, but she doesn't have to stay right next to him like last year. Here he is dancing next to his pre-K friends. They are wearing the western vests that they made.

While giving Rocco a shower tonight, he kept telling me something. When I realized what he was saying I just about fell in the floor. "Mama, I have a guh-luh friend. " Yes, this is the first time he broke the news to me. "Her name's Madisyn." When Jason and I asked him what they did or what this meant he infomed us that they ran together. (I think there is a little more to it than this. Last night I caught her kissing Rocco. She was also loving on his face during recreation time outside. They told me that when he went to the bathroom, he said, "When I get back I'm gonna play with that guh-luh!")

Here's a picture of Madisyn I took on Easter. She's a cutie!

Playing with Trains and Going to VBS

2010-06-08T10:06:00.005-04:00

This morning I reorganized the train tracks. Any time we vacuum at our house it's a big deal in the living room because the tracks have to be taken apart and moved (they take up most of the living room floor). Rocco and I played with the mechanical trains for a while once I finished engineering the new track.

Vacation Bible School is well under way. We're having a blast on "Saddle Ridge Ranch." Rocco is in the pre-K group. The class has been so large that they've split the kids up during the lesson and music time. All of them get together again during outside recreation. Rocco's nana is one of the helpers. One of his best friends is Will. Jack is another prek-k friend in his class. They have played really well at church this week. Tonight, though, Rocco hung tight with a girl who took a liking to him. Her name is Madisyn.

Lori and I are a great team. I'm so blessed to have her help me with the fourth graders. I think we're the smallest class, but the kids are great listeners and get along well. We couldn't ask for a better group.

On a side note, today is my nana's birthday. Rocco and I called and sang the "Happy Birthday" song to her. Hopefully this weekend we'll get to see her in person and spend some time with her.

Cleaning and Swimming

2010-06-07T22:25:00.005-04:00

Maria is probably the best gift Jason ever gave me on Mother's Day. She is the sweetest lady who does an outstanding job cleaning our house. Today was her day to come out. Rocco and I helped, too. Of course we turned it into a hiding game. Has anyone seen Rocco?

All that work made us hot, so we decided to go for a swim. Granddaddy jumped in with us, too. Nana decided it was a little too cold, so she just took pictures of us. The four of us laughed and laughed; Rocco does a great job of keeping us tickled. He played in his little boat, and when granddaddy got too close to us he would try to get away. He begged me to hold tight to him. When granddaddy did get him, he would say, "Take it easy with me!"

After our nap, we got ready for VBS. I had to explain to Rocco that it was NOT CVS, the store. He kept thinking we were going to where Uncle Ben worked.

Getting Ready for VBS (3rd day of summer)

2010-06-06T21:58:00.002-04:00

Blogging every day is a challenge. I don't see how some people do it. This summer I hope to capture all of our moments. When school starts back in August, I always wonder where the time went. By blogging, I'll be able to remember what all we did.

Sunday at our house means going to church. Church, eat with the family, nap, and then church again. That's our Sundays. This Sunday was extra special because we were bustling around trying to get things ready for Vacation Bible School.

Lori is one of my best friends from church. She and I have the 4th grade group this year. After morning service, the workers ate at church and then began decorating their classrooms. In a few hours we went from this...

to this...

Our theme is Saddle Ridge Ranch. Our goal was to turn the Sunday School room into a western themed bunk house.

Lori and I were a great team. This week I'll be teaching the lessons and she'll be playing some review games with the kids.

Our service tonight was a celebration for the VBS kickoff. Our children's director went all out and brought in a horse, inflatables, cooked burgers and corn on the cob, cowboy games, and a mechanical bull. Almost everyone tried it out...including Rocco.

Jason had no business on it since he just had knee surgery a few weeks ago. You can't tell him anything...he's stubborn when it comes to stuff like that. Oh yeah. Right before he rode it, the weather turned bad and it poured rain on us. By the time it cleared, all the inflatables...and bull.... were soaked. When Jason was bucked off he was drenched. Serves him!

