2 years ago...

....we were celebrating my dad's birthday and the fact the leukemia was in remission. We had no idea it would be the last one we got to celebrate with him.  Today is his birthday again and it's his 2nd one to spend in heaven.. It's still so hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that he's gone.  There are some days I grab my phone to call him before I stop and remember he won't answer.  I miss him!  I thought it would get easier over time and in some ways it has.....I  enjoy my days with my kids and husband and am thankful for the things God has blessed us with, so I am having way more good days than bad ones!  But, there are still some moments....where the longing to hold his hand and kiss his cheek tugs at my heart so strongly....that is the part I don't think will ever change. 
          I had a really hard time on the "anniversary" of his death this year.  I constantly was reliving the day he died and the pain and agony we felt, but a sweet friend gently reminded me how much life he lived before that day.  So, I've been focusing on the "good" years.....not that there weren't good moments during his last years but he lived a whole life of them before he ever got cancer!  Since that day I've been making a list of every memory I have of my dad....specific stories, funny moments, favorite times together.  Not just for me, but to be able to tell my kids all about him!  I've begun sharing the stories with them and they giggle and laugh about them and in a way I feel like it gives them more memories of him...even if they are mine.
           So, today, on what would've been my dad's 58th birthday, I celebrate the life he lived....the WHOLE life!  I know he is loving being with Jesus and wouldn't come back if he could.  I am beyond grateful that one day I WILL hold his hand again and kiss his cheek!  Until then.....I will remember all that he taught me and the great Christian man he was!

    Daddy,
      Happy birthday to the most amazing man I know!  Thank you so much for always being a giver....giving us life, love, prayers, encouragement, and discipline. Thank you for never giving up on me and always believing in me!  Thank you for the chocolate chip pancakes and the notes in my school lunches...for teaching me how to drive and taking me to fly an airplane on my 16th birthday!  Thank you for teaching me what being a true friend really is and how important a relationship with Christ is!  Thank you for fighting to the very end...because you loved us!  I know you are celebrating with the King of Kings and loving every minute of it!  So, I will fulfill the only thing you asked of us and  I promise I will meet you there!  I love you, Daddy!
-Ang


Here are some of my favorite moments of Daddy!

                       Bella and Pop Pop coming to the hospital to meet Will and Carter!

                  

                                        Pop Pop and his boys!!

                                Pop and Lolli taking Bella on her first carousel ride!

                                  Pop Pop getting to hold Will for the first time...his namesake!!

So many GREAT memories!  I'm so thankful!

Soccer Time!

Well, we started soccer two weeks ago and so far they all are really enjoying it!  The boys are on the same team and Dan coaches it.  Their team name is the Heatwave.  Isabella is on an older team called Sweethearts.  She actually played last spring thru the Upward program in Hendersonville.  She liked it okay then but she was on a co-ed team with mostly boys and they were really aggressive, so she basically just tried to stay away from the ball most of the season!   This year it's an all girls team and she really loves it! 

    This was on our way to the fields.  Bella was getting her uniform right before the game and the boys didn't get in until after their first game so they used pinnies.

Their first games came on the HOTTEST and most humid day of the summer....at 3 and at 4 in the afternoon....there are no words to describe how miserable it was!  I kept being worried about them overheating so I just kept forcing them to drink and pouring water over their heads, but they not only still played, but they played GREAT!  Will scored 3 goals, Carter scored 2 and Bella scored 1!  And they all were missing other players on their teams, so all three kids had to play 3 quarters out of the 4! 

                        Here's Bella and her friend Sarah who is also in her class at school!

                    She's definitely more aggressive this year and focused on the field!  Which is a far cry from last spring when she was more likely to be dancing and singing "All the Single Ladies" than kicking the ball! :-)

                     Will has really suprised us, because Carter has always been fast and competitive and we were worried Will would be more like Bella was her 1st season, but he has been a rockstar!!  He's loves playing and is really great at stopping the ball and is a lot faster than we thought!  He's really aggressive, too!

    Look at his red face!  He was sooo hot!  Carter has been awesome, too! He is really good at getting the ball down to their goal and has assisted Will on many of his goal kicks.  It has been difficult for him to not be the one that is scoring the most goals b/c he is SOOO competitive, but it's a good lesson for him in teamwork.  He is great at getting the ball away from the other team and gets it to the other end of the field FAST!!!

Then the boys had their 2nd game this past Thursday night and their uniforms got here right before they played, thank goodness!  (When I say right before, I LITERALLY mean right before.  UPS delivered them 15 before we left for the fields!)   Aren't they cute!  They were missing 3 players at this game so Will had to play 3 quarters again and Carter played the entire game!

