It's Lunchtime

Friday, I went to eat lunch for the first time this year with the kids. They have both been asking a lot but we were waiting until Maddie wasn't crying at school anymore. She had a much better week so I agreed to go.

Ashton's class eats before Maddie's so I met him and he wanted to go outside and eat. The school has a few picnic tables set up right outside under a few trees, so we sat there while he ate. I asked him why he didn't want to introduce me to his new friends and he said, "I just don't think you really want to meet them. Some are pretty wild." LOL After a short wait, it was time for Maddie's class to eat. I walked to the cafeteria with her and she was happy to introduce me to all her friends. They were a sweet little group and Maddie and I had a nice little visit. I walked her back to class after lunch and then I headed back home.

Women's Slumber Party

Alex had a work trip this week to California, so the kids and I were on our own. A couple of the girls from group decide we should have a slumber party. Sounded like a good idea to me! After bible study, we made cookie dough egg rolls and they were FANTASTIC!!!! I took a picture to share!

After some sweets, Katrina, Sarah and I just hung out. We had a good time. We taught Sarah how to play marbles, which Katrina SWEARS she will never play with her again. She even went as far as to say that she was going to burn the board at her house to keep from having to ever play with her. LOL. Once Katrina had had enough, we moved on to watching Mr. Deeds. Sarah has never seen the movie and wanted to watch something funny. We piled in my room and got it started. Sarah laughed and laughed and I laughed so much at her and Katrina that my ABS were hurting. We had a fun night! It will definitely be something we will do again. Thanks for the fun girls!!!!

Another Star

This week Maddie received her THIRD start in her tumbling class. She was super stoked, as usual. You know me.... always picture time!

Night at the Fair

Tuesday night, we took the kids to the Wilson County Fair. Alex and I aren't typically fair goers. However, Katrina and I got to talking about how much fun the kids would have going together and they did. I was surprised how much Ashton and Maddie rode. They are sometimes scaredy cats, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.

As usual, I took LOTS and LOTS of pictures!

Maddie LOVES to pose for pictures! And poor Kaleigh was devastated there wasn't more for her to ride.

I think the kids all had a great time and were definitely tired by the time we got home.

Centennial Park

After a visit to Antique Archaeology, we took the kids over to Centennial Park to play. I got some super cute pictures of them playing. They both had their moments of "posing" which I couldn't help but share, but they were pretty comical.

We walked over to the parthenon and then on the way back we did some FAMILY cartwheels. Yes, I said family. We all took our turn. Here are a couple of Maddie's which are finally looking like cartwheels and not some unrecognizable mess. Ashton wouldn't do his where I could take a picture, but he did a fairly good job too.

I did a picture of Alex that I had all intentions of posting but I think he might kill me, so I better not. We had a great afternoon just hanging out with the kids and then Alex and Ashton headed out for Alex's hockey game and Maddie and I ended the night with some girl time. :-) I couldn't ask for a better Saturday!

Antique Archaeology

Alex and I watch American Pickers on the history channel. Its a cool show where two guys drive all over the place buying random things. Some times it totally appears to be junk and some times they find really interesting things. Alex found out recently that Mike Wolfe, one of the two pickers, had opened up a store here in Nashville and he's been dying for us to stop in.Saturday we were just laying around the house watching tv and being bums. Out of no where, he decided we should run down there, so we did. I got a few pictures while we were there. The building is super cool and I think a GREAT place to take pictures. (hint, hint Sarah)
This is a picture from inside, but I didn't get any others.

We saw several things we recalled from being on different shows. It was a neat place to go for sure and we even made a small purchase on the way out. A magnet to add to Alex's mom's unwanted collection of magnets! LOL

PMS Night

Friday night, the Journey Church hosted a PMS (Pamper Me Seriously) event. It was a connection event for women of the Journey in order relax, socialize and be encouraged. We had lots of food, especially chocolate and we had some individuals that came in and set up to provide services for the women that attended. We had facials, foot scrubs, paraffin hand treatments, nail painting and chair massages. It was a great night and we had seventy women that attended!

These are just a few of the pictures we got from the night.

After a couple of hours of socializing, pampering and eating, we had a couple of women that got up and spoke. Both of these women did a PHENOMENAL job and I don't think there was a dry eye left in the place when they got done! It was an amazing testimony of God at work!!

Group shot at the end of the night

Maddie's first day with Mrs. Dawn

Wednesday, Maddie had her first day with her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Dawn. YAY!!!!! We are SO, SO, SO excited to have Mrs. Dawn AGAIN this year! Maddie wasn't feeling good when we got the phone call and she literally got up and ran around the room screaming she was so excited. We had a fantastic year last year with Ashton in her class and were more than thrilled to have another opportunity with Maddie. We know its going to be a great year and that just makes us even more excited about Maddie starting school.