But we all had a great time ( including nana and granddaddy)...

and we can't wait to see what all God is going to do this week!

The Second Day of Summer

2010-06-05T21:55:00.004-04:00

Our second day of summer was just as fun as the first. Around 10:30, Rocco and I headed back to Matthew's house so that he could ride bicycles and scooters with him. When we arrived, Matthew was out in the yard shooting his paintball gun. Rocco soon joined him. This was the first time Rocco had ever shot a gun. He seemed to enjoy it. They splattered the slide with orange paint.

Rocco put his helmet and pads on and headed out on his scooter. Matthew is a pro on his bicycle; he's five and does just fine without any training wheels. They rode throughout the neighborhood.

Rocco and Matthew are somewhat opposites. Matthew seems to ride at high speeds with no fear; Rocco worries about tipping over and refuses to go down a hill with some slope to it. Eventually, my cautious little boy decided he wanted to ride his bicycle though(with me staying nearby). This only lasted a few minutes for he wanted to walk back to Matthew's house. It was so hot and humid I insisted he ride back. They later went inside to play more with the trains.

And for the first time, Rocco stayed at a friend's house without any relative there. That's right. He wanted to stay and play with Matthew while I went to the post office. I was only gone about 20 minutes, but when I returned he was absolutely fine. I don't think he even missed me. (He told me he was "way too busy to cry." )This was exciting considering school is starting in a couple of months and we're working on his separation anxiety!

When it was time to leave, I buckled Rocco in the car. Next minute I turned around and Matthew was riding shotgun, buckled up, and ready to go home with us. Rocco had already been begging for Matthew to come home with us. It reminded me of my growing up days; I did the same thing to my parents. Matthew ended up coming to our house for lunch and playing for about an hour. The boys went upstairs and pelted me with balls while I fixed their food. They had a blast doing this. After we ate, we rode the golf cart. Of course, both boys had to have a turn driving. Both of them were so cute with their mouths brown with oreo cakester crumbs from their dessert.

Matthew left, and Rocco and I took a nap. After resting we played some BINGO, Thomas the Train matching game, and put together a puzzle. To our surpsrise, it glowed in the dark. We settled for some frozen pizza at supper.

Later that afternoon, Jason, Rocco, and I met up at Gary and Carolyn's for our first swim of the season at the family pool. It was a little green, but I scooped up trash with the net while Jason scrubbed the algae with a brush. The three of us had fun (even if the water wasn't perfect).

Summer has Begun!

2010-06-04T21:25:00.005-04:00

Yesterday was my last day at school, so today we officially started our summer. What better way to celebrate than sleeping in late with Rocco?

We met some co-worker friends of mine at school, Val and Cindy. We walked from the school to the Cafe downtown for lunch. On the way back, we stopped at our small town beauty salon to see one of my best friends, Gloria. When we saw Matthew and his mom driving down the road, we decided to call them and plan a spur of the moment play date. The boys played with Thomas the trains and drank some grape juice packs at Matthew's house. Next time they plan on riding bikes, scooters, and getting wet on the slip and slide. Matthew is one of Rocco's best friends. They were on the same tee ball team this year, go to church together, and plan on being at the same school next year. Rocco is just one year younger than him. Rocco knows his daddy doesn't like the cat, Willow, inside. He asked, "Is daddy home?" Jason was out plowing so we gave Willow a quick bath in the sink, watched her shake off and lick off the "clean" with her scratchy tongue, then we put her right back outside. Rocco squealed with delight. (He asks me every day, "Let Willow in the house...peees!")

We took a 2 hour nap (another great part of summer) and headed to Tonia's house for Rocco's hair cut. Then, Jason, Rocco, and I went to McDonald's for supper (certainly not my choice). This happens to be Rocco's favorite restaurant. Later, we rode go karts . . .and played putt putt. I beat Jason by 8 points...unbelievable! Take a look at Rocco giving his daddy an extra obstacle. What a great way to start the summer!

