The End of Summer & Start of a New Season of Exciting Things

Well, summer was great here in Texas for our family! I cannot believe it has come to an end, but we are excited to have started the new school year, all the sports that have come along with it, along with all the other activities that have started back up again!

A recap of our summer before moving on to current events:

Some trips we took....
We went to Arkansas in May to see my sister graduate college and also got to spend the day with Zach's grandparents, his aunt and uncle, and cousin. The kids and I went to the beach with Zach's family in June, although Zach sadly stayed behind in Texas. All of us went to Oklahoma the following weekend for a family reunion and had an amazing time reconnecting with people. Zach and I got to take a trip to San Marcos and Austin in August and had an amazing time getting away! I think this covers all the "trips" :)

Savannah and Mason both got to go to 2 different Vacation Bible Schools together over the summer in the evenings and they had such a good time. They actually were asking me what the next one they could go to was, ha! I wish there was more that I could send them to that they both could go. Unfortunately, the two they went to (our church and a church down the road from us) were the only two that Mason was able to go to as well, not just Savannah. I'm thankful for those two they got to go to as they learned so much and really were just like sponges absorbing everything around them while they were there.

The kids had a blast playing in the freshly sodded backyard over the summer, particularly playing in all their water toys. Zach and I had ordered them something that hooks up to the water hose, both of my aunts here in Texas bought them something similar, and then Zach's parents sent them something as well. They loved interchanging the water toys and deciding which one to play with each day! The boys' hair got even blonder and all 3 of them had some tan lines going on! It was good, simple fun.

Both Savannah and Mason did the summer reading club at the library. Savannah read over 80 hours by herself and to Mason (she's such a good big sister!) and Mason was read to over 56 hours collectively from Savannah, Papa, Zach, my aunt, and myself. Savannah is blowing through chapter books and making her Mommy so proud! Chapter books she was reading at the beginning of summer and finishing in 2-3 days, she is now finishing in a couple hours. Seriously, we went to the library yesterday and she read 2 chapter books in one evening. Zach and I both were like, "it's time to move up to even bigger chapter books now!" Mason enjoys picking out all kinds of different books and actually picked out some really neat ones. One in particular that we all enjoyed reading to him (literally Savannah, Papa, Zach, and I all read this one to him while we had it checked out because it was SO good and interesting.), was called Otto and was about a teddy bear during WWII that was passed around from a Jewish boy to his German childhood friend, then ending up in the hands of a US soldier, in an antique shop, and back in the hands of its original Jewish owner years later!

Savannah had cheer camp in August and loved it! She has her first game coming up and has been practicing weekly since July.
Both kids are now in soccer full swing and have both had games! Zach is assistant coaching Mason's team. Savannah is back on her old team the Fireflies and Mason's team is the Jets. Mason LOVES his time to shine. He wants to play t-ball too!

Awana's just started back tonight and both kids were SO excited! I am thrilled that they get to go and get to learn all they learn in Awana's. It is such an amazing thing. They both finished their books last year and memorized so many verses and Savannah also memorized all the books of the NT. I am so excited for them to do the next book this year.

We just got done doing some rearranging at Papa's house this past week and Savannah now has her own room again and the boys have their own room. Savannah took the room that she was sharing with the boys and the boys new room is so awesome. Zach says it is the coolest and perfect boys' room. They love it and Savannah loves her room. She was such a trooper sharing with her brothers up until this point, literally never once complaining or anything. I was so happy to be able to tell her she was getting her own room because she was just so sweet. We love the change too and think to ourselves, "now why didn't we do this sooner?" The only bad thing is when we went to get Savannah's bed and nightstand out of storage (we already had her dressers here at the house), we realized that ALL her bedding and room decor didn't make it on the trailer load here to storage, which means it is still in NC at Zach's old work. Again, Savannah was so understanding about it and hasn't complained at all. I told her we would find a way to get it down here as soon as we could and she was just so complacent and collected. This Mommy is proud of her girl if you can't tell :)

School started back for Savannah on August 24th and she absolutely loves first grade and her teacher! She has told me that her teacher is the best teacher ever! I am so happy she loves her teacher! I got to go to curriculum night at her school this last week and I am even more pleased than I already was with her school. We are so blessed to live in such a great school district (#8 in the state of Texas).

