Pillow Pets

Pillow Pets are all the craze at our house. Laura Ann got a new one today (thanks Big Daddy) & decided she would draw portraits of them. They are REALLY good! She's my little artist for sure! :-)

Kicking Off VBS!!

Daniel, Laura Ann & I kicked off VBS this morning! Looking forward to a fun filled week!!

Daniel's Family Party

The celebration continued today with our family. We had a cookout for lunch & enjoyed the absolutely beautiful weather......high 70s in June!! Daniel lived it up again being the center of attention. Birthdays are the best!

Water Wars

Daniel decided way back in January that he wanted to have a Water Wars birthday party with our waterslide & waterguns and he actually stuck with it! I was worried about the waterslide falling over with too many rowdy boys, but thanks to Payton (our extra chaperone), the waterslide made it just fine through the party. It turns out, that Daniel's party idea was the best one EVER!! The party started at 5:00 and ended up lasting until 9:00pm and mamas were dragging boys to their cars then. Those boys played and played and played and played!! They ran wild all over the yard playing football, hide n' seek, basketball, with the waterguns, and whatever else they could come up with. The water balloon fight was definitely a highlight. Those rowdy boys could've thrown balloons at each other all night, but unfortunately, Dan & I only managed to make 140 of them & they didn't last that long!! :-) And they did stop a few times to eat. Daniel had an absolute blast. I can't believe my baby boy is turning EIGHT!!

Who Needs a Maid?

Not me!!! These two cleaned almost the entire downstairs floor with spray bottles & towels. They even raced to see who could cover the most territory. The best part is that they came up with this all on their own......I didn't even ASK them to do it! I'm sure it will never happen again, but I'll take my clean floors for today!! :-)  
 

Sweet Sarah

Look what we got in the mail today!!  

The newest member of the James family surprised us all and arrived 6 weeks early! We are so thankful that she is home and is strong and healthy! We can hardly wait to meet you baby Sarah!!

Hello Gushing Geyser

We finally convinced Dan that it was time for the Gushing Geyser to be rescued from winter storage in the garage today. Oh, how we have missed you!

We Will Miss You Cournoyers!

Good buddies, Daniel, Jake & Joseph  

We are so sad that the Cournoyers are moving (but so excited for this opportunity for their family)!! We met them & the Filasiks today at Fox's pizza for the boys to have one last hoorah before their move. Thankfully, they are only going to Guntersville, so we will still get to visit with them often!

The Compton Clan's Annual Beach Trip

Another Compton Family beach trip is in the books and it was a blast! Daniel, Laura Ann & Kate lived up every minute together on the beach, in the pool & in the bay. The food was good & the weather was beautiful. It was a great visit and we are already looking forward to next year! THANK YOU GRAN & PAPA!!

Randoms from this week

Laura Ann has started eating her breakfast on this stool that Papaw made for us.  I used to eat my breakfast when I was little on one exactly like it that he made for me.  Flashback!!

Laura Ann picked our first squash this week!!  Woo Hoo!!



I so will NOT be missing these being in the laundry!!!!


8:00 a.m. and the driveway is in full swing!  Sweet Summer Time!!!

Daniel's Baseball Pics

Celebrating Summer AND a LOOSE TOOTH!

We went to Chuys for dinner tonight to celebrate the start of summer AND that Laura Ann has her first VERY loose tooth!!

Daniel's Last Day of First Grade

Daniel left this morning for his last day of 1st Grade!! The year has seriously flown by! He has had a fantastic year, mainly because he has had such a fantastic teacher. I will be forever grateful for Mrs. Johnson and the impact she has had in his life. She has been such a blessing! As great as this year has been, Daniel is pumped about summer and so am I. We are looking forward to lazy days and lots of outside fun!! Just a note: My little tough guy does have a sweet side. He runs down the sidewalk every morning, jumps in Dan's truck, immediately rolls down the window to wave & blow me kisses. He hangs out the window waving until they turn the curve up the street. It is the sweetest thing! Love him to pieces!

Meeting Anna Collins

We were so excited that the Karrs visited from West Virginia and we got to meet Anna Collins! She is a doll.....looks just like her mama! We are also excited that Aaron is looking at jobs in the B'ham area and that we may get to visit them more often!! :-)

Preschool Summer Celebration!

Laura Ann had some of her favorite friends over today to celebrate the start of summer. They had a picnic lunch, played in the sprinklers & ate popsicles. Such a fun group!

Growing, Growing, Growing!

Dan rearranged the stone pavers into a path and layed sod around them. So far, the garden is looking good!

