Annual Neighbor Family Photo

Pleasant Valley

Pleasant Valley is a school situated a mile from our home that was built in 1899.  Third graders from across the state take part in field trips where they participate in a one-room all-ages classroom, complete with outhouses.  It was a privilege for children to go to school as their parents had to pay $1/month.  Teachers had to have completed 8th grade and weren't allowed to be married. 

 

When attending, kids are encouraged to dress from the era and bring food available from that time - so it could be grown on your farm, but not processed in a lunchable or Doritos bag!  :)  We followed the guidelines except for my store-bought bread.

 

Here's my little Pioneer.  Students had to pick a name of a former Pleasant Valley student and try to be in character.  Please meet William Hetherington, age 10.  He is the oldest child of 6, and his family came from Missouri.  American born.

 

Girls on one side and boys on the other.

Hats off indoors.

 

They made cups out of paper, and then used a ladle to get their drinking water out of the bucket.

 These are his buddies.  This was right before they were asked to stand in front of everyone and read aloud.

 

It was a chilly day for a field trip with 30 mph winds.  They didn't spend much time outside for recess or lunch, but he said it was a fun day!

mama

Mommy.  It's a word I wanted to hear from my child's mouth even before I was pregnant. Before I was married. Before Jason.  I think it was just a dream of mine to be a mom as long as I can remember.  Probably because I had a great one.

Mommy.

Grant said it a lot.  Kyle said it a lot.

Reid says it.... occasionally.  He loves, however, to say Mama, which is always the last thing I told Jason I wanted Grant to call me when he finally started babbling.  We trained him to say "mom-me."

And I've never thought mama sounded as sweet and perfect as it does rolling off of sleepy-eyed barely concious little boy when I check on him before going to bed.  This just happened.  And I knew I needed to blog it as I would forget.

Mama.  It's perfectly sweet and precious from him as I am HIS mama.  The only one.  And he loves me. 

Now I switch tracks on this post:

I remember sitting in each of the boys' rooms when they were babies just holding their little bodies, swaddled up little newborns, nursing their final drinks before bed, or allowing me a few snuggles before I laid them on their baby pillow as a preschooler.  Each time I just look at them and start going over the features on my son's face, thinking to myself "I will remember this sweet nose.  I will remember those perfect eyes. I will remember this darling dimple." 

And, boy, do I try, but time goes so quickly, and they change soooo quickly.  Those little pearly baby teeth disappear and the dimples fade a little with the baby fat.  And I find myself forgetting but trying desperately to recall each thing.  I can't.  I try but then they start to blur together. 

And I become incredibly thankful to have started a family blog.  I can write down all of those things from their childhood that you WILL forget, no matter how much you want to cling to every memory.  It happens.  Yet I can come on here, click on 2008 and compare pictures of baby Kyle with baby Reid, and more easily recall those sweet moments gone all too soon. 

I have a facebook account that I deactivate frequently.  Nowadays, you nearly have to have an account for so many things that I unfortunately find myself needing to be there rather than wanting to peruse the posts.  When I do get on, it's a showcase festival of 1. your new baby pictures or vacation 2. your new achievement 3. some pyramid marketing sales pitch you're trying to sell to friends or 4. some cartoon or game you thought we'd all need to see.  It's not quality time.

Quality time is taking my son out of his bed while he's barely awake at 10:30 at night, and holding him tightly and giving him butterfly kisses and eskimo kisses and telling him I love him. He's just delirious enough to grin in return and say "I love you, Mama" in the sweetest, most soft voice possible only from a child.

THAT'S what matters, no matter if he will remember any of it in the morning.  Or if I will in a year.  So what.  Live and love and cherish and cuddle and try to remember the sweet love in your life.

I always dreamed of being Mommy but there's nothing sweeter than being a Mama, too.  It fills a place in my heart with love and happiness like nothing else.

Mud U

We were excited to participate in the inagural Mud U run for kids ages 6-12.  We had a team with two families and were called the Dirty Rascals.   

 

Getting fired up pre-race!

 

 

 

I think it's fun how perfectly in stride G and K are with each other both in this picture and the next one.

 

Reid brought his chainsaw and we entertained ourselves while waiting on the Dirty Rascals to near the finish line.

 

smooches for Mommy!

Here they come!!!

Please note that our children were the only ones with mud on their face.  So I'm either not sure how they got so dirty, or how the others stayed so clean! 

Either way, mine loved it!

 

Here's Grant doing the final challenge.

Kyle's turn at the obstacle. 

I adore this picture. 

 His teeth look so white amid the brown mud!  :)

 

 

VICTORY!

 

So why not "clean off" in the very muddy lake?!?



35!

Happy birthday to you, my love!

 

Thankful to have a husband who was happy to spend his day coaching a baseball tournament in 40 mph winds!  :) 

 

What a man.... he can pull off a sombrero!

Easter, baseball and stuff!

He is Risen!

We were able to go to Nana and Papa's home for a fun egg hunt and family time on Saturday. Jason took pictures on his phone but they didn't come out. I bet you can imagine them - boys playing baseball and flying kites in the yard.

On Sunday, we went to church!  Here is our only family picture thanks to a kind lady who offered to snap it for us.

After church, we did a few projects around our house, and then went to GG and Bubba's for dinner and more family time.  Chase and the Halls joined in as well.

Grandson picture

Kyle had another game last week.  He was able to get a few hits and here is a cute picture of a few Walker boys at first base!

Coach Jason having a team meeting after a big win for the Braves!



The Pioneers played in our first tournament.  We ended 1-2 and with a few sad faces.  Grant was able to pitch (he was catcher for 1.5 games and then pitched in two of the three games - his poor arm should have been so tired - that's a LOT of throwing!).  He did pretty good on the mound!

as the catcher

Reid, Kyle and I did a lot of sitting in lawn chairs and driving hot wheels in the dirt.  Reid had finally had enough and had to burn some energy by climbing the chain link fence!

Reid decided to be really cute and affectionate with me after our Hideaway date.  These are through the restaurant window from Jason's phone as Reid thought he needed to steal a few kisses from his mommy and make her smile!

Park time with our friends!

The baby swings were full and Reid wanted to be with Mom....

I'll take the cuddles!  Thanks to Rachelle for being quick with her camera to catch the sweetness.

Mr. woke up with a fever and was happy in our bed.  Reid has been the most sick of the three boys - never anything bad but just a slight fever that lasts a day a lot this winter.  Thankful for nothing major!

We are normally all about doing our own yard work - we think it's fun to get out and see the progress, and it's been great exercise, especially for my skinny husband who has lost 30 pounds.

HOWEVER, sometimes, you just want and need a professional....

In this case, two landscape management college kids who want to earn some money. 

For those who haven't been to our house, we have over an acre and only part of the yard is fenced.  The rest was completely natural, but with 30 snakes last summer, and our desire for things to be tidy, we wanted it cleaned out like our neighbor's yard.  This is a before shot:



Yea!  We can now walk to our friends and the kids can play so much more safely back there.  It's still full of nature but without all of the dead debris and thorns, etc.  SO worth the money to have saved us so many weekends of time.