Updates

Wowza, it's been two months since I last had time to post! That sweet little baby of ours is keeping me busy! I'll do a very quick recap of the last two months...

Halloween weekend was lots of fun. A few days before Halloween I took Libby and her best friend Maddy to the corn maze and they both got their faces painted like scarecrows. For trick-or-treating Libby dressed as one of her favorite characters from Monster High and I took her trick-or-treating with her best friend and they got LOTS of candy. For Halloween we also went to Ryan's parents' church for their fall festival and we took Libby's best friend with us and the two girls had such a great time. Ensley even got in on the Halloween fun in her pumpkin costume and tiny pumpkin bag for candy. :-)





In November our little Ensley turned two months old! Here are pictures of me with Ensley and also Libby with Ensley the day she turned 2 months old. Also during November was of course Thanksgiving. We went about three hours away to Ryan's aunt and uncle's house where we had Thanksgiving lunch with Ryan's parents, his brother, his aunt and uncle, one of his cousins, her husband, and their four children. The other cousin, her husband, and their three children took the opportunity to go home to Indiana this Thanksgiving so we missed out on seeing them. Of course, Ensley was the hit of the day! :-)



And now we are in December so here are two pictures from this month including one from the ladies lunch that was at our house on Saturday. Libby and her best friend Maddy were at the lunch, too, but Libby was the one behind the lens taking the group picture and Maddy was right over her shoulder acting as her assistant. :-)

Libby's updates

In addition to being a wonderful big sister to her baby sister Ensley Libby has been busy receiving awards and keeping busy with things going on at school.

On Friday, September 16th Libby had an awards breakfast and ceremony at school for participating in the summer reading program. Ryan and I were both able to go and have breakfast with her and see her receive her award.
On Friday, October 7th Libby received another reading award. The award was for being one of the top AR (Accelerated Reading) points in the school. The big goal for the year is for the children to get 100 points by the end of the school year and they get to go on a special field trip. By the end of September Libby already had 75 points! They presented the awards at halftime of the high school football game. Libby was very excited as we got closer to the date of the award presentation. That evening we picked up her best friend Maddy and we went and got dinner and then we went to the football game (Ryan stayed home with Ensley). Once we got to the game Libby saw how many people were there and she got very nervous but she went out there and received her award anyway. We are VERY proud of that girl!
This past Tuesday Libby's best friend Maddy came home from school with us and the girls made chocolate covered apples and could hardly wait to eat them!
This past Thursday on October 13th her school had a fall picnic where the parents are invited to have lunch with the children and everyone has a picnic outside on blankets. Well, it rained Thursday morning so eating outside was no longer an option so they cleared the tables out of the cafeteria and everyone just found a spot and put down their picnic blankets and ate in the cafeteria and some people spilled out into the hallways. It wasn't quite as relaxing as the picnics where we eat outside but it was still nice for Ryan and I to have the chance to have lunch with Libby and her friends. I love the fact that everyone in Libby's little group of seven friends are all Safety Patrols! :-)

Ensley's birth story!

I've been away from my blog for a few weeks and that's because sweet baby Ensley is here! She is such a precious little lady and she has Ryan, Libby, and I all wrapped around her tiny little fingers already. And Ryan is absolutely ga-ga over his little girl.

Ensley was due October 5th but I always thought she might come early since Libby was born a month early. In the middle of August my doctor did an ultrasound to see just how big Ensley was the ultrasound showed that her due date might be more towards September 18th. As we got closer to September 18th I started thinking more and more that she would actually not come until October - which is actually what I wanted. October is my favorite month of the year and I would have loved having an October baby to have an October birthday party to plan every year! But even if she came early and was born in September I wasn't too worried about it because I start celebrating Fall September 1st so as long as she was born in September that would be ok with me. September 18th came and passed and I was definitely thinking she wouldn't come until October.

