Surprise Snippets of School

School during this era is so different from how it was back when I was in school.  Nowadays, teachers have blogs, Instagram pages, have flexible seating and do super cool science experiments!  Preston has a fun, young teacher who has only been teaching for two years.  Miss Lyon is still excited and has a class Instagram page where she posts pictures almost daily of her students.  Below are just a sampling of some during the first three months of school.

flexible seating...floor, sofa, bean bag and desks

indoor recess, thanks to some rain

Kickball during recess!

Bennett is now a big girl, attending the middle school where she has five teachers and moves classrooms to learn new subjects.  Her homeroom teacher, Miss Adams, also teaches science and social studies.  She too has a fun Instagram page where she posts pictures and videos of science experiments that they are doing, and other fun things that are going on around the middle school.

It is so fun following both teachers and seeing pictures of my children enjoying school.  These little snippets of their days make me smile every time.  I am so thankful that they are enjoying school.

I love that her teachers are recognizing her hard work!

Homecoming week at HMS - Twin Day with Katharine Fitts

So proud of Bennett!  She is working so hard at HMS and doing great!

Donut Reward.....right up Bennett's alley!

Bennett's class is learning about various industries so she brought in her

great grandfather's coal-mining badge, canteen and hat.

Happy Birthday Louis & Steve!!

Michelle was sweet to plan a special surprise dinner for Louis, and she extended an invitation to us since Steve and Louis share the same birthday.  It was their family, and us along with Bennett.  Sadly, John Michael ended up being sick, so it was the birthday boys and all of the women.  The dinner took place at "Icing on the Cookie," and much to my surprise, the Chef does a lot more than just cookies.

The Birthday Boys!

Always and forever a daddy's girl

Since he doesn't have a liquor license, we all just brought our own wine and then he did the cooking demonstration for us.  When the menu was sent to me, I was a little worried that I wouldn't like everything, but it was all delicious!  When we arrived he had some little puff pastry stuffed items out.  We didn't know what was inside of them, but we all sampled them.  I loved them!  They had caramelized onions, duck fat and some other stuff.  Bennett was more than halfway finished, but quickly halted after hearing "duck fat."

Next up was pumpkin soup.  I have never had pumpkin soup, but it had great flavor.  The one he made for us had granny smith apples, carrots and lots of cream.  The special treat was the fried sage leaves on top.....they were crisp and cooked in a ton of butter....yummy!!

Our entrée was a slow roasted pork shoulder, sweet potato waffles, roasted brussels and butternut squash with a maple bourbon gastrique.  The waffles were the biggest hit with Bennett (after dessert). It was fun to watch him make them, because he only used one sweet potato for at least 6 full waffles.  He used 6 eggs, and I have never seen how fluffy eggs could get after being whipped for awhile.  He slowly folded them into the sweet potato mixture, and immediately cooked them with a waffle griddle.  The brussels were cooked with salt, pepper, fresh garlic and more duck fat.... fantastic!

Dessert was the icing on the cookie, with individual baked apple pies and homemade vanilla ice cream and caramel. The little pies were light and flaky, yet crisp on the edges.  Of course it is difficult to beat homemade ice cream.

Overall, it was a fun night of bonding and over-eating with some good wine.  Thanks Chef Shelby Adams for a delightful evening, I went home stuffed!  Of course, celebrating Louis and Steve is so easy and fun.  Those two guys are friends with everyone and have hearts of gold.  They deserve to be celebrated more than once a year.  Happy Birthday Goo and Miz!!

Fall Sports

It doesn't matter what time of the year it is, Preston is playing at least one sport.   In the Fall, he plays flag football and fall baseball.  He loves flag football, but sadly his team wasn't very good this season.  Though he played his heart out, and had some decent players, his coaches weren't able to make the right calls and if they did - the boys couldn't execute them.  Thankfully that only took up two days (an hour practice during the week and an hour game on Saturday).

On three other days, Preston practiced baseball with a semi-travel team (they only entered local tournaments).  He was able to get a lot of practice in at short stop, 2nd base and as a pitcher.  He had great coaches, and had a lot of fun.  They even got 2nd at one of the championships!