 

                         Here's my two soccer stars coming in at the end of a quarter!

                                            Here they are playing!

 

                   My sweet friend Jen and her little boys, Grady and Jett came to cheer us on!  Thanks guys!

                                                       Before this week's game!


Then two days later the boys played their third game and Bella played her 2nd!  By this time, they are really getting the hang of things and in Dan's words they "dominated"!!!   He's a proud daddy!  Will  scored 7 goals, Carter scored 2 and Bella scored 1 again (which doesn't sound like a big deal compared to the boys, but b/c she is in an older division it's much harder...so it is GREAT!)!    We got to have lunch with someone very special before our games, which is probably why they did so great!  :-)  Kiki (my sister Nikki) was in Texas with friends and drove an hour and a half to see us for a few hours!  It was awesome to get to hug her neck!  We'll get to spend more time with her in a couple weeks because she'll be coming back with my sister Natalie and my nephew Blake for a long weekend!  We can't wait!

       Thanks for coming, Kiki!  (And thanks for french braiding Bella's hair for me before the game!)  :-)

Grandparents Day...a week late! :-)

First of all, why did no one tell me how hard it is to keep up with a blog!  There have been so many nights I'm sitting down and I think "Oh, I need to update the blog."  But the effort it takes to log on, write a post and attach the pictures seems too much....so I procrastinate "just one more day".  :-)  It's been two weeks...oh, well!  i'll try to get better!

Obviously, last Sunday was Grandparents Day and while I'm late posting these pictures, I am proud of the fact that I actually remembered and the kids called all the grandparents on the actual day.....we were not late!  Enjoy that, grandparents....it might not happen again! :-)

So on Sunday afternoon we told the kids what the occasion was and I asked Bella to draw pictures of her and her grandparents.  This is what she drew...

This is Papaw and Nana Linz and Bella.  She said they were going to the store in this picture.  Fancy duds to go shopping in! :-)   Note the "puffy" sleeves she gave herself and Nana!  Too cute! 

 This is Bella and her Lolli and Pop!  Can I just tell you how happy it made my heart that when she imagines her grandparents she still imagines my dad being here!  She told me this was a picture of when Lolli and Pop took her to the aquarium (i.e. the fish in the blue box) and that Pop was holding her up to see something.  This was so precious to me because for those of you that don't know my dad passed away last summer after a 2 1/2 yr battle with cancer.  So I always wondered if she remembered any of my dad's "good days" .....and even though I don't think they ever actually took her to the aquarium, I love that in her mind he did!  (and I LOVE that she drew him with hair, b/c he didn't have hair that often in the last yr or so)  She also said she made her Lolli's dress different colors because she said she "always wears bright shirts and dresses".  ????  Not sure about that, but my mom is pretty cool so I think that's a compliment!!!

Our kids have been so blessed to have such amazing grandparents in their lives.  They are all such wonderful, Godly role models! 

Now, if I had been REALLY on my game I would've thought to have the kids call all the GREAT grandparents too that day, but the kids don't have very long attention spans so we'll have to break it up some.  :-)  My kids are so lucky, though, because they still have 7 Great Grandparents also!  We love them so much, too and enjoy all the time we get to spend with them!

So, to all the grandparents....hope your day was happy!  Thanks for loving us soooo much!  You are a gift from God!!

Boys 1st day of school

Yesterday was the day!  I was kind of sad because we LOVED our old school in Nashville and we had been there for so long it was hard to think about NOT being there yesterday when they started.  But, we have been blessed with a fantastic school here and one of my dearest friends is the director!  The boys get to be in the same class (which they haven't been since they were babies) and they really liked their teacher.  They had 9 kids in their class...7 boys and 2 girls!  :-)  Their teacher said they were both EXCELLENT and so well behaved which made Mommy and Daddy proud!   Will said his favorite part of school was Spaniosh class and Carter said his favorite part was playing with the Batman toys! 

                               Will and Carter before leaving for school! 

                              Will and Mrs. Dimps

                    Carter and Mrs. Dimps

Their teacher's name is actually Mrs. Dymphna (pronounced dimp-f-na).   She's Irish and has only lived in the States 7 years and has the prettiest accent!  So, since her name is a little hard to pronounce...the kids all call her Mrs. Dimps.  :-)

The exciting part about school for them is that I'm there with them everyday they go.  I am teaching a 3 year old class that is right next door to their class!  I met my kids last Wed. night at Meet the Teacher and we had a pretty good first day!  I was thankful that not one of my kids in my class cried which I did NOT expect...but was pleasantly surprised!!   My class is very boy heavy too...7 boys and 2 girls but they all seem very sweet!

Here are pictures of my classroom.....

