Happy Memorial Day

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating with family and friends. It was so great to see everyone and spend the day in the pool with the entire family. Got lots of great pictures of the kiddos enjoying some fun in the sun, looking forward to getting those posted soon.

Emma & Gavin were both troopers and managed to stay in the water for the entire day. I can not wait to hop on a plane in about a month and head to the beach with my sweet babies. It is going to be some kind of fun!

Before I forget, Gavin can now fill in the blank of Old McDonald. We sing, Old McDonald had a farm ________ and he says, "E-I-E-I-O". It has to be one of the cutest little things I have ever heard. Today he was trying so hard to say, a moo moo here and a moo moo there. He could get out the moo part and the rest was jibber jabber.

As for Emma, I bent down to kiss her last Tuesday and guess what I saw? The cutest little FRECKLES scattered under her eyes and across the bridge of her nose. I love em and think they are so stinkin cute!

Off to get some rest for my last 2 days of school. Woo-Hoo!

The girl finally got a...

...HAIRCUT! It is not as short as I would have liked, but we were so proud that she finally let the scissors get close to her. Might have had something to do with the candy in my bag, promises of Chik Fil A for dinner or something associated with her birthday party. I know we are not suppose to bribe or threaten our kids, but no rules applied to this situation.

Mrs. Julie was so sweet and was prepared with dum dums waiting and a cute little book. I ended up having to hold her in my lap, but it did not bother me one bit.

We kept telling her that Mrs. Julie also cut Brookie's, Tor-Tedra's, Cassi's & CoCo's hair. That kept her interested for a bit and then she was ready to talk about the next thing.

I thought I would be a little sad about it, but I was 100% okay and more then ready to watch the hair hit the floor. Even her Daddy said, she could have gotten a little more cut off. She ended up getting 3-4 inches of stringy baby hair cut off, so now it looks much healthier.

She seemed to be really proud of it and ready to get the candy in her hands.

We came home, washed it and I had to comb it out and get a final picture. This is one more thing Mommy can check off her list.

Thank you Emma for cooperating today and I am sure it will be a piece of cake from now on.

Splish Splash

I think this little man is going to truly enjoy his summer and all the hot days we plan to spend at the pool. We took the kids to the pool for a couple hours today and ran into the Carrizal family, always good to visit with them and see their two adorable children. I am sure Lizzie was thinking otherwise when Emma was eating her ice out of her pink bucket.

Kind of hard to get pictures at the pool, but I did manage to get two of this cute little boy in his turtle swimsuit.

Yes, that is a Roaring Water in his hand. He thinks he needs everything his big sister gets, so that should explain it. I have my kiddos convinced that these are "juiceys". I warned those Carrizal kids not to set their Capri Suns down or the Frazier kids would be stealing them and the secret would be out.

Looking forward to summer and all the time I will get to spend with my kiddos, my Mommy friends and their kiddos too.

Ready for some FOOTBALL!

Opening a new school found us with only 9th and 10th graders this year. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining at all. It has been a great school year, one of the best as a matter of fact. With only 9 days of school left, I am still smiling and walking down the halls with some pep in my step.

I love my kids, I love my job, I love my co-workers, I love the challenge, I love helping others and I love the relationships I have been able to build as an Assistant Principal this year. My caseload has consisted of 220 amazing, awesome, talented, kind hearted, compassionate kids that all have a very DIFFERENT story to tell. One day I am going to write a book about all the kids I have come across and the stories I have heard. Some are funny, but most will tear your heart completely out and make you wonder if you ever have a legitimate reason to complain.

We will be adding Varsity sports this year and our campus will consist of 9th, 10th and 11th graders. There is something about Friday night Football that excites us all and I especially love that my whole family can be a part of it. So, I have ordered Gavin a jersey and the Emma a uniform to wear to support the Bulldogs.

She was so excited when I brought it home because she loves the "BULLDOG SCHOOL" and so does her Mommy.

Oh it is going to be some kind of fun when we take the field for the first time with the Band roaring, Cheerleaders yelling, Color Guard marching, Drill Team dancing, players running and my 2 babies standing on the sideline with me. My life is all I ever dreamed of and more.

I am proud that my kids get to be involved in my career. I am glad they will grow up exposed to the academics, athletics, fine arts and all that makes up public school.

