October is here!

My "October is here" to do list:
Decorations out!
Pumpkins at the end of the driveway!
Halloween cards mailed!
Costumes planned!
Boo at the Zoo tickets purchased!

We are SO on top of everything this year! I can't wait to get these things done and enjoy the holiday spirit all month.

I am also excited because we are having our 3rd photo shoot with Gena Murphy Photography this Sunday. She decided to come to Columbia, so our photo shoot will be at the Horseshoe. I don't have all of our outifts picked out yet, but I'm trying not to stress over it. I hope we have tons of fun even though I know the boys are at really hard ages to photograph. I KNOW Gena can do it. :) I'm so glad we found a photographer we can afford that is of her quality. I especially love having copyrights and printing my own pictures. You know me.... I can always find free or cheap picture deals!

Speaking of pictures ------- I finally got our pictures organized and filed in albums from the last 1.5 years! YAY! and I even took down all of the collages around the house and updated them! Now, when you walk into my house, you can see pictures of BOTH of the kids, not just Michael. :)

Happy weekend!

Stayc { <>< }

Back in the swing of things...

Well, I know we are officially back in the swing of things when my schedule and Casey's schedule don't line up for any quality time together. Seriously! 2 nights he works his 2nd job, 1 night I work, then 2 more nights HE works! We'll be spending Friday evening together at least! I guess I have more time to cuddle up with the boys. Now if only they would cooperate so I could get something ELSE done! :) Luckily, this should only happen through football season.

I'll try to post something more interesting this weekend.

Stacy { <>< }

Wow!

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted to my blog! Well, I guess I CAN. Once our 4 jobs get going, I have trouble finding time to blog. And when I DO have time, I spend it with the family. :)

This week is a hard week for me. I am doing final tests to determine which students will be accepted into the Strings program at Conder. Friday, letters will go home and some students will be ecstatic while others will be very, very sad. Next week, some will ask me, "why didn't you pick me?". Ugh. I hate that. It doesn't help that I have around 80 students signed up for 40 spots. That's a 50% cut! Grrrr..... The good news is, I have been able to test much more accurately this year. My schedule allows for smaller groups of students. So far, I love it! I hope it will work out well once I am trying to schedule small group lessons for 125 students! What a blessed elementary Strings program! We're setting records for sign-ups AND retention!

As for the family:
I am having a great school year. I love teaching violin. I am getting small projects done around the house like ordering pictures to fill in Christopher's baby book and to switch out the pictures in the collage frames in our house. I would like for people to know Christopher exists when they enter our home. Right now, the pictures are WAY out of date! I had a teary moment when choosing a picture from February for Christopher's baby book. That was one of the hardest months of my life. I selected a 'happy' hospital picture. I am building up the courage to face "the list" of people I need to write thank you notes to. I have so many things in my heart that I want to share with those who helped us in any way. I am terrified of opening up the list I created day by day while we were in the hospital. I will re-live every moment. So for now, I am pondering all of these things in my heart as Mary did when the wise men brought gifts for her baby boy, Jesus.

Casey is working at a little slower pace now that USC classes are started. No more busy season! A little catering side job here and there and hoping to work at all of the football games. He reads books a lot and still loves to cook. He helps me coupon A LOT. He helps me with the kids A LOT. He treats me well.

Michael is SO cute. He says the funniest things too. He is starting to do "dress-up" more. We have dress up stuff for a knight, handy man, and gamecock football player. He also loves lightsabers and magnets. He recognizes a lot of the alphabet magnets and is always curious about letters and numbers. He loves to do homework for school when they assign it. He is helpful around the house. He likes to play outside. Just a typical sweet little boy! I love him!

Christopher is walking, talking, and teething! He has 16 teeth and his last 4 (canines) coming in. (Needless to say, he has his grumpy moments.) He is moving up to the toddler class at daycare this week. I know he will love the music and the lessons. He also loves big boy toys. Oh the wonders of having a big brother. Some of his words are, "baby, bye bye, here you go, cheese, thank you, woof woof," and others we can't make out yet. He talks all the time. I love his curls although Casey jokes about cutting them. I know they won't grow back. I have convinced Casey to keep them until we have our family photo shoot in October.

That's about it! A pretty long update for me!

Hope to check-in more often. Happy Tuesday!

{<><} Stacy

Back in the groove!

Back-to-school and getting back into the groove...and it - is - exhausting! :)

Luckily, Casey's catering schedule has been light lately and my teaching schedule is much lighter than last year. We have been able to eat, spend time with the kids, and get a little housework done each night.