Mason's preschool starts back this coming Tuesday (day after Labor Day) and we got to go to meet the teacher this past week also. He is THRILLED that he gets his same teachers again! They loved their particular class they had last year for the 2's that they requested they move up to the 3's to get that same class again! Mason was on cloud nine when he found out and even more so when he got to go see them! It was so sweet! Mason learned so much last year in their class and I cannot wait for him to start this school year and see how much he grows.

I got to drive Papa about an hour to Kaufman this last week to see all of his siblings (he is one of twelve) and eat lunch with them! It was so nice to be able to get to see all of my great aunts and uncles again and spend some time with them. The boys just loved it too. Gavin went to all of Papa's sisters and was just letting them take turns holding him! Papa loved showing them off too ;)

Speaking of Gavin, he has been talking up a storm!!! He can basically say anything you tell him to say now. We multiple times a day will just roll off a list to him to repeat and he'll say 99% of it. Today he said, Mason, bath, juice, milk, among other first time words nonchalantly and easily. He's also getting even more of a personality than he already had- it's just so cute! He is just in a big developmental overflow stage and we are eating it up!

Business has been growing and we are so thankful. We gained several more private resident customers over the summer, along with a couple new golf course customers, and a community customer. God is certainly blessing and enlarging Dallas Aeration's territory and keeping His hand on Dallas Aeration, so we will be free from pain. (Prayer of Jabez) He is such a good Father and we are so continuously amazed to watch His faithfulness even in ways we didn't foresee or imagine. There are so many things that have happened since we have been in Texas that there is nothing we can say about it other than "God did it."

"I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you." -Psalms 32:8

Stay tuned for more updates soon ;)

UPDATES... BIG BUSINESS UPDATES!!

Wow, it has been 3 months since I last updated my blog. I knew it had been a long time, but wasn't aware it had been quite that long. Our lives have been SO busy... so SO busy... but in the best of ways (mostly).

Recap of the end of the school year before I move on to current exciting things happening in our lives...

Savannah ended her first soccer season with 2 goals scored! They won all but every game! They had a great fun party at Chuck E Cheese and received their trophies, etc. She made some great friends and had a good time. It was so neat to watch her progress through the season from being virtually clueless to actually scoring a couple goals!
She ended her kindergarten year with a bam, reading on a 3rd grade reading level! She's one of the top readers in her class! I always knew she was a good reader, but I didn't fully realize how ahead she was until I started having some other moms ask me what our secret was, etc. (By the way, to which I always answered.... "Ummm she just loves to read!!" and "she went to a great preschool!")

(Shout out to First Presbyterian Preschool back in Asheboro! They truly loved the kids and were very thorough with them! Savannah flourished there in all her time there! I am truly thankful for their influence! I know some parents would be bragging about the things they did at home with their kids, etc. and how they had the hand in their kids being so smart, etc. but honestly, First Presbyterian Preschool was such a valuable resource to us and our children! They helped prepare Savannah so much for kindergarten and I know that is largely why she flourished so prominently along with her natural love for reading as well!)

Mason ended his preschool year with a bam also! He progressed SO much this year and learned an incredible amount. He has amazed me with little things he has said here and there, where I'm just like, "how did you know that??" One of the things that stands out in my head the most is at the beach where he told me that he knew our cousin and his girlfriend weren't married. When I agreed that they weren't but asked how he knew that, he replied, "they not have rings on!" My jaw literally hit the floor. Smart boy. Mason is a big time observer. He watches, listens, and learns all the time. Mommy is proud of him! And as if being smart isn't good enough, he is seriously so sweet! I love how loving he is, gentle, and just all around sweet.

Both kids finished their Awana's year strong, both finishing their books and memorizing all the verses therein. They got all their patches (Mason)/jewels (Savannah). Next year (starts in September) they'll be ready to get their next book. I can't wait!

Well, when I had written down some notes back several months ago for my next blog update, I wasn't expecting it to take me so long, ha. So some of this is old news. But at the time...

