Beginning School

Where have I been, you ask? Well, school has begun so I remain on the run...at. all. times. Whew! I am tired just thinking about it!
The kids' first day(s) of school were wonderful! They both got the teachers that we wanted, so they were both very excited to begin! Travis and Anita decided last minute to send Cole to Goodpasture, so he and Sawyer were able to get the same teacher, thanks to a call to Mrs. Farley (who was my sis' 3rd grade teacher)!! They were SO excited to be in the same class AND Mrs. Lankford put them at the same table together which was icing on the cake! How cool to have your cousin in your Kindergarten class??? Even though Sadie and Avery aren't in the same class this year, their classrooms are right next door to each other, so they were excited to see each other before going in to their new classrooms. Sadie was a little hesitant about going in, but she was good once she got in there. Mrs. Dana Wolfe is her teacher and we have known her almost our whole lives. She is a precious woman and she is the exact kind of teacher that you want your child to have. Loving, tender, strong, caring, and a GREAT woman in every way. Sadie ADORES her!!!!


Right after the first week of school, Shelly decided it was time for baby Camden Andrew to enter the world! August 17th at 9:28 to be exact! I got to be there at the hospital when she was in labor and when he was born, we were all in the waiting room...well, waiting, of course. Here are a few pics from the night!


He is a precious, perfect baby and I am green with envy that she gets to experience all of this again. I could just sit and look at him all day. He is a DOLL!!!! I am so thankful that I was able to be there for excitement!! I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

We have been running around like crazy people! I miss the dog days of Summer more than ever! Football has begun in full force, so we don't get to see Dennis very often. I forgot how much time football takes! I am experiencing a bit of a taste of what its like to be a single mom and it is TOUGH! As soon as I pick the kids up from school, we come home and do over an hour of homework. An hour of homework, people!!!! Shoot me in the face!!!!! I am used to the Kindergarten homework, but 1st grade is hard! Sadie has been having a really tough time with the adjustment. I just encourage her as often as I can, and I try not to say/do anything that will discourage her in any way. She is still an awesome student, but she is having trouble with some of her spelling tests and it breaks my heart. I know she will get better, but its still hard to see her struggle.
Sawyer is loving Kindergarten and he is doing better than I had expected. I never thought he was "ready" to begin Kindergarten yet, but we went ahead and started him because it was cheaper than Pre-K and I felt that he was ready maturity-wise. He is doing great. He has already started reading a little bit and he loves getting to be with his friends every day.

Sawyer still enjoys Flag Football and he will have his first game a week from today! He could care less about actually catching the ball, etc., but he is having a blast, which is all that matters!! He is such a goofball!!!!
Sadie started gymnastics for the first time this past week and she loved it!

We had our first home football game last night, and although, we lost in Overtime, it was still good to be back in the mix! I love football!!!! It was hot as blue blazes at the game though, and my kids were going insane!!!! But, they enjoyed hanging with Izzy and Carter!


Even though it kicks our rear to pay for our kids to go to Goodpasture, I am reminded all of the time that it's worth the sacrifice. This school is so amazing and we are blessed that God has given us the opportunity to allow our kids to be a part of something so special where they can freely worship God, pray, and read their Bible at school. Sadie is learning all of her books of the Bible right now and it blows me away. She wants to sing about God all of the time and she already knows that God should always be your #1! I am so proud of her. I have my very first substitute job the week after next! I can't wait!!!! Praying that God will open the doors for me to be able to do it more often as the year goes on!!!

Sawyer is 5!

My little boy...my youngest...my baby...my only son...is now...FIVE!
Where did these past 5 years go??? We went for his check-up today and he was such a big boy. It almost broke my heart because he did so good. He got shots for Kindergarten and did not shed a single tear. Who does that? My boy! That's who!!!! I am one proud momma!
He finally weighs a whoppin' 40 pounds! His height still outweighs his weight though. He is 45 inches tall. We are waiting on the magic "46" inches, so that we can go back to Holiday World! LOL He is off the charts in height and average on the weight. How did my kids get so tall?????
He is super excited to start Kindergarten next week. He can't wait! I am a little bit sad, but I am more excited that he is getting to go to the Little Red Schoolhouse just like Sadie. He is going to have the BEST YEAR EVER! And, to know that his cousin Cole is going to be in his class is just adding to the excitement!
A few facts about my little bud: he is still the biggest goofball I know! He makes me die laughing on a daily basis...he loves his big sis more than anything...he is extremely tender hearted...he will pretty much do ANYTHING you ask him to, if he knows he is helping you out! He has a lot of friends and is the sweetest boy I know...he is very smart! He can memorize anything (songs, Bible verses, stories, etc.) My mom swears he is going to be a country music singer one day because he loves music! He has a bit of a temper and gets frustrated easy...wonder who he gets that from??? hmmmmmmmm...He is playing his first "sport" this Fall. Flag football! He is SO excited about it!!!!!! We went with Upward because they only practice one hour a week and they have games on Sat. mornings. I am excited that he is finally getting to do something for himself, since he was so patient all year with Sadie's ballet schedule.
He is the most loving, caring, kind hearted, witty, and silliest boy I know! I am more than blessed to be his mom. I thank God for this little dude every day. I was always afraid to have a son, because I wasn't sure I would be able to "connect" with him. Boy, was I wrong! I love him more than I can even say!!!
Here are a few pics of him from this Summer!

