Simply Cindy

Daniel at 10…

March 11, 2013 by Cindy 1 Comment

Daniel is a whole decade now! It’s hard for me to believe, of course.

He’s such a sweet, friendly boy and here are some of his favorites at 10:
Color: black
TV show: Duck Dynasty
Place: Disney World- he is ours for sure!
Food: Creamy Italian Chicken
Drink: lemonade
Restaurant: El Paso
Part of school: P.E.
Book: Star Wars the Clone Wars character encyclopedia
Thing to play: Legos and figures

He’s such a smart boy and is doing well in school. He seems to be fitting right in at the new school. He ran his second 5K this weekend and beat his last time by 6 minutes. They have a running club at his school and he really enjoys being a part of that.

Daniel loves our new church and is enjoying the children’s choir. He’s playing Jesus in the upcoming program. He has so many lines to memorize!! He’s also still teaching himself piano and doing very well.
He started wearing glasses about 6 weeks ago. We knew that day would eventually come! Thankfully a lot of his friends wear glasses also, so it’s not that big of a deal. He still loves the computer and reading. He likes watching Ninja Turtles (and being silly) with his little brother.

Daniel is a kind boy, is fun to be around, and has been a joy as a part of our family this past decade!

Filed Under: Daniel, The kiddos

New Horizons…

February 16, 2013 by Cindy 1 Comment

With a new home, came new surroundings…and new horizons. Some right out of our front door, others right down the street…

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Forever Young…

January 29, 2013 by Cindy Leave a Comment

I’ve been having a Netflix marathon here lately and I now have this song on continual play in my head! Can’t help but think of my kiddos!

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you

May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you

May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift

May your heart always be joyful
May your song always be sung
May you stay forever young

Filed Under: Being a Mommy, Daniel, Luke, The kiddos

Luke at six…

January 7, 2013 by Cindy Leave a Comment

Luke is 6!! I know I always say it, but I can’t believe it! Time flies as a momma! He’s such a sweet, spunky boy. I asked him a few questions and here are his answers:

color: blue and red
food: There’s a lot of good stuff. Spaghetti and Chicken nuggets & French fries
drink: sweet tea

toy: Everything that I got for Christmas and my birthday!
TV show: Scooby Doo
book: Skippyjon Jones and Pete the Cat

restaurant: The Mexican restaurant
part of the school day: playground, no time to leave actually

Luke continues to bring such joy and laughter to our family! He’s such a funny and noisy boy. He is constantly humming or singing or playing the piano or playing with toys…loudly! He’s full of hugs and kisses and a stubborn streak a mile long. He loves music and studies the band at church on Sunday mornings. He just loves them! We call him the animal whisperer as well. Animals are drawn to him and he loves them all. He still loves Batman and is starting to get into Legos. He is doing well in school and takes it so seriously. This is such a relief! He’s such a fun member of the family and we love him very much!!

Filed Under: Luke, The kiddos

Sunday Scripture…

January 6, 2013 by Cindy Leave a Comment

Filed Under: Sunday Inspiration, Sunday Scripture

Looking back, Looking forward…

January 2, 2013 by Cindy 5 Comments

I’ve been trying to figure out how to get back to blogging the past few months, and I’ve decided to just do it! To just start writing. And the first day of the new year seems fitting to both look back and look forward.
Looking back…
It’s been a little over 4 months since I’ve updated my blog. Luke has gone from a crying, scared little boy on the first day, to a wonderful, school loving, December student of the month. He really likes school, is learning so much and takes it so seriously!

Daniel is loving school as well and in true Daniel style has made tons of new friends. His grades are awesome and he’s loving running in the Running Club at his school. He ran his first 5K back in November.
Dan is loving the new church. He’s enjoying the work and the sweet people.
I just knew when we moved that I would get a job and all of our pieces would fall nicely into place. I had a couple of interviews this summer, but still nothing. I was told at one interview that I was 1 of 517 applicants. So, to say that getting a teaching job here is difficult is an understatement. To be perfectly honest, I’ve been very down in the dumps about not having my own classroom. It’s been hard to send both of my children off to school and be left with an empty house during the day. The lack of paycheck is difficult as well. I’ve subbed a little and fortunately I got a part job working in a 4th grade classroom 2 1/2 days a week. I’m hoping between the two things, it will help me get my foot in the door and in my own classroom soon.

December has helped my mood tremendously. I just love it. It is our craziest month times 10, but I love the holiday season! December was full of carols, elf antics, birthdays, family, and of course Christmas!

The boys were in the children’s Christmas pageant at church and they did such an awesome job! Daniel was the angel Gabriel, sang in the choir, a trio and played the piano on two songs. I was really impressed. He still hasn’t had piano lessons, but has taught himself numerous Christmas songs. Luke has learned a lot of Christmas songs on the piano as well, but he is constantly singing a carol. My favorite might be “O Well” aka “Noel”.

Jeremy, Santa’s elf returned and the kids were thrilled. Luke got up early every morning to find him and cried when he left.

Jeremy even made a one day return for Luke’s birthday on the 27th.

Daniel turned ten on the 17th, which seems impossible. I’ve been at this parenting thing for a decade now! Daniel invited a few boys over for a bonfire the weekend before his birthday. It was fun! The boys roasted marshmallows and made s’mores. They also ran around and played flashlight tag in the dark. It was declared an awesome birthday party, so that’s good!