We had a great trip to Spartanburg last weekend! We saw a little bit of all the families, went swimming, fed the ducks, and more. I'm sad we won't be able to make it up much this semester with football games (Casey caters), church nursery every other week, and church orchestra rehearsals and concerts. I can't wait for our annual apple picking trip on October 15th! We have to schedule it 1 month or more in advance now that our families are growing so much!

I had a random thought the other day - it has been over 1 year since our car accident! Yay! I'm loving our newer van, too. I guess every cloud CAN have a silver lining!

For some html reason, half of my blog page has moved to the bottom of the screen. I haven't had enough time to stress over fixing it so just scroll down to search or see our sweet family picture :)

Strings sign-ups are crazy high at Conder this year! I usually have to BEG 5th graders to sign up, but I already have 21 signed up this year and I collect forms for 1 more week! I hope that means this will be a GREAT year!

I've been doing better with praying for others lately. Casey and I are reading 2 daily devotions together and really enjoying it. I'm also reading a small one on my own (the one that keeps saying exactly what I need on some days that I share here from time-to-time).

A lot of random updates today! Maybe more interesting tidbits next time!

Stac y{ <>< }

All about Christopher

Christopher - my sweet, sweet baby. I just love him to pieces.

He jibber jabbers constantly! People at school and church comment on it all the time. Apparently another parent always asks him "Christopher, what's the word" when he picks up his son and Christopher pauses for a second and then goes off talking as if he can understand him. It is downright cute. Sometimes he even adds a little bit of hand motions (Italian side?) and you can pretend like you know exactly what he is saying. Adorable!

He loves his lovey. This is not something I am familiar with since Michael never had one. Christopher will suck his thumb and cuddle up to one as soon as it touches his hand (he has several he likes). Perhaps that is why he also loves pillows and satin textures. The only way to slow him down for a cuddle time is to hand him a lovey :)

He is now officially walking! He still chooses to crawl a lot, but he is 100% willing to take a few steps on his own now. Before he would constantly just sit down like he was too scared. I called him "Chicken Pie". Don't ask me why!

He is like a little hamster or chipmunk! For some reason, when he gets full, he continues to stuff food in his mouth and fill his cheeks. Reminds me of Mark and Lacy's hamster that built a nest in our closet by hoarding dog food from the kitchen (without the 4 of us who lived in the house ever noticing). Christopher will be sitting in the bathtub and all of a sudden I see food in the water. HOW!? Christopher still has a mouthful for a bedtime snack I guess! AT least he is doing better with table food!

His hair is SO long. You wouldn't really know it by looking at it, but those curls are LONG. When we wash his hair, it staightens out all the way down his neck and onto his back. Who knows how long Casey will let this go on. Michael had his 1st haircut at 19 months and Christopher is only 14 months. Apparently my brother had curls too until they were cut and never came back. That's why I don't want to cut them!

He is so cute in shoes! and hats! I just love cute shoes and hats! :)

He loves to look at books. He gets them out of the book basket a lot. Of course, his favorites have noisy buttons on them. Sometimes, he will sit still with us when we read to Michael.

He likes to be near people. He doesn't really like to be in a room alone. Whatever room you are in, he likes to play in it too!

He sings a little bit - especially his favorite Veggie Tales song - "Baa, Baa, Baa...I'm a little sheep...". You can't make out words, but you can tell he is singing a tune.

He has SO many teeth! 12 are all the way in and the last 4 (canines) are on their way in as well. Michael only had 4 teeth at this age! We are shocked at his little mouthful of teeth!

He is the happiest, sweetest boy. I am so glad God blessed us with him!

Stacy { <>< }

Reflecting God in our Work

* This is taken from my newest devotional God's Word for Mothers. It seems 100% suitable that I would read this the day before students return to school! I pray my character this year represents God in a positive light.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. Colossians 3:23

Children are a reflection of their parents. When a mom and dad send their offspring out into the world, they can only hope that the reflection will be a positive one.
As believers, we are God's children. No one is perfect, and for this there is grace. However, we may be the only reflection of our heavenly Father that some will ever see. Our attitude and actions on the job speak volumes to those around us. Although it may be tempting to do just enough to get by, we put forth our best effort when we remember we represent God to the world. A Christian's character on the job should be a positive reflection of the Lord.
This is true of our work at home as well. No one would disagree that daily chores are often monotonous, but we are called to face them with a cheerful spirit. God will give us the ability to do so when we ask Him.

Father, help me today to represent You well through my work. I want to reflect Your love in all I do. Amen

Emily Biggers
From Whispers of Wisdom for Busy Women

Stacy { <>< }

Many Hats

Have you ever heard the phrase referring to "wearing a lot of hats"? Well, I have been reflecting on some of the "hats" I wear in my life and how I can better show God's love through each one.