Gavin was saying: this, bird, Bella, dink (drink), ball, o there (over there), pup, (in addition to his already long time saying of Mama, Dada, Bubba, Papa, (sorry Savannah!) )
Now he also says tons of other random words he learns daily, like, rock that he learned a couple days ago, cup, Siss (what he calls Savannah- sounds more like "sss" ;) ), there it is (he learned this while playing the hiding game!), that, nose, and more that I just can't think of right now... He's a sponge... a cute little sweet squishy sponge!

Zach has been playing drums for one of our churches every 3 weeks or so. It is so awesome to watch him play and see/hear all the positive feedback he gets! (I take his compliments way better than he does ;) He doesn't know how to take his compliments! This is one area, he's far too humble in! He's a great drummer and I love to watch him play!)

Savannah is now enrolled in cheerleading for the fall and has had her first meeting and uniform fitting. She'll have her first practice here in a little over a week, although Mommy has already been practicing with her at home a ton! I cannot wait to see her cheer! She's had so much prep with gymnastics for 4 years, I know she'll do great. She has already learned all the motions at home with me and we have been working on her back-walkover and back-handspring.
She's also enrolled in soccer for the fall again and will be returning to her same team!
She'll be starting first grade the last week of August and we should find out who her teacher is the end of this month. (This summer is FLYING by!)

Mason is enrolled for soccer in the fall also and he CANNOT wait! We also told him we would enroll him in t-ball, but the registration has not opened for that yet. It should open any day now and then we can get him signed up! He is even more excited about t-ball than he is soccer. I am curious which he'll take to more, which he'll have more natural ability at, etc.
He has been doing swim lessons (just started this Monday-Thursday and will go back next Monday-Thursday too- just a 2 week session) and he absolutely loves it!! He is doing so well and not scared at all. I'm hoping that after this 2 week session that he can swim a little more with Savannah and me not have to worry as much. Right now prior to these lessons, he was just so brave... He didn't want to wear floaties, but wanted to follow her in the deep end. I'm like, "um NO!" and of course Mason is like, "why Mommy???"
Mason will be returning to his same preschool this year in the 3 year old class and we are so excited to watch him flourish for another year. They are really great with the kids up there and they even have  Spanish once a week and computer once a week as well. It's amazing how much Mason has learned to do on the desktop computer just from this past semester there!!

As a family we have been enjoying summer nights (stays light here till 9/9:15) and walking to the park in our neighborhood, letting the kids play at the playground while we play soccer in the big wide open field beside it, going to free outdoor concerts on the weekends at the shopping center right across the street from us and again, letting the kids play on the playground while we listen to the music (this past weekend they had a Dave Matthew's cover band that literally sounded just like them! it was so good!), and of course, going to the library!

We are so thankful that we live in such an active community. We are blessed to be able to do all these fun things in our community. For Fourth of July, we took the kids up to the same place where the concerts are and they were able to make free festive crafts and then after the concert, we watched a firework show right down the road. It was a fun filled holiday day and all it cost us was some ice cream that we chose to get! Seriously, we are blessed to be a part of such a great community that cares about its members! I'm so thankful.

As I mentioned earlier, we go to 2 churches now, Cornerstone on Sunday mornings/nights and Wednesday nights with my Papa and then Gateway on Saturday nights and then once a month special Sunday night service (Habitation) and we just discovered a once a month special Monday night service they do that we just went to and loved and plan to start going to. It was a more intimate setting (only about 80 people or so), but had a full worship set. The teaching this week was on spiritual gifts and it was truly a great service and we walked out so full and learned so much. What I love about Gateway is you can be there HOURS and it only feel like you were there for less than one hour. This past Monday, we were there over 2 hours and it literally didn't feel like it at all. The Sunday night habitation services last nearly 3 hours, but you walk away thinking, "it's over already???" Oh, it is SO good. I'm getting all excited as I write thinking about habitation coming up this Sunday night. As I said, it's only once a month, so whenever we go and then leave, we just cannot wait for the next one. It is an extended period of worship as a body completely consumed by Holy Spirit, then there's a brief message, and then an extended time of prayer over the people. For my Texas people... Come to Habitation THIS SUNDAY at Gateway church at 6pm! Gateway has lots of different campuses... go to any, whichever is closest for you, or message me if you want to go with us! We are bringing my sister with us this Sunday (she has been going to Saturday night services at Gateway with us, but this is her first Habitation) and I'm hoping to have some other people come with us too!