More of Ashton's first time on the ice.......

Maddie and I dropped the boys off at the rink to go get dressed while we wasted some time. Its a little too chilly to sit there when you don't have to. I couldn't help but get a picture of them rolling their gear in together. It was too cute!

All suited up to take the ice. You can't really see but he has a HUGE grin going under there. :-)

Alex couldn't be happier right here!

Stretching together. Yes, they did it all!

Ashton beat Alex up off the ice and took off to get the puck. It was cute!
Water break

Waiting on Alex to pass him the puck.

I just thought this one was cute.

Ashton even played a little against the goalie on Alex's team which he thought was just so cool, especially when he scored!!

The team even let him warm up with them before the game. It was a little hard for mommy to have him out there with all those big guys and pucks flying around, but I survived and so did he.

This is just a start to all the hockey blogs to come!

Puck Handling

I was impressed with Ashton's puck handling. I thought it would be a little different for him on ice skates as opposed to roller hockey in the garage, but he didn't seem phased at all.

First Fall

I took a couple of videos of Alex and Ashton on the ice last night. I thought I'd share.

This was Ashton's first fall and I just so happened to catch it. :(

Its Hockey Time

Saturday, I got Ashton officially signed up for his first ice hockey season. He is pretty excited about it and I think Alex MAY just be more excited than Ashton. :-)

Alex had a hockey tournament this past weekend and Ashton got to go to a few of the games. Today, he got his first pair of ice skates and Alex said he couldn't wait to give them a "test" run. After the game, the boys did a little more shopping for Ashton's other equipment.

Those hockey shorts look so huge! I am not sure if Mommy is going to be able to handle her little boy playing such a big boy sport!!! :( I guess we will have to see how it goes!

Kaleb and Kaleigh come to hang out

Today, I watched Kaleb and Kaleigh while Erik and Katrina went to get her a new car. It wasn't that long ago that Alex and I did some car shopping and taking the kids wasn't so fun as I recall. I told Katrina I could take the kids home with me and that way she wouldn't have to worry about that part. She was a little hestitant (because she hates to bother people) but Erik jumped on the offer. :p

Kaleb spent most of his time playing hockey in the garage, so I didn't get any pictures of him. However, Kaleigh immediately came in and went to Maddie's closet for her shoes. She pretty much wore every pair at some point today. Maddie told me later that she shouldn't have to clean her closet back up since Kaleigh was the one that messed it up. LOL How do you argue with that one?!?!

I couldn't help but share these two pictures.

Maddie's rainboots, which look just like hers.

And after getting bored with Maddie's shoes, she moved to Ashton's closet and got his rainboots to wear. Who needs toes, when you have someone else's shoes?!?!

We had a lot of fun playing today. We played with Minnie, watched some cartoons and I even let experience her first sewing lesson while Maddie took a nap. I have to say that her first lesson was much better than the one I had with her mother, so there is hope for Kaleigh after all!!! LOL

Proud Mommy Moment and Meeting the Teacher

On the way home from school in the afternoons, traditionally Ashton and I would discuss his day. I always ask the basic same questions and he answers. Most days, I get much more than I asked for, but I love it. There will come a time when he doesn't want to tell me about his day anymore and I'm going to milk it for as long as I can now. Thursday afternoon was no different, except that I had a MAJOR Proud Mommy Moment!! It went a little something like this:

Me: Hey dude, did you eat all your lunch today?

Ashton: Yeah

Me: How about your snack?

Ashton: No, I gave it away.

Me: What? Why did you give it away? Were you not hungry?

Ashton: I gave it to this kid that sits behind me. He didn't have a snack and I was busy working on something, so I just asked him if he wanted mine.

Me: Aaaahhhh, Ashton that was very nice of you. (then I start fishing for just how kind was he....) So did he ask you for it or what?

Ashton: No, he was just sitting there and another kid asked where his snack was and he said he didn't have one. I turned around and said I'm not eating mine, ya want it?!?

Me: Well, Ashton that was very nice of you and I'm proud of you for doing that.

With summer coming to an end, I've been ready for the kids to get back in school and in a routine. They've been getting on each others' nerves and I've felt like I was failing as a mom to maintain their behavior along the way. I know its just a phase and so forth, but I can't help it. However, its these kinds of moments that make a parent realize that all their hard work is paying off. :-)

After dinner, we went to school for Meet the Teacher night. We all started out in the gym where the principal talked a bit then dismissed us to our child's class room. Ashton got Mrs. Jennings this year. He seems to REALLY like her, especially because she is a big hockey fan. As everyone knows, that is definitely going to mesh perfectly with the Perry family! She did a little talk and then allowed us to look around her room as she went around and talked to us each individually. She is really nice and we're looking forward to a great year!