Tee Ball Awards

2010-06-03T21:42:00.005-04:00

I helped Rocco put on his orange tee ball shirt and ball pants tonight. He was anticipating getting to play tee ball. We explained to him that the season was over; we were going to a party where he'd see his team mates and get a trophy. "What is a trophy?" he asked.

All of the teams were there; the park was filled with many kids and parents. (It was extra special because this is where Jason grew up playing ball as a kid.) After eating hot dogs and chips, the tee ball teams gathered on the field. Terry, our cousin, announced it was time to give the awards. There were about 5 tee ball teams on the field. These were the teams we had played several times throughout the season. Our team came forward when they were called and each kid received their trophy. Coach Roger gave each player their award.

Here's a cute picture of Will and Rocco showing their trophies. These two also go to church together and plan on going to the same pre-school next year.

The older teams were called later onto the fields. Our cousin, JJ, received her trophy with the rest of her team. They were first place for the season. Go team Joe Hill's Lawnmower Shop!

4 years and 2 months old

2010-05-29T22:06:00.004-04:00

Rocco just keeps getting bigger! This is his last summer before he starts school. I asked him what he wanted to do now that I wouldn't be working. What could we do that would be extra special? "I know!" he said. "Let's go to nanny's!" He loves going to his nana and granddaddy's house. They love on him, spoil him, feed him home cooked meals, and teach him things as if he were in school. I'm so grateful for them. I've never worried about him while I have worked these last 3 years. He was in great hands!

At 4 years and 2 months old, he is just a little man. He talks to us like he's an adult. And he's started reading with his word wammer. He can read rhyming words like bad, mad, dad, pad, and sad.

At night, he still loves to eat a 'little snack'. He asks for gum several times throughout the day, loves candy, and prefers Sprite over water.

He enjoys playing with his new kitten, Willow, but is afraid of our spastic dog which he named "Puppy." Thomas and CARS are still his favorite toys, but he also loves to have books read to him. No matter how many we read at night to him, it is never enough.

At church he still has a difficult time being separated from me. On Wednesday nights, he starts dreading going to his class before we even get there. I tell him that he can stay with Ms. Bethany for 10 minutes. He tries to bargain with me, "How bout 3 minutes?" Sometimes he cries, but he is getting some better. Hopefully by this August he will be ready to go to his pre-K classroom without me.

Monthly Update

2010-05-09T22:30:00.016-04:00

Rocco is now 4 years and one month old. He still gets his picture made in the blue chair, but he insists that he is too big for a white onesie that I used to dress him in. I have to agree with him. So, monkey pajamas will have to do.

I missed blogging the entire month of April. Here's a brief summary of how April (and the first part of May) went.

We began the month of April by having professional pictures of Rocco made. My mom went with Rocco and me when we had them done. I was really pleased with how they turned out.

Easter came next. We celebrated our Savior's resurrection. At the same time, we mourned the death of our friend, Shane. He was only 38 when he passed away. He fought cancer for just a few short months before he went home to be with Jesus.

Rocco enjoyed the egg hunt at church. Below are two of his friends, Jack and Caden.

I still teach the 2 and 3 year old Sunday School class at church. They are probably the cutest kids on the planet. This picture was taken Easter morning. We also celebrated Easter at Papa's house with all the cousins. All the kids loaded up on goodie bags and a basket full of eggs.

This month we embarked upon a big adventure...foster parenting. We are a respite home that works with a Christian organization who helps foster kids get into Christian homes. We had two sisters, ages 9 and 11, for a short visit. They were with us from Thursday to Saturday. The girls enjoyed the farm, riding the golf cart, feeding the cows and horses, and going to a jumping gym. Rocco got right in the middle of the action and enjoyed having some company. He was really sweet to share his things. They slept in his Thomas the train bed. Of course he didn't mind...he still sleeps with us.

The next weekend, we had two more sisters. They were 3 and 5 years old. I took them to the park on Saturday. A lady just looked at me with astonishment and asked, "What are the ages of your children?" "Three, four, and five," I replied with a smile. She just shook her head in disbelief. I just laughed within. It was fun being a mom to that many kids, but it was completely exhausting. The two girls were calling us mama and daddy within no time, and they were only with us from Friday till Sunday. Both girls were very loving. They just wanted some love and attention in return. Jason, Rocco, and I took them fishing in our boat. The oldest girl caught her first fish. They loved it.