Luke chose to make his own birthday cake and have family pizza and movie night. I thought it was so sweet that he wanted us to all be together to celebrate his special day. Both boys requested scavenger hunts to find their birthday presents. Their awesome Daddy came up with clues that lead them around to their gifts. Fun!

We’ve had lots of family time lately which has been great! We started at Thanksgiving with Dan’s parents (oh, and we snuck in one day at Disney when we were visiting), visited both of my grandparents, my parents were here for Christmas and Dan’s brother and family came for New Years! Lots of fun!

Christmas was great as well. The boys loved their gifts and were very appreciative. We had a low, key relaxing day and it was just perfect!

Looking ahead…
2013 is going to be great, I’m declaring it so! Ha! I really don’t know what it will bring, but I’m praying for positive things for our little fam. I’m going to continue to try and focus on my blessings over my trials (ugh, why isn’t that easier?), keep things simple, and have peace become stronger than stress! Tall orders!
Happy 2013! May it be a good one!

Filed Under: Christmas, Dan, Daniel, Disney, Elf fun, Family, Holidays, Look Back, Luke, The kiddos, Updates, Vacation

The First Day…

August 22, 2012 by Cindy Leave a Comment

Monday was the first day of school and I think every family member was excited and a little nervous!

It was a brand new school for both kids and Kindergarten for Luke!! Luke has a hard time with new things, so I was a little nervous with how he would do.

I thought my boys looked so handsome in their new uniforms and big smiles! Luke is super proud of his dinosaur backpack and matching lunchbox.

Daniel said it looked like I was taking mug shots!

Dan took the boys to school, because we thought Luke would have a harder time with me dropping him off.

The poor little dude had a hard morning. He hysterically cried when Dan left him and the Reading teacher took him to her office to play and calm down before he went to class. The principal was awesome with him, she really wanted him to have a positive school experience and took time with him that morning helping him calm down and be okay in his classroom. I was a little upset that he was having a rough morning, but I was so pleased that he was being taken care of and loved on to help him adjust. The principal called Dan a couple of times~ first to say Luke wasn’t calming down yet, but they were working with him and then mid-morning to say that he finally calmed down and was doing great.

Oh my goodness, what a morning. It wasn’t easy for me send my baby off to Kindergarten anyway and then for him to be so upset was tough! The principal was going to meet him at the car for drop off Tuesday to walk him to class herself, but she didn’t need to. Luke bopped out of the car and right to his class… AND came running to the car at pick up saying “Awesome!” What a relief!!! He did great this morning also!

Luke was telling me about his first day and I thought his voice sounded a little different, so I had him look at me… and he was missing a tooth! He had a loose tooth and said he pulled it himself at PE, but didn’t tell anyone! He stuck it in his pocket and lost it. Daniel wrote a note for him to put under his pillow that night. It was quite a day of firsts for my little man!!

Daniel has had a great week! He is loving his class and is such a happy go lucky kiddo and sweet boy!

I think we might survive this first week afterall!!

Filed Under: Being a Mommy, Daniel, Luke, School, The kiddos

The winding down of summer…

August 19, 2012 by Cindy Leave a Comment

Summer has come to an end and the kiddos are heading to school in the morning. I’m both ready and not. I’ve enjoyed our time together this summer and am not ready for my littlest man to head to Kindergarten! I think I could handle another year at home with him. He’s ready though. I’m curious to see how he reacts in the morning…. I’m not sure he will go easily.

The last part of our summer has involved a lot of chillin’ indoors~ thanks to hot temps and daily thunderstorms. It’s been crazy!

We also had a quick trip up to the lake.

I am now halfway to 70 as my dad so nicely pointed out on my birthday.

Poor little Luke caught a fever virus twice in two weeks. He was miserable, but thankfully it didn’t last long either time.

We got together the boys school supplies which was an insane amount of stuff. They always kept the list fairly short where we lived before, but not here! We had to buy uniform clothes too. Daniel was not too thrilled with the uniform idea.

The boys are warming right up to the new area. Daniel has already gone to two different boys houses to play. He was super excited to find out that he is in the same class as one of his church buddies. It should be a pretty cool year for him. His class is an inquiry based class and he will share a table with one other child and they will share a computer. I’m excited to see how this goes!
Daniel was running around the school like he owned it by the end of meet your teacher the other night. Luke…not so much. He was super excited all day long until we got there. A lot of people and activity really shuts him down, so he wanted no part of it. He finally warmed up and went in to met his new teacher. He already knows a little girl in his room from church and our neighbor will be in another K class, so that may be helpful!

Bad self portraits before Meet the Teacher

Well, summer is done and fall is here…ready or not!

Filed Under: Being a Mommy, Daniel, Family, Luke, School, Summer, The kiddos, The Lake, Updates

Summer, lately…

July 19, 2012 by Cindy Leave a Comment

This has been quite the summer! Newness, stress, happiness, and fun abound!

We’ve been on our park hunt and the kids have found a pretty cool little one down the road a bit that they really enjoy. They’ve also been enjoying riding their bikes on the trail.

The boys are loving our neighbors kittens {Luke especially}. He carries one of the little kittens like a baby. He will even sit on the porch and pet it while it naps on him!

We also have had a fun week with cousins! They came to visit us for a week and it rained the entire time they were here. I think the boys still managed to have a lot of fun!!