Catching up...

I think it has been a month since my last post.... there are probably a number of reasons why.....
Spent a week in disney and there was no time for blogging,..... have felt pretty rough for the last month.....have taken a nap every Saturday and Sunday for the last month (which is probably time I would usually blog).....the routine of a kindergartener with backpack to check, lunch to pack, homework to do.....a 4 year old boy who makes it difficult for me to sit down and do anything by myself that requires thought.....my husband has had lots of night time actvities (work related!) that have kept me busier at mom duties.....and NOW, I am at home from work sick today....I have been fighting a bad cold, that has turned into a little bronchitis and actually I am on the downhill slide of it, but decided some extra rest today might help me kick it! I am sooooo ready to feel good...I have spent the last 4 weeks in a nauseated, sleepy coma and now that I think that is easing up, I end up on a antibiotic for this junk! Luckily, I was able to catch up on checking out friends blogs and posted a few of my own to keep up with the scrapbook. I hope to get disney picutures uploaded soon!

Summer and Jamie's Wedding

Our friends Summer and Jamie were married on September 26th and Lane was honored to be their flower girl! Summer kept our kids for a year or so and they really love her....she and Jamie still come and get them occassionally and they always have a great time when they are with them.....their wedding was really pretty out at Mt. Carmel church. My favorite thing was that the sun was setting during the ceremony, so it was getting a little darker in the sanctuary as the ceremony started and such as wonderful ambience, so natural! Here are some pictures.....and by the way, I wish I would have taken video of Bo dancing at the reception.....I am not sure you have seen anything like it...kind of looks like a power ranger who drank 3 red bulls! (Although I think he really does have some rhythm in there somewhere hidden in his bundle of energy!) When we left, the kids said, can we come back to that party next week??? I think it was their first experience at a wedding reception!

Bo's field trip to the pumpkin patch

I went with Bo to the pumpkin patch yesterday (I felt like ......well not too good!) but I was not going to tell him that I was not going...so I put on 3 layers of clothes, grabbed some cough drops and kleenex and loaded that bus headed to the pumpkin patch. It was good ole fashioned fun....corn maze (a muddy one), hay ride, pumpkin pickin, see-saws, swings, and a picnic lunch. But, the best part of the day (according to him and most of the other kids) was this roller thing that the kids could climb up and then sit on a piece of plywood and "roll" down.....he also like climbing on the big hay bails and jumping off. Kids are much easier to entertain than we think!

Why does he have to look so grown up and big??

Walking up the rolling thing....

He was more interested in the lady bug on the pumpkin than the pumpkin itself!

I like this picture because I love his little fingers....they still look like baby hands to me. They are so soft and when he rubs my hair at night when we say prayers in bed, they feel so soft and little. I know that the will be big boy hands soon, but I hope I can remember his sweet little hands forever!

We had lunch with his friend Jonah! And 3 people said something to me about , "Wow, those 2 are really something when they are together!!" I think the teachers at school see 2 different sides of them together and apart (I guess it is a good thing they are not in the same class!)

Good ole see-saws!

Sliding down the rolling thing....The best part of the day!

Lane's Zoo field trip

Well, I guess big school is official now....we went on our first field trip! There is no better kindergarten field trip than the zoo.....it was perfect jeans and t-shirt weather....and the zoo was not crowded, so it made for a great day! It was fun to get to see all of her classmates, which I sometimes hear about and put a name with a face. We stayed together as a class and I was in charge of 2 other girls in addition to Lane. They were great kids and I enjoyed getting to know them. It was also nice to see that Lane is blessed with a special teacher too....seeing her natural talent with those kids was so great! (some people are born to be teachers and I was NOT one of them!!) By the way, yes, I got to ride the big cheese with her! Here are a few pictures from our trip.
Miss Lesile's class

Lane's #1 chaperone!

Some girlfriends in her class

Her good friend "Big A"

and her other good "A" friend!

as many times as we have seen the pandas at the zoo this was the first time I have ever seen them outside!!

Lane and John Owen (we didn't run into him at the zoo, so we ran across the hall when we got back and I snapped a picture)!