During the month of April I took on a second job. The reason wasn't for the money; I was asked several months ago by the director of the Professional Studies if I would be willing to teach future teachers how to teach science. Teaching science is what I do. I feel confident in the ability God has given me to do this; it's one of my passions. Being asked to share what I do on the college level was an honor. After praying about it, I decided to take on the new challenge. I had 15 students, all women, in my class. We met from 6 - 10pm every Monday and Thursday night. The class lasted 5 weeks. Jason and Rocco got in some extra father/son time while I was at class. One thing that they really enjoyed doing was going fishing. Although I enjoyed teaching the college class, I was ready to get back home, especially since Rocco got started in tee ball.

Little man is #5. He may be small, but he loves to play ball. His favorite part is running the bases. Living in a small town certainly has its benefits. One of those is the recreation for kids. We already knew the coach and most of kids on Rocco's team. Everyone knows everyone ( and is often related) in our small town. Many of these boys came to Rocco's birthday party, go to our church, and/or will be starting school with him next year. These are some of his closest buddies. Their team name? Car wash. (It's the small business in our town that sponsors them). Go Car Wash! For my second spring break we went to Noccalula Falls. It was a great family trip; the waterfall was beautiful, the flowers were breathtaking, the hike down the gorge was fun, the train ride around the park was a great way to cool off, and all the animals there made it feel like a zoo. Rocco was asking to go back several days later. With spring comes planting time. Jason, Gary, Rocco, and I planted crops in the garden. We hope to have some corn, watermelon, okra, squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers by this summer. The neat thing about it is that the crops are in papa's field where he used to garden. Sometimes I feel certain that Papa is looking down from heaven smiling as he watches his grandson and great grandson planting and plowing in the dirt. This is how May has gone so far.

1) I got my hair cut...really short.

2) My Uncle Joe and Larry died within a week of each other.

3) Jason had knee surgery.

4) Rocco attended "Teddy Bear Day" for pre-K orientation. He is scheduled to begin school in August. Lord willing, things will go smoothly. We'll see how he does when we're not with him all day.

5) We got a new kitten that makes Rocco constantly giggle with delight. Her name is Willow.

6) We're spending more time outside (and our allergies are paying for it). The flower beds are finished...and blooming. ;)

4 years old

2010-03-31T18:24:00.002-04:00

Rocco insisted tonight that he was too big for a onesie. At four years old, he's probably right. The traditional picture of his monthly growth had to be changed. So here is my growing boy at 4 years old ...this time dressed in a white shirt and blue shorts. He's still in his blue chair holding two of his favorite trains. Yes, we still love Thomas here. (Some things haven't changed).

At four, he weighs 29 pounds. He can count to 50, and he insists anything that takes a long time is about 10 minutes. Little man loves to sing his ABC's, make himself laugh for no reason, likes Curious George, CARS, and trains, still sleeps with us, and finally gave up the bottle at night. He loves to be snuggled, cuddled, and loved on. Jason and I always kid him about giving our love away, but he has decided that we can "share" his loving now. After I kiss on him, he'll turn to his daddy and say, "Your turn!"

This was a big month for Rocco. To celebrate turning four, we had a big cookout at our house. It was a Disney CARS party. In his mind he thought that all of his friends should yell, "Surprise!" That's just what they did, even though he knew full well about his party. Carolyn brought him a few minutes late to give us time to gather on the back porch and give him his "surprise." Here he is in his CARS hat and shirt just arriving at his party with his "nanny."
We were blessed with beautiful, but very windy, weather. It was absolutely the perfect spring day for an outdoor party. While Jason grilled our hot dogs and hamburgers...

the kids enjoyed jumping on the trampoline and playing on the swing set. After everyone had finished eating, the kids tried to find just the right string that would open the Lightning McQueen pinata.

