Pomp and Circumstance

Caroline is finally a Pre-K graduate... wait, what am I talking about "finally?" She just started Pre-K!!! I can't believe that the next time she goes to school it will be to kindergarten. Man, where does the time go? I mean, really... where does it go? She did beautifully during her graduation ceremony. She was the shining star!! The teacher went around the stage with a microphone to each child and asked them to say one thing they learned about this year in school. Most children answered "colors," "shapes," "letters," or "numbers." Caroline paused and said, "I learned about all the types of animals that live in the ocean." That's my girl. My sweet, unique, bright, thoughtful, beautiful baby girl. My number one. My everything!!

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. 

You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You're on your own. 

And you know what you know. You are the guy who'll decide where to go." 

~ Dr. Seuss

Babies, Babies, Everywhere!!

I love the days when I get a chance to get together with the girls... my closely-knit best friends who have been there for me through thick and thin for years upon years. Since we've all begun to have our own children, it's an awesome thing to watch our own sons and daughters (well, mainly daughters) grow up and develop their own friendships with each other. Amanda, Tom, and Brady just welcomed baby Katherine a few weeks ago and Kendra and Justin and little Baby Brooklyn are a new little family, as well, so we all got together to ooohhh and aaahhh over the little ones and witness each other's birth testimonies (a rite of passage for all newly delivered mommies). It was a wonderful and sweet day. I held babies, rocked, babies, talked babies... I was in heaven!!!

"I'd just as soon stay home and raise babies."

 ~ June Allyson

We took the BRONZE(S)!!!

Trav and I are what you might call "recreational" runners... not that the heaving and sweating of running mile
after mile is my idea of recreational (I'm thinking more along the lines of frosty drink and sandy toes, but that's just me), but we have been running about five or six times a week and try to run at least one 5k race per month. We just finished running our first beach run in May and last weekend we tackled the Locust Grove Peach Stand Road Race. This was the second time I have run this one - I ran it last year as my inaugural post-baby 5k. That was interesting... needless to say I have improved my time since then and, as a result, I took third place in my age division! I was very excited about that! I never, ever thought I would see the day!!!! I don't think this was the most competitive race, but a medal is a medal and I'm leaving it at that! As circumstance would have it, Travis also placed third in his age division! How weird is that? Neither of us have ever placed in a race (well, maybe 50th place...) and we both placed the same on the same day. :) Good times! We are running the Isle of Hope Survive the Five this coming weekend in Savannah and now we have a reputation to uphold! I'm just hoping to survive!!

"The difference between a jogger and a runner is an entry blank." ~ George Sheehan

Caroline's Five!!!

My baby girl is five!!!!!!! I am so, so, so, so proud of her!!!!! Who knew that this amazing, vibrant, bright, beautiful little thing would be a part of MY life? She is just an amazing gift to her Daddy and her sister and to me!! I feel like the luckiest mama in the entire world to have her little life in mine. She just gets me going! We began the celebration on the morning of her actual birthday with wake up cupcakes and a couple of presents from family. This is a tradition at our house - cupcakes for breakfast on your birthday :)  Her party was wonderful and so many people came together with us to celebrate her birthday. We celebrated at Noah's Ark and the weather was beautiful - we deserved it after the monsoon last year - and Caroline was the perfect hostess. The best part was that Auntie Bean Bean flew in as a surprise to Caroline. We were so excited and grateful to have her here for this special day.

"Pleas'd look forward, pleas'd to look behind, And count each birthday with a grateful mind."

~ Alexander Pope

Tomahawkin' for the Hometown Boy

Poor Travis. He is just one of those naturally athletically talented people - the awards and recognitions are too many to list and he's more comfortable on a ball field of any type than anywhere else. He always dreamed of one day having his own little Trav Junior to mold and shape in the same ways his own father did for so many years... but, alas, the universe had different plans and sent him, instead, two precious little girls. It was hard for him to hide his disappointment - not for the girls being, well, girls, but for the dreams of athletic destiny that were rapidly fading into history :) I totally understood his feelings because I, too, had my own dreams of mommy-hood. I dreamed of pink bows and curly hair and princess parties and all other things girl. I would have been more than a little disappointed had my girls been boys (although not, I am positively sure, any less completely smitten and in love with them!) I know you are huffing and puffing that I should not have cared either way as long as I had them and they were healthy - and I heartily agree - but, get real, everyone has secret dreams of what parenthood will be like. Anyway, this post is about how Trav's girls are not disappointing him at all - in fact, he now openly claims he wouldn't trade them for an entire baseball team of little boys! Caroline took her Daddy to a Braves game recently and they had an absolutely wonderful time together. Caroline loves Jason Heyward because her Daddy coached him as a ninth grade Henry County Warhawk! She and Daddy wore matching Braves gear and he said she stayed attentive the entire time. We're looking forward to going to many more games this summer with our girl!

 

 "People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball.  I'll tell you what I do.  

I stare out the window and wait for spring."

~Rogers Hornsby