Storms and the TIMES

I was chatting with a dear friend yesterday morning during my walk. We were talking about pictures and making memories, and it got me thinking...we are so FORTUNATE to live in a time where we have digital cameras, video and the internet. It used to be that house fires and storms could destroy EVERYTHING special in one's life (pictures and memories), but that's simply NOT THE CASE in our generation. I am thankful that I am able to use the internet to blog and upload pictures and journal about memories--memories that will never be lost (or not to my "techie" knowledge--I don't think the internet is going anywhere?). In fact, my brother in law told me about a website that actually backs up all your files for free. I back up my files the "old fashioned" way with an external hard drive and a USB (our computer has crashed 3 different times in the past couple of years).

With all the storms raging across the states and towns getting completely wiped out, you can't take anything (or anyone) for granted. One thing that puts my mind at ease is this blog. I am able to preserve many family memories that can never be erased. BTW, if you haven't done so lately, you may want to export your blog and save it. Hackers can also destroy blogspots--stinkin' nerds!

Here are a couple of things that I would like to have preserved but haven't blogged about yet. Miles's t-ball experience...although not the most pleasant of times (he's quite stubborn on the field), it's still a fun memory.

Don't mess with #3!

One thing Miles does LOVE is golf. Matt takes him to play. The picture above is from Crosswinds Golf Course. But the best places for Miles to play are Hobson Grove and The Trace--both fairly small and not maintained as well--Miles gets mad and throws his club some. He also loves playing mini-golf at Beech Bend. I call it speed golf because he manages to get through the 18 hole course in about 10 minutes.

Don't let that sweet smile fool you =)!

We would MUCH rather ride the blow up raft on the trailer and not behind a boat. Whoo HOO!

More of my favorite memories to preserve involve my adorable 8 year old. I'm sorry girls, if you don't have a daughter, you're missing out on some fun girl time--you may have to steal a niece or call a friend with a daughter--everyone needs girl time. I love the times I get to hang out with Karson, just she and I. We talk. We pedicure. We shop. We love The Olive Garden.

We coach.

We swim (or in this case, chill in the boat). I love every moment of our time together. I am blessed having one amazing daughter--smart, talented, beautiful, caring, helpful, love her!!!

Life is good! Everyone be safe!

Has it Been a Year Already?

Not sure why this picture came out blurry in this post? It's quite clear in my documents folder. This preschool year is coming to an end, sniff, sniff. I have been spoiled rotten the past couple of years with the most WONDERFUL students. I have to admit I was a little worried at the beginning of this school year. When I was sifting through all my paperwork, I noticed a majority of my students were born in the spring and summer months--young--and 8 of my 12 kids were BOYS--eeek. Boys are awesome. BUT let's be honest, they have way more energy and are way more hand-sy than us girls (or at least that has been my experience). My hardest year at EEP was when I had seven boys in my class. Simply put, I was scared about this year, but I am happy to report that it has been a great year. They are such a cooperative little bunch and very SMART. We have had a fantastic year together! My students and parents alike are one of the best groups I've ever worked with.

Ms. Windy and her bunch. As you can see, she TOO, has 8 boys =).

This year is an emotional one for me as my youngest MILES will complete his first full year of preschool. It's hard to believe he only has ONE more year at home with me before he starts pulling HARD TIME at Plano. Miles fortunately LOVES school. He never complains about going and gets excited when we pull into Greenwood Park. Ms. Melissa snapped our spring photos and as usual, did a fabulous job. Enjoy the pictures of my baby.

Love my little guy!

Mother's Day

Didn't get around to making this post on Mother's Day because I was TOOOO busy

...enjoying breakfast in bed, compliments of my daughter Karson who made me the fluffiest pancakes EVER. No pictures here folks, I'm not the most photogenic especially at 7 a.m.

...enjoying all the treasures my children gave me.

...and enjoying my Mother's Day cards.

Hope all you mother's out there had a memorable day like I did. What a blessing to be a mom!

Celebrate

Does it get any better than Mother's Day weekend for us moms? Absolutely not. It's such a great thing to be a stay at home mom, and I am fortunate that Matt has be our sole provider (and a wonderful one at that) and allowed me this privilege. I can hardly believe that my time as a SAHM is coming to end soon =(. It will be strange being back in the "real" working world, but I don't want to think about that now. Moving on...Plano had an event on Thursday morning called Muffins with Moms. It was from 7:00 a.m.-7:30 a.m. which meant I needed to roll out of bed around 6:30 a.m. and get the kids up and going too. My hair was SUPER uncooperative that morning which didn't help matters so I whipped it up into a side braid and managed to get loads of compliments on it. Weird how that happens, it's dirty, it's frustrated me to NO end, I whip it up hoping it doesn't look awful and get loads of compliments. Hey, I'll take it =).

