WDW-Cousins

Football and Ballerinas

Wordless Wednesday

My Sweet Nephew-Baby Tucker

Our Family Portrait on the First Day of School

Look Out World...Here We Come

It's official, we now have two kindergartners in our house. Actually school started about a week ago and it really has not been bad. We registered them back in July and then they went to a week of Kindergarten Kamp-which they loved. I have been meaning to blog about this before but I thought I needed some time to reflect and maybe even calm down a little. You see, when we registered them for school I was asked if we wanted them in the same class or separate classes(Mark- I hear the groans of not this story again-so I will make this short). Since the kids have not been separated for longer than a trip to Wal Mart since they were born (that right BORN-they are 5 years old) I thought the transition would be easier to be together. Of course, they got in separate classes. I was upset-much more than anyone else in the house. I just felt like my opinion was completely overlooked.
On the first day of school, we went to drop the kids off and they did GREAT! They loved their classroom and were very excited to be back in school. They hugged us bye and sent us out the door. I have to admit there were more than a few kids who were crying HARD at being left by Mom and Dad and I walked out thanking the good Lord above that mine were not two of them. This is such an exciting time for them, so I have decided to embrace it. I will ask the question-why are all the wonderful and exciting milestones in their lives so difficult for me? I guess part of being a parent is to give them roots and wings. But do they have to grow up SO fast. Baby steps is all I'm asking for. Oh,well...when Mark picked them up from school, they were so excited and could not wait to tell us all about their first day. They have not minded at all being in separate classes and to be honest they are actually excited to see each other in the evening. The following picture shows that maybe separate classes are not such a bad idea..........

Summer Fun and New Beginnings

I love summer time. It's flip flops, swimming and vacations. It's carefree days with no wake up or bed time. I can honestly say that we have had a wonderful summer. We have.....had a dance recital

The kids were in my cousin's wedding

We went to Disney World

Cheered the Golden Eagles on in Omaha

We played in the sand on the beach in Gulf Shores


Gracie also learned to ride her bike without training wheels and both she and Matthew learned to swim without floaties. They have grown taller and just really seem more grown up. They are more independent than ever before. They will be starting K5 this week at Calera Elementary School and I am so excited for them. This is a new chapter in all our lives and we can't wait for it to begin.
The last thing that we did this summer was welcome our new little nephew, Tucker Scott Wilson

We have been very blessed this summer and we thank God for taking care of us and our family and friends during this busy but fun time of year. How was your Summer?

Happily Ever After

Usually on Wednesdays I just post pictures to show our splashes of joy but today I wanted to share something very special. My honey, Mark and I are celebrating our 9th Wedding Anniversary. I can remember the day I met him (at a football game in Troy). We met at Jacksonville State University where we were both in school-he paid for his masters by working for the athletic department. He was sitting on the end of the Ryder Truck waiting on the football team to leave after the Troy game. Let me tell you-2 years of dating, 9 years of marriage, a mortgage and two kids later-I still think he is the best looking guy I have ever seen (anymore details and it will only embarrass me and you both). Once I got to know him-I quickly realized I wanted to share the rest of my life with this man.

As I walked down the aisle on our wedding day,it truly was the best day of my life. I knew when we walked out as husband and wife I had been divinely favored. This was the man God had designed specifically for me. The last 9 years have been full of life, what I mean is ups, downs, tears of joy and sadness, building a house, 2 precious children, a baseball state championship, the loss of a parent, laughter, wonderful memories and more love than any one person should be blessed with.

The day that our children were born and I saw Mark holding them, it took my breath away. He was not just my husband but the father of my children, he had given me a priceless gift. As I watch Matthew and Gracie, I can see so much of Mark in them. Matthew simply looks and acts just like Mark but it is Gracie who simply got the best of Mark. She has his sweet spirit-kindness and compassion, his ability to find the best out of every situation and every person. Let me say, I am blessed.

I have box in my closet that has all the memories of our time dating. I told Gracie it was our Love Story. I pray that she will find the same happiness that I have with her Daddy. I am so blessed to be living our happily ever after..............

