Birthday Girl

Taylor is Eight!!  I know I say this every time one of mine has a bday, but HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?  She is supposed to be a sweet little two year old who loves being a big sister, not an EIGHT year old!! 

Having a birthday just a few days before Christmas is sometimes hard.  Parties aren't easy to make happen with every one's schedules, but this year I think we did just fine.  We started off the morning with some sweet homeschooling friends decorating Christmas cookies and then the party began!

Taylor picked three of her adorable little buddies (and Anabelle) to go with her to get manicures and pedicures.  Oh my word!  My girls haven't ever had this done before and I'm afraid I've created animals.  They had a FANTASTIC time.  These girls thought they were queens.  I even heard one of them say, "Let's pretend your mom is our servant."  HA!  They sat in their chairs and sipped their capri suns and chatted like little ladies.  I loved every minute of it. 

Taylor at eight is a ball of silliness.  From silly faces to goofy 'dances' she is a clown if I've ever seen one.  But this clown can get serious when it comes to school.  She is a reading machine (something she doesn't get from her dad and I.)  She has completed her second grade reading list and is half way through third grade, due to complete it at the end of January.  I can't get her enough books and I love it.  She and I have really enjoyed this semester of homeschooling together.  We miss Anabelle when she's at school but I can say I know Taylor better now than I did in Aug when we started.  I love the time we get to spend learning together.  Yes, I am learning while teaching her 2nd grade. 

She is so tender hearted and sometimes cries when her sisters get in trouble. She can do some drama too.  Boy can she.  What will happen when she is a teenager is beyond me!  I'm a little nervous. ;)

Between now and then, I'm doing my best to cherish the little girl in her, bc I know it will be much too soon before she's done with 'little girl' things. 

Nash-A-Feeel

We had a great weekend in Nash-A-Feel (Caroline's pronunciation) this last weekend. It was the second year that our Sunday School class made the trip to Nolensville to help a small church plant with their Fall Festival (or Veg-i-ball...also Caroline's pronunciation). The girls were great. The big ones worked (and played) hard! It was a beautiful weekend!

This is our group, over 50 strong. A little overwhelming for restaurants, but it was great fun.

Taylor climbed to the top of the rock wall in between helping at the face painting station.

Anabelle raked leaves to help set up.

These are my three favorite five year olds manning the Bounce House station.

Where to begin....

Many things have taken over my life lately and the biggest of all those is HOMESCHOOLING. Wow, I never thought that would be me, but it is. No, I do not wear denim jumpers or 'teacher' sweaters. No, I don't have feathered hair. Yes, I do have a very easy to homeschool child. No, I'm not afraid of the world and what it will do to my children...well maybe a little bit, but that's not why we are going this route. No, I'm not sure I can give my child the well rounded education that she was lacking in school...I'm hoping to, but not sure. In fact, I'm not sure of much. What I am absolutely sure of is that it is God's plan for our family right now. 'Nuff said.

So, how's it going you ask? Wonderfully!! Taylor might possibly be the easiest child to homeschool. At least she is at this point in our little journey. She has been the child who begged me for 'homework' since she was in 4k. She simply loves to learn and loves to read. (Something she did NOT inherit from me)

Right now, Anabelle is still in the private kindergarten that Taylor attended that we LOVE. She's doing great and we have no plans set in stone on what we'll do with her next year. Caroline is home with us all day every day.

So, now you can see where I've been since our first official day of school on Aug 15th. Here are just a few things we've been doing in our first two months..

Aug 14

Pretty Girls

Aug 13

We had a fabulous day redneckin' on Saturday with a few of our favorite famlies at a local state park. Unfortunately this is the only picture I took. We got sandy, and nasty and had a great time doing it.

Aug 12

Just try to tell me that I don't have the absolute sweetest 2nd grader on the planet. Taylor woke up before I did and asked me to please stay in bed and not get up. Uh.....OK. A few minutes later she came in my room with this. Cin toast (made in the oven-she had done this the two previous mornings with my supervision) cantelope (not so sure how she did that but I'm not asking questions) and a HUGE glass of apple juice. I love that girl!

Aug 11

"Cave painting" was so much fun. Just taped some craft paper to the wall of the back porch and went to town.

Aug 10

Last LONG summer days... We had been to the pool with friends most of the day then out to dinner. Poor girl couldn't last any longer.

Aug 9

Two sweet soon to be kindergarteners and a little brother enjoying a popsicle during the last week of summer. Oh my heart...

Aug 8

Ok, I didn't actually get a picture on Aug 8th, but please enjoy this picture from last week..... :) Friends enjoying summer.

Aug 7

Aug 6

After early morning donuts and some action packed playing time, the H's had to hit the road. That visit was much too short. As exhausted as we were after our whilwind of guests, it sure was fun. Have I mentioned how much I love living on the path to the beach for so many of my friends?

