Perspective

Ever have one of those days where you are feeling down about something? Maybe your parents have moved to another country and mornings are kind of sad. Maybe your sister has suffered the loss of a child, has moved across the U.S. and you can't show up at her door to give her a hug; and when you think of it you tear up. Then it happens. Something to pull it all back into perspective. Like God is pointing out all the things you DO have in life and what is a little more important than your pity party for one. That happened to me this morning with one phone call from the middle school.

"Someone ran into the back of Wyatt's bus this morning". When the assistant principal said those words I felt like I couldn't breathe. That one second felt like several minutes and many things were running through my mind. Is she calling me because he was hurt? Is everything okay? Was he scared?

"Wyatt is fine, all the kids are okay, no one was hurt. They even got to school on time on a different bus". Exhale. I thanked her for calling and letting me know. Then I looked up and said, thank you God. I get it now. Thank you for my children and my husband and everything we have. I am more than blessed with family (my own family and my wonderful church family).

Thank you.

30 Hour Famine

My older boys participated in the 30 hour famine with our youth group this week. One way they raised money was this toilet. To get it removed from your yard, you gave a donation. For a few bucks extra you could send it to another house. They also went to neighborhoods and collected canned goods for our food ministry. That night they slept in cardboard boxes on the church lawn. Both boys have not stopped talking about it yet and Wyatt wanted to know when the next one was, he had so much fun! Thank you to our youth leader Bonnie, and all her helpers, for making it so enjoyable and memorable!

4th of July Parade

This year our kids program at church walked in the parade to advertise for our VBS. I took a pic of the Sundrop monster truck to remind everyone that we have always known how awesome Sundrop is. It is our claim to fame, as it comes from Cabarrus County.
We lined up at the middle school and went down main street handing out icee pops. Yeah, it is as hot as it looks. I would like to add here that it is not cool for an adult to walk up to one of my kids and ask for a WHOLE bag of icee pops.
Some kids started out in the wagons, but we ended up trading them out for the coolers of icee pops. How cute is she? Couldn't you just eat her up? When I asked her she told me NO, lol.
The line of people at the start of the parade. We had allot of fun, and I saw many people that I haven't seen in a while. Several kids were shouting to the buddies so I made G get out of the truck and walk.....since they were all there to see him, haha.
P.S. I will be taking a week off from blogging to drive out to California with my two sisters. We leave in an hour, so I should probably be loading the car. ;)

Family Portraits

My sister in law, Brandy, had an awesome idea when we were down at the beach for Memorial Day. Let's take all the kids to the point, when we return in June, and get a shot of all the grandkids for my parents before they leave for the misson field. Great idea, I said, let's do khaki's and solid polo shirts. Ha! The clothes were the LEAST of our worries. (as you can see one of my kids said I NEVER said "solid")
Posing all these people with everyone else standing behind us was quite comical. No one would listen to us, and the kids all wanted to run around and go swimming. If all are smiling one will be rolling his eyes (Levi). Or as you can see above "stagers" didn't get out of the shot fast enough.
We both decided that if we do it again next year we are paying a photographer to do it. Let them worry about getting the clear shot and staging everyone, and WE will worry about our kids smiling and acting like they are happy. Also they should be taken after a day of playing or with some type of bribery offered....like putt putt and the arcade.
The best shot ended up being one of everyone from the backside. At least then you can't see my 14 year old rolling his eyes, lol.

Middle School Awards Day's

This year Levi won an award for having the highest Math average in his group, the Hurricanes. The eighth grade is divided into three groups: Hurricanes, Beach Bums, and Pirates. You only change classes with your group of 80 or so kids. He also received a Presidents award for having a 90 or above average in all of his classes for all three years of middle school. The 8th grade doesn't give out behavior awards, but he was on Gold Level all year long. Uncle Shaun got to come, as well as my dad. Shaun kept asking me if the other kids were 7th graders. No, all the kids in here are 8th graders. He couldn't understand how big the middle school has gotten since he was there, lol.
Wyatt really rocked it out this year. He won an award for being on gold level all year long, an award for meeting and exceeding his Reading Counts goal all year in ELA, and an award for AB honor roll all year long. They are also divided into three groups called Panthers, Cheetahs, and Jaguars. Wyatt was a Cheetah this year. Our sixth graders had the highest and second highest Math and ELA scores in the county this year in their EOG's. The principal couldn't brag on them enough. Wyatt made it into the end of year slide show many times. I quite enjoyed his silly poses and faces. (if anyone can get me a copy of that I would be forever grateful)

Boys!