On Tuesday, September 20th I woke up as usual at 5:45am to get ready for work and then get Libby up and ready for school and then head to work. Right as I work up I realized something was wrong - I had been bleeding and there was lots of it. I called Labor & Delivery and told them what was going on and they told me to come into Labor & Delivery right away to get checked out. Ryan was getting ready to come with me but I told him he needed to stay home and get Libby up and ready for school and take her to school and then he could come to the hospital. I got to the hospital at 6:00am and they put me in Triage and drew lots of blood to send off for tests and they hooked up the fetal heart monitor and as soon as I could hear Ensley's heart beating I was able to calm down. They kept me in Triage to monitor how things were going while they waited on the test results and waited on my doctor to come on to duty at 8:00am. They measured to see if I was in labor and I was 2 1/2 centimeters. Ryan got to hospital and we just sat and talked and waited and waited. My doctor finally got there at 8:00am and she looked over the test results and came in to talk to me. She said that since I was 37 weeks 6 days that Ensley was full-term since I had passed the 37 week mark and that she felt like Ensley should be born that day because the other option was to send me home but there was a pretty good possibility that I could bleed out. Ok, that's all I needed to hear so I told her to admit me and induce me.

I hadn't eaten much since lunch the previous day and I was already feeling shaky from not eating and I knew there was absolutely no way I could make it through labor and delivery with me already being shaky so they ordered me some breakfast and we waited a while for that to be sent to my room. While we were waiting on my breakfast to come I had texted three of my close friends (and my boss) to tell them that I was being admitted to the hospital and they were inducing my labor. One of the friends I texted, Debs, lives in Jacksonville so coming to the hospital wasn't something that she could do right then but Karen who lives in Gainesville headed to the hospital. There was a knock on the door of my room and I was expecting a nurse to walk in but I look over and it was Karen coming to help support me through the labor and delivery process. Ryan is very squeamish and can't handle blood, needles, hospital equipment, etc, without passing out so I was very relieved to see Karen walk through the door (even though it was still morning) just in case Ryan couldn't handle staying in the room with me. The third person I texted was Amanda and she immediately asked if she could be of help by picking up Libby from school that afternoon. That was such a wonderful thing for her to offer!

At 11:45am they started my pitocin and Ryan, Karen, and I just chatted in the room and I would pause for my contractions and then get right back to cracking jokes as soon as a contraction would finish. Amanda picked up Libby at school at 1:45pm and took her to our neighbor's house and then Amanda came up to the hospital to join the party. :-) At 4:45 they came in to check on my progress to see how much further I was along since I'd been on pitocin for five hours and I was only 3 centimeters. The doctor decided that he'd break my water so Amanda, Karen, and Ryan left the room. The doctor broke my water and hadn't even stood up from sitting on my bed with me and my "easy" contraction instantaneously changed into a "real" contraction and I was instant pain. By the time Ryan, Karen, and Amanda walked back into the room I was holding on to the siderail of the bed like I was in the middle of a hurricane and at risk of being blown away. I actually wondered if they'd charge me for the bed if I broke the handrail off. I was holding on to that thing for dear life! At 6:00pm Libby was dropped off at the hosital by our neighbors and Amanda went out and took Libby to get some dinner which I was VERY grateful for because I hadn't even thought about making arragements for Libby to get dinner. I was just at a point where I wasn't thinking very clearly! At about 7:00pm Ryan's parents arrived at the hospital. They had been out of town (Ryan's dad was on a business trip) and his plane landed in Tampa late that afternoon and Ryan's mom picked him up at the airport and they drove straight to the hosptial in Gainesville. It was right about then that they started getting the room set up for Ensley's delivery and seeing all of the tools laying on the table and watching me in pain was more than Ryan could handle so he asked Karen to take his place by my side and he went out to sit with his parents, Libby, and Amanda...and Amanda's husband Jordan who also came up to the hospital. Just before 7:45pm the doctor came up and put her hand on my shoulder (I was in so much pain I wouldn't open my eyes) but once she put her hand on my shoulder I looked at her and she said, "I'm going to put on my gloves and gown and we'll get the baby delivered" and I said, "Oh my God! I'm having a baby!" Her reaction was along the lines of, "Yep, that's what we've been working on all day!" :-) At 7:45pm I started pushing and Ensley finally made her arrival at 8:47pm. It was a VERY difficult hour (of course it was...I was delivering a child!). Even though Ryan wasn't in the room with us he was standing right outside of the door and he was able to record her first cries on his phone. They got Ensley cleaned up a little bit and finshed everything they needed to do on me and finally Ryan, Libby, Ryan's parents, and Amanda & Jordan were able to come in and meet our little lady.

