Special moments

The kid's dread the camera.  I pull it out and I'm asking them to smile and look over at me constantly, trying not to miss a moment.  And for the most part, they'll be good and humor me with a smile or a quick look.  But it's worth it because I catch the moment and I can look back and remember all of it.  Or most of it at least. :)  But these are photos of those small moments, but all as equally important as the big ones.  This photo is when we all ate a great dinner and decided to celebrate by going down the street to the self serve yogurt shop.  This is everyone's favorite since we get to load up our own cup with any yogurt flavors we want and then pile on the toppings.  The boys always like the fruit yogurts and the fruit and gummy toppings.  Tatum loves almost all the yogurt flavors and the sprinkles and chocolate chips.  And I'm a peanut butter or cake batter yogurt fan with candy, lots of chocolate candy and brownies.  This was a fun night!

Every day, Ty and I pull up to Tatum's school and park on the outside road, since the parking lot gets crazy.  We have to get here about 30 minutes before she gets out just to get a spot, so we have some down time in the car.  I bring books for him, or toys, but this day he got into the front seat and said, "Mommy, your dash is real dirty.  I'll clean it for you!"  He grabbed out a wipe and started cleaning my dash, such a gentleman.  And so OCD! :)

Our friend Ellie gave Ty her Spiderman ski hat and gloves the other day.  This was better than Christmas!  He didn't take this hat off for days! :)

Tatum usually goes to bed with a small lamp on next to her bed and she reads books.  But the other night she asked if she could have a few dolls in her bed with her.  After leaving her room, I could hear her having this entertaining conversation between her dolls.  They were laughing and singing and they always talk in this real high, squeaky voice.  I also heard one of them say, "We don't treat people that way", I wonder where she heard that. :)  Anyway, when I went back in to turn out her light, I found this.  She had pulled in about 10 dolls from her basket and they were all huddled together in a tight embrace.  So cute.

Here's a look at Friday Flag.  Every Friday at Tatum's school, the classes line up in the quad and after the Pledge of Allegiance, the Principle goes over any updates or news, the PTA rep might say something, or a Brownie troop will get up and let us know that they're collecting blankets for the Sandy storm, etc.  There's Tatum with a red flower clip in her hair. 

But the last topic is Character counts.  Each kid can earn a green Gecko by doing nice things for the school or others.  Once you get 5 of those, you put them in a box in the office and they pick names every Friday.  When you're chosen, you're called up at Friday Flag and recognized for your outstanding character.Tatum had turned in more than 5 and we were just waiting for her name to be called.  Thank goodness I brought my camera because it happened! 

She received a coupon to Claim Jumper for being a thoughtful and helpful classmate.  Here she is receiving her award as Mrs. Robinson, the principle, calls out her name.

 

Look at the joy and excitement on her face!  She was so proud of herself, as well as I was of course.  We can't wait to go out to eat on Tatum and celebrate!!!