All of the kids quickly stuffed their brown paper bags with their goodies ...then headed to our driveway for the next game. Rocco later said that racing with his friends was his favorite thing we did at his party. We found all of Rocco's wheeled toys and allowed the kids to race to the end of the paved driveway. After each race they would change cars and do it all over again. Some even decided to just race on their own two feet. After a few races, my mom went to the car to get Rocco's present from my dad and her. His first bicycle! This was very special. My parents gave him his first riding tractor and tricycle, so it was cool that they were the ones to give him his first bicycle, too.

The cake was so cute...and delicious. To match our theme, it had Lightning McQueen on it. We also partied with music from CARS in the background. Rocco knows most of the words from Real Gone and Life is a Highway and will sing it. Of course, he wants me to sing with him. His latest song is Route 66.

Rocco is blessed with so many friends and family that surround him with love. Both of my parents and Jason's parents were able to be at his party. Uncle Tyler and Aunt Tonya also came. Several friends from church a few other family members also made his day special. Jack, JJ, Weston, Will, Drew, Hayes, Matthew, and Sydney were the kids that came to celebrate with Rocco. Two of his special guests were our neighbors. Sandra actually did our home study in order for us to get Rocco. She was a big part of helping us get our miracle. They continue to be in our lives and enjoy seeing Rocco grow up.

After eating cake and ice cream, Rocco prepared for one of the highlights of the afternoon...presents! His daddy helped him open them while I took pictures. Once all the presents were opened, we headed out for a hay ride. Jason drove the tractor. Baby Sydney and "Ta" rode shotgun. I don't know who enjoyed it more, the adults or kids. I prayed that Rocco would have a very good time at his party. And, thankfully, he had a blast. His friends made it extra special. Rocco is at an age now where he is finally playing with friends and not just beside them. It's so fun watching him interact with his buddies. After playing for a while with his friends, he even decided to start sliding all by himself. For a little boy who was once scared and begged me to hold his hand, this is a big accomplishment! By the time his party was all over, it looked like Christmas at our house again!

Rocco Starts T-Ball

2010-03-30T20:32:00.008-04:00

In the past Rocco has been in Kindermusik and tumble class. Tonight we began another extracurricular adventure...T-ball. Our friend, Roger, was the coach. His 5 year old son, Hayes, is one of Rocco's friends and is also on the team. Matthew is a 5 year old friend from church. The last friend that he already knew on the new team was Will; he's just 3 months older than Rocco. These three boys know Rocco; they were at his birthday party this past weekend. It was great to start Rocco out on a team where he actually knew some of his play mates.

I told him he had to wear his baseball cap while he played ball so that he could keep the sun out of his eyes. He never took it off the entire practice. Every now and then he would find me somewhere behind the fence and yell, "Hey, mommy! I'm over here!" Carolyn came to watch him as well. He waved to "nanny" several times, too. Not once did he beg or even ask me to come with him on the field. He's such a big boy now.

Rocco did really well listening to the coach and helpers. He did everything they asked of him. The kids ran a good bit around the bases several times. They would take a short breathing break and go again. Later I asked him why he had his hands on his head. His reply? "I don't know."

Practice began at 6:30. The sunny but cool spring afternoon was the perfect weather. The kids worked in small groups with adult helpers on various tasks. They practiced swinging with a bat, catching the ball on the ground and up high, and throwing the ball. The last thing they did was Rocco's favorite. Being a CARS fan, he is all about racing. Roger had the kids run around the bases in order to get them familiar with 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and home. When practice was over I asked him if he liked it. He was so excited he said, "I just raced around the bend!" To him this new adventure is one big race. He continued to tell me, "The just coach just told us 'Go! Go! Go!'"

Later tonight when I asked him what he thought about T-ball, Rocco said, "I just raced with my friends."

Spring Break

2010-03-15T22:04:00.003-04:00

We enjoyed being outside today feeding the animals. I rode him in his wagon, and we threw out carrots & celery for the wild rabbits. His favorite part was throwing handfuls of thistle for the birds.