The morning was such a nice tribute to us mommies--thank you Plano staffers. I loved seeing and hanging out with other fellow moms at the school. We love our Panthers!

We had another celebration on Thursday. It was Matt's last official day at South Warren High School. He is now a certified teacher. WOW. I can't believe his journey is over. Matt is quite the student. His PRAXIS scores were super high--he scored in the top 15% of all test takers and received an ETS Recognition of Excellence honor. He has also maintained such a high GPA these past couple of years along with all his other responsibilities as a husband, dad, minister, etc. We're so proud of him and his hard work. We had a nice supper that night. Karson and I decided to make a celebratory run and got him a cake from Culver's and some party favors from Dollar General.

Happy Graduation to YOU! Miles is ALL about blowing out candles these days. I can't even light a candle in the bathroom or in the house without him begging to blow it out. This has been a big year for the Deaton family and graduations. Our sister in law Laura graduated in December with her degree in nursing, and Seth will graduate as a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant certificate on Monday in Louisville from J.C.C. We're so proud of them all!

Confetti poppers!

More celebrating...I decided to celebrate my Mother's Day yesterday. I didn't want to wait until Sunday because Sundays are usually pretty BUSY for me. I know they are for Matt as well, but being the wife of a minister brings many responsibilities whether you want them or not. I WANT them, but I don't consider Sunday(s) as a day of rest for our family. SO, since Matt is officially done with his student teaching and had promised to take Miles golfing, I had yesterday all to myself. I decided to make the most of it. I called up Regina Webb and scheduled a full hour swedish massage with Heather (who is the best in town). It was awesome! Afterwards, I went over to my favorite nail techs. at SOHO. I didn't want a pedicure since I had just had the wonderful massage so I did a toenail polish change instead. Love my new toes. The day was superb and exactly what I needed. Later that afternoon, I took Karson to see MacKenzie at Panche for a haircut and decided to get one too--love those sister in laws of mine =). Afterwards, we headed over to the ballpark to see Evan's first ballgame. And after that, we took Karson over to Pap's house (where our boys were) to spend the night. Matt and I had a late dinner at Outback. The PERFECT day all together.

Debbie told me on Wednesday night at church that she wanted have everyone over this evening to celebrate Colvin's 60th which also happened to be Derby Day. As soon as we arrived, we chose our horses (it was a chance drawing out of cup). I pay zero attention to any of the derby hoopla, so I wouldn't have known which horse to pick anyway. We put our money in the pot, and off to the races we went. Our picks were #13 Mucho Macho Man (Matt), #10 Twinspired (Tiffany), #5 Decisive Moment (Karson), #4 Stay Thirsty (Isaac) and #8 Dialed In (Miles). We didn't win, but it was still fun to watch and cheer our horses on.

Celebrating Pap Colvin's 60th birthday!

Miles is all about opening up cards for people. He manages to get every shred of the envelope ripped open. We also gave Nana Debbie, Granny and Mamaw their Mother's Day cards. Miles was very helpful in that process also.

Family photo shoots.

We've been doing lots of celebrating in our family. I love my large family-in-law. I can't wait for it expand even more with sister in laws and nieces and nephews one day. We're blessed beyond measure!

A Day in the Life of Isaac

Let's start with the beginning of the day for Isaac. Yogurt is his breakfast of choice. I think because it's quick and light. School causes him anxiety (or at least I suspect it does with his "questionable" stomach aches at night and his chewed off fingernails) so I don't press him on breakfast. Plus, school lunch is at 11 a.m which is pretty early. In fact, if you remember reading one of my recent blog posts where Isaac wrote a theme song book, one of the lines was, I don't like food. Wish I had that problem!

Our school menu the second half of the school year has to be one of the worst. I'm sure the average kid enjoys it, but there are only a handful of things I even like on the menu which means I get to fix Isaac's lunch everyday. At the start of the school year, I decided to be FIRM mom and tell Isaac he could only take his lunch once a week to school (hey, it worked with Karson the past two years). I should've known better. After the first two weeks, I went to eat lunch with him at school. His aide Ms. King told me that lunch usually makes him nervous so they don't press him about eating. School was such an adjustment for Isaac, I hate that I put that kind of pressure on him too. I really thought he would try more things if he saw all his classmates eating school lunch--nope, he stood his ground. At one point he even told me, "Mom I can go for days without eating." Packing a daily lunch for him is now a part of my morning routine. The nice thing about Isaac is his IS NOT picky about taking the same lunch everday which is a pack of Famous Amos cookies, a sausage biscuit and a pack of Cheez-It's. Occasionally, I'll throw in some Goldfish or Cocoa Puffs, and he buys his milk at school. Can you imagine eating that daily? Yum.