Ensley is a wonderful baby but she doesn't care to sleep much at night. She still likes to be up most of the night but she's starting to settle into a schedule that allows me to sleep a few hours a night which is lovely! Other than that we are just thoroughly enjoying our new addition to the family. Ryan, Libby, and I will just sit around Ensley watching her every little move and thinking that everything that she does is adorable. :-) She couldn't be more adored by us...and Ryan's parents are head over heels in love with her too. We are so happy to have her as part of our family!

Awards Ceremony

This morning Libby was honored at a breakfast/awards ceremony for completing the AR (Accelerated Reading) summer reading program over this past summer. Only 21 children in the entire school completed the program so once again I was very proud of my litle girl! Her best friend also completed the program with her and that's Maddy in the pictures next to Libby.

The funny thing is that I told my boss that I'd be a little late coming in today due to Libby's awards ceremony but I didn't tell anyone else in the office. My boss wasn't here this morning so when I didn't show up for work they all thought I was having the baby! They were all disappointed when I came through the door at 9:00am. :-)

Here are some pictures from the awards ceremony this morning...and I promise that we weren't forcing Libby to stand on hot lava coals while she was getting her award and picture taken. She looked miserable! :-) She was actually very excited - she just hates being up in front of a group of people with attention on her (she couldn't possibly get that from me! heehee) :-)

Safety Patrol Badge Ceremony

Miss Libby is a Safety Patrol this year and they got their belts before school started three weeks ago. Today was their swearing in ceremony and the day that they received their badges to pin onto their belts. The patrols were handed their badges by the sherrif who is over all of the Safety Patrols in our county and then they had to repeat their patrol pledge and were sworn in by the sherrif. After their swearing in the parents came up to pin their new badges onto their belts. I was so proud of my little girl walking up there to pin her badge on her!

Gotcha! :-)

Last night we went out for family bowling. Ryan, Libby, and I went with our neighbors and their 9 year old son, 5 year old daughter and their 8 week old daughter and we met our friends Jordan and Amanda there. We were walking into the building with our neighbors and just as we got to the doors I had a brilliant idea. :-) I told my neighbor Kathy to let me push the stroller because my friend Amanda who was already inside was the most gullible person ever and she would fall for anything.
We walk in and Amanda turns just as we are walking in and she sees me pushing a stroller and her jaw dropped to the floor. She said, "Who is this??!?" I said, "This is Ensley!" She said, "No, really, who is this??" I said, "Really, this is little Ensley!!" She turns to her husband and starts shrieking that I didn't call her when I went into labor and that she was just finding out that I already had Ensley. :-) My neighbors totally helped sell it. But once Amanda really started freaking out I told her I was just kidding and that the baby in the stroller was actually Addison, my newest neighbor. :-) Amanda said I was lucky I was still pregnant or she would slap me. :-) Hee hee. It's always so easy to get her! :-)

By the way, I got my fall decorations up around my house this weekend and I am in love! :-)

Libby is halfway into her second week of 4th grade and she still loves her teacher and I couldn't be happier about that - especially considering she didn't have the nicest teachers for her 2nd or 3rd grade years. Tomorrow is Open House and the first fundraiser for the Saftey Patrols to raise money for their trip to Washington DC in June. Tomorrow we are having a bake sale so tonight I have to bake up some goodies and send them into school tomorrow morning. Then tomorrow evening I'm working the bake sale table from 6:00 until 6:30 and then Open House starts at 6:30.