Unanswered Prayers

2010-03-15T03:35:00.006-04:00

In the midst of praying for another child, I came upon the country of Nepal. This was last December. It sounded perfect. Healthy children, quick referrals, short wait, not terribly expensive, etc. The only thing was that the country had a limit on how many families could adopt from there. I was hot on the pursuit! I wanted us to be one of those families for 2010.

I researched till the wee morning hours, thought I found the perfect agency, contacted them, filled out the paperwork, prayed some more, begged Jason over and over again. All this to be told, "No." A definite, "No." A "Quit asking me 'No'!" And tonight I found this on-line.

Caution About Pursuing an Adoption in Nepal

March 04, 2010

The U.S. Department of State strongly discourages prospective adoptive parents from choosing Nepal as a country from which to adopt due to grave concerns about the reliability of Nepal’s adoption system and the accuracy of the information in children’s official files. The Department also strongly discourages adoption service providers from accepting new applications for adoption from Nepal until reforms are made, and to be vigilant about operating in an ethical manner under the current adoption system.

The Hague Conference on Private International Law recently released a report on its Intercountry Adoption Technical Assistance Program, based on a visit by a delegate from the Hague Conference’s Permanent Bureau to Nepal in November 2009 ......... The report details a number of weaknesses in Nepal’s current adoption system, including the falsification of documents, improper financial gain, and lack of a child protection system.

We encourage parents who have filed an application with the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare (MWCSW) in Nepal, but have not yet been matched with a child or received an Adoption Decree issued by the Government of Nepal, to consider a change of countries.

Thank you God for guiding my path. And help me (for I am weak in the area of patience) to trust your heart when I cannot see your face. . . for You know what is best. . . and one more thing. . . help me to remember that when I don't get the answer I want from a prayer, it doesn't mean it's unanswered...

And so I sit back and wait to see what God will do in our lives. He's ever at work...all the time. I just forget to stop and look around.

Thanks God for the reminder ;).

Forever Ours

2010-03-14T23:55:00.000-04:00

March 14th: Our Gotcha Day! Three years ago today we officially adopted Rocco. We were in beautiful Ninh Thuan, Vietnam.

You have to check out my friend's blog http://www.carlsonkrew.blogspot.com/

We met Don and Kim-Lan on our journey to get Rocco. You can read about all of the adoption happenings through her eyes on this beautiful blog. They adopted Maile from the same orphanage that we adopted Rocco.

Three Years Ago Today...

2010-03-10T19:32:00.005-05:00

It's hard to believe 3 years have passed since we boarded the plane that would take us to Vietnam where we would meet our son for the first time. Here's what our day looked like three years ago.

March 10, 2007 - Saturday
6:00 am American Airlines Flt: 3410 Duration: 3hr
EQP: Embraer 145 Jet
Columbia, South Carolina to Dallas Ft Worth

8:00 am arrive in Dallas Ft Worth at Terminal B

12:10 pm Korean Air Flt: 32 Duration: 14 hrs 30 min
EQP: Boeing 777-200 Depart: Terminal D
Dallas Ft Worth to Seoul , Korea

March 11, 2007 – Sunday
5:40 pm arrive at Seoul Incheon International Airport

7:00 pm Korean Air Flt: 681 Duration: 5 hr 40 min
EQP: Airbus A330-300
Seoul, Korea to Ho Chi Minh City

10:40 pm arrive at Ho Chi Minh City Airport

Yeah, we were in the air a L...O....N.....G time. I lost track of the hours we spent on that plane (and how many planes we had boarded); it was the next day before we even arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. The Dillon Agency representatives were waiting on us. It was the first sight I'd seen on the trip that finally made it seem real. The 14 month adoption journey and trail of paperwork was finally about to pay off.

Rocco and the Trains

2010-03-07T19:57:00.002-05:00

Yes, we still love Thomas around here. The latest to his collection came from his great-great Aunt Conkey. She mailed him the wooden cow trains. (Not a good idea to take to church. They kept mooing.)