Homecoming

Faith was asked by a boy in her class (Justin) to be his homecoming escort. Homecoming was last Saturday and Faith was beautiful. She was sooo excited and asked me everyday if it was homecoming yet. She made sure to point out though that they were just friends and didn't "like" each other that way. I have shared some pictures below.

Here they are getting ready to walk down the field.

Waiting for the King & Queen to be announced. They just drew one football player and one cheerleaders name out of a hat to select the King & Queen.

Of course after it was over we had to make them pose for some more pictures. Aren't they cute?

Faith's Room Makeover

Recently I have been trying to get our house more organized. One of the projects at the top of my to-do list was Faith's bedroom. I follow several organizing blogs and had gotten several ideas that I wanted to try. This post may end up being fairly long, but I wanted to share before, during and after photos of the makeover.

I actually didn't think to take before pictures until after I had already worked for an hour Thursday night helping her clean out from under the bed. So here is how the room looked before we started cleaning out the room on Friday night.





 As you can see, it was a mess! It had been more than a year since we had gone through her toys and weeded out the things that she no longer played with or had outgrown. I had a few things in her room to try to add storage and organize the toys, but things didn't really have a "permanent" home so they would just get tossed anywhere. Faith was a real trooper and worked with me most of the evening on Friday to throw things away and give things away. I did not give anything away without her permission. We started working Friday evening around 4:00 and finished up around 10:00. I was so proud of Faith for all the toys that she was able to part with. I think that she has learned from me that the less things you have the more you are able to enjoy your space. The picture below shows how much she gave away.

On Saturday my friend, Rosie, came over and helped me rearrange furniture and then we went SHOPPING! I was able to purchase decorative items for the room and some organizing bins. I will admit I went overboard on the organizing bins so I now have extra for other rooms. I just couldn't help myself. LOL.

Faith actually bought the inspiration for the rooms decoration with her birthday money. She found a pink guitar wall clock that had peace signs on it and pink neon that she just had to have so she purchased it with her birthday money. Then I found a trash can with peace signs on it that matched and some wall art with peace signs on it.

The lamp in this picture was our next find at Wal-Mart and on the box of the lamp was the curtains. I loved the curtains and Rosie had the idea to actually look to see if Wal-Mart had the curtains and sure enough...they did! My favorite part of the room though is the bins under the bed. Each bin holds a different category of toys. One is for Polly Pockets, one for Little Pet Shop & Legos, one for Barbies  and the other is for Dolls & iPod Docks. The picture below shows how I organized the inside of the Polly Pocket & Little Pet Shop Bins.

I love the way the bins turned out. Everything fit in the bins perfectly and it looks so much better than having this big stuff either stacked against the wall or under the bed for all to see and to get shoved all the way to the back. Also having the bins under the bed like that keeps her from just shoving things under the bed when she cleans because the bins are in the way. I love items that serve a dual purpose!

The next picture shows the reading nook that we created. This is by far Faith's favorite part of the whole room.

For this area I purchased the cube shelf at Target. I removed her old bookshelf from the closet. She always had a hard time keeping the books staight because the shelf was so long the books would tip over and she would get frustrated and just pile the books on it or stack them on the floor. I hoped that having smaller areas would help her keep it organized. The fabric bins each hold a different toy item. These are smaller toys that she has accumulated and didn't want to get rid of. We put a bean bag in her reading area and some pink dry erase dots, which you can see she was already using.

The photo below is her vanity area. We didn't really change much here. Just cleaned it up and organized it better. In her storage ottoman I put a shoe box for her to keep her brushes and lotions and then there is enough space beside the shoe box for her to keep her hair dryer.

The next photo is the inside of her closet. We removed the old bookshelf and toy storage unit and put her dresser and small drawer unit in the closet. The small drawer unit holds her media, gloves & mittens, purses, doll clothes, and dress up clothes in each drawer. Since this picture was taken I have created labels for each drawer. As you can see there is still plenty of storage space in the top of the closet that could be used for storing seasonal clothing, blankets, etc.



