Sweet, Sweet Ally and her Gifted and Talented Class

I sat down for lunch today at work to enjoy my lunch with my students. I opened my lunch box and was most pleasantly surprised to see this note. It was a wonderful surprise! I couldn't help but to thank God above for caring, wonderful girls! I am so blessed!

As most of you know, Ally was accepted into the gifted and talented program at school. One of her teachers sent me an email today. It follows:

"As part of our visual/spatial stand of our Thinking Outside the Box (TOB) class, we have been working with tangrams and analyzing how to put them together to make geometric shapes. Today we moved on to outline shapes of pictures that went with our story about tangrams. Allyson was working very quickly through all of them and seemed to be able to visualize what was needed – a certain piece or a flip, rotation, or spin of the piece. She is very quiet and was not making a big production about being finished but I noticed how easily she was doing them. When she got to the harder ones she didn’t complain but just kept plugging away. I love to see our children’s minds work. What a joy!"
Miss Stringfield

I am so proud of you Ally! Keep up the great work.

AWSUME!

I was cleaning off Ally's desk tonight in the school room at home and found this beautiful drawing of me and words she used to describe me. It reads:

"Mom, you are AWSUME! Mom you are AMAZING. I can't describe you cause you are beautiful! When I look at you I can't believe my eyes. Cause you are everything to me."

I couldn't help but smile from ear to ear when I read those words. As a mother, my children regularly give me encouragement. I am blessed, so blessed to stay home with them. My spiritual gift is encouragement. It comes natural to me. I can't help but to praise and encourage others. No wonder Olivia and Ally are encouragers, they learn it in the home!

Ally, thank you for the beautiful picture and words of encouragement! I love you!!!!!
Mommy

A Few Things

This is Addi with the girls in our backyard. She is 5 years old. She is one of the little girls in our subdivison. The girls love to "Baby" her and play with her. Isn't she so cute and precious? 

Preparing the concrete to stain it. 

We are in the process of staining the concrete in the bedrooms as you can see above. It's harder work than I first thought. Actually, it's just time consuming. Paul is the one with patience, not me. I want it all done at the snap of fingers. Where is my fairy God-Mother? All of the furniture, clothes, toys and junk is in my living room. I am going CRAZY with all the clutter. If you know me, I like a crisp, clean house, everything has a place and is in it's place before I go to bed each night. Even the throw blankets have to be folded and placed nicely on the arm of the couch/chair or I can't go to sleep. I know life is too short to worry about things like that but, I like getting up to a nicely organized house and enjoying my coffee and quiet time without a to-do list running through my mind. 

The girl's clothes are laying on a chair in the living room. Flower, our cat decided to find her a comfortable place to nap. She is so sweet and FAT! 

The 1st grader's performed a musical last night called "When I Grow Up". They did a wonderful job. 

"Free to Be Me" Soloist: Ally Patrick

Ally had a solo and said she was a little nervous...you couldn't tell! She held that mic like a professional. She was a cowgirl. She is shy and I hope she begins to come out of that. She has the personality to be in the spotlight and a voice that will knock your socks off! My friend Glenda heard her one night while she was visiting us at our house. She and I were in the Family room talking about this-n-that. The girls were in the living room. Glenda had to stop me mid sentence and ask who was singing? If it was a CD? No, it was Ally. Ally got up and performed the musical for Glenda. She has performed the musical for all the neighborhood kids too! I believe she is growing out of her shyness. She did a fabulous job tonight! Yea! Great job Ally!

Happy Birthday Ally!

Ally is 7 years old today! What can I say about this beautiful girl? When Ally was born she had a high bilirubin blood count. That is fairly common in babies born earlier than 40 weeks of pregnancy. I wasn't worried until she was admitted to the hospital a week after she was born. Her bilirubin was getting higher and the doctor couldn't find out why. I was scared when they admitted her. I knew I could only turn to the Lord in this time. The nurses shaved her head and inserted an Iv into her scalp. They placed her under the lights to get her bilirubin to go down. I knew right then, she was going to be a strong child.  She was a fighter! She grew and we knew we had a "strong-willed" child. God showed Paul and I how to break her strong will without crushing her spirit. Thankfully we mastered that when she was young. Today, She is a gifted child, very intellectual and balanced. She is a leader. She is not afraid to tell her opinion or how to do something effectively. Her grammer is precise and she is a perfectionist which can be bad at times! Her heart is tender and pure. She is one of those that people gravitate toward. She is bubbly and lights up a room with her smile and laughter. She reads her bible and loves Jesus with all of her heart. 

Ally, you are a gift from the Lord. We are grateful God put you in our family. You make us complete. I am so proud of you for the young girl you are and the young lady God is creating you to be.  My prayer for you this year is that you will continue to read your bible. That you will love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. He will direct and guide you. He loves you more than you could ever imagine. We love you so much! Happy Birthday!

Love, 

Mom, Dad and Sister

Lost Tooth

Ally lost a tooth this afternoon. She pulled it herself. Isn't she pretty? Yea Ally, Way to go! I love that beautiful smile!

The girls got out of school early today due to the icy weather. We are home roasting by the fireplace. Not sure yet what to expect the next 24 hours. Suppose to be around an of inch ice and widespread power outages. We are stocked with food, blankets and lots of Dove chocolates! Yum! Ally is hoping to be out of school through Wednesday because Wednesday is her big day...her 7th Birthday! I'll keep you posted on the weather...

Ally's Celebration Book!

This past Friday, Ally was presented with a Celebration Book at school. A Celebration book is a book bought in her honor and given to her in front of the rest of the school. 

Ally was so shocked. She didn't even realize she was the "Allyson Patrick" they had called to come to the stage and get her book. Me, Dad and Olivia honored her for her 7th birthday coming up on the 28th. 

The name of the book is "Big Words for Little People" By: Jamie Lee Curtis. When you open the book it has a picture of Ally on the left inside cover. And inscripted, "This book was donated by: Mom, Dad and Olivia, In honor of Ally Patrick, Happy Birthday to our "exquisite" girl. We love you! Mom, Dad and sister Olivia."

When Ally was two years old, she came up to me while I was washing dishes and said "Momma, you're exquisite!" Therefore, She is our "exquisite" girl. We love you Ally!