Tomorrow is also SEPTEMBER 1ST!!!! That, to me, is the official start of fall! WOO freaking HOO! :-) This year I decided that waiting until September 1st to start celebrating fall was just so overrated so I've already indulged in candy corn, made some of the most delicious pumpkin cupcakes that I've ever ever ever had, and put out my fall decorations in my office. This weekend I'll fall-ify my house and put out all of my lovely fall decor. I'm so excited! Oh, and speaking of those pumpkin cupcakes that I just mentioned they were so good that even Libby and Ryan liked them and they both hate anything pumpkin related. Libby had no interest in trying them but she did want to help me make them. A little of the batter got on her hand as she was mixing it and out of habit from when she's baking she automatically licked it off and she was pleasantly surprised that she loved the way it tasted. Once the cupcakes were done and cooled she had one and was in love with it. She was sad when we'd finally eaten all of them and asked when we could make some more. When we were baking the cupcakes the house smelled like fall from the pumpkin and spices in the cupcakes and when they were nearly done baking Ryan came into the kitchen and said that it smelled atrocious but that I should definitely bake them when we have people over to our house during the next few months. (So, my question is if they smelled atrocious why should we offer them to guests? Well, that's because they smelled divine but he didn't want to admit that the smell of pumpkin and spices were appetizing because Ryan refuses to eat dessert unless it contains chocolate!). The next evening I was in Libby's room going over her stuff from school and I came out into the the kitchen where Ryan was and he came up to me with his head hanging low and he said in a very defeated voice, "The cupcakes were awesome." :-) Even an ardent pumpkin hater broke down and couldn't resist trying one and had to admit defeat that they were absolutely amazing cupcakes! :-)

Last Friday I had a doctor's appointment and the doctor wasn't 100% positive that the baby wasn't in a breech position so she decided to do an ultrasound just so she'd know. The baby is not breech and is in the proper head down position which of course is great news. Since she was already doing the ultrasound I asked her to do some measurements and the ultrasound shows that Ensley is already 6 pounds 4 ounces. Whoa! Slow down little girl...are you trying to kill me or something?? But according to all of her measurements it looks like she may be coming ealier than her expected due date of October 5th. The new measurements have her coming some time around September 18th. I have mixed feelings about that. I'd love to finally be able to sleep on my back again and not have puffy swollen feet and not be constantly uncomfortable but I really, really, really wanted to have an October baby. October is my FAVORITE month of the year and I'd love to have a birthday party to put together each October. But, like I already mentioned in this post I start celebrating fall September 1st so I'd still be able to plan a fall birthday party - it's just that an October fall birthday party would be perfect! :-) But of course this is all up to Ensley so we'll see when she decides is the perfect day for her to come. :-) Hopefully she won't decide to completely follow in her big sister's footsteps. Libby was born a month early at 36 weeks and if Ensley were to decide to do that she'd be coming early next week. Yikes!!

Catch Up & First Day of 4th Grade

Wowza, it's been a month and a half since I last posted anything! I'll blame it on the pregnancy zapping all of my energy these days.

Speaking of pregnancy, we had our adorable baby shower at the beginning of this month on August 6th. It was a pink and green theme with butterflies and flowers - just like the theme of the nursery. Everything was super cute. Here are a few pictures from the shower.
Here are the adorable little favor bags:
The cute cupcakes:
It's hard to see Libby's shirt in this picture but it has Only Child on the top that has been crossed out and then under that it says Big Sister. :-) It was perfect since Libby has been an only child for 9 and a half years and now she's going to be a big sister! We got lots of precious baby clothes:
And we forgot to get a picture before half of the people left but here's a picture of my mother-in-law Carole, Libby, Karen, Debs, and Karen's mom, Diana.

