HOLLY-YOO-YAH

We are getting ready for Christmas a little early this year. Last Thursday, I let Ella, Griffin, Taylor, and Tyler help me put up the tree. They were so helpful and loved putting ornaments on the tree and we only broke one. lol... The kids have been singing Christmas songs that Mr. Fuller (their music teacher) has been teaching them. Ella's favorite is hallelugah or Holly-yoo-yah (as she says it.) I am not quite sure what the song is, but this is the only line she knows. Griffin loves Jingle Bells and will shout it everywhere where we go. It is too cute. Today, Griffin brought home a frame he made at school with his picture in it. Around the frame were all of the things he is thankful for and here is his list.
1. Snakes (This was first) lol
2. Mom and Dad
3. Sister
4. My own bed
5. Nanny
6. Grandpa

I hope everyone has a very Happy Thanksgiving!!

Nice Surprise

Donna and Jerry decided to drive in Friday and buy a car from Gabe and visit. We were so excited and enjoyed their visit very much just wish it were a little bit longer. Griffin particularly enjoyed "Papa Jerry" and was very affectionate with him. Just want to tell them Thank You so much for driving in and hanging out with us!! We love you guys!

Report Card Time and Parent Teacher Conferences

I went to Ella and Griffin's parent teacher conferences last Thursday. I went to see Ella's teacher first and she said that Ella was doing great, a joy to have in class, and very mature for her age. She also said that she listens very well and takes direction easily. Pretty much a teacher's dream :) Well then I went to Griffin's class..Haha.. I was pretty sure of what she would say but i thought I would share some of the highlights.
1. Griffin is very stubborn but very sweet at times (This is very true)
2. He is the youngest in the class but tells them he is five even when they try to teach him that he is three. He doesn't care and insists that he is indeed five. (He even does this at home, he just refuses to accept the fact that he is three.)
3. He knows most of his colors except brown (which he says is chocolate), gray, and white
4. He says that he doesn't know his parents names which I know for a fact he does because he calls me Brandy Gossett when he wants my attention. And he also always says Gabe Gossett. So I think he just wants to be ornery.

After leaving the conferences I just had to laugh because I figured Griffin's would go that way. His teacher really enjoys his personality but it makes it a little difficult when she is trying to teach him new things and he already thinks he knows it all..lol....

Love him

I must give props to my wonderful husband Gabe. I love how I can put him in any situation, i.e. h.s reunion and he just mingles and talks to everyone while I do the same. I think people usually end up liking him more than me. He is so great and I love how easy going he is and he LOVES to make sure everyone is having a good time. He is the best, and I am so proud that he is with me :)

10 Year Reunion

This past weekend was my high school reunion. I had so much fun and stress planning this event that I am exhausted from it all. We had so much fun talking and hanging out with old friends. It is funny that you feel like you just pick up where you left off ten years ago. We all hung out and danced until 2 a.m and I can't recall the last time I have stayed up that late and had that much fun. I had a group of truly great friends and I miss them all but hopefully we will all continue to stay in touch!~

School Picture

I just wanted to post Ella's first school picture. I think that they turned out pretty good. I never took a good school picture so I am so glad I at least got one good one. Griffin's have not came in yet but I will post them when they do.

New Bible

We tried a new church a couple of weeks ago and we really liked it. The preacher was awesome and he put things into context in a way that I could completely understand. We have been trying to find a new church that both Gabe and I like. He definitely likes more of the Baptist atmosphere and I was brought up Lutheran so definitely lean that way. I really hope that we can find a common ground and can find a church that feels like home and one that we can bring our kids up in. I feel like that is the one thing lacking for us and I really want to work on that now that the kids are old enough to participate. I bought a new bible today to begin studying some things on my own. It is a devotional bible and is based around building a strong family unit and marriage. I am really excited about starting to read it!

Will it ever end?

SO as you know the kids and I have had our fight with the flu the past couple of weeks. Well over the weekend, Gabe caught the worst of it. He was so sick and I felt so sorry for him. I have never seen him that weak and it scared me a little. His back started hurting today so he made another trip to the doctor and they think he may have kidney stones. We are going back to the doctor at 8 a.m. for more tests. I pray that is not this because I have heard how painful it is. My dad called when he finally passed his and you would've thought he had just had a baby he was so excited to be out of pain. I will update as soon as we find out something from the doctor.

"Bad Notes"

So in the past 5 days of school, Griffin has managed to get into trouble 3 times. I don't understand why he is acting out at school. The first day he pinched a little girl for not sharing her toy, so we had a long talk about not pinching and how it hurts and he wouldn't want someone pinching him. He seemed to understand what we were saying, so we thought we had made some progress. The next incident was with peeing on the playground. And now yesterday, yet another note and a trip to the principal's office. Apparenly there was a little boy on a bike and Griffin wanted it. Since the boy wasn't willing to give the bike, Griffin took a rock and hit him in the head. He lost the rest of his recess and he had a note sent home. The principal actually brought him to the car yesterday to explain what he had done. I never thought he would act like this at school. He has attended a two day mothers day out before and this never happened. I guess he is definitely going to make Gabe "pay for his raising" so to speak. Today when I dropped him off he went in and apologized to his teacher and the child, so I am praying there will be no more "bad notes" from school~

Congratulations to Anna!

I know it has been about a week, but since I just got started with this blog i feel it is ok. I wanted to say Congrats to my best friend ANNA for passing the AR bar!! She is now licensed in GA and AR. I guess I now have an attorney on retainer if I ever need it, which will hopefully be never! :) So Congratulations Anna from the Gossett's!!

