Back to School...blah, blah, blah

Summer came and went...and went WAY too fast. We had a GREAT, great, great Summer, but oh how it hurts my heart when it is time for the kids to go back to school. A lot of people go through a sort of depression after Christmas, a big vacation, or after the wedding is over, etc.
Me? I go through mine when school starts. My sweet little kiddos that I've gotten to spend time with, love on, hug on, make memories with and take care of all Summer long, I now only get to see in the morning (when everyone is ill), and in the late afternoon (when everyone is exhausted). It bothers me! Sadie and I literally sat in her bed in the dark tonight and cried. How sad is that?? I think she was just crying because I was crying, but good grief! I couldn't stop! And it's only the 2nd full day of school! I will be fine in a few days...maybe.
They both LOVE their new teachers and their classes, which helps my heart...a little. I was (and still am) a little worried about Sawyer being in Pre-1st, but he has handled it like a champ. He doesn't seem affected by it at all. His teacher does a fantastic job of making those kids feel extra special and I am so thankful for that! I know they will both have a great year and hopefully I can get excited about it soon.
Here are a few pics from the first day of school.

Lots to Update!

I have been worse than HORRIBLE at updating this blog. Honestly, since I've gotten out of the habit, I forget its even here!
I'm not even sure when my last update was, so for now, I will just start with the highlights over the last few months.
Sawyer graduated from Kindergarten! Woo Hoo! He far exceeded our expectations on how we thought he would do being so young in Kindergarten. He did so amazing! He left Kindergarten reading far above what he should be. We are putting him in Pre-1st since he is the youngest boy in his class. I want to give him an extra year to grow, mature, age, etc. He could do 1st Grade with no worries! But, I don't want him to be the young kid for the rest of his years in school. He had several kids in his class who turned 7 during their Kindergarten year. Um...Sawyer is still only 5!!!!!! So, it only makes sense to give him an extra year. He is super smart, and I know he will have no problem when it comes to schoolwork.
Sadie Jane left 1st grade with all A's (and a few B's) for the whole year. I'm a proud mom! She had some moments at the beginning of the year when she struggled a little bit, but after Christmas, she took of and soared her way through the end of the year. She's reading at a high 2nd grade level already! So, so proud of her! Especially since she is also considered "young" for her grade. She was very, very, very, VERY sad to leave 1st Grade, especially Mrs. Wolfe, but I know that she will love going on to 2nd.
Our little man got baptized this past Sunday. There is NO greater joy as parent than when your kids get saved. To know now, that no matter what happens, I will spend ETERNITY with my WHOLE family, brings me more joy than I could ever imagine! He has been asking lots of questions for the past several months and so we went to Bro. Jason at church and he gave us the books to let Sawyer go through. One night in his bed, he prayed that special prayer, and from there, we set up his baptism. We wanted to do it on Father's Day, but due to some circumstances, it was changed to this past Sunday, June 8th. Dennis was able to baptize him and it was so sweet. Such a special moment! My heart is full!!!
We leave in less than 2 weeks for the Atlantis. We are so busy right now, so it's almost hard to even get excited, but I really cannot wait. I just want to be there! Mom was in the hospital for a few days last week, and we had a scare that almost made me fear that the trip might be cancelled, but thankfully, she is home and doing well! Praise the Lord!
Lastly, Dennis and I (and Travis/Anita, Sean/Kennedy) completed the Tough Mudder Nashville this past Saturday. We signed up for it just for "fun". We didn't really train; just did our normal exercising that we had been doing. It was so awesome! What a sense of accomplishment we felt when we finished. (after almost 5 hour) Holy cow! It was by far the hardest "race" I've ever done. There were many times when we came to an obstacle, and I said "no way!" Thanks to my sweet husband, and his encouragement, I attempted every single obstacle on the course. The very last one was the only one that I couldn't do, but I still attempted it! Basically I got to the top of the wall to climb over, and both of my calves cramped up, so I couldn't push off to get over the wall. Whatever. We pushed through lots of mud, scary obstacles, lots of fear, calf cramps, more mud, exhaustion, side cramps, nausea, muddy creeks, near dehydration, extreme heat, muddy walls (did I mention MUD), zero degree plunge pool, electro shock, disgusting port-a-johns, horrible smells, rope climbing, pyramid building, mud from HEAD to TOE (literally), and lots of laughter!!!! We also barely escaped a tornado! Apparently right after the race, a horrible storm passed through Spring Hill and took down half the tents, obstacles, etc. and they had to cancel the whole thing for Sunday. I would've been SO disappointed! I'm glad we were all safe! It was amazing in every good and bad way that you can imagine. I will never forget that day! There were definitely times that I had to quote Philippians 4:13, and there were definitely times that I was not quoting scripture. LOL Either way, we made lots of memories and we all walked away with only minor scrapes, bruises, and maybe a broke toe! Oh, and my hair may never be the same. Yikes! Not to mention, its been 4 days since the race, and I am STILL digging brown stuff out of my ears. Lovely, yes, I know.
So, that's what has been going on for the last little bit.
Sadie completed Volleyball Camp last week and loved it! Sawyer is in Football Camp this week, Sadie starts Cheer Camp tomorrow, and then Sawyer has Basketball Camp next week. Then, it's ALL ATLANTIS from there!!!!