The next photo is the completed bedroom. That night after all the photos above were taken we went out to dinner in a different city and my hubby needed to go to Wal-Mart to pick something up. As we were walking through the store we happen to pass by...the bedding to match the curtains...and there was only ONE twin size left! You know that I just couldn't pass that up and, of course, you can't have matching bedding without matching sheets and you can't forget the matching accent pillow! Thank God for an understanding husband! So below is the finished product and I must say that the bedding really completed the room. I couldn't believe how much of a difference just adding curtains and bedding made to the room.



The only problem that I have now is that Faith loves the room so much that now she wants to go in there and shut the door all the time. If you have any other suggestions on something I need to add or different ways to organize leave a comment and let me know.

Camp

Okay guys I am requesting your prayers next week for Faith and myself. She is leaving on Sunday to go to church camp for the week. The camp is 5 hours away in Ohio and I will not be able to call and check on her whenever I want. This has been an agonizing decision for me, but I know that she will have a lot of fun. Faith is very independent and makes friends easily so I am not at all worried about her being homesick. I am more worried about the fact that she will be gone an entire week with people other than immediate family. I have let her go with my Mom & Dad to NC before for a week, but that was different because I could call her whenever I wanted and she was with my parents. My friend, Denice, from church is going and that does make me feel some better...I know that she will take care of her as her own...and she is going to let her call me at night on her cell phone.

Another thing that makes this so difficult is that Joe and I have a long weekend planned at a bed and breakfast in SC and we will be leaving the Friday that she is coming back. Her Mimi (Joe's mom) will be picking her up and she will be spending the weekend with her until we get back on Monday. We are very still very excited about our trip though and are looking forward to it.

I will try to post more after camp is over and our weekend get away and update you on how everything went. Until then...PRAY!!!

Random Happenings

Hey all! I know...I know...I am a horrible blogger. I can rarely find the time to sit down and post updates. This may be a long one. We have had a lot happen since the last post. First of all...I thought I would update everyone on how my weight loss goal is progressing. I have lost a total of 15 pounds and 2 clothing sizes. YAHOO!!!! Only 15 more to go to reach my goal weight.

But, enough about me...I mainly want to post updates on Faith. Since my last post, we have had a Daddy Daughter Dance, Easter, and the last day of school. I want to share some highlights and pictures from these events.

Daddy Daughter Dance

The elementary school had a daddy daughter dance this year and Joe took off work to take her to the dance. She was sooo excited. We went shopping for the perfect dress and her daddy gave her a corsage the night of the dance and they went out to eat at Red Lobster after the dance. Her and her daddy were told that they were the best dressed couple at the dance.


Here is my little Diva posing for the camera. Her personal hairstylist, Erica (one of the teenagers from the church), came over to the house that day and fixed her hair for her.

Here is a picture of the girls at the dance trying to learn a line dance. They were all dressed up beautifully. I think that next year Joe is going to take her to a Princess dance that is held in Knoxville annually. We have heard that is a lot of fun.

  

Easter

On Easter, Faith wore the same dress that she wore to the daddy daughter dance. We also bought my nephew, Dakota, an adorable suit so that he could be dressed to the nines on Easter and match "Uncle Joe". After church we went to Joe's moms house for our traditional easter egg hunt and dinner.

 The Last Days of School


Faith did such a good job in second grade this year. She made the A honor roll for the year and met all of her AR reading goals. She also entered the "Make A Book" contest at school and even though she didn't win she received an honorable mention for her book. I am so proud of all she has accomplished this year. Below are some photos from the after school classes she was taking at school this year. The first is from her karate class and the second was from beginning tennis. She really enjoyed both classes but her favorite was tennis.

I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into our lives for the last few months. I won't promise to update again soon because we all know how that goes. LOL

Toothless

Faith finally lost her two front teeth. The first fell out a few weeks ago and the second was barely loose, until tonight. She and another little girl at church bumped heads and it knocked her tooth loose. She kept wiggling it all day and then on the way home from church tonight she said "What do I do with this?" When we said "what?" she handed us her tooth.

Crazy Hair Day

Hey all! The above picture was Faith's hairdo for crazy hair day at school. She was so excited to be able to wear her hair like this to school. Mom was a little freaked out and didn't want to let her out the door, but I grinned and beared it!



