We are in Gatlinburg with Nana and Papa this weekend. This is what we heard most of the way here from Baylor. I laughed until I cried...any mommy will understand.

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For Lila

Our sweet friend Lila has a weird love...at least I think it's a little weird. She loves SNAKES. Every time we go to the zoo she will beg to go to the reptile house and she can name just about every one she sees. At the member night they had a special animal presentation. There were several different animals to watch but the last one was Lila's favorite. This huge yellow snake that I would never want to get anywhere near and Lila could hardly wait.

After the show they let you come down to see it closer. We waited for the crowd to thin out to give Lila her up close chance and as you can see from her smile she LOVED it





So this post is all for you my friend. I promise to print these soon so you can have them:)

Zoo time with the Shipps

We have so much fun going to the zoo with Lila and Ruby...last Saturday evening was a Member night and you could stay after normal hours. They had some jumpy things and special keeper talks and people on hand at some of the exhibits showing off animal stuff.

Here the kids are waiting to go on one you can jump than slide. Ruby had the right idea from the get go...she wasn't going anywhere near it. Baylor thought she could, but when it came to slide time she freaked!! Jeff had to climb up after her. Lila and Christian enjoyed racing through the obstacle course
The giraffes were in rare form. This one was all the way up to the fence so it was neat see him so close. The other two were running all over their yard. I have some good video, but pictures don't quit show you how awkward, but fun they were. I think they are still growing into their legs:)
Lila and Christian looking at a giraffe skull
If asked 10 years ago would these men have thought this is how they'd spend their Saturday night?

The day Mommy almost lost her mind

On Baylor's first day of school she got in BIG TIME trouble before we even left the house. I had decided to take a quick shower before taking them to school and left the kids playing downstairs. There is a reason Mommies don't take many showers when their children are young and you are about to see one of the biggest...You never know what you are going to find when your children are left alone for that 15 minutes.

I walked out of my bedroom to find Baylor with crayon in one hand and paper in the other. The paper had some drawings on it...the walls had TONS more.I started yelling "NO and what are you doing?!?!" I could not believe what I was seeing. Pictures do not really do it justice. (I have video of it too, but my hubby has to do that b/c I haven't figured that part out yet.)
There's her guilty face. Afterwards we had a big talk and some tears. If you ask her where to draw she'll tell you "On paper", but she definitely forgot it on this occasion.

Better late than never

This whole starting Kindergarten thing has put me behind on a few things...like congratulating my brother in law via the blog.

UNCLE JEREMY GRADUATED

We are all so proud of him. We had a great day together...Baylor was ready to collapse by the end as you can tell from this pic...she could barely hold her eyes open. Uncle Jeremy plans on continuing his job at MTSU until he decides exactly what it is he wants to do.

The proud parents and the graduate. One plus of a summer graduation is that their were only 800 some odd graduates instead of a couple thousand:)

We went back to Nana and Papa's house for cake and ice cream afterwards

Way to go Jeremy

August 13, 2008

This was a big day for our kiddos...Baylor started school for the very first time and Christian started Kindergarten!!! They are both attending Otter Creek Preschool and Kindergarten. This is Christian's 4th year there and we LOVE IT. The women there are some of the most godly ones you'll meet and they really take care of your children. Here are the kids with the sign out front. I think this sign has probably been there since the start of the school which was well over 30 years ago. In front of the red door leading into the Kindergarten building

Baylor DID NOT want to go in her class. This is the girl that never bats an eye at church or at the MDO program I had the kids in over the summer and she got in the floor screaming. Her teacher, Mrs. Julie is sitting in the rocker holding another friend that was upset. (mommy was a tad frazzled that day too read post below to see why)
Apparently flash forward a couple minutes and she was like this (her teacher took this picture for us). The director said that this was one of the smoothest 2 year old Snoopy day she has witnessed and she's been their 25+ years. I'm glad Baylor calmed down quickly and I hope the same holds true on Monday when she starts for real.

August 13, 2008 (part 2)

Here is my big boy on the steps leading up to his new kindergarten building. Mommy helped make it look brand new inside b/c it was in need of an extreme makeover. I cleaned, painted and hauled stuff around. The real creative people designed and used cool fabric to jazz up chairs/windows. All the classrooms received a fresh coat of paint, new floors and carpets. See you later buddy
Daddy, Mommy and Christian outside his classroom
Ms. Pat (the director) was waiting for him to join his class
and here he is in his classroom with Mrs. Melissa (his teacher) They are looking at a snake skin (yuck) that she had. It sounds like he is going to have a great year. Melissa has a ton of experience and I've been told she does well with boys which is probably why she has 12 of them in her class:)

before we get to the pictures...

of school and everything I have a few stories to share. WARNING: this is long so you may not want to end up reading it all:)

First: I had so much to do yesterday that it was hard to focus and enjoy my kids starting school. One of the matriarchs of Otter Creek died over the weekend. She had a long battle with cancer and related issues finally got the best of her. She was so influential to so many. All that to say this was to be a BIG funeral. Being the head of the food committee AND on the rotation for August meant I had to be involved. So I spent Tuesday deciding what to cook and buying the needed ingredients. Tuesday night and Wednesday morning preparing the food. Both of my kids had Snoopy day(meet their teacher and SNOOP around the classroom) on Wednesday so I had to somehow get them to school and the food to church during the same period of time. In steps my good friends Tressa and Becca who both offer to help me out. I ended up dropping food off to Becca who in turn gave it to her Sister-in-law who was already going to the funeral.