The End of an Era

Today marked the end of an era in the life of the Phillips Family. Sadie finished Kindergarten and Sawyer finished Pre-K. Sigh...
It was H-A-R-D on my heart. Its funny because I remember just a short 9 months ago, I cried for weeks leading up to Kindergarten. I was so sad to see my baby girl heading off to school. It was so, so hard, and I even admit that I cried for several weeks AFTER she started because I missed her so much! So, needless to say, I have been a little emotional about school all together. Well, never did I think that I would also be crying once school was coming to an end! It has been a wonderful, wonderful year. I cannot say enough good things about Goodpasture as a whole and especially the Little Red School House. Oh, the sweet bubble of the Little Red School House. If I could keep my kids inside of that sweet bubble forever, you better bet I would do it! The teachers have been beyond amazing and the 2 helpers have captured the hearts of my whole family. I spent so much time in that Little Red Schoolhouse over this past year and I have loved every single minute of it. I wouldn't trade it for the world. I have grown VERY close to many of the children in the Kindergarten class and I have gained MANY new friends in a lot of the parents. It's just not what I expected at all! I never thought that I would grow THIS attached to all of these people. But, oh, what a blessing it has been! It has been worth EVERY single sacrifice that we have had to make in order to keep them there. I have said many times that Sadie walked into that place a very shy, reserved little girl, and she is leaving there as a confident young lady.
Anyways, Sadie's graduation was absolutely adorable. These kids did an amazing job and I was so impressed! They were all so cute!!!! They all chose a profession that they want to be when they grow up. Sadie chose to be a cheerleader. Below are several pics from the night. Mostly of her and her buddies and a few from the actual graduation program, etc.

I was so proud of Sadie! She did a great job, said her lines right, and had a blast doing it!
The next day this week, I headed back up to school to celebrate Sawyer's "summer" bday with his class. I thought it was kind of silly to be celebrating his birthday 2 months early, but he felt so special, so it made it all worth it!

We then headed down to Sadie's class to have their end of the year family picnic. It was a special time. Mrs. Lankford handed out all of the Memory Books and said some sweet things to all of us.
This brings us to yesterday...the last FULL day of school. I spent most of the day in tears. Everything was making me cry! It wasn't as much of a sad cry as it was a "I'm not ready for this year to end" cry. I am DEFINITELY ready for Summer! But, I am definitely NOT ready to say goodbye to these kids and parents and teachers. Yes, I am fortunate enough to get to be back at the Little Red School House with Sawyer next year, BUT, I know it will never be the same. This was a very special group of kids and parents!!! I can't really put it into words, but I was just so emotional knowing that it was over. And, this all meant that Sadie would be heading up to the "big" school; no longer in the sweet bubble. :( AND, on top of all of this, my little buddy is starting Kindergarten next year! UGH! Too. Much. Growing. Up. Last night as I was putting Sadie to bed, she always lets me pick a book to read to her. Last night I picked "Guess How Much I Love You". Probably not the smartest choice of book considering the emotional day I had had. But, it was so precious to read those words to her that I have read over and over for the past 6 years of her life.
When I got up this morning, I felt good. Sadie seemed happy to go for her last half day. Sawyer was fired up that Preschool all together was coming to an end and I was feeling excited to start Summer! I went up to school a little early and got Sawyer out. His friends in his class all came over and gave him a BIG group hug and it made him feel so good!!!!
We then walked down to the Little Red School House to get Sadie and say our good bye's. When I opened the door, there were already a roomful of tears! Oh no! Moms were crying, kids were crying, teachers were crying! HELP! We said our sad goodbye's to everyone and headed to the car. Sadie was VERY quiet. I put them in the car and walked over to her side of the car to check on her. I leaned in to hug her and the tears started flowing. Broke. My. Heart!!!!!!! So, of course, what did I do? Yep, I started crying too, which I think kind of made her laugh. LOL I walked back over to Mrs. Lankford to say goodbye to a few others and she cried when I told her that Sadie was upset. It was almost a comical situation that everyone was crying like we were at a funeral! It just goes to show what a special year it has truly been. I will never, ever forget this year!!!!