I know that it has been a long time since I posted. Our lives are very hectic these days. Joe is working 6 days a week most of the time now and usually doesn't get home until around 7:00 so that leaves Mom to do all the homework, cooking, cleaning, bath, etc. Most nights we don't even get to sit down until 9:00 and then I am just too pooped to blog.



So far this year has been fairly uneventful. Faith is doing very well in school, other than the one note from the teacher that resulted in a week long grounding and apology notes to two students being written. She also learned a very good lesson (hopefully) about lying to Mom as well since her grounding would only have been 2 days if she had told me the truth to begin with. I was certainly reminded that this parenting thing isn't easy. I pray everyday that we are raising her right and that God would give us discernment on how best to discipline. I must say that disciplining is THE hardest part of parenting. It is so difficult to know what you should or shouldn't do and whether you have done too much or not enough. I just don't know how some parents do it. I know that if you are too easy then they become selfish and spoiled and if you are too hard then you push them away. I just pray that we will find the right balance.



Joe has decided to sell his motorcycle...can you hear me rejoicing? Actually, I love to ride it with him, but it is just sooo dangerous. He made the decision to sell it last summer after seeing two motorcycle wrecks that resulted in the rider and driver dying. He posted it on Craigslist two days ago and has already had 3 people call asking about it. I think he is going to use the money from the sell to buy some new bass guitar equipment and a riding lawn mower.



I have been trying to lose some weight and get healthy. I have been watching what I eat and trying to make healthier selections for myself and the family and have been exercising more. So far I have lost 8 pounds and have been able to fit into some pants that I haven't been able to for awhile. Some days are harder than others, but so far I am very motivated to be healthy and stay that way. I also want to be able to teach Faith, by my example, how to eat healthy and make better choices with food. Fortunately, I have never had any trouble getting her to eat vegetables. She loves broccoli, carrots, okra and most other vegetables. I will try to keep you posted on how I am doing...who knows...if I get to my goal weight maybe I will post some before and after pictures.



Well, I guess that is about all that is new with us so far this year. I won't say that I will post more frequently, because who knows with me. However, hopefully it won't be too long in between.

My First Post/Christmas update

Where to begin? Well, I have been reading the blogs of some friends (Denice!) and I am hooked. So...I thought I would give it a try myself. A lot of our family live in other states and I thought this may be a really good way to keep them updated on our family. With Faith growing up soooo fast this will give grandparents and other family a look at all the goings on in our world.

I guess I will use my first post to tell everyone how our Christmas went. Faith was so excited this year. She woke us up at 1:00am to tell us that Santa came and left her stocking in her room and wanted us to get up and open presents. Since we had just gone to bed an hour earlier...this was not an option for us. We told her that she needed to go back to bed that it was too early to get up. She then tried to wake us up at 1:30, 2:00, 2:30 and finally gave up and went to sleep around 3:00am. Joe and I woke up around 5:30 and decided to wake her up then. Here are some pictures

Joe couldn't stand it and just had to get down where all the action was! The PJ's Faith is wearing is her new Tinkerbell Christmas PJ's. We have started a tradition that on Christmas Eve she gets to open one gift and it is always new PJ's to wear for Christmas morning.

Joe is trying to tune the new guitar that Santa gave Faith. She wants to be a guitar player just like her daddy!

Here she is opening presents that are in her stocking. She had a very good Christmas and was very blessed. We were blessed to be able to spend time with Joe's family on Christmas Eve and then to have my parents and sister over on Christmas day for dinner. This was the first time that we have had anyone over for Christmas. Usually we pack up and go to their house. We had a wonderful time. Faith and I baked a cake for Jesus on Christmas day and we even tried our hand at making a gingerbread house. After it fell apart the first time I gave up. However, Joe was a trooper and finally got it to stay together after the third attempt!!! We will probably not do the gingerbread house again next year.

Well, I guess this will conclude my first post. I hope you enjoyed hearing about our Christmas. There is so much more that I could write, but this first post has taken me a lot longer to do than I thought it would. Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think. I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and that you felt the love of Jesus this season.