Coach Quinn

Walker's Class Field Trip

Walker's 4K preschool class gets to go on a couple of field trips this year, with his first one to the farm at Oak Mountain State Park.  He was super excited as we drove out together.  Most of his classmates were already there, and he immediately ran over to greet them.

The children weren't allowed to enter until they listened to all of the instructions, and boy were ready!  They all looked adorable with their yellow bandanas (for yellow door class), but they were ready to pet and feed the animals.

They had goats, donkeys, chickens, pigs and a few horses.  Walker and his friends ran from one thing to another being careful not to miss a thing.

Walker loved the goats

Kids were inside the fenced area with the animals on the outside during feeding.

snack time!

hayrack ride with Mercer

Everyone always tells us to enjoy these moments because they grow up quickly.  I am glad that I have the flexibility to join him on these days.  Walker is a funny boy, and loves hanging with his friends.  It is so fun to watch him interact with them.  I'm already looking forward to his next one!

Pres is Double Digits!

Preston had a big birthday this month...his tenth!!  He only had his sights on two things for his birthday....a new iPad (so he can play more games) and candy.  We really didn't want to give him either, so we decided to surprise him with something else.  On the Friday morning before his birthday, he opened up one present.  Inside were two "tickets."  One to see the movie "The Meg," and the other to the Bama-Ole Miss game.  Both would take place in Oxford, MS, and he needed to be ready to go as soon as school got out that afternoon.  He was THRILLED!!

That day at lunch, I surprised him with chick-fil-A.  He was excited to see me, as were his buddies in his class.  I was the lucky one, sitting at a table of 4th grade boys.  Later that day, I received a text from his Principal with a birthday selfie.  This has become his thing with the kids, which they love!

Preston and Dr. Lowry

While Preston was at school, I packed his bag.  As soon as he got home, Steve and Pres left.  They arrived just in time for a quick dinner, and then they were off to see "The Meg."  It is a movie about the megalodon, a gigantic shark that is believed to be extinct.  Preston loved it (Steve said it wasn't too hot).  The following morning, the guys awoke early and then headed to campus to watch SEC Nation.  Before each commercial the camera would pan the audience, and Preston was lucky enough to have his cute face caught!

After an hour or so, Steve and Pres continued their journey.  They walked around the grove, and they made friends everywhere they went. They tailgated with other Bama fans they met at the hotel, hung out with starting Alabama quarterback, Tua Tagovailoa's family, had lunch, watched the team get off the bus (where Preston got a high five from Damien Harris), and ultimately went into the stadium.

Tua's little brother who has already committed to Bama

Bama's Athletic Dir, Greg Byrne

But the fun didn't end there!  They met Alabama's Athletic Director, snacked on stadium food, and watched Bama roll all over Ole Miss.  Preston finally is all about watching the games, so he loves staying for the entire game!  It was a late night, but they BOTH had a blast!  It was a wonderful surprise for Pres, and the father-son bonding was particularly special for Steve.  Though I couldn't be apart of the fun, I was so happy getting all of the updates, and hearing about how much fun they were having.  This special weekend will stay with Preston forever, and I love creating memories like that.

Sunday morning (Preston's actual birthday), they drove home and we went to lunch at Taco Mama, and then Pres went to baseball practice.  That night we celebrated with ice cream cake (his choice), and he received his other presents (2 football jerseys, an Xbox game and some new wireless earbuds).  Preston got cash from everyone else, enough to buy himself a new iPad and a ton of candy from Goo and Shell.  I don't think Preston could have dreamt up a better birthday weekend.

However, the celebrating didn't stop there.  He really wanted a birthday party, but we put our foot down (we are over them), but caved and let him have some friends over for a sleepover.  They played football outside for hours, ate dinner, played on the xbox, and fell asleep at 10pm....not too shabby for kids or parents.

Luke Serotsky, Collier Hicks, Pres and Boone Aycock

Happy 10th to our energizer bunny!  The boy who loves all sports, is super competitive, smart, funny, loves his mom, dad and dog (and sometimes his siblings), and is overall just a good kid.  He is slowly becoming more mature, growing his relationship with God and learning to be more humble.  We are so proud of him, and know he will be successful in life.  We love you buddy!