If I could do it all over again, I would do it all the same way. From teacher to counselor to assistant principal, each step of the way was good, NO it was GREAT! Looking forward to spending summer with my two babies, but I am going to miss all my kids.

AMEN

Something very special happened at our house this evening. One of my proudest Mommy moments with this sweet little boy. I took him in his room tonight to lay him down to sleep and he immediately grabbed his blanket and nestled face down on the mattress. I began praying with him and when I got close to the end he started shouting, "Amen, Amen, Amen". He must have said it 6 times before he stopped.

I say he is sweet, but I feel like I should be honest with you and with him (in hopes that he reads this one day.) The truth is...he is the MEANEST 14 month old I have ever been around in my life. He throws fits, pulls our hair, bites us and attempts to hit us in the face. I have NEVER seen a kid do the things that he does. People think we are kidding when we share this information with them because he is so happy ALL the time. I am here to tell you this is 100% the truth.

We have spent the last month trying to redirect his inappropriate behavior and concerned about what is going on. He is super independent just like his sister, very strong willed and gets frustrated very easy. He is doing so much better since we are very consistent in holding him accountable and issuing some sort of consequence when he does not make good choices. I am confident we will all be on the same page in about 4 more weeks. He has made so much progress and is doing so much better, but we do have a ways to go.

We love this little boy so much and we want him to always be the jolly little fella he is today, but we have to make some changes in other areas. So, you tell me...is this a BOY thing?

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

Hebrews 12:11

Big Girl Bed

Tonight was an exciting night for the WITTY ITTY BITTY. We finally decided to say goodbye to her crib/toddler bed today. We had purchased her a furniture set before Gavin's arrival, but a couple of weeks before he was born decided she/we were not ready for that so we ran out and purchased a 2nd crib. Well, we are now back to a one crib household and Emma is ecstatic.

All day she kept saying "Thank you Mom and Dad for my big girl bed." Little did she know we have had it stored in our closet for 15 months.

Her room is not complete, we still have some monogrammed items that are not finished and we are also having some additional things made to tie it all together. Our goal was to stay in the same color scheme as the nursery to avoid having to repaint.

When we took everything out of her room I asked her what she thought we should do with her bedding and the crib. She quickly responded, "Sell it Mom, Sell it!" Anyone who knows us will laugh hysterically at this, she is so my child! Good idea mini-me, good idea.

Notice she has her white dog, cousin (dog her friend Lizzie gave her when Gavin was born) and baby bear (Nana brought it back from Alaska) in the bed with her. We went from 21 critters in the bed to 3, hopefully that will last.

I think she likes it and she is going to be just fine with the transition. Her Daddy had a harder time with it than she did. He said, "Emma your Mommy always talks about what makes her sad and this makes me sad. You are in a big girl bed now."

We took the camera in her room tonight & took lots of pictures. We prayed with her, told her we loved her about 10 times each, hugged her, kissed her and hugged her again. This is what we saw when we left and that was about an hour ago. We are so proud of you BIG girl!

1 month from THREE

What does a little girl look like that is 1 month shy of being THREE? You are looking at her. I can hardly believe that we are only days away from celebrating THREE years of life with this one-of-a-kind little girl.

She is so super excited about the upcoming celebration and so are we. She has chosen to celebrate by having a FIREFIGHTER birthday party. You heard me right, we let her choose and she did not think twice about her decision. Remember this is the child that ask me daily, "Mom, are you sure I can be a Firefighter when I grow up?"

We can not even begin to explain how much joy you have brought into our lives Emma Caroline. You my sweet girl are everything we ever dreamed to have in a daughter and so much more. We love you so much and are so blessed to be your Mommy and Daddy.

mY siLly GirL

She has become my permanent tag~a~long everywhere I go and I must admit, I love it! She is as silly as they come.

Always wants to make me laugh and loves to look at little trinkets everywhere she goes.

She usually brings her "white dog" that barks and makes lots of noise when you squeeze his belly.

She kept begging me to buy her these glasses and telling me she looks just like her Grandma.

She has told me no less than 100 times in the last two days, Happy Mother's Day Mom, I love you & I am so happy it's Mother's Day Mom. I can not wait to see what she says to me tomorrow, the next day & the day after that!

