Tony's Tigers

John Mark played his first soccer game on Saturday.
The term "played" is, of course, relative...



His team, Tony's Tigers, is a bunch of kids from church.
You've got Carmine, who just wants to play with the flags on the sidelines...
Rhett, who has more athletic ability in his 3-year-old body than ME...
Sweet Leslie, whose older sister has taught her a thing or two...
Coach Tony, who tried so very hard to pitch the concept of soccer to this motley crue...
John Mark- we'll get there later...
Cassady, who enjoys picking her nose and scoring for the other team...
Haley, who also has it going on...
And sweet Logan- who just wanted to kick the ball.

John Mark started out promising- he was kicking the ball so well... Although, he didn't quite grasp the concepts of: A- not using his hands and B- chasing the ball post kick...

He took a time-out from playing to do the hot-dog dance...

And when it was his turn to sit-out, he walked over and said:

"Coach Tony said I'm done...

Can I get my donut now?"

But he stayed with it...

and had fun- which I suppose is the point of Tiny Tot soccer.

John Mark even comes with his very own cheering crew-

Reminds me of my glory days playing basketball...

The whole fam out to watch.

John Mark is a blessed, blessed little boy and he doesn't even know it!

Stay tuned for more soccer updates.

This can only get better!

favorite bible verse night

Last night was "dress like your favorite bible verse" night at Pre-Stomp. Since I forgot about this unitl 10:00 the night before, I had to come up with something quick and easy. John Mark loves the verse: "I'm the apple of His eye..." so, may I present:

i may or may not have...

*bought Party in the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus last night

*danced to an unnamed Miley Cyrus song while running

*enjoyed a braum's frozen yogurt while watching The Biggest Loser

*cried when Abby got to call her mom during TBL

*forgotten until 10 PM that I have to dress JM up as his favorite bible verse tonight for church

*become obsessed with "Payday Mix"- candy corn & peanuts- and eaten 2 or 3 or 10 handfuls

*been excited that a blog reader saw me around town and recognized me... i feel so famous!

family photos

My sweet, sweet friend Sara took family photos of us this afternoon.
Check us out on her blog-
I can't wait to see the rest of them!

a lesson in snuggling

Last night, we were putting John Mark to bed per usual.
After singing and praying and saying Bible verses,
he looked at me and Micah and said-
"I want you to snuggle me...
Daddy- little bit (insert thumb, finger close together)
Mommy- WHOLE LOT (two hands stretched out)
little bit (fingers to micah)
whole lot (hands to me)
little bit... whole lot...
Got it?"

Seriously- funniest kid ever.

this would happen

So, my life has a way of always being strange...
or strange things happening to me...
Jamie calls it my "beacon."
It's so true... I'm like that 1% of everything.

This morning, I decided I wanted a smoothie.
Now would probably be a good time to point out-
I haven't wanted a smoothie in about a year...
That means the blender has been in the cabinet-
for about a year.

I pull everything out, dust out the inside-
Take a peek and then pour in my milk.
I add a handful a peaches...
And then I see it.
Something brown and crunchy-
with antennaes...
FLOATING in my milk.

Immediately I start screaming.
I'm yelling for Micah...
"There's a bug in the blender...
A BUG is in the BLENDER...
PLEASE GET THE BLENDER..."

John Mark is dancing around singing
"Mommy's blending a bug...
Blend the bug mommy"

Micah is laughing hysterically,
"It's just extra protein...
What's the big deal?"

And I am dry heaving in the corner.

Welcome to my life, friends.
Welcome to my life.

look mommy, i dressed myself

process of a haircut

Saturday was haircut day for the Rigdons.
Well, really just for John Mark-
He needed his "first day of school" haircut.

Now if you remember, JM's not a huge fan of haircuts.
After this lovely little incident, we bought clippers.
I decided it would be better for us to inflict this trauma.

So Saturday morning, we laid out a sheet,
turned on Phineas and Ferb,
and went to town.

The first part of the haircut went off without incident.
He sat still, watched TV and even laughed a little.
I thought we were going to make it.



But then Micah had to switch sides...
And do the bottom of his neck...
And trim around his ears...
And all peace and calm flew right out the window.
There was much weeping and gnashing of teeth.



