The First Day!

Went great for Simms! I prayed that it would. I am so glad that she had a wonderful morning.

I laid out a card and some stickers {her favorite} for her to open this morning, along with her family tree that we made yesterday.


Simms' morning started early for her. She loves to sleep late. But 7:30 came quickly! She was so excited to get up and start her morning though!



We took another porch picture with her family tree. Then made our way to Minnie and Ninnie's where we met Dru so that he could be there also to drop his sweet girl off.


Simms was greeted by her cute teacher, Miss Cyd.


We took a family picture.


And then Simms took off for the kitchen and babies, just like I knew she would.


I hugged and kissed her and then she told me that I could go :). And just like that 3 hours had gone by and it was time to go pick her up! She was super excited about her ballet teacher, Miss Sara, coming to take their measurements for leotards, ballet shoes, etc. Here is a picture of her being sized for her ballet shoes..
We are looking forward to this year!

My Baby Boy is 20 months!

Oh Sweet Cope,

You are 20 months old today and I can hardly wrap my mind around that. You are still my baby. You are more precious to me than I can ever explain. Here are 20 things about you at 20 months..
1)You've added the words "bye, baby, car and two" to your vocabulary just in a few weeks. I feel like your vocabulary is really about to take off. I am so thankful for that
2)You look so grown up since your haircut
3)You still have your curls though
Proof of #'s 2 and 3:

4)You are a great sleeper and napper still. I can say "Cope are you ready to go night night?" and while you pretend like you are going to run away from me at first, you end up running to your bed
5)You are fearless. No matter what it is or may entail, you are not scared
6)Your eating is getting better
Proof of #'s 5 and 6:

You eating a pickle Cope!
7)You will lay your head on my shoulder and wrap your arms around my neck when I say love mama. I love it
8)You and Simms still have your good days and bad days
9)You don't like us leaving you in the church nursery unless Simms is with you
10)You love being outside

11)You love pointing to the baby on the target diaper box and saying "Baby"
12)If Daddy is around, you want no one else
13)People gravitate to you. I even had a man following us around in the grocery store the other day playing with you. Odd yes, but he was elderly and having fun and so were you
14)We laugh at you constantly

15)You get in trouble for biting and hitting
16)You love brushing your teeth and you really love the toothpaste
17)You tried chocolate milk the other day and didn't like it at all
18)Mosquitoes love your sweet skin
19)You are 100% BOY. Dirt, cars, trucks, full of energy, never slowing down, these are all things that describe you and your personality
20)You are so loved. You are a blessing to each of us.

Simms' Preschool Open House

Simms' ADORABLE preschool had their open house this afternoon. It also marks the first anniversary of the preschool under it's new owner/director/awesome teacher, so the theme of the day was "Happy Birthday to Us". I can't speak enough about how excited I am about this year for Simms. It is a hard decision to willingly give my time with my daughter up to someone else a few hours each day {5 days a week, 3 hours a day} but I am so confident in sending her here. It is a sacrifice I am happy to make. She went a few times this summer to camp there, but this is her first year as a preschool student there. The funny thing is, I went to this very same school, under a different director, and with a different name. We can't wait until Wednesday morning!

Precious school. The inside is just as wonderful..

Sooo organized. Dru was ready to move in :)

Adorable "Back to School" tree. The teachers change it out for holidays, etc. I used to see it when I'd go with Sissy to get Bennett. So cute.

Simms went to this center immediately. I love her teacher's use of different centers and how she utilizes her space. She is a super talented woman. And married to the dad of one of Dru's friends from Trinity and Auburn (and Dru's roomate one year too) yet she is from here! Small but neat world.


In her element.

Sweet treats for the preschool's birthday!

Playing on a horse that was there when I went to preschool there. So neat it is still there for my daughter to play on too.

And swinging. {she was happy..just doesn't look it here :) }

Simms and Lanier. So excited for them to be together. Lanier's mama, Sissy and myself were 3 peas in a pod growing up. Now if only I could have gotten Bennett to be still to get in the pic. He had too much to do :).

