Good-bye to the past and Nati's book club

I have been so crazy busy lately with preschool and soccer that I haven't had a lot of time to post, so here goes for a ton of things. We've been busy.

Nati got invited to a book club by our neightbors, the Fixiones'. We love having them right next door. Their youngest, Ariana, is one week younger than Natalie so they will get to be great friends. I guess Ari has been wanting to have some friends over for a book club because the moms do book club (which I love). They made invitations and brought it over with a cookie the other day. I got Nati dressed up, skirt and all and took her over for "book club". They had pillows and blankets set up on the deck and had muffins, grapes, and juice boxes to eat. Carrie, Ari's mom, read a few stories and then they played ring around the rosey. Nati loved it, especially Coco - their dog. It was so cute to see all these little girls that get to grow up together. On the way back home she actually let me hold her hand, which she never does. I had to get a shot of it because it probably won't happen again.

Grandma Lee holding Natalie after her baby blessing.

Grandma Lee's house

My Grandma Lee died this last March, she was 96. We were all sad to see her go but knew that it was time - she was so ready. About 10 days before she went she gave us a scare by sleeping for pretty much an entire day. She lived alone, although her kids and grandkids checked in on her daily if not several times a day. Anyway, my uncle Dale was over visiting her and she said she was tired and went to lay down. She didn't wake up for several hours and the family was notified that they needed to come say good-bye. It was just mainly adults which was nice. We all sat around and talked about her and shared memories of her with eachother. She was asleep the entire time. About an hour later she woke up, looked around and wanted to know why everyone was there. We were all in shock, thinking that she was taking her last breaths and then she was coherant but confused. She told us that she'd been to heaven and how beautiful it was. She said that they were so busy there and that there were lots of pretty flowers. She saw her family and told them that she was ready. She talked for a while then was tired again, so we all gave her our love and quietly left. She held on for another week and passed away on Jason's birthday, sad to say. She is the first grandparent that I have been here to see pass on and I didn't realize how hard it would be. I loved her very much and have some great memories of her. The kids decided to sell her home and it sold this last week. I had to go over one last time and take pictures and say good-bye to the house. She was a great lady and I know that she is watching over her family.

No more braces - for a while at least

Dylan got his braces off yesterday. He was more than excited. I have been reminding him each time he complains that he was so excited to get them on and the excitement lasted for a day then it went to misery. His front teeth look great! Good job bud!

The long awaited miracle

Another wonderful miracle is coming to the Lee family. Yeah!!! My oldest brother Chris and his wife Andrea are expecting a baby. They have a daughter, McKenzi who just turned 11. They have been in the "fertility issues" world for 9 long years. They have had their papers in for adoption for 3 of those years and no luck. In April they decided to give IVF a try, did it in August and it worked! For those that have had to deal with infertility, you know how hard it is. I only had to deal with it for 3 years and they were the hardest of my life, so to think of them dealing with it for 9 years just breaks my heart. It has been so hard to watch them put on a happy face when their family and friends have had children with no problems. I know how hard it is and I appreciate their example of faith. They have had their hard times and down times but just keep moving forward. I can't think of two people that deserve this more than they do. McKenzi is so excited to finally get to be a big sister and she will do so great. Congratulations you guys - we are so excited for you and can't wait to meet this little angel that we have all been waiting for.

My attempt at gardening, Twilight chocolate, & Nati's haircut

I have never gardened before. Planted flowers yes, but actually having some type of a garden - NO! I envy people that know how to do that. I told my friend Michelle that I wanted to try to grow one thing. She suggested to try raspberries and had a garden full of them. So I dug out a little area to start with and she came and planted them for me. Unfortunately half of the plants died, but a few made it and this is the one that had a few raspberries on it. Yes, I am proud. My Grandma Lee grew them and I love that I am attempting to continue with it. If this goes well, who knows? Maybe I'll try something else next year.

It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I got another great surprise from my brother. Yes, it is a Twilight candybar. He saw it in Borders and snagged it. With all of the stress he had been under the last couple of months, he still remembered me and I think he is fabulous. He & his wife Andrea will be getting great news tomorrow (I'll let you all know). 57 days and counting till the movie!!