But then it was over.
And all was well.
John Mark was happy with his new hair-
"I love my hew haircut, mommy."
He was also happy with his ice cream.
Mommy, however wasn't happy with the cleanup.
Can you believe this crazy amount of hair???


Thank goodness for vacuums...

first day of school

John Mark starts preschool today.
I'm excited for him- he has awesome teachers.
But I'm also sad.
PRESCHOOL???
It just sounds so grown up...

He was excited to wear his new "wolverine" shirt.
And show off his new haircut.
He was not excited when I told him they don't get a snack.
I'm not too thrilled with that either,
but that's another story.

A sweet college freshman, Haleigh, watches him for an hour each morning,

Then brings him to me to walk over to school.

It's a nice system, and JM loves Haleigh.

Unfortunately, today I forgot to have her bring his bag-

which has his lunch...

Fortunately we don't live far.

And Micah is at the eye doctor.

So he's bringing the bag to him.

This is John Mark with his teacher, Ms. Casey.
She is awesome.

I know her from my brief year at CLC.

I'm excited he gets to be a part of her class.

Here he is, playing puzzles with his friend Leslie.

I was trying to be sneaky when I took this,

but he obviously sees me.

So to sum it up, I'm excited for John Mark's year of preschool.

I know he will learn a TON,

and hopefully make some new friends.

I'm not excited that he's big enough to be doing this.

He should still be a baby...

many faces

John Mark has many faces.
Last night, he as in a good mood and willing to take pictures
(which never happens!)
so we laid on the floor making faces.

fishy face

sad face

silly face

surprised face

getting too big

Seriously- where did the summer go?
I can't believe it's almost September...
or that my baby is 3 and starts Pre-STOMP tonight at church...
And preschool next Tuesday.
It's MADNESS, I say!

Anyway, tomorrow night is meet the teacher night at "school."
I'm so excited about the two ladies teaching preschool.
I love both of them and I know that John Mark will too.

Did I tell you that John Mark is potty trained?
It finally happened.
He just decided to go in the potty
Since his 3rd birthday, he's had maybe 3 accidents.
Awesome.

These pictures are from last night.
JM decided that he wanted to sleep in "just boxers."
And he looked so cute, I had to take pictures.

3

It was three years ago, RIGHT NOW, that I was laying in a hospital bed, getting prepped for a C-section...

Oh, if only I could have truly known how my life was about to change.

Actually, I take that back...
I'm glad I didn't know.
Not knowing was (and still is!!) half the fun.

So I thought we'd take a little step back in time and see what each year has held for us

This photo was taken pretty much as soon as JM was born.
I can still remember how sweet he was, how snuggly and warm.
It seems like yesterday... and forever ago all wrapped into one...

That first year was full of SO MANY firsts...
teeth, sitting, crawling, walking, babbling...
first car trips, play dates, ice cream...

To all you new and soon-to-be mommies:
TREASURE THIS BABY TIME!!
They grow up wayyy too fast and before you blink,
you're at:

The first birthday

As we move on into the next year, we had more growth and changes...
talking, singing, SCHOOL...
sleeping through the night, sippy cups, haircuts...
birthday parties, weddings, dancing...
What a year!

The Second Birthday

I think that this year brought more changes than a little boy should deal with...
I went back to work...
Micah changed jobs...
We moved...
and LOTS of other new things:
big boy bed, spankings, vacation...
weeks at bb & poppy's house, the ocean, a cousin!
What a blessing this sweet, flexible, easy going boy is!

The Third Birthday

I wonder what this year will hold...
I'm guessing lots of laughing, hugs and kisses...
probably a few fits, some tears and owies...
but one thing I KNOW-
this year will be filled with LOVE.
And hopefully each year John Mark will realize not only
how much I love him...
how much his daddy loves him...
but how much GOD loves him...

This is my prayer everyday.

adventures in potty training

I have to say, after a long summer,
I think we're getting somewhere.
In fact, I think I would say John Mark is 90% potty trained.

Ok, ok, so maybe it's more like 85%...

Anyway, I've learned some things through this whole process.

For example,
Just because he says he wants to wear big boy underwear,
and he promises to tell you when he needs to potty,
doesn't mean he will.

In fact, he might just empty his bladder right there,
while looking at himself in the mirror,
leaving a giant puddle in the floor of the store.

And just when I convince myself he's too young,
that maybe he can't control it yet...