BIG NEWS on the BUSINESS front:

Dallas Aeration, Inc. is now proud to announce that we are a majority woman-owned business!! We are undergoing certification from NCTRCA as minority/woman owned business and we are excited about what the future holds for Dallas Aeration, Inc. We know God has great things in store and has opened a door wide for us. We are trusting Him and His hand on our business and can't wait to see what Holy Spirit does next and where He leads us next!

Zach had the opportunity to speak at a big board meeting for my parents' neighborhood's HOA a couple months ago about aeration and biological approaches to their ponds' needs. It was a big deal that they asked him to come and we are excited to hopefully work with them in the future.

There will be more later... hopefully sooner rather than later I can update! We are anticipating some more exciting things to unravel here very soon! Please pray for us and please pray the prayer of Jabez with us over our business. We appreciate it!

SO many Updates//Easter

We celebrated Easter here in Texas with all of our family here and had a wonderful time! Throughout the running around from church to lunch with one side of the family complete with a fun egg hunt with all the cousins, to another late lunch with my other side of the family also with another fun egg hunt for just my kids, we also dearly missed all our family in NC too! I loved seeing pictures of the kids all dressed up! Dressing my own kids up for Easter is always so fun for me! I just love it! 

Our family! Love how the kids outfits looked- especially the boys' ties! They just melted this Mommy's heart! & Savannah looked as beautiful as ever!! Love my family!

Mamaw with her two youngest great grand kids- Madison (6 months) and Gavin (15 months) (She has 10 total!!) Isn't Gavin's tie just adorable??

An attempt at all the cousins!

My cousins and I 

Now for some updates... We have a ton this time!

Savannah:

Savannah was on the announcements at school this past week leading the Texas pledge. She was so excited about this!

We got her first progress report sent home this last week also. She was considered "at grade level" for everything, except reading, which she was way ABOVE grade level! I was surprised at her level and SO immensely proud of her! She really is so smart and has such a love of books. I'm so grateful.

Soccer is going great! She is adjusting to participating in a team sport, having done gymnastics for 4 years. They won their first game 6-1 and their second game 11-0! The team is really good and I'm glad she's getting the experience!

Savannah before her first game!

Mason:

Mason had his bikeathon at school this week and did 3 laps around the track! They said he did absolutely amazing!  He is still loving preschool!

Mason at his egg hunt at preschool!

Savannah & Mason:

The kids had a Pinewood Derby race at Awana's! Zach made them both some really sleek cars and they were on cloud nine! Can you say, best daddy ever??

Savannah's car (pink rhinestone S on front)

Mason's car

Gavin:

Gavin had his 15 month doctor check up last week and is doing great! He weighs 21 lbs exactly and is 32 inches long! He's in the 20% for weight, 75% for height, and 75% also for his head (thanks Daddy!!) :)

Gavin has had a bump on the size of his eyebrow that I've been concerned about for a while. I finally asked his pediatrician here in TX (who was Savannah's when we lived here before and also was my little brothers' and who literally saved my life at the age of 10 when I had appendicitis (already ruptured) and had been misdiagnosed by 2 major and reputable hospitals.) at this appointment. It turns out it is a dermoid cyst, which is dead skin cells entrapped under his skin (something that likely happened in pregnancy) and he will have to have surgery most likely the end of this year (possibly very beginning of next year). A great and reputable plastic surgeon in Dallas will be doing the surgery and thankfully, it will just be day surgery, although he will have to be put under. Although I absolutely hate the idea of my sweet baby having any surgery, I'm incredibly thankful for the overwhelming evidence yet again of God's hand on Gavin. This bump could have been a lot worse things, yet it is this, something very fixable with no lasting repercussions or effects. Hallelujah to The Great Physcian, my King, my Jesus!