Ultimate Georgia Fan Halloween Costume

Gabe's mom (Meme) sent Griffin this awesome Halloween/Dress Up costume. Gabe is going to be soo excited when he sees it. I love that they find all of these unique Georgia items because around here all you can find is Arkansas Razorbacks or Cardinals. Griffin loved the costume and I had to post some pictures to share! Thanks Meme!!

Trying to explain....

Gabe and I picked up all four kids from school yesterday. Ella, Taylor, Tyler, and Griffin were all in the car and we decided to drive by Gabe's granny's grave because it is on the way home. There was a funeral in the cemetary and so the kids decided to ask a lot of questions about death and how people end up in cemetaries. My mom lives right across from the cemetary and so a couple of weeks ago, Ella told Gabe that her NaeNae knew lots of people who were "married there." I think she misunderstood when NaeNae tried to explain about people being buried. Well yesterday, she knew a little more because Gabe had explained it. She was explaining to Taylor and Tyler that people were buried there. This is something they already knew because they have been to a funeral for a friend of the family there. They started asking us "Who buries you?" We told them that as you get older, like really really old, you will die and your kids will bury you. And so on and so on. Ella, as sweet as could be, told me that she was buring us and then coming right to heaven to be with us. Tyler was in the back seat and thinking about this all very much and looked up and said "Well I guess Griffin will be burying us then." It was too cute and Gabe and I laughed about it all the way home. I guess he figured the idea of any of them having kids was too much to take in, so he'd just let Griffin do it..haha.. I love listening to kids and the things they say :)

First cake baked together as a family

Since Ella was feeling better towards the end of the day today, we decided we would bake a cake together after dinner. I usually don't let her cook with me because it makes such a mess, but I am trying to look past the mess so that she can help out. She loves cooking and is always asking lots of questions while I am doing anything in the kitchen. I figured a basic cake in the box would be a good first time experiment with her. First I let her break the eggs, which was prob a big mistake because half of the shell landed in the bowl. I tried to get out as much as I could but lucky for us, Gabe and Griffin aren't the pickiest of eaters and probably never noticed. :) She did really well mixing the batter and pouring the cake in the pan. I have posted some pics to share and some of Griffin and Gabe enjoying the leftovers. Enjoy!

Operation: Disinfect

So it is only the fourth week of school and Ella has already missed her second day of school. The first week of school, she caught a virus and was so sick. Last night she came to my room at 1:00 a.m and said her throat was hurting. The next thing I know she was feverish and vomiting. I felt so sorry for her. She is just like me and when she gets sick she panics just like I do. I don't like the feeling of losing control of what my body is going to do or not having control over how I feel. I just wish when my kids were sick I could take away everything. I feel helpless. She stayed home from school today and is finally starting to feel a little better. Hopefully she will be back at school tomorrow!

Boys will be boys

When Gabe picked up Griffin and Ella from school yesterday he knew something was wrong because the teacher came to the car to talk to him. She said that she had a "funny" incident happen on the playground today and that she needed us to talk to Griffin and explain that it wasn't appropriate behavior. Apparently when the class was outside for playtime, Griffin decided it was a good time to go to the bathroom so he just whipped it out and started peeing. I am not quite sure where he has picked up this habit, but he did the same thing the other day at Blake's except he didn't just pee. We were mortified but laughed it off and had a talk with Griffin.


It went something like this:
Me: Griffin, now you know that you can't pee on the playground. You need to go to the bathroom if you need to go potty right?
Griffin: I don't want to go to the bafroom, I want to pee in the sand.
Me: (Grossed out by the thought of peeing in the sand and thinking about all the times i have played in the sand with my kids at a playground) But we don't do that, that isn't very nice and I want you to use the bathroom.
Griffin: No me ain't (This is is his favorite phrase)

I am just praying that after reiterating the importance of the bathroom that he will actually use it today. lol

They are all 5 years old!

My nephew Blake celebrated his birthday yesterday in Little Rock. Gabe and I got up early and made the drive down with Ella, Griffin, Taylor, and Tyler. Brooke was unable to go because she was working so we volunteered to take my niece and nephew. The party was a huge success and the kids never get tired of playing in anything that is inflated and allows for bouncing and two hours of nonstop running and playing. It is the only time of the year that Blake and the other three cousins are all 5 years old. I love that they are all so close and I hope that it stays that way forever. The way they all light up when they are together is priceless!

Baby Showers and More!

This weekend was a very busy weekend for me. My best friend of almost ten years is having her first baby in October. Together with her sister and cousin-in-law Courtney we decided to throw her a baby shower on Saturday. Since she is my best friend and she has been there for me through my two pregnancies, I wanted her baby shower to be extra special. I was in charge of the cake and invitations. I ordered the cake from Jenny Box and it was amazing. You should check out her blog, http://www.apieceofcakejonesboro.blogspot.com/, her cakes are delicious. I had a little trouble getting the cake to the shower which caused me to almost have an accident which definitely wouldn't have been good for the cake or my nerves. The shower was at Courtney's house, which is down a gravel road. After I was almost there and driving as I normally do, I noticed that the two tier cake was seperating from being bounced around. I freaked out but everyone assured me that it still looked perfect and was fine. The shower went perfectly and I had perfect co-hostesses. Courtney is the ultimate party planner and I don't know what I would ever do without her. I still have another baby shower in a couple of weeks for another of one my best friends, Amy. She is due in early November. It is so weird because her and Jamie got married a week apart and are now having babies a little over a week apart. They are both expecting little boys and I can't wait to meet them! I just feel blessed to get to be a part of it all!!