This past Wednesday, August 17th my grandmother passed away. She had a few surgeries in the last month and I think that was just too much for her body to keep up with. On Friday, August 12th they had her on life support and my uncle who was overseeing her care let them know that she didn't want life support. The doctor said that as soon as they took her off of life support that it could be just minutes before she passed. Well, my grandmother decided that she'd pass when she was ready to...she held on for five days after that and then passed away in the early morning hours of August 17th. We had her viewing Sunday evening and I held up well through the viewing. Monday morning was the funeral and I was doing fine before the funeral, as well. I was standing out in the foyer speaking with some family on my left and I looked over to my right and out of nowhere like she popped out of thin air my wonderful friend Karen was all of a sudden standing next to me. I don't know if it was the surprise of seeing her there or what but that's when I finally started crying.

Also today was Libby's first day of 4th grade! Wow, her last year of elementary school! (Big fat puffy frowny face to that!!) Last week she was at work with me for the last week of summer break and we left early on Friday and met Ryan at home and then the three of us went to school to meet her 4th grade teacher. She ended up not getting the teacher who she wanted (or the friend who she really wanted in her class) but I had a great first impression of her teacher and after reviewing the class list we see that one of her friends who she adores (and was in class with in the 2nd grade) is in her class so that made her very happy. Today she went to school and had to be there a little early since she is a safety patrol this year so she has to be at her post by 7:20am. Yay. Neither Libby nor I are morning people and when she has to get up earlier that means that I have to get up earlier and these days I get very little sleep between the tossing and turning, frequent bathroom trips, and just being generally uncomfortable and now I have to wake up earlier. :-\ She was very excited about going back to school (she missed the work!) but last night when it was actually the night before school started she finally started getting nervous about the first day. After getting ready for school I snapped a few quick pictures and then we had to hurry to school so that she wasn't late her her patrol post (if she's late to her patrol post she gets a demerit!)
I picked her up after work and asked how her first day went and she couldn't stop talking about how great it was and how much she liked her new teacher! She said she had so much fun that it felt like she was only in class for two minutes before it was time to go!

July 4th Weekend

And yet again I've let another few weeks pass since my last post. For the 4th of July weekend this past weekend Libby had her friend Molly come over at noon on Saturday for what was going to be a sleepover. Molly and Libby stayed pretty busy eating lots of red, white, and blue food that I made for them, drinking red juice with blue star-shaped ice cubes that I made, and having red, white and blue desserts. They also made a 4th of July craft and swam in the pool amoung other things to keep them busy. After dinner we decided to watch fireworks that were being put on display Saturday night. Just before we left we got a call from Molly's mom to see if Molly's little sister Emma could go with us and spend the night, too. Emma was dropped off and we were on our way to the fireworks. We got there and they had some carnival-type games that the girls played. After the games but before the fireworks the girls were basically sleep walking because they were so tired from their busy day so instead of waiting for the fireworks we decided to head back home. Once we were back home they played with sparklers and we made smores. However, Emma decided she really wanted to go home (this was going to be their first time having a sleepover at someone's house). Molly said that since their mom would be coming to pick up Emma she wanted to go home, too. They called their mom at 9:30 but she's a nurse and had been called into the hospital so she wasn't able to come pick them up until midnight. That turned it into a long day but it was a fun day.

Sunday we took it easy and on Monday Libby and I had quite a few errands to run so we were out for several hours Monday afternoon. Friday evening we went to watch the fireworks and had a nice time...until it was time to go home. There was so much traffic it took us an hour and a half to drive what is normally a 20-minute drive home! So, it was another long day but it was a nice day celebrating America's birthday!


Here are some pictures from the play date...and our 4th of July decorations that I still haven't posted about...

