Katelyn - Our Bible Scholar

The other day, Rachel was reading Katelyn's Toddler Bible. It's not really a Bible - it's more of a Bible storybook. Anyway, she was reading a story about David and it had part of the 23rd Psalms in it. Rachel started reading "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want." Then she exclaimed, "Hey Mom! Here's one of my verses I learned in Sparks!" She was so excited! Katelyn then said "Hey Rachel! See if you can find the Lord's Prayer!" (I think the reason Katelyn wanted Rachel to find that was because Rachel had just had to learn that in Sparks a few weeks earlier.) Anyway, Rachel told Katelyn "But I don't know where it is! And besides, this is a Bible storybook." Katelyn very quickly replied, with quite an attitude, "Have you tried looking in Matthew chapter 6?" I was surprised that Katelyn knew where in the Bible to find the Lord's Prayer. I guess she pays more attention that I realize when I'm helping Rachel with her Sparks verses!!!

I Want Her on My Team!!

Last night we were watching the Lady Vols play in the NCAA Tournament. Rachel was watching pretty intently, and then made the following statement: "That number 3 (Candace Parker) is really good, isn't she Mommy? I wish she were on my team!" What 1st or 2nd grader wouldn't want Candace Parker on their team?!?!?! I'm pretty sure she would dominate!!!

After playing basketball this season, Rachel is much more interested in watching it on TV. The other day Robert & I were getting stuff put together for the yard sale and we walked into the living room and there was Rachel watching the TV intently. It was actually a commercial when Robert walked in, so he asked Rachel what she was doing. She told him she was watching basketball. He asked her who was playing and she told him Kentucky and Marquette (she didn't actually pronounce Marquette, but he knew what she meant!). He then asked her who was winning and she proceeded to tell him the score. Sure enough, when the commercial was over, Robert looked at the score and she was right!

Last night while watching the Lady Vols she would get frustrated when someone would shoot a few feet inside the 3-point line. She would holler at the TV, "If you'd shoot behind that line you'd get 3 points instead of 2! What are you thinking?" It was funny!!!

Easter Morning

Easter morning we got up and the girls checked out their Easter buckets. We haven't really talked much about the Easter bunny. The girls know that the Easter buckets were filled by mommy & daddy. Katelyn had the Easter bunny visit her school last week, and the Easter bunny told them that Easter wasn't all about the bunny and eggs. It was so cute to hear Katelyn and all of her school friends tell me the real meaning of Easter! They did a really good job telling me how Jesus died, was buried, and then rose again. I thought it was really neat how all the kids seemed to really "get" what the real meaning of Easter is!

Anyway, the girls checked out their Easter buckets and then we had to get ready for church. Both girls wore new dresses that they got for Christmas!!! Can you tell that I shop for stuff on clearance?!?!?! Anyway, I thought they looked very cute! They both got sunglasses in their Easter buckets, so they had to model those with their new dresses! What a look!!!

After church, we went over to Mamaw & Papaw's house to grill burgers with them and Lloyd & Wendy. After lunch, we had an egg hunt. All was going well until Katelyn started running down the hill and got a little out of control. She tumbled down and landed right at Lloyd's feet. I'm not sure if she was more hurt or more scared. I think it mainly scared her, but she cried like she broke every bone in her body!!! Rachel was really sweet and started finding some eggs for Katelyn since Katelyn was still crying and wanting to be held. Katelyn finally dried her tears and found the last few eggs herself.

After hunting eggs, we headed inside to cheer on the Vols! It wasn't pretty, but they managed to do enough to hold on and win! GO VOLS!!!

Saturday Fun

Saturday was a continuation of our yard sale. It was a slower day than Friday, but I still managed to sell some stuff. It wasn't the best yard sale ever, but it wasn't the worst either! The best would have to be the one we had when we were getting ready to move from Smyrna and we actually sold one of our cars and my dad's truck, along with various other household items!!! The worst was probably the one Becca & I did together back in 2002. We didn't have much luck, did we Becca?


Robert took the girls to the Easter Celebration at our church. They had an egg hunt, lunch, face painting, balloon animals, clowns, inflatables, etc. The girls had lots of fun!


Saturday afternoon after we got all the yard sale stuff that didn't sell either hauled off to Goodwill or to the dump, we went outside and played! It was windy, so Robert tried to fly a kite. But the wind came in gusts, so it wasn't very good wind for kite flying. I actually almost got attacked by the kite at one point! I think I had a look of panic on my face and I may have actually screamed! We played on the playground, played hide & seek freeze tag, made a stepping stone, and had races! It was lots of fun! Here's a slideshow of our outside play:

After we finished playing outside, we headed inside to dye some eggs. The girls enjoyed it and wanted more! Here's a slideshow of Rachel & Katelyn dying eggs:

We had a fun-filled Saturday! Hope you had a good one too!!!