What's up?

I have been unable to blog for the past couple of months because I could not log on to my blogger account! Ugh! I've been so sad because there have been several times I have wanted to blog, but haven't been able to. So, today I gave it one last try, and BAM! Here I am! Yay!!!
The Phillips family has had a very low key winter. We haven't been too busy, which is very nice. Lots of laid back weekends, recovering from school each week.
Sawyer is doing fabulous in Kindergarten. He is the youngest boy in his class, yet he is already reading on the same level as all of his other classmates. He is actually doing better than some as well. We are so proud of him! We are trying to get fired up about him going to Pre-First next year and praying daily for good classmates to hang back with him! He is wise beyond his years and we have to hold him back from trying to be older than he is!
Sadie loves first grade. It's not quite as laid back as Kindergarten, so she has to work VERY hard on a daily basis, but she has improved by leaps and bounds and is now reading on a 2nd grade level. That comes from lots of hard work, practice, and dedication. She is determined to get things right, and is sometimes hesitant to do certain things, in fear that she might get it wrong. We are trying to embrace that, while also gently pushing her to try things no matter what! She turns 7 years old in just a few days, which I can't believe! She is having a painting party, which is right up her alley!
Dennis and I are pushing right along. He is pretty busy with work and is about to get even busier as Spring football practice begins. I feel like football just ended! I have stayed busy cleaning the cabin and spending lots of time at school.
We try to spend as much time together as a family as we possibly can. We know that with children, LOVE = TIME, so we want them to feel lots of love. This time in their lives is critical. We can never get it back. It is gone in a flash, and they will be older so soon...wanting to hang out with friends on the weekends, instead of spending time hanging out with us! I feel like because of the time we spend with them, our kids feel extremely loved by us. That is more important to me than anything else.

Tis the Season!

