THE FAIR

Scott and I took the afternoon off today and took Kate to the State Fair after school. It was sooooo cold! Less than 2 weeks ago, we were still sweating to death...go figure! Kate loves riding just about any ride and loves climbing the big slide with her daddy...good thing, because I am not a fan of climbing all of those steps! HA!

GO DAWGS

Ring that cowbell

Loving the slides

Kate and Perry Powell

Not sure what we did in September besides get back into the swing of school, because I don't have a single picture from last month...oh well, we have been enjoying taking Kate to Starkville for the football games. She loves all the activity...I will be glad when she is mature enough that I don't have to worry about her wandering off like she did at the first game of the season...surprised I didn't have to be hospitalized after that!...it was as hot as blazes, our tailgate area was soooooo crowded and two things i don't like are heat and unnecessary crowds...and guess what, neither does Kate...I turned my head for a second to clean up a mess and she was GONE!!! When I tell you it was so crowded, I mean it was wall to wall people and I started crying knowing there was NO WAY I would ever find her!!! I was that hysterical momma screaming her name and totally about to lose it when out of the corner of my eye, I spy her sitting under a tent that no one else is in but her...When I get to her (before I about shook the life out of her) I said, "Kate what are you doing?" to which she frankly replied, "Mom, I just wanted to be by myself." I totally got it and in fact, 10 minutes before the game started, I made Scott go and get the car so that Kate and I could go home because while games are fun, sometimes there is no place like home...and it started raining while we were loading up and besides heat and crowds, I also don't do football in the rain. Bless Scott's heart, he LOVES football season and was so excited about the first game, but he piled in the car to go home with us instead of staying with friends.

SESAME STREET LIVE

Ready for the show to start
Oscar the Grouch

Abby Cadabby

Zoe

Wow!

Scott and I took Kate to Sesame Street Live for the second year in a row and she was so excited. She told everyone before going that she would be sitting on the front row and she was. It was so great because all of the characters would come down on the floor at some point and hug her or shake her hand...she was in heaven!

FIRST DAY OF PRESCHOOL

At home before the big day sporting the name tag!

Marking the day outside the front door of school


Running to her class!

Kate with her teacher, Mrs. Lana Perkins...too busy to pose!

Kate wins the prize for being non-compliant!

Well the big day has come and Kate is in Preschool!!! She is going to school 3 days a week at Pinelake Christian Preschool which is at our church and across from PCS where I teach. She rides to school with me and our sweet friend Gayle Matherne picks her up and takes her across the street for school. She was so excited on her first day...I was so scared that I would cry, but surprisingly, I did not! I was quite proud of myself. Thanks to my sweet friend (and parent of one of my students), Dana Graf and her precious daughter Breanna, I was able to leave my classroom to take Kate for her first day of school! She literally ran to her classroom...I could barely get pictures. When we got to her room, all of the other children were sitting at tables playing with playdough and the teacher said, "Kate, come sit down and play with some playdough", to which Kate replied, "No thanks" and hopped over to the toys! I was mortified being a teacher and tried to get her to come sit down. Her precious teacher said, "It's fine if she gets something else out", but I was still completely embarrassed that my child was the only one who wouldn't do what she was supposed to...dear Lord, I know you and I will have lots of talks about this in the years to come!!! :0) The last picture posted above shows all the kids sitting and the teacher talking and Kate hopping around behind her...gracious!!! Scott almost died when he saw the picture and heard the story!

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

We got back from the beach just in time for the 4th with a group of old friends. We all gathered at the Powells super fun pool and the only pics I took were of Kate eating a cookie!!!! I have got to buy a smaller camera that just fits in my pocket so that I can carry it around anywhere. Well, at least it is a cute picture.

THE JASPERS LOVE THE BEACH

To say that we love the beach is a huge understatement...we love everything about it (except for the fact that I am still not thin, when i vowed that i would be while we were here last year...oh, well, maybe 2010 will be better!)...Kate's swimming lessons definitely paid off...she is swimming up a storm...in fact, we couldn't even go down to the beach but once, because she just wanted to swim!!! People kept stopping us at the pool to remark at what a good swimmer she was to be so little. She jumped in the deep end, which is of course over my head before i could tell her NO!!! she didn't seem to mind that we both almost drowned as i huffed and puffed to get us both to the side...(i can swim, but i quit lifesaving lessons on the first day because i dropped the weight we were passing around in a circle and refused to swim to the bottom of the deep end to hoist it back to the surface...no thank you, i worked at the bank that summer instead of sitting in a cute chair working on my tan at the pool!) Our sweet friends, the Powells were at the beach while we were so we were glad to get to go to dinner and hang out with them at Cobalt. I think our favorite part of the trip this year was ordering in from Louisiana Lagniappe and eating dinner on the balcony...nothing like family time!

SWIMMING LESSONS

DAY 1: LOOK AT THAT FACE!!! POOR THING!

DAY 2: STILL SAD

WEEK 2 AND THE EXCITEMENT HAPPENS!

AND THEN A SMILE!

GETTING READY TO HOLD HER BREATH!

Kate started swimming lessons last week and things seemed very bleak for the first 3 days. I thought day 1 would consist of getting her used to the water since this was her first time at lessons...WRONG!!! Literally the teacher demonstrated how to hold her breath and then under she went!!! The only time she was not crying for the first 3 days was when she was under the water holding her breath! Poor Ms. Kay...I do not covet her job!!! Week 2 has been much better...she has actually been excited about going and loves jumping off the side and swimming to her teacher. We leave for the beach in a couple of weeks, so we are hoping the lessons will pay off!