Celebrating Pryce

Yesterday was the kick-off day for celebrating Pryce!  For ten consecutive days, we are doing something extra special in honor of his 10th birthday.  Kick-off day consisted of a donut breakfast, a friend over to play for the afternoon, and We Bought A Zoo with his favorite ice cream.  It was perfect.

Today we had a few of his buddies over for football, water balloon wars, a treasure hunt and just some good ole' backyard boy fun....

 I can hear P saying in this pic, "Now that is what I am talking about!".....he had just scored a touchdown and he wasn't too proud to show it!

 Trying to incorporate a bit of safety, ie, NO tackling, we invested in a flag football set.  The thing is, no matter how safe one tries to be, it never fails, there will be an injury.  Or two.  Thankfully, the wounds were fast to heal and the game carried on.

 Team Lions....

 Team "We Are Awesome"....

 With several tired, hot and hungry guys on board, we headed inside for a time to cool off, open gifts,

 read some sentimental words....

blow out a few, ahem, A LOT of candles.....

 and eat cake and ice cream.

A fabulous day celebrating one special guy.  So thankful for him.  

Invest in the life of a child.  Purchasing the latest electronics or that 3D tv or that beautiful little car to drive around town in - those things will soon be outdated.  But the life of a child?  Invest in the life of a child and you will be rewarded for life.

 I was playing around with MK the other day and it just hit me.  Look at this face.  These smiles.  I can still hear her giggles.  To think that we could have missed out.  To think that we could have said no.

 Four years of our Mason-Kate.  We are forever indebted to her for the joy she has brought and the lessons she has taught our family.  Life lessons, the biggest one being that investing in the life of a child does change the world.  I cannot imagine our money (or our debt) going to a better investment.

Though you have already impacted many in ways you cannot even fathom, He has bigger plans for you!  This, I know.  We love you MK!

She Speaks....

Dat right dare?

Who's dat?

I did it!

Up high, down low, TOO slow! (belly laugh always follows!)

Mei Mei, Pyce, Col-Col, Mommy, Daddy, Gan, Pop, G-Mom, G-Dad

I go cool? (can I go to school?)

Go Tigers!

Go Gamecocks!

I two half.

Mommy's car.

Me potty!

Yo Yo (yogurt)

Choc-ate mei-lk

I sooo hungy (hungry)

No buckle me (she doesn't like to be buckled into her carseat which isn't an option but I guess she figures why not object anyway?)

And our favorite - "Whoa Peet!"  Both of my girls love to say this.  My father taught this to them.  Tonight Ryan said this to Maddox.  Maddox laughed and said, "Whoa peet!  Dat what Pop says!"

Everyday Maddox's speech improves.  Last week she said her name for the first time. She is producing two and three word phrases now which is so sweet to hear.  She works so hard and she knows what is easy for her to say and what is not.  And today she blew the most bubbles I have ever seen her blow - a tough feat to accomplish for this little one.  And she is 100% potty trained now, at night too!  And she is loving school.  And I heard her say, "Hi Kat-ryn" tonight to a friend we ran into at dinner (Kathryn).  She will tell MK she is sorry without being prompted....of course, I put them both in time-out for whatever has happened because I am most positive both have committed a crime of sorts :)  After a moment in time-out, Maddox will say, "Mommy, hug Mei-Mei?" I nod my head, she gets up, hugs MK and says, "Sorry, Mei-Mei."  So sweet.  She is all signed up for ballet next year and practices her twirl daily:)

He's done it again, sigh.  He grew!  And grew and grew....he grew until he was sooo big that he no longer required a booster seat in our van.  Yahoo!  He is more than excited about this development. 4'9" has a been a long time coming for this guy.  Next up, driving :/

Sunday our community was struck by tragedy. A beautiful, precious little boy, only 16 months old, died while eating a french fry during dinner with his family. His two siblings, ages 9 and 6 years watched as their mother, neighbors, and emergency workers tried to save the life of this baby boy. This wasn't just any little boy, this was our neighbor, someone we interacted with periodically, someone we talked with at the park, someone we swam with in our pool, someone we knew. So very sad. Please pray for the Lister family.

Monday began with a bang - Colin went in for his first of many dermatologist appointments. Thankfully, he has "healthy" moles. However, he has A LOT of moles so he will be seen each year to keep a watchful eye on those pesky dots.

Early Tuesday morning, Maddox was evaluated by our local school system to see if she will qualify for services during the next school year. Currently, we receive state assisted speech services (as well as two more times per week privately) and physical therapy for one hour each week. Verbally, the county stated she will qualify for speech services next year. The evaluators were taken by her charm. She really is cute. Too cute sometimes. This is the only day, in either of my girls' lives, where I have prayed for failure! They did capitalize on the fact that Maddox has a large vocabulary, she wants to talk and she wants to be understood....and they assured me that one day this will happen. So, short story, looks like next year we will be on board for services through our county as well as intensive private speech therapy with our current therapist.