I find him in a friend's playhouse,
"maybe going poop"
And when I beg him to hold it,
he actually makes it to the potty.
Thus proving to me that this is a matter of the will.

And the will in question...
well, it's pretty darn strong.

I've also discovered that potty training leads to some interesting
(and by interesting, i mean hilarious) conversations...

Like the day he announced...
"Mommy, i need to pee-pee FIRST
so my poop has something so swim in."

5 years

I have been married for 5 years.
FIVE years.
That sounds like such a long time to me.
And yet it seems like a day ago...

Five years ago we said our vows,
each with different picturs of our life.
We both had our plans and dreams,
and while of course we had talked and planned,
each had our own secret hopes...
our personal dream of how our life would turn out.

If you had asked me then whose dream would win,
I would have said mine.
I always get my way.

But to quote the mister:
"baby, you completely underestimated just exactly how okay i am with the rest of the world not being okay with my decisions."

A truer statement has never been spoken.

And you know what,
I'm glad he "won."
Life is simpler his way.

So in short,
Nothing is as I ever imagined it.
Nothing has gone according to my "plan."

Everything is better.

"I was a little girl
alone in my little world
who dreamed of a little home for me.
I played pretend between the trees,
and fed my houseguests bark and leaves,
and laughed in my pretty bed of green."
--priscilla ahn

we will remember

Isn't it so true that we are bent on forgetting.
We can go through something so powerful,
so life-changing, so totally GOD...
and years later we've completely forgotten.

“But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren." Deuteronomy 4:9

Today at church, we remembered.

It was moving to remember-
Christ's sacrifice...
His sovereignty...
His power...

It was powerful to remember-
how He saved me...
how He changed me...
how He lifted me from the pit...

It was awesome to remember the stories-
of His faithfulness throughout the Bible...
of His salvation in my own life...
of His hand in the lives of friends...

May we never forget.

"When we walk through life's darkest valleys
We will look back at all you have done
And we will shout, 'Our God is good!!!'
For He is the faithful one...

We will remember the works of your hands
And we will stop and give you praise
For great is your faithfulness"
--Tommy Walker

try to be better

I was mildly scolded by some of my faithful followers this weekend when visiting my parents, so I will try to do better at updating!

Here are some recent photos of John Mark and a couple of funny stories about the goober.

On Sunday night he came up to me and said "Mommy, I think that maybe I need to use your phone. I need to text Kelly."

I have to say- having an "almost 3 year old" is teaching me a lot about myself. For instance: I start a lot of sentences with "I Think". Also, I use the words maybe and probably quite a bit too. John Mark tends to enjoy putting all of those things together into one sentence, which makes for some hilarious thoughts, I'm not going to lie.

Also- I think maybe (see, I just typed that from my thoughts without even realizing what I was thinking!!) I text a little too much...

Tuesday night, John Mark and I went to a party for staff wives from church and their kiddos. We played games and ate yummy food. John Mark thoroughly enjoyed playing with the big kids and kept up with the biggest of them. My sweet friend Amy gave us a ride, along with 3 of her kiddos. As we're driving, John Mark loudly proclaims: "Hey! Don't pick your nose. That's gross!" He was talking to Amy's youngest son, Aiden. So funny!

And now for a poop story, since we haven't had one of those in a while. We're working on potty training, really we are. And we are just SO close.....

At the party, I went outside to bring JM in so we could pray and eat. I found him hiding in the little playhouse, and he said "mommy, I think I probably pooped." Since I hadn't brought anything with me I told him to stop pooping so I could take him to the potty. Fortunately, he hadn't pooped just yet, and I ran him in to the bathroom where he immediately sat down and let it go. It might have been my proudest moment of the month.

slacker, i know

I sincerely apologize for my lack of posting.
To make up for it, here are some fun pics from the last month or so!

silly boy

with "Ranga-Roo" at VBS

the river in Tulsa

park on the River

"cry, uncle kyle"

"look, mommy- i'm a turtle"

new best friend, hudson

home.

We are home from camp.
I am beyond exhausted.
Not to mention every part of me hurts.
I am too old for my competitiveness...
But it was totally worth it.
My team took REC CHAMPS.
I'll post pics and stories tomorrow.
For now, I'm going to take some Advil PM and sleep.
Tomorrow I get my boy back!