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)...