Aug 5

Our third and final set of guests came on Friday and we were so excited! The Hutchins are more college friends that we love. Carlee is about to turn 11 and we all think she hung the moon. Sweet Brody hung in there really well for being the only boy. He's such a sweetie pie! He let Caroline treat him like her Kitty for the entire visit. He even told her when he went to bed, "Don't worry, your kitty will be here when you wake up." Priceless. The grown ups even got to stay up late and visit too. Such a great day!

Aug 4

After child #1 had to do push ups for punishment, sisters #2 and #3 thought it would be fun to participate as well. When punishment is fun, that would be a win for the kiddos and a loss for the mommy.

Aug 3

A sleepy silly picture of house guests round two.

8-2

Round two visitors are the Halls who moved with us to Alabama five years ago and then deserted us (jk) and moved back last spring. It has been so good to spend time with them again. Boy has life changed since we met Heather, Jerron and BABY Braydon five years ago. They were our kindred spirits in this crazy move to "Ala-flippin-Bama" as we used to call it.

Pic of the Day Aug 1

We are right in the middle of the parade of house guests. The first round was the Taylors who are great college friends. The girls had a blast playing non stop with these kiddos for several days. This is the one time we got camera's out.

Buie Loop

These are three happy girls. We have been in Ark for a few days hand have had lots of outside fun. If you live in Ark and we haven't called or visited, please don't be offended. We have taken this week off from running around. For the most part, we have stayed within shouting distance from "Buie Loop" aka "Green Acres" aka Papaw and Gran's house.

They helped Papaw make a scarecrow for his garden. Her name is Sally the Scarecrow. Anabelle insisted that we make a female or "guhl" scarecrow.

They got to ride in Papaw's Jeep and go to THE store and get candy.

They baked cupcakes.

Gran is reading Little House in the Big Woods to the big girls.

Caroline has been looking in the BOCK BOCK URS.

There was one nursemaid's elbow crisis, two batches of Rice Krispy treats, three (or three thousand) impromptu concerts, four hair cuts, five goodnight phone calls to daddy and A LOT of fun. Wonder what we'll do tomorrow?

Camp Week

Last week T had camp at church. They do that for first and second graders who might not be ready for an entire 5 days away from Mom and Dad. She had a blast and came home exhausted every day.

We developed a VERY elaborate plan this week with our two favorite families to work out swaps to entertain littles and give each Mom a day off. It involved carpools and play dates and naps at others houses. Thank you LORD for fabulous friends who can easily step in for Mommy with no major drama from littles.


The 'bigs' as we call them got to carpool together every day.

The 'middles' just so happen to be the best of buddies (like their moms) and enjoyed 830-400 playdates everyday.

The 'littles' went two at a time to a different house everyday. They had fun too!

In the middle of all that, Hollywood here along with all the other 'littles' and 'middles' go to enjoy a movie at church. What a week! I LOVE SUMMER!!!!!!!

VBS

These three girls had a blast at VBS a couple of weeks ago. Even Caroline got to participate. She went to storytime, music and had crafts. This little lady can even recite John 3:16. I'm so thankful for a church that invests in little two year olds rather than just babysitting them.
Taylor invited a couple of friends from our pool and so I had a gaggle of little girls all week. Talk about some giggling!

On our way to lunch one day.

PaPaw lost an arm

I love this toy. It's one of the few toys that my mom has left that my brother's and I played with and somehow it has migrated to our house. It is one of the VERY few toys in my house that isn't pink or sparkly or even remotely girly. When Anabelle was probably about Caroline's age she started calling this little man "PaPaw" and I love it probably because of the straw hat and the tractor. The real Papaw hasn't resorted to overall's yet, but I have a feeling it's not far off. Unfortunately, Caroline was carrying it around today saying, "uh-oh, papaw's arm fall off." I think he's been mended since then, but it made me laugh so much I had to take a picture. :)

Summer is here!!!!!

In the Rushing house, summer means...
impromptu dates with Daddy,

Eating Dinner in your swimsuit.(And grabbing the hummus and salsa when no one is looking)

Homemade ice cream with friends on Memorial Day weekend

Floaties

and VBS...

We are smack dab in the middle of VBS right now. I'm sure there will be pictures to come.

Giggles!

Anabelle will be five on Monday. Let's just not talk about how I am handling that little fact. Friday night she had her two best buddies over for what will be the first of probably millions of Rushing sleepovers. Boy was it fun! There was giggling galore in my basement until well after midnight.




They ate, they giggled, they painted, they watched movies, they played school, they ate popcorn, they giggled, they 'slept' in a huge tent in the basement, they woke up giggling and then we went to Krispy Kreme.
Am I just a little evil for leaving these two sweet girls with their parents just moments before they hit a wall that was a combo of lack of sleep and sugar crash? Maybe, but it was FUN!!!