I'm not quite sure how it happens, maybe it's just my daughter. It should be a law with nature or something, which is definitely being broken by Natalie. She doesn't have much hair - my one and only girl is lacking in that department. I have looked forward to getting to do my daughters hair since we found out it was a girl. Looks like I will have to keep dreaming. Anyway, her hair is thin and doesn't grow the fastest ever either. So I decided that to help it to look thicker I needed to cut the ends a bit. Long story short - she moved and it got hacked. It is cute but needs to grow a bit. Maybe by the time she's 5 it will be to her shoulders. She didn't move after the initial "move (that came along with my scream)" and it actually looks cute on her.

Look out Beckham-Here comes Braxton

Braxton is our little soccer player. He is doing so well and is making goals each game. I kept turning the camera on and off trying to get footage of one of his goals. He is so fun to watch. He just smiles the entire time he plays. This footage is of one of his goals - notice the slide before. He is multi-talented - mixing soccer and baseball together.

After making this goal he walked up to his coach and said "Now I get a tattoo." We told him that he can get a "removable" tattoo for every goal he gets. Little did we know that he is quite good. He already has one on each arm. Good thing he's so dang cute.

No more "Girl Songs"

Ok I know I've posted a lot lately. I was going to make it five days before I did another one but this was just to irresistable. I had another great conversation with Braxton that is still making me laugh. Here's how it went, but first let me set the scene for you. We were in the car (Brax, Nati, and I) driving to my parents house. I had my ipod playing, Carrie Underwood to be exact, and this is what happened:

Brax: "uh Mom, this is a girl song. You know I don't like girl songs, change it."

Now I do know that he has issues with female singers for whatever reason, I just like to test the waters every now and then.

Me: "Alright you big baby." Slightly smiling while I change it to Nickelbacks "Far Away". I love this song so I figured I killed two birds with one stone. But oh, was I wrong.

Brax: "MOM!! Change it"

ME: "This isn't a girl singing, whats wrong now?"

Brax: "This is a guy singing about a girl and love, CHANGE IT NOW!!!!"

Me: Snickering in the front seat. Trying so hard not to bust out laughing knowing that it will only get worse if I do.

Brax: "MOM, stop laughing. I can hear you. And don't tell Dad. "

Ok, that's how it happened. It may not be so funny to you but hearing it in his cute tone of voice and being so serious was hysterical. Oh and I did have to change it to the Transformers song to appease him. If this is a taste of what I am in for later, Heaven help me!!

Soccer Season & My Preschool Kids

So cute!
Go Braxton Go!!!

Yeah - it's time for soccer. And even better - we have two kids playing. And even better than that - half of their games are at the same time. Fortunately they play at the same field so we can just swap during quarters or halfs. I have sympathy for parents that have more than two playing at the same time. How do they do it? They both played their first games this last week. Braxtons was the best. He was so excited to get to play. He got out there and was the first to score a goal. We were a little stunned. After that he just kind of played and thought he was done. I love that the fields are smaller, the kids have no idea what they are doing and the games aren't quite as long. His game was hilarious with half the goals being made on the other teams side. Dylan did so much better than he has ever done. He was way more aggressive and made a huge effort to stay with the ball. It makes for a fun month.


Emma, Ella, Taylor
Bridger, Kimball & Braxton




I started teaching this last Wednesday. I have six kids in my class, which is perfect for me for my first year. My first day was better than I expected. I was nervous that one or two would want moms to stay with them but they did really good. Nati was hard that day and Braxton antagonized Bridger but other than that it went well. Friday was great. All of the kids got along really well. Nati even did great, which was a huge blessing. They love music time when they get to pick an instrument and take turns marching around the house. We did a glitter project Friday and wow - was that a mess. My plan is to do a letter and color each week. Along with that they get to make a felt puppet each week to go along with the letter. Our first unit is "All About Me". Shavon has some great books that the kids loved, especially Little Rabbit Foo Foo. Thanks for all the advice Shawnie! I hope that as time goes on that I will relax more and not be so nervous teaching 4 year olds.

We were bored or crazy!!!

making sure it was measured right
half way there
almost done
proof that I did help (blisters from pulling nails out of baseboards)
Yeah! All done!!

This was our last minute/before pre-school/"that's what happens when you walk through Home Depot" thing. We went there to get one teensy thing and came out with all the stuff for a wood floor. We had actually been wanting to do this in the living room and down the hall for a while. We started on Thursday and finished on Monday. Jason did a great job!! I did help a small amount and have proof!!! Our hope is that with pre-school traffic up and down the hall that it will keep things looking better than if we had carpet. So far I love it, just need to get a rug or two.