Jag of the Month

Sydney was so excited to be Jag of the Month for February!  The "snow" delayed the original morning celebration, but we finally got to crown her Jag of the Month on March the 5th.

Her picture was displayed all month in the entryway of the school.

getting her certificate and goodie bag.

She was so excited!

Twins!

Apparently, Sydney is a budding artist.  She had two pieces of art displayed in the hallway.  She definitely doesn't get that from me. 

One decade

10 years ago today, I married my best friend!  10 years, 3 beautiful babies, a few houses, a few jobs, a few degrees, and lots of laughs later, here we are today.  We're so blessed.  Here's a stroll down Memory Lane from that wonderful day- March 5, 2005.

Who is that toddler??

My Grandmom. 

Cousins.

I totally got him.  

Poor Parker

My poor little guy has been sick!  It started in the middle of the night, Saturday/Sunday.  He woke up crying, and, in my zombie-like state, I put him in our bed.  Taylor was already there, so that sent Stephen over the edge (literally), and he went to sleep with Sydney.  Parker was coughing so badly that he threw up.  So, then Taylor went to Sydney's bed, and, after throwing the sheets in the washing machine, I put Parker back in his bed and I slept on the floor.

When we woke up Sunday, he had a fever.  I kept him home with me while Stephen and the girls went to church, church group, and out to lunch with friends.  After he woke up from his nap, his temperature was almost 103.  I decided to take him to an after-hours place.  I wanted to rule out the flu or strep.

We had to wait about 30 minutes to go back.  Poor baby- about 10 minutes into the wait, he threw up ALL over me.  Twice.  It was so sad, for both of us.  I couldn't even stand up because it literally didn't hit the floor- it was just stuck on me.  TMI, I know.  A sweet father waiting in the room went and got me a bunch of paper towels.  I was totally crying.  I didn't know what to do and I felt so bad for Parker.  Anyways, we got it cleaned up... well, kind of.  We both had it all over us, somewhat washed off, for the next 3 hours.  Uggh.

When the doctor saw him, she found out he had a strain of the flu that wasn't included in his vaccination.  Since he'd had symptoms for a few days, Tamiflu wasn't prescribed.  It would just have to run its course.

When we got home, showers were taken immediately.  My sweet mom came down that evening so she could stay with him on Monday.  I stayed home with him today, and am going to stay home again tomorrow.  (Hubs is in Dallas).  I thought about taking him to daycare tomorrow- he hasn't had a fever since it broke about 2 AM this morning.  However, when I picked Taylor up today at daycare, they told me they had sent 3 kids home today from his class with the stomach bug.  I would hate for him to get that on top of what he already has!

I slept on the floor next to him the last 2.5 nights.  Parker has been waking up so many times in the night, wanting water, so it's been good to be there.  However, my back is totally out of whack now.  Floor < Mattress.  I think I'll be okay tonight in my bed, which I am soooo excited about. :)

Here's hoping Parker gets better and I can get back to work on Thursday!

We went to Publix and he wore this raincoat.  Everybody he walked by would say, "Hey, Batman!"  Then, Parker saw a man there who looked like Santa.  Parker was pointing at him, saying, "Santa! Santa!"  He was a great sport about it and was asking Parker if he's been a good boy.  That totally made his day.

Little drummer boy.

The Almost Move

Yep... we almost did it.  Moved.  To a whole new place.  Same state, but not close to Atlanta.  Yep.  New schools, new place where we knew no one, new church.  It was exciting, nerve-wracking, and stressful all at once.

But, the key word above is almost.  We are not moving.

So, with that being said, let me tell you all about the woulda-coulda-shoulda move!  Stephen was offered a position in Savannah back right before Christmas.  He hadn't applied for this job... the hiring guy used to work at Stephen's company and has talked to Stephen for years about wanting him to come on board.  This was an opportune time and he brought it up to Stephen while he was on a business trip down there.  When Stephen told me about it, my first instinct was he...ck no.  But, we looked at the positives- no more traveling, base salary-plus-commission (well, that could be a pro or a con), potential to own the company in the future and set us up for a good retirement, a job he would enjoy, a great boss, etc.  Stephen talked to several people who are in a position like the one he was offered, and who knew the guy that would be S's boss, and everyone told him to go for it.  We started to get excited about a change.