Maddie is in Kindergarten

Today was Maddie's first phase in day of kindergarten!!! She woke up Monday morning crying that she didn't want to go to school. I immediately got nervous about the process and told Alex that we were in for a rough Wednesday morning. :(

Last night, Alex painted Maddie's fingernails to match her shirt, which she was SUPER excited about. She just couldn't stop smiling! We laid down with her at bedtime to tell her how happy we were that she was excited and that she was going to make all kinds of new friends and learn so much. She just kept smiling and then her eyes started to water. I felt the lump in my throat and then she said, "My eyes are watering up, I better close them." I asked her if she was going to cry and she said "no, I'm just so excited!" It was priceless!

This morning, I got up and started getting ready before waking them up, just like usual. When I got done, I came out of our room and closed the door and I could hear footsteps upstairs. I quickly discover Maddie was up and eager to start getting ready for her first day! YAY!!!! I was so relieved that she was still excited and yet at the same time slightly still worried that might change when it was "game time". We did our normal morning routine and took a few pictures before we left. Unlike Ashton, Maddie LOVES LOVES LOVES to have her picture taken.

No family shot, but we each got our picture made with the kids before we left.

Maddie wanted Ashton to go with us to take her first. We walked her down the hall and into the classroom where she'd be for today. She was still just smiling ear to ear. I was melting! She picked a desk and sat down to start coloring until all her classmates for the day arrived.

Last night, I explained to Maddie that the first day they might call for Madelyn since that is her real name but she could just tell them that she likes to be called Maddie. She asked if she could just let them call her Madelyn at school and we told her sure, if that is what she wanted to do. So, as you can see her name tag says Madelyn because they'd printed them all based on the kids "real names" so she was kind of excited about that. However, she can't spell Madelyn since she's never really been called Madelyn except when she's in trouble or other random times.

She is so adorable and I'm so glad she was such a big girl! I'm going to miss my little shopping buddy during the day, but I'm also going to enjoy my mommy time too!

Daddy and his girl

Here is my sweet girl on her way to the car! She was so excited to tell me about her day and I loved listening. She was excited they got to play some games in the gym and go to the playground twice. She also told me about "the man" aka Mr. Cushing (the PE teacher) that she told her address and phone number too. It was cute! I can't wait to see who her teacher is and get the year started. She is going to have so much fun and I look forward to hearing all about it!

We have a 1st Grader!!!!

Today, Ashton started 1st grade! He got up and got ready without any problems, which isn't always the case for our little boy! He is just like his daddy and doesn't like to get up quickly and moving in the mornings. I was very happy that he was a trooper this morning! It makes for a much better start to the day for us all!

He asked for a new backpack this year. He wanted a messenger bag instead of the backpack he carried last year. So, a couple fo weeks ago I found this one and he loved it. It was so weighed down with supplies this morning that he barely managed to hold it long enough for a picture. LOL

Ashton got Mrs. Jennings this year and we're excited about it being a good year. She is a huge Preds fan, which makes it all the better for the Perry family! Ashton was greeted by several of his friends this morning, whom also have Mrs. Jennings so we were thrilled about that. When I picked him up today, he told me that "today was the best first day ever!" I was ecstatic to hear it! He was a little quieter than normal this morning, so I wasn't sure what to expect this afternoon. I'm so glad that he had a great first day and is looking forward to going back tomorrow! YAY!!!!!

Backpack Giveaway

Saturday morning, our church did a backpack giveaway to help out the community around our church. We know that there are tons of people with multi children that can't afford all the school supplies, backpacks and school fees and we wanted to reach out and try to help as many as we could.

The doors were scheduled to open at 10am and I got there about twenty minutes until time and the parking lot was packed and I awalked inside to find that the line was almost to the front door. It was pretty dark out and looked like the bottom was going to drop at any time, so they'd opened the doors and started letting people line up inside instead of outside where they'd been lined up since just after 8am.

This is Becky and I toward the end of the morning. SHE said we were looking good and almost matching for this picture! LOL

Here here a big portion of our volunteers for the morning! I know some had left before we got the picture but we had a great group for the day.

Visiting Granny & Pa

Friday, I took the kids to visit my grandparents. Ashton loves that they have bird houses everywhere and so he wanted to check those out. He is waiting at the door for me to take him out.

Maddie just wanted to pose with her eyes closed! She is being silly, as usual.

Ashton talked Pa into playing "ball" with this foamy thing we had with us. It was cute!

We had a fairly good visit and the kids enjoyed hanging out with them. Maddie got her birthday present and Granny decided to go ahead and give Ashton his too even though his birthday isn't until October. LOL