Well, this Christmas season did not start out exactly how I had imagined. Ok, maybe it started well, but it has NOT been fun since the beginning. We got all of our decorations up a week before Thanksgiving and I have loved every minute of it. I love just sitting and staring at our tree. Our whole house just seems cozier when the Christmas décor is up. Our house is very small, so it looks very decorated, even though I've had all of the same décor for years and years. We add a new "blow up" to our yard every year for the kids. Yes, we are "that" family. We love it! I think we have 6 now. This year, we added Snoopy and Woodstock on a scooter. LOL I love it!!!!
Anyways, here is how our December has gone...
Poor Sawyer has had strep throat 4 times. In. A. Row. Like...he would finish a 10 day antibiotic, and then one day later, his tonsils are still completely swollen and red. This last time that I took him to the doctor, after the antibiotic that "would surely get rid of it this time", his doctor finally spoke of the possibility of having to have his tonsils removed. Nooooooooo! Bless him. So, he is now on a 14 day STRONG antibiotic that once again, is "surely going to get rid of the strep". Yep. We will see...
On a good note, you would never even know that he has strep. It doesn't seem to bother him one bit. Thank you LORD! I just always know when he has it, because he talks like his throat has a big bubble in it, which indicates that his tonsils are enormous. And boy, are his tonsils big. Wowsers...
In the midst of these first few weeks of December filled with strep throat, we were happily on our way to church one morning when out of nowhere, Sadie puked ALL OVER MY CAR. I had nothing in my car to clean it up with or clean HER up with or ANYTHING. You get the picture. Dennis dropped Sawyer and I off at church because I still had to teach my class, and he took Sadie back home to take care of her. She had it rough! She threw up a LOT and it took her about 4 days to get better. Poor thing missed her Christmas program at church, her school program that she had worked so hard on, and we almost missed our Rockettes night, but we made it! In the midst of her stomach virus, she got...yep, you guessed it...STREP THROAT! Kill me now! So, while she was trying to recover from her stomach bug, we had to take her to the doctor and get her on meds for strep. So, that was the 5th round of strep for our family in December. Good times.
Let me also remind everyone...THESE are the days that I had mapped out for months that I would do all of my Christmas shopping. I had 2 weeks set aside where I knew that the kids would still be in school, and I would have plenty of time to get it all done. So, week #1 of my "shopping plan" was almost over, and I had done nothing...
On Wednesday of that week, Sadie was good to go and was all set to return to school on Thursday. Whew! I still had 2 days left of my week to get some Christmas shopping done. I can do it!
You'll never guess what happened on that very night?!?!?! Sawyer started puking!!!!!! Of course!!!!!! I think after 5 rounds of strep throat AND Sadie having a stomach virus, I almost had a nervous breakdown that night. So, Sawyer was home with me the next day. That left me one day to get some stuff done. One day! One day out of 5 is not enough!
Sawyer went back to school Friday and I did get just a few things done. But, not much...
Oh well, I had week #2 to look forward to. The week before the kiddos would be out of school for Christmas break. AND, Dennis and I had planned a date day for that Saturday so that we could go and do LOTS of our Christmas shopping together. Whew. That made me feel better.
So, that Friday night, guess who started puking???? Yep. Dennis. At this point, I didn't even know what to do or say. Our Saturday was SHOT. Another person in our house was puking. And, this momma was losing her mind...QUICKLY!
Lucky for me, our church's Christmas program was on that Sunday. Lord, have mercy! Did I need to be there for THAT! It felt so good to be out and about and back in the swing of things again. Our Christmas program was UNBELIEVABLE! Full of joy and hope and happiness and all things good. Ahhhhhhhhhh, thank you Lord.
This brings me to my "week #2 of shopping", which had now turned into PANIC MODE!!!! I really only had Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday because the kids parties were on Thursday and Friday. I can do this! I can do this!
I think you know where this is headed...
Guess who got the stomach virus? Hmmmmmmmm...who is the only one in the house who had managed to escape the sickness? Yep. ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was AWFUL!!!!! I mean, awful. Awful. Awful. Sickest I have been in a long, long time. My whole body hurt. I couldn't even rest or sleep because it hurt to rest and sleep. It took me a few days to feel better, so I was basically left with ZERO shopping days in my 2 weeks.
So, that brings me to today. December 21st. Less than 4 days before the big man in red shows up. Luckily, Dennis and I planned a very last minute shopping date, and we finished all of our shopping last night. Whew. All's well that ends well, right??????
Tis the season! We have a very busy next few days, so I am praying healing over this house in the name of Jesus! No more sickness!!!!!!!! Let's focus on what this week is all about and that is the birth of our Savior! I read something that said "no matter if Mary was "ready" to give birth that night in Bethlehem or not, Jesus was coming"! So, no matter if I had been able to be "ready" for Santa to come on Christmas morning, it wouldn't have mattered. Its all about Jesus anyways.