Afternoon with the girls

Today started with meeting Karen, Debs, and Jan at Starbucks for a morning pick-me-up and then we drove out to Micanopy to visit some antique shops. After some shopping we had lunch at Blue Highway and then went to Kohl's for a little more shopping and by then it was time to call it a day.

It was a nice afternoon (although it was h.o.t!) and we'll do it again in a few weeks to celebrate Karen's birthday!

Last Day of 3rd Grade!

Today was Libby's last day of 3rd grade! Man, this school year flew by! Since school was only for 2 days this week and they were on an early release schedule (getting out at 12:30pm) I didn't pay for afterschool this week and I spent my lunch break yesterday and today driving to Newberry to pick her up and then coming back to the office so that she could play with the other kids here. It was so cute hearing the little kids yelling I love you to their teachers and the teachers giving the kids hugs and everyone saying to have a great summer.

I've been so busy bragging about my nieces that I haven't ever gotten around to bragging about all of the awards that Libby got at the 3rd Grade Awards Ceremony last Thursday morning! She got 8 awards...a Scholarship award for having A/B Honor Roll all year, a Citizenship award, a Math Whiz award, a SunShine State Young Reader award, a Principal's Award for earning a 5 (the highest possible score) on the math portion of the FCAT tests, an Outstanding Artist award, a Music Performance award, and a P.E. award for being one of the top earners in her school for Jump Rope For Heart that she did at the end of February (she was in the top 5 earners for her entire school). Way to go Libby!!

Girls State

Well, to continue on with my ever-impressive nieces, my niece Della just got home on Saturday from Girls State. What is "Girls State" you may ask?

Well, here is the info from the website:
What is ALA Volunteer Girls State?
Volunteer Girls State (VGS) is a leadership and citizenship-training program offered to young women in Tennessee by the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA). Nationally recognized as one of the top Girls State programs in the nation, Volunteer Girls State provides young women the opportunity to form and run a mock government by meeting, living, and working with other young female leaders from across the state. All events and activities that citizens experience or participate in are designed to demonstrate, foster, or provide opportunities to practice good citizenship and leadership and instill a sense of pride in our state and country.

ALA Volunteer Girls State is a one-week program offered to young women who are rising seniors in high school. The mission of Volunteer Girls State is to provide a practical application of Americanism and good citizenship. The program, as sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary, is a nonpartisan, non-political attempt to teach and to instill in the young women of Tennessee a love of God and country.

And after all that - here's what they do all week while at the program:
What Do We Do All Week?
From the moment citizens arrive on campus, they’ll be part of a community and an experience that often is described as “life-changing.” As stated above, ALA Volunteer Girls State provides young women the opportunity to learn about state government, citizenship and how they can positively affect their communities by forming and running a mock government.

• Actualize government. Much of the week is spent creating a mock government in an exciting, fun way. To begin, all 500 citizens of the state of Volunteer are divided into two political parties and 12 cities.

• Run for office. From the first day of ALA VGS and throughout the week, citizens will develop city, county and state mock governments and have the opportunity to run for or be appointed to an office in all of these levels. As a possible candidate you will be required to meet petitioning requirements, give speeches, address true-to-life issues that affect the level of office you are seeking and interact with your constituents.

• Become informed. As a part of actualizing government, one of the most important roles citizens can play is that of an informed voter. Listening to speakers address issues and voting appropriately is a life skill that will serve you well in all aspects of your future.

• Practice citizenship. Leadership skills will be honed as you cooperate with other citizens to accomplish both serious and fun tasks. The fun side of Girls State is comprised of participation in VGS Olympics, Fast Song and Girls State Jeopardy, and each city’s ability to work in harmony toward excellence may result in the honor of winning Best City.

• Sing a song. Citizens will have the opportunity to audition for the VGS Chorus. Three citizens from each city are selected to join this special group and will participate in many of the ALA VGS assemblies and special events. Not in Chorus? You may – just may – have the opportunity to sing anyway.