Mothers Day 2013

Well, I have been absent for quite a while. My life is just busy now. There are no other excuses. The end of the school year is rocking my world! We literally have something on the calendar day and night for the next 2 weeks. In the midst of the madness, Mothers Day rolled around. Its always one of my favorite weekends of the year. Not necessarily because its a day to celebrate me (LOL), but mostly because it usually entails a lot of fun activities!
We started out the weekend by having Muffins with Moms in Sadie's class on Friday morning at school. It was precious! She had made me several sweet things and written some precious words about me. She also made me a heart to wear as a pin and she made me a pillowcase with her handprints on it. I will cherish these things FOREVER! It was a special morning together. I loved every minute. I especially just loved seeing how proud she was of all of her work. She is definitely a hard worker!


Dennis took the kids to the farm on Friday night so that they could spend the whole day there on Saturday. He has done that the past couple of years so that I can go and enjoy a day with my mom and sister without feeling guilty. I love it. He is so precious for doing that for me. It means so much! Before he left, he gave me some money to go shopping with the next day. I cried. I just know that we don't have any extra money right now, especially for me to be shopping with, so it meant even more that he had saved his money to give it to me for Mothers Day.

Me, mom and Rachel all went to Green Hills Mall and had a delicious lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We shopped ALL DAY LONG! It was WONDERFUL! We laughed a LOT and just had a really good time. It is always one of my favorite days of the year. Last year, we went to Gatlinburg together, which was great, but we are going to Atlanta to Beth Moore in a couple of weeks, so we decided to stay in town this year.
Dennis and the kids came back that night and they had lots of goodies for me! Sawyer was about to jump out of his skin to give me what he had made for me. They made me sit in the chair and close my eyes while they brought their stuff inside from the truck. When they told me to open my eyes, Sawyer accidentally dropped his picture frame that he had made for me. He broke down! It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen in my life! It broke the frame, and it also broke my heart! Dennis had to leave the room because he was so upset. I just hugged Sawyer and told him how much I loved it and I promised him that daddy could fix the frame and make it perfect. Nothing I said made him feel better and I seriously wanted to die!!!!! Anyways, the kids both made me huge cards and they each decorated a picture frame for me that they picked out because Sadie had remembered that I said I needed some new picture frames. So sweet. Thank you Lord for a sweet husband that makes sure his kids know how important it is to make mommy feel special on Mother's Day!!!! Dennis and I couldn't even look at each other or talk about what had just happened with Sawyer without crying for the rest of the night! I was boo-hooing to the kids and just told them it was because I was so happy, but really my heart was broken for my sweet little buddy!
Sunday morning didn't go exactly as planned. Sadie got sick in the middle of the night and she had to sleep with us because she had thrown up all over her whole bed. So, needless to say, I slept horrible all night long because she was kicking me and punching me in the face. It was awesome. I got up and got ready for church, knowing that we couldn't take her and that Dennis would have to stay home with her. So much for our Mother's Day at church that I had looked so forward to. :( I was so excited about getting our picture professionally made at church, among other things, but there was nothing we could do about it. We think it was just something she ate the night before because she seemed fine, but we couldn't take any chances. So, Sawyer and I went on to church and I was so sad! Church was awesome though! Jordan preached an amazing message about the most important gift a mom can give her children is the gift of faith. I loved it.
When Sawyer and I got home, Sadie and Dennis were standing outside waiting on us. Dennis had gotten Sadie's clothes on and gotten her ready so that we could still have our picture made as a family. Dennis knows how important capturing that picture is to me! :)

Afterwards, Sawyer and Dennis headed to Grandma's for lunch with Dennis' family. I was so sad to miss out!!!! But, again, we couldn't take the chance that Sadie could possibly get someone sick, so her and I stayed home and had sandwiches.
My mom came over and kept the kids that night because Dennis had planned us a special dinner at Ruth's Chris. He has done this for me the past 3 years and it is my favorite part of Mother's Day. We get to go and sit down and enjoy a delicious meal after all of the Mother's Day activities. It was so, so wonderful! It never disappoints. Our waiter was awesome and the food was incredible. I was so thankful to my mom for selflessly coming over and spending part of her Mother's Day to babysit my kids. It meant the world to me and I was able to go and enjoy my dinner even more, knowing that she was at our house with them, instead of with a babysitter. Although, Sadie tried to pull the "my belly still hurts" card, and when we got home, she was asleep in NaNa's arms, instead of in the bed where she was supposed to be. I think she knew what she was doing. LOL It's probably been years since my mom has rocked one of my children to sleep.
All in all, I seriously had the best Mothers Day ever. I am beyond blessed to have a husband that goes above and beyond to make me feel extra special. I love him more than anything! And, I am beyond blessed to have such a special relationship with my own mom. It just keeps getting better and I am one lucky girl!!!!