Following our eval, Maddox came home and said her name for the very first time. And then proceeded to say, "Mommy, up high? Down low? Too slow!".....she is quite the trickster :) In other Maddox news, the potty training is moving up on my scale of success. We are at 85%. And dry at night. Every night. Amazing.

Pryce successfully finished up his first week of baseball. He has played well at first base, third base, short stop and left field. Golf continues to fair well with both boys. Pryce and MK are well into their tennis season. Two more weeks of school. Two more weeks of co-op. A few more weeks of ballet. A few more weeks of pre-k - then graduation, oh my! Two more weeks of Latin. One more week of IEW....and so goes it.....

Grandma's Aquatic Voyage

On a first-rate afternoon, a fat old grandma sailed peacefully in the water. She

was accompanied by her young grandson. He was fishing. Surprisingly, the boat,

which was old and rusty, did not have paddles. Grandma and grandson were happy

because they were on a clear sunny pond. Waiting patiently for a bite, the boy baited

his hook. When he felt a tug on his rod, he instantly reeled it in. He was excited! He

was nervous. He was amazed!

The boy was happy. The fish, which was the first fish he had ever caught, was

wiggly because he didn’t like being on a hook. Suddenly, the Herculean string broke

and the fish fell as fast as a crashing jet to the bottom of the boat. Grandma and the

boy heard a significant sound. “Hey! What’s up? It’s a splendid day, isn’t it?,” asked the

fish. When the fish said this, the boy looked down and noticed the fish. The fish talked!

Grandma screamed. The boy shuddered in disbelief. Talking, the fish said, “What?! I

am only a fish that speaks British!” Until now, the boy had never heard of a talking fish.

The boy, hearing a loud crack, suddenly fell into the water with his fat grandma

and the British speaking fish! “HELP! Help! I can’t sw-sw-iimmm!,” yelped the grandma.

Excitedly, the boy swam toward his enormous grandma because he wanted to save her

just like they do on Super Hero Marathon. He admired superheroes. When he reached

his grandma, she cried, “Seriously, wait, hold on a second.....I’m FLOATING!” For once,

the grandma was pleased that she was as large as a whale. Swimming fast, the boy

drug his grandma beside him like a tugboat. Grandma and her tired grandson, who

looked back and waved to the British speaking fish, cruised peacefully back to shore

and spent the rest of their afternoon by the water.

***By Pryce

9 years old

Pryce has participated in a writing class this year called IEW or Institute for Excellence in Writing. The coursework is amazing and his teacher is more than amazing! (A friend, not me!) This has truly been my favorite part about homeschooling Pryce this year - writing. He LOVES it! He gets so excited when he is developing his stories and he just laughs at the content...and the more he can add to a paper, such as alliteration or similes or short sentences, the better! It is challenging and I love seeing that he is up for the challenge! So proud of this big guy!

Clemson

It was a Clemson sort of weekend! Our family, though we do not all root for the same orange team, always loves a good day in Clemson. Saturday began with a bit of tailgating.....

then it was time for a bit of spring training with the pros....
the girls just enjoyed time out in the sun, beautiful sun. What a perfect day!
Mason-Kate wasn't interested in too much. The orange just puts her in a foul mood. Friday night as I was putting her to bed, she looked at me and said, "So tomorrow is for the boys, right? Cause you know they love Clemson. Mommy, I don't like Clemson. I am just going to take my bunny and go to sleep while we are there." Spoken like a true SC fan! Gotta love that I have one kiddo on my side!
Meanwhile, Maddox was busy looking for the Tiger. She LOVED him and wasn't scared in the least to wave to him or shake his hand.
The girls did super during the baseball and football games which made for a great time for all of us!
Sunday we decided to stay home for church which brought back memories of my grandparents....I can remember calling my grandmother and grandfather to check on them and I would ask what they had been up to. They would always say they had been to church if I called on a Sunday. And they did go to church - in their living room! There were many Sundays that they were just tired or sick and could not get out. When we found out that our church was going to go live on Sunday mornings to bring church to those who were homebound or lost, we had to show our support in honor of my grandparents. How I miss these two and wish so often that I could share my life with them now!
Following our living room worship, the boys headed off for an afternoon of golf.....
and the girls headed out for an afternoon of tennis. What fun these two had!
In the midst of our fun-filled weekend, we had another friend in tow - Maddox's potty. Yes, she is potty training! And she is doing so great! 5th day and she is now telling us when she needs to go potty and she is staying accident free! YAY! So proud of this little munchkin! The boys are down to 12 more days of school and they could not be more excited! Baseball and golf are in full swing as is tennis! MK is finishing up her pre-k 4 year and is so excited about going to Kindergarten next year! All is well and for this, we are thankful!