Wordless Wednesday

Changes

I LOVE sunny days like today. Days where you don't need even a light jacket to walk into work and the sun is shining so bright you need your sunglasses right when you hit the front door. Because of this I had no reason to think that today was going to be one of those off days-not bad just I can't believe I did that days. It started as I was driving to work. I am one of those people who take the same route everyday and never deviate my path and because of that I'm not the most observant-I see the same things to and from work. So there has been a sign saying that a section of the road would be closed on Wednesday and Thursday and please find an alternate route. Fine no problem. Wednesday no problem, I remembered coming out of our subdivision. Today however I really was not paying attention and I was driving a long my normal route and thought there is something off, kept driving, then BAM it hit me, there are no other cars on the road. I drove right up to the construction-didn't remember a thing about the road being closed. Have you ever had 13 construction workers all stop what they are doing only to shake their heads and laugh at you. Oh well, at least it was sunny and I got to wear my cute new sunglasses.

I have a question that I really need some feedback on. Is Spongebob Squarepants REALLY as bad as I think it is? Matthew and Gracie have been telling Mark and I for months that of the 14 kids in their class that they are the only ones who not allowed to watch it. When they were younger it seemed too advanced for them. The language and subject matter but now that they are a little older and understand more, I am wondering is it really that bad? So, please give some feedback. If your kids watch Spongebob, what do you think?

Wordless Wednesday-Dance like no one is watching

Daddy's Girl

This is my sweet and sassy girl, Gracie (Graciebug to her daddy). One thing you have to know about Gracie is that she LOVES her daddy and her daddy LOVES her. She is the only person that Mark will let fix his hair (complete with pink color streaks),fix his face (an entire array of make-up) and paint his toenails (they both agree that hot pink is his color). I do have to admit that this angel has been known to get her Uncle Marty in on the nail salon practice.It really is cute. Gracie is all girl and recently added stylist to Mom to her list of accolades-she will let me know when she doesn't think I am "super cute and everyone will love you". Now, recently I have noticed a bit of, for lack of better word, Mark coming out in her. Like, her loving to eat at the Waffle House and sitting thru an entire Cubs game, with Mark and Matthew,only to get up at the end and sing "Go Cubs Go, Hey Chicago what do you say, the Cubs are gonna win today" at the top of her lungs while dancing around the living room. It sounds like I don't love this but that is very far from the truth. I have a number of things that I am thankful for with this:

*That she has her Dad in her life and that he loves her enough to play beauty shop with her. She may not realize how special that is but she will one day.

*That a date to Waffle House with Daddy makes her entire week. Again she may not realize what a gift this is but she will one day

*That she has Friday night living room cot & movie night-who knew sleeping on the floor could be so much fun

*Her interests are wide and varied-dance, baseball, beauty, and barbies and laughing (she LOVES to laugh)

*That she has loves her brother enough to cheer him on at his Dodger games and he loves her enough to help her with Ballet.

*That I can see her Pops sassiness, PaPaw's sweetness, Nana's kindness and MeMe's generosity in her more everyday


I have been so blessed by having these precious people in my life. They all love and support each other unconditionally. It is amazing and it just gets better all the time.

