Counting Down the Days!

Today is the last day of September, and we are counting down the days to...

M-I-C-K-E-Y  M-O-U-S-E!

 

Our fall break will be spent at Disney World, and we can't wait! Months of planning will soon come to fruition as we board the plane and head to Orlando.

 

12 more days!!

 

This was a small, store-bought cake we celebrated Jonah's birthday with in July. (Notice our creative way of adding up to the #8 with the bday candles!) We had cupcakes at his pirate party, so he agreed to a Mickey cake at home with Mimi and Daddy Nick. In honor of all things Disney in 2013!!:)

 

It's almost here...

A Wonderful Birthday

Celebrating another birthday was wonderful this year! I was blessed to have so many thoughtful Facebook messages/texts from friends and family, cards from friends and co-workers, and 3 birthday dinners! I received several wonderful gifts, too! Oh, and two of my favorite CAKES, strawberry and carrot cake! (Wow! I've got some major cake calories to burn!)

I am so humbled and appreciative of it all! Turning 29 --alright, alright...36, isn't so bad! :)

I've said before, and I'll say it again, I have been blessed by the Lord in these 36 years He has allowed me to live. Blessed far beyond what I deserve.

I've set some goals for myself this year:
1. Finish training and running the St. Jude Marathon again this year BUT with a faster marathon time than last year. :)
2. Eat healthier. (I pretty much already do this, but a couple of months ago, I started trying to follow a more paleo way of eating.) Now, if I can just get my kids on board with it.
3. Trim our family's' extra curricular activities down so that we aren't "pulled in 10 different directions" too much. I think we were a little worn out after last fall with dance, music lessons, soccer, school activities, races, family obligations...Well, you understand, I'm sure. I've chosen to NOT participate in as many races in an effort to minimize the number of things on our calendar. The boys have taken a break from music lessons and we opted not to do fall swimming with the Millington swim team.
4. SURVIVE DISNEY!!:) I have been planning this for a few months now, and it's almost here!!! We are so excited!
5. I'm teaching the 3rd and 4th grade Sunday school class at church now, so please pray for me.

I had a GREAT birthday! And I'm looking forward to the next one!:)

Ode to August

 

August is a down-right, CRAZY month! Start of the new school year, dance classes, soccer practices/games, church activities...whew! It's always nice to see the end of this month and see things calm down a bit, hopefully. I never use the words SLOW DOWN--they simply are not words in my vocabulary. Not anymore!

My two handsome guys on the first day of school!

 Jonah is in 2nd grade, and John Owen is in 4th grade this year!

Jonah's 2nd grade teacher is Ms. Whitney Robertson, and he LOVES the his best friend, Bo, is in his class this year. :)

 

 

 John Owen's 4th grade teacher is Mrs. Jessica Pickett!

 This was the scene in the car after the first full week of school!

We had just pulled into Sonic for an after school treat at Happy Hour when I turned around to find BOTH boys asleep!! Worn out and weary...

 Little Miss Mary Claire started her last year of Pre-K the week after the boys and I started back. This is a picture I snapped at Open House with Jan holding her hand as she entered the building.

Waving goodbye as the bus pulled in to pick her up!

 And we are so happy that Mrs. Delores is Mary Claire's bus driver again! Mrs. Delores has driven all 3 of our "babies" to preschool, and she's a special lady!

Thank you, Mrs. Delores!

It's still HOT here, and when we don't have somewhere to be, you will find us by the pool at Mimi's house trying to stay COOL! Perhaps there'll be a break in the temps soon. I think I might be ready for some cool, fall weather!
Farewell, August...

 



Happy 8th Birthday, Jonah!

Jonah turned 8, and we celebrated with a really neat party at the Memphis Botanic Garden. The My Big Backyard section is GREAT! There was a pirate theme for the party, so Jonah and his guests made pirate hats, decorated their own treasure box, and then went out into the garden to search for treasure. I was a little worried about an outdoor party in the middle of July, but it was perfect! There was plenty of shade and there was a nice breeze blowing through the garden. We had GiGi's cupcakes! (FYI...the banana creme pie cupcake was awesome beyond words!)

Hapy birthday to my awesome 8 year old, Jonah! You are so special to me and I love you more than you'll ever know. Thank you for being the unique person that you are with a tender heart and love for collecting things. I pray that this year brings wonderful things your way. 

Happy birthday!

Love, Momma 

Here's some pictures from the party...

The pirate pinata

Jonah passing out treasure to each of his guests

It only took one swing and the pinata treasure was scattered everywhere!

Mad dash for the candy treasure!

Working together to build a fort!