Gavin is loving outside and tries to ride Mason's bike. He's just so cute and sweet.

Bella:

Bella had her puppies 2 weeks ago. The first one was the biggest one and was her color. He unfortunately was stillborn. He was stuck in her birth canal for roughly 36 hours. He was literally nearly twice the size of all the others and was a beautiful puppy.

The second one was a black and white girl who looks identical to her border collie dad! She was the runt of the litter, although you would never know that now! She came out squeaking and squeaking loud (although she doesn't anymore surprisingly) and so we call her Squeaky Wheel! Her eyes just opened yesterday and she's now walking!

The third was a blonde boy who we called Butterball. He was my favorite! He sadly died when he was 6 days old. We were told that when mutts breed, it's not uncommon for several of the puppies to be born with genetic defects (weak hearts, weak livers, etc.) and therefore die at just a few days old. We were still sad though.

The fourth puppy was a beautiful gray girl who we called Little Lady. She died 36 hours after birth. She was very very weak from the start. Again, we were so sad. She would have been a beautiful delicate little pup!

So now we have Bella and her lone survivor, Squeaky! They enjoy each other and Squeaky has more than doubled in size since birth. Bella gets jealous when we give Squeaky more attention than her too. It's quite humorous! 

Bella pushing out the first puppy.

Bella's first puppy.

Bella right after she birthed Squeaky Wheel

Bella's third pup. He was way lighter after he got cleaned up.

Bella with the 3 live puppies, shortly after the gray one was born.

Squeaky at about 9 or 10 days old. (She's now 15 days old and WAY bigger, believe it or not, and eyes opened!)

Family updates:

Our new favorite thing is the Allen Public Library! It is seriously so awesome! It's 2 story with everything you could imagine... Books galore... DVD's and BlueRays for both adults and kids galore... Audio books galore... They even have an app for members that you can download books and audiobooks for free to your iPhone or iPad! We have been almost every day since we got our cards (a little over a week ago) and the kids just love turning their old books in and getting a new book. I checked them out The Flinstones DVD so they could watch a cartoon Mommy and Daddy used to watch! (I plan to find the Jetson's next ;) )

Zach found some great business books; I haven't gotten anything yet, but plan to check out Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers just as quick as I can!

All in all, GREAT free entertainment! And that is always a good thing!

We also went to Gateway Church's Saturday night service last Saturday and took my Papa. We were still going to our church Sunday morning/night and Wednesday night, but had really been wanting to visit this church on a Saturday night. We all (including Papa) loved it! The worship had me literally in tears and we were all so overwhelmed by the presence of The Holy Spirit during worship! My Papa just had a huge smile on his face the whole time and you could tell, just thoroughly enjoyed it! We plan to start going there Saturday nights, primarily for the worship, in addition to our regular church services. It is a satellite church, so the campus we went to had a live band, but the pastor wasn't physically on that campus. It was very good though! We would like to one Saturday night also visit Matt Chandler's church, The Village, as it is very close to us!

After we went to that service, we went by the mall to see the Easter bunny! Papa really enjoyed watching the kids and told them after, "you know I met the Easter bunny a long long time ago, before your Mommy was even born, when my kids were little!" The kids thought that was SO COOL! :) It was a really special time for all of us!

I think I mentioned in the last post, but Zach is going to start playing drums for our church! He's very excited!!

We got to see my cousins from Tennessee last night and were so happy about that. They are going back Saturday and it's always so good to see them. They have a big church in Tennessee and are actually the ones who recommended Gateway to us because they attend there whenever they are here. Very thankful for the recommendation! Fun fact they shared with us last night: Kari Jobe actually came from Gateway church and was leading the band live at the main campus the night we went! How neat, huh? 

Stay tuned for more next time... It seems to be never ending here :)

Phase 1 of Move // The Start

I'm sure most of you know we made it to Texas! We arrived in 2 vehicles last weekend with Mason's bedroom furniture, Savannah's dressers, and all my clothes; after much unloading and unpacking, we made it to bed in Texas after midnight Saturday night/Sunday morning. Zach had to drive back to NC on Monday and took my stepdad's 18 ft trailer that he let us borrow. Zach is coming back down this coming weekend with the trailer loaded down with the rest of our furniture and I'll be meeting him at a storage unit to unload it all in. He'll be driving back up to NC one last final time Monday, will work 2 additional weeks up there and continue to tie up any still loose ends before moving down here for good on February 11th.