Memphis vs. MTSU

We had a great weekend going up to Murfreesboro to watch the Tigers get their behind kicked by the Blue Raiders. Lane and Bo were so confused the whole game because Uncle Hunter wanted the black team to win and momma and daddy wanted the tigers to win. Bo kept asking which team is the "mean team" and which team is the "nice team".....in a 4 year old boys mind, everything is good vs. evil....you know like Ninja Turtles vs. Shredder or Ben 10 vs. the DNAliens! They both just decided to go for the Raiders I guess because Hunter and Samantha (and Anna, our cousin) are cooler than mom and dad. We had a chance to go visit Rob's great aunt while we were there, then we had a great tailgate party with Marty, Bre, and their crew. (Not to mention Rob to his administrator's praxis on Saturday too!)

A quick nap before the game

Is this the prettiest 90 year old you've ever seen??

She cheered for the boys' footbal game.

We caught up with Pouncer in the Tiger Section.

Lane and Bo LOVE these 2.....and I think the feeling is mutual!!

Bo always loves Hunter and looks up to him.....well, this weekend, Hunter's friend Tyler was up visiting too, so Bo got to have 2 heros! They taught Bo about football while we tailgated!

He likes to say he has a "big belly"....yeah, about as big as his daddy's!

Big Sister (again) and Big Brother to be!!

Baby Dawson #3 is coming soon! We shared the news with Lane, Bo, and our parents last night. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised at everyone's reaction (except Bo, more to come on that later!). Everyone seems as excited as we are at the thought of a new little baby in our family.

Here is a little on the kids reactions: We gave Lane and Bo the Bearenstain bear book "And Baby Makes 5" and t-shirts that say "I am going to be a big brother/sister" along with pink and blue balloons. It took them a while to understand what we were trying to tell them, but when Lane read the shirt, she got a twinkle in her eye and jumped up in my arms hugging me! She then started asking, where is the new baby going to sleep? Can i feed it? What can we name it? and so on..........On the other hand, Bo ran to his room crying because the surprise I had been telling him about was not a "Ben 10 toy"! (Ben 10 is a little boy who turns into aliens to fight bad guys and his Bo's newest obsession. After about 5 minutes he came back in the room and heard Lane say, "What are we going to name the baby?" and Bo says "We can name him Ben 10! or Gwen (Ben's friend) if it is a girl!" So, he is fine with the suprise now that we can relate it to Ben 10! I don't know if it is the difference in a boy and a girl or a 4 and 5 year old, or just 2 totally different personalities, but they certainly took the news differently. Rob said Lane was telling everyone she saw at school this morning (which is not exactly typical of her shyness), and Bo didn't tell a single person. My friend Megan got him out of the car this morning and I had told her to ask him if he had something to tell her...so she did and he said "No" She said "don't you have a something special to tell me?" He said "It's a secret, I am not telling" She said, "Aw, Bo, Just tell me" He said, "OK, just you." So she bent down and he whispered in her ear "Don't tell anyone else, but I am getting a new Ben 10 toy today!" I guess a 4 year old boy's prioreties are a little different from a 5 year old girl!

I will have to say that for me, it was even more exciting to share the news about this pregnancy than it was to tell with the first two. I couldn't wait to see Lane's expression! You know she has been praying for a baby sister (or brother, reluctantly) for about 4 months and many of her friends have gotten baby sisters in the last year or so.

I guess this post has kind of revolved around Lane and Bo, so I don't want to leave the new baby out.....so....please pray for little Dawson as he or she will be arriving around May 7th!

Weekend visitor

(by the way this picture was taken at 6:00 am before she left for school with Rob, hence the squinty eyes!)

Lane was chosen (drawn out of a hat!) to be star of the week in Ms. Lesile's class this week. You know she can be pretty shy at times, so I think it was a great experience for her get to be the first one and share something with the class each day. The week actually started this weekend, when "Lizzy the Lizard" came home to spend the weekend with us. She came in a bag with her sleeping bag, journal, book, and toothbrush. Lane brushed her teeth, read her the book, and put her to sleep each night. This is soooooo Lane; she loves to take care of anything....animals, babies, plants, bugs! She wrote in her journal about Lizzy going to a football game with us and playing doctor with Lizzy. I also got to eat lunch with the star of the week on Wednesday. It was so strange (but good!) to be eating lunch with my child at school! Her daddy even got to sit down with us for a minute, which was a nice treat. I hope the rest of the class takes good care of Lizzy like we did!