Guess Who? aka Peanut Butter and Gum

Tonight-Everything is quiet, the kids are settled in and Mark and I are flipping between the Cubs and USM baseball and chatting about our day and schedules for the weekend and week coming up-this is my favorite time of day, mainly because I have my man's undivided attention-when I hear a bedroom door open and out comes a little Windham. Now, this precious child comes and stands directly in front of me and as I am asking why they are not a sleep, I notice this green streak going from the crown of their head to the top of their forhead. I also happen to notice, as I am about to bust out laughing, GUM in their mouth. Like a lightbulb going off, it hits me, it's 3days before Easter AND this child has to be in a wedding in about 4 weeks. This child will not recover from cutting this gum out in that amount of time, so a HAIRCUT IS NOT AN OPTION! So I begin to think, how am I going to get this gum out of this beautiful red hair. I remember that my own mom(being the smart woman she is) used peanut butter to get gum out when I was a kid. So, off to the kitchen we go, where I slathered my kids head up. Please remember that I have a child who is VERY emotional ( ok actually-bawling their eyes out hysterically)because 1.they think they are in BIG trouble(they are supposed to be a sleep and for sure NOT CHEWING GUM BEFORE BEDTIME) 2.their entire top half of their head is covered in an edible food product that mom puts on crackers and sandwiches. So I rub,they cry and I rub, they cry and I rub, they cry and I rub some more they cry harder. After about 20 minutes, what do you know, that gum came right out. It was really cool! Now comes the hard part, getting the child to calm down enough to play hair salon to wash out the peanut butter. When they finally realized that the water spout in the kitchen sink was not going to drown them, they actually loved getting their hair washed in the sink. End result: beautifully clean and suprisingly shiny red hair.

Now here is the part that I would like your help-Can you guess which Windham kid this was? All you have to do is leave a comment-Matthew or Gracie?

Wordless Wednesday-Many faces of Gracie

March Madness

It's been a while since my last post and a lot has been going on-spring has come,we had a blizzard (for Alabama anyway), the time has changed, I got a year older and spring break is here. Of all the things that I have mentioned, the blizzard is my favorite. We had a snowball fight, built a snowman and made beautiful snow angels. I have to say, the Windham's were made for snow. Everyone had a GREAT time,it was one of those times where for the entire day all four of us were just in the moment. We laughed and just enjoyed each other. I think my least favorite thing has been the time change. I HATE getting up when it is dark. It always make me think it's earlier than it is,so I end up getting up late and rushing around and there is nothing worse than getting up late and struggling to get to work on time. I think it's because I am one of those gals who will rush to get out the door not realizing that my skirt is tucked in the back of my pantyhose. The only part of the time change that I like is it stays daylight longer. Everyone acts better and sleeps better when we get to go outside when we get home in the evenings.

Okay, so Saturday was my birthday and I don't mind saying that I turned 31 (see honey it's not hard to admit that you are over 30) years old. My sweet honey let me sleep in and then brought me donuts and diet coke in bed. He then, being the precious husband he is, told Matthew and Gracie that is was Mommas birthday so from that moment on every time I walked in a room, they sang Happy Birthday. How many times do you have to hear two sweet voices singing Happy Birthday before you start praying for a temporary hearing loss? Well, of the 37 times they sang it, about 3 times was my limit-they scared me so bad in the shower when they started singing I almost broke my neck. I was rinsing my hair when they busted out in VERY loud song. So, we all got dressed up and went to the new Japanese restaurant that just opened in Alabaster. I just knew the kids would love watching the chef cook on the grill. Matthew really didn't care that much for it and we knew this because when the chef went to put the rice and veggies on his plate he said "that is disgusting and I hate it." He did not eat a bite. Now Gracie on the other hand,loved every bit of it. She laughed thru it all, ate everything on her plate (unusual for her) and left having found one of the coolest places ever. You know, she is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. She has one of the kindest hearts and one of the sassiest attitudes-more on that later.
To my Sweet Honey-Thanks for making my birthday great. "...I'm so in love with you honey...">

Welcome to Dodgertown......

This past Saturday, we took Matthew to his Little League tryouts. He was drafted by the Dodgers! When we looked up the Dodgers on the internet-to see what their uniform looked like, on their website they had WELCOME TO DODGERTOWN-apparently Matthew thought that was really cool and started saying he lived in LA Dodgertown-forget little league he is going straight to the big leagues. Fast forward to tonight when he had his first practice. There are about 12 very excited boys on this team and when we got there the coach divided the boy into 3 groups (working on swing or cage work as a certain good lookin' coach says, fielding and actual batting practice). After all the boys had finished with everything, they gathered at home plate and started running. Why is this important you ask-well Matthew starts out running really good but when he rounds third base he decides it will be a "super duper rally ooper" cool thing to belly-flop, oh I mean slide into home plate. I know those pants will never be the same but I have to admit it really was cute. When he got up he asked his coach, that was so cool can we run again. WOW, that is something you will not hear his sister say. Off they went again followed by a run down the first baseline to the foul post across the outfield to other foul post and up the third base line. There were 12 Dodgers dragging up the third base line. I have to admit to you that I LOVE being a ballpark mom and am thanking God that he likes it as well.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.
-Ecclesiastes 3:1

