Life with my sister

 This boy. Oh, this boy. He has a purpose far greater than we realize and I cannot wait to see what God has mapped out for him. It will be anything but boring. Henry is all boy yet more perceptive than anyone I know and with that comes intense awareness of others feelings. He carries others burdens in a way I wish I could bottle up and pour into my own heart some days. He isn't worried like we worry, he is just concerned and hopeful with sweet innocence. It is a beautiful gift he has. Bath time is a big time of reflection for him. I hear a lot about friends at school and their days during his baths. I am pretty certain these friends have no idea how Henry has grasped onto their day and that he is thinking of them and praying through anything that he picked up as a concern during the day. It makes me laugh sometimes and sometimes it brings me to tears. I wish I could be the type of friend Henry is. He had a foster kid at his school leave and come back and the sadness a...

The new school year is in full swing and the Fab Five are having a fantastic start.  Henry Patton started Kindergarten this year at Valley View. He is enjoying it so far. He has lots of old and new friends with him. His teacher is a great fit for him too. We are so proud of how brave he is becoming.  (Julie, we really need a school picture of our best girl! This is the most recent one I had of her up close from July) Anna Kathryn started the 6th grade at Beavers Academy. She is so bright and sweet. We are loving watching her bloom into the beautiful woman God has created her to be.  Samuel Charles started his senior year at Watson Chapel as a full time student. He is playing football and baseball. Watching him develop into a Godly young man who puts his convictions first is very inspiring. This year is going to be full of cheers and tears watching it all unfold for our first born love.  David Robert and Daniel Stephen started 9th grade at Beavers Academy and Watson C...

It so hard to believe Henry's pre k year is over because it feels like it just started. He loved going to the blue roof school, as he called it. All last summer we would drive by it and it was like driving by the promised land. He was so excited to get there. The last month of school was Henry's month to be named Student of the Month. It was so cool to end the year with the sign in our yard. Our little street has about 9 houses and I think everyone expressed excitement for him throughout the month. We waited all year for it! I cried when I heard he was awarded the honor. I'm such a mom!  We adored his teachers. Mrs. Julie was his main teacher and was exactly what I prayed for. I loved her. Mrs. Heather joined us after Christmas and was a great addition. We were old Bible Study Fellowship groupies so she knew my boy. Henry was loved well and grew so much under their watch. I'll be forever grateful for their care and love for my precious boy.  On awards night when they an...

Henry Patton running into school this morning with his Razorback t-shirt on and ready to shout a little "Woo Pig Sooie" with all his little friends. Abby

I know Easter is all about Jesus and his sacrifice, yet we also celebrate the bunny at our house. We knew the real meaning of Easter when we were growing up while celebrating the bunny, so we carry on that tradition with our little Henry. This is our third Easter with our little fella. Learning the rules of egg hunting has been difficult for our little guy. He wants to throw them and run away. It is quite comical to watch. We took our little egg hunter to an egg hunt with some friends. He was unsure about the group hunt, but was willing to line up with the kiddos and take a stab at it. Wearing the bucket on his head. What a little clown. He is my child and I love it. And finally he realized the eggs had candy in them and he was off to the races! He now wants candy in the eggs we play with at home...but of course! Our cookie lady, Amy shipped us these cookies for Henry's school Easter party. Aren't they adorable?! She really does a great job and we can always count on her to co...

"I mustache you a question?" "Will you be my Happy Birfday Time?" (How Henry says "Happy Valentine's Day...so cute!) His daddy said "yes" and got some love with his coffee. Cupid showed love to Henry with a Veggie Tales card, a big balloon, a red truck, Cars candy and a Mater teeth sucker. He was most smitten with the red truck. Red is Henry's best color. He loves it. His teacher said this was Henry's day because it would be ALL red, ALL day. So funny, but true. We gathered up our love soap for his teachers. Next, we gathered up our bucket of mustaches for his little friends. He had lots of mustache questions to ask and certainly scored many "birfday times" with his cute card and tasty, cute mustache cookies. (you must watch the video I posted last night in the previous post!) I got to his school for the party and the mustache was no longer on his shirt. He had peeled it off. Oh, Henry! He was still a cutie without his 'stac...