Spring Break - Day 5

Today was the first day of our 2-day yard sale! I wasn't sure how it would go since it was Good Friday, but we were very pleased! We had our 1st customers before 7:00 (we advertised that we opened at 7:00), and we had a steady stream of people the entire time we were out there! We sold a lot of stuff! It's always funny what people will buy! Since we play a lot of tennis, we end up with TONS of tennis balls! Robert put out a big Rubbermaid tub of tennis balls and put a sign on them for $0.10 each. He did the same thing with golf balls. You wouldn't believe the number of people who would come up and buy 10 tennis balls and/or 10 golf balls! We completely sold all of the golf balls and sold a lot of the tennis balls! Another big seller was $0.25 t-shirts! From where we play in a lot of tennis tournaments, we end up with a lot of tournament t-shirts. Also, just from our years of playing softball we have quite a few numbered t-shirts, even dating back to my years playing for Two Rivers Lady Eagles and our co-ed teams at 1st Baptist Smyrna! We had a HUGE tub of these t-shirts - I mean the tub was overflowing with t-shirts! We sold all but 1 of those! We had one lady buy 13 of those t-shirts!! And get this - we overheard her telling her husband "This will look good on a plaque!" I wasn't sure if I had heard that correctly, but my sister-in-law, Wendy, heard the same thing! So I guess our old t-shirts are being used on plaques?!?!?!? Oh well! Anyway, it was a good day for a yard sale! The girls went over to Mamaw & Papaw's house and stayed most of the day over there. For supper, we met Mamaw & Papaw and Lloyd & Wendy at a local Italian restaurant that we all like. It was a good day!

Spring Break - Day 4

Well, it was a "PJ all day"day for the girls on Thursday! I was busy doing laundry and getting stuff ready for our yard sale on Friday. They played & played all day on Thursday. I did get quite a bit done and got everything ready for the yard sale. Not much of an exciting day of spring break, but fairly productive for me!

Spring Break - Day 3

Today was a rainy day. It was a good thing we had planned to stay at home most of the day because it was nasty outside. I did some work around here getting things ready for the yard sale and the girls played. I caught them playing Barbies together and having a good time. Here are a couple of pictures.

Later that afternoon, we went to see the Dr. Seuss movie "Horton Hears a Who." Since we only allow the girls to watch G rated movies, there aren't too many times that they get to go see a movie at the theater. So this was a special treat! I think they enjoyed the movie. It was pretty cute.

After supper, we decided to go visit "Mama Cook." She's a lady at church that has kind of adopted the girls as her grandchildren! She has two granddaughters of her own, but they're all grown up and in their 20's now. Her husband is not doing well and she has to stay at home with him all the time, so she isn't able to make it to church anymore. So we went by to see her and take her some flowers. Rachel was super sweet - she'd climb up on the couch beside her and hug on her awhile, then get down and go play for a few minutes. Then she'd come back and love on Mama Cook some more. Katelyn is a little more shy around her, but she did give Mama Cook a few hugs too!

After we got home, the girls decided they'd like to have their very own sleepover in the playroom! So we made them a big pallet on the floor and they giggled and talked for a while! At one point they had about decided they just wanted to go back to their own beds since beds are more comfortable than the floor, but then they decided that they kind of liked having a sister sleepover!! I think they thought it was a treat to be able to do that.

Spring Break - Day 2

The girls woke up in a great mood this morning! They were being so super sweet to each other, and just hugging on each other. They came walking down the hall with their arms around each other saying "Mommy, take a picture of us!" So I found my camera and got these cute shots.

We had decided that we would meet some friends at the zoo today, so we got ready and headed up there. I think everyone else had the same idea because the zoo was pretty crowded!!! It doesn't help any that pretty much all area schools are on spring break right now. We had a good time though! Robert even stopped by and met us for lunch! Although I don't think he'll do that again!! It took FOREVER just to order our food, and then it took even longer to actually get our food. But we did eventually finish lunch and Robert went to talk to the gibbons! I think that's his favorite animal at the zoo. He can usually get them fired up. Yesterday, the gibbons were laying down resting in their hammock, but Robert did get them up and moving around. He never got them to start them hooping and screaming, but he tried his best! My friend Alison and I got tickled at him! We had a fun time even though it was crowded. Rachel even petted a hissing cockroach - YUCK!!! And she learned that the best way to kill them is with a hammer!!! The zoo has a new home for the red pandas, so we had to check that out while we were waiting for the others to get there. I think the red pandas are so cute! Their little faces are adorable!!!