Wordless Wednesday

Baseball season and Flip-Flops

Today Shelby Academy won the 1A State Basketball Championship-Congrats to the Raiders. I have to admit the main reason I am so excited is because now we can BRING ON BASEBALL! Baseball is my favorite season. For those of you who know me know that I am married to not only a baseball coach but an all around sports FANATIC! He doesn't just enjoy participating and watching sports, it is his PASSION(especailly his beloved Cubbies). This is one of the many things I love about him. The thing is sports is not really my passion. Have you ever heard love comes softly, well the love of sports snuck up on me. Now don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy sports especially baseball. I love the entire season. I love watching it on television, sitting out at the ballpark in my flip flops on sunny days, watching my man do his thing on the field, seeing Mark sharing the love of the game with our son, oh I could go and on. Baseball season starts at our house on February 24th. On this date we will begin our journey to get to the State Championship for the 5th straight year and I will become a baseball widow, the thing is I really don't mind as a matter of fact I am excited about it. So Bring on Baseball Season and Go Raiders!!!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Haircuts and Shopping

On my last post I said that it was my Angels birthday. Well, the celebration has ended and we have partied till we dropped. We had a GREAT time (although two parties in one day was A LOT)and ate cake till....well, we all felt really loved. Now a week had passed and on Saturday I looked at Matthew and decided he needed a haircut some kinda bad. So,I did what any Mom would do with a little boy who needs a haircut but can't sit still long enough to get it. I made his daddy do it and Gracie and I went shopping with my mom. Mark did protest but reluctantly agreed to take him. About an hour into shopping (with a very opinionated 5 year old and a Meme who thinks this so cute) my cell phone rings and Mark quickly said someone wants to talk to you:

Matthew (sobbing uncontrollably): Momma, I got my hair (sob!sob!)cut too short and I HATE IT! (sob!sob!)
Momma (chuckling): Matthew I bet it looks really handsome.
Matthew(sobbing really loud): I HATE IT!(sob!sob!) The lady cut it really short (sob!)and I want my Angels hat.(sob!sob!)

CLICK-phone hangs up.

I figured I needed to get home but Mark said they were fine and finish shopping. So that is what we did. Shopping with Gracie is another story all in itself. She is getting to that age where she wants to pick out her own clothes. She and her Momma do NOT see eye to eye on what is appropriate for a 5 year old girl. She wants sassy and wild and I want pretty and sweet. Anyway, back on track-when we got home and I saw Matthew, the new haircut was short and did take some getting used to but it made him look very grown up. After a LOT of reassuring that he looked very handsome, I got the smile that I love.

Fast forward to today, we were jumping on the trampoline and I commented on my bald boy. He stopped jumping and looked (very seriously) at me and said," Momma, you said I was the most handsome boy you had ever seen." That took a good bit of backtracking. To be honest, it never really occurred to me that Matthew was so sensitive about his hair. I really thought he didn't or wouldn't care either way. Boy, was I wrong. Lesson learned.

Birthday Memories

Today is Matthew and Gracie's 5th Birthday and a day for celebration. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. When I think back to day and I found out I was pregnant, and the moment my life changed forever, I remember how excited Mark and I were and how blessed we felt. Then we found out (at nine weeks) it was twins and I knew at that moment that the Lord had given me my first miracle. I had a very uneventful pregnancy until my 35th week, due to high blood pressure, I was put on bed rest. It last 1 day (that's right ONE day) and I spent most of that day trying to figure out how I was going to get to Wal-Mart to get last minute things finished before the babies were born (snaps to all those bed rest mommas,you amaze me).