School Days, School Days... The kids went to school today. Not "real" school, as we call public school, but a homeschool academy that meets on Tuesdays. Everyone was excited, and everyone was a bit apprehensive about going this morning. They all looked so cute. I wish I had taken a picture. I just don't even think in pictures anymore! Shameful I know. I woke up early this morning fixed breakfast and made lunches for the three in our family that don't care for spaghetti, which is what was being served for lunch at school. Sadly, I didn't think ahead about lunches and was out of bread and zippy bags. So, I made peanut butter crackers and wrapped them in foil. Poor things, they don't even know to be embarrassed ! Samuel is taking Geography, Civil War History, Music, and Drama. David and Daniel are taking Music, Science, Art, Cooking, and English. Anna is taking Music, Art, Cooking, Thinking Skills, and Grammar/Reading. I hope they love it. I hope I love it. I al...

Ok, I'm back. Abby has done such a great job filling it the gaps for me here on the ole blog. I'm almost leary of starting back since she is such a great blogger. We are settled in our new (temporary) home. Christmas decorations have gone up and come down. School has started, stopped, and started up again. Life is pretty normal. Our Sundays are different but we are just calling them our new normal. Stephen has been busy preaching at different churches on Sunday's filling in for vacationing pastors. The kids are going to a homeschool academy one day a week. I'm looking so forward to this for them and also for me. They get a day with friends and fun subjects taught by someone besides me and I get a day to myself. Hallelujah & Amen! God has been so real to us the last two months. His provision has been more than I knew to ask for. Stephen and I have shed happy tears being the recipients of God's goodness to many times to count. If you don't have a relationship ...

This Christmas cutie has lots of fun teachers and friends that needed some Christmas goodies from our kitchen. So, Mama got to work and we made some fun things to take to church and school. We made these for his friends at church and his former teachers at daycare. You take a Nutter Butter and dip it in chocolate bark and sit it on wax paper with a Popsicle stick on the back. Place mini chocolate chips for the eyes and a red hot for the nose. Break a round pretzel in half for the antlers. I put them in small clear bags and closed them with ribbon. They were so cute and so much fun! We made smores kits for his friends at school and to add to our neighbors goodie tins. The card attached said, "Have SMORE fun this Christmas! Love, Henry". We put a snowman Peep in the clear bag with 2 graham cracker squares and a small Hershey bar. I tied them off with ribbon and attached the little card by punching a hole in it and running it through the ribbon. Henry will miss his party at ...

Julie sent photos from the Beavers Academy Christmas party and like a good sister and aunt I have to post them for all to see. The children in her school are 4 of my most favorite children in the whole wide world. Watching how they do school is always so much fun. Their school administrator, teacher and nurse rocks! Beavers Academy had a school Christmas party. Isn't the student body adorable?! The handsome teenage student had just gotten in from duck hunting. The look alike students had been playing in the ditch and the prissy student was still lounging in her pajamas. I love the students at Beavers Academy, don't you?! Their party spread looked so yummy. They went to a lot of effort with the cheeseball and celery boats, etc. The student body at BA has a great home ec teacher, that is fo'sho ! The Skittles on the Christmas plate is my favorite dish of all. The little grin on that face in the background is the best part of this picture though. I heart that face! The pa...

This little cutie has 3 teachers at school and 2 at church. So, we got out the Cricut and made them some fun gifts. Actually, he was snoozing away in his bed and I was upstairs in the office making the gifts watching In The Kitchen with David on QVC ...because I just love that flamboyant man! Here are the finished products. It was so much fun and super easy. I see all these girls going into the business of creating products for people with their Cricut and making a killing. He is a little word of wisdom...just go buy a machine and do it yourself. It is SUPER easy and very cost effective. The machine I have is the smallest one and it does all I would ever need it to do. It is so much fun and easy clean up. That is the best kind of craft if you ask me! Have you made anything fun this season? It is such a fun time to craft. Abby P.S. Thank you for my Cricut , Jules! There is a gift for you in this photo so don't look at it too hard.