October 09

This blog is dedicated to Nana and Pop!! For those of you who may not know Richard's dad is going through Radiation and Chemo for 7 weeks for throat cancer. Clayton and Ashlyn are missing their Nana and Pop GREATLY! Almost every morning they ask me on the way to school if Pop is ok and if it is near time to see them. I explain that Pop is still taking medicine and hopefully it will make him well enough for us to see him at Thanksgiving. Please pray for Jim Faucett you can see how he is doing on his caringbridge site http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jimfaucett . I am going to try to keep this up to date so Nana and Pop can see what the kids are up to because I know they are missing them GREATLY also. They usually come to all of their events so hopefully the videos will help a little.

We have been EXTREMELY busy during the month of October. Tonight is Halloween so watch for cute Halloween pictures coming soon!! This month we have had Ashlyn's second gymnastic meet, revival at the church, and the kids have sang in church.

Clayton's class had cowboy day at school and here is a picture of him dressed like a cowboy. Clayton is still enjoying school. He is learning so much. He loves to do homework with Ashlyn. He has workbooks at the house that he sits and does his 'homework'. He is growing like a weed and is obsessed with pregnant bellies :) He was very sad to know that Friday was the last time he would see Amy's pregnant belly.We then had Ashlyn's gymnastic meet in Valdosta. The meet was held by Dream It out of Tifton and it was in the Lowndes gym. Ashlyn did really well and tied her all around score from the previous meet. This was despite a fall on floor (freak accident) but she was ok. It looks like her arm just gives way under her. Her scores Bars 8.35 (her highest bar score), Beam 8.1, Floor 7.350, Vault 8.5, and AA 32.30. She placed 4th on Vault, Bars, Beam and 3rd on AA. She did not place on Floor :( .

This is a picture of the gym we were in:

Here are the MG Level 3 team being introduced Ashlyn is second on the right.Here is where she got her medal for All Around (3rd place) in the 7 year old division

Clayton did VERY good watching the girls compete but he did not like the awards.

Next we had a wonderful, well needed revival at the church. It is really awesome how God is working within the men in our church. It makes me very excited about the future of our church. The first night of revival the children sang. The first video is of Ashlyn's choir and the second is of Ashlyn's and Clayton's choir singing together (Clayton's choir did not sing by themselves). Ashlyn was singing on the second video but she is too far right for you to see. I was sitting in front of Richard helping direct and he could not see her from where he was sitting.

We got to go see our precious little gift from God today!! I stayed strong and we did not find out if it is a boy or girl. Everything looked good! It is so awesome to see the works of God that he is growing in me. I am VERY excited!!

SUMMER UPDATES, NEW SCHOOL YEAR AND FIRST GYMNASTIC MEET

Ok I know it has been WAY too long since I have blogged but there has been a lot going on in the Faucett family. Summer vacation came and went WAY too fast and yes I do love summers off with my kids so I pray that will not be taken away! Here are some of my favorite shots from this summer.

We spent part of the summer

Spending time with family.

Chilling in the Grass and Playing in the Water

Looking for Fireworks
Attempting Swimming Lessons

Being SerenadedCompleting Home ImprovementsAnd Finding Out We Were Expecting A Surprise From God Himself

Then started the new school year. I must admit I was quite nervous about how Clayton would settle into PreK at RB Wright. He has far surpassed my expectations. He loves school (even though he does not like the ride on the bus to my school in the afternoons). Here is a picture of Clayton's first day of school.
Ashlyn started 2nd grade this year. She is doing great!! She loves her teachers even though she complains about having to do work sometimes. She has matured a lot in the last few months. Here is a picture of her first day of school.

Clayton's First Field Trip

Last but not least Ashlyn just had her 1st gymnastic meet of this season. It was a home meet and I could tell a BIG improvement!! She was able to get her leg through for her shoot through for the first time in a meet even though she fell backwards. Her score was rather low on bars in my opinion seeing she had never done that skill before and it was her next to lowest score but hey I am not a judge. She had her highest beam score 8.5 for 2nd place, her highest vault score 8.5 for 6th place, on floor she made a 8.1 (she looked GREAT one little problem with her hands) for 3rd place, and a 7.2 on bars for 4th place. She had her highest all around score 32.3 for 4th place. Next stop is Valdosta in a few weeks! Sorry the Vault video is blurry.