We are so excited about this year! Simms knows some of the children in her class, and we are excited to get to know all of the others. And we are so pumped about her getting to take ballet too through her preschool. A very established school of dance in our area is going to come to Simms' school one day a week for ballet. I am beside myself with excitement about her in a leotard, pink tights, and pink ballet shoes. Not to mention she will have a Christmas and Spring recital. Seriously coming out of my skin. I LOVE it!! And my friend Kara, who is a very experienced dancer, took from this instructor for years, and spoke very highly of her and the school. So that is great that Simms will get to do that this year too! Be back Wednesday after the first day!

*And oh my goodness..I give up trying to fix the spacing and pictures on this post. Blogger is frustrating me to no end right now*

We cut his hair..

Tear, Tear, Sniff, Sniff. Well, Dru cut it. And I had to walk out several times. It was getting shorter and shorter. And those ringlets were just falling into the bathtub. But I've gotten used to it now and my baby boy is a handsome little boy. And we STILL HAVE CURLS!! Here are some shots of Cope with his new haircut {and by the way..it is A LITTLE shorter than I prefer. Therefore, it will only be this short once}.

Fun Times

We are super excited for the construction that is currently underway at Aunt Sissy and Uncle Drew's house

A Pool!! And..

An Outdoor Room {this is currently still under construction. I am so excited about it. And how neat that the rock for the room was found on the farm?}
We spent the morning swimming. Getting babies tired and big kids hungry and getting the mamas some sun. I'm thinking with the Georgia heat we will be swimming through September {and no, I really don't worry about imposing :) }

{OK you can see I have been playing with the camera on my new phone. Fun, but I don't think I'll do many pictures like this. Makes the pictures kinda hard to see}

And oh my goodness..I think I'm about to cut his hair. I DO NOT want to. But I do think it's time. I seriously get SAD thinking about it. These beautiful curls are just such a part of him. I am so scared they won't come back. And EVERYONE tells me that. That as soon as I cut them they will be gone for good. Tear, Tear. I don't mind my hippie looking baby boy, but I do think we will probably cut it this weekend {me and Dru}.

Home Again

We just returned from several days in Clermont. Dru's sweet Pah passed away and we traveled down as soon as we could to be with Dru's family. Pah was the sweetest man. I know he and Goosie are just a smilin', together again, in Heaven. I have known Pah since the summer of 2001, and as I sat through his service, realized what I've always known. I didn't just love him because he was Dru's Pah, but I loved him because of who he was to me over the past 10 years. A funny firecracker of a man, who was also so sweet and kind to me. After Goosie passed away 2 years ago, Dru and I made the decision that we wanted to be very intentional with our time when it came to Pah and our children. Our 2 are very close with their great grandparents on my side, and understandably so, as they live right down the road. We decided distance wasn't going to deter us and as Pah's health declined, we tried to travel to Florida as much as we could. And we are blessed that Simms and Cope knew Pah, had that time with him and loved him too. My camera broke before our trip (boo hoo) but luckily I just got a new phone with a pretty decent camera, so these will have to do! But first, here is one of my favorite pictures..

Pah (Drury deGraffenreid Rambo) Dru (Donald Drury) and Cope. This was when we took Cope down so Pah could meet his first great grandson. Cope was around 6-7 weeks old.
We were thankful for Aunt KaKa's pool to help beat the Florida heat..


Papa, Becca, Lilla and Cousin O took an afternoon trip to visit Disney and brought our 2 back some mouse ears. Cope loved Simms' just as much as his..


It didn't affect his manliness too much. Evidence below..


Simms was even treated to a Mickey pancake one morning at a local restaurant..

Double Trouble..

And just get ready for this picture of Dru...I still cannot get over Cope's resemblance to him..

Even though it was for a sad occasion, we still had such a wonderful time with Dru's family. They are so much fun. From all the good eating, to funny stories, and just hanging out together, it was a special few days. We left Wednesday when Dru got off work and it took us about 6 hours (we arrived at 12:30) and Sunday our trip back took 7 hours (we were stuck in a wreck on 75 for an hour). The children traveled really well which is always a blessing, and Dru and I enjoyed time in the car together. Now we are gearing up for Simms' first day of preschool (August 31) and enjoying these last few lazy weeks of summertime! And trying to lose some of the pounds we put on in just 4 days (good thing I'm about to start boot campin')
Click here for an article on Pah in the Orlando Sentinel
And..I'm making myself get back on the blogging bandwagon!