Now, I had a failed induction, what that means is the kids were born by c-section. When the doctor told us this and explained it all, I thought my sweet husband (who does not do blood, needles or hospitals ver well) was going to pass out before we ever left the hospital room. I remember looking over and seeing his eyes closed and head bowed. To this day he will not tell me what he was praying, only that his prayers were answered. When I heard Matthew's sweet cry at 8:27am, well it is a moment that still there are no words to describe, and then when I heard Gracie's cry at 8:28am, another overwhelming moment. We had been divinely favored.

Matthew is my first born and all boy. He is rough, tough and looks just like his handsome daddy. He loves the color blue, Thomas the train and loves to talk. He has a kind and loving heart, just don't ask him to share the ball (every boy has his limits). Matthew questions EVERYTHING and believes completely that he knows more than you. Also, his momma and daddy love him more that he can ever understand.
Gracie is the baby. She is all sassy girl. She is kind and compassionate and loves all animals, great and small. She spent 5 days in the NICU and I cried those 5 days fearing that should would have lasting effects from not being with us. She is a snuggler and hugger and I know the Lord did that because He love me so much. She cares other people's feelings. She loves all things pink and sparkly. Also, her momma and daddy love her more than she will ever know.

These two precious children make me strive to be a better person and showed me how to love unconditionally. My life is forever changed and I am a better person because of it. Happy Birthday Matthew and Gracie, I know God has special plans for you both.

Wordless Wednesday

I'm going to be an Aunt.....

I recently got a call (pretty early I might add!) from my little brother Jeremy. He told me that his sweet and precious wife, Kayleen, was pregnant. As you can imagine it woke me up pretty fast. I was so excited. This will be the first neice (I think it will be a girl) or nephew on my side of the family. Mark's older brother has 3 kids.

I have 2 brothers-one is 1 year older and Jeremy is 5 years younger. Jeremy is in the Coast Guard and lives in Ft. Myers, Florida (please start praying that they will get stationed closer to home). Jeremy is my sweet little brother and he always will be. He is the one that I sat in Saturday detention (being tardy to 1st period) for because he would miss the bus and I had to drive him to school. He is free spirited, bold, and compassionate. Kayleen is his perfect match. She totally balances him out and he loves her beyond measure.

The baby is due in August and I cannot wait. I am praying for it to be healthy and I would not be upset to be buying everying in pink. I know they will be great parents, it's just in their nature. I love them both and cannot wait to see what God has in store for them as parents.

Jokes and Giggling Clothing Racks.....

Tonight the kids and I went to Wal-Mart for groceries (the cereal aisle is the WORST) and I decided that we needed to look for dance tights for Gracie (for some reason on dance night I can never find pink dance tights). While I was looking for the correct color and size I noticed how quiet it was around me. It was the kind of quiet that makes every mother nervous because you know your sweetie pies are up to mischief. As I turned around I heard the giggling from the clothing rack behind me. All of a sudden "Hey Mom, how do ducks learn to fly? They just wing it" followed by laughing. Both the kids were hiding in the clothing rack waiting to be found. They always think this is so funny and start giggling so hard the racks are moving. That laugh is music to a mother's heart.

My Splashes of Joy...

A couple of months ago, my sweet children were running around in the rain complete with rain boots and umbrellas when suddenly Matthew started eyeing a puddle in the yard. Of course, being all boy like he is, he ran over and jumped as high as he could right in the middle of this puddle of water. The sound of the splash and his sweet laughs caught Gracie's attention and she soon joined in the fun. We ended up walking around the neighborhood looking for puddles and laughing the whole time.

My family are my "splashes of joy". They brighten my day. When I walk into the door of my home, I am greeted by 3 smiling faces who love me unconditionally. The Lord has been so good to me. My goal with this blog is to be transparent with how the Lord has blessed me and to journey with me as I strive to grow closer to Him.

John 10:10 "...I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."