Spring Break - Day 1

Yesterday was the first day of our Spring Break! Since I'm having a yard sale on Friday & Saturday, I told the girls that I needed to do some work on that. I got quite a bit of stuff rounded up and priced, and Katelyn tried on pretty much ALL of her clothes so that I could see what we needed to get rid of! She was a good sport about it and did it without complaining. After lunch, we went outside for some fun in the sun! The girls played while I worked on trimming the monkey grass, the weeping mulberry tree, and various other bushes! We stayed outside for several hours enjoying the warm afternoon! Robert got home from work and suggested we take the girls and their bikes to the church parking lot to let them ride. You see, our driveway is pretty short and on a hill, and our street is hilly, so the girls don't have much place to ride. And Rachel is really wanting to ride her bike without training wheels, but it's hard to learn when you don't have a good place to practice! So off to the church parking lot we went! We started out on the soccer field, thinking that it might be easier for her to try there. But the grass was so thick that she couldn't hardly peddle the bike through it! So we moved to the parking lot. She picked it up so quickly!!!! She pretty much just took off after the first time! The tricky part was learning how to turn - she tends to want to turn her body instead of turning the steering wheel. She crashed a few times, but nothing bad! And she did SO GOOD riding her bike without training wheels!!! She was quite proud of herself, although she was a little reluctant to admit it! Katelyn wanted her training wheels off too, but Robert grabbed the wrong tools from home, so he couldn't get her training wheels off. We'll have to save that for another day. In the mean time, Katelyn thoroughly enjoyed riding everywhere in the parking lot. Robert set up cones for her to ride around like an obstacle course! She had a blast!

(Daysha, if you're reading this, check out Katelyn's bike. Do you remember it? It was Kylea's! Remember - we bought it for Rachel at your yard sale before we moved up here!!!)

Here are some pictures and video from our day:

Early Morning Conversation with Katelyn

This morning, Katelyn woke up and came in to our bedroom. Robert had already left for the day since he had to leave bright and early to travel for the day. Katelyn wanted to go play in the playroom. I told her to lay down and snuggle with me for a minute. After what was probably literally one minute, she asked again if she could go play in the playroom. I told her she could, but she needed to shut the playroom door quietly and play quietly since Rachel was still asleep. A couple minutes later Katelyn comes back in and here's our conversation:

Katelyn: Mommy, it's dark in the playroom. I can't see to play.
Me: Turn the light on.
Katelyn: Oh - okay.

I guess since it's spring break her mind decided to take a little break too!!!!!

Soccer Season Begins

Today was opening day for the spring soccer season. Rachel had a game at 10:00, and then Katelyn had jamboree games (2 quarters) at 11:00 and 11:30. Today was also picture day, so we had to be there an hour early. The forecast was not looking good for today, but when we got up this morning it wasn't raining, and the sun was actually shining! Rachel's team had their pictures made and was able to play their game. Towards the end of her game, the sun disappeared and it got very cloudy. Then the sprinkles started. After Rachel's game, Rachel & I headed over to Katelyn's field only to hear some thunder! Robert talked to the other coach and they unanimously agreed that they were NOT playing since they heard thunder! So we headed home. So I guess Rachel's soccer season started, but Katelyn's season is a little delayed!!

While we were waiting for Rachel's game to start, Rachel & Katelyn and some of their friends were having a blast playing together! They played "ring around the rosie" and they circled up their chairs around a "campfire" and giggled, laughed, talked, etc.! I think their favorite part of soccer may be the social time!!!!

This afternoon Rachel had been invited to a birthday party at a local indoor pool. We had talked about not going since we thought we'd be busy with soccer all morning, plus Robert had been gone all week. But, Robert decided that he would take Rachel. So they headed to the birthday party. A while later he called me and asked if Virginia could come over here and play with Katelyn. You see, Catherine is one of Rachel's friends and on her soccer team. Virginia is Catherine's younger sister, who is just a year younger than Katelyn. Katelyn and Virginia are big buddies! Since Virginia wasn't going to swim at the party, she didn't have much to do. So coming over here to play was a great option! Her mom ran her over here and she & Katelyn are having a blast playing dress-up!!!