Summer 2013 at the Hensley House

The summer is quickly passing by, and we have been keeping very busy with swim team, camps, time with friends, vacation, and cleaning out and selling things...And we are not done yet! This summer has once again proven to me that finding the time to sit down and blog is extremely difficult. But I don't stress about it. Time with my family is more important. Please forgive me if I "jump around" in this post...

Because my boys are so close (in age and in their relationship with one another), they enjoy doing a lot of the same things, such as swimming. The boys have done great with their 2013 swim team season and will wrap up the season this weekend with a championship swim meet in Tunica and a swim team party next Monday night! They have attended Ag Camp this summer and are looking forward to going back to Ft. Pillow Camp next week. We ride bikes and run together pretty much everyday. The boys, Jan, and I just completed a 5k together 3 days ago in Dyersburg. It was H-O-T, but it was great being there together. Mom and Aunt Dinah were there, too!

Mom, John Owen, Jan, Jonah, Me, Aunt Dinah

The kids have been helping me clean out things that they don't play with anymore and selling these things so that we can save money for our Disney trip that is coming up this fall. We are so excited, and I am trying to finish up getting everything planned out.:)

Mary Claire had her first playdate with a friend yesterday without ME!! I walked her over to her friend's house and left her to play all day practically. I only called 3 or 4 times to check on her. She seems like such a big girl more and more everyday.

Our summer days are quickly winding down and the sight of school supplies on the shelves at Wal-Mart is bittersweet. John Owen will start 4th grade, Jonah's headed to 2nd, and Mary Claire is starting her last year of Pre-K. Lots to do to get these 3 ready for their first day...

Ahhh...the luxury of summer day naps will soon end.:(

Jan and I started our Road Race series this past week with a 5k in Memphis. I was 30 seconds faster than last year--woo hoo! (Hey, at least I wasn't slower.) We have also implemented the Paleo way of eating here. I have been researching recipes and studying about the types of foods that we can eat. I got a great book called Everyday Paleo (written by a mom with 3 kids!) that I hope will help include the whole family in this endeavor. Healthier eating for us all!! I'm not promising that my kids won't eat McDonald's once in awhile. Heck, even I'm gonna take a "day off" if I want to, but we're gonna give it a try.

Last week, we took part in a special event at our church-"Mission Covington 2013". The kids made me proud as they loved on the elderly people and delivered meals to shut-ins. They even pitched in and helped with some yardwork. Never too young to learn to serve others and set an example of Christian love.

This was such a blessing to see my son, completely uninhibited, showing this sweet lady a good time at the 50's party at Covington Care. Despite being confined to a wheelchair, she and John Owen danced and danced! She hugged him at the end and thanked him while I stood to the side and fought back the tears of joy that swelled up in me. A selfish part of me longed for my grandmother to still be here at this facility so that the children could have danced with her, too. But I have no doubt that the dancing she's doing in Heaven is far better than any dance here on Earth.

Mission Covington blessed our lives this summer, and I hope our church will continue to do things such as this in our community.

Wow! What a summer! Ag Camp,VBS week, beach week, cleaning out/selling things, waterpark trips, swim team meets and practices, races, church activities, testing my Paleo culinary skills, Disney planning, trying to squeeze in some summer instruction time, checkups at the dentist and doctor for 3 kids and myself...It's been a BUSY, but wonderful summer!

Up next...Jonah's 8th birthday party and John Owen is going to his first church camp!

 

Beach 2013

This year, I anticipated our beach trip more than ever. I was super busy in May and into the first two weeks of June, and eventhough school was out before Memorial Day, I didn't really feel like my summer started until my toes hit the soft, white sand on June 15th!

I love the beach because we are mostly removed from the daily distractions of life. We are together as a family. Don't get me wrong, we cherish "together time" here at home, too, but it's different on vacation. And these kiddos love the BEACH! One "new" thing I enjoyed this year at the beach was Mary Claire's desire to walk down the beach with me. You see, when I was young, and we went to the beach, we took my grandmother, Jenny, with us. Jenny would walk and walk and walk on the beach. My mom would walk with her, and they would see how far they could go sometimes. Avid exercisers, they are!:) As a young person, I never saw the meaning of such long walks, but occasionally, I'd join them.

Now, I tend to see things in a different light. Walking next to the ocean is AMAZING to me! (Not to mention, IT IS GOOD EXERCISE.) Seeing God's beauty and marvelous works in the waves and the infinite sand, the seashells, and fish, and...I could on and on!