By the way, here is a funny story on her....a few weeks ago we were driving in the car and Lane said to Bo, (don't know how the conversation started) "you know Bo, he is special like the typicals." Bo said, "what's a typical Lane?" She said, "Well, at school, some kids are special and need us to help them a little more, you know, "typicals...." (at her special needs preschooI, there are kids with disabilities and "typical kids" ; I thought this was so sweet, that she has the two mixed up! I love the heart that she has for kids with special needs, it seems so natural for her to love them. One of the related arts teachers at her school told me a story about her taking extra time and attention with a student in her class that needs some extra help. I remember in her 3 year old preschool class, there was a litte boy, that really loved Lane and always wanted to hug her, but he was a little rough. One day she had a scratch on her face where he had scratched her when he was trying to hug her and when I asked her about it, she didn't want to talk about it because she didn't want him to get in trouble. I think God has blessed her with that gift!

I need to remember her sweetness when I want to pull my hair out for her stubborness!!

30...so is it uphill or downhilll from here????

So, on the 30th of this month (yesterday), I turned 30 years old....didn't think about the whole 30/30 thing until I started chatting with this random stranger at Spindini (where Rob and I went for birthday dinner)...and she also was there with her husband celebrating her birthday, which was also 08/30....and she reminded me that is was cool to turn 30 on the 30th.......cool? I'm not so sure! I have had mixed emotions about the whole 30 thing....somethings in life are easier and better than when I was, say, 18 or so......but somethings are harder! For example, I don't have to do school work anymore...i rememeber people saying, "oh, when you finish college then you get a job and real responsibility"....well, I don't know whether it is because I love my job or what, but I would much rather work than go to school! Then there comes the kid thing, clearly I didn't have Lane and Bo at 18, so that is definitely something that is harder now! At first thought about turning 30, I was pretty bummed, but I think my girls night out in July with my friends kind of got me over that....I have figures out that there are man things that you are never to old to do.....enjoy the company of friends or have girl talk, go to dinner with your husband, kiss your babies, go to family dinners, sit in the presence of God or sing your favorite hmyns, read your favorite book or watch your favorite tv show, enjoy a good meal......but I am also learning there are some things I may never be able to do again......the splits, enjoy a typical college weekend free of responsibility, go shopping alone, have 20 year old skin, sleep past 8:00.....so, you get my point....so, 30 is here, but I am going chose to focus on the good and just take those other things as memories of the past! Here are some pictures from my birthday...Rob's sweet brother, David, gave us a night at the Westin Hotel in Memphis and came out and spent the night with the kids...he is one awesome brother-in-law, in case there are any of my friends out there with a 25-30 year old single gal you'd like to match make with him!! So, we went to dinner, used their work out room, and slept late (7:30!), then drove to Little Rock to get my new(used) van! The bottom pictures is the "party" at my parents....Lane was so sweet, she decorated Ellie's house in lots of pink hearts for my "I love you" party; she and Ellie (and Bo) made a homemade bananna cake that was incredible. And daddy cooked (per my request) steak and crab legs!
A self taken shot in our hotel room...forgot to mention that Rob got me a North Face jacket...I don't think I have ever owned an article of clothing that expensive...but he said I was worth it!! The best part was he got it 40% off, he knows I don't like gift that cost full price, I am strange like that!!

30 candles!

Notice the decor hanging from the chandelier!

Goin to the 4 year old class!

Bo was so proud to finally start back to school this week! First of all he is in a "new school" (new to him anyway, since the Tipton County Preschool has transitioned to Austin Peay) and also he is in the "4 year old class." Lane's move to kindergarten was a little hard on him, since she is at daddy's school and is going all day, so we had to build up the fact that he is going to a new school too! He was so proud of his new preschool shirt, he wanted to wear it the first day (it has their little logo on it)......

Clearly, I took this one myself, (no one else was home)!

I didn't get a picture of his teacher Miss Shawn, but here is one of the other teachers walking him in....what a sweet little wave!

BTW...I didn't get a chance to post, but baby Jackson arrived on 08/20/09 and was a health 8lb 7 oz...doing well!