Life with my sister

We love counting down the days to Christmas in this house. We have advent two ways. A Chocolate advent calendar is one of then. We always had one growing up. One year mama couldn't find chocolate so we had tiny little toys in each window. It was very odd and we were ready to rush through that one! Julie and I took turns opening the days each year. One had even days and one had odd days. I was so glad when she married and moved away because it was all mine then!  Julie and I carry on the tradition with our kiddos. It's loved by them as much as it was with us. It's so fun to keep that tradition going. How many calendars have we hoarded up in our deep freezers over the years thinking we would never find any again?! We are serious about the chocolate advent calendar.  I don't do the Elf on the Shelf. I love admiring those that do. It's really cute. I just can't get a peace about it for us. What we do works and Henry loves it like it is...and we do too.  At our house...

This time every year the church our kids attend for children and youth functions has a drama called Judgement House. It's a walking drama with several scenes that tell the story of several people and their decision to accept Christ or not.  Many people make a life changing decision during Judgement House and accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. The boys have been involved in some way every year since 2012. They love being a part of something that has a lasting impact on people, and they love being with their friends! This year, Daniel played a lead role (he did last year also), David played a Roman guard, and Samuel had a one line role. Daniel practiced his lines for weeks, he always wants to do the best job possible, and he delivers! David is the tallest of our three boys, and was an intimidating figure as a Roman guard. Samuel had a busy week with Homecoming festivities and was only able to be at JH for two nights, but his one line was a needed one.   We've been t...

Now that all of the boys are attending school in some way or another, parent/teacher conferences are a real thing for us this year.  For the last two years Samuel had one class each year so our parent/teacher conferences were quick and easy, not too painful.  This year Samuel is taking a full days worth of classes, so I had several teachers to meet and visit. I enjoyed meeting them, putting a face to the name and figuring out how best to help Samuel do well this year.  I visited with David and Daniel's teacher, and she made me smile. She has worked really hard at telling them apart and getting to know their personalities. I can't tell you how much that meant to me. Public school teachers get a bad rap, they have a tough job, but the ones I met last night have the best interest of our students at heart.  Our boys are doing good in school, they've made the transition well and have good grades. So far so good. 

Anna loves Awana. She has been in it since Cubbies, when she was three years old. She learned to memorize short parts of key verses in the Bible. As she got older and progressed in Awana the verses got harder and she heard the words "word perfect."   Word perfect is how she insists on saying her verses to her leaders. The rules for memorization allow he students to have two helps when reciting the verses, but that will not do for her. She must recite me with no helps and no mistakes.  She has memorized over 100 verses and has truly hidden them in her heart. When we have Bible study she can give book and chapter to a lot of the subjects we cover. It's amazing!    Today we were checking out at Dollar Tree and talking about memorizing verses and having to miss church and the Bible lesson that was going to be taught. The clerk stopped us and let her know how special she thought Anna was and how refreshing it was to hear a teenager speak of Christ and learning about Him. ...

Our favorite sit-com right now is The Middle. Do you watch it? It could be based on our little family. We call Samuel and Stephen by their tv counterparts names most of the time. The daughter on the show is having The Year of Sue, Sue is her name, and that made me think that this is the Year of Samuel.  Please don't think I'm ignoring our other three children. They are being loved on, given attention to, praised, and adored. It just happens that this is Samuel's senior  year and it takes up a lot of our thought and time!    Saturday we found out he has been accepted two colleges, Sunday he turned 18. I'm not emotionally stable enough for these things to happen so close together! I cry. A lot.   Wednesday night Samuel was inducted into the National Honor Society. When we first got the letter saying that he was eligible to be in the NHS, Stephen and I looked at each other and just laughed! The kid has been homeschooled for 11 years! Taught by me! I couldn't i...

I had a fun 48 hours this past week with our best girl, Anna Kathryn. Julie and I met in Beebe for the exchange of our sweet little princess. Everyone asked her "what about your school?" while she was with me. She and I would answer, "the perks of homeschool".  I exposed her to the chiropractor. She watched my chiro twist, pop and electrically stimulate me. I told Anna that Mawmaw used to make me go to the toning bed with her and I turned out just fine...she'd be ok! Then I had to explain to her what a toning bed was. Fun times.  Henry loves his "Milky" and couldn't wait to get out of school to see her with me in carline. His sweet OT that sees him at school two days a week for fine motor therapy told me he was excited about Anna coming all day. It made me smile. He sure loves his cousins and he and Anna have a special little bond.  Anna loves Chic fil a. We got cupcakes and went and ate the Christian chicken before church on Wednesday night. Anna ...

The White County Fair in Searcy on Moster Truck night is a tradition for we 3 Lee's. It's a 1hour 20 min drive for us. Randall's plane from Iowa landed in Jonesboro around 5:00 and we ran home for him to change his clothes....he picked his best redneck shirt for the occasion to ensure he fit in real good. That's my man! LOL .  We rolled in right as it started, after stopping off at the Bulldog in Bald Knob for supper, of course.  This guy was more into the rides than the monster trucks this year. He was so fun to watch. Everything was exciting to him. I love living life through him sometimes. Oh, to be a child.  Dude would not ride this last year and this year he took the front seat with a smile. So cute!  He smiled the entire ride and put his hands in the air and everything. We got such a joy out of watching him.  When Henry walked up the steps to that slide and went down by himself I shed a tear. Crazy, I know. This boy is blooming right before my eyes in so m...

Several months ago Randall saw a $99 NASCAR experience deal online at the old Memphis International Speedway. He had me purchase it for any Saturday in September. Today was finally the day. Henry was so excited and he was convinced that he was going to be his daddy's 1 man pit crew. He was hoping he might get to change a tire. Oh, to be a 5 year old boy. Just precious.  The speedway used to have several large races but now it simply houses the Rusty Wallace Racing Experience for guys and gals looking for speed. Driving up to it sort of reminded me of present day Dogpatch USA. That's not a good thing. We found where we needed to be and felt better about the situation, thankfully.  Others were already on the track driving. We stopped and observed them for a while. We were sizing up the cars hoping Randall wouldn't get a "root beer" car (what Henry calls beer bc he has no idea what it is. He is really quite sheltered and I'm really quite ok with that). Henry want...