Honestly, the beach is now a sort of refuge for me. It's the last thing Jan's mother and I talked about before she died on June 25, 2010. She was excited about going with us to the beach that year. She died suddenly 3 days before we were supposed to leave. Jan's Aunt Elaine encouraged us to go on to the beach after the funeral, saying that we probably would be better off getting "away". Turns out, she was so very right. Having busy, young children is a distraction from grief in many ways, and being with them in a place that brings them joy helped us through the tough days that followed Ms. Sue's funeral. That year, my walks on the beach became the moments when my tears flowed because it was just me and God out there.

Everytime I step foot on the beach now, I think of Ms. Sue. When my kids scream in delight at the seashell they have just found, I think of how she would have enjoyed seeing them hunt for shells. She loved looking for shells a lot! I'm not sure that Ms. Sue and I had very much in common, but the most important thing we had in common was our love for Jan, John Owen, Jonah, and Mary Claire. I wish she was here to see how big they have gotten and to be at their special events. She is greatly missed...

For the sake of our family scrapbook, I won't linger on the broken pieces that life has given us, but I will choose to focus on God's blessings. We were blessed to have a wonderful and safe vacation this past week. We saw sharks (Oh yes, and one close encounter with one, I might add.), dolphins, a sea turtle, and a few beautiful sunsets. We made the obligatory trip to the "Shark's Mouth" AKA Souvenir City, and we ate some great seafood. Two recommendations from this blog author: the shrimp and grits at LuLu's and the crab cakes at Cafe Grazie. Oh my goodness!! I had to walk some extra sand miles to burn those calories off! But it was well worth it.:)

We played putt-putt golf and rode go carts. (The kids favorite thing to do, I think.) And we met some friends and went on a Pirate Cruise! It was really neat.

To sum it up, our beach trip was awesome! I was sad to leave, but happy to be home safely with my family. Until next year... 

The boys hit the waves as soon as they could!



One of my favorite pictures this year from the boardwalk

Mary Claire, John Owen, Jonah

Have I mentioned how hard it is to keep focused when taking family pictures on the beach? :)

The last pictures are just some that we managed to get the night before we left the beach. Funny thing, we were trying to beat the sunset and the "low battery" flashing on my camera!! Oh well, good memories...:)

Do you think the kind soul who volunteered to take our picture was laughing as she looked through the lens?
A penny for her thoughts...haha

This picture speaks volumes of the different personalities of my children!:)
Notice the struggle between the two on the left. Enough said.

My handsome John Owen!

"You want me to do what?"





Handsome Jonah!



One little girl that is not afraid to strike a pose!







Yee Haw! Our Cowgirl is FIVE!

Mary Claire's 5th birthday party was a BOOT-SCOOTIN' good time!:)

When I set out to plan the party, I knew that this theme was the one for Mary Claire. Mary Claire has recently informed us that she wants to be a cowgirl when she grows up.:) So, you see, a cowgirl party was perfect. And the only HITCH in the plans was the rain which kept this from being an outside event, but even that couldn't throw a damper on our baby girl turning 5!

Warning! Picture overload!

The tables and chairs for guests.

Sorry, I should have taken a picture up close with tin buckets, burlap, and cowhide tissue paper for centerpieces. Balloons were weighted down inside tin buckets.

The "Watering Hole" with IBC Root Beer, Cream Soda, water and sodas.

The "Sweet Saloon" with the cake made by my friend, Christi.

Thank you, Christi! The cake was awesome!

Horse and cow cake pops turned out super cute! I did not make them, however I used a gift certificate I had gotten, and they were such a cute addition to the party.

"Happy Trails" table where guests made their own trail mix. It was so funny to see some of the kids running back and forth between playing and grabbing a handful of M&M's from the table!:) I kept going back and forth to the bowl of chocolate covered raisins...Can we say addicted?!

Bags for the trail mix!

Trying to get my cowhands to pose for one picture...

Yee Haw!!

The only picture with me in it.

My Aunt Dinah, me, Grandmother Caudle ("Jenny"), and Mimi

Faith, Mary Claire and Ema Li having fun posing for the camera!

This was a BIG hit! We had a pony and cart ride for the kids and the rain held off. This is Lane, Mrs. Bebe, Kate and Mary Claire takin' a ride.

(Sorry, my camera fogged up from the humidity.)

 Mary Claire, the birthday girl, and Mrs. Bebe being pulled by "Bella", the pony.

Some other party details I want to remember from this special celebration. (Mostly borrowed from Pinterest, I assure you.)

Food table where we served Barbeque and chicken

Happy birthday to my little cowgirl!

Happy and safe trails to you!

Thank you to all of our friends who came and helped celebrate!