• Listen and learn. Each day you spend time in assemblies listening to and learning from distinguished speakers. Past speakers include Vice President Al Gore, First Lady Rosalyn Carter, author and University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Head Summitt, and Governors Lamar Alexander, Ned Ray McWherter, Don Sundquist and Phil Bredesen (left).

• Make friends. From the time you meet your roommate to the closing ceremonies, you will have the opportunity to make lifelong connections with other young leaders from Tennessee.

Here are a few candid shots of my lovely and talented niece Della from Girls State last week (that I got off of the website) where she was one of the four candidates for Governor (the highest position that all the girls vote on the last full day of the program):
And here's a picture of my beautiful niece that I "borrowed" from the Facebook page of one of her friends :-)
And finally, to give you an idea of how many girls attended Girls State and to show how impressive my wonderful niece is & that she wasn't one of four candidates out of 6 people :-)...here is a picture of some of the candidates as they listened to Tennessee's Governor while at Girls State (Della is six rows up in the picture - fifth person from the left wearing black and white)...

Bursting with Pride!

Whew, I don't know how much more I can take before I literally burst with pride! I just got back from spending a weekend with my nieces who make me the proudest aunt in the entire world. My older niece (who was the Student Government President at her school) who graduated wearing the white collar for being part of the National Honor Society, she was also wearing the blue and yellow cords for being a part of the Science National Honor Society, and wearing white cords for receiving a Distinguished Honors Diploma. That means that she had greater than a 93% cummulative GPA throughout her high school career. It gets even more impressive when you know that she has never in her entire life made below an A on a report card. AND, that wasn't with taking regular classes...that was Honors and AP classes throughout high school. Yes, she's brilliant. On top of that she's a very talented vocalist and actor (her major in the fall when she begins Vanderbilt University is Theatre). She also received 7 different awards and scholarships. See why I'm so proud? Oh, and did I mention gorgeous?? Yep, she was voted the Homecoming Queen at prom this year!

Not to be outdone by her older sister is my niece Della. Della is part of the incoming senior class of 2012 and she was elected as the incoming Student Government President taking over for her graduating sister. Della was also elected this past fall as the Junior Class Princess for Homecoming (I told you she's beautiful!). Della is also brilliant and she doesn't take slacker classes, either. While she does act at the Roxy Theater in plays alongside her older sister Della is choosing to go to college after her senior year to major in music. She's a very talented percussionist! I've been fortunate enough over the years to be in Clarksville at just the right time to catch several of thier performances at the Roxy and one of my favorites was at Christmas time three years ago and we got to see some of Della's improv. She had the audience cracking up. She's not only beautiful and intelligent but she's funny, too! :-)

And following right along behind her cousins is my very own Miss Libby. Earlier this year she took the FCAT tests which are the standardized tests in Florida that children begin taking in 3rd grade. Some grades (like 3rd grade!) are Pass or Fail...no matter how well they've done in school up to that point if they don't pass the FCAT they don't pass the grade! Libby's teacher emailed me Friday night while I was in Clarksville saying that she had the results back and I could either call her Tuesday after school to get the results or give her permission to disclose the results to me in email. I asked her to email me the results and I waited all weekend for her teacher to get back to me. Monday night the email finally came and the highest possible score was a 5 and Libby made a 4 in Reading and a 5 in Math! And if that wasn't exciting enough, I went to pick up Libby yesterday afternoon from afterschool and I noticed from across the room on her polo was a yellow badge. I thought for a split second wondering what it was and then it occured to me...she was chosen as a Saftey Patrol for next year!!! This week she "shadows" current Safety Patrols to learn just what she needs to be doing and in August when 4th grade starts she'll get her Saftey Patrol belt - and begin her fundraisers for raising money to be able to go to Washington, D.C at the end of next school year...so get ready to see her cute little face asking you to buy candy, baked goods, and come and get your car washed! :-)