One thing Isaac LOVES is chewing gum. I guess every kid loves gum, but it's the main thing the ol' Easter bunny brought him this year. He can go through gum quicker than Willie Wonka. I find wrappers all over the place. I'm not sure where he gets some of it. Occasionally he'll come home with a whole pack in his pants--grandparents I'm suspecting--but who knows if they gave it to him or he swiped it. Stinker. We'll have to get his molars sealed ASAP.


I don't know any other way to describe Isaac besides passionate. He is passionate about the things he enjoys. He can color all day long. We usually just buy a pack of computer paper and keep it on the kids drawing table. He colors, makes books, makes shirts, designs EVERYDAY.

He's resorted to hiding all of his creations under his bunk bed (they are untouchable there). I love his creations but simply cannot keep EVERYTHING. He writes a book DAILY people. I have tried to encourage him to go to some creative camps this summer, but he has ZERO interest. I would love to see him channel his talents with someone who knows a thing or two about art and illustration.

What I usually find on the drawing table: a new book, broken staples, scattered markers, a snack and his water (he's part camel as are ALL of our kids--they drink water like they are dehydrated all the time).

Isaac is also passionate about LEGO's. We don't have a LEGO area in our house so my dining room table looks like this MOST of the time:

Sorry we haven't had you over for dinner lately =(.

Messes don't exist in Isaac's world. I'm convinced no part of my OCD nature lives inside of him. He could careless if the house, car, his room is messy or not--the more mess, the better. He's been that way as long as I can remember. I don't think he does it to drive me crazy. I honestly, think it's completely inate (much like my need for cleanliness & order). Do I try to encourage him to clean up his mess? Absolutely. Do I have to ask him daily to put things in the trash or not to throw things down in the van? Yep. Do I constantly tell him to keep track of the things he takes to grandparents houses (or usually loses)? Sure. Can we ever find his shoes one they're off? Never. It might take an hour to find them. Do I care? Not really. Isaac is Isaac, and I wouldn't change him at all. But I do want to encourage him to clean up HIS messes.

He would have posters like these ALL over his walls if I didn't clean them out.

Miles also tries to participate in the wall decor but hasn't quite mastered his fine motor skills at this point.

Isaac was a little put out that his hammy Justin didn't last longer than a week and quickly wanted another rodent. I was more hesitant, not because I felt we mistreated Justin, I just wasn't ready to go out and purchase a replacement instantly. Glad I didn't because NOW, we have Green Jill the turtle. I came across her on Carter Sims Road a few weeks ago. I believe she is a red ear slider turtle. Isaac and I bought her an aquarium, got her some shrimp, and she is living the life. The lady at the pet store told us if we could keep her alive, we'd have her 50 years. Yahoo, I'll be 84 when she finally kicks the bucket. We also found a brown toad on our back porch last night and decided to put him in the aquarium too, but after researching, I decided we best let the toad go. Turtles apparently kill frogs. SO, the toad hung around our back porch for a bit but took off later that night.

Isaac and Pap are two peas in a pod. He wants to go to Pap's house every single day. He's started spending the night with him every Friday. Having grandparents is such a blessing, they love our kids and give them the "needed" attention we parents can't always give. I love this picture of the two of them from Monster Truck Jam when Isaac was 3. Isaac asked me the other day (completely serious) if Pap could spend the night with us. I, of course, said "yes." He said, "okay, give me the phone, I need to call him." When Pap picked up, Isaac said "Pap, my mom says it's okay if you spend the night with me." It's cute how he thinks of Pap just like he thinks of one of his buds at school.
We are lucky having such a snuggly, wonderful little boy who lights up our lives daily with his energy and passion. He's such a joy. We love watching him grow up and learn new things. I love how he always has tried to share those new things with his baby brother (like in this old picture--sniff, sniff--I think he trying to show Miles how to pick his nose like a pro.). Thanks for reading about our little 6 year old.

Hoppy Easter Everyone

With over 1,600 hidden Easter eggs, the kids at Community celebrated our 8th annual egg hunt at my parents house last Sunday. Originally the hunt was scheduled for (last) Saturday, but we had to change it with my Mamaw's birthday party which worked out really well because last Saturday was nasty outside but Sunday's weather was perfect.