Second: We had our Snoopy days back to back yesterday and even though Jeff and my mom helped it was a frazzling time for me. I felt like Baylor was totally overshadowed b/c I'm trying to get all her brothers kindergarten memories on film. She had to have sensed my frazzledness b/c the girl who went to Mother's Day Out all summer with hardly a backward glance got into the floor in tears when we tried to take her to her new class. (she calmed down quickly enough after they had to drag her into the classroom) As soon as her meeting with the teacher finished, we were supposed to already be in the kindergarten one. So I didn't get to mingle with the two year old moms b/c we had to throw Baylor at my mom in the parking lot, hurriedly show Christian his class and walk in late to the next meeting. We missed the introduction time so I don't know half the peoples names or who goes with what child. Some are from church so I already knew them, but out of the 18 kids that's only accounts for 5 (including Christian).

Third: I've been tossing and turning the past few nights for a couple reasons. One, when I have a lot on my mind it is hard for me to sleep and I knew my baby was beginning a new phase of life that takes him further out of my influence. He is going to be with some of the most godly people I know all year, but they aren't me and who knows what the future years will bring with other teachers and friends. Second, my dear sweet husband has been sawing logs like you wouldn't believe and keeps waking me up!!! I know he is exhausted right now and can't help it but I keep leaving the room to try and get some sleep. Last night when I left around 2am Christian was out of his room and said he couldn't sleep. He and I are very similar and I suspect he was nervous and that translates into hard to get sleep for him. I told him since Daddy was running me out of the room with his snoring anyway that just for tonight I would come sleep with him. We both snuggled in and slept pretty well til 6:30am (even though he is a bit of a bed hog). So now I can say we had a sleepover the night before he went to Kindergarten.

So today we had a little redo time before Christian went to school and I took Pics of the kids on the front porch with their school bags and videoed Christian going up the steps at school. This all leads to the fourth story.

Fourth: After dropping Christian off at school and doing a couple quick errands, Baylor and I headed to her friend Avery's house to drop off something and play a little. For the first time in all my driving years I LOCKED MY KEYS IN THE CAR!!! Part of that long track record was due to the fact that my two previous cars and a key code on the drivers side so I could always get in that way. But I was also very scattered this morning b/c even though I didn't cry I am affected by leaving my son at Kindergarten for the first time...so I was being a little scatterbrained. Avery's mommy was nice enough to let me use her car to go home and get the extra set of keys. Sounded like a great plan until I realized I couldn't get in the house b/c my keys were still LOCKED in my car. So I had to call my dad and ask him to meet me at the house to let me in.

You would think that would be the end of our day, but on to story number 5

Fifth: My dear friend Tara had Snoopy day with her kids today and we waved this morning as I dropped Christian off. She calls me shortly before time to pick him up and says her car is completely dead and could I bring her and her kids home...Of course I say. When I get to school people are trying to jump her battery for the second time and still nothing. They decided it is probably electrical and it needs to be towed. We get her kids car seats transferred to my car and think we are all good to go. The kids are all hungry and we are headed for the nearest McD's. After we drive a couple of miles she realizes that she still has her car keys and the tow people need them. We turn around, go back to the school and put her keys in the car as she is talking to the tow people giving them directions where to find her car. We head back to McD's, get every one's food and think NOW we'll go home, eat and be merry. The kids are being good, but complaining of hunger by this point and we reassure them that as soon as we get to Tara's we'll eat. We pull in her driveway and then she realizes (just like me a few hours earlier) that her house keys are with her car keys in the car that started all this trouble in the first place!!! Kids are still complaining of hunger and just want to get out of the car. Our house isn't that far away so we turn around and head there--assuring the children that yes we will feed you EVENTUALLY. We did finally make it to our house to eat and Tara's sister came to pick them up with an extra house key about an hour later.

That sums up my craziness over the past two days. If you have read all this, thanks for letting me ramble a bit.

Note to self: Don't leave Sharpies out, even in a room your two year old rarely ever goes in...she will find them and make herself black and red all over AND will mess up some of your consignment tags!!!

August has come in on a heat wave in the Nashville area...it has been way too hot to do anything outside. We did spend last Friday at the pool with our good friends the Braggs, but other than that outside just isn't much of an option. Walking from your car into another place is enough to make you melt. Needless to say we have stuck with indoor activities this week. We met some friends at a McD's that had an indoor play area and yesterday the Green girls came to play. We have not had much time with them and we all missed each other. As you can see dressing up was the order of the day and they were all too cute. We turned on some music and Caroline and Baylor were our dancers.

We're all trying to squeeze in those last minute play dates before school starts.