   This is my door (it's a split door)  it says "Swinging into Mrs Angela's class"

Outside hall bulletin board and bananas as their tags on their hooks

     This is my teaching wall.  We do most of our circletime in front of this board.....calendar, days of the week, numbers, weather, letter of the week, shapes, etc...)   The shelf holds all my different centers.

         This one is harder to see but it sayd Monkey Mischief and I attach some of their art each week to the black pieces of construction paper to show off their work.

       Here you can see the top half of my door swung open. The monkeys on the wall are the colors.   This is one of the letter centers (magnet easel) and then a few toys we use for pretend play, cars, and reading center.

I'm very thankful the other ladies I work with are super sweet, too!  That always makes going to work more pleasant! 

So we made it thru our first day....here's to a great year of learning and fun!!!

Family, Friends and a whole lot of fun

As I am typing this I'm enjoying a cup of coffee and listening to the sounds of rain outside my window and I LOVE it!  Seriously, since we moved here I think it only has rained twice for 5 minutes each time.  Sometimes you just need a rainy day and I was long overdue so I am thankful for the rain today!  (And it helps that it's not 100 degrees this week.)  Angela + extreme temperatures = a grouch!  :-) 

We have had a busy couple of weeks!  The kids all started soccer practices.  Dan is coaching the boys team which is called The Heatwave and Bella is on a girls team called The Sweethearts.  They start games this Saturday so they are really excited!  Last week one night our friends, Chris and Brandi Exley, came over and hung out for the afternoon and evening because their air was out....we had a great time, but especially Bella and their little girl, Melia! They always play so sweet together!

  The girls after a bath and getting ready for bed! Aren't they cute?  As you can see Melia is pretty proud of the two teeth she's lost on the bottom!   :-)

We also got to have our first out of town company last week... my cousin, Andrew and my great uncle David came thru town and stayed with us Wed night and all day Thursday!  We had a great time going out to eat Tex-Mex, driving them around and showing them all the new stuff we've gotten here since we last lived here and shopping!  Although I will say I was disappointed Andrew didn't last more than 3 minutes in Sam Moon (a HUGE purse and jewelry warehouse)!  I tried to warn him but he didn't listen! :-)

 The kids giving Uncle David a hug before heading up to bed!


Like I said the weather has finally cooled off somewhat, so we enjoyed a fabulous Saturday morning riding bikes and playing at the playground at one of our parks!

                                     Daddy and Carter

                           Isabella excited about seeing kites!

                                 Bike riding!!

                         Will is too busy watching the kids who are fishing! :-)

They are at such a fun age!  Always loving to be busy!!

Well, I survived Bella's first week of kindergarten and she LOVED every minute!  Her highlights countdown (according to her) were:

5. Computer class....she cannot believe she gets to "do work" on a computer all by herself and that they each have an I-Touch to work on in their class!   My girl is High -Tech!

4.  Getting to be Queen of the Day on Thursday....this paper was sent home with her

I have no idea what "Queen of the Day" means or what it entails...but she was IT!!  That's all that mattered to her!

3.   Getting to go to the library.  (Apparently she likes any class that gets her out of the "classroom"...much like her mommy!  :-)

2.  Walking in by herself......on Friday.  Yes, it took me until Friday to be okay with it! :-)

1.  Getting to buy her lunch on Friday!  Her choices:  Strawberry milk, cheese pizza, and a pushup pop...super healthy, huh?!?!?    I went up and had lunch with her and decided to let her make her choices b/c I won't be able to go every Friday when she buys...those were her choices.  I guess I'll be "upping" her veggies and fruit intake when she's at home to offset that lovely meal! :-)

Will and Carter had a fun week! We tried to stay busy to keep from missing Bella...we went shopping, played at the playground, went swimming and I had to work 2 days so they stayed at the church where childcare was provided.  It's been nice to spend more time with just the 2 of them and I feel like they talk even more now that a certain sister isn't with us all day and dominating the conversation.  :-) 
We are getting pretty tan from being in the sun all summer! (Don't worry I had them "cover up" the private stuff!)  :-)   They look like they are wearing white shorts, don't they?!?!

We have learned that carpool lines can be long and boring, so they are thrilled that I let them watch movies in the car during that time!

                         This is our excitement for 30 + minutes every afternoon! :-)

 We are getting used to living here though and are enjoying so many aspects of it!  We love that we get to spend so much time together as a family! We are so thankful that Daddy has a job that he LOVES.  And it doesn't take him out of town all the time and we get to have dinner together every night!  You learn to appreciate those things after you go awhile without having them! Thankfully the weather has also cooled down somewhat and that makes mommy so much happier!   Angela + extreme weather of any kind = crazy lady   :-)