We did a lot of research online.  First was to find the best suburb in which to live.  We found a great town about 25 minutes from Savannah- great schools, a great community.  Then, on to finding houses.  The area we found was very different from where we live now.  Here, there are smaller neighborhoods with larger lots; 3-car garages; no vinyl siding; few swim/tennis communities because the n'hoods are smaller.  More trees and greenery.  There, there were about 6 communities in the whole town.  Each community had several different n'hoods in them, all that shared a swim/tennis.  Lots were small (like, .5 of an acre was rare!); all houses had vinyl siding (I'm thinking because it's close to the ocean?); no basements (it's so flat!); 2-car garages (lots were too small to have 3); and they were more expensive!  So, we were looking at a 5 bedroom (with bonus), vinyl sided 2 story house on .25 acre and it would have been mid-300s at the lowest.

Stephen and I took a trip down there to check the area out.  We found a neighborhood that we LOVED (!!!) but the size house we would need would have been way out of our price range.  We didn't really fall in love with anything else, but we found a house and neighborhood that would work.  It was right by a brand new school, a park, and a walking trail around a huge lake.  It was a new neighborhood, so it would take about 6 months to build.

We knew we would have to act fast.  We had a realtor come to our current house, not to do anything officially, but just to give us an idea of what we could price it for.  I had started to pack boxes.  It was like a done deal, y'all.

Then, some strange turns of events happened.  The hiring guy in Savannah had talked to someone at his current company, telling him the plans of wanting to bring Stephen on board.  (the new job isn't with his current company, but with an ally).  Long story short, a guy who's a VP at Stephen's company caught wind and called Stephen, saying he didn't think Savannah was the right market for him.  That prompted Stephen to call a guy who used to work that same job in Savannah, and that guy told him the reality of working down there.  Basically, he worked his tail off for way less than he was making at Stephen's company, and Savannah is a very protective community that wants to work only with locals.  It's hard to get your foot in the door.

It's funny- the first 10 people Stephen talked with were all like- yeah!  Do it!  It'll be great!  But those last 2 conversations put the nail in the coffin.  It wouldn't be worth it moving all the way down there to work longer hours for less money.  Not a smart move.  It was a Godsend that the right people found out and that Stephen was able to speak with them.

So, Savannah is off the table!  But it was kind of fun thinking about starting over somewhere new.  Who knows where life will take us, and I'm content here... for now... (though Zillow and I have weekly visits, just in case something else comes up!)

Taylor-ese

Author's note: Another draft that was never completed from probably 1.5-2 years ago!

Taylor has jumped from sounding like a toddler to talking like a little girl.  But, she still says some words in her own way.  I love it, and definitely want to document them so I won't ever forget!  Here is a sample from the Taylor-ese dictionary:

"sook" = school
"soot" = stool
"sloff" = floss
She adds an "n" onto verbs that end in a vowel sound before the -ing.  For example:
crynin' = crying
doonin' = doing
Shelf = Michelle (her teacher)
"Doda"- Dora
"Marfs"- Smurfs
"I tongry"- I'm hungry
"moose"- spoon

Sydney @ 6

Author's note: This was a draft that I started a while ago and never finished!  Thought I'd just go ahead and publish what I had done.

It's hard to believe that my Sydney is 6 years old!

Last year's Sydney update was fun to do.  Here's a little peek at Sydney at 6 years of age.

• Sydney's personality is a big mix.  She can be fun-loving, shy, sassy, intelligent, and focused- you never know what you're going to get, because it can change in a flash!  Thankfully, we (typically) get reports outside of the house that Sydney is smart and well-mannered.  We usually see the above adjectives at home.  She can be very moody at times, and she gets really shy on the phone or around others if she's not in the "mood" to talk.  She probably gets that from me.
• Sydney is rocking it out in school.  She's reading, writing, spelling phonetically, adding and subtracting, and loves learning about senses, maps, and much more.  She loves her exploratory classes- especially PE- and it's fun to watch her socialize and meet new friends.  (when she's in the mood, of course. ;)
• Sydney is really slimming down.  She's losing all her baby chubbiness.  I had packed up her 5T clothes- mainly because Taylor is moving into that size!!- but she can still wear those or even some 4T clothes, and has even put on her brother's 2T/3T clothes and can fit into them!  (Now, granted, they're not an ideal fit, but she can still actually put them on and they're not horribly ill-fitting or anything).  
• She loves being the big sister.  At times, she loves bossing T and P around, and at other times, she's really loving and caring for them.
• Sydney can still pitch major fits.  She'll act as if she can't do something when she easily can, just because she doesn't want to.  
• She is still best friends with Raegan, even though they don't go to the same school anymore.  Luckily, she goes to our church and is in our small group, so she gets to see her at least once a week.
• She loves pop music.  She always wants me to make her new CDs to listen to to at night.  Some of her favorites this year have been Lorde Royals and Team, Girls Chase Boys by Ingrid Michaelson, Telephone by Lady GaGa, The Frozen soundtrack,