I got Savannah enrolled in her new school Tuesday and she started that same day as well. I was very impressed with the school and all they offer. I know she'll do great. She said she had a great first day and she loves her young, sweet, fresh, and energetic teacher. 

I got a call that Mason can start at his preschool next week. This was great news as we weren't sure if we could get him in or not. All though it wouldn't be a huge deal if he didn't get to finish the spring semester in preschool and he could always start back in the fall, it would be a big deal to Mason! He absolutely loves school and would go every day if he could! The preschool here had a family move away over the beginning of the New Year, thus creating an opening for Mason! We tour it today and assuming we love it (which I anticipate we will), we'll enroll him today and he'll begin next week and go twice a week.

Yesterday, I also signed Savannah up for spring soccer, which she is SO excited about! She'll be playing for Allen Sports Association, which again I'm very impressed with so far. She starts practicing in February and her first game is in March. The season goes through May and I told her hopefully after that, we can get her back in gymnastics here. She's been doing gymnastics in NC for nearly 4 years and absolutely loves it. I also have loved watching her progress and excel. I think a nice break to play soccer will be most welcomed and beneficial; I do after all, want her to be well rounded. However, nonetheless, I want to get her back in too, to ensure she doesn't lose her skills and can keep progressing. 

Mason is SO sad he's not old enough to play soccer this Spring. He'll be old enough to play in the fall, so I told him just to hold on a few more months! :) I just love my sweet boy!

Gavin could not be happier, as usual. He's such an easy going, content, and happy baby. Seriously, I am so blessed to be his mother. He has kept Papa laughing and has entertained all the congregation at church last night and Sunday, as well as any family that has stopped by. He's just so sweet.

Savannah and Mason also both started AWANA's at church this past Sunday. They absolutely love it and I cannot wait for them to get more involved and more into it as the year progresses. I was in AWANA's growing up and it was such an impressionable time on me. I'm so anxious to see them progress in Scripture memory, especially.

Savannah's school has lots of exciting things coming up and I'm looking forward to Savannah being able to participate in some of them. I got a flyer last night of a parents night out coming up, they are doing for the girls at her school where they get to hang out with the high school cheerleaders and learn cheers and help them at the upcoming pep rally! How cool is that? I plan on taking Savannah because I know she would have an absolute amazing time! She also a 100th day of school celebration coming up where she has to decorate and wear to school that day, a shirt with 100 of anything! After much brainstorming, I've decided that we are going to do... RHINESTONES! After all, Savannah loves her some bling! ;) 

We are settling into a routine quite nicely here, I must say. When I pick Savannah up from school, I go ahead and make her lunch from the next day and make coffee to go off automatically the next morning then, as well as go ahead and lay her clothes, shoes, and hairbow out for the next day. After dinner, it's straight into the bath and teeth brushing time for the kids and then they can watch a movie before bed. Savannah is realizing that these early mornings come, well, EARLY! This morning, she said to me, "Mommy, it's not time to get up, it's still night time!" It was right at 7:00am. I told her that it was morning, just early in the morning. She reluctantly got up and got her clothes on, I fixed her hair, she ate breakfast and then brushed her teeth. At that point, she was very ready and excited to go! She hardly told me bye as she hopped out of the car in the carpool line at school, she was in such a hurry to get out and get in there. It thrills my heart that she loves school so much! 

Although everything is going so well down here, I cannot WAIT, until my sweet devoted husband gets here too and joins us! We miss him dearly and love him even more!

I thank God the Father, that He is the God of new beginnings and for this new beginning He has so graciously given to our family!

Stay tuned for an upcoming second update after phase 2 of our move!

If you missed my last blog about LOVE, you can click her to be redirected to its post to read it: http://thegreatestremains.blogspot.com/2015/01/love-our-greatest-commandment.html