Fun at Nana and Pops

This past week Richard and I had two different conferences to go to in one week. Ashlyn and Clayton got to stay with Nana and Pop. They had a blast. They went to Monkey Joe's, Another jumping place, and Johnny G's. They got to also play at Burger King twice. They had an absolute blast. I do not have any pictures from their fun filled weekend but here are a few from weeks in the past at Nana and Pop's.

Here are some pictures from the airshow. Ashlyn, Clayton, Richard, Nana, Pop, and Aunt Jennie all went to the airshow and had a GREAT time!!

Here are some pictures from the outlet mall in Macon. The kids made Aunt Jennie take a picture with every statue we found.

A Lot Has Happened Since I Last Posted

We have been very busy since the last post. I will try to include most all of the activities that have gone on since I last posted.

First Ashlyn had her Field Day. Ok I am not understanding field days today because of the lack of competitiveness. They do not win ribbons like we use to, I guess they don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. They go around in groups and play silly little games. There is one competitive event. It is for class bragging rights. It is Tug-of-War! Here is a snip of Ashlyn's class winning one round. She is second from the front.

Then we celebrated Easter. It was very special this year to really discuss the importance of what Easter truly means. Ashlyn had a lot of questions and it seemed to become more important for her.

We do have one tried and true tradition at Easter. Papa comes and steals the kids (this year Ashlyn because Clayton was a little under the weather) and he takes them to Stone's Hardware Store to pick out some colored chicks. Papa then leaves the chicks in our garage under a heating lamp for us to enjoy (try not to kill) for the next few days. Here are some pictures:

The next pictures are the kids dying Easter Eggs with Lea and TJ and then finding the Easter Eggs. These are some pictures of a Strickland/Best tradition of cracking the real eggs on your head to open them :) Richard loves this one!!

While Richard went hiking on the AT over spring break Mama, Ashlyn, Clayton, and I went to spend a few days with Amy and Autumn. We had a lot of fun!! The pictures below are from when we went to an indoor playground down from their house.

Then we went to Tellus Museum:

Ashlyn had her last gymnastic meet for this school year. She looked much better but her scores were lower :( But she had a lot of fun and to me that is ALL that matters!!! This meet was at home and it was amazing the difference in her first meet and this meet. 1st meet Vault 6.850, Bars 6.750, Beam 7.975, Floor 7.550 with an All Around of 29.125. This meet Vault 7.850, Bars 7.850, Beam 8.125, Floor 7.20, and All Around 31.025. The floor judge scored her really low, she looked much better this time but that is life :) The MG's Level 3 placed 1st place!!!
Then Clayton turned 4!!! He had many celebrations from opening his presents on his birthday morning before going to school:

to the air show in Warner Robins (hopefully pictures soon)

to spending the afternoon with Mamaw

to CHUCK E CHEESE!! He had a ball!!

This is how we cut the grass around here :)

Plenty of Sunshine

Finally the sun has broke through the clouds both in the sky and in the family. With all the rain and storms we are very glad to have sunshine today. I was kinda sad when they cancelled school Wednesday because I knew we were going to have to make it up. Lets just say God knew what he was doing. I have 0 days of sick leave left this year (yes we have been that sick this year). Clayton started running a 103 fever Monday night. Richard stayed home Tuesday and after a doctors visit he has Tonsillitis. Ashlyn started throwing up Wednesday night and running a high fever so another doctor visit later she has a virus. Richard had once again taken off on Wednesday because I had court that morning but we were not sure what we were going to do Thursday and Friday. Well school was cancelled for Thursday and Friday also. Friday was the worst day. They both ran 102 fevers all day Friday and just laid around and looked so sad. Today (Saturday) they both have taken a major turn for the better. Ashlyn is out and about going to a wedding and Clayton well let me just share two pictures. I was doing some house work and kept seeing him get pillows from everywhere and I walked in and found this....

Then I heard 'weeeeeee, that was awesome' *thud* and walked in and found this....