Laura Ann's 4K Graduation

Well, I'm happy to report that after a very emotional day, I managed to pull myself together this evening for 4K graduation and didn't shed a single tear! It really was a happy time because Laura Ann was SO EXCITED and happy to be on stage performing & then get her certificate. She just beamed when she walked in and saw all of us sitting there. She even gave Daniel a high five when she passed by him. The program was precious and I savored every minute of hearing those precious little preschool voices. Laura Ann enjoyed all of the 'after' celebration too with her friends and the grandparents. She has had an absolutely wonderful preschool experience, and even if I'm not ready, I know that she IS ready for big school. We are so proud of you, Laura Ann, you are beyond precious and we know that you are going to do great in Kindergarten! So........gulp........Paine Primary.......look out.....here comes Laura Ann James!!

Laura Ann's Last Day of 4K

Laura Ann's last day of 4K was today and I made it fine until she got out of the car. I completely lost it at that point & cried most of time she was at school. I, for some crazy reason, thought I would be fine to walk in to pick her up and drop off some end of the year gifts in the office. Not so much! Our director, Mrs. Cynthia, isn't coming back next year & as soon as I walked in her office she said, "You tell my Daniel that I just packed up my Spiderman picture from him and it is still in it's frame (she framed it). I'm keeping it forever." (Daniel had a very special relationship with her since he went to the office LOTS of times in 3K! She somehow managed to give him lots & lots of love through all of that & he adores her! :-) Anyway, I had a major breakdown at that point and never quite pulled myself back together. Yep, it was the ugly cry in front of half the preschool. Geez! I am just heartbroken, not only that Laura Ann is going to big school, but that the preschool years in our family have come to close......and WAY too quickly!!! That said, I am so very thankful for the WEE Center......Mrs. Cynthia, and all of the teachers who have loved on my kids over the past 5 years. Daniel and Laura Ann have both left this program feeling so very loved and with a love for learning. They have both had such great preschool experiences. So blessed!

Oh, I should mention that Laura Ann didn't think there was a single sad thing about her last day of preschool.....she was all smiles all day!

The Appliance

Our busy week of big events rocked on today. Daniel had an orthodonist appointment and had his appliance put in. I've been really worried about how he would handle this, but he did great! He honestly was excited about getting it & thinks it is pretty cool. We have to tighten it every day with a special 'key' and Daniel can't eat any of his favorite junk foods for the next year or so until the appliance is taken out. I guess this is a great time to work on a healthy diet!

After we got home, he & Laura Ann played outside in the sprinklers. Daniel is having a water wars birthday party in a couple of weeks & I got a good shot of him with his water gun for the invitation.

So hoping his attitude stays good about all of his orthodontic work because it looks like he will have some sort of appliance, headgear, retainer and/or braces for the next several years. Bless him!

Our MVP

The Braves won their game last night by a big margin (we missed it because we were at Laura Ann's recital) and that put them in the final game of the end of the season tournament tonight.  The game didn't go so well.......the Braves were trailing most of the game.   For the first time this season, they found themselves in the last inning of the game down by 1 run, 9-10.   When it was time for my favorite player to bat, there were 2 outs, with runners on first & second.   Not to worry though, #4 just hit a line drive right down 1st base line to the fence that ended up being a homerun!!!  Not only did his hit save this game & win the tournament, but it also saved their undefeated season.  14-0!!  GO BRAVES!!!  What a way to finish!  Daniel was beyond thrilled to get the game ball & even told Papa on the phone to be watching ESPN....that he just may be on there! Ha! :-) There are some awesome players on this team and they have all worked so hard all season to earn this undefeated status. And the players are led by a group of dedicated coaches who have also worked very hard. Coach Jason told them tonight, "Individually we are all flawed, but together we have been perfect." It was definitely a team effort.
After videoing Laura Ann's recital last night, it occurred to me that I hadn't videoed Daniel playing baseball all season, so I brought the video camera tonight & got his hit on video. It may just be my favorite video yet.....love it all..... Laura Ann with her fingers in her ears, Nanna screaming, the look on his face after he crossed home plate, and most of all, Dan throwing him in the air. It was the sweetest moment for them.   And yes, they were both over the moon!

This season hasn't been without slumps & struggles for Daniel, which is what really made tonight so special.  He has grown so much and learned a lot about sportsmanship, hard work, not to give up when you aren't having your best game, the game of baseball itself, and life in general.  It is just really neat that in the first game of the season, he struck out all 4 bats and was convinced he shouldn't be on the team and in the last game of the season he went 4 for 4, finishing with a game winning homerun.   What a blessing and answer to prayers (improving in baseball has been on his prayer list for the past 2 months).

And, lastly, I want to say how thankful I am that Daniel has a Daddy who remembers on the field that he is dealing with 7 year old LITTLE boys who are NOT in the major league.  He has loved, encouraged & supported Daniel and his teammates throughout the season.  Great job Coach Dan!!!