Night-Night

When we got ready to put our little man to sleep tonight he started shouting, "night-night, night-night". It was so plain and clear, we knew exactly what he was saying. He was super proud of himself and just kept saying it over and over again.

Bedtime is such a wonderful experience for this little guy. We take him to his room, he turns off his own light, hugs us, he lays down, we pray, cover him up and he puts himself to sleep. One of the things I am most thankful for is the routines we have established with our children and how peaceful bedtime is for both of them.

I am thinking we might have another WITTY ITTY BITTY on our hands. This guy appears to be a talker just like his big sister. He now has 13 words in his vocabulary, way to go buddy.

Mom, is it summer yet?

This little girl is my big helper every time I make a trip to the grocery store. The last time we ventured through the produce section she shouted, "Mom, is it summer time yet?"

Yes baby, it is almost summer time. Why?

"Because we get to eat watermelon in the summer Mom and I love watermelon, can we buy one?"

I can't help but wish that my sweet Daddy were around to see this little country girl eat up some melon. He would have been tickled pink watching her. You see, when I was a kid he use to just split one open and let us go to town. I remember piling my seeds up on a piece of newspaper for the big seed fight after our belly's got so full they were about to POP!

I am looking forward to spending 6 weeks off this summer and enjoying all the fun stuff summer has to offer. Yes, we will even buy a real watermelon so I can introduce you to your first SEED fight baby girl.

14 Months of Smiles

You have given us enough smiles in the 14 little months of your life to last us a lifetime Gavin, but we long for more and more.

You have started walking and you did not do it a step at a time, you decided to stand up and take 7-10 steps all at once.

You are a VERY strong willed little boy and have began throwing fits. Yes, you throw yourself on the floor into a belly flop position and you bite the carpet or try to bite the floor. If you happen to be standing you bite the furniture or try and bite one of us. You can scream, shake and cry like nothing we have ever seen. I have started correcting you and you are getting better, but man you can throw some kind of fit boy! It is hard for everyone to imagine that you can do this because they always see you as a jolly little fella.

You are becoming more vocal everyday, entertaining us with constant babbling and laughing. Your vocabulary consist of 12 words in the order you said them:

• Momma
• Dada
• Emma
• Nana
• Uh oh
• Thank you
• Dog
• Rara
• Hi
• Bye Bye
• No
• Beamer

Here are some more facts about you at 14 months old:

• 27.5 lbs at the Dr. on Saturday
• Size 6 Sandel (same size as your sister)
• Size 6 Diaper
• Size 2 Clothes
• 12-24 month Pedi Peds
• First real haircut, clippers were used
• Love to ride in the Bike Trailer
• Crawl like a Bulldog with your hand turned inward
• Chik Fil A is your favorite place to eat
• Feed yourself with a spoon
• Enjoy splashing in the bath tub
• Constantly take your shoes off, so you stay barefoot most of the time
• Play with cars and make a zzzooomm noise
• Enjoys the grass and playing outside
• Want to have or do whatever your Big Sister does
• Sleep from 7:30 at night till about 6:30 the next morning
• Cook at Emma's pink kitchen all the time
• Pretend to eat, talk on the phone and take our temperature
• Brush your own teeth (we help you to get them real clean)
• Do not like when Beamer barks if someone rings the doorbell, it scares you
• You always want to be around Emma or know where she is at all times
• You love to hug your Daddy
• Open mouth kisses are your favorite and it is so sweet
• Light switches keep you busy
• Climb anything that can be climbed
• Dig through the cabinets
• Love our dog, but are not fond of any other animals

Gavin, we love you so much and are so grateful to have you in our lives {fits and all}. You are the happiest and sweetest little boy we know, but can also throw the biggest fits we have ever seen. You are ALL BOY and keep us moving constantly. You have encouraged us to live a healthier lifestyle, so we can keep up with you and be around for the long haul ~ Thank you!

I wish I could explain to you what it means and does for me everyday when I see that smile on your face. You light up any room you walk into, but you light up my entire LIFE! Your eyes tell a story and even when your not smiling those eyes are saying 1000 words.

We love you so much and are so proud to call you our SON ~ never stop SMILING Gavin Thomas Frazier.