A couple of years ago, my mom decided to do something different with the primary kids who still wanted to participate but were to old to hunt with the little ones. She put together a scavenger hunt with clues and prize eggs--600 eggs were hidden for the older kids. This year Isaac got to participate. Mom said he and Evan took off gathering as many Easter eggs as they could find not real sure about the whole scavenger hunt thing--until she explained it to them. She told them if they found everything on the list, the got to select a prize. They immediately got to work gathering all the things on their list.

Checking their list twice =).

Karson, Cassidy and Annabel. These young ladies have grown in to such lovely young ladies.

Karson and Elizabeth hard at work collecting clues. Karson had no interest in hunting for Easter eggs this year. She had her eyes on the prize--a Barbie doll which she won.

Miles having a big time hunting for eggs with the younger kids. He got LOADS of candy this year and enjoyed his loot. He also had an egg hunt at school on Thursday, but I'm never able to get pics. of him there since I teach and all. He came home with lots of Easter goodies from EEP.

The Easter, oops, I mean SPRING party at Plano was on Friday. Isaac had his egg hunt in the gym. His teachers sent a note home the day before requesting each child send in 12 eggs filled with candy. They said they were going to number each egg and give the kids a number to hunt for. One thing I can say is that the hunt didn't go quickly. Isaac was #13. It took forever to find all his numbered eggs, but he sure had fun looking for them. I missed the beginning of it because Karson also had her wax museum that afternoon so the events overlapped a bit.

#13, #13, where are you???

Isaac and his buddies Jaxon and Nathan.

Isaac has switched tables (I guess all the kids have been moved around) and is now close to the two women he adores. Rebeccah is right across from him and Crystal is right next him. Rebeccah has shot him down a couple of time and has made it clear that she is NOT interested in him. To his left is Crystal who has down syndrome. Crystal cannot communicate, but that doesn't stop Isaac from trying his best to get her to chat it up with him. He adores her. Matt said he leaned down to talk to Crystal at the party and Isaac said, "Dad she doesn't talk. All she says is bah, bah, bah." (while moving his hands in the air, I guess like she does). Isaac sure loves Rebeccah and Crystal =).

Getting ready to do some singing.

Getting three Easter baskets together is no easy task (and can become quite costly). I decided to get a picture of the kids baskets the night before Easter as I NEVER manage to get a good photo of the goods when the kids are tearing through them Easter morning--plus, I am half awake.

Karson's basket complete with Peeps, a baby bottle pop, nerds rope, Nestle Crunch bars, chocolate bunnies, rainblow gum and airhead extremes.

I had to get most of Isaac's goods at the gas station. The boy loves orange tic tacs and banana laffy taffy more than any kid I know. I also got him LOTS of gum--he can go through a couple of packs in one week EASY.

Miles is ALL about gummy candy of any sorts--his basket had sour worms and crabby patties. He also loves Reese's cups--is there anything better than a Reese's mini.??? YUM.

I asked Karson Easter-eve if she would like for me to do a clue game to lead her to her Easter basket. She, of course, said yes. Then, she got this confused look on her face and said, "well, will the Easter bunny know where to put it?" Now don't get me wrong, I love that my kids are completely gullible about believing just about anything Matt and I say, but come on, Karson is super SHARP. I assumed by now the Easter bunny wasn't something she REALLY believed in. I said, "Karson, honey, do you really believe there is a bunny who goes around and delivers baskets to kids on Easter?" My sweet, honest, innocent child looked like a deer in the headlights and didn't have a response. Does she still believe? I have no idea. I don't think she would say either way??? Love that kid.

Isaac was the first one up Easter morning. I had Miles's basket out for him to enjoy when he got up but had hidden Karson and Isaac's baskets for the clue game. Matt was also up when Isaac came into the den and asked where his basket was. Matt said, "buddy, I don't think you got one this year." Isaac starts blinking his eyes real heavy when he's about to cry--he started doing it and said, "but I wanted one." Matt told him about the clue game, and about that time, all of us were waking up. He and Karson got to work quickly and found all their clues and FINALLY their goodies. (Sorry for all the underwear shots, but this is how my boys roll)

Miles picked gummy worms as his first choice of sweet.

Karson was able to snag a great picture of Matt and I.

Our traditional family pics. around the fireplace.

Karson couldn't wait to get to church. She, Elizabeth and Abby Kate had the same Easter dresses on. My sweet sister bought Karson hers at Strausburg last year so they could all match. All three of our beauties in their yellow. What's that jump rope rhyme? Cinderella dressed in yella', went upstairs to meet her fella'....

The zoo crew at church in all their splendor. It truly was a glorious day. Our dear friend Haley Caffey was baptized by her dad Brad during service that morning. We're very excited for them! Hope everyone has a HOPPY holiday like we did!