Here are some pictures from our day:

Soccer sisters - Rachel & Katelyn

Rachel

Katelyn and her friend Grace

Rachel with her friends Catherine and Virginia

Rachel, Catherine, and Virginia

Soccer friends - Zoe, Catherine, Rachel, Katelyn, and Grace (the 3 girls in green are all in 1st grade, and the 2 in orange are in pre-k)

Zoe, Catherine, Rachel, Grace, & Katelyn

Ring around the rosie!

Rachel and Catherine

Circled up around the "campfire"

Virginia and Katelyn

Rachel dancing - I mean - playing soccer

Rachel throwing in the ball

Run Rachel run!

Ballerina friends - Katelyn and Virginia

Katelyn & Virginia demonstrating their ballerina dance moves

Silly girls!

Katelyn's Spring School Pictures

Rachel's Baptism

This past week, Rachel asked Jesus to come into her heart and save her! She had been talking about this and asking questions about this for several months now. After the Upward basketball awards ceremony on Monday, she told me that she had prayed and asked Jesus to come into her heart. We talked a little bit about it and I asked her if she understood what this meant. She said she did and we discussed it a little. I told her that we'd need to talk to our Children's Pastor, Chris. Wednesday night at church Rachel ran up to Pastor Chris and told him she was now a Christian! She was all excited about it! He asked her if we could come by one day after school and talk to him. She said "How about tomorrow?" So we went to Pastor Chris' office Thursday after school. Rachel walked right in and plopped down in a chair and started talking to him. Robert & I stayed out in the hall so that they could have a conversation without our influence. They talked for awhile and then Pastor Chris told us that she knew what she was talking about! He said he pretty much got a theological dissertation of what it means to be a Christian!! Rachel wanted to be baptized immediately, so he said we could do it on Sunday (today). We didn't know it at the time, but 2 other kids got baptized this morning with Rachel. One of the boys, Nathan, has been one of Rachel's friends since we moved here back in 2003! Here are some pictures and a video from this morning.


This is Rachel and her friend Nathan:

This is Rachel and Pastor Chris. Not only is Pastor Chris our Children's Pastor, he is also a good friend! His daughter, Sarah, is one of Rachel's best friends!

There's evidently a "tradition" that after you've made some serious pictures with Pastor Chris, that you have to make a silly face picture!!

Here's Rachel in the baptistry with Pastor Chris. She looked up at me and smiled!

Rachel grabbing onto Pastor Chris' arm right before being baptized

And here she is coming up out of the baptistry

Here's the video of all 3 kids being baptized: Nathan, Rachel, and Nash.

Snowy Saturday Videos

Since this has been our ONLY snow to even TRY to play in this year, I did try to get a few video clips. This first one is of Robert pulling the girls down the hill. Sorry about the shaky camera! I was following them down the hill and I was trying not to run and trying not to shake the camera, but it didn't work too well!!!






This next video clip I got down at the bottom of the hill and watched as Robert pulled the girls past me. Notice how Katelyn squeals the entire time and how Rachel throws her hands up in the air like she's on a roller coaster!!!





Here's Rachel sledding down the other side of the house after a big push from Daddy.




And here's Katelyn sledding down the hill.

Snow Day!!!

This morning it started snowing around 7:00. Originally, the forecast was for 1-2 inches of snow. But that quickly changed to "accumulation of less than an inch!" After breakfast and playing inside for a short while, we decided to go ahead and go outside to play in the snow, even though there wasn't much of it! According to Katelyn, though, it was a ton! She said "We've had snow flurries before, but this is a really big snow!!!!" Poor child - she's almost 5 years old and this is about the most snow she's ever seen!!! Anyway, we got bundled up and went outside for a while. The first attempts at sledding had a net distance of about 10 feet!! Then Robert started running down the hill and pulling the sled behind him. The girls loved it, but it was pretty tiring for Robert! I tried it one time and it was hard work!!! It snowed pretty hard the entire time we were outside. We ended up going to the other side of the house and trying our other hill. Robert would give the girls a big push and they actually would go a pretty good distance. I stood in front of a small tree at the bottom just to make sure they didn't run into it. Rachel took me out one time! Actually, she went through my legs! Katelyn squealed the entire time she was sledding! It was soooo funny! After coming in, Robert and the girls warmed up with some hot chocolate. I don't like any kind of hot drinks, so I just had some Mountain Dew! The snow was completely melted by this afternoon, so I'm glad we got out early and let the girls play. They had a really good time! Here's a slideshow of our morning...