W-My foot hurts.

Me-Why?

W-I don't know but every time I put on my shoes it hurts.

Me-Have you outgrown your shoes?

W-No.

Me-How do your shoes feel inside?

W-Well......my toes hit the ends of them.

Me-Then your shoes are too small.

W-How do you know?

Me-When your toes are touching the ends they are too small for your feet. That's probably why they hurt.

W-Why didn't you say so?

Conversation with my sister

I went shopping with my sister, mom, and sister in law before Christmas. This conversation took place....

Her- What are you looking for?

Me- A game called Cuponk.

Her- What is it?

Me- A game with a cup that lights up when you bounce a ball into it.

Her- Ummmmm.......beer pong for kids?

Me- Pretty much.

(We call it like we see it guys, lol.)

Cabarrus County Fair

I took the boys to the fair on school night, so they each got in for one dollar. It was Levi's second time going . He also went with a friend on Saturday night, to ride rides, when our Sunday School class picked up trash. I haven't heard how much we earned for the building fund, but we had a blast.
This is one of the rides that the buddies were bummed about, because they are only about one inch too short to ride the big kid rides. Wyatt rode it several times. I was surprised that it wasn't that crowded and the darker it got the less people were there.
The last hour we were there, the kids could ride something and jump right back on it, and ride again. We definitely got our 20 dollars worth out of our wristbands.
How cool is this one? Levi and Wyatt had fun on it. I would let them go ride by themselves on the big ride side and give them a time, and we would meet up to see how everyone was doing. They were awesome at keeping up with it. In fact, one time I was 3 minutes late and they were pretty perturbed.
This one was like the Drop Zone at Carowinds. They rode it too many times and S got a little woozy. The girl in the middle has a brother on Wyatt's soccer team. We had so much fun! Every ride was running and, of course, it is super clean. Check it out next year. And remember, on Sunday you get in free with a canned food item for the Mount Pleasant food ministry.

Milo

We grew some milo this year and it is selling like hotcakes. Here are three of the boys playing around the day before Landon cut it. Levi was "too embarrassed" to participate. Yep, we were in the middle of no where. ;)

Sam's

I have got to take a moment to brag about Sam's Optical care. When soccer started, we were told that Wyatt would not be allowed to wear his glasses on the field. I called Cabarrus Eye Center (our normal eye care people) and was told they could not see him until the end of October. Who do they think they are.....the dentist? Sheesh. I told them that was no good and why he needed to see the doc ASAP. But she didn't budge. So I called Sam's. The lady caught me off-guard by saying...how soon could you be here? So I signed Wyatt out of school at 12:30 and headed to Concord. We walked right on in. The only problem we had was Wyatt understanding the lady's very New York accent. She said, "Why-att....can ya reed the bwad?" "Hummm?" was his reply. I tried to contain my laughter. He later told me he wasn't sure if she was speaking English. Then we saw the eye doctor. We walked through a door into Sam's and ordered the Rec Specs and new lenses for his current school frames. And in 40 minutes we were back in the car. He only missed one block of school. It was absolutely awesome. And to Cabarrus Eye Center I say.....you have lost a few customers. Oh, Sam's just called, the glasses are in. Two days! Again, awesome.

Second Game

Do not be fooled by the look of these photos. It appears that we played on a cloudy overcast afternoon.
Which may lead some to believe that it wasn't hot. When the opposite is true.
It was hot, humid and hazy. Yes, we all had our umbrellas out for a small spot of shade.
There was allot of walking around on the field by the third quarter. You could tell the kids were tired and hot.
(Wyatt is number 5. And we are MP team 1....not sure what the 1 is for since we are the only MP team in this age group. His charity is CVAN)

First Day of School

My first graders! They are so big. Holding them back a year from starting school was the best decision we ever made.


My two middle schoolers. They didn't want me to come outside with them. I ended up doing so, because the bus came at 8:59 and school starts at 9. Needless to say I was getting anxious.

Camp

This week Wyatt has been at summer camp at Mount Shepherd with our church group.

This was his first experience with over-night camp so hopefully it was awesome.
The climbing wall and the lake looked like allot of fun. The kids seemed excited.
He is on his way home right now, so I will get the 411 on his week shortly. Stay tuned.

Code Green

This year the fifth grade received money to do an art project for the school. It was titled "Paint Like Pollock". Each class splattered paint on canvas, Miller Lumber Company framed them, and they were hung on the cafeteria walls. One child said they looked like a food fight, and the title stuck. We attended a program Monday evening in honor of the "artists" given by Mrs. Smithson (the art teacher). She also got a company to take their pictures and put those on canvases as well. It really looks great in the cafeteria now.
As we were leaving, S dropped his cake on the floor in the hallway. Landon scooped it up, and popped it into his mouth in one huge bite. Wyatt caught a glimpse and said "DADDY! Did that hit the floor?" "Yep", replied Landon trying to act cool, possibly regretting his decision. "Do you know how many people BARF on this floor every day?" stated Wyatt. "They call it a Code Green!" We all laughed and left.

(back story, there is a fierce stomach bug going around both schools right now, Levi was at home with it during the program)
Yesterday the school nurse called me at 3:05. "Mrs. Barrier? S threw up walking to the bus. We decided to go ahead and load him with a bag to barf in." Great. Poor boy got off carrying his bag, it had been used. Enough said.
Wyatt said they announced over the intercom, right after they said load buses, "CODE GREEN in front of the office." He said his class busted out laughing, then he saw the bag on the bus. "S....was that you? The Code Green?" "Hahaha, I wander if Daddy wished he hadn't eaten that cake now?" said Wyatt. Touché.

Point

From Wyatt this morning.....

"If this Friday is a half-day, why didn't we just go the WHOLE day instead of going to school Saturday for another HALF DAY?"

Kid has a point.

Snow

It started snowing yesterday evening. Snowed off and on all night, and is still snowing. Hubs and I were awakened by a weird sound outside. Seems Wyatt has been sledding since 7:30am. Ahhhh, to be 10 again. Stay tuned for pics if I can ever get up the nerve to go outside. It is soooooo warm in here.

Christmas Eve

Taking a shot of the kids and the tree before we leave for Great Grandmama's house.
What is going on here? We were doing so well.
Good grief, did they all forget that I am holding the camera?
Okay, time to reign this in before someone gets hurt or knocks over the tree.
That's better! Merry Christmas 2009

DARE Graduation

This is one fourth of the fifth graders, there were too many to get them all in the shot. Wyatt is the fourth one from the left on the bottom row.

This Week in Review

School front- report cards came home. All the boys did awesome. S and G's said they need to be in an exceptional math program. How did I get all these kids who are smart in math? They definitely didn't get MY math genes.

Wrestling front- Levi did a pre-lim Tuesday night and totally rocked it out. I am very surprised at how fun the matches are to watch. The team has won three out of three. But I am told to "wait until we wrestle Mooresville". I guess they are the team to beat. Meanwhile, Levi is turning into pure muscle. He pointed out his abs to me the other day after practice. :)

Farming front- The monsoon came, aka Hurricane Ida. It has rained and rained and rained. If it ever dries up again, soybean harvest will be back in full swing. Family.....if the hubs is not at Thanksgiving, remember this week.

Surgery front- G's surgery went very smoothly. He got his tubes in, adenoids removed again, and had allergy testing done. Past experience with this helped with the recovery room. I didn't leave until he had thrown up the blood. Thank goodness it didn't happen in the car ride home. His tongue was a little swollen, but it has come down quickly. After a short nap, he commented that he heard some strong wind. It was the heat coming on. I guess he has never heard it before. MY BABY CAN FINALLY HEAR!!!

Home front- The hubs and I got to go out without any kids last night. The first time in MONTHS! Yep, we didn't even get to do anything for birthdays or our anniversary this year. It was so nice to watch a movie together. Levi was at a small group function, and the other three are camping with my parents.

Halloween

Since we missed out on the trunk-or-treat this year, we hit the downtown candy crawl on Friday afternoon.
It was hotter than we had anticipated, and various articles of clothing and costumes were quickly removed. The kids had a great time walking around.
Bumblebee and Darth Vador, or as the buddies say "Darth DaVador".
Our loot from Saturday night. We only went to five houses. FIVE